Marketing is fundamental. It is NOT immediate.
It requires a plan, a strategy, not tactics.
Posting pics to Instagram is not a plan. People think it is, but really you need to think of any social platform as a publishing medium. It is more like magazines. Time, National Geographic, People, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated, Vanity Fair, and Variety are all magazines. X/Twitter, Blue Sky, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Reddit are all today’s magazines.
Which one does your Target read? Where is your demographic investing their time?
You can target adds by demographic now on a platform. before you bought TV ads (which you can still do!) or a newspaper ad – widely targeted. I spoke with a local website and they can’t/won’t do targeted ads nor tell me where their readers are. For $1000 per month you should.
You know what flyers are? The original social media. It is a printed post. So the ingredients still need to be in there: who, what, where, when, why, how.
You need to know your ICP (Best Customer). You need to know as much as you can about them.
You need to know why people buy from YOU and how they benefit from your services.
To do that: Talk to your customers. Interview them. record it – audio or video. Ask for permission to quote them and use the recording. Even without permission, this is golden information.
The top ingredients of a successful online ad are an immediate scroll-stopping hook (the first 3-5 seconds is the hook!), a clear value proposition, and a strong Call to Action (CTA). Whether you are creating a video for TikTok or a banner for Google, these elements must be combined with a deep understanding of your target audience.
In advertising and copywriting, the 5 C’s represent a foundational framework used to create high-converting, effective messaging: Clear, Concise, Compelling, Credible, and Call-to-Action.
The 3-3-3 rule in marketing suggests that you should concentrate on three main messages about your brand or services, target three audience segments, and prioritize three marketing channels where your audience is most active. I say for most small business owners do 1-1-1. Keep it simple in the beginning.
#1 Rule of Marketing: You are not the Customer. Your personal tastes, opinions, and biases do not reflect the market. Every strategy must start with objective research into who your actual consumers are, what they need, and how they think.
BTW, your email list is your bread and butter. Permission based marketing that is valuable to your email list will make you rich! Most people literally send spam. Not coupons or helpful information, just Buy From Me! There isn’t even an interesting offer. I get emails like this all the time. The key to email marketing is to send so much valuable information that they want to open your email up and see what you sent!
Coupons, tips, how-to’s, testimonials are all good stories to send. In email marketing, the 5.5 ingredients are: the sender (You, not sales@ or no-reply@, but peter@); the headline; the hook (the first sentence); the list with segmentation; and the offer with call to action!
You can Google these topics or ask your favorite AI assistant for more info or a short course on it. Then get to work with one or 2