One of my biggest “takeaways” from attending this year’s Traffic & Conversions Summit was the need to shift the focus of online marketing campaigns to create a story where the potential customer is the lead actor/actress.

 

When marketing a small business the approach needs to change from being B2B or B2C to one of H2H (Human to Human).

The goal of each campaign needs to become starting a conversation with the prospect – NOT closing a sale.

Sounds strange huh? But by creating this type of engagement first conversion rates increase dramatically, revenue surges, and raving fans for your business are developed!

In his opening keynote address, Ryan Deiss, President of Digital Marketer, outlined 8 phases of the customer’s value journey toward doing business with a company:

1. Awareness – Discovering you or your brand and how you might offer a solution to their problem.
2. Engagement – Investigating your solution further and deciding if it’s a fit for them.
3. Subscribe – Making the decision to reach out and interact with you or your business.
4. Convert – Make a commitment of their time or money to connect with you or your business.
5. Excite – Discover that what you or your business offers is their answer to their problem.
6. Ascend – Make a purchase thus giving you an opportunity to upsell additional products during your sales process.
7. Advocate – Encourage immediate consumption or implementation of your product or service. Give them feedback about their success.
8. Promote – Become passionate about your product or service and be willing to offer referrals to their friends or testimonials others can use in making their buying decision.

So in order to guide your prospect through this value journey and speak directly to them each step of the way it is more important than ever to define who is your target customer.

What problems do they need to solve? What are the consequences of not solving them?

How can you do that? Ask several questions:

• What are their key demographics?
  • Male/Female
  • Married/Single/Divorced
  • Any children & how old
  • Which age group do they belong
  • What is their yearly income
  • What is their professional role (Business Owner, Manager, etc)
• What are their interests?
  • Which websites might they visit
  • Are there groups or Fan Pages with the same interests
• Where do they hang out online?
  • Forums
  • You Tube Channels
  • Social Media Platforms
• What books/magazines do they read?
• What if any professional associations do they belong
• What does it sound like when they are talking about their problem (lay terms)?

Then considering what specific problems they are trying to solve how does your product or service meet their needs for a solution?

Need a guide to walk you through defining your ideal customer? Click to Message me here to request a copy of my Finding Your Avatar Worksheet.

This shift in approach to online marketing campaigns will create more sales and better relationships with your customers.

They will be looking for chances to buy from you again!

You will also see a decrease in the number of requests for refunds as well.

Hope you find this exercise helpful. If you’re stuck please reach out to me for a complementary strategy session.

I can be best reached via a message on my Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/makebusinessdreamsreality

Until next time,

Here’s To Your $uccess!