Welcome to Part 4 of Megan’s Journey of Internet Marketing.
I came in early to see Megan but found her with her salespeople and crew managers talking about how they present themselves to customers and how to find more ideal ones. Once Megan got on board with something it was full speed ahead.
I was glad the salespeople were there as they would be a big help in this process, and there was a lot of work to do. So where do these Ideal Customers hang out?” I asked. “I know where Colton hangs out,” said Megan, loudly, “Inside his phone.” She was staring hard at the front desk person, who did not look up.
“Well, I think you have a point. Most people do, though maybe not so much at work.” I countered. “But that is what I am getting at. Where do your ideal customers hang out online? If you are going to market to them, you need to be there.” That is Establishing your Online Presence. The brainstorming began.
It turned out that a local garden club had a very active Facebook page. There were a couple of local bloggers who talked about their yards and home improvements. One of them was a client of Megan’s. There were also a few Instagram pages that many of them followed. It turned out that the salespeople had already started working the internet with leads themselves and had Facebook pages.
They agreed that all of them would follow the local groups. Megan, as the “face” of the company, would place posts with helpful tips and ideas. By this point, Colton the front desk person had joined the discussion and was drafted as “marketing coordinator”. They put together a schedule where each salesperson would post a picture or video of a client site periodically on their socials.
In a longer private conversation, I coached Meagan through what she would need to do to boost her and her business's online presence. Blogging, videos, and other ways that she could become a “trusted advisor” in all matters of landscaping. Megan began to understand the level of commitment required to market on the Internet well.
“This is a lot of work,” said Megan,” Can't we just hire you to do it?” “Maybe someday” I answered, “But If you don't put in the work to get the messaging right and learn what works and what doesn't, you will not get the results you want.” I have no interest in dissatisfied clients.
We also added more specifics to our ideal customer that would help in running targeted ads, like specific ages, income levels, and types of jobs they might have. Ads are different than posts or general social media buzz building, These are designed to sell your service. We were able to target them very tightly as we had identified who we wanted to reach.
“So what should we say in the ads?” asked Megan. That is for tomorrow when we learn about Pain Points and Benefits.
The 5 steps of marketing any business.
Step 1. What do you sell? Define your product or service.
Step 2. Who do you want to sell it to? Your Ideal Customer
Step 3. Why should anyone buy from you? Your value proposition
Step 4. Where do they hang out? What is the best place to reach them online? Your Online Presence
Step 5. How do you help them? Your Pain Points and Benefits.
Watch this space for the rest of the story.
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