Stop Saying "My Marketing Sucks"! (It's Probably Not Your Ads)

Struggling to convert leads after running ads? You're not alone. Many confuse marketing with just advertising. Stop using them interchangeably.

Marketing is the big picture, not just advertising. There's also branding, content marketing, public relations, sales funnel, packaging, offer creation, etc. A Marketing system helps to attract strangers, turning eyeballs into real conversations, engaging and nurturing them, and turning them into loyal customers. Ads are just one tool in that toolbox.

Pro Tip: Optimize your entire funnel!

When people works with advertising agencies, they tend to wonder why whatever the agency is doing isn't helping them get more leads and ended up concluding "this agency sucks".

But..

reality is, marketing is the entire system that turns total strangers into paying customers, not just the advertising.

Advertising is only 1 part of the equation.

So instead of focusing all of your time and money on ads… ? Take time to optimize. ?

Take a step back, review the entire system and process where strangers turn into customers and identify where the gaps are. ?

For example, most businesses tend to spend all or most of their budget on top of funnel - advertising.

but there could be a missing part that isn't optimised in between the TOFU to the bottom of funnel - which is the MOFU (Middle of funnel)...

When this happens, even if leads come in or book a call, they could be highly unaware of your positioning (What makes you special, your unique mechanism) so they ended up pressing you on prices and costs because due to lack of MOFU, they perceive your business as the same as your competitors.

And, this is just 1 examples. There could be many others like not optimising your BOFU (bottom of funnel), your take up rate or rate of converting warm leads to actual customers is low, your appointment-setting rate is low, your show up rate is low.

So, really, take time to optimise. Step back and evaluate. Instead of jumping from 1 advertising agencies/strategies to another. Chasing shining strategies one after another.

It'll become an endless chase which doesn't give you the results that you want.

Throwing money at ads when your marketing and sales system leak just isn't effective enough to solve the problem.

Take a step back. Analyze the entire process.

Is it attracting the right customer? Is your messaging relatable to the right target?

Focus on building a strong marketing system first, then integrate ads to supercharge it

Stop blaming ads for a marketing problem!

#marketing #advertising #entrepreneur #salesprocessoptimisation

Thanks for reading issue 18 of my Humanising Business newsletter.

For those of you who are new to my newsletter, Humanising Business is written for business owners, sales and marketing professionals, consultants (Medical, Real Estate, Dental, etc) who wish to build more KOL positioning and attract more high quality clients digitally. This newsletter discusses the following three goals: (1) How to leverage on AI and Automation for more clients and impact, (2) How to build Digital Acquisition System (and automate it) and its importance (3) No-bs/no-fluff insights from my day-to-day work with clients on building digital sales and marketing system that get more bang for your bucks.

My next client slot should be opened by July 2024- limited slots are available as we work closely with clients instead of going for quantity.

P.S. Want to learn more about building a winning marketing system? Check out the resources listed below! Or, let's connect Stephanie Lam ↗? !

• Paradigm shift from endless churning leads to optimising retention + create flywheel for your business for long term sustainable growth
• (3 Ways to)Use what you know about your target clients + Generative Ai = Humanising Business
• Ready to buy lead are a MYTH - here's why and what you should focus on
• Inspiring story - this post gathered 22,000 ++ and counting impressions - definitely worth a read
• Lessons and Gems from 2 Marketing Agencies Powerhouses
• How I helped a client recently to reduce 10X of their CPL - ad cost

More:

• Why working on ground level is so important for successful client acquisition
• Is cold outreach bad ? Does it really cheapen your brand or perceived values?

Some more... haha:

• The 8 Elements to craft the most powerful Persuasive Sales Pitch to win more clients, your team and prospects online
• Spending 5-6 figures a month on ads? You've got to read this - a lot aren't tracking correctly even though they're spending so much on ads
• How to form genuine connection with prospects online
• Humble Reminders to all of us entrepreneurs/business owners
• How a local entrepreneur in Malaysia grew from a content creator to hitting 1 million in sales within 3 minutes online and how you can apply too in your business!
• System mindset in Enrolling more clients Digitally
• 6 Cold hard Truth from working in clients-facing role for about 2 decades
• Running ads? These are important areas to improve to get the most from your adspend
• In Real Estate sales? Don't miss these Core Basic Elements (Not even known to advertisers) - even relevant to Expert-based Businesses
• Amazon's Everyday is Day 1 Mentality
• There's no better time to be in Expert-based Businesses than now
• Using the Power of Gratitude to attract better opportunities, tribes and clients

If we have not connected, let's connect Stephanie Lam ↗? !