What does “marketing” mean to you and your business?
For some, it’s advertising.
For others, marketing is timing. The big picture.
Or maybe it’s the process that leads up to the sale.
The “funnels”. The “tripwire”. The “conversion”.
But marketing will serve you in a more powerful way the moment you realize it’s beyond all that.
If your marketing is stuck at “sharing a message” or “telling our story…”
Or if it’s stuck at “lead magnet” and “funnel”
…you are leaving clients out in the cold.
1) Marketing is about starting and maintaining relationships.
Relationships make the world go round. You’ve heard it said that nothing happens until someone makes a sale. In today’s world, nothing happens until you form a relationship.
Business owners tend to hide behind their marketing machine, people and systems. What happened to forming relationships?
Relationships is the ENTIRE point of marketing. And the business owner (in nearly all cases) is critical for setting the example. If you hide behind your marketing machine, your people will hide as well.
And then your target market won’t engage with you in a powerful way.
Imagine this. Marketing is you stepping up to someone dancing with their life experience and saying…
“Excuse me? Can I cut in?”
You better know exactly what type of dance they are wanting or you won’t ever get a yes.
2) Marketing isn’t just the message – it’s the EXPERIENCE of the message.
Gone are the days of marketing being the way you tell your “message” or “story”.
Today we’re dealing with a connected society. Your target market likely finds 10 DIFFERENT recommendations for your product or service before investing money with you.
People don’t recommend based on your message. They recommend based upon their experience. On how they discovered your story and message. On their experience with your brand.
If your marketing isn’t intentional about both the message and the experience, watch out. You are losing out on double or triple the results you could be generating.
3) Marketing encompasses the ZMOT to the UMOT.
ZMOT and UMOT are terms popularized by Brian Solis – author of “What’s the future of business”
ZMOT stands for the “Zero Moment of Truth”. This is the moment where you capture the attention of your target market for the first time. The moment where you ask to “cut in” on their dance of life. Do they say yes? Or do they ignore you?
If they say yes, it leads you to the 1st Moment of Truth. Do they invest?
It doesn’t matter what people say they love. What matters is do they buy. If they don’t – your marketing isn’t working. If they do. You have passed the 1st Moment of Truth. But that’s just the beginning.
The 2nd Moment of Truth is their experience of the product or service you have offered.
If their experience doesn’t match their expectation? They will likely drift out of your business circle. Never to be heard from again.
Creating the experience, especially after the sale, is a critical element of marketing.
The UMOT is the ultimate moment of truth. Do they become actively loyal to you or not?
This is your final goal in marketing. As you develop the core tribe that is loyal to you, your tribe will influence the ZMOTS of your target market. This is a critical leverage point most businesses ignore at their own peril.
Marketing isn’t just getting someone to the sale.
Marketing is crafting the relationship experience. From that first moment people become aware of you (ZMOT)…to the moment that they are active raving fans (UMOT) and creating new first moments for others.
-Jonathan Heston
