A lot of small and medium organizations face the problem of sales. SMEs need to generate revenue if they don’t want to be part of the many failed business statistics. To generate revenue, businesses have to build strategic marketing ideas that bring in sales.

The challenge faced by most small and medium organizations is that they want all the revenue now. The problem with this mentality is that they don’t have the luxury of waiting for a miracle that may never happen.

In over five years of managing several brands, making sales the focus of marketing never work. Although this may sound strange, the truth remains that most people are not sales-ready.

The term sales-ready depicts the readiness a person is to buy your product. The bitter truth is that over 80% of people are not sales-ready. People go through your marketing process to make decisions. That is why we have branding, content creation, social media, etc.

How then can you get the best out of your marketing goal?

Here are a few effective ways to achieve your marketing goals:

First, you have to understand that the goal of marketing is to create brand engagement and top-of-the-mind awareness. The sales you get from marketing are a by-product of your marketing strategy. For instance, let’s assume that one of your strategies for an improved body cream is using celebrity influencers on Instagram. Your expectation is for them to share your products in the hope that their audience will buy these products.

However, it is often rare to see a lot of people buy that product simply on that account. In most cases, people don’t buy products because of social media influencers. Consumers often need education and adequate information to decide to try a new product. Typically, most fans don’t buy these advertised products. Why? Because people often need proper education and more information to be convinced to buy any product.

The role of your marketing is to take customers from awareness to consideration. This process cannot be reversed. Think about it, how many people on the planet earth would accept a proposal on the first date? This is why small business owners need to develop their marketing funnel. Your marketing funnel will determine how prospects interact with your channel. This interaction often starts from the moment they see your ads on their social media platform. The interaction often ends with their decision to buy your product.

How then should your marketing funnel and channel look like?

Marketing can take forms on different channels ranging from social media adverts to content creation. It also includes email campaigns, and even short message services (text). The first step is to identify the best platform and then how we intend to change them in our marketing funnel. For instance, as a fashion designer, one of your major channels would be Instagram. This is often the best platform to show new looks or collections. If you decide to run a sponsored ad, for instance, on Facebook, your ad will mostly be shown to people who are “interested in fashion.”

But, interest doesn’t generate money because your post must have a CTA (call to action). This means that after viewing your ads, they must either send you a message or call you for an inquiry. This inquiry process is where you inform your prospect about your product. Afterward, you are able to determine when they want to buy it, and for how much.

If a prospect is not ready, you can request their email or other contacts. This will help you provide the marketing materials they’ll need to make apt decisions. These marketing materials for the not-ready prospect must also have a CTA (call to action). The CTA helps to guide them to make a buying decision. Your marketing materials should introduce your brand to your audience. It should also provide an avenue to share why you started the business or the reason people should buy from you.

For instance, one of the email marketing strategies of Netflix is asking prospects to recommend movies. In other cases, they simply show them trending movies and their ratings. They even go as far as offering a month free trial, so you can have a feel of their products. It is a fantastic way to build relationships and also get people to commit their funds.

Use your channels and funnel to build relationships that convert

We know your aim is not to use the money invested only on brand engagement but on sales. This is why this last part is crucial if you want to cash out. Here are a few tips to help you out:

•  First, aim to build a community of followers that like you. This is where you need to build your brand as your favorite celebrities do. Start by sharing value for FREE. Give, give and give until you can’t give anymore. That is my motto because when you give someone value, they can help amplify your message and get it to the right audience.

The audience you share value with may not even buy from you but can amplify it to others who will. If you are a chef on social media, you can start a YouTube channel where you can share recipes. Also, you can share new things you discovered about food. This makes you look like someone with vast knowledge of food thereby amplifying the perception of your brand.

The YouTube channel serves as an avenue to know your followers the more. You can also have conversations with them via chats to build relationships.

• Second, show people who you are as a brand by being authentic. It can be by showing them behind-the-scenes clips. Show them your dog or cat and see how much people can relate. Use some of your content to address people’s real-life challenges. When you show how much you care, you can sell.

Also, get testimonies from a client. Let them share their journey of how your products helped transformed their need. These are marketing powerful tools that drive sales. It is sometimes more effective than advertising about how cool your product is. There are too many cool products out there, but do they address your prospective customer issue?

That is the real question!

Marketing is worth the investment if you follow the process

Years ago, before the widespread acceptance of social media, organizations would print out flyers. Afterward, they would distribute them to people (some still do). In these fliers, they show you why you should buy their products. In some cases, even offer discounts with a picture of a known person endorsing the product. It is not new to put money into marketing. But, you don’t want to lie to yourself that advertising alone will do the job.

If you need to learn about marketing funnels and the sales process you can visit sites like HubSpot or Udemy. These platforms will map out your thoughts. Once mapped out, you can design marketing strategies that will give you returns within the shortest possible time.