7 Simple and Inexpensive Steps to Building a Profitable Marketing System
Do you feel lost in a sea of marketing options? You are not alone. Many small business owners are confused and paralyzed by the thousands of options available to them. Unfortunately this means that many potentially profitable marketing tactics are abandoned before they bear fruit.
Here is a 7 Step Formula to help you focus on your profitable options and prevent you from wasting time and money on ineffective techniques. This simple formula has been borrowed from the marketing habits of billionaire entrepreneurs who have used this simple system to build vast fortunes. Let's get started -
1) Focus on One Advertising Technique:
Select an advertising tactic that meets your budget. If you are an online marketer with a small budget focus on traffic exchanges or writing articles. If you are an offline marketer with a healthy budget focus on direct marketing and direct response newspaper advertising. Master your advertising technique before you invest more money. Remember we are simply creating a template for your marketing program
2) Map the Steps:
This step is very important. Get a sheet of paper and write out the steps from your initial advertisement all the way through to the customer's purchase. This series of steps is called your Marketing Funnel.
Your system may look something like this: 1) Prospect Reads eZine ad, 2) Prospect Clicks URL and visits Newsletter Sign-up, 3) Prospect opts in to newsletter, 4) Prospect clicks purchase link from email newsletter, 5) Customer downloads purchase.
Now Move on to Step 3 -
3) Feed Your Marketing Funnel
Now that you understand the steps in your Marketing Funnel – you are in a good position to start feeding it traffic. I suggest that you select your least expensive option, like article creation, low cost pay per click, or sending an email to your existing list.
Your goal is not to make a sale (although that is a great bonus). Your real objective is to examine the efficiency of your marketing funnel. The more traffic you get the better. But remember, you should not be maxing out credit cards at this stage. Let's take a look at Step 4…
4) Refine and Test Until You See Results
This is where 90% of beginning marketers stumble. Contrary to popular belief, traffic is not the most important thing to your site. The most important thing you can do is understand how your marketing funnel turns a visitor into a customer.
Now look at your marketing funnel and check for bottlenecks. A bottleneck prevents your visitors from converting to prospects. For example, if you find that only 2% of your visitors are clicking on your eZine ad then your looking at a bottleneck. If only 1% of your prospects are clicking on the "buy" button on your order form – you got it – you've got a bottleneck.
Do not invest any more money into your marketing until you are satisfied that you have a friction-free marketing funnel. Master this step and you will have a license to print money.
5) Reinvest Profits for Growth
Now is the time to start investing money to drive traffic to your marketing funnel. As you make sales, take the profit and reinvest it back into gaining quality traffic for your system. For example – if your prospect saw your site on a Traffic Exchange, Visited your Sales Page, and Purchased your product – take the profits and reinvest in the Traffic Exchange, perhaps becoming a Pro member to get more opportunities to advertise to the same pool of people
6) Seek out Complementary Products and Services
Once your system is consistent, predictable and profitable, take the process and apply it to a similar but complimentary market. Follow the same steps exactly. Remember do not invest more money into you understand your marketing funnel and see predictable results.
I suggest a complementary market because your system has a higher chance of succeeding. Most likely, the customers from your current business would also be perfect prospects for a complementary product.
7) Rinse & Repeat
Now you have a Marketing Funnel that yields consistent results. At any moment you can look at your system and know exactly how much profit you will make from every dollar invested. You no longer have to "hope" that your marketing works – you now are completely certain that it will perform as you predicted.
Like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Steve Jobs, you have built a marketing system that builds wealth rather than sucking your bank account dry. You have a competitive edge that will allow you to succeed at any business endeavor you choose. Remember the fundamentals and reap the rewards.
Here is a 7 Step Formula to help you focus on your profitable options and prevent you from wasting time and money on ineffective techniques. This simple formula has been borrowed from the marketing habits of billionaire entrepreneurs who have used this simple system to build vast fortunes. Let's get started -
1) Focus on One Advertising Technique:
Select an advertising tactic that meets your budget. If you are an online marketer with a small budget focus on traffic exchanges or writing articles. If you are an offline marketer with a healthy budget focus on direct marketing and direct response newspaper advertising. Master your advertising technique before you invest more money. Remember we are simply creating a template for your marketing program
2) Map the Steps:
This step is very important. Get a sheet of paper and write out the steps from your initial advertisement all the way through to the customer's purchase. This series of steps is called your Marketing Funnel.
Your system may look something like this: 1) Prospect Reads eZine ad, 2) Prospect Clicks URL and visits Newsletter Sign-up, 3) Prospect opts in to newsletter, 4) Prospect clicks purchase link from email newsletter, 5) Customer downloads purchase.
Now Move on to Step 3 -
3) Feed Your Marketing Funnel
Now that you understand the steps in your Marketing Funnel – you are in a good position to start feeding it traffic. I suggest that you select your least expensive option, like article creation, low cost pay per click, or sending an email to your existing list.
Your goal is not to make a sale (although that is a great bonus). Your real objective is to examine the efficiency of your marketing funnel. The more traffic you get the better. But remember, you should not be maxing out credit cards at this stage. Let's take a look at Step 4…
4) Refine and Test Until You See Results
This is where 90% of beginning marketers stumble. Contrary to popular belief, traffic is not the most important thing to your site. The most important thing you can do is understand how your marketing funnel turns a visitor into a customer.
Now look at your marketing funnel and check for bottlenecks. A bottleneck prevents your visitors from converting to prospects. For example, if you find that only 2% of your visitors are clicking on your eZine ad then your looking at a bottleneck. If only 1% of your prospects are clicking on the "buy" button on your order form – you got it – you've got a bottleneck.
Do not invest any more money into your marketing until you are satisfied that you have a friction-free marketing funnel. Master this step and you will have a license to print money.
5) Reinvest Profits for Growth
Now is the time to start investing money to drive traffic to your marketing funnel. As you make sales, take the profit and reinvest it back into gaining quality traffic for your system. For example – if your prospect saw your site on a Traffic Exchange, Visited your Sales Page, and Purchased your product – take the profits and reinvest in the Traffic Exchange, perhaps becoming a Pro member to get more opportunities to advertise to the same pool of people
6) Seek out Complementary Products and Services
Once your system is consistent, predictable and profitable, take the process and apply it to a similar but complimentary market. Follow the same steps exactly. Remember do not invest more money into you understand your marketing funnel and see predictable results.
I suggest a complementary market because your system has a higher chance of succeeding. Most likely, the customers from your current business would also be perfect prospects for a complementary product.
7) Rinse & Repeat
Now you have a Marketing Funnel that yields consistent results. At any moment you can look at your system and know exactly how much profit you will make from every dollar invested. You no longer have to "hope" that your marketing works – you now are completely certain that it will perform as you predicted.
Like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Steve Jobs, you have built a marketing system that builds wealth rather than sucking your bank account dry. You have a competitive edge that will allow you to succeed at any business endeavor you choose. Remember the fundamentals and reap the rewards.
