STRATEGIC PLANNING for the small business owner who wants to own a real income­producing asset…

The ULTIMATE Small Business Marketing Plan

A Simple, Yet Proven “Action Plan Template” To Double Your Sales In The Next 12 Months

by Mike Connolly, Founder and CEO of StrategiCopy Media LLC

Copyright © Mike Connolly ­ All rights reserved.

No part of this report may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author

© Mike Connolly ­ All Rights Reserved

What would it take to double your sales (or more) over the next 12 months?

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half.” ~ John Wanamaker We should be so lucky... The average small business website converts less than three out of every one hundred visitors. Even if your website is average, most of the time and money you invest

in getting traffic to that site ­ 97% to be exact ­ is wasted. Result? Long hours, low margins, lack of cash to grow the business and vulnerability to competition, whether the big gorilla franchises in your industry, or pesky upstart knockoffs in your own space. Or cutthroat price competitors. It’s not the picture you had in mind when you launched your business, is it? Yet a growing community of small business owners are fighting back. And winning. They’re capturing more of the visitors hitting their sites and turning them into lifelong repeat buyers. And for them, that means bigger margins, more free cash to take home or reinvest and a fortress­like wall surrounding their customers that competitors arrows just bounce off of. How do they do it? This report reveals their secret in a simple 3­step formula that you can implement today and begin harvesting literally tomorrow. It will work for you if you’re not already making an attractive offer on your site to build your list of followers and fans. It has worked in my business, and in many of my client’s businesses. I’m confident that if you diligently follow each of the steps that I’ve outlined in this report, it will work for you. Ready to start harvesting some of that lost 97%?

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Let’s dig in… Step 1: Pick a single buyer type to laser­focus on Spreading your marketing efforts and dollars out willy­nilly and applying multiple band­aids to a leaking lead funnel dooms your marketing dollars to leave your hands and never return. The key is to focus on one target customer profile at a time and step them through a single, well­planned process. It’s hard, because you want to get every buyer in the door you possibly can right? Relax, you’ll be able to do that. But first, let’s focus on just one buyer type. That kind of laser focus keeps your powder dry until your marketing system has a chance to kick into high gear. So, who’s your ideal buyer. It’s helpful to create a fictitious character ­ Use the following checklist to create your ideal buyer profile:

His/Her Name (e.g. Picky Pete, Reluctant Ralph, Hi­Flying Fran, etc.)

_________________________________

Dominant Emotional Trigger(s) you can solve (e.g. hates being left out, wants more time freedom, feels frustrated with current weight loss efforts, etc.):

____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

Hopes, Dreams, Aspirations (e.g. to be a great parent, etc.) ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

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Other qualifiers (e.g. age, income, education, location, stage in “buying journey”,

beliefs, loves/hates, favorite shopping modalities, news sources, etc.) ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

Okay ­ Got a clear picture in mind on who your ideal buyer is? Great, let’s go find him or her! Step 2: To catch more fish, go where the fish are biting So where does your ideal buyer hang out? Where does she get her news and keep in touch? Facebook? YouTube? LinkedIn? Twitter? Blogs? TV? Radio? Direct Mail? The water cooler at work? Private networks? Meetups? Church? Volunteer Committees? Live Events? List the three most cost­effective places to attract your ideal buyer from a crowd of perfect strangers, like a magnet pulling needles from a haystack. If you’re not sure where to start, it’s okay ­ take an educated guess:

____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

Step 3: Great ­ You’re getting nibbles! Now what? Okay, ready to roll up your sleeves and really make it happen? Complete and check off each item below ­ And watch your sales multiply like bunnies in heat!

Capture Prospective Buyers with an Attractive “Lead Magnet” If you’re not already doing so, offer an attractive chunk of unique, relevant and interesting content to your ideal buyer that she’ll be happy to give you her email address for.

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So, how do you make it attractive to your target prospect? “Subscribe to our newsletter” might have cut it in 2002, but not now. Here are just a few types of “Lead Magnets” successful small businesses use to attract their ideal buyers; check off one or more that could be a fit for your business:

Webinar

White Paper

Free Consultation

Consumer Awareness Guide

Raffle, Contest or Giveaway

Special Report

Ebook

Free Trial

Quiz or Survey and Report on Results

Handbook

Where do you place it on your website? Thousands of tests have shown that upper right area is prime real estate for attracting visitor interest. Place it on your homepage, blog, exit or welcome popup and other general interest pages. Don’t sweat this… Just pick one and get it done. You can do it yourself or hire somebody to do it for you ­ There are plenty of freelance writers and designers who can help you get it done so you can start making money with it. Remember that 97 out of 100 lost visitors? A good lead magnet can capture anywhere from five twenty percent of them ­ on autopilot, while you’re out doing other things. Like spending more time with your family, growing your business or practicing that golf swing... What could you do with more cash and less time per sale?

Welcome & Warm­Up So what separates growing companies from the wannabes?

