Secrets of Amazing Marketing

If no one knows about your business, how can they become a customer? So a strong marketing strategy is a no-brainer. But where do you start? Partners Accion Opportunity Fund and Fifth Third Bank, along with Jacqueline Camacho-Ruiz, founder and owner of award-winning Chicago-based marketing and public relations agency JJR Marketing, share secrets of amazing marketing.

What Is Marketing?

Let’s start from the very beginning: What IS marketing? Generally, when people think of marketing, they think of something generalized. They think of all the different vehicles which make up the marketing-that often means ads on TV, online, or in magazines.

According to Jacqueline Camacho-Ruiz, the most basic definition of marketing is, “anything which features your logo or brand on it.” This could be a variety of touchpoints. This could be online or offline. Basically, it is anything that allows an existing client, a prospective client, or a strategic partner to connect intellectually and emotionally with your brand.

What Are the Main Components of Marketing?

There are three main components of marketing: audience, message, and vehicle. Anything your company does with marketing should be founded on these three components.

Audience

If you’re a new business, then you may not have the data to recognize who your audience is. You probably have an idea of the people you want as customers, but that’s not the same as figuring out how to reach that audience.

Take your top ten clients and identity as much as you can about those clients by asking:

• Who are they?
• How old are they?
• Where do they live?
• What moves them?
• What are their changed circumstances?
• What are things that are going through?
• How did they come to you?
• What are their psychographics?
• What motivates them?

Once you’ve explored these questions, it’s time to look at the ecosystems which comprise your audience. Every business has three main ecosystems when it comes to their business:

Existing Clients

Existing clients are the people who have vetted you. These are the people who say, “I believe in this company.” This is your gold mine. This is your most profitable connection and group. This group is the easiest to “catch” because they’ve already vetted you.

Prospects

Prospects are people who have a need, but they don’t know that you can be the solution to that need. Typically, prospects take a lot more to penetrate – it takes multiple touch points, multiple integrations because they don’t even know that you exist. Since they don’t know that you could be the solution to their problem, the way you communicate with them is different than how you communicate with existing clients.

Strategic Alliances

Strategic alliances are the most unknown group in marketing. Most businesses work on communicating with their existing clients and then clients they could potentially get in the future. Very few businesses identify, create, and monitor strategies that focus on generating more strategic alliances.

What is a strategic allegiance? Basically, it’s anyone in your network who will never be a client but will be able to “witness a changed circumstance for them to hire you.” For example, if you’re a small business and you’re working with families going through a divorce, then a divorce attorney may be a strategic alliance. A divorce attorney is now witnessing the changed circumstances which may put someone in need of your company.

Key Takeaway Point:

You should start thinking beyond BEYOND existing clients and prospects when you do your marketing. You should now also incorporate strategic alliances into your marketing plans.

Messages

Now that you understand your audience and the ecosystems that make up your audience, how will you effectively use the keywords that will resonate with that particular audience? One of the best ways is to ask your existing database.

If you don’t have an existing database, then ask your potential clients the following questions:

• What do they want to hear?
• What moves them?
• How can you better serve them?
• What are the keywords that resonate with you?

Then take those words and phrases and incorporate them into your marketing plan. That’s how you start to generate connections. Many small businesses fall into the trap of getting very creative with their messages. They use one tagline for one campaign, they try different colors, different shapes. This is a mistake, consistency across the board is better.

Key Takeaway Point:

Never has it been more important to create consistency and cohesiveness in your touchpoints. Every touchpoint which has your keywords, your message, and your branding is furthering your connection with your audience

While the touchpoints and branding should be cohesive, messages should be individualized. Every message should be different for existing clients, prospects, and strategic alliances – every message should be completely different for each segment and should cater to their changed circumstances. That’s how you start to create amazing marketing!

Vehicles

What is the marketing vehicle? Basically, if you know your clients spent time at certain places (online, social media platforms, email), then that’s the way you should communicate with them. That’s the vehicle you should use to have the most impact on your marketing efforts.

Key Takeaway Point:

Understand that when comes to amazing marketing, it’s all about customization. It’s all about segmentation. It is about creating those messages which are particularly driven to create magic for that particular audience so they can be activated.

Reach Out!

Marketing is one of the most important elements of small business success. So get out there and reach your audience!

Thank you to Fifth Third Bank for supporting Accion Opportunity Fund in expanding economic opportunity for small business owners.