The Marketing Strategy Explained

Almost every first conversation I have with a potential new client starts the same way. They first feel the need to explain why they do not trust “marketing people.”

Usually, the story involves a bad past experience. Maybe they hired the wrong company. Maybe they spent money on advertising that did not perform well. Maybe they were promised unrealistic results and ended up disappointed.

And to be fair, there are absolutely bad apples, scammers, and people who misrepresent themselves.

But if I am being completely honest, many of these situations ultimately come down to one thing:

An uneducated business decision.

Now, because of that experience, the next marketing person they speak with has to earn back trust that someone else destroyed.

Here is what I have found interesting over the years:

Many business owners will invest heavily into equipment, employees, office space, vehicles, inventory, technology, and countless other business expenses without hesitation.

But when it comes to marketing — the very thing responsible for growing the business (!!!!)— many suddenly become extremely resistant to investing.

Now, to be clear, I am talking about many business owners, not all of them. And hopefully not you.

But if you are someone who had a bad marketing experience in the past, you cannot allow that experience to permanently stop you from growing your business.

That may sound harsh, but it is reality.

One bad decision/investment does not remove the responsibility of making better decisions moving forward.

If you want sustainable growth in today’s business environment, you have to move past the status quo and stop allowing previous disappointments to dictate future opportunities.

Because refusing to market your business properly due to fear, frustration, or past mistakes usually does not protect your business.

It limits it.

Education Minimizes Risk

To prevent bad/expensive experiences in the future, learn about marketing. It is then you will get ripped off less, you will start to understand the process, and your decision making will be better! 

Your success in your business is determined by your mindset!

One of the most important things you will do for the profitability of your business is to create a consistent marketing strategy.

You must have a mindset that understands this, embraces it, and adapts to it. 

A great marketing strategy has two parts:

•  Short-term gains
•  A long-term growth strategy

The long-term component comes from merely having a marketing strategy or a marketing process as I call it which is consistent.

Consistency is key here.

Marketing efforts that are consistent and have a long-term focus pays your business dividends over time and reinforces the short-term gains you’ve paid money for (online advertising).

Once you build a great online presence and your customer can find you at the top of the search, coupled with paid ads your business will experience great growth. 

I have been working with business owners for the past 10 years and I have learned a ton!

One thing I have learned is, the most powerful thing we can do in our marketing is to be thorough, focused, and consistent.

This will blow my client’s competitors out of the water.

How?

80% of small businesses are not consistent at marketing; their efforts aren’t very strategic – they are mainly 100% focused on short-term gains with no long-term strategy, they are reactive and not proactive.

(Even larger companies that you THINK are impossible to beat!)

Their efforts can be just as sloppy! So don't be intimidated just because you think they are BIG and you are little! Trust me!)

One the Internet the playing field is leveled.

Back in the day when all businesses were just located on streets, it was fairly obvious who the bigger guy was. It was easy to see the big building, the fancy trucks, and all the employee cars parked at the building.

But that is not the way things are anymore. The playing field has been leveled.

The consumer looks for an online solution to their problem, makes a decision within seconds and clicks.

At eye shot the consumer has NO idea what business is "bigger". Bigger is an illusion online - anyone can compete.

It's all about marketing strategy and what you are willing to invest to make sure your business is visible in the call pool.

The call pool is all the businesses a searcher sees when they perform a search for a product or service.

Many businesses have little to no placement in the Call Pool, and that weakness becomes a major opportunity for competitors.

In my practice, this is one of the biggest advantages we identify and leverage to help clients generate more leads and increase visibility.

Because the reality is simple:

If a business is not showing up where customers are actively searching, another business will capture those calls instead.

Many companies are losing potential customers every single day not because they offer a bad service, but because they are practically invisible online.

That lack of visibility becomes an Achilles’ heel.

And businesses that understand how to position themselves inside the Call Pool can often gain a major competitive advantage very quickly.

Marketing Strategy: Being in the Search = PROFIT

Your potential customer takes out their mobile and conducts a search for your products and services.

Most of the time they will do a voice search. If you want to grow your business, it’s very important you appear in this search – but not just IN it, at the top of the scroll, because this is where most of the action is.

If you have a service-based business whereas you know people are actively searching for your products or services your tool of choice should be Google Adwords and perhaps Local Service Ads.

Google Adwords will bring daily leads into your business and provide a great return for your short-term gain strategy.

If your website doesn’t appear naturally at the top of search results for top keywords your target market would use, Google Ads will PUT you there. 

You have to develop a pay-to-play mentality.

If you are not already using Google Ads (pay-per-click advertising), implementing them alone can often create a fast and noticeable impact on your business revenue.

This is where a large portion of short-term growth can come from.

Why?

Because Google Ads place your business directly in front of people who are actively searching for the products or services you offer. These are highly motivated consumers who already have intent and are looking for a solution right now.

In addition to Google Ads, we also use Facebook advertising to build immediate awareness throughout a client’s selling area.

