Imagine that 100 people showed up to the car lot at the same time. The dealer would need some way to distinguish between the people who were ready to buy (needing minimal consultation) and the people who wanted to test drive every model on the lot (needing much more attention and energy).

marketing is what helps the ready “buyers” separate themselves from the perennially undecided “shoppers” to avoid unnecessary sales efforts that could chase them away.

“Sam, tell me who your ideal buyer is? What do you want them to ask you to do?”

If we have the target clearly in mind... If we use their language and speak to their reality... If we offer what they ultimately want… If you present yourself as a credible solution (better yet, a proven expert)... ...then, you will have your choice of best-fit buyers — coming to you, willing to pay your price.

“Digital marketing” is an umbrella term for any marketing performed over the internet through a variety of channels, such as search engines, websites, blogs, email, paid online advertising, and social media.

Top 5 Ways to Grow Your Email List Before you can use email automation to its fullest potential, you have to grow your list.

Use Lead Magnets on Your Website

Partner with organizations in your industry to gain exposure to their audience. Speak at their events, sit on panel discussions, or share your blogs on their platforms.

The Process of Building Sales-Ready Leads

Without a complete sales process, lead generation efforts are like adding water to a leaky bucket.

2. Epic Content To convert your website visitors into email subscribers, you have to grab their attention and establish your authority as a viable solution to their needs. The best way to do that is by offering epic, valuable content. What makes content valuable to your clients? It’s organized. It meets them where they are in the buying process. It addresses their problems and points them to the solution. This is where many people get stuck. They realize they need content, but they have no idea what to write about.

Here’s one simple way to generate content ideas: Start by listing the five biggest problems you solve for your clients. For each one, write the top 10 FAQs. Then, write the top 10 SAQs (should-be asked questions). With these questions, you’ve actually created a list of content topics that are great starting points for valuable content that solves your prospect’s problems. Now you’re ready to create content that catches the eye of different types of buyers.

Prospects in later buying states need more informational content. Offer content that provides valuable how-to information or templates like: “How to choose the right [key resource] for you” “Ways to save money [while doing this frequent activity]” “10 templates that will make your life easier”

With early and middle stage prospects, your content follows a similar format.

How to Create Intentional Online Content

Great Content Starts with Great Topics If you want to create content that converts, you need stellar/enticing/eye-grabbing topics. Great content isn't necessarily about what you find interesting — it’s about what matters to your future clients. And what usually matters most to your clients is learning how to overcome the obstacles that are holding them back from greater success. Identify Their Problems

List FAQs Now you're ready to use your top five problems as a launching pad for more ideas. For each problem, write the ten most frequently asked questions about the process of solving that particular problem. What questions do your current clients have? What objections do prospects have? What issues come up most frequently as they walk through solving this problem?

With early-stage content, you need to build credibility, demonstrate empathy, and gain the reader’s trust. Prove that you can solve the problem they’re starting to realize they have. Share videos, lists, articles, best practices, and customer-insights with shock factors that are both useful and entertaining. You want the reader to find value in your content... even if they never buy. In this stage, you’ll create titles like: ●Why You're Losing 75% of Your Deals ●Top 10 Reasons You’re Not Getting Enough Leads ●The Top 5 Event Planning Mistakes Everyone Makes Early-stage content should make up 70% of your total content. It’s the top of the funnel and the biggest category because it’s your chance to reach the most prospects.

As prospects are considering what to do, your goal is to turn these readers into leads. Use content like webinars, tutorials, testimonials, e-books, buyer guides, and templates to position your brand as the expert.

In this phase, you’ll see topics like: 7 Questions to Evaluate New Marketing Opportunities Does Your CRM Do Everything You Need? How to Tell if Your Event Manager is Overcharging You This actionable and practical content should make up about 20% of your total content.

This content focuses on the information it takes to close the deals and retain customers. It may feature titles like: [Your Product] vs. [Competitor’s Product] How ABC Company earned $225K Using the Inbound Method Implementing a CRM Into Your Business is Easier Than You Think Because you're targeting clients and prospects in the bottom of your funnel, only 10% of your total content falls into this category.

Don’t Wait For Visitors, Promote Your Content

3 Essential Types of Promotion When promoting your content, there are three primary methods: paying for ads, earning followers through great posts, or owning different channels where people can find you.

1. Paid Promotion You can pay to push your content to people who may be interested in what you have to offer. Paid content promotion is highly targeted, allowing you to reach prospects who are most likely to buy.

The best use of any form of paid promotion is to make it a part of a full campaign. Then, you can create a funnel and retarget the people who have read your content, giving them opportunities to join your community, subscribe to your email lists, and ultimately look to you as an expert in the industry. 2. Earned Promotion

Sounds great, but how do you start?

3. Owned Media Promotion

The best strategy for dominating owned media is to figure out what types of content your customers find most useful and interesting. Then, produce more of those types of posts, videos, or graphics.

Try these strategies for finding what appeals most to your target customers.

there are just three marketing imperatives: Know your ideal customer Help them believe in you Offer frictionless engagement

Marketing tells us that if we can somehow separate these 100 people according to their readiness to buy, our sales force will be more effective, and we might not lose so many impatient buyers. Imagine three lines form outside the main door of the dealer:

Summarize Your Marketing Plan 1. Build Your Website So You Can Attract

2. Engage the Visitor So You Can Segment

3. Extend an Invitation So You Can Convert

4. Design the Client Experience So You Can Retain