Lies, porky pies and FIBBS

Suggestions for service-based business owners suffering under the weight of marketing porkies

Facebook and Twitter – matching twinset and pearls?

Like most SOHO/small business owners, you’ll be used to the various outrageous claims made by media outlets claiming their new publication or website will bring generate more leads than you can handle, if you just advertise with them for long 
enough. Like most, you’ll have found that mass media brings little or no success to most service-based businesses.

And you’ll be well-used to the now familiar mantra of the latest “flavour-of-the-month” advocates, loudly proclaiming that no small business can afford to be without the matching twinset and pearls of a corporate Facebook page and Twitter account. Altho’ told over and over by people who know way more about social media than the rest of us, we remain skeptical. Also lazy.

Marketing porkies

Here’s my suggestion for service-based business owners suffering under the weight of marketing porkies. Take a look at your current array of marketing tactics. You’ve got a website, right? Is it up-to-date?
Is it generating leads? If you’re not using an information-based system of attracting new prospects, what’s stopping you?

A fibbs, or Free Information Based Business system, is a proven way of attracting qualified prospects.

It builds credibility, then moves those prospects to a point where they trust you enough to start the sales process. Giving away free information in a systematic way is not rocket science. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before. But if you aren’t using this strategy in your business right now, it probably means you need help with implementation.

It’s the ideal system for service-based businesses. Particularly those needing to be introduced to the managerial suite; those whose offering requires substantial investment; or, those with a longer selling cycle.

If fibbs is the answer, what was the question again?

The problem is often complex and starts with how service-based businesses deal with the challenges of the intangible service offering. The major issue with selling services is the lack of tangibility. Your client cannot see your product before making an investment. He is generally not in a hurry to make a purchase and when he is ready to buy, you’re just one of several businesses offering similar benefits.

The first hurdle is building the relationship. Obviously, you can’t simply bluff your way into a someone’s office and convince a person you’ve just met to buy stuff from you. So what can you do to clearly identify your market position and the specific attributes that make your business the obvious choice? You use an integrated marketing approach based on a simple, proven strategy:

• attract attention with appealing offers
• provide information that establishes differentiation from competitors
• create desire for services with a clearly defined message
• make a call to action that compels prospects to act

Positioned as an expert

It’s based around the idea of positioning the service-based business as an expert in its field, completely unique and different from its competitors. The website acts as the central hub or pivot point for all marketing activity. Prospect traffic is driven to the website and a full range of lead-generating devices is utilised to attract enquiry. The goal is to substantially increase qualified leads to the business. There a number of ways this goal can be accomplished, using a combination of on- and offline tactics. The recommended tactics will result in achieving two desired outcomes:

• in the short-term, lift the total number of leads generated and,
• in the long-term, provide an ever-increasing audience of receptive prospects

These prospects are interested in the services being offered and are willing to be marketed to. The next step is to turn them into highly-qualified sales leads.

An information-based integrated marketing approach addresses both the short- and long-term goals.
It breaks down into several components, each of which borrows from the classic “two-step” information
offer technique well-known in traditional direct marketing.

Talk to Smarthinking about the principles of an information-based system and how you can implement Silver Bullet, a simple, effective and affordable strategy to attract new prospects.