Spending more money on marketing is a waste if it's not properly leveraged. Businesses today must do three things if they're going to succeed...

There is a new paradigm in the marketplace today—businesses don't realize it or don't know how to capitalize on it. Either way, the old approach of shouting louder just doesn't work. You have to get people's attention, make them want to listen and be the logical choice whenever your prospects makes their final decision.

Businesses make more money today when they do three things successfully:  

1. You must differentiate your business from your competition.

Differentiation involves two steps. First, you must strive to actually BE better than the competition—at least in certain areas of your business. This requires an honest commitment to view your business as your customers might see it. In key areas where you're not competitive, you must be willing to innovate to meet buyers' needs.

Second, you must have a compelling marketing message that is concise, powerfully stated and well articulated. Remember, you are directing your message at people who don't know you, who probably don't want to listen to you, who hate making decisions and who resist change at almost any cost!

The real masters of business generate interest, spark action and create customers by first creating a truly superior business… and then communicating to potential customers in a compelling, believable way that is worth their time and energy to investigate.

2. Give buyers what they want—real information that educates them and conditions them to buy from you. Make sure that information is available at any point along the buyer's decision timeline.

With over 3,500 commercial messages now hitting the average American daily, nobody's going to listen to yours unless you first make them want to. This means shifting your paradigm away from shouting about what you want to say and focusing instead on what prospects want to hear. (Important distinction: read that sentence again!)

Effective marketing begins with understanding the mind of the buyer. When you stand in his shoes, learn what makes him tick—and what ticks him off—then you gain important insights into how to impact him with your marketing. (Note to women: For expediency, we'll use the word "him" and "he" in making our point. However, we fully acknowledge that "her" or "she" is equally implied.)

As a human being, your prospective buyer wants to make the best decision possible when he chooses a provider. So give him the information he needs to make that decision—specific, quantifiable information that clearly lays out to him why you're different and/or better. As the cost and risk associated with the product/service increase, the buyer's need for information increases. Learn to use marketing tools to provide this information and make it available on a low-risk basis. Make it easy for prospective buyers to get their hands on it and review it at any time that is appropriate for them—particularly if they're not ready to talk to you or your salespeople.

3. You must systemize your marketing.

Systemization is the key to making your business—and your marketing—successful. (Read Michael Gerber's "The E-Myth" for more about this...)

Systemized marketing implies that your message is developed and distributed on a consistent, repeated basis. The information provided, whether by email, phone, salesperson, web site, etc, is handled in the same manner each time.

When you develop a systematic approach to distributing marketing and responding to inquiries, you gain the ability to deliver the right information at the right time to substantially more prospects at lower cost. More importantly, the impression you make leads to a consistent "brand experience" for prospects and customers. Most important, they are likely to be aware of your business and more likely to buy from you when they do approach the actual buying decision.

When something isn't working, systems make it easy to isolate the cause of the problem and change it. Perhaps the best argument for systemized marketing is that it's easier for others to use and helps even the weakest producers perform better. A good marketing system takes the guesswork, the waste, the reactivity and much of the risk out of marketing your business.

From your prospects' point of view, systemized marketing provides what he wants in the way he wants it when he wants it. Remember, in the new paradigm, it's all about what your buyer wants. Either learn to do this—or don't complain when a competitor gets the business.

Learn about our marketing approach and why it works.