To make your company’s marketing process stronger, I’d like to look at what I call the 7Ms of phenomenal marketing,
- Marketing mindset
The way you think about marketing is critical. Many cleaning and restoration business owners don’t plan their marketing. Instead of being proactive with their marketing, they are reactive. They market when things slow down, or they market when they have time. A marketing plan that is implemented consistently is the key to record sales and profits. Don’t wait until you need business to market your business.
- Money
Establish money goals. Do you have a sales goal? You should have a number chosen that you expect sales to hit for the year. Have you planned what your marketing budget will be? You should know how much you’re going to spend, on what, and when.
- Mission
When it comes to marketing, you want to keep in mind what you are actually delivering. If you have not determined what your company’s mission is, you should come to terms with that before planning your marketing.
Your mission is the unique experience you want to deliver. For example, at Phenomenal Products, our mission is “to help small business owners stop being slaves to their business.” The mission of my cleaning company, Clean As A Whistle, is “to provide the most outstanding service experience ever.”
Whatever your company aims to do for its customers, you should have a statement that expresses it. Your mission will determine who your target market is and what your marketing messages will look like.
- Market
To determine who your prime target market is, think about who wants and needs the unique experience you want to provide. For example, since our mission is to help small business owners stop being slaves to their businesses, our target market is the small business owner who is open to change and ready to learn. This is only one type of business owner. Not every business owner is in our market.
For example, the “serial entrepreneur” — the one who is always starting a new venture, has a very short attention span, and gets distracted by bright, shiny objects — is not our prime target. They are just looking for the next big marketing wave to ride. That’s not what I do. Does that mean we don’t service serial entrepreneurs? Not at all. We just don’t target them.
Another type of business owner is the brand-new business owner. The problem here is that they have not yet experienced the pain of being in business. They don’t feel like slaves to their businesses. They are still on the “honeymoon,” so to speak.
Another example is my high-end service company in Houston. We decided that we would provide the “most outstanding service experience ever” — that we would have the best equipment and processes and be better-trained than anyone else. We would offer first-class, over-the-top customer service.
Guess what? Not everyone is willing to pay for that pricey, first-class experience. So, our target market became what we call “Mercedes clients.” It doesn’t mean they all drive Mercedes; it just means that they have Mercedes attitudes towards their indoor environments.
When I learned who my target market was, I was more successful because I then focused all my marketing and my coaching around the needs of my prime target market.
- Message
Once you determine how much money your business needs to produce, what your mission is, and who your target market is, you now want to craft a message. What’s the message that resonates with your target market?
I have found that the high-quality prospects are looking for five things:
- Reputation
Your message should create trust. This is done by communicating what others say about you. This can be referral sources as well as client testimonials and ratings. The benefit is they have peace of mind that you will treat them right.
- Experience
In the high-end market, the client must be convinced that you didn’t start yesterday. If you have been in business for a long time, be sure to communicate that and that you are experienced in all areas they may be concerned with. The benefit to them is that you or your team will know how to handle their situation. If you are new, focus on the next point instead.
- Education
Communicate the training you and your team have received. The benefit is that you are on the cutting edge of what’s happening in your industry.
- Systems
The experience your company provides will set you apart more than anything else, but you must communicate what you do that is different from others — and that experience must appeal to your target market.
- Guarantee
Offering a 100 per cent, money-back guarantee takes the risk out of choosing your company for potential clients.
- Methods
It seems that digital marketing is all the rage today. I’m still scratching my head, wondering why people would want to attract strangers from the internet while they ignore their repeat clients and referral sources.
My cleaning company generated over a million dollars in referral business last year. Why? Because we consistently implement our referral programs. And the other 2.4 million dollars in revenue? Repeat business. How do we do that? We consistently market to our past clients.
This is not just my company. Our industry has many referral-based companies that generate record sales and profits without traditional or digital advertising.
- MAP
To get where you want to go, you need a Marketing Action Plan (MAP). Your MAP outlines what you are going to do every day, every week, and every month to reach your goals.
You could also call this your marketing calendar. It doesn’t have to be fancy; it just has to exist. You need a road map to follow. When you take the time to create a simple plan, you can then easily follow it.
Remember that the number one reason small businesses don’t grow, or do as well as they could, is failure to implement, so go take some massive action to make this year’s marketing efforts work.
The 7Ms of Phenomenal Marketing is taken from Howard Partridge’s book Phenomenal Marketing Systems – The 14 Fastest Ways to the CA$H. This article was first published by Cleanfax and has bene republished with permission.
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