Social media doesn’t work. Cold calling doesn’t work. Print advertising doesn’t work. Email is dead! Whenever an advertiser is unable to make a particular marketing vehicle work, they often blame the delivery mechanism and declare it either dead or ineffective. But what if the problem isn’t the marketing vehicle? What if it’s just the way you’re using it?

David:                   Hi and welcome to the podcast. Today co-host Chris Templeton and I will be talking about marketing vehicles, which ones work, and which ones don’t. Welcome Chris!

Chris:                     Hi David! In a previous podcast we talked about the MVP of marketing and sales. What’s the marketing message we’re communicating? Which combination of marketing vehicles will we use to communicate the message? And which people or prospects do we plan to reach? But today we’re going to take a closer look at the marketing vehicles and try to figure out why so many people tend to blame the marketing vehicle when things go wrong.  What’s up with that?

David:                   Yeah, what is up with that? Well, it’s easier than taking responsibility for the failure of any campaign. Because really what we’re talking about here in terms of any sort of communication is the MVPs. You know, what’s the message I’m conveying? Which combination of marketing vehicles will I use to communicate the message? And who are the people or prospects that I want to reach? So if I post a bunch of social media messages and no one responds… if no one likes it, nobody looks at it, it’s far easier for me to blame the media than to ask if what I’m posting is compelling enough. If I run a paid ad somewhere and no one responds to it, it’s easier for me to blame the delivery mechanism than it is to think that my well-crafted, beautiful offer is somehow inadequate or unappealing. It forces me to blame myself instead of the medium. And in a lot of cases it’s just easier to blame the marketing vehicle or the medium that we’re using.

Chris:                     But that doesn’t serve us much, does it though?

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David:                   No, because when a particular marketing vehicle isn't working for us, it doesn't mean the entire vehicle itself is flawed. It might just be the way that we're using it and when we understand that we're going to be on the path to be able to start to fix these things rather than just become a victim of them.

Chris:                     Again, it goes back to the whole piece that we did on who's the buyer and looking at this and saying, what are the things that I need to look out for myself? It's so easy to blame the vehicle, but there's so many things that we can do to improve how we perform on any of those vehicles, including consistency. But let's start with cold calling. Lots of people are not big fans of it. It can be intrusive. It's usually unwelcome and it often disrupts a person's day. But is it effective?

Is Cold Calling Effective?

David:                   Well, it can be and cold calling is not my favorite form of first contact, but it doesn't really matter that it's not my favorite form of first contact because for some people it works very well. I mean, I personally don't like it from a positioning standpoint, but some people are great at it and they swear by it and they're able to generate customers with it. So from that standpoint, for them it is absolutely effective. That's where I think we run into trouble is just because cold calling is not my preferred method of initiating contact with a new prospect doesn't mean that it doesn't work. So if I say something like, "Oh, cold calling stinks, that doesn't work." It's just not true. It's not factually true. And no matter how much I dislike a particular marketing method, for me to summarily dismiss anyone's preferred method of marketing, it's not right. It's not honest. Because for some people, different types of marketing are going to work.

Chris:                     And the other thing to keep in mind is if cold calling isn't for you, but you recognize its value, there are ways to get people to do the initial cold call. And let's face facts. For me as a business owner, once I know somebody who's interested, I have no problem with making the calls. It's that tough call, the cold call where I don't know if they have an interest, go find somebody who loves to do it. There are people out there that love to do it, aren't there?

David:                   There are, and as I said, I mean I'm not a big fan of it myself. I have not made a cold call in a long time, but I have paid other people to do it.  So, it continues to happen whether I'm doing it or not.

Social media, email & advertising

Chris:                     Yep. Good point. Should people focus on one primary method of communication or do you think it's better to mix it up? What's your sense on that?

David:                   Well, I think it's definitely better if you mix it up. I tend to favor a varied approach because I think it creates a different experience when we do that. If all I do is call you on the phone, right? If I'm trying to sell you something and I have your phone number, Chris, and I'm calling you whatever, every couple of days or every couple of weeks, and I'm trying to find out if you want to buy what it is that I'm selling. That can get old pretty quickly because you're kind of used to, okay, this guy is calling me on the phone and trying to sell me something. But if we were to take more of a varied approach where maybe you visited my website and maybe as a result of visiting my website, you've been cookied and so now when you're on Facebook, you're seeing an ad for something that I offer that could potentially be of interest to you. Now you're seeing me on there as well.  As a result of stopping by my website, maybe you've opted in to receive a special report that I offer a free report or something like that. So, you're also getting emails with the free report and with the follow-ups to the free report. So now it's a combination approach. You're seeing my ads on Facebook, you're getting my emails with a follow-up to the information you requested and then if I'm contacting you on the phone now it seems like a continuation of something else as opposed to the one thing I'm doing, like I'm just calling.  So when you're able to accomplish this, what ends up happening is people seem to feel like you're everywhere they look and the better you can create that environment in which you are essentially everywhere they look; then you start to become more present to them and they look that and say, “Okay, this person must really be good because I'm seeing them everywhere.” Not realizing that you have orchestrated that.

