by Jaco Grobbelaar, owner of BroadVision Marketing and Robert Middleton, owner of Action Plan Marketing
Once you are armed with the previously blogged marketing principles, you are ready to choose marketing strategies or activities that get your message out into the world and in front of prospective clients.Let's revisit Marketing Ball. The marketing strategies you employ depend on where your prospects are located on the Marketing Ball model. Remember that the purpose is to move them around the bases. First are marketing activities to get prospects onto first base.
From stranger to affiliation to attention
Your first step in moving from home base to first is developing affiliations with those who could be possible clients. An affiliation is a connection between people. If you belong to an association or organization, you have an affiliation. If you went to the same college, you have an affiliation. If you belong to a church, you have an affiliation with all the other members.
Your first marketing task is to form affiliations with groups and organizations who are made up of prospects or those who can lead to prospects. These are the people who will be most receptive to your marketing messages. Whether you network, make calls or send mailings, if you have created an affiliation first, your message will be more readily accepted and you'll get the attention you need to get onto first base.
From attention to familiarity
Going from first base to second base is a longer process where you get to know your prospect and they get to know you. People like to do business with those they know, like and trust, so your next task is to stay visible and become familiar to those you are affiliated with. Doing such things as networking actively, adding members to your e-zine list, and meeting with others over coffee or lunch builds your "familiarity factor." Then once you are more familiar, prospects want more information.
From familiarity to information
Even when people know you by name, they don't necessarily understand what you really do for your clients. Your next job is to provide the information that lets them know who you work with, what challenges you address and what outcomes you produce. Important information tools are Web sites and articles such as the one you're reading now.
From information to experience
The final stage before getting to second base is providing more of an experience to your prospects. Going beyond information, where you tell people what you do, is to actually demonstrate the value of your work. This can be accomplished through case studies, presentations and, in some cases, offering a sample of your work through presentations, executive briefings or tele-classes.
From experience to the selling process
With a sufficient amount of affiliation, attention, familiarity, information and experience, prospects are much more likely to want to explore working with you. You might say this is where marketing ends and selling begins. When you get to second base you are engaging in the selling process and learning how you can help this prospect specifically. Selling is much easier if you have played the marketing game well up to this point.
Because this article is more focused on the marketing process, I won't go into the details of the selling process here. But now you know the most important strategies of the marketing game and how to play to win.
Can you classify your various clients according to this list?
For more information:
- Step 1 - Marketing Ball - The Game of Marketing for Marketing Plan Workbook
- Marketing Syntax - The Language of Marketing
- Purchase funnel
Jaco Grobbelaar is the owner of BroadVision Marketing. BroadVision Marketing works with business owners to put in place inbound and outbound marketing strategies that consistently secure new clients. The BroadVision Marketing Training Center is located in Petaluma, CA and primarily serves companies in the San Francisco Bay area.
Jaco can be reached at jaco@broadvisionmarketing.com or 707.766.9778 or connect with Jaco on Facebook - www.facebook.com/broadvisionmarketing - and LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/JacoGrobbelaar.
Robert Middleton has been the owner of Action Plan Marketing since 1984. He specializes in helping Independent Professionals be better marketers and attract more clients. He has two main services - the Fast Track to More Clients Program and the Marketing Mastery Group. He lives and runs his business from Northern California in the redwoods near Santa Cruz. You can reach Robert through his website: http://actionplan.com, by email at apm @ actionplan.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=731554912, and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/robertmiddleton.
