Do a Google search for “how to market a business successfully” and, less than a second later, you’re presented with a list of approximately 206 million results. Yes, million.
No one has time to go through that many articles or websites so, like most people, you likely skim through just the first page or two, looking for a few things you should be doing to get your company’s name out there faster and more effectively. The golden nuggets of information that you can quickly take and apply to your own marketing efforts.
While this is certainly one way to enhance the visibility of your business, sometimes successful marketing requires a slightly different and more unique approach.
A Unique Marketing Approach
In a June 2017 interview on Entrepreneur, Russell Ruffino, the founder of Clients on Demand—a company that has earned the distinction from Inc. Magazine of being one of the 500 fastest-growing companies in America—shared his best advice for entrepreneurs who want to create a successful business. What did he say?
Instead of giving a long list of everything a company should be doing to get more in touch with their target market, he took the opposite approach. He said that successful marketing is more about “knowing what you do not want to do.”
In other words, it’s not always enough to take a specific set of actions in the marketing of your company. You also need to know what could potentially do your company harm. This is clearly something that Ruffino feels strongly about because, if you go to the Clients on Demand website, he gives you three reasons why you should NOT do business with them.
So, when every other business out there is telling you why they are a good fit for you, Ruffino’s business is telling you when you may not be the best match. Why?
It’s All About Finding the Right Clients
As Ruffino says in his interview, if you blast anyone and everyone with your marketing message, you’ll “end up fishing for non-relevant prospects.” These are people who would likely never purchase your product or service anyway, which means that you’ll be investing a lot of time, effort, and money reaching out to a group who would never see the value in what you have to offer.
A good example of this would be a surgeon who specializes in surgeries related to the digestive tract. Now, this surgeon could promote his or her services all day to individuals in need of a surgery on their reproductive tract, but the results simply would not be there. Why? Because it’s the wrong demographic.
But, if this surgeon changes approach and markets only to those who need a surgery on their stomach or small intestine, for instance, then chances of success increase exponentially. Not only that, but patients would also likely pay a lot more because that surgeon is able to treat the exact issue they are having. That makes it more than worth the additional cost.
The same is true in any other business. By directing your marketing efforts toward your best possible prospects, you’re able to not only improve your results, but also increase your revenues because you offer them more value.
Defining the Perfect Client
The first step in this process is to define your perfect client. Duct Tape Marketing shares that this involves starting with the smallest group possible, knowing the value you offer them, and then testing that value (maybe with free samples or offering service discounts). This will tell you a little bit more about who your ideal client is, giving you the information needed to develop a successful marketing strategy.
If you’re like some business owners, the hardest part is figuring out what you need to know about your target market to reach them best. Mod Girl Marketing suggests that you think about their demographics, the problems they want solved, and their needs. It’s also important to know who you enjoy working with, what types of clients are most profitable, and how many clients you actually need.
By taking this approach—not marketing to everyone, defining your perfect client, and creating a strategy around them—you’re one step closer to not only marketing your company effectively, but marketing it successfully.