Are you using intentional marketing to propel your business forward? Or are random acts of accidental marketing holding you back?
What is intentional marketing?
Whether you realize it or not, you are marketing your business every minute of every day.
If you’re like most business owners, you’ve been led to believe that marketing is just advertisements, websites, and sales flyers. Although those do make up part of your marketing strategy, marketing is much more than just the promotional methods you use.
Everything you do and say related to your business, from how you interact with your customers to how you package your products, is marketing.
Customers are constantly drawing conclusions about your business based on their interactions with you. New customers use that information to decide if they’ll come back. Returning clients use it to determine if they should recommend your business to their friends.
That means, marketing isn’t something you choose to do or not do – it is embedded into every interaction. How you run your business is just as much a part of your marketing strategy as how you promote your business.
Intentional marketing means you control the narrative by deciding ahead of time what you want people to think about your company. Then, you design strategies to ensure that your words and actions align with your goals. You create a clear, cohesive client experience that customers can depend on.
What message is your current “marketing” sending to customers?
If you’ve been relying on the inconsistent results of accidental marketing, follow these steps to start running every aspect of your business with intention.
3 Steps to Begin Using Intentional Marketing in Your Business
Step 1: Clarify your business messaging.
The first step of being intentional with your marketing is to analyze how you talk about your products and services.
Often business owners struggle with the curse of knowledge- they know so much about their business that they can’t concisely explain what they do. Their long, technical explanations confuse potential customers, driving them away.
To make sure that doesn’t happen to you, write a simple 2-3 sentence summary of what your business does. We often refer to this as a one-liner.
Your one-liner should include:
- The problem you solve.
- A brief explanation of your unique solution.
- A description of what the client’s life could look like after they use your product or service.
You and your team can use this pre-written paragraph so that everyone explains the company in the same way. You can also use this in your marketing emails, on your website, or anywhere else people are learning about your company.
Clear business messaging is the foundation of all good marketing. You want to ensure that everything you say about your company is clear, understandable, and client-focused. After you’ve drafted a one-liner, use one of these three options for a full business messaging makeover.
Step 2: Define your core values.
Now that you’ve clarified how you’ll talk about your business, it’s time to define how you will show up in your business.
As they say, actions speak louder than words. Having an amazing website, eye-catching flyers, and a killer slogan isn’t enough to make a business successful. You also need to deliver a great product or service. Your actions have to align with your business goals.
What values do you want your team to display when interacting with clients? Define two or three core values for your company.
For example, here is an excerpt of our core values:
At Guide MKTG, we strive to be:
- Curious: We love asking great questions (and listening well to the answers). We look for new opportunities and ways of doing things.
- Experts: If we’re going to help leaders avoid costly mistakes due to random marketing tactics, we need to be experts who know what we’re doing.
- Relatable: We understand the importance of relationships — with our clients, with each other, with our families. We see each person first as fully human and seek to understand them.
After you outline your core values, take it a step further and lay out what those values would look like in action. Here are two actions we ask our team to strive to take each day:
- Ask, “how can I help”? Always be prepared to help someone win.
- Make someone’s day. Delight a client or a co-worker with something you say (words of encouragement, affirmation, humor) and something you do (be generous with your time or knowledge, have fun).
Step 3: Stay consistent.
Now, take the marketing strategies you outlined in steps 1 and 2 and use them. All of your marketing materials, social media messages, and even how you describe your services on the phone should align with your clear brand messaging.
From the minute a client steps into your place of business until the time they leave, they should see your core values in action. This intentionality and consistency will create a better experience for your customers, employees, and for you as a business owner.
3 Benefits of Intentional Marketing
If practicing intentional marketing sounds like a lot of extra work, use these three benefits of being intentional with your marketing for motivation:
Intentional Marketing Builds Trust
People don’t give their money to anyone. Consumers want to be certain that your company can solve their problem before they buy. Clear messaging helps interested clients easily understand what you do. Consistent business practices improve the client’s overall experience and build trust.
When customers see that you follow through with your promises, they are more likely to click buy and entrust you with some of their hard earned cash.
Intentional Marketing Fosters Connection
When you provide an excellent customer experience, customers feel valued and appreciated. They’ll know that they can rely on you for quality services every time. Connection draws people back, turning them into repeat customers and later raving fans that recommend you to their friends.
Your Business Will Stand Out
In a world full of noise and confusion, people are drawn to clarity. If you can be the business that interested clients understand and trust the fastest, you’ll generate more revenue. If you confuse people, your business will get lost in the sea of noise.
Create Your Intentional Marketing Strategy
Intentional marketing is key to building trust with customers, fostering connection and standing out from the competition. By consistently delivering a positive customer experience- both on paper and in person- you will become the business everybody talks about, in a good way.
If you are disappointed by the results of your current accidental marketing and are ready for a marketing plan that works, schedule a call with Guide MKTG today. We will help you craft an intentional marketing strategy that works. With us, you’ll never waste good money on bad marketing again.
