What Results Should You Be Getting from Your Marketing?

I don’t know about you, but I used to get a bit depressed by other people’s (supposed) lunar successes with marketing in general and social media in particular. All these video’s on Facebook about people (usually in the US) ‘smashing’ this and ‘sky rocketing’ that. Have you seen them? Are you curious as to how they are doing it – or whether they actually ARE doing what they appear to be.

Now I’m not suggesting that they are lying but what I am saying is – it’s just not that simple.

Those high energy videos are very effective at one thing – selling whatever product/training/service they are promoting. How is it then – that when you buy one of these products or services – your life doesn’t suddenly look like theirs.

Because it’s not that simple.

You see marketing is only one step of the sales process. Marketing, and social media marketing in particular, is the top of the funnel. People don’t go to social media to be sold to, they go to be social – to be entertained, educated, motivated, inspired, and to get ‘stroked’. No – nothing kinky there – what I mean by stroked is this. People on social media want to be noticed, and endorsed/supported/acknowledged.

There are people who literally live their life out on social media – and the reason they go to social media is to have people like or comment on their stuff. It fills a need in an increasingly isolated world for them. For others – they have a life, but social media is really really important to them. They need the praise / support / sympathy they get there. I’m sure you know people like this.

For others it is a way of getting attention and empathy. These are the people who post “I’m at the hospital” but don’t say why – so that people comment “Oh no, what’s happened”. These are the drama queens of life, they like to tease and test their audience. They want to know who cares about them enough to ask questions.

For yet others it is a way of keeping in touch with people en masse. Rather than making 30 phone calls – they can let all their friends and family have a look at their holiday photo/award/new kitten – all in one go. Unfortunately for them, Facebooks new algorithm, has pretty much messed this one up.

The point is – people don’t go to social media to be sold to. So your job on social media is to give people what they want. Your posts need to entertain, educate, motivate, inspire or make people laugh. And when they comment – they expect and need a response.

Everyone is so busy nowadays – if you DON’T personally reply to people who comment on your stuff then they probably won’t bother next time.

And that’s not enough either. Facebook want to see that you are an engaged person/business and so they expect you to be pro-active in liking, commenting and sharing OTHER peoples stuff (or other business pages stuff in the case of a business). If you are doing this they will reward you with a greater reach for your posts, but if you do NOT, then watch your reach drop – no matter how fancy and pretty your graphic designers attempts might be.

The fact is that social media – and marketing in general – is a long haul. As is running a business for that matter. There ARE of course, businesses who innovate and hit the market at the right time and are successful very quickly. There are others with a very deep pocket for their marketing budget.

But for the average small business – I don’t know of anyone who has made it to super successful in less than 3 years. It is a long haul. You have to put the effort in, and be consistent, and work really hard educate yourself so that you can give massive value to your potential clients. And anyone who tells you that you DON’T have to do that is frankly, a liar.

Sure, with the right Facebook ads strategy you can get results a little quicker – but ONLY if you have something of value to sell AND you know how to sell it. A fact which many businesses forget. You have to have great products and you have to be able to differentiate yourself from the crowd, and there HAS to be a market for what you want to sell.

If you are an accountant for example, well there is definitely a market for that. But there is also a lot of competition. So you need to be great at what you do, you need to niche it – at least from a marketing perspective and you have to be able to differentiate yourself by having something unique.

And that’s pretty difficult for most business owners. It is easier to see how someone else could niche, or differentiate their business or create something unique, but when it is YOUR business – you are often too damn close to it. Which is why we created the Leading Women in Business Mastermind Group – where you have the benefit of 10/11 other business owners who can look objectively at your business and see what is missing.

It is also why we created the Get Shit Done Retreat – largely for our Mastermind Women. The next event 2-6 October in a 4* Spa Resort in Majorca, and there are, as of today, 3 of the 12 places left.

This retreat is about combining our Leading Women tag line of “Fizz Fun and Fab Females” relaxing and enjoying the company of like minded winners, along with ACTUALLY getting shit done!

Our Majorca girls, will be coming with one idea, product, service or event for their business that they want to promote and actually getting a fully functional sales funnel built out right there (including Facebook ads, Email Marketing and a Sales Strategy). In the 4 days we will not only cover the niche, the avatar (perfect customer they want), and the marketing messages to reach those people, we will actually be building the thing with them and for them (my team of 12 in the background will get done whatever stuff our guests can’t finish).

So not only will you get to know some really cool females, and extend your network, not only will you get your sales funnel built and press ‘go’ on your facebook ads – you will do all that whilst relaxing in the sun and having some ‘you’ time in the spa.

So – back to the original question. What results should you be getting from your marketing. Well, that totally depends on how much you are willing to put into it; how well you know your market; how well you niche it; how well you communicate and give massive value and how well you nurture your market as well as constantly innovating and getting shit done.

All the education, planning and good intentions in the world get you nowhere without the magic ingredient – taking action. Go look at the event now, and book your place if you want to get shit done in YOUR business – in the sun!