4 Steps Every Savvy Business Owner Should Know About Marketing

If the last year was tough because of everything going on, it is more important than ever to make sure you have a solid plan. Your goal should be to make sure you are getting in front of your customers, so you can start selling products right away.

If you are overwhelmed by where to start, think about your marketing plan first.

Here are four steps you can use to get in front of your audience:

Step One: Audience Engagement/Awareness

Before people buy from you they need to know, like and trust you. Begin by launching engagement and awareness campaigns both through organic and paid media channels.

This can look like a dedicated email sequence providing education and value around your product or service. This can be a series of videos helping to solve a problem that your potential customers have. This can be paid advertising like Facebook or Google ads leading to blog content on your business website.

It’s vital to get your brand in front of people before you’re asking them to buy. This will help you down the line.

Step Two: Self-Segmentation

Segment your customers so when it’s time to sell you can speak directly to their needs when it’s time. This will also allow you to share how your product or service overcomes the challenges that they uniquely face.

For example, if you have a haircare brand it’s likely that women with different types of hair will run across your brand. Would it help you to know if the person coming to you had hair that was long, short, curly, kinky or anything in between? I’m guessing you said yes and if you did there are multiple ways you can segment your audience to find out.

Some examples are by running ads that speak directly to issues that women with curly hair face. Then you can track who clicked on the ad and retarget them later with ads for your curly hair product. Other ways include having free offers (eBooks, videos, audio content) that speak to a specific audience or sending emails to your list, and tracking who clicks on what topics. The key is to make sure anything you release for segmentation purposes is not generic and speaks directly to a segment of your audience that you’re trying to pull out.

Step Three: Conversion & Monetization

This is when the actual selling process comes in. Most people try to start here instead of phase 1, and it shows in the sales. By completing the first two phases before you make the offer, you’ll have more success.

When you do launch your offer, the biggest challenge many people face is that not enough people actually see the offer. Make sure you’re consistently promoting and pushing to get your product or service in front of as many people as possible, so they buy from you.

Step Four: Fulfillment/Profit Lift

People often forget about this phase, but it’s the most important piece. After you sell, are you making sure you are offering excellent customer service from the start by fulfilling on what they’ve purchased from you?

Think of ways you can WOW your new customers with a goal of getting them to come back as soon as possible to buy from you again. Also, these new customers will lead to additional customers through referrals if you care for them properly.

Bonus Tip: Due to the pandemic, make sure you’re accounting for additional shipping times and delays if you’re sending out physical products.

These four steps will get you started on the path to make sure that 2021 starts off on the right foot when it comes to your business.

Lamar Tyler is the creator and co-founder of the international business network, Traffic Sales & Profit (TSP), a premier community for purpose-driven African American entrepreneurs that provides solutions to drive more website traffic, convert more online sales and increase business profit. Along with his wife, Ronnie, Lamar is also the creator and co-founder of, BlackandMarriedwithKids.com, the web’s most popular destination for guidance on African American marriage and parenting. 

Lamar has received a tremendous amount of recognition for his work. He and Ronnie have been listed as one of Ebony Magazine’s Power 100, selected as finalists for Black Enterprise’s Family Business of the Year and Infusionsoft’s Small Business ICON Award, as well as the recipient of the ClickFunnels Two Comma Club Award.

Lamar is the author of two books, Traffic, Sales and Profit: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Consistent Business Revenue Online and The Gatekeepers are Gone: Hustle + Technology = Success, and has been featured on CNN, HLN, Today, Good Morning America, NPR, Washington Post, Entrepreneur, ESSENCE, Parenting Magazine and more.

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