Wouldn’t it be great if every time you made a sales presentation, wrote a letter, sent out your sales literature, or placed an ad that you knew, with some certainty, it could cause your prospects to take action and respond to your offer?

Well, to put it bluntly, it’s not that hard if you just apply the basics of marketing. Unfortunately, marketing is one of the least understood and possibly one of the least underused courses of action in business today.

Marketing has made and will continue to make the difference between the survival and extinction of a business today. Moving into the future with the overwhelming speed of daily change in this changing and unpredictable marketplace, with shorter product life cycles, requires companies, small or large, to gain an advantage or lose market share to the competition.

Getting ahead today will mean refining your marketing with a holistic approach and sharp strategies that accelerate your business growth. The more I research and study how businesses stay alive and healthy, the more convinced and respectful I am that strategic marketing is the precursor to optimizing our sales performance.

Think of it this way: Visualize an umbrella and label it “marketing” and “strategy.” Next, under the umbrella, see advertising, branding, public relations, etc. Label those items, “selling” and “tactical processes.”

“Marketing,” — strategy — is what positions your company’s products or services favorably in the customer’s mind and is intended to stimulate customer desire and demand to make a purchase.

“Sale” — tactical processes — are tools used to educate, inform, influence, and persuade customer purchase actions.

Both marketing and selling must drive the customer to action. For example: Advertising is the art of selling in action. Radio, television, newspapers, direct mail (electronic or paper), and magazines must be constructed in the same exacting way a salesperson makes a presentation to a prospective customer.

The very skills, habits, and attitudes required of a salesperson to influence customer action must be directly aligned with all of their various tactical processes.

For example, the successful salesperson must:

1. Develop and build a report

2. Understand customer needs

3. Emphasize tangible benefits

4. Skillfully move a customer toward a purchase

5. Keep the prospect “engaged” in the buying process

6. Strategically link a product or service to a customer’s most important needs and problems

7. Detail the product or service to motivate the customer’s purchase action

Every piece of advertising used in your marketing arsenal—newspaper ad, magazine ad, direct response mail, public relations campaign—must make a complete and compelling case for your products and services in the same way a salesperson would. in person.

1. Do your ads (metaphorically) speak to your customers? Do you create a report?

2. Are your brochures, letters, newsletters, advertisements, and public relations materials credible and emotionally arouse people’s curiosity to learn more?

3. Is your marketing targeting potential customers who have a real need for your products and services, have the money, and are willing to spend it?

4. Do your marketing materials educate and emphasize all the tangible benefits to keep the prospect engaged and motivated to take a buying action?

Today is not the time to be timid in your marketing. People need a push to make decisions. They want and expect to be told how to act to get their products and services.

Take an assessment of your strategic marketing and sales actions mentioned above, and also see if you are:

1. Educate your customers on the unique benefits your products and services offer:

TO). Service guarantees

b). Technical or manufacturing support.

against). Guarantee

d). Sustainability and reliability

my). New product developments

F). Product Updates and Enhancements

gram). Delivery

2. Ask strategic questions to:

TO). Linking products or services to customer needs.

b). Providing solutions to your problems

against). Manage customer relationships

d). Keep your customer and prospect involved in the buying process

3. Active listening to:

TO). emotional triggers

b). Logic reasoning

4. Handling objections to:

TO). minimize worries

b). overcome the obstacles

5. Present benefits that:

TO). Motivate customer loyalty and purchase action

b). Advantage of your products and services over your competitors

Now is the time to get out all your marketing materials, advertisements, sales scripts, brochures, presentation materials, marketing channels and yes, check your attitudes, habits and skills – it’s time to be innovative, non-traditional and bold in your thought and business. efforts