Even if someone is not ready to buy today, repeated visibility helps build familiarity and trust over time.

This becomes especially important for businesses that operate within a longer selling cycle.

Not every customer makes an immediate buying decision. Many consumers research, compare options, visit websites, read reviews, and think things over before committing to a purchase.

That consideration process matters.

This is why we also use Facebook retargeting campaigns to stay in front of people who have already visited a business website and are already somewhat familiar with the company.

Retargeting helps keep your business top-of-mind during the decision-making process. Because many times, consumers do not choose the first business they see.

They choose the business they remember.

Marketing Strategy: The 3 R's of Marketing

My goal in this lesson is to divide marketing strategy into two categories: long-term growth and short-term gain. However, there are certain parts of marketing where those two strategies overlap and work together.

One of the greatest assets you can build in your business is your customer and prospect list. That is why continually growing your list should always be a priority.

Naturally, building a strong customer list takes time, which is why it is considered part of long-term growth.

But at the same time, your customer list can also generate short-term revenue when leveraged correctly.

This is one of the most overlooked areas in marketing.

Many businesses neglect the importance of consistently growing their customer list, and even more businesses fail to properly leverage the list they already have.

As a result, enormous amounts of potential revenue are left on the table.

One of the ways I like to explain this concept is through what I call the 3 R’s of Marketing.

The 3 R’s of Marketing

Reinforce your marketing message with existing and past customers.

Remind prospects and previous customers about your products, services, and the value your business provides.

Rekindle relationships with past customers so they continue returning to your business instead of choosing a competitor.

Staying visible to your current and past customers is extremely important because you have already invested time and money to bring those people into your business in the first place.

This brings us to an important marketing strategy: remarketing.

What Is Remarketing?

Remarketing, also called retargeting, is an advertising strategy that allows you to continue marketing to people who have already interacted with your business in some way.

This may include people who have:

• Visited your website
• Viewed specific pages on your website
• Clicked on your Google or Facebook ads
• Signed up for a special offer or joined your email list
• Already become a lead or customer

Remarketing creates an opportunity to reconnect with people who showed interest in your business but did not immediately take action.

Maybe they visited your website but never contacted you. Maybe they contacted you but were not ready to buy yet.

Maybe they are still comparing options or waiting until the timing feels right financially. There are many possible scenarios.

The way you approach remarketing depends heavily on your business model and the price point of your products or services.

For example, if you own a window replacement company and your average sale is $6,000, there is typically a longer consideration process before the customer commits to purchasing.

Higher-priced purchases naturally create a longer sales cycle because consumers spend more time researching, comparing, and thinking through the decision.

They may price-shop. They may delay the purchase. They may simply not be financially ready yet. But that does not mean they will never buy.

And that is exactly why staying visible and continuing to remind them about your business is such an important part of a successful marketing strategy.

And here is the interesting part:

Many of your competitors are not doing this consistently.

Now, what if your business offers lower-priced services such as lawn maintenance, handyman work, or recurring home services?

In that case, staying in front of customers is still extremely important because repeat business often drives long-term profitability.

You want customers to remember your business when they need service again, and you also want to give them reasons to continue choosing you over competitors.

Remarketing is also extremely effective for cross-selling additional services or products your customer may not even realize you offer.

Marketing Strategies for Remarketing

1. Email Marketing

Yes, email marketing is still highly effective. I use email marketing in my own marketing practice, and it continues to generate sales for clients.

Email marketing can be used to:

• Promote special offers
• Educate leads and customers
• Introduce additional products and services
• Stay visible over time
• Position your business as an authority in your industry

Educational email content is especially valuable because it helps build trust and keeps your business top-of-mind.

2. Facebook Advertising

Facebook allows you to upload customer and lead lists directly into the platform so you can show targeted ads specifically to people who already know your business.

This can be extremely effective for:

• Special promotions
• Seasonal offers
• Repeat business
• Cross-selling services
• Brand reinforcement

3. Google Retargeting

Google retargeting allows you to continue advertising to people who previously visited your website or clicked on your ads. You can also upload customer or lead lists directly into Google’s advertising platform.

This strategy helps keep your business visible during the consumer’s decision-making process and increases the likelihood that they return to your business later.

Creating a Marketing Strategy: Your Website

One of the most valuable assets your business can own is a website that is highly searchable for the keywords your target market uses when looking for the products or services you offer.

A website that makes your business visible in the call pool.

A website that is visible in search can pay your business back year after year in leads, calls, customers, and revenue.

Unfortunately, many business owners still view their website as nothing more than an expensive online business card.

This mindset is a mistake. A costly one.

A website’s job is to help generate revenue for your business. If your website is not helping create visibility, leads, or sales opportunities, then something is broken.

Your website should function as a growth tool — not just a digital brochure.

Website visibility is considered part of a long-term marketing strategy because it takes time to build strong search rankings. Search engine optimization, content creation, authority building, and visibility growth do not happen overnight.

However, the long-term payoff can be enormous.

