Startup Guides > The Secret of All Successful Marketing

Marketing is simple, right? Well, it can seem complicated, mysterious and highly technical when experts talk about the techniques they use and scream from the rooftops about how you're doing it wrong. Books upon books and blogs upon blogs make it seem like an immense pain-in-the-rear topic.

It's not that difficult: You market to people and you get leads in. Period. However, when you lack this one point it seems hard. When you don't do this one thing, you start to look for shortcuts and alternative methods. Everything starts to seem complicated and you get desperate.

What is that one thing? What is the secret of all marketing?

Behind all successful marketing, there is one key factor: someone communicated and communicated and communicated a lot. No marketing was ever successful without it.


The one important factor is that, in general, entrepreneurs and marketing people really underestimate the volume of communication they have to do. They just can't comprehend how many blog posts, email newsletters, postcard mailings, telephone calls, and sales interviews that must be done in order to be successful in business.

And you've got to do it on a continuous basis. It isn't an overnight, one-shot deal. It's continual communication; continually letting potential customers know who you are and what you're about. Marketing requires a tremendous amount of communication. No matter what you're selling, this is the common denominator.

In fact, sometimes startup entrepreneurs and marketers get so caught up in the details that they forget the big picture: You have to reach a lot of people. At the end of the day, what's your volume? How much are you actually sending out?

It's not rocket science. The best marketers aren't necessarily the smartest people, don't necessarily have the best product or service, and don't necessarily have the most helpful message. But they sure as hell are the ones that people know about. Why? Because they're communicating. They're just the most willing to communicate, and communicate more, and communicate a lot.

They're people who are more than willing to get out there and make themselves known by jumping on the radio, doing a TV interview, and writing extensively... whatever it takes to get the word out.

If you start talking about your products or services, people will start asking about them. It's amazing! Even something as small as changing your profile on LinkedIn might do the trick. If you make it known to the environment around you that you provide a certain service, people will start responding. If you make it known a little bit, a few people will respond. If you trumpet it from the rooftops of mass media or social media, you'll have an avalanche.

For Real? Well, duh. The trick is you've got to go bigger than you ever thought possible. You've got to do something at a totally different volume than you ever did before. You won't get different results doing the same thing over and over again.

What does it take to drive home this point? At the risk of sounding repetitive... Marketing is big... It's continual... It requires persistence. It's simple, even easy to do, but do not underestimate the volume of communication required.

Here are 7 easy steps to successful marketing communication:

1) Find out who your customers are.

What type of people buy from you the most? What is their demographic? What are their interests? How much can they afford?

2) Learn where your customers can be found.

Where do they hang out? What websites do they frequently visit?

3) Speak their language.

Communicate to your prospective customers in a way that gets them to understand who you are and what you do.

4) Decide the best way to communicate.

Is it via social media marketing? Emails? Postcards? Banner ads? Blogs posts? Which is the best method of communicating to your customers?

5) Communicate like crazy.

Devise a mega plan to realistically reach the widest possible audience with as much communication as possible. Recently, social media marketing automation sites like 40Billion.com have made this task easier by broadcasting and promoting companies to its large network of several million users across the most popular social networking sites for businesses - including Twitter, LinkedIn, 40Billion, and even Facebook. Innovative services like promoted posts and promoted company listings were created for entrepreneurs and marketers to tap into a growing, active network online without spending thousands on pay-per-click ads or traditional advertising.

6) Analyze your results.

Now, if you got no leads, you've got something majorly wrong. You probably need to change what you're saying or how you're saying it. Maybe you're talking to the entirely wrong crowd.

However, if you got even a few leads, then you probably just need to increase your volume - say more of it, and to more people.

7) Enjoy the overwhelming demand for your products and services, and revel in the success of your business.

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