Which Comes First?
Life is never quite linear... but there are natural flows and process sequences that make sense as a roadmap.
Build From the Bottom Up
Just like in the physical realm, when we build a business, it is wise to start from the bottom up, according to a plan of where we want to wind up in the end...
Your marketing funnel sits beneath your platform to collect leads and turn them into customers and clients. At the bottom of your marketing funnel is your client satisfaction zone that influences how long your clients stay engaged in your process, and whether they become actively engaged as product evangelists as well.
Your marketing funnel sits beneath your platform to collect leads and turn them into customers and clients. At the bottom of your marketing funnel is your client satisfaction zone that influences how long your clients stay engaged in your process, and whether they become actively engaged as product evangelists as well.
Your Funnel: The Foundation of Your Business
Growing your business is ultimately about giving more value more often to more people. You can break it down to the people, and the lifetime value to your business of each of those people as a client, a referral source, a product evangelist, etc. The full breakdown of the triunity is:
- People engaged
- Length of time they stay engaged in your 'funnel'
- Frequency of engagement
- Financial value of each engagement
Your Platform
The top of your platform is made up of all the people whom you reach with your message. Reaching more people grows your business especially when those you reach are a match with your target market.
An effective way to engage your own mind with your market is to create a mental Avatar, an image of your ideal client. When you know who you are trying to reach, you can reach them more effectively. Sources of traffic include:
An effective way to engage your own mind with your market is to create a mental Avatar, an image of your ideal client. When you know who you are trying to reach, you can reach them more effectively. Sources of traffic include:
- Email Marketing: both auto responder sequences and newsletters
- Engaging Blogging
- Engaging Social Media
- SEO
- Engaging Advertisements via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google Adwords
Products and Services
An optimum mix of products and services will cover the full range of price points, so that everyone can find their way step by step to a comfortable level of engagement and service:
- Lead Magnet (free or $1; Note: high end service businesses may want to charge for the Lead Magnet to reduce the number of unproductive leads to follow up on when followup is time intensive, such as by phone interview)
- Introductory Product (e.g. $7 or $17; followup sequence if not purchased)
- Intermediate Product (e.g. $47, $97, $147, $197 or $297 course, product or service; followup sequence if not purchased)
- Advanced Product (e.g. $27/month Membership continuity program, $497 consultation, $997 program, or $1997 event; followup sequence if not purchased)
Recycling Your Traffic
Keeping your tribe engaged is orders of magnitude more efficient than engaging new members.
Ways you will want to encourage this in your communication mix include:
Ways you will want to encourage this in your communication mix include:
- Blogs
- Social Media, including boosting Facebook Page posts (remember to use less than 20% text in your image, and keep your 'call to action' link in the first 90 characters)
- Retargeting
- Custom Audiences