3 Things Successful Marketing Leaders Are Doing In 2021

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First off let me define what I mean by “Marketing Leader.”

By this, I mean someone, anyone, who is in charge of making a business grow. This could be a Marketing Director, a sales manager, a CEO, or even an admin. 

Regardless of what you're called, you have a unique challenge in front of you. 

On one hand… times are tough for many. On the other… there is a huge opportunity to leg up passing your competition right now. 

But you have to be different. You have to go against the grain and avoid blending into the crowd. 

So what should you do? What can set you apart from your competition without forcing you to spend hours and hours every single day scratching and clawing for business? 

Let’s look into it...

Prioritize Long Term Business Relationships

Trust today is at an all-time low.

Just look at all the controversy with the big tech companies and our politicians, not to mention countless other scandals popping up all the time. 

It's a crazy world right now, and people are much less trusting than they used to be. They have their guard up big time.  

And the truth is, that this is CRUSHING so many small businesses, people like you and me who are still trying to use the same old marketing playbook that’s been used by everybody for the last 10-20 years….and it's just not working the way it used to. You’re going to continue seeing diminishing returns because people no longer trust this kind of marketing. 

Here’s the landscape you’re up against -

Forrester predicted that the advertising market will be FLAT and that advertising budgets won’t go as far because people just plain don’t trust as much as they used to. This speaks to how things have gotten too noisy, too impersonal, and that consumers don’t easily give their trust anymore. (source: link) 

You know that already. 

And The Edelman Trust Barometer supports this, taking it a step further, sharing that “Trust is in crisis around the world. The general population’s trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs, and media — has declined broadly.”

I’ll repeat that again - surveys have found that trust in major institutions has declined all around the world.

What’s more, this chart from the State of Sales Survey by LinkedIn says that the #1 contributing factor in making a purchase decision is if a buyer has TRUST in the salesperson, even more than “ROI” or even price factors. (source: link)

It’s time that we restore trust to the mechanisms of marketing.

And right now, you might be wondering - trust is kinda vague, you can’t really measure it… does it really matter? 

You absolutely can, and here are just some of the benefits you’ll notice when you start making TRUST a priority. 

• Trust puts you in a position where people come to you
• It makes sales easier
• It gives you better and happier clients (which means more referrals)
• It gives you consistent, high-quality leads.
• And that means that you have a secure, steady, reliable way to grow your business - without pulling your hair out. 
• That means that you know every single month where your leads are coming from and how. You don’t have to worry about it anymore. 
• That means that you have time to deliver excellent service to your clients and still conduct lead generation. Even if you don’t have a lot of resources or a big team at your disposal.
• For once, you’ve seen a light at the end of the tunnel and you know that you have a way to do business without getting stuck in that cycle that just keeps you down.

Because once you narrow your focus on what actually matters - trust, and effectively communicating with prospects, clients, and potential partners in a way that comes across personal - you’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to get more sales appointments, close more deals, and make more money. 

Learn a simple lead generation process to build TRUST with your prospects on my upcoming LEAD Blueprint workshop. 

Small Business Marketing Should Be Simple 

Keep it simple. 

Write that down and tape it on the wall next to you. 

Because you are probably bombarded on a daily basis with ads from gurus telling you that you need to build a complex funnel to get results. 

One that has 27 steps. 

Needs 5-6 different software tools to work properly. 

And that ends up taking weeks or months to put together. 

Before it fails anyway because you’ve spent all of your time thinking about the technical aspects.

Not the human element. 

What you need to be focused on instead is putting yourself in your prospect's shoes. 

There is no shortage of information or advice online. There is no shortage of funnels to go through. Webinars to attend. Books to read. 

Your prospects want a way to cut through the noise and finally find the RIGHT solution that they can trust to solve their problems. And even more than that, they’re biologically driven to want to trust and build relationships. These days, people are starving for it. 

That’s what they care about. That's what they get excited about. 

That's what they are interested in. That's what drives them to buy.

But think about it and put yourself in your prospects’ shoes… 

How many times do they get bombarded every day? How many emails do they delete… or just plain skip over? 

