Had the pleasure of sitting down with Charles “The Coach” Wilson today to ask him some questions about marketing and he also tells us the benefits of working with someone such as himself. He talks what works, what doesn’t and whether or not there is a magic formula for marketing how to save time, energy and money while setting your business up to thrive!
JW A lot of people think that there is a magic formula for marketing, What are your thoughts on this perception?
CW “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” ~ According to Peter F. Drucker and I would tend to agree. Here’s the magic part about it, “Know thy customer”. Unfortunately, it’s also the problem; to know your customer takes some time and thought. It also requires you to really know your product and not just the face value but some of the out of the box applications for your product or service. What are some out of the box collaborations for what you do? This can be some difficult answers to come up with given you are so deeply involved with what you’re doing. This is also why it could be extremely helpful to have someone like me around to help you!
JW Is it really possible to purchase a “get more clients today” program and see immediate results?
CW Well anything is possible. The question is, is it possible for you? A lot of times we want these microwave results. They come with different pros, cons and variables. I am an advocate of growing a client base for the long run.
JW How can someone marketing their personal brand or small business without a marketing degree, hiring an expensive PR company, or devoting enormous amounts of time able to get results and increase customer engagement?
CW There are so many ways to do this especially in this day and age. We have social media, online marketing, offline marketing, referral marketing and relationship marketing just to name some of the ones that come mind immediately. Here are a few of the questions I normally get though: How do I do that? Is that going to take a lot of time? A lot of people realize what to do but the gap comes around how to do what they want to do. There is also a lot of different technological tools available to the small guy that can allow them to compete on a much higher level than they are currently. Again, the gap is how to use these tools and know the appropriate strategy.
JW What kind of mindset does someone need to do this? What are some roadblocks you commonly run into? How can they avoid these pitfalls?
CW The mindset has to be one open to rapid change, one that has a definite purpose and strategy based on their goal. One of the biggest roadblocks I run into with people is that they have a limited ideal about their product or service. Collaboration and the development of an overarching marketing strategy and sub strategy on how to apply this to their marketing, advertising and sales efforts. For example while working with various nonprofit’s in Hawaii I noticed that a lot of them continuously marketed to the same clients. I helped them grow their base and consolidate their effort through cross marketing.
JW What is the most common “Do It Yourself” solution your prospects might try?
CW One of the biggest “do it yourself” methods I see is spam, spam email, spam social media post, spam flyers etc. These types of efforts require extremely high numbers and have a very low return on efforts. One reason is because it is very impersonal, no touch, and we as Americans have a very high wall of resistance to things that don’t touch us on a personal bases.
JW What are some of the other types of marketing tools that you have seen offered but can actually hurt your chances of success?
CW There are a lot of tools in the marketplace that are available. The problem , however, is the application of the tools. You know it’s not necessarily what you say but, how you say it. Context, Tone, Frequency, Image and lack of strategy are some of the things that come to mind when I think of what can hurt you when using some of the different resources out here.
JW What about buying using social media Twitter Deals and buying Facebook Ads, that’s a good way to do it, right?
CW Business reminds me a lot of school. To get a higher education you have to pay for it. It generally cost time which equals experience and/or money. Buying Facebook Ads can be taking a Facebook Advertising class, the only difference is when you pay you are taking the test. If you have not prepared for the ads you purchase then you fail the test. It’s true you can learn something from this experience however, it is at a cost. So, ask yourself how much time, how much money do you have access to and how long will it take you to get the lesson. How long it takes you to get the lesson will determine how much money and time you spend. So, Twitter Deals and buying Facebook Ads can be effective if you know the right wording, the right demographics, have the right graphics and the right strategy. Oh yeah, and you have to give your strategy some time and testing to work.
