Are you looking for marketing business tips for success?

This is the story of Mark and Sally, who needed business tips for success. They have a small construction business. In the past three years, they have laid off 12 full-time employees as it became obvious that construction has fallen off and wasn’t recovering quickly. The economy has been so bad, they were in survival mode. None of their marketing efforts were attracting any customers.

Fortunately, Mark found enough renovation work from banks on repossessions to keep them limping along. He brought in workers from his former crews as needed to get the jobs done.

Frustrated that Their Marketing Wasn’t Working, They Were Desperate

They were desperate to find more customers to keep their small business afloat. They wanted some business tips for success that really worked. The strangest advice they got was to stop advertising in media that appeals to everyone. Instead, they needed to focus tightly on a specific customer profile, one that is most likely to want the solutions they can provide.

Sally found information on the Internet that taught her to talk in her marketing efforts about their ideal customer’s pain instead of about Mark and her small business. She was then able to describe that pain which their prospects feel so strongly. Frankly, those prospects are so concerned about their pain that they are desperate for a solution that will remove the pain. Moreover, they don’t know what the solution really is or they would already have bought it.

By talking to people who fit their ideal customer profile, Sally began building relationships. She used a blog as the heart of their marketing efforts. Then, following the other advice she found on social networking, she built relationships which lead to referrals as well as to calls from people who really related to what Sally wrote about.

She Gave Away a Small E-book of Tips to Eliminate Their Pain

She created a free bonus to get people to join her mailing list: “Twenty Projects You Can Do to Increase the Value of Your Home in Today’s Tight Market and Get It Sold in Half the Average Time.” She has had the best response from that small ebook of any marketing she had done in the last three years.
Mark too Started Asking about Their Pain First

Next, she told Mark to focus on the prospects’ pain and to really listen to them describe their pain. Once he has made a strong connection and started a relationship, he can discuss a solution that will solve their pain for them.

These sales and marketing business tips for success are working. Their new efforts focus on first building relationships. To do this, they are listening to what their ideal prospects are feeling before talking about themselves. This has resulted in Mark being able to put three people back on full-time and another crew part-time. Their business has returned to being profitable giving them much needed emotional relief and a sense of hope for the future.

Are You Ready to Get a Solution to Your Sales and Marketing Pain?

If you too feel the pain and frustration of marketing that isn’t working, look into this free course on using a blog and the heart of your small business marketing, the 30 Day IM Challenge.