Top 7 Secrets of Marketing

In an age of information overload, it’s easy for your marketing to get lost in the noise. So, the most important things you need to know about marketing are in this post.

In the few minutes it takes you to read this top seven secrets of marketing post, you’ll learn more basic truths about marketing than if you read 100 articles about marketing.

As marketing continues to change, the secrets of marketing continue to change. As everything does, there were two secrets at first, then three secrets, then five secrets. Now, I’m going to clue you in on the 7 secrets that guarantee you will exceed your most optimistic expectations, no matter how audacious they may be.

Top 7 Secrets of Marketing

7. Measurement: What gets measured gets managed. ~ Peter Drucker You can actually double or triple your profits by measuring the results of your marketing. Some marketing tactics hit your target right in the middle. Others miss it completely. Unless you measure, you won’t know which are which. You must track your marketing to ensure that it yields sales and profits.

6. Engagement:  This describes the relationship between you and your customers and it is an arrangement to do something. It is a two-way street. Bi-lateral intimacy. And your future buyers know nothing else. You engage them by providing relevant and valuable content, and following up; they prove their engagement by sharing, recommending and patronizing you.

5. Permission: In an era of non-stop interruption marketing— there’s too much noise, too many choices and too much clutter. Consumers are hit with spam, pop-up ads, 1000 cable channels, blinking Web banners, blue-screen ads behind home plate and dozens of other interruptions. You cannot make a good living by interrupting people over and over.

The key to success is to first gain permission to receive your marketing message and materials, then market only to those who have given you that permission. You will spend less time marketing to strangers and more time marketing to friends.

4. Combination:  Think of marketing as a one-two punch. A combination of distribution and promotion are needed to ensure that your marketing reaches its maximum potential audience. Individual marketing tools rarely work on their own. However, marketing combinations do work. A wide assortment of marketing tools is required to wow and win customers.

3. Trust:  Yes, trust. Having the lowest price in the market won’t help you at all if your prospect doesn’t trust you. In a nationwide test to determine why people buy, price came in 5th, selection 4th, service 3rd, quality 2nd, and, in 1st place—people said they support businesses in which they are confident. The road to confidence is paved with credibility.

2. Patience: I’ll tell you right off that marketing’s greatest ally is your patience. It takes a while for prospects to trust you, and if you change your marketing, media, and identity, you’re hard to trust. Success comes to those who begin with a plan, and have the patience to move beyond the need for instant results.

1. Commitment:  What makes a marriage work? Commitment. What enables you to finish a marathon? Commitment. What makes your marketing successful? You guessed it: commitment. Average marketing programs with commitment will always yield more profitable than a brilliant marketing programs without commitment. Commitment makes it happen.

Question: What do you find the secret to your marketing?

About the Author:  Patrick McFadden is a marketing consultant/coach for small businesses and midsize organizations. He’s also an  American Express OpenForum Advisor. He develops marketing plans and strategies for getting and keeping profitable clients using low-cost but effective marketing methods.