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The term “quick fix” has come to have negative connotations but this bad rep is partially undeserved. It’s true that quick fixes that aren’t thought through or don’t have solid “craftsmanship” behind them can actually turn out to be more costly in the long run. However, very often when people tell you that things will be long and arduous, they may be more interested in getting your money that in giving you what you need.
The fact is that some things take a long time and some things don’t. Marketing, despite everyone’s attempt to convince you to the contrary, is not rocket science. There are a few “quick fixes” you can use to start seeing exponentially greater results. In this article, you’ll learn about the top ways to impact your bottom line with “quick fix marketing.”
Quick Fix # 1
Help me get what you do!
As your prospect, I have a lot of things vying for my attention. Besides the laundry and overflowing pot on the stove, I’ve got reality show commercials, ads about how fat I am and articles in my new news magazine about the end of life as we know it on Earth. I’m busy. I’m not going to spend a lot of my time figuring out your nuances… at least not at first.
When I tell clients to get very clear about who they work with, what they sell and have this product/service helps people and to do it fast and pithy, a few raise the objection that they don’t want to “dumb things down.”
An important distinction needs to be made here. There are several levels at which you’ll interface with your prospects. “Fast and pithy” will mark your first level interaction, the “hook,” the moment when you catch their eye. After that you can move on to the levels of impressing them with your expertise, the importance of your programs, etc. At this point, remember they’ll be asking themselves this question, “How is this going to help me?”
Read more about how you can get big results in a short time in my Success Map Mentor Session page.
Quick Fix # 2
Figure out where your prospects are congregating.
Hunting down prospects one by one is exhausting and not the best use of your time. So where are they hanging out in droves? This is where you figure out whether you’ve defined your market narrowly enough. If you can’t figure out what association, conferences, publications, online newsletters, discussion groups and other points of convergence your prospects are using, your market is not specifically targeted enough. It’s not that you can’t help lots of people – you can – but each prospect needs to see herself in what you write or say. So it’s important to narrow the field of who you work with for clarity’s sake (you can always expand laterally later).
Quick Fix # 3
Capture a high percentage of website visitors.
One of the biggest wastes of time and effort is sending prospects to a site that doesn’t capture them as mailing list subscribers. Most people will not buy on a first visit to a website, particularly if all you’re selling is services (products m
ay sometimes be bought on a first time visit). Once they visit it and leave, chances are HIGH that you’ll never “see” them again. If you’ve gone to the trouble of having them make their way to your site, you’d better engineer your site in a way that captures as many of them as possible as subscribers to some kind of list. How? Offer them great goodies for signing on and an e-zine (or e-course) that is carefully targeted to them and their needs. For concrete, real-world examples of how to make this work on your site, get my Websites That Work report here
Why do you want to “capture” people as e-zine subscribers? Putting out a quality e-zine is one of the best marketing techniques you can employ. People get to trust you, understand what you do, pass around your information to others and are much more likely to buy from you once they know you.
So concentrate not on building web traffic alone but on making sure that a high percentage of your web traffic gives you permission to contact them again.
Quick Fix # 4
Do what you’re good at doing.
So many bright, talented, smart solo-preneurs are stuck in “I’m working all the time but I’m not seeing results” limbo. When questioned more closely, you’ll find that about 70% of what they’re doing either a) they’re not good at it or b) it depletes them. This 70% is taken up by things like web design, formatting documents into pdfs, making cold calls, figuring out scheduling, writing (bad) sales copy, etc.
What are you really good at? If you’re like most solo professionals, you’re good at the “art” of what you do – accounting for accountants, coaching for coaches, “chiropracting” for chiropractors. The business and administrative stuff probably isn’t your strength. So while of course you’re the one responsible for making sure it gets handled, that doesn’t mean YOU have to handle it.
This is a business you’re running. If you decided you were going to build a factory that builds widgets and you’re a brilliant widget designer, you don’t say, “Hmm, I know my strength is widget design, but we need some people down on the manufacturing floor so I’m going to put on a hardhat and work on the assembly line for a few hours.” No! The widgets need to get built, but you hire people to do that. You stay in the widget design area, dreaming up fabulous new ideas.
Your first order of business is seeing you ARE in business. While you’re stuck in the rut of “I need to do everything myself” you can’t grow, can’t be a visionary, can’t get out there and be the champion for what you do. One of the strongest things you can do for your marketing is to not deplete yourself with the stuff you’re not good at but instead do what you ARE good at – speak to people about your business, meet influential leaders, go on speaking engagements, write, etc.
There are “quick fixes” in life, and especially in marketing. Spend your time on what will leverage your skills and give you the most return, and you’ll see greater results more quickly.
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