Have you heard of:

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What’s it all about?

The old adage, ‘The Rule of Seven’, means that a prospect will be exposed to your product, service or brand, seven times before they are likely to buy.

What stops a prospect buying from you?

Competition is probably the biggest challenge you will face as well as doing enough marketing using the right media. You only have to search online to see how many others are offering the same thing as you. Make it clear what you do and explain what makes you better than your competitors ie: what is your USP?

Try to think of what your potential client might need that’s related to what you do. To help you, research your competitors. Consider how easy it would be for you to offer the same, but better, then go for it! Don’t forget to create different pages on your website for each service or product so you don’t confuse search engines.

Each aspect of what you do can potentially be used as ‘marketing’ material’ and contribute to the Rule of 7.

Other issues you might have?:

• Your website isn’t on page one of searches – your prospects may not look further.
• You’re not promoting your product or service enough.
• You’re new or updated website has recently gone live – don’t expect website visitors to automatically find your website. You have to find your prospects – it can take weeks or months for search engines to crawl your website and reach page one.
• You don’t have enough (or any!) useful or helpful information on your website or blog to encourage visits.
• You don’t use social media or Linkedin – you’re missing out big time!

Your product or service isn’t needed….yet!

A prospect will more than likely skim over your message, until they actually need you. Even then they need to trust you. This is where case studies and testimonials are essential.

All the above will help to make ‘The Rule of Seven’ work for your business. Use a ‘marketing mix’ and keep using it – don’t rely on only one form of advertising. That way you will find out what works best for your business.

Many business people are not internet savvy. One of the best ways to reach them is to attend face to face networking. The same rule applies here though – attend regularly to get results. Don’t expect sales to be forthcoming immediately. Sometimes it can take months for someone you may have met to come back to you, even if you follow up after a meeting.

Advertising in local publications or church magazines can work well too, if you do it regularly.

Conclusion

Keep on marketing – make time for it, even when you’re busy.

At the start, write down your marketing strategy, and/or use it as part of your business plan.

As a quick reminder, you can simply write a ‘to do’ list, and tick them off as you go.

Don’t forget to use your logo and same company details on every piece of marketing material you use to keep your message consistent.

Article written by Sue of SJE Marketing. If you would like to be a guest blogger please contact Sue Edwards using the contact form.