The Online Prosperity Experience

Why do entrepreneurs often forego creating a marketing budget?

Coaches, consultants, and small business owners need to think carefully about how they're going to invest their limited resources, and a budget is a helpful way to keep track of where those resources are going.

However, many entrepreneurs don't create a budget for their marketing efforts, instead opting to wing it and hope for the best.

There are a few reasons why this might be the case.

1. First, marketing can be a complex and overwhelming endeavour, particularly for those who are just starting out. It can be difficult to know where to allocate your resources when you're not sure what's going to work, and what's a waste of time.
2. Second, budgets can be constraining.

Do you have a defined marketing budget for your small business?

Difference Between Sales and Marketing

If you're in sales or marketing, or if you're a small business owner, it's important to understand the difference between sales and marketing. Many people use the terms interchangeably, but they are two very different things.

Sales is the process of convincing someone to buy a product or service, while marketing is the process of creating awareness and interest in a product or service.

Marketing is what you do to get people interested in your product or service, and sales is what you do to close the deal.

I hope this tip helps you to plan out what you’re going to do with your marketing and where you’re going to invest your time and money to grow your business.

Come back in the next episode where I’m going to talk about not having a budget.

That’s another common mistake that entrepreneurs make!

Customer Experience is everything today.

So many coaches, consultants and small business owners are focused on the changes in marketing and all the new things we have to master and pay attention to.

The fact is the most significant driver of change today isn’t the way marketing is changing, it’s the way buying is changing.

If the customer is indeed now in charge of their buying journey, and I believe this is true, then the most important marketing element still left in our control is the customer experience (Cx) – the way in which prospects and customers experience every aspect of our business.

May I be as bold as to suggest that Customer Experience is everything today?

Now, I realise if I’m going to suggest something so far-reaching and universal, I’m also going to have to help you expand your vision of what customer experience is.

See, for any business, the customer is experiencing your business long before you are even aware of their need or interest. The question is, have you considered the impact of every marketing decision in this light?

Even Google rewards you

Many people ask me how to get better rankings on Google, and while I may give more technical answers at times, the simple answer is to create a better customer experience.

Google’s objective, when it comes to search is and always has been to reward businesses that create the best, most relevant, and most useful content and make it easy for people to find and consume that content.

The only thing that’s changed is Google’s ability to understand what content does just that.

Let's explore the customer experience...

What you need is a client generation system.

If you have not been lying under a rock, you will notice that a lot of marketing is set on complex automated lead funnels. Go on Facebook, and you’ll likely be hit with ads offering to show you how to make it rain thousands of leads on autopilot.

While I’m not opposed to teaching lead generation techniques, I do think there is an issue with just thinking about the lead funnel as a standalone. After all, you don’t just want leads—you want new and returning customers on a consistent basis.

What you need is a client generation system.

I work with a lot of coaches, independent marketing consultants and service professionals, and most of them simply want to work with about ten of the right clients at any given time.

So let’s do some maths. Let’s say you have four clients right now, and you would like to get six more. The typical consultant acquires new clients by attracting a lead that wants to meet and learn about how you might help them.

Let’s say one in four of those meetings turns into a client. (That’s terribly low for the approach we teach, but I’ll use it to be conservative.)

With the math above it will take you 24 sales meetings to get the additional six clients needed to fill your practice and meet your revenue objectives.

So, in building a lead generation and conversion system, there are two primary questions.

1. What does it take to get a consistent flow of appointments and
2. how can you convert more appointments to clients?

Build a system that does that, and you won’t need to worry about all the lever-pulling elements and moving parts in most lead funnels today.

Best Use of Content to Generate a Steady Flow of Leads

Are you just creating content for content's sake?

If you're constantly churning out blog posts, ebooks, and other pieces of content but not seeing any results, then it's time to take a step back and re-evaluate your strategy.

In this podcast, learn why creating content for content's sake is a recipe for disaster, and how you can create content that actually provides value to your audience.

If you are tired of hearing you must produce content to compete in your industry today, I have good news and bad news.

As content continues to grow in importance in the marketing mix, it must take on an elevated place in your strategy and planning. The use of high-quality, education-based content has become an essential ingredient in creating awareness, building trust, converting leads, serving customers and generating referrals.

I’ve said this many times over the last few years, but marketers these days have a lot in common with publishers and it’s time to embrace this reality fully – content is air

Now for the good news – you don’t need as much content as you think.

The days of pumping out thin blog posts day after day are over.

If you are a coach, consultant or small business owner, here’s all you need to do.

Consider writing just six blog posts for the rest of this year, but put a month’s worth of blood, sweat, and tears into each one. Deal?

Below is the complete system that I talk about in this podcast for turning content into leads.

Here’s the system in 3 steps

1. Create a list of just 6 of the most useful content ideas for your ideal customer
2. Build a lead-generating content upgrade for each piece
3. Start promoting each piece in advertising and social media

That’s it – execute on this over the next six months, and you’ll start generating leads.

7 Non-Negotiable Elements of Every Small Business Website

Get these “must-have elements” on your website.

Do you know the purpose of your website?

Before I can talk about the necessary elements of your website specifically, I need to address the purpose of a website.

