In my previous article, we discussed the basic three questions you must answer before you start marketing your offer:
- What is the problem that you are solving?
- Who has that problem?
- Why should they see your offer as the solution?
If you are super clear on these, it is time to start getting visible!
Roll-out and get visible
I call this stage of the brand strategy process the roll-out plan. It is where we put all our work into action. At this stage, you want to make customers aware of you and the solution that you offer. If they can’t see you, they are not going to be able to consider you. You must devise a way to cut through the noise, get their attention, and stay there until they are ready to make a purchase.
You must create content that demonstrates that you have the solution to their problem, also known as content marketing (seriously no groaning here.) Content is the currency of introduction online and if it is valuable, establishes trust between strangers. Content is discovered via search and is what gets seen and shared on social media.
Things to ask yourself:
- Where does your customer hang out and look for solutions?
- What are your time and money budgets for creating content?
- What are your strengths for creating valuable content that will help you stand out? (Are you a better writer? Do you like Lives or videos? Are you good at podcasting?)
- What is your unique personality, your brand persona, that you can communicate with words and visuals, so people begin to recognize and remember you?
- How will you establish a connection with until they are ready to make a purchase? What steps will you initiate along the way to nurture the relationship and remain top-of-mind?
Once you’ve created your roll-out plan for getting visible and staying there, next up is…
Deliver the right message at the right time
You have already identified your ideal customer, and you understand that everything you do must always be about them. They must be at the center of every story and what you do in attracting or retaining them depends on how close or far away they are from choosing you to be their solution (and give you money, of course.)
It is crucial to get into your customers’ heads and understand the decision-making process. What are they really thinking? Things like:
- Do they know anything about you? If not, it will take some work before they even notice you and time before they remember and trust you.
- Who are your competitors? Your customers will educate themselves and weigh their options while looking for information that will help them move towards a decision.
- They will have many questions, and some may even try to talk themselves out of a purchase. They will need reassurance.
Here’s a breakdown using a graphic. Sometimes it is just better to see the customer decision-making process. Each stage has specific actions you should take.
To make everything graphic work out for you, you must have a crystal clear brand strategy before you start doing things, or as I call it, “random acts of marketing.”
Touchpoints & Brand-Building Tactics (Marketing)
The tacts or the specific “how do I do this” comes last after you do all the work. If you try to do tactics before your strategy you’ll end up wasting time and money but gain a ton of frustration.
Everything you do depends on the results of your strategy. You might ask:
How do I get visible?
Well, it might be social media, SEO, a blog, a podcast, networking…
How do I demonstrate I’m the best choice?
For sure, with your website, but you might also use a sales page, email list, book authorship, or public speaking.
How do I help them make a decision?
This one has even more moving parts: the stronger the objections, the more reassurance you will need to provide. FAQs, testimonials, and case studies might be simple enough for some, but others might require free trials, demos, and low-price offers as a gateway or free consultations for others.
Clarity is key to understanding how all the puzzle pieces fit together.
Creating a plan that makes sense for you helps make decisions easier and keeps you from being random and inefficient in your efforts.
Did you come in at the end? Check out the previous posts in this series:
“WHAT IS THIS BRAND THING? (1 OF 3)”
“WHAT IS THIS BRAND THING? (2 OF 3)”
As always if you need some help I’m here for you! Just hop on my calendar!
Schedule a Free Brand Assessment Today!