Why do a lot of  online marketing initiatives fall flat on their face? In most if not all cases it is because at least one these three crucial factors is incompatible or out of alignment with the others, resulting in an ineffective marketing situation.

In order to launch a successful marketing campaign, your mission (should you want the right results) is to ensure that your business aligns to bring all three of these criteria into play in the most effective ways possible, using leading strategies and resources in order to do so.

Component #1 – Prospects: In a lot of cases, unhappy outcomes are the result of trying to persuade the wrong prospects.

The ideal prospect:
*    Has a need or desire that your business fulfils.
*    Cares deeply and has a strong sense of urgency to have their need or desire fulfilled.
*    Are able and willing to pay the required price in order to have their need or desire fulfilled

IMPORTANT: It is vital that the Prospect, (i.e. who your business is specifically designed to serve) is clearly and succinctly defined.
Once this is done you can then move on to directing your online marketing efforts to accomplish two distinct goals:
1)    Finding and attracting prospects who match your ‘ideal prospect profile’ to your website.
2)    Driving away all those incompatible with the target profile as effectively and as swiftly as possible.

Debunking the P for Plenty myth of online marketing:

Before we continue I would like to debunk a dangerous myth – The more traffic, the better!

The debunked down-low truth: The more ‘profile specific’ traffic the better! There is a big difference between the two, let me explain briefly.

Driving prospects that do not harbour a need or desire to use your service / product is ineffective and just plain bad marketing practice. The devil is in the details. The savvy marketer knows this, but more so knows how to filter out those prospects that neither want nor need the service you are providing, and conversely, knows how to focus on and attract all the prospects that do fit the profile and are actively searching for the service you provide!

By clearly developing and defining your ‘ideal prospect’ profile you will be much better equipped to attract ‘target specific’ traffic to your website and have an infinitely higher chance of converting these prospects into loyal customers. What’s more you will save yourself the compounding headache of directing impotent, wasted marketing efforts at prospects that have no intention of buying your products or using your service.

With this in mind, and once you know just WHO you are providing your service to, it’s time to focus on the next crucial component in the triad, which is the WHAT you are offering, or rather, the Proposition.

Component #2 – The Proposition:
A great proposition must –
*    Include an unquestionably strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
*    Offer a powerful UVP (Unique Value Propositon)
*    Meet and answer all of the prospects’ immediate and most pressing needs, questions, desires and demands
*    Overcome any doubts the prospects may have.

Crafting a proposition that accomplishes all of the above requires considerable energy, effort and most importantly, expertise.

You need to work on crafting a compelling offer that speaks directly to your ideal prospects in order to sell the action you wish them to take.

This brings us to the third and final component in the process – The HOW.
How are you going to develop a process that funnels your ideal prospects to your web site so that they can be presented with your incredibly powerful, tailor-made proposition which effectively compels them to sign up, pick up the phone, visit your store, order your product, download your brochure… etc?

Component #3 – The Process:
The process is what brings the other two components into play and ensures that you achieve your overall objective as efficiently as possible. In order to do this you need to play the match game:

1)    Match your Process to your Prospect
2)    Match the Process to the Proposition
3)    Match prospects to Place

It is crucial that you utilize the most effective means of disseminating and conveying your proposition (message) to your ideal prospects (target market) by making use of the best media resources and strategies (process) at your disposal. For smart digital marketing that delivers results, contact FIRST today.