5 Steps to Attract More Customers

Marketing in Action 5 Steps to Attracting More Customers

5 STEPS

TO

ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS

Introducing The Perfect

Marketing Recipe

Marketing in Action 5 Steps to Attracting More Customers

The Perfect

Marketing

Recipe

INTRODUCTION Search the internet for help with marketing and

youll get nearly a billion hits with websites

crammed with information designed to turn you into a marketing god or goddess.

So why, when theres such a body of really good

and helpful stuff do I keep hearing the same

thing time and time again. Nearly all the

businesses I talk to want to attract more

customers, get the phone ringing more, generate

more traffic to their website or increase visitors to

their store.

MARKETING IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!

There are no secret handshakes or complicated

formulas that will lead you to the well of

customers ready to be welcomed into your world.

Marketing is all about common-sense. You may

be thinking, hang on; theres got to be more to it

than that, and youre right.

I think of marketing as an onion. Not because it

makes me cry every time I think about what it is

or isnt doing for my business, but because its

multi-layered. Every time you peel away a layer

theres another, just waiting to be exposed. The

more you peel away, the more focused you

become on reaching that flawless layer where

youre ready to chop and dice your way to a

delicious meal.

KNOWLEDGE IS THE KEY TO UNLOCKING

YOUR POTENTIAL

Marketing is about knowing what you know, and

what you dont. Delving deeper and deeper until

you have a layer of understanding that leads you

to the delightful eureka moment where you leap

out of your chair, fist pumping the air, knowing

that this is it.

Dont peel away until theres nothing left, and

youve spent time and perhaps money

delving into the deep and dark psyche of your

customer with nothing to show for it. The

challenge is knowing when enough is enough,

and its time for action. In fact, that is where the

name for my business came from. It came to me

one day whilst doodling, and well the rest is

history.

Spend time talking and thinking or in my case

doodling on a white board then take the bull by

the horns, fire up your mojo and go for it.

Whether you plan to sell more homes or perfect

the perfect scone recipe, well equip with the best

possible tools and techniques to achieve your

more.

Marketing in Action 5 Steps to Attracting More Customers

Ive seen the communication landscape

change beyond all recognition. When I

started my career, the internet was just

beginning and has evolved into the

fantastic online resource we have today.

Social media has revolutionised the way

we communicate in fact weve become

publishers and we have direct access to

our customers. Our customers have

wrestled control of our relationships and

talk to us on their terms when they are

ready to talk, not when we want to talk.

I love working one-to-one and teaching,

sharing the knowledge Ive built up over a

career spanning the last 20 years.

Ive worked with over a hundred

businesses helping them understand

marketing, what it can do for them and

teaching them how to use it. What did all

of those conversations have in common?

You guessed it; they were looking for more

customers.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE?

Before you continue reading, nail that

down, because knowing where youre

coming from and what you want to get out

of life sets the tone for everything you do.

When you focus on what you want, how

you want to feel and what you want to

achieve, everything in your subconscious is

focused on making that happen. Lets

focus on attracting more customers for you.

Get your apron on, its time to start

baking!

INTRODUCTION

CONTINUED.

Marketing in Action 5 Steps to Attracting More Customers Marketing in Action 5 Steps to Attracting More Customers

THE FIVE STEPS OF THE

PERFECT MARKETING RECIPE We believe there are five stepping stones to creating the perfect marketing

recipe. The same five steps apply whether youre offering a professional

service, or sell to the public with a shop window.

#1 Understand your customers

#2 Understand who you are

#3 Keep your customers

#4 Refer more customers

#5 Attract more customers

Remember its not rocket science. Theres no complicated formula. Just work

through the five steps.

Lets create the perfect recipe for your business. Ready for Step #1?

Marketing in Action 5 Steps to Attracting More Customers

STEP #1

UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMERS: WHO ARE WE BAKING FOR?

I was captivated by Digby Jones as the BBCs The New

Troubleshooter. When a man of Digbys experience talks,

I listen Yet I couldnt help shouting at the TV screen

during one of the episodes.

Digby asked a fairly easy question who is your ideal

customer.' Its one I ask my clients frequently. In fact, it

is a marketing basic. So when the company featured

admits theyre not sure and that they will probably get

round to doing some research within the year, I like

many other marketers who may have been watching

cringed.

Why? Because they were already developing their

website. They were planning to go to market within a

matter of weeks. Yet they hadnt done their research.

So what would happen if you create a website and plan to

sell, when you dont know who will buy, how or why?

UNLOCK YOUR POTENTIAL

To get the phone or the till ringing you need to

understand who you want to attract. Who would you like

to hear on the other end of the call, or greet as a visitor

into your store?

Lets start with who you know. Weve collated a handy

checklist to help you look at your current and lapsed

customers. Use the this to narrow down your customer

database to a smaller group of customers or types of

customer.

If you have a small customer base this will be quite

straightforward.

My customer database is huge: If your customer base

is large, do your customers fall into any natural

groupings, ie geographic area, needs, interests, types of

business or consumer?

I dont have a customer database: If you have a retail

operation think about what they come to your store to buy

and the typical buyer of a product range or service.

Ideally you want to come up with no more than 10-12

customer groups. Next think about who you could be

doing business with or would like to and add them to the

list. Now youre going to have to focus. Rate each

customer group based upon:

Can they afford your products/services

Do they value what you do or have

Do they need what you do or have

Who do you do business with now or in the past?

Who do you enjoy working with or selling to?

Why do you enjoy working with them similar values, common interests, same sex?

Are they easy to do business with?

Which customers are most profitable?

CUSTOMER CHECKLIST

Marketing in Action 5 Steps to Attracting More Customers

STEP #1

CONTINUED To get the phone or the till ringing you need

to understand who you want to attract. Who

would you like to hear on the other end of

the call, or greet as a visitor into your store?

TIME TO START PEELING THAT ONION

Id like to introduce you to Tom Skelton. Tom is a garden

designer. His main business is garden maintenance, but

he loves designing sensory gardens for children.

Tom spent half a day looking at his customers and

realised there were two main customer groups that he

enjoyed working with, have a budget and value his

particular type of garden design: affluent parents with

young families and childcare nurseries.

Tom now needs to start profiling these two customer

groups. This will help him build up a picture called a

buyer persona or avatar.

He starts out by asking himself the following questions:

Who will make the decision to use him

What is their role within the business or family

Age, sex, education and personality

What level of decision-making power do they have

Disposable income or budgetary responsibility

What they want or need

Their motivation behind seeking out a solution

What is important to them about the solution

He talked to past customers, friends, family and contacts

within the gardening trade, about his plans and asked for

their advice.

READY FOR THE NEXT LAYER?

Understanding more about your customers is only part of

the puzzle. To make your perfect marketing recipe, we

need to add something else: their habits. Without this

information you wont be able to select the right

ingredients when we get to Step #5.

Have a look at our handy checklist and try to find out as

much as you can.

What do they:

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