How many emails end up in the spam filter?   How many ads are they just ignoring?

How many emails don’t ever even get opened? Or if they do… how many emails come off as annoying sales pitches instead of perfectly timed, helpful resources your prospects can’t wait to dig into?

If you want to know the simplest, most effective way for small businesses to get more leads, sign up for my LEAD Blueprint Workshop for free here.

For Small Businesses To Succeed They Need Patience

Remember how I told you that trust is at an all-time low? 

Well… small businesses are making it worse. Too many businesses promote themselves first and foremost and go straight for the sale.

They expect the prospect to care as much about their business as they do. But your prospects don’t care about you or your business at all. 

Why should they? They have no clue how many benefits you can offer. They only care if you can get a desired result for them. 

Losing weight. 

Business gains. 

Increased efficiency.

Less hours. 

More revenue. 

Less stress. 

Less turnover. 

Etc. 

They care about themselves first because that is their job. 

So you need to be patient. You need to show them that YOU are a potential partner. Not a solicitor. 

This starts with value. By offering something that can help them right now. 

This does 2 things…

1. Gets them to listen to you. 
2. Gets them to view you as an expert. 

So give them advice upfront. Share content that may help them. That they will find valuable. 

And give them time to understand how great you are. 

There is a phrase that gets used a lot in investing….

“Have PAYtience”

It’s applicable in business too. This doesn't mean that you shouldn’t want results right away. But don’t give up if you don’t. Remember, we are dealing with people here. Even if you sell corporations the person who pulls the trigger is a person. 

They have priorities. Needs. Wants. 

You need to think of that in every step of your marketing. 

Stop going for the sale right away. Your prospects can smell this a mile away and keep their distance. 

Unfortunately, the very tools that were built to connect us, are being used in a way that keeps us apart. No human touch. No sincere relationships. 

All you are really doing is accelerating how quickly your prospect can say “NO.”

The good news is that we can change the way we use today’s online tools, to a strategy that builds TRUST and builds relationships, and brings the handshake back to the digital world - so that the tools you use actually contribute to your business, instead of just sucking up resources and making you look like all the other hucksters out there. 

Now is the time to ZIG while everybody else is ZAGGING. If you focus on using strategies that build and maintain trust, you never have to worry about where your next clients will come from again.

If you’d like to learn how to use technology to leverage your time and increase your revenue, using trust and relationship-building principles, this masterclass will be a total game-changer for you. I encourage every business owner to take advantage of technology as you grow your business but you have to know how to use it correctly - and know which tools to use. If you agree, go ahead and register now. 

Again, we’re talking about using automation as a way that makes you stand out in the marketplace, that actually builds trust, that GETS YOU MORE CLIENTS —AND that even saves you time on a day-to-day basis. It’s nothing like anything else out there, I’ll just say that.

No one else I’ve found is talking about automation this way. 

So if you’re on board, and you agree that trust and relationships are the key to growing a flourishing business...then click here to register now and I’ll send you all the details in your inbox. 

I hope to see you there, and more than anything, I’m grateful that you’re reading this.

Like I said before, it’s very actionable and if you take it seriously, it’s going to help you get to the next level in your business or career, very fast. 

Your Turn

Sign up for my upcoming L.E.A.D Blueprint Workshop

Want a better way to get leads and clients? Sign up for my upcoming workshop that goes step by step through our lead generation process that has been so successful in our clients’ businesses -- the L.E.A.D. Blueprint. 

In the workshop, I’ll be teaching:

• Exactly what an Authority Leadership Platform is and how you can leverage our Authority Amplifier process to position yourself above the competition, putting your business on an entirely different playing field.
• How to target high-end prospects using online platforms (social media + email) in a unique way that builds instant trust by doing the polar opposite of what most ‘salespeople’ try
• How to develop real relationships online using a highly-personal Multi-Touchpoint Messaging Campaign to naturally guide the conversation towards an appointment
• The right way to automate processes that build trust, improve credibility, and increase responsiveness in your campaigns.

Join an upcoming workshop session by signing up here!

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