Key Ingredients Needed To Implement A Successful Digital Marketing Game-Plan In Your Business..
The struggle to get more customers to improve sales and increase income has always been a goal for most businesses. As each quarter comes to an end, most businesses are evaluating any available data in their marketing that may help improve sales. The wheels are being oiled to improve marketing efforts, increase the sales force (hire an agency or get trained marketing team) and increase the marketing budget. Very little or no thought at all is given to the strategy needed to bring all these factors to work together and give successful results.
Therefore in this post, I will break down what a successful digital marketing game plan looks like. Also, give a number of lessons on how it all works together to help you grow your business by improving sales and reducing cost.
So if you have a business or work in a business and are looking for how to get more leads, more customers and more sales using digital marketing strategies, you have come to the right place. Thing is, many agencies or digital marketers have trivialized the import and intent of digital marketing so let’s give you a true and clear picture of what a successful digital marketing game plan looks like.
But first things first:
What is Digital Marketing?
This may sound basic especially in this “internet of things” age but it is important to know this and to emphasize it.
Digital marketing simply refers to marketing using digital media.
Marketing is marketing is marketing.
It doesn’t matter if it is online or offline, the job of marketing is will always be the same: to take your potential clients on a journey from point A where they are totally unaware of you (their problems) to point B where they are paying customers (your solution) and refer other customers to you.
If you are able to master the marketing principles I share with you in this article, you will be able to use it to grow your business using any media whether digital or not.
In other words, different media may come and go, whether traditional or digital but these principles will last forever.
And we’ll go into what marketing should actually take care of later on in this post.
What is a Digital Marketing Game Plan?
Ever heard the quote “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail?
The same is true when it comes to digital marketing. Simple truth is, Marketing isn’t marketing if it can’t be measured. You want to be able to distill data from any marketing effort so that you are able to consistently keep being relevant to your target audience.
In order to achieve this and also succeed in growing your business using digital marketing strategies, you must have a plan.
In this case, I call it a game plan, which is an instruction manual. It’s a step-by-step breakdown of everything you need to use the internet successfully to grow your business.
Marketing is not an event. It’s a journey.
You have to understand that marketing is not something you do once and forget about it.
Marketing is a journey that you take your potential customers until they become paying customers and even beyond that.
When people think digital marketing, unfortunately, they dive right into social media, websites, banner ads and such, running with the latest fad in town and thinking that the media is going to get the success.
BUT, the media is just one aspect of successful marketing.
What does successful marketing entail?
Marketing is getting the right message to the right people via the right media and methods – effectively, efficiently and profitably. – Dan Kennedy
It is like a 3-legged stool so to speak, with each leg of that stool being as important as the others.
The three legs your marketing has to stand on are:
- Your Message
- Your Market
- Your Media
The Message
This has to do with putting together the best promotable message possible that truthfully represents the products/services that you sell.
The message has to do with everything your potential clients see and perceive about your brand and is critical to success.
It needs to communicate a big promise to your target audience that encourages them to know, like and trusts you all the time and eventually sees you as an authority in your industry.
The Market
This has to do with your target audience.
In the words of Dan Kennedy, Every product, every service, every business either appeals or has the potential to appeal much more strongly to a certain definable group of people than it appeals to all people.
Your job is to find that definable group of people and target them with your message.
Simple things to watch out for are:
- What problems are they trying to solve?
- What are they currently searching for?
- What are their income levels?
- What blogs are they reading?
- What products are they buying right now?
- What social media platforms are they binging on?
(Related Post: How To Identify Your Ideal Client)
The Media
This has to do with how you get your message to your market. It is only here that the different media comes to play and you need to ask yourself: “Where and How can I find my ideal client?”
You want to use media that they use and reach them where they are.
So, you see, it is critical that your marketing takes into consideration all 3 elements of successful marketing.
Now, let’s talk about the only 3 ways you will make money in your business.
There are only 3 Ways You Will Make Money In Your Business
Just 3 Ways?
Now, I know that may be a tough pill to swallow as you’ve probably thought there have to be thousands of ways to make money.
I did too until I learned from Jay Abraham (one of the most brilliant marketers I have come across) that in the midst of all the strategies we employ, they are only three ways that your business will make you money.
They are:
1. Get More Customers
When you get more customers, you make more money.
That’s easy enough to see and the one thing that most people focus on.
Let’s say you had 100 customers buy from you last year: If you have 150 customers buy from you this year, you will make more money.
Pretty basic right? Let’s keep going!
2. Increase The Average Order Value Of Each Customer
The average order value of a customer is how much (on average) every customer spends with you.
So, let’s say a customer typically spends N3000 ($10) with you, if you can increase that amount, you will make more money.
In other words, how can you get your current customers to be repeat customers?
The easiest customer to get is one who is already a customer. This is a strategy that is often overlooked.
How can you increase how much each customer spends with you?
There are 2 ways to do this:
- Get customers to buy more of the same products. For example, a health store that sells supplements, get your customers to buy multiple bottles of a supplement rather than just one bottle.
- Get customers to buy different products. (still with the health store example, get your customers to buy supplements and also, buy a customized meal plan)
Either way, they buy from you multiple times and you make more money.
To do this, you need to have a list of potential and existing customers and continually
(Related Post: How To Build A List)
3. Increase Your Prices
Increasing the prices of your products and/or services is the final way that you will make money in your business.
So, back to our example from before, instead of selling your products for N3000 like you normally do, you sell it for N4,000.
Can you really increase your prices just like that?
If what you have is valuable and actually helps the people you offer it to, then, by all means, you can.
An easy way to do this is to make your product more valuable then, you can increase your prices.
For instance, with your supplements, you could include a customized 30-day meal plan and increase the price of your supplements.
When you offer your supplements with a free customized meal plan that will help them achieve their goal even faster, you can easily get them to pay a bit more.
The meal plan typically will cost you a little of your time to create it but will not only increase the value to the customer but also set you apart from the competition because
(Related Post: Case Study: Standing Out From Your Competitors)
Where The Magic Happens
The real power and magic happen when you combine these 3 elements together. It will lead to exponential growth.
Let me paint a picture for you here.
Example
Last year, you had an okay year financially. You sell Product X for N3,000 ($10). You had a total of 100 customers that made you a gross revenue of N300,000 ($1,000).
Strategy 1
If you implement strategy #1 (Get more customers) and you get 150 customers. That already gets your revenue up to N450,000 ($1500)
But don’t stop there.
Strategy 3
You also implement strategy #3 (increase the price of Product X from N3,000 ($10) to N4,000 ($13).
That immediately gets your revenue up to N600,000 ($2000) with the same 150 customers.
Did you see that revenue increase? By just implementing 2 of the 3 ways I shared, you get double your revenue (from N300,000 to N600,000)
But we’re still not stopping there.
Strategy 2
If you implement Strategy #2 (Increase Average Order Value per customer) you can get N8,000 per customer instead of N4,000.
That immediately gets your revenue up to N1,200,000 ($4000)
Instead of getting just N450,000 ($1500) focusing on just getting new customers, you can take your revenue all the way up to N1,200,000 ($4000) by including the other 2 elements.
That there is the gold.
Now, within these 3 Ways, there are probably hundreds of strategies that you can implement to take your business to the next level this year.
Maybe some ideas have already hit you.
Make sure you write them down NOW!
And that’s it.
But wait, I have something for you, in this FREE Webinar we talk about the importance of having a Digital Marketing Game plan and you can click here to watch it. Also, At the Business Growth Acceleration Workshop, we help businesses build out their very own customized Digital Marketing Success Game plan.
quite informative post. thanks for sharing it. good one.