As a small business owner it’s really easy to get overwhelmed with trying to keep up with the latest in marketing techniques.

There seems to be a never ending list of things to increase the effectiveness of your marketing such as search engine optimisation, social media and automatic referral generation but where do you find the time to do all this and still remain focused on running your business?

I have found that it is important to focus on three easy steps in our marketing message to make sure potential customers get a clear understanding of what we’re offering and how it will solve the issues they are facing.

1. Problem

   What is the pain that our prospects are feeling? What is it that keeps them up at night and they would do anything to get relief from!

2. Agitation

   How can I describe the problem in a way that really focuses on the issues that our customers are feeling? How can I take the pain and make it so real in their world that they’re crying out to get some relief!

3. Solution

   How can I be the solution that they’re looking for? How can I get them to identify with my solution as the best to deal instantaneously with their problem?

By focusing on these three things I won’t get lost in my marketing.

It makes no difference whether I’m trying to get to the top of Google, have thousands of followers on my twitter or simply bring more prospects through the door.

Following this framework allows me to maintain focus on what’s important to my customers rather than what’s important to me

What’s been your experience on this?

Can you remember the famous line from the yellow pages advertising?

Let your fingers do the walking

This is an obvious throw back to when all research was done by walking around and meeting everybody face to face.

Obviously in the fast paced world we now live in, time is at a premium and it is impossible to do all your research face to face.

Your web presence, if done well, can be the greatest qualifier that you have.

And think about this…it saves your time which is one of the most precious resources you have.

Think about it.. Would you rather be wasting time qualifying prospects or spending that same time doing more productive things in your business?

That may also give you more valuable time with your family or friends as well.

So the best way to do this is to be more transparent in your business by making information more readily available on line.

Your prospects can take as long as they like going through it and through that process are more qualified when you meet them face to face.

Do you have examples of prospects coming in to your business ready to buy because they’ve completely qualified themselves through researching online?

I’d love to hear your story

Can you remember what it was like when you did all your research in person?

Those were the days when you went to display home villages and went through all the homes looking to see if you liked one that suited your lifestyle.

Before going you knew very little detail and were in no position to make any decision because your ability to do research was limited.

Fast forward to today and because of the internet and all the content online you can have a look through all the homes before you even go near the display village.

Most of this research is working out what you DON’T want. You’re qualifying which homes really are worth pursuing.

So how does this apply to your business?

If your prospects know very little about you then you have not allowed them to do sufficient research and you may end up with lots of ‘tyre kickers’ who waste your time.

Prospects should know more about you than you know about them.

If you have the correct web presence then they can find out enough about you to qualify themselves and also to be in a position to move more quickly once you have met them face to face.

What is your experience with tyre kickers?

How much of a time waster have they been in your business?