about a sales funnel, creating offers, or
setting up Google Ads, Facebook Ads, SEO,
or any other system, you need to do this one
thing, as nothing matters if you can’t nail this:
you must know your customer intimately!
And that goes far beyond rudimentary data
such as their gender, age, and perhaps even
their location.
Solution: Find out what they want to
know
The better you understand their problem,
the better you can find the marketing
triggers for your product. What are the hair-
on-fire questions that they’ll appreciate you
answering? Collate popular questions from
forums (for example, Quora, Reddit and
Whirlpool), and find out what they’re asking
on Google. One tool to help you discover
these questions is AnswerThePublic.com.
This tool gives you invaluable insight into
what your customers are thinking, the kind
of questions they’re asking, and the hot-
button issues they’re struggling with.
What are the most common questions
your front-line staff are asked? Encourage
The Curious to share with you what they
want to know. And once you know their
questions and issues, you can provide the
solution. Develop content such as FAQs,
webinars, blog posts, videos and ebooks
addressing their collective queries to show
how responsive you are to their needs.
Mistake 3: You sell yourself rather
than the relationship
The icing on the cake is making an irresistible offer,
such as a guarantee, which infers a relationship
that will continue into the future
that will demonstrate your brand’s values – a
little like meeting the parents.
Put a ring on it!
Once a prospect is at the buying stage (3%
of the market), you want them to convert into
a customer. They understand your brand
and what you offer, trust you to deliver
the product or service you promise, and
are invested in their relationship with your
company.
It’s time for a proposal! The ring is an
offer and an invitation: for example, as a
service-based fitness business, you could
offer additional value and an incentive for
them to sign on the dotted line.
Make sure your marketing corresponds
to their level of maturity in the buying
journey. For example, when you reach
the top of the pyramid, your landing
page needs to take them straight to
products, such as bundles of sessions
or a 12-week training package, and all
your communications, from eDMs to
Facebooks ads, must give them a call to
action to buy.
The art of marketing goes beyond
simplistic promotion of products to make
a sale. It has evolved to encompass the
relationship between brand and customer
that starts well before the sale takes
place. Truly understanding what stage a
prospective customer is at in their buying
lifecycle can mean the difference between
marketing success and sales failure.
Sabri Suby
Sabri is the founder of
Australia’s fastest growing
digital marketing agency, King
Kong. His book Sell Like Crazy
covers all facets of digital
marketing and illustrates the path to success with
real-life case studies. The book is available at good
bookstores and at the King Kong website.
A Gatherer, around 17% of the market, has
moved up the pyramid and is now actively
looking for someone who can help them
solve their problem. However, if you hit them
too hard with a sales pitch now, they’ll feel
like you’re only there for their money. It’s
time the relationship matured.
Solution: Nurture the relationship
It is vital to keep nurturing the relationship
by building value. The Gatherer has made
some level of commitment by demonstrating
their interest and raising their hand. So now
you need to make the next move, and the
next one and the next one, to woo them.
For example, sending emails containing
interesting content or helpful advice,
webinars, videos – anything that is a value-
building asset. The icing on the cake to this
is making an irresistible offer, such as a
guarantee, which infers a relationship that
will continue into the future. You can also
try a freemium model, such as giving them
a free 30-day trial of your product, offering
a consultation, or inviting them to an event
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