Don't get me wrong, I flippin' love Facebook.
It's currently the best and cheapest way to reach your target customers, and you should probably be using it.
However, it's just a platform. It's just a way to reach your audience. It's just what us poncey marketers call, ‘a route to market‘.
And if it closed down tomorrow, then the really clever marketers would simply switch out to a different platform and carry on generating quality leads as if nothing had happened.
You see, the platform isn't important. It's how you use the platform that matters.
For example, 10 years ago, when Chris & I started our property business, Google Adwords was the platform of choice (and Facebook didn't exist. God, I feel old.).
And we did really well on Adwords. Really, really well. (Like ‘£5m in 19 months' well…)
I succeeded on Adwords, because I considered the platform as a way to reach my market, not the way I do marketing.
And you should too.
Because, at some point in the next 18 months, it's highly likely that Facebook will stop working for you. (They've already run out of places to run your ads, and with more businesses joining the advertising programme every day, costs can only go up.)
So you need to be ready to switch out to a new platform.
You need to be able to pick up your adverts, and drop them into LinkedIn*, or Pinterest, or Instagram or whatever platform your target market is using.
And in order to do that, you need to know the Marketing Formula.
*HINT: My prediction is LinkedIn will be the next big platform
The Top Secret formula to create insanely successful marketing on any platform
You ready for this? Drum roll…
- Say the right thing
- To the right person
- At the right time.
Yeah. I know. It's not nearly as exciting as I made out.
You're hugely disappointed. It's ok, love. It IS dull. It IS boring. And it is probably something you already knew. But…
It. F*cking. Works.
So stop crying, suck it up, and let's look at how to implement it in your marketing.
Using the formula: A 90 Second Guide
I won't pretend I can teach you everything about using this formula in a few lines. However, I can give you an overview.
So here are some guidelines on using this formula on Facebook, or Instagram or LinkedIn (or whatever platform your decide to use).
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- On Google display, this about your choice of websites to advertise on.
- On Google PPC this about choosing the right search term.
- If you already have an audience, it's about retargeting (don't know what I mean? You're leaving £thousands on the table!)
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- For example, you wouldn't ask someone who's never heard of you for their credit card details…
- …but it would be ridiculous to bore someone with a story of how you got started, when they're eagerly waiting at the checkout with their credit card in their sweaty little hand.
- There's all kinds of clever stuff you can learn, like
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- This is all dependant on the ‘Right Time'
- If they know you, and know they have a problem, they probably want to understand how you can help solve their problem
- If they accept that you can solve their problem, they probably want some kind of reassurance that you're not going to rip them off, or let them down
As I said, I don't expect you to be able to go out and implement this right now based on a few bullet points.
However, hopefully it's opened your eyes a little to why some marketing works and some just doesn't.
It's all about the prospect, not the platform.
And I promise you this: The marketer who knows the most about their prospect, and where they are in the buying process, will beat everyone else.
Always.