Anyone who cooks knows that you need all the ingredients to make a recipe come out right…

If you leave the eggs out of a cake it flops…
well leaving the primary steps out of a marketing strategy is no different.  What I see happen all the time is that people start out with the right ingredients but then
skip all the steps in the middle and jump right to the end to selling their prospect.

Why This Recipe Doesn’t Work

This way of marketing from welcome to my business will you buy something from me doesn’t work because the primary ingredients of Liking – Building Trust-
letting your prospect try you all come before they will buy from you.  Each of these steps are integral in the process of marketing.  Yes, just like a recipe you need to add each ingredient of your process step by step to ensure the best possible outcome.

Ingredients of the Marketing Process

1. Let prospects KNOW who you are – via your blog, free ebooks & downloads, you advertising and referrals
2. Give them a chance to LIKE you – via your website, your blog articles, newsletter and social media profiles assuming you engage with followers
3. Ideas on giving prospects ways to TRUST you – can come in the form of workshops, listening to you speak at events, getting 3rd party testimonials, having
   compelling marketing materials.

Know Where Your Prospects Are In Your Marketing Process

Knowing where your prospects are in your marketing process is imperative, otherwise how will you know the next step to offer?  If you meet someone at a networking event that you were the speaker and they come up to speak to you after your presentation, you now have established KNOW and TRUST, you may want to encourage the, to get more value from your newsletter and free downloads.  How many of us have been invited to connect with someone on a social media site and the first engagement is something about clicking on a link that takes you to a sales page online to purchase their product!  Don’t you find that annoying?  and 9 out of 10 people won’t buy from an initial connection like that.

How To Create Compelling Content

As you take your prospects down the path of know, like and trust you need to provide content that helps them get to where they want to go or solves some problem they may have.  Often I suggest to clients that they pay attention to the most frequently asked questions or comments they get and address those questions in the form of ebooks, reports, blog posts and other forms of delivery your market would consume.
You can follow conversations on social media and again pay attention to what people want to learn more about or have challenges that you can help them solve.  Be a leader in your niche is why people will listen, trust and buy from you!

Was this helpful?  Can you create a simple document headed with KNOW – LIKE – TRUST – BUY on it and create a plan that takes your prospects through the steps?
Leave me a comment below – I’d sure love to hear from you.