Here’s an uncomfortable reality: there’s a good chance that your marketing campaign is doomed before it launches.
And all the time and money you’ve spent on creative, copywriting, and advertising will be for naught.
That’s because most small business owners launch campaigns from their perspective, broadcasting messages about what they feel is important rather than tailoring their messages to specific prospects in a specific stage of the buying process.
And worse, they often do it while aspiring to a goal of increasing sales…which is often the wrong goal, given whothey’re targeting and where they are in the buying process.
In order for campaigns to have a good shot at success, the campaign’s goal, customer segment, and the customer’s stage in the buying process should be aligned.
For example, if you’re targeting the top of the funnel, you’ll want to make sure that you’re describing the problem or aspiration that motivates a prospective customer to overcome the inertia of ‘doing nothing’ and engaging you by taking a step forward.
From there, you want to help them discern solutions and provide resources to help them move further down the funnel.
It’s often easier for prospective customers to move from one stage of the funnel to the next than it is for them to skip steps.
(If this sounds challenging, don’t worry, we have a tutorial on how to create a marketing campaign that may be helpful.)
So, before you launch your next campaign, ask these questions for every campaign that you’re spending time or money on:
- What is my goal for this effort (get sales, increase engagement, acquire email addresses, etc.)
- Who am I targeting?
- Where are they in the buying process (indifferent? ready to buy?)
- Do 1-3 make sense together?
And continue asking these questions until you can answer “Yes!” for #4.
