Summary: Marketing is not an event. It is definitely not a random event. Marketing is a strategy-based multi-step, multi-media process. If you don’t have proven systems and marketing funnels in place, you’re doomed to fail.<br> Thanks to strategic advisor and direct response marketer Dan Kennedy, I learned this early on in the game. Therefore I’m giving credit where credit is due.<br> This is the eighth part of the Small Business Owners series, which I have started recently.<br> In the previous months, I covered the topics of <a href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-social-media/">Social Media</a>, <a href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-facebook-advertising/">Facebook Advertising</a>, <a href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-twitter/">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-email-marketing/">Email Marketing</a>, <a href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-podcasting/">Podcasting</a>, <a href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-amazon-kindle/">Amazon Kindle </a>and <a href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-live-events/">Live Events</a>.<br> Today, I’d like to talk to you about the importance of having proven marketing funnels in place. You see, most business people do not approach their business and marketing needs in an organized manner that is essential for gaining competitive advantage.<br> Why is that so?<br> Well, because they don’t have systems, processes and marketing funnels.<br> Use Marketing Funnels to Set Yourself Apart From the Crowd<br> Let’s start with the most important building blocks of your business:<br> <br> * STRUCTURE and<br> * A governing MARKETING SYSTEM.<br> <br> The next thing you need to focus on is <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2-ridiculously-powerful-highly-relevant-audiences-target-krisz-rokk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attracting customers who are predisposed to do business with you</a>, so that you can banish income uncertainty and gain more peace of mind in your business.<br> Why is this important?<br> Because you cannot grow without new customers.<br> Obviously, you can be creative and design all kinds of fancy marketing tactics that will help you <a href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/calculate-customer-lifetime-value/">increase frequency and transaction value</a> for your current customer base, but ultimately you’ll need those fresh new clients to come knocking at your door.<br> If you cannot confidently and affordably create a steady flow of new customers anytime you need them, things will get shaky faster than you’d imagine to.<br> And this is where marketing funnels come to play.<br> The magic lies in seamlessly integrating offline and online networks as well as horizontal and vertical chains, which allow you to break the silo mentality and operate effectively across borders (whether these are geographical, political or cultural).<br> Marketing funnels will help you navigate through the maze of business complexity. Furthermore, they will give you both the certainty and flexibility to add additional layers to your business structure, thus propelling you ahead of the competition and ever-changing marketing ecosystem.<br> Convincing benefits, right?!<br> How to Incorporate Marketing Funnels Into Your Small Business<br> What type of marketing funnel should you create first? Should you focus on offline funnels and add online ones later on in the game? What about production, supply chain or sales funnels?<br> These are all legitimate questions and there isn’t a general, foolproof answer that will satisfy your hunger to implement the right marketing funnels from the get.<br> To be honest, these sophisticated questions require critical thinking in order to answer them adequately. Furthermore, they require industry know-how and a level of understanding that goes be...
