The purpose of marketing is to attract prospects and then use sales to turn them into a client. Once upon a time marketing was about promoting a product or service with the hopes of creating a recognized brand and increasing company revenue. However by just promoting (marketing) your service or product, your marketing will unfortunately fail. Marketing has changed. It’s no longer enough to just have an advert in a magazine or go to an exhibition once a year to get all your leads. Now you have to raise your credibility and become the ‘go-to solution’ to someone’s problem and pain...

1. What Are The Ingredients Of Successful Strategic
Marketing
The purpose of marketing is to attract prospects and then use sales to turn them into a client.
Once upon a time marketing was about promoting a product or service with the hopes of creating a
recognized brand and increasing company revenue.
However by just promoting (marketing) your service or product, your marketing will unfortunately fail.
Marketing has changed. It’s no longer enough to just have an advert in a magazine or go to an
exhibition once a year to get all your leads. Now you have to raise your credibility and become the
‘go-to solution’ to someone’s problem and pain.
So marketing is now all about proof. It is about showing you are the expert in your chosen niche and
that there is no better solution for your ideal client, than to work with you/buy from you.
The biggest problem I see when I speak to new businesses that want to succeed is they just don’t
know where to start with marketing… it used to be so much easier, right?
Not really. Although competition is now greater, the ability to have a successful brand is far greater
too, now you can play with the big boys, and on a shoestring budget:
Marketing used to need to have huge budgets, and was often only available to those who had
enough money to buy radio/tv/magazine advertising… which meant that the big boys dominated the
market place.
However, it is now easy to become the go-to person in your niche, and dominate your market
place, and there is a strategy to achieve this in as little as 6-12 months, which I outline below.
 First you need to make sure that you have a passion for the business that you run/have set
up. If you are passionate about your product and service, and love what you do then the
chances are you will be far more successful. As I mentioned marketing is not expensive

2. nowadays, but it is time consuming… and requires perseverance and consistency. At
least when you first start your business, you have to love what you do, or you will give up at
the first hurdle.
 Secondly you need to have a clear idea on who your ideal client is, where to find them and
what makes you different from others out in the crowded marketplace. If you think that by
appealing to everyone you will have a great business, you are wrong. You must choose a
niche, and stand out from the crowd. If you are a jack-of-all-trades you will not be the go-to
business. If you appeal to everyone, you will appeal to no-one.
 You also need to have a brand that is recognized. It is free to create and design
websites/images and social media updates, which makes starting a business easier than
ever... but you can't think bland, you have to think brand. But if your branding is wishy washy
you will get overlooked, you need to ensure you stand for something, and have a striking
brand… Think about your values, what your business stands for, and what you want people
to say about your business behind your back. Get this bit right and you will attract clients.
 You need to make it easy for people to buy from you. If you have too many options
(services/products) prospects will be confused and not make a decision about buying from
you. If you only have one product/solution it’s going to be easy for them to say ‘no thanks’.
So think about your products and solutions and get the balance right between two few and
too many solutions.
 You must also dominate your market place. You need to be so visible that you are constantly
in your prospects minds, so that when they are ready to buy, you are their first thought.
Tweeting a few times a week and posting on your Facebook page once a day will not get you
visible. And if I were to Google you, would your business dominate Google? If you Google
Amanda C. Watts I own page one… do you own page one on Google.
 You need to have a sales funnel for each of your marketing activities. Whether you want to
use webinar marketing/blogging/social media or another platform, to grow your business you
need to make sure that there is a clear sales funnel for taking your prospect from ‘looking to
booking’ with you.
 You need to understand how sales work. It’s all well and good to dominate your marketplace
and get interest, but if you can’t close that sale and turn them into a client, your marketing
efforts have been a waste of time. So learn how to sell, and keep mastering the art.
And all of these ingredients are needed for your business to be successful. You cannot skip on any
one of these points. A good marketing strategy is all about having the right product/ service idea,
and doing the right research to target the right clients with the right solution. It’s then about building a
relationship with them, so that they love what you do/stand for and want to do business with you.

3. It’s no longer about big budgets, but about big message and service and being visible. Where do you
see the gaps in your marketing strategy?
For more information on how you can work with Amanda please click here