The success of small businesses starts with a well-thought-out marketing plan. Researching and settling on a solid marketing plan addresses the fundamental principles of starting a business: the product, its price, and the promotion of the items. There are many marketing plans available, and attraction marketing is one worth understanding.
What is Attraction Marketing
A useful way to understand attraction marketing is to consider the experience of walking through a supermarket and finding stalls where food is served for free tasting — a hotdog, for example. The seller is not selling their product directly; they are simply letting the customer taste it. The customer comes over, takes a small serving of the hotdog, realises it is good, and wants to take some home to cook. From that point, the customer wants to ask about the hotdog, approaches the person at the stall, and is pointed to the aisle where it is sold.
Consider what happens next. The customer did not want to buy anything else that day because they were on a budget, so they left the stall without buying hotdogs. A few days later, a family member requests hotdogs for breakfast. The customer immediately thinks back to that day at the supermarket and goes back to make the purchase.
Attraction marketing is a strategy where customers are attracted to purchase something without being told to do so. Its fundamental principle is to show customers the desirability of the product being sold — not to sell them the product, but to let them see how good it is. The customer realises they want to purchase it and seeks it out simply because they are ready to buy it.
Mastering Attraction Marketing
Attraction marketing can be a highly effective strategy for tripling leads. It is a well-established marketing approach that salespeople across industries have used to generate results. The following principles are central to mastering it.
1. Spread the News
When starting a business, visibility is essential. Starting a blog, reviewing products, and placing ads online are all ways to get in front of potential customers. The options for building an online presence are broad and should be explored strategically.
2. Be Authentic
Confidence in the quality of a product or service shows in reviews and content. People can easily identify when a business is only trying to sell them something. In a world where online businesses are abundant, customers have already developed ways to choose which sellers are legitimate. Sharing only what is genuinely known about the items — rather than trying to impress customers with unverified claims — will always serve a business better. Inauthenticity shows, and it will deter potential customers from transacting.
3. Know the Product
When buying products, customers expect the seller to know what they sell. A person who cannot answer basic questions about their products will not inspire confidence. Researching products thoroughly means having the right answers ready when clients make enquiries.
4. Be Consistent
When customers hear from a business consistently, they will remember it more clearly. Maintaining a blog and updating it regularly means customers will be able to read about products often. They will begin to trust that the business is legitimate and will be more likely to transact with it.
5. Share Expertise Openly
In starting a business, sharing insights with readers is highly encouraged. Subject matter expertise is something that customers admire. Sharing ideas and knowledge — even on topics that are broader than the core product area — will always be appreciated by an audience.
Putting Attraction Marketing into Action
Once the principles of attraction marketing are understood, they can be applied to daily business practice. The following three steps provide a practical framework for getting started.
1. Know the Target Audience
Before anything else, it is important to be clear on who the target audience is. Understanding who is being reached means being able to identify what they really need and to cater to it effectively.
2. Understand the Audience's Needs
Once familiar with the audience, it becomes possible to identify what they really need. By identifying their desires, goals and challenges, content and offerings can be tailored to address them directly.
3. Create the Right Content
Once customer profiles are identified, content that caters to their needs can be created. That content must address customer problems and build value by providing practical advice and solutions that customers will genuinely find useful.
These three steps, carried out repeatedly and consistently, provide the foundation for tripling leads. The central insight of attraction marketing is that knowing the customer and offering solutions for their needs is what makes it so effective in generating leads.
How Professional Academy Supports Your Journey
For those interested in Sales, Marketing, Management or Digital Marketing, Professional Academy offers both electronic and printed study materials alongside the opportunity to complete a professional qualification within a timeframe that suits each learner's circumstances. To find out more about the right qualification level, the Qualifications Navigator is a useful starting point, or the Professional Academy team is available to discuss options on a call.
