“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got!”
Are You Reading the Signs Accurately?
Visible dashboards are important tools that help yoo keep your eyes on key metrics and notice warning signs quickly when something is amiss. However, these metrics need to applied in the context of your goals or they can become a distraction themselves.
Dashboards act as signposts to tell you what the score is so that you can pay see crucial warning signs.
Ignoring warning the signs your key business metrics send you is like ignoring the warning lights on your car. If the light stays on for long enough you end up with a major problem that is potentially devastating and expensive. Fix it right away and things aren’t so bad.
Fatal Distraction!
Focus on the metrics that matter!
Sam (name changed to protect the guilty) was a metric fanatic. He measured and displayed everything.
The problem was that he never stopped to consider which metrics mattered most, so he was always reacting to short term lead and cash flow crunches by launching new programs and products. In the process, he almost missed the opportunity to establish his identity and focus on his strengths.
In the midst of what I call ‘a crisis of projection’ (a future lead, sales, or cash forecast that signals danger) it’s important to keep your eye on the long-term goal.
Every time Sam ran after a quick rush of leads and low value sales he lost sight of his goal of promoting his flagship program which participants loved. Within a short time, he had more products and courses than he could track and people were starting to treat his ads and emails with disdain.
Unfortunately, this started to have a flow-over effect as lack of interest and poor reviews of his smaller programs affected interest and enrolment in his flagship program.
Sam used every form of ‘desperation marketing’ he could think of to try and resolve the problem. He copied the tactics of online marketing gurus, invested in paid ads, programs, and software and he managed to keep the wheels spinning for a few more months.
Finally, stressed out with all the pointless scrambling he asked himself, “What could I change? What’s really important here?”
Looking back over the past 6 months he realised that he’d been running around trying to create new interests, rather than building the assets he already had. His programs had multiplied, his reputation had diminished, and many of his loyal fans had lost interest because he was scattering his attention so broadly.
Oops!!!
No Need to Look Too Far…
Sam had been so dazzled by all the metrics he could see that he had forgotten about the ones that had always made most impact on his sales: creating podcasts, sending direct mail, and writing blogs that acted like a breadcrumb trail driving the right prospects to his flagship product.
Just because a strategy is commonly used and even promoted by ‘gurus’ doesn’t mean that it will work for your business. That’s why it’s important to keep the 7 marketing fundamentals in mind when you’re distracted by bright shiny objects and a gazillion metrics:
- Will this appeal to my WHO (target audience)?
- Is this the right MESSAGE for my ideal audience?
- Is this the PLACE my ideal audience hangs out?
- Is my CALL TO ACTION appealing to my ideal audience?
- Am I SYSTEMATIC in my marketing efforts?
- Does my APPROACH focus on attracting qualified prospects?
- Do I FOLLOW UP effectively?
What Sam Saw…
When Sam asked himself these questions he realised he’d violated all of these fundamentals:
- He’d diluted his audience so that he was not appealing to his ideal clients (people interested in mastery and implementation of his teaching) but to budget-seekers and ideators.
- His message was suited to people wanting freebies and novelty, rather than growth and change.
- His ideal audience weren’t really in the places he was promoting his offers.
- His call to action was better-suited to dilettantes than serious students.
- He had stopped focusing on building his system and was just jumping from campaign to campaign.
- He was so desperate that his approach was scaring off serious prospects.
- He had so many balls to juggle that he wasn’t following up any of the initial campaigns so those prospects who might have actually bought if they’d been exposed to more information just disappeared.
A Man Could Change, Couldn’t He?
Yes. And Sam did change… fast!
Because he had to… it was either change or quit.
Fortunately he had the fundamental knowledge and tools he needed, so he just had to DO what he already KNEW.
He sorted out his marketing problems first, (generally all business problems can be solved by effective marketing) and got his cash position back into the black, then he sought out a coach who would help him stay on track and focus on the things that mattered most.
Like most of us, Sam needed some guidance and accountability to practice the things he already knew.
Direct Response: Marketing That Works
The beauty of direct response marketing is that it is easy to learn, simple to execute, delivers measurable results in a relatively short space of time, and it provides an incredible level of predictability for your business.
his makes it very effective for creating predictability in both long-cycle and short-cycle businesses.
In the first article of this series ‘WHY MARKETING FAILS’ PART 1 I told the story of my client who has a long sales cycle and how magnetic marketing worked. Here’s another perspective:
The Question: How can I increase my volume of sales quickly?
The Answer: online advertising, plus a postcard using Australia Post mail to selected postcodes with a simple CTA. Respondents received a targeted, multi-step marketing campaign that combined both online and offline components as outlined in the Magnetic Marketing(™) Program. We created a series of lead magnets in different formats (audio, video, written), used the 3-step sales letter sequence from the program and found some appropriate attention-grabbers in the local Reject Shop to attach as lumpy-mail. Non-buyers received email and post follow up.
The following are results from a real campaign your results will vary depending on industry, targeting, creative, and other factors, but this illustrates what can happen.
Total Cost of Campaign (excluding program & collateral creation): $1,500.00
Cost per Lead: $1.63
New Names on List: 920
Program Cost $995.00
Total Sales Revenue in first 30 days: $27,462 (3% conversion)
Total Sales Revenue in Days 30-60: $73,232 (8% conversion
The Lesson: When you change your outreach and develop a system which is focused and includes extensive follow up your results can be encouraging.
The Magnetic Marketing(™) Program… a great place to start
If this is all new to you, I suggest that you familiarise yourself with the basics of magnetic marketing before you do anything else.
If you’re in Melbourne, we’d love to see you at our Magnetic Marketing Mastermind which meets monthly on Tuesday evenings in Box Hill. To learn more and sign up for notifications visit https://memg.com.au.
NB: This is not a sales or referral meeting.