The five elements of successful marketing – StartupSmart

Marketing is vital in business. It helps you to generate a constant stream of new and repeat customers, which is key to developing a profitable business.

 

But it can also be expensive, particularly when you spend time, money and effort on marketing messages that won’t work or won’t work well.

 

So how do you ensure your marketing messages and campaigns will generate real results before you outlay money? Here are the five elements of successful marketing.

 

1. It’s targeted

 

Defining your target market helps you to focus your marketing efforts on the most profitable segment(s) of your market, the people who are most likely to buy from you.

 

This strategic approach not only saves you time, money and effort, it also helps you to understand your potential customers better, personalise your marketing approach and identify where to find them.

 

2. It’s customer-focused

 

One of the most common marketing mistakes business owners make is to make their promotional material all about them.

 

Your customer doesn’t care about you, well, not yet anyway. Instead they want to know what is in it for them. What can you give them that no-one else can and how you can solve their challenges and meet their needs?

 

3. It appeals to emotions

 

Emotion sells. Every purchase decision we make is based on what a product or service will give us, save us, do for us, make us feel or help us become. We buy on emotion and then justify our purchase logically.

 

Every day we are bombarded with advertising images that play on emotions of love, fear, greed, guilt, anger, frustration and curiosity. From banks to car tyres, washing powders to mattresses, companies everywhere are capitalising on the power of emotional selling.

 

Why? Because it works! If you want serious results from your marketing and advertising then you need more than clever tag lines, innovative promotions and attractive designs. You need to create an emotional response with your target market.

 

4. It proves your value and claims

 

People need to see the proof in your claims before they believe them. The best way to do this is with testimonials and case studies. Better yet, make sure the testimonials and case studies address common objectives customers have.

 

Use stories of past customers who had similar challenges to the ones your potential clients face now, so you can show you have proven experience in solving their problems.

 

Testimonials add credibility. They’re from real clients talking about real experiences with your business. So let your customers tell your potential customers what they value about your service or product. After all if it appealed to them it will appeal to others, too.

 

5. It calls them to act

 

You can have the cleverest tag lines and the most visually appealing marketing material, though if it doesn’t compel your potential customers to act, your results will be limited.

 

To develop a strong call to action it pays to establish your sales process – what do you want your potential customer to do once they have finished reading or hearing your message?

 

Is it to call?

Email?

Buy now?

Sign up to your mailing list?

Go to another page on your website?

Book a consultation?

Request a quote?

Download a report or checklist?

 

Once you work out exactly what action you want them to take, call them to do it while offering them an incentive like a discount, time limited offer or emotional pull.

 

What about you? What have you found makes your marketing successful?