Developing a sales and marketing strategy can be daunting. The Lifecycle Marketing model provides a simple framework you can use to create a marketing plan that will help you attract high quality prospects, grow your sales numbers and deliver an experience that wows your customers. When put into action, Lifecycle Marketing will help you grow sales while giving you more time to focus on doing the things you love.
Lifecycle Marketing
Sell More With Lifecycle Marketing
Get your Complete Guide to implementing Lifecycle Marketing in your Business
Attract
Know your Target
Attempting to reach everybody with your product or service is not only inefficient, it’s also very expensive. Nobody can afford to target everybody. That’s why it’s important to narrowly define your target customer and focus your marketing pounds on the market that is more likely to buy from you.
Attract Interest
Once you’ve identified your target customers, you need to find out where they are most likely to come into contact with your brand messaging. Remember, this could be offline as well as online. Once you’ve pinpointed which channels are most likely to put you in touch with your future customers, start focusing your marketing efforts in those places. Be where your customers are, and start engaging with them in an authentic, helpful and personalised way.
Collect Leads
As you attract more interest in your brand and products, make sure potential customers don’t leave your website and promptly forget about you. Give them something to take with them in exchange for their contact information. This is called a ‘lead magnet’ and can be anything of value, such as a free report, ebook or discount voucher.
Remember, most consumers aren’t actively looking for your company’s name. More often than not, they’re looking for a solution that satisfies a particular need. Make sure that potential customers find you – before they find your competitors – by having a great strategy in place for attracting new website visitors.
Educate
As you build out a content strategy, consider how your product or service serves your target customer’s unique needs. Then, create and publish original, helpful content on your website, blog, social networks and other communication platforms that addresses those needs.
Offer
When you understand your target customer’s buying process, you can match your sales process to suit. Observing past customers’ actions will help you map out a buying process funnel, or buyer journey. This allows you to identify the optimal time for offering a prospect a time-sensitive special deal.
Close
Regardless of your business type, the close is the signal that the deal has been negotiated and you can now begin the process of delivery. Make procedures easy by implementing clear and effective procedures for closing the sale.
Consumers have access to more information than ever before. They’re doing thorough research online before making buying decisions, and they’re paying more attention to price and value. Studies show that 82% of consumers research a product before they buy.
The perception of value plays a vital role in modern purchase decisions. Savvy small business owners know that the experiences and interactions that consumers have with brands shape their decisions to buy (or keep looking). Often, these experiences begin before a consumer even realises that they have a need. One of the most effective things small business owners can do is develop a promotional strategy that positions their products or services as the obvious choice when customers are ready to buy.
Deliver and Wow
To consistently wow your customers, make sure that you always provide the service or product that they paid for in a timely fashion. Then, go above and beyond their expectations by providing additional value that leverages your strengths.
Offer More
Determine what related products or services will help your customers, and create a solution. The solution can be additional products, services, or tips and resources related to their needs. Timing and positioning are important to get customers to bite. Consider cross selling, upselling, or offering new products as three ways to tactfully increase your revenue.
Get Referrals
Referrals are one of the cheapest ways to expand your business, and wowing your current customers is the fastest way to earn referrals. Asking and rewarding customers for a referral completes the Wow experience. Providing small gift cards, discounts or movie tickets for referrals are great ways to demonstrate your appreciation.
In today’s competitive economy, it takes extra effort to differentiate your business from others in your industry. If you want to develop your brand, it’s important to differentiate your product or service based on value, not price. By consistently wowing your customers each time you interact with them, they will stay engaged with your business (and refer their friends).