Success Fanatic Blog

Marketing Strategy - Maintaining Trust

A good marketing strategy includes knowing that you must not just build trust and credibility, you must maintain it.

I recently had an experience with someone in business who I've trusted for a while. It happened gradually. Here's what happened.

This person built trust and credilbility with me and I invested quite a bit of money into what this person was selling. I was very excited about this whole thing. That was a little over a year ago.

Since then we haven't had a lot of personal interaction. It's only been in a group setting. In that context, this person said they were going to do some things and there were other things they wouldn't do.  I listened carefully - we all did. It was important to our futures.

Over time, it turned out that this particular person changed their mind. Things they were going to do didn't happen. Things they weren't going to do, did happen. The result is that one person spoke out. Others who were trying to be polite also spoke up. Some have been given things others haven't so they are alright with this person.

But this person has now lost about half of the original group and I'll bet that they are telling some of their people their story. It will be just a matter of time before they start telling the masses on the internet. All of the time that this person has spent building a company and reputation will be affected by this.

The moral of the story?  You need to not only build trust and a marketing strategy, you must be sure that your business plan insists on congruity and living up to your promises.

Marketing Strategy - Customer VS. Client

Your marketing plan must include a marketing strategy that differentiates between customer and client. In some industries, you have only one or the other. For instance, a chiropractor, coach, consultant, will only have clients. Then there are other industries like real estate that have both. In real estate everyone is a customer (limited fiduciary responsibility) unless you're a buyer's broker then they are your clients. In real estate, these are legal terms and if you call someone a client who is really a customer, you could get into legal trouble with the Real Estate Commission. This is probably the most extreme example.

The easiest way to generally differentiate this twist for your marketing plan, is this: if you work with them one time on a non personal level, they are customers. If you work one on one with them, they are clients.

After you do it for a while, it will become obvious to you. But if you delineate it ahead of time, you'll know what they expect, which is important in knowing how to treat them.

Marketing Strategy - Chumming

Marketing Strategies come in all shapes and sizes and are only limited by our imaginations.

I've always talked about the value of fishing when you are marketing your business, because , in effect, that's what you're doing. You cast your line with your bait in a place where you know you'll find fish, and you wait for a nibble.

I just learned about the concept of chumming. This takes fishing to a whole new level. Here are the basics. You find your favorite spot, you put great bait on 4 hooks at one time, all on the same line, then you cast. After you cast, you take a mixture of chicken feed, flour and water, form it into a ball, and throw it right where your line is. The fish come running (or swimming very fast) and get a taste of food, want more, and chomp down on the hook. You reel them in.

Great comparison to marketing and a brilliant marketing strategy to add to your marketing plan. Have four different hooks to get them there in their own way, use chicken feed (free great content to make them want more) then reel them in. How awesome is that?