Once a website begins ranking well for valuable searches in your market, it can continue producing leads and opportunities for years with the right maintenance and strategy.

In many ways, a strong website works similarly to compounded interest.

The time, effort, and resources you invest today continue paying your business back long into the future.

This is also one of the biggest opportunities to separate yourself from competitors in your market.

Because the truth is, most business owners still do not fully understand how important online visibility really is.

Even in a world where consumers search online for nearly everything, many businesses still fail to prioritize having a website that performs well in search results.

And that misunderstanding is costing them thousands of dollars in lost opportunities every year.

The businesses that understand the importance of visibility — and invest in building it consistently — often gain a major competitive advantage over time.

Use that opportunity to gain traction in your market before your competitors do.

Marketing Strategy: Google Business Profiles

Another very important piece of the long-term growth marketing side (even though it does have short-term rewards) and lead generation, is tools like your Google My Business Profiles and having a very strong focus on receiving good reviews.

Also, leveraging your Google Business Profile properly and all the bells and whistles that comes along with it.

As a matter of fact to be specific, I had one service-based business client in my practice who owned a small business which grosses a little over a million dollars a year.

One year we decided as a lead generation strategy we would put a hard focus on getting good reviews.

Those reviews put his Google Business Profile 1st in the search, this grew his visibility, ranking and CLICKS.

Those clicks turned into customers!

The graphic above is a representation of 3 months of data from an client’s Google Business dashboard. 

As you can see 416 clicks to their website and 225 click-to-calls.

This is a 400% increase over the previous year and merely because we stepped up our effort to get good reviews. This effort lead to an additional $200,000 in sales revenue that year!!!

A well-optimized Google Business Profile brings HUGE profit to this small business year-after-year and it can to yours too!

Don't ignore this goldmine! Leverage it well and generate sales for your business!

Lead Generation: Cold, Warm & Hot Leads 

Before we go deeper into remarketing, it is important to understand the different types of leads businesses typically work with.

Cold Lead

A cold lead (or top of funnel as you will hear marketers call it) is someone who is learning about your business for the very first time. They may have just discovered your company through a Google search, Facebook ad, referral, or another marketing source.

At this stage, they are unfamiliar with your business and have not yet built trust or familiarity with your brand.

Warm Lead

A warm lead (mid-funnel) is someone who has already interacted with your business in some way but has not purchased yet.

Maybe they:

• Visited your website
• Requested a quote
• Called your business
• Clicked on your ads
• Joined your email list

These people already know your business exists, which makes them far more valuable (and cheaper to reach) than cold leads.

Hot Lead

A hot lead (bottom of funnel) could be an existing or past customer. Or just someone that has reached out multiple times and has finally made the decision they are ready to buy.

If someone has already purchased from your business once, there is a strong possibility they may purchase again in the future — especially if you continue staying visible and maintaining the relationship.

This is one of the reasons remarketing can be so powerful.

Remarketing to warm and hot leads on platforms like Google and Facebook is often dramatically less expensive than advertising to completely cold audiences.

For example, if I have a client in the home window replacement industry, a cold lead click from Google Ads could cost anywhere from $22 to $37 depending on the market and competition. In highly competitive areas or larger cities, the cost can be even higher.

However, if we create a remarketing campaign targeting people who already visited the website or landing page, we may be able to get clicks for well under a dollar.

That difference in advertising cost is one of the reasons remarketing is such a valuable strategy.

In my marketing practice, remarketing is essentially a non-negotiable part of the strategy.

Every client has a portion of their advertising budget allocated toward remarketing campaigns on Google, Facebook, and sometimes YouTube as well.

Let’s go back to our home window replacement example.

Imagine a homeowner clicks on one of your Google Ads and visits your website to learn more about your company. Maybe they even request a free estimate for new windows.

They receive the estimate, but they are still not ready to move forward.

Maybe they are comparing prices.
Maybe they need more time financially.
Maybe life simply became busy.

Then one day they are scrolling Facebook, watching YouTube, or browsing another website and suddenly they see your company’s ad again.

That repeated visibility reinforces your marketing message and keeps your business top-of-mind.

And here is another important benefit of remarketing:

It can help shorten your sales cycle.

Businesses that sell higher-ticket products or services naturally have longer decision-making processes. Window replacement is a perfect example because consumers are often spending thousands of dollars.

The larger the purchase price, the longer the consideration process usually becomes.

People may need:

• Time to think
• Multiple estimates
• Financial planning
• Discussions with a spouse or family member
• 
  

This is where follow-up becomes incredibly important.

A huge percentage of sales are won simply through consistent follow-up, and a huge percentage are lost because businesses fail to stay visible after the first interaction.

Remarketing acts like automated follow-up.

Even if someone becomes distracted or delays the purchase, your ads continue reminding them that your business exists.

Over time, familiarity and trust continue building.

And eventually, one day, they may decide:
“Okay, I’m ready.”

Here is the interesting part:

Many competitors are still not using remarketing effectively. That makes it a major opportunity for businesses willing to implement it correctly.

Lesson Overview