Chris:                     You know, one of the things that I think is really important to talk about is retargeting, which is the piece that you're talking about where five years ago that was a really scary thing, but I think now people are in a much different place with finding ads for sites that I've visited popping up in other places. Wouldn't you agree with that?

David:                   Well, yeah. People are more used to it, but also a lot of times people don't think about it. I mean they're on there, they're seeing all kinds of ads for all kinds of things and they're ignoring most of them and it may be that they're ignoring your ads as well, but somewhere in the back corner of their mind they're recognizing it. They're recognizing the fact that this is there, and it starts to permeate the brain.  And if they see those ads after visiting your website and then if you're contacting them a month or so later, they're going to be a lot more likely to be familiar with your company, with your brand because they've been seeing it whether or not they've been paying attention to it.

Consistency across messaging

Chris:                     And now it's test time. If anybody listening to our last podcast, one of the primary focuses we had was consistency across messaging. Talk a little bit about that, David.

David:                   Right, you want to make sure that people can essentially follow the scent. It's like a hunting dog, the, you know, the dog wants to pick up on a particular scent and follow it through. If you've got different forms of communication and they're all conveying a very similar message, then they're able to follow the scent and all make sense. If you've got three different ads talking about three different things, then there's going to be a disconnect. They're not going to perceive it as part of the same thing. It's going to be disjointed or disconnected. There are a lot of people who run all kinds of ads and you see the ad and what's in the ad is very appealing and then you click through the ad and it takes you to the homepage of their website, which doesn't address at all whatever it was that was in the ad. So they make you dig for it and people will not dig for it. They'll get to it. There will be a disconnect. Their mind will say, "this isn't what I clicked on" and they'll go away. So making sure that there's a consistency between the ad that you're running and then wherever you're directing the person to. And then if you're offering them something free, that all of that is consistent so that when they get to the point where they have to enter their name and their information to receive more information from you, they feel comfortable doing it because they know exactly what it is that's being asked of them.

Chris:                     You made a comment on the last podcast about helping the buyer insert themselves into the story. This is again, that whole idea of a path that they can follow that makes sense, that's consistent, the messaging is similar. If I can create that story, I've just done myself a huge favor in my sales. Haven’t I?

David:                   Yeah, and when you're doing that in multiple areas, you're doing it in the ads, you're doing it in the emails, you're doing it on the phone. If you meet them in person, you're doing it in person, you're doing it on your website. If all of that flows together and they have a really clear idea of who you are and how you help them, then it just facilitates the sale. It allows everything to move a whole lot faster because they're not getting stuck. It's that greased chute approach that I like to talk about.  You want them to be able to get into the top of the chute and just go flying down and out the other side. And that only happens when you really think things through and you plan it and you craft it to happen that way.

Chris:                     And take the time to do it and work with a partner or with somebody to help you to go through that process a couple of times, because each time that you do there's a little more polish. You find something that you didn't think about that you get to address. And if you look at it as a process of improvement, I think it makes it a lot easier to kind of approach because it is a big order, isn't it, David?

Dominating your market

David:                   Yeah, and when we talk about this idea of sort of being everywhere they look, and this ties into the whole idea of market domination, which of course is a big theme of ours.  Our course, Total Market Domination is about creating that environment so that when they're thinking about the products and services you offer, you leap to mind because you have designed an environment for them in which that happens, right? You haven't left it to chance. You don't say, “Oh, I hope they're going to know who I am. I hope they're going to find out about me.” You're creating that environment and it's such a huge distinction between the way that most businesses operate where they just put some stuff out there and they hope people find it. That approach doesn't work. When you create that environment for them, then it's easy because they're looking around and they're seeing you everywhere they look.

Chris:                     The story needs to be, what a pleasure it is to create this path in this story that I can help a buyer go down and really get to a point where they feel like they are ready because of this journey that they've taken. And it sounds kind of over the top maybe, but really that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to get them to take that journey and get closer and closer to making a buying decision.

David:                   Yes. And when people are thinking, where should I start? Which marketing vehicles should I start with? Because that's really what we're talking about with the marketing vehicles and people blaming marketing vehicles. And so do I start with a cold call? Do I start with the direct mailing piece? What do I start with? And what I would encourage you to do is to start with something that you think you'll like. Start with something that you will feel comfortable with. If you hate the idea of cold calling and you force yourself to initiate contact with new people by cold calling, you're going to do a terrible job of it. You're going to hate doing it.  You're going to put it off, you're going to procrastinate and even when you do, you're not going to do a great job.

David:                   So think in terms of what would be my best form of first contact? What would position me well? Is it a social media post that someone would see that I could boost to get in front of the people that I want to know who I am? Because if they see me that way, then they feel like they're discovering me. So it doesn't feel as much like I'm putting an ad in front of them. It feels like they just happen to stumble across it, now it's their idea. You know that type of thing can be a very effective first contact. You also want to think in terms of balancing time and dollars. Which do you have more of? If you've got more time on your hands than you have money, then you're going to have to put in a little elbow grease. You're going to have to create more content to get in front of people.  If you've got more money than you have time, then you can create some content. And you can boost it. You can put some money behind it. You can get it in front of more of the people that you want to reach to get them engaged with you. And also, you know, think in terms of what you prefer. Do you prefer writing? Do you prefer speaking? Do you prefer being face to face? Because if you prefer writing you can write posts that people can read. If you prefer speaking, you can record audio that you can send out links and people can listen to your audio. Like we're doing an audio podcast today. Do you like being face to face with people? Well you can do that in person or you can shoot video and you can send people a link to a video so that you can be in front of them talking to them as if you're right in front of them and you can leverage yourself. So think in terms of the marketing vehicles that are going to be best suited for you and what you want to accomplish in your business, given your personality and your preferences.

