Here's a business story with a very important lesson for your marketing efforts.
In the middle of 2021 I had a coffee with a guy who runs a technology business and he was really struggling to develop his business further.
He had originally started with one service and had added something else and was putting a lot more of his effort into that new service.
And for whatever reason, he thought that this new service needed a different sales and marketing approach.
Watch the video and learn what happened (or read about it below):
So he completely changed his marketing for this new service whilst completely and totally overlooking the fact that what got him clients in the first place would more than likely work if he decided to use the same tools and techniques.
Even worse is that he wasn't even selling the new service to his existing customers, many of whom could have and maybe would have bought the new service had they been informed about it.
So there's two things going on here and this is where the lesson comes in for your marketing.
What has worked in the past?
If you sell into a market and you add an additional service or product into that market, chances are good that the techniques, tools, marketing strategies that you used before will work for the new thing.
But he hadn't even tried it. He just decided that because it was new, at least for him, he needed a whole different marketing approach.
And he got it completely and totally wrong. I told him to go back to the drawing board and just do more of what he did to get his original customers.
You should be selling to your existing customers
But, I also told him that he definitely needs to be marketing to his existing customers.
Simply because you need to be marketing to your existing customers.
If they bought from you once, they're highly likely to buy from you again if you present something to them in the right way.
It's highly likely that if you were successful getting customers in the first place with your old services, the same techniques will work with the new ones.
Same thing with selling to existing customers. If you're adding something, sell to them first.
So, don't neglect what's worked in the past just because you may be doing something new.
Scale up if it works
Lean on what has worked in your marketing, and do more of it. And if it proves to be successful, scale it up.
Yes, the business climate might change. And marketing tools and techniques might change.
But fundamentally, the game of marketing changes little.
It's all about communication. It's all about reaching your target market, your audience with the right Boast, Brag, or Broadcast using the right channel. That will never change.
So what's worked in the past is highly likely to continue working.
And if you know that it definitely has stopped working, then you need to rethink.
But whatever you do, if you introduce something new, try the same marketing techniques first.
Don't reinvent anything. Just because what's in your head is new doesn't mean your marketing approach has to be new as well.
If you have any comments or questions write them below. It would be great to hear from you.
Want more on marketing? Check out:
Why it’s a good idea to start with a small number of marketing channels (Article and video)
What is swipe and deploy marketing and how can you use it? (YouTube video)