I’ve talked with a few beginning and even some veteran entrepreneurs who have a similar story that goes something like this: They threw themselves into their businesses, got off to a great start, achieved some initial success, and then down the road, all of a sudden the strategies that were working simply stopped working. These entrepreneurs are now suffering because they stuck to one marketing plan. If that sounds counterintuitive, let me explain what I mean below.
Forget the Marketing Plan and Find Real Success
Business is an ongoing process. It’s not a one-time idea. You’re going to fail if you think, “Hey, this works. I’m going to do this forever.” Yet, this is exactly what so many people do when they stick to one marketing plan for their business.
Don’t Be Afraid of Change
Many people call me a marketing expert. Maybe I am; maybe I’m not. The bottom line is I’ve done fairly well marketing myself and anything that I’ve touched.
One of the reasons I’ve done so well is that I understand marketing requires an ever-changing formula. If you think you’re going into something with the same strategy forever, you’re crazy. No marketing plan works forever. Instead, you always have to keep adjusting, testing, and changing. After all, people get tired of the same thing.
How People Fail
Here’s the thing that happens to many start-ups: they’ve reached the top and easiest segment of their market. When you start a certain type of business in a certain niche, there’s a group of people who are just waiting for you. These people have a problem that can be answered by your solution. They’re simply waiting for you to come sell to them.
However, there’s also a secondary group of people that aren’t waiting. These are the people you actually have to market and sell to. Obviously, these people need a whole different marketing plan.
How I Make It Work
Take my seminar business, for example. The first time we go to Singapore with the Millionaire Mind Intensive, they say, “T. Harv Eker’s coming to town. Wow! He’s a big author. He’s number one on The New York Times bestseller list and number one on the Singapore list. I’ve got to go see this guy.” All the business and finance people say, “Wow! Let’s go see Harv,” and 5,000 people show up.
The next time I come to town, 4,000 people show up. The next time after that, 3,000. It’s harder. I think our last event had 2,500 people, and it took six months to fill. Why is that? Because we’re not doing as good? No. Is our marketing not as good? No, it’s not that.
What’s happening is the people who were the cream of the crop in the market waiting for me have already taken the course. Consequently, we have to work harder to convince the next group. However, how do you do that? It’s not easy, but you have to find people in different nooks and crannies in different niches.
Find New Energy
Another thing that happens with a new business is your own energy is different. You go in and think, “I’ve got to make this work.” In the beginning, you’re putting in 18 hours a day, and your energy is high. This works at first, but slowly your business starts to suffer. It’s like you’re running in a marathon, but you sprinted the first mile. Now, you’re panting. If you just keep running, you’re going to fall behind. You need a different strategy to actually keep your energy up.
This goes to show that marketing in business ebbs and flows. You always have to be innovating, changing, revising and testing new marketing methods, sales techniques, and new products. If you’re not flowing and growing with your market and getting better at what you do, you’re dying.
Some New Strategies You Can Try
You have to get some new strategies in there. Whatever they are, they must answer these questions:
- Who is your target market?
- What is your message — Is it clear and unique?
- What’s your medium — How do you reach these people? Are you reaching the right people in an effective way?
- What’s your backend system? Once you have the people in the door, how do you continue to make money with them and support them?
Write down MMMB: Market, Message, Medium and Backend.
If you’re not using those principles, you’re a wonderful person and I love you very much, but you suck at marketing and business. I don’t want that to be the case. I want you to be successful and happy and financially free.
Even if you’re just reading this and not thinking seriously about starting a business, imagine you had a specific problem that you could solve for a specific group of people. What would it be? What’s your MMMB?
Do this creative exercise just to challenge yourself and tell us what you think! You might find great ideas inside that you didn’t know were there.
For Your Freedom,
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