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Now that you’re capturing more of those visitors that used to hit your website and “bounce” away, never to be seen again, you’ll need a simple automated sequence of at least three or more touches to convert your new prospect into a buyer. A “touch” can be a voice message, text message, postcard or letter, a task for you or your sales or customer service rep to make a personal call… or an email. Let’s keep things simple for now and just send three emails. To convert a visitor into a lifelong customer, the buying journey they take with your business is like dating... At first meeting someone you may have a romantic interest in, you wouldn’t just walk up to that person start talking about how many kids you’ll have… Same with turning visitors into repeat buyers. Step one is to get your new prospect to like you. Then you can work on positioning your business apart from your competitors, and all the other choices she may have, including doing nothing. You build that relationship step by step. An easy way to stand out is to simply answer FAQ’s about your products and services that your ideal prospect might typically ask, and what they can do for her. This is an ideal place to pre­answer typical objections. A good rule of thumb here is 80% content, 20% pitch, with pure content in the first few emails, then gradually adding pitch as you earn the right to sell by building trust in the relationship. Okay, task time ­ Write down three or more questions your ideal buyer has about solving her problem that you can answer for her and check this off above when complete:

____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

Long Term Nurture Well, you say, what if they still don’t buy?

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It’s okay. Something like 85% of your leads may not be ready to buy now... If your new prospect doesn’t buy during your Warm­Up Sequence, you can send her to a Long Term Nurture (LTN) Sequence where she gets a steady drip, drip, drip of interesting, engaging ­ dare I say… fun ­ content from you. You can deliver it by email, video, blog post, social media, remarketing ads ­ even direct mail. Short emails leading to other web pages works best in my experience. Power Tip: To really turbo­charge your sales, segment your list into different customer types and target your messaging to “Enter the conversation already going on in his head…” People often ask, how long should a LTN Sequence be? The answer depends on your typical sales cycle. How long does it typically take your ideal buyer to go from not even being aware of a problem or desire to a buying decision? That will give you a pretty good idea how long to “drip” on them for before giving up and attempting to re­engage them in your original offer or some other product. So where does the content for all these touches come from? This doesn’t have to be a huge amount of work ­ If you have a blog, newsletter, social media stream, videos, podcasts etc., you already content. Even if you don’t have any of these, I’ll bet your hard drive and past emails contain a wealth of information you could turn into great content your prospects would find helpful and interesting.

List sources of content you can recycle to keep in touch with your prospects until they’re ready to buy:

____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

Convert

When done right, you can double, triple or even as much as 10x the number of prospects who will eventually buy from you, when they are ready.

© Mike Connolly ­ All Rights Reserved

The big mistake most business owners is they have no system to be there, first and foremost in their customer’s mind when she’s ready to make a buying decision. Instead, they get lost on a treadmill of endless advertising, always having to get new customers. Or pay an advertiser to keep reminding prospects to come back when it’s time to buy. If you are not there, front and center when the moment arrives, she may go to your competitor. By doing consistent follow­up to a list of proven prospects, you convert them when they are ready to buy, not just when you are ready to sell. That’s the key. Systematic follow up enables you to be right there ready when that apple falls off the tree… There are plenty of marketing automation systems to help you with this. Here are a few ­ Select the one that’s a good fit for the stage your business is in right now:

MailChimp Aweber iContact Infusionsoft Ontraport Hubspot Other _______________________________

Track When prospects buy, you need to know why. To set up a tracking system, use Google Analytics and your email service provider. If you need help with this, you can hire consultants from any of these crowdsourcing freelancer sites:

Elance Odesk Freelancer

As famed business management guru Peter Drucker said, “What gets measured, gets managed.”

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Key Performance Indicators, or KPI’s, to watch include conversion rates at each stage of your marketing funnel and lead source ROI (Return on Investment). Check this off above when your tracking system is set up.

Rinse & Repeat Data in hand, you can now tweak results to keep increasing profits and expansion in a virtuous cycle of business growth. Then ­ remember those other customer profiles you wanted to go after all at once? Now you can go after them, armed with a system that you are confident works consistently, predictably.

Let StrategiCopy do the “Heavy Lifting” FOR You StrategiCopy is the leading “voice for small businesses”, dedicated to helping them convert perfect strangers into ideal buyers ­ with scalable, sustainable systems.

Schedule a FREE Diagnostic Review of Your Marketing Systems

Find out how to get a complete map for doubling, tripling or even 10x­ing your business during the free Diagnostic Review. Turn your business into a scalable money­making machine that will enable you to grow sales, cut expenses and save time. Increasing your conversion rates cuts your ad spend and lets you deliver more “wonderful” to your customers. Don’t just set this report aside ­ Use it as your checklist and I guarantee you will see your business boom! Mike Connolly, Marketing Strategist, Copywriter and Founder ­ StrategiCopy.com

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About Mike Connolly and StrategiCopy.com

Mike Connolly is a passionate, results­focused marketing strategist and direct response copywriter. A successful serial entrepreneur, sales professional, trusted marketing advisor and copywriter for dozens of small businesses, Mike not only understands the world of direct response marketing and copywriting, he knows what it’s like to start and run a successful small business. A member of American Writers and Artists Circle of Success, his

certifications include Dan Kennedy Certified Copywriter for Information Marketers, Infusionsoft Certified Partner and Reputation Loop Certified Consultant. He consults on and writes copy for automated marketing funnels, including lead magnets, landing pages, emails and sales pages, in text, video or both ­ all directed toward turning perfect strangers into ideal buyers.

Unlike so many other marketing agencies, StrategiCopy holds advertising accountable and helps small businesses grow sales, cut costs and save time with digital marketing systems and targeted messaging that deliver a positive return on investment

Schedule a FREE Diagnostic Review of Your Marketing Systems Today

Mike brings a unique perspective to the table with great marketing insights paired with fabulous technology prowess. Mike patiently works through each of our issues and empowers us to solve our own issues going forward. ~ Grant Muller, Founder and CEO, Spaces Real Estate, Boulder, CO

For more information visit StrategiCopy.com

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