This is the sequel to our benchmark marketing strategy and tactics post: 21 Marketing PR and Branding Strategies.

Gavin, my best friend from college drove a big Yukon. I liked it. It was plush, had an immersive stereo system, and it was my favorite color: black.
I loved the thing. But there was a day when he hated it. Or he thought he hated it.

We had just left a Taco Tuesday Night in Del Mar, CA with the requisite Cadillac margarita pumping through our blood stream. We walked back toward his Yukon. A couple blocks down, we stop in front of a beautiful black Yukon. It sparkled. In Del Mar, you can still see the stars and on that day, on that car, you could as well.

He pushed the unlock button on the key. We both tugged on the door handle. Nothing. He tried again. We tried again. Nothing. He looked puzzled and irritated. He used another approach. He used the old fashion technique of inserting the key into the lock. The key wouldn’t turn. He repeated this process. The same process. And each time, he got more and more irritated.

We both stood outside of his car well after our expensive buzzes wore off. We just couldn’t get in.

Why Your Conversion Rates Suck: How to Raise Your Conversion Rates

In desperation, he called a locksmith.

Just as he hung up, three gorgeous girls walked up to us and asked us what we were doing. They sounded concerned. We explained. One of the girls, a brunette wearing a floral print summer dress pulled out a key. Pushed a button and the doors opened.

“Maybe that one behind us is yours?” She said.

Gavin and I looked one car back. There it was, a dirtier, less sparkley version of the same Yukon we just couldn’t get into.

Ivy League MBAs with Fortune backgrounds make this same mistake when launching their own ventures. They try everything that was successful in their corporate position and apply the same formula to their new endeavor to lose their shirt. Then they stand there scratching their heads — topless.

And they just can’t figure it out. Why did their marketing for their new company fail? They selected the best team. Unlike the mothership, they were agile. They had better technology. They worked harder. They even figured in the loss of scale-of-economy. And they still failed. Why?

For the same reason Gavin couldn’t get into “his car,” brilliant and experienced executives can’t break into their market.

From his perspective, for all intents and purposes, that Yukon that gave him an anyeurism, was his. From the perspective of the Yukon, that just wasn’t the case.

The most simple yet fatal mistake brilliant executives make is launching their marketing campaign under the assumption that the market already belongs to them

The most simple yet fatal mistake brilliant executives make is launching their marketing campaign under the assumption that the market already belongs to them.

This can be a complex issue to describe but the definition of ownership is simple. It’s like that movie with Liam Neeson in it where he and his wife get into a car accident, get separated, then when he finds her, she doesn’t recognize him. The same thing is happening here on a macro public sense.

The opposite situation creates a clear relative framework. After decades and generations of building trust and familiarity with the world, if Coke decides to just show that girl from the new Transformers movie drinking Coke slowly, very slowly, it will drive sales.

If you were a Coke executive and started a competing brand and tried the same marketing strategy (which isn’t even a strategy) and the same messaging, you’d sell nothing.

Coke has already proven itself to the masses. Coke has already proven it’s taste. Coke has already proven it’s user experience consistency. Coke has already proven it’s accessibility. The only thing left for Coke to do was just to remind you that Coke=pleasure.

All the ground-work was laid by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in 1886 when he first formulated Coke.
For your marketing to work, you must market to a market you own.

To own a market, you must estabilish Brand. Establishing brand is simply doing two things. And these two things require precise, intense, and voluminous messaging. You must brand your brand into the minds of your market BEFORE marketing to them.

this is called cold calling or junk mailing

If you launch a marketing campaign before your market already feels like they know you… this is called cold calling or junk mailing.

If you market to people who don’t know you, no matter how well you know them, Liam Neeson’s on-screen wife is going to scream rape when he tries to take her to bed.

So here’s the one million dollar question, “how do you build a relationship with your target market” rapidly and without having to start in 1886?

“how do you build a relationship with your target market” rapidly and without having to start in 1886?

There are two subcomponents to making your public feel like they “know you.” And making them feel like they know you is critical if you want your marketing to produce any kind of conversion rate. I’ve got to reinforce this: Marketing to a cold audience is like trying to “get lucky” in a dive bar where nobody knows you. You must be percieved as someone your potential customer feel they know in order to produce a single digit conversion rate.

So, the two subcomponents to making your public feel like they “know you,” are:

1. Rapport

2. Credibility

Rapport is built by delivering a consistent, chronic, and quality interaction experience.

This means that not only must your messaging be strong, it must be regular over time. Not only must your messaging be regular, it must also reinforce the same emotional odor.

Credibility is earned by demonstrating expertise.

You’ve got to create a mental epiphany in the minds of your viewer. You’ve got to get them to see the same problem from a different light. You’ve got to show that your thinking and perspective is superior to anyone else they consider working with.

This is why you won’t buy from a scientist (with tons of credibility) if he has an abrasive personality (rapport). This is also why you won’t buy that no-name hair follicle stimulator from your neighbor. He may have built up a lot of rapport with you but from a dermatological standpoint, he probably has little credibility. You must have both.

This is why you won’t buy from a scientist (with tons of credibility) if he has an abrasive personality (rapport)

If you can build both credibility and rapport in the minds of your target market, the moment these two conditions as met, your market will feel like they know you. After and only after this moment should you ask for the sale. Any earlier and you’ve destroyed your brand good-will building.

The mechanics of building credibility and rapport online are far beyond the scope of this blog post. It involves everything from rich media like Youtube messaging, Twitter and Facebook post style, frequency, tone, content, and much more. To talk more about the granular tactics of building a relationship with your target market… fill in http://sparkah.com/marketing.php or call 310 598 1606 in LA and NYC and everywhere in between.

How to Raise Your Conversion Rates (since they aren’t abysmal any more)

Finally, now that we’ve established why so many brilliant executives fail at converting their contacts into customers, let’s tackle how to raise your conversion rates.

To raise your conversion rates, identify your points of resistance. Every point of contact is a point of resistance. THIS is a list of most of these points of web resistance in Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. Identify, then make every point of resistance variable.

In otherwords, if your point of first contact with your potential customer is Google, then since your potential customer will read your page title and description tag right out of the Google search results page, change it up. Measure the change in CTR.

Once you’ve established the highest CTR, then change up your landing page design. Measure the change in bounce-out rates.

Same goes for tweets, Facebook messages, Youtube video titles, Youtube video lengths, and every single thing that your potential customer will come into contact with. Make them all variable. Tune, tune, tune.

You’ll have the most efficient and high volume sales production marketing machine if you do. As you can see, you’ll need help. For that help (if I’ve established both credibility and rapport with you), call 310 598 1606 or contact us online via http://sparkah.com/marketing.php … We want to help you build a strong relationship with your market. And we are good at making you take off. We carry rocket fuel.