Gone are the days of your websites just being a glorified digital brochure for your coaching, consulting or small business. A website now has many jobs including :

• Getting found on Search Engines – The website should be optimised for search to help you get found online.
• Build trust – Your website is a key element to building trust. Once a prospect arrives at your website, it needs to validate the problems that they are looking to solve. Your website needs to function the way your customers need it to and expect it to.
• Educate Your Audience – Your website should teach people how to recognise their problems and challenges that are keeping them up at night.
• Inform – Once a prospect has found you and trusts you, you need to inform them on how you can solve their problems.
• Nurture – Often people need to come back to your website numerous times before making a purchase. Capture their email address and continue to create valuable content that is relevant to their stage in the customer journey to nurture them through to the sale.
• Convert – A conversion can be many things from subscribing to a newsletter, to calling you, to making a purchase on your website. Conversion opportunities need to be an element of the design of your homepage to help guide the journey.

In today’s world, your customer’s journey starts by researching online. People come to a conclusion on their own whether they are interested in buying from you far before you even realise you are being looked at.

You need to make sure you have a presence in these early research stages, and completing each of the jobs above will help you do that.

There you have it, my comprehensive list of website must-haves.

Today’s assignment: Use this to make an assessment of the missing elements on your homepage right now and create a plan to fix this!

Tomorrow we tackle your content plan – it’s how you generate leads today, but don’t worry, I’m going to make it super easy for you!

Need more tips on how to grow your business?

Check out our entire Guide to Marketing Professional Services.

Refocus your message

Matching your message to your ideal client is pretty much everything when it comes to marketing these days.

Think about you – you’ve got about five seconds to get and keep someone’s attention, and you can’t waste that precious time with a message that doesn’t connect.

A message that connects is one that clearly talks about what your ideal client wants more than anything else in the world – and what is that?

They want to solve their problems.

In many ways, they will never care about your awesome plan to do XY and Z if you don’t first and foremost let them know that you understand what they really, really want.

Hint: Nobody really, really wants what you sell – they want their problems solved – period.

So, for today, here’s your assignment.

Make a list of the problems you solve for the clients you help the most.

If you’re having trouble thinking about your client’s problems, think a bit about the things they tell you. (Some might call it the things they whine about – I would never, but some might.)

For example, a lot of my prospective clients might say things like – I just want the phone to ring more.

So I don’t sell marketing services or SEO or even consulting – all you need to know about what I do is that I make the phone ring – end of story.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s (episode 4) podcast where we will take the “must-have” elements for every website (Hint: You’re going to want to know the answers to the two questions just above in your assignment.)

The Online Prosperity Experience

Prosper Taruvinga’s powerful Digital Marketing Strategies and actionable tactics, that you can use right now have helped more than 50 000 people from over 10 countries to create meaningful businesses that are profitable and enjoyable.

Are you looking for more customers? Are you looking to take your business to the next level, develop stronger relationships with your employees, clients or suppliers, improve your finances or get people liking you before you try to sell them something? 

The Online Prosperity Experience gives you access to Prosper’s proven Online Prosperity Blueprint. This is a 4 Step Marketing Strategy designed to help you accomplish your goals.

Whether you’re looking for insight into how to build a bigger business or position yourself as the go-to person in your category, you have access to all the tactics used by celebrities like David Hughes as well as (literally) over 450 small businesses and counting.

With an extensive selection of episodes featuring insightful lessons from Prosper, interviews with some of the most successful people in the world and never-before-released audio content from deep within the archives, you’ll find you can learn a great deal while listening during your morning commute or daily workout.

As Prosper says, “I am the guy you call when you are tired of thinking small”

Get started today by choosing an episode that resonates with where you are right now and enables you to take your business to the next level.

Are you on track to reach your content marketing goals this year?

If not, don't worry - you're not alone. In this podcast, we'll share some of the most common content marketing mistakes that can derail your success, and how to avoid them.

We'll also give you some actionable tips that you can use to get back on track and reach your goals.

So if you're struggling to meet your content marketing goals, this podcast is for you.

Together we’ll “Restart, Recharge and Revive” your marketing right now instead of waiting until another year rolls around.

You in? If so, just make it a point to come back to The Online Prosperity Experience Podcast and take in the new lesson.

I believe there’s still plenty of time to make this year your best year yet and what better time to start than right now.

6 Tips for Creating a Powerful Brand Experience

Your customer’s experience with your brand determines the actions they’ll take—whether they’ll become lifelong customers, loyalists or a lost sale.

A world-class brand experience, from start to finish, is essential when it comes to accelerating the growth of your brand. 

What is brand experience?

In general terms, brand experience is the overall impression your audience receives when interacting with your brand.

The way your brand looks, smells, sounds, tastes and feels plays a role in every experience, whether your audience is interacting with your brand on the web or in person. 

Every customer touchpoint is an opportunity to create a more meaningful, authentic and consistent brand experience.

Whether you’re looking to increase brand awareness or perceived value, or you need to increase sales or customer loyalty, it all comes down to creating an effective brand experience for your customers.

Creating a compelling brand experience is the most effective way to generate customer loyalty and promote ongoing growth for your brand.

Whether you’re actively rebranding or you’re looking to improve your brand experience across several touchpoints, it helps to have a branding partner on your side. 

Say hello to Livelong Digital! We’ll help you form a positive brand experience for every customer, every time.