Why isn’t my marketing working?

A lot of times when we analyze why marketing isn’t working, we want to boil it down to one problem.

Sometimes it’s something like, “We just don’t have good enough pictures” or “The market is oversaturated.” 

While the reasons you may have for your marketing not working may be right, there’s a holistic approach to marketing that needs to be explored as well. Here are the 9 things to take a deeper look at when you consider why your marketing doesn't work. 

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Step 1: Clarify Your Message

All marketing needs to start with a clear and consistent message that captures the attention of your audience. The most effective marketing recognizes the story of the customer and finds a way to be a part of their story. Your audience should have an emotional connection to you, knowing you can help them solve their problems. We always use the StoryBrand framework when helping companies craft a clear, compelling message.

Step 2: A One-liner

Once your message has been clearly identified, you need to be able to boil it down to a quick statement that inspires your audience to act. Your one-liner should open a story loop in the customer’s mind so they begin to see you playing a role in their story. The best way to do this is framing your story in a problem, solution, and success pattern. The free perfect elevator pitch mini-course is a great way to develop your one-liner.

Step 3: Brand Strategy

The most compelling brands are the ones that stay true to themselves and you always recognize them. This comes through their use of language, imagery, and colors. Having a brand identity and a playbook on how to implement that brand identity will lay the foundation for the strategy your brand uses when marketing. 

Step 4: Website

Your website will be one of the first places your audience interacts with you. It’s where they discover whether or not you can play a role in their story. Your website should do more than just be a billboard for your company. It should talk about your customer’s problems and how you seek to solve them every day. You can’t just focus on your product or service, you have to talk about how doing business with you will make a customer’s life better. And of course, you want your website to be on brand and up-to-date.

Step 5: Lead Generators

For those in your audience who aren’t quite ready to do business with you, you need to have a low commitment offer. Free is best. A lead generator that will effectively capture their email address needs to offer an incredible amount of value, something that will immediately make your customer’s life better. Giving your potential customer a taste of how you can help solve their problems is the best way to get them to come back to do business with you. But, don’t be confused, “Sign up for our newsletter” isn’t a great lead generator. No one wants to get more emails. Give them something of value.

Step 6: Social Media

A strong social media strategy is a great way to connect with your audience and get the word out about your business. But many businesses struggle to know what to even post, or make posts that are meaningless. The best filter for what to post on social media I know of is: Education, Entertainment, Inspiration. Try to teach your audience something. Give your audience a reason to smile. Remind them they aren’t alone with encouragement. If what you post on social media falls into one of these three categories you’ll know it’s providing great value. 

Step 7: Nurture emails

Remember that lead generator we used to get email addresses? Well, now you need to keep in touch with those people! Regular emails sent to your email list help keep you top of mind. But once again, always make sure these emails are of value. Follow the same education, entertainment, inspiration filter. Also know it’s ok if people aren’t actually reading your emails. As long as they see your name in their inbox on a regular basis, the moment they begin to struggle with the problem you solve, you’ll be the first one to come to mind.

Step 8: Sales emails

Let’s be honest, we are in business to make money. Sure, there’s good we can do with that money, but unless we are making money we can’t benefit anyone else. Every now and then it’s good to send a sales email reminding people of the specific problem you solve, the product or service you sell. Always frame it in a way that benefits the customer though. Highlight the ways it will make their life better, don’t just focus on the features. 

Step 9: Proposals

A deal that doesn’t get closed is as bad as no deal. If your proposals lack clarity and fail to speak about the value you bring, you probably won’t close many sales. If your proposal confuses or doesn’t compel a lead to take action then your business will never grow. Make sure your proposal continues to focus on the problem you solve and the success someone will experience after doing business with you.

So there you have it. The 9 steps you need to take to ensure your marketing will work and your business will grow. 

Remember to take the free 10-minute assessment to get a custom report on the next step you need to take.