How to Organize Your Marketing

"I hate sales pitches!" You may have felt this way yourselfnor heard others say it. If it's such a common response,nwhat's the best way to organize your marketing to attractnnew clients and customers?

While getting all aspects of your marketing right can bencomplicated, the simple truth is that you can attract manynmore clients and be far more successful by doing just onenthing.

To get the attention of your prospects and gain their trustnand their business, base your marketing on the way you
prospects make buying decisions. Just as a sweater needsntonfit its owner, your marketing needs to fit your prospects.

Mirror Your Prospects' Decision Making Patterns
How do your prospects make purchasing decisions? A researchnstudy by Enquiro and Marketing Sherpa found that 86% of
Internet users begin a search using Google. Of these, 63%nscan the search results, looking for key phrases in orde
to determine which sites to visit.

If your target market doesn't find the key phrase they arenlooking for, they won't contact you. It doesn't matter hownlong you've been in business or how happy your clientsnare;nif your marketing message doesn't match the language you
prospects use, tens of thousands of people will n/ever findnyou. This is true even if they need and want your productsnand services.

First
If you want people to respond to your search enginenlisting, billboard ad, radio spot or business card, thenhandful of words you use need to grab their attention.
Invest the timenand effort to create a brilliant marketing message. Tailo
it to your prospects' problems and conce
s and they'llntake notice.

Once you have your prospects' attention, you may want themnto buy your products and services right away, but this isnnot realistic. While a small percentage of prospects withnan urgent need may buy on first contact with you or you
website, the vast majority won't. The research by Enquironand Marketing Sherpa found over 80% of people looking tonbuy research a purchase for a period of time ranging fromnone week to four months, with 54% taking one to threenmonths.

You may be doing a great job at getting attention, but ifnyou're not motivating prospects to contact you, you
business is leaking leads. You could be missing more tha

80% of potential buyers.

Does your company have a web site?
How many visitors stop by your site each month? How many ofnthese contact you?

If you're a small business you could easily be attracting
3,000 to 20,000 people a month. Typically, 10 to 30% ofnthese people can be motivated to contact you, amounting to
300 to 6,000 leads per month.

You may be attracting more leads than you need. Make surenyou capture them so you can market to them. One of myncoaching clients had a web site that was attracting 40,000nvisitors each month. With a site this popular, he shouldnhave been able to generate 8,000 leads each month. All henneeded was to structure his web site to prompt prospects tongive him their contact information. Instead he was gettingnan average of only 10 leads each month.

Second
Motivate prospects to give you their contact information.
Give them a reason to contact you. I give away a freenmarketing guide that prompts almost a thousand people anmonth to give me their contact information. Once you havenyour prospects' contact information, follow up regularly tonfurther establish the credibility of your firm and clarifynthe value of your products and services.

Moving Prospects to Client or Customer Status
When you provide your services or develop your products younshape them to fit your prospects' wants and needs.
Similarly your marketing needs to be shaped to fit you
prospects' buying patterns. When your marketing strategynand materials reflects the information prospects arenlooking for, you'll get their attention and thei
business.