Everyone knows that business is online now but many are still trying to manage the business like a brick & mortar in a digital age. The strategy and systems are completely different in the digital age. The benefits of no inventory, limited overhead, and limited staffing demands make the online business model very attractive, but there are demands that have to be met.
Now more than ever branding matters. Who you are and what you are about has to be at the forefront of everything you do. It’s not enough to be John or Jane Doe that does XYZ, but you have to be John or Jane Doe who is the ______ in the _____ world. Your story, passion, and purpose has to be at the forefront of everything you communicate and offer. In the old paradigm of business you might be the only _____ dealer in town, but now you are one of millions who are vying for an opportunity to earn a clients business. Why should they do business with you? Who would find the greatest value? Are you a great match for everyone? All of these questions are answered and clear when you are unapologetic about your brand and business.
Getting your brand in front of people in the digital age takes what I call the 3 S’s. You need Software, Strategy, and a System. Without any of these 3 you will not reach your income and business growth goals. So let me start with the software. There are many business software solutions on the market but what do you need? The first thing you need is marketing software solutions.
There are many software solutions on the market but one size does not fit all. The reason many have failed out of the gate in an online business venture is this very first step. Many think well if simply buy a website and post articles on social media I should be off to the races. Well, not really. Your site is like your virtual store or office now. It shows people the lobby, the shelves of inventory and items, but it alone will not create the return you need. How are you going to get people there? Who are you targeting? When they come to your site and don’t purchase anything is that the end? Here is a list of software solutions I believe is a must in the digital marketing and online business age.
- VB Dialer – This is a very inexpensive way to drive traffic to your online store, site, email inbox, or telephone. It’s very simply to use and very affordable. You simply record a message you want to go on other targeted peoples voicemail. You then send that voice broadcast message out to their voicemail. It could be as simple a message as, “Hi this is Joe at www.joe.com I saw online that you love ____ like I do. I’m offering ____ to _____ if you are interested. Go to www.____.com and check me out. thanks!” This simple message could drive as many as 40 – 100 leads to your site, phone, or email and only cost $97. If what you are selling will yield you a $100 or more in profit then you would have only needed to make one sell to have the campaign already pay for itself and pick up an additional 40 – 100 leads that may eventually become a client.
- Landing Page & Capture Pages – I have used these now for 10 years and while they are considered old school in fashion they are still highly effective. Sending a client to a website with a lot of content can be distracting if you are targeting them for one specific purpose to look at one specific offer. That is when a capture page with an opt in form is crucial.
- Video Creation Software – Anything from a white board to a kinetic video is crucial to compel traffic to opt in to what you are offering. My opt in rate grew by 800% the moment I started using video. Rather than spending thousands of dollars to hire graphic design engineers this software here works great and is cheap. For only $47 it has paid for itself a million times over.
Of course it’s not enough to have a lot of tools to work with but you also have to have a strategy to make them work for you. One of the pit falls I see a lot of new entrepreneurs fall into when they are first starting out is get into tinkering mode. It’s great to have several toys to play with but they are there to turn a profit and not simply to entertain. The biggest mindset shift that I work with for many is showing you don’t have to know everything before you start doing anything to grow your business. There are few strategies I believe will help you immediately start growing your business today.
- Target your audience – Not everyone is going to want what you offer but that’s ok. The more you can learn who your target audience is the more successful you are going to be. In this training here I go over how to target and find your clients. CLICK HERE to watch.
- Automate your efforts – If you are a small business just starting out then more than likely it’s just you handling the marketing, support, and fulfillment of your business. Automating as much as you can in your business will go a long way in making you more profitable. In this training I show how much of your marketing efforts can be put on autopilot. CLICK HERE to see that training.
Once you have your software and strategies in place you now only need a system to use to start driving your profits. A system is where you have taken your software and strategies of use of those assets and strategically engaged them in a systematic way to create value. There are many resources and trainings I offer that will show you how to put a system in place to drive profits in your business. Here are just a few.
5. Selling Insurance with the Agent Lead Tool