Authentic communication

Chris:                     You know, I'll just say that one of the things that I love about doing this podcast with you is it is absolutely clear who you are as a person in terms of am I going to have a fit with this person? I know you enough from listening to just one podcast to know whether there's a fit or not, and I think in most cases when the conversation is like this, it really helps somebody to get that sense and move past the, “Oh, they're just trying to sell me something.” I really encourage this kind of communication because it comes off as authentic. I hear your passion and so it's an interesting way to do it, lots of ways to do it, but I think of this one as being kind of the closest thing to a phone call.

David:                   Yeah. There are two sides to that because there are some people who will listen to it and they'll go, "Oh, I can't stand that guy or that guy." Oh yeah, whatever. They can think whatever it is that they think, and that's going to happen in every selling situation. There are going to be people who are attracted to what you say and what you do in the way that you do things. And there are going to be people who are repelled by it. And that's a good thing because the sooner you can find the people who resonate with you, the sooner you can be in your environment and the sooner you can create a customer base that you actually want to interact with. The people who understand me and who listen to this podcast and listen to the things that I put out and say, “Oh okay, that makes sense to me.” Those are the people who are best likely to be good clients for us. The ones who don't like it obviously would not be good clients for us and so they don't listen. So that's awesome. But so much of it is, yeah, you're right. It's just about being who you are. People will love you or they'll hate you. Either way, it doesn't matter. Because as long as there are enough of them who love you and as long as you're able to deliver for them, which is critical, then you'll have a great business.

Chris:                     Yup, absolutely. And also, I think the other thing just to mention is that whatever your first approach is, make sure that you've got a follow-up, that there's regular communication.  This is that idea of going down that path, but make sure you've got a couple of good follow-ups or easy to send, whether it's email, whatever the case may be, and really start to establish it's that consistent contact that makes such a difference, isn't it?

David:                   Yeah, and part of that could be mixing up the different genres. Even within the email, you could send out an email that has a link to a video of you. You could send out an email that has a link to an audio of you. You could send out a link to a post that you posted on social media where they could read something that you've written. So there are lots of different ways to convey that. And then you can also get an idea of what your prospects preferences are if they seem to like video more than you can do more video.

Chris:                     Yeah, that's a great point. We've got to wrap it up. Let's talk about the action steps our listeners should take. If what they want to do is figure out the best marketing vehicles for them.

Three Steps to Improve Your Results

  1. Don't rush to blame the marketing vehicle when something isn't working. Review your messaging. Review the audience you've targeted.
  2. Consider a varied approach. Use a combination of marketing vehicles to create the impression that you're everywhere they look.
  3. Lead with marketing vehicles you think you'll like. If you're comfortable with it, you'll be far more likely to use it consistently.

David:                   Okay. First of all, if it's not working, don't rush to blame the marketing vehicle. Take a look at your messaging. What are you saying in there? Is it attracting people or is it repelling them? Determine who is seeing it. Who are the people that are receiving the message and then ask if it's working for other people. Because if that marketing vehicle is working for other people but it's not working for you, then the problem is not the vehicle. Right? Gotta face facts. Second, consider a varied approach. Can you use a combination of marketing vehicles to create the impression that you're everywhere they look? Ideally the answer to that question is yes.  So, if they're getting your emails and if they're seeing you on social media and if they're seeing your videos and they're listening to your audios, that's what I mean by a varied approach. It mixes it up and allows them to feel like you're everywhere, and they're experiencing you in lots of different ways, which makes it come across a lot more interesting. Third, lead with marketing vehicles that you think you'll like. If you're good at writing, write. If you prefer to speak, use audio. If you prefer to be face to face, get in front of people. Or consider using video to leverage that. Because if you like it, if you're comfortable with it, you will do more of it. Then you will attract the types of people who resonate with that, and who like the types of stuff you're putting out.

Chris:                   So powerful, so powerful. Listen to this one twice at least. Okay, let's talk about what's coming up on our next podcast, David.

David:                   Okay, Chris, in our next podcast we're going to be talking about your daily wins. What are you doing every day to move you toward your goals?

Chris:                   Another critical one. Hey, great podcast, David. See on the next one.

David:                   Okay, thanks Chris.

If you're tired of flat or declining sales and losing business to your competitors, be sure to check out my latest web presentation entitled Programming Clients to Choose You. Who are your very best prospects currently programmed to buy from? Is it you or someone else? If you want it to be, you, visit topsecrets.com/choose and register for the free presentation now. That's topsecrets.com/choose.

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