Marketing Motivates Action

When preparing marketing communication, be sure you can answer this question: what action do you want to your audience to take when they receive your marketing communication?

It's a simple question, but too often small business owners miss the mark on their marketing pieces. They forget that each marketing communcation must motivate some action. Each sign, ad, e-mail, web page, presentation, blog post, tweet or other marketing message should push its intended audience to do something.

The easiest way to think about how to use marketing to motivate action is to remember the sales funnel: contacts become prospects, prospects become leads, leads become customers, customers become advocates.

Each marketing communication needs to move your target through the sales funnel.

Here is one simple example:

1) Simple branding--like logos, signage or letterhead--should create awareness and generate more contacts.

2) A website, for example, might convert contacts into prospects with valuable content.

3) Prospects become leads once they complete an opt-in form on your website, or otherwise give you their follow up information.

4) Leads convert into customers with some strong sales calls using scripts.

5) And finally, customers become advocates after their experience with your product or service encourages them to tell others.

One thing is common in each step: the marketing is set up to encourage action. Each marketing communication motivates action to the next step.

To move your business to the next level--and to move your target market through the sales funnel--be sure that your marketing motivates action.

So next time you have to create some marketing--no matter what marketing you choose--ask yourself: does this piece encourage action and movement through the sales funnel in the best way possible?

The answer to that question may have you rethink how you communicate your message and how you market your small business.

Long and Short of E-Mail Marketing

So you’ve already signed up for an e-newsletter provider like Aweber, right?

No? What are you waiting for? E-mail marketing is highly affordable and extremely professional. It needs to be part of your marketing arsenal. Stop now, click here and get with the e-newsletter program.

Now that you’ve signed up, consider that there are the two schools of thought when it comes to e-mail marketing: the short school and the long school.

The short school of thought is pretty obvious: e-mails should be quick and to the point. This will ensure that readers peruse the entire message. Provide one call to action (like “Click Here” or “Find Out More”) with one link, button or other call-out. Get in and get out, so to speak.

The long school is just the opposite: e-mails should be full of rich content that engages the readers. Keep the reader focused and committed to your information. Provide a number of links and calls to action that drive readers to your website or blog. The more time the reader spends with you, the more value you provide and the greater the brand awareness. Think of it as a grocery store: the longer you spend in the store, the more you will buy.

So which is best?

Well, that all depends.

If you are prospecting and trying to encourage readers to learn more about you and your company, the short school is best. However, if readers are already engaged and need to be moved through the sales funnel, then the long school is better.

Simply put: acquiring new customers? Use the short school. Retaining existing customers? Use the long school.

Ultimately, your customer base will determine what they like best. When you use Aweber or another e-mail marketing provider, be sure to track open rates, click rates and other metrics to see what is working. Test and learn. Find out if your audience prefers the short school or the long school.