The Dating Game

Marketing is all about building relationships. After you’ve been introduced and start to flirt with your ideal prospect we move into the dating phase. Dating is all about lead generation.

The first two phases are incredibly important. It gets you out there. It allows you to start connecting with people and letting them know who you are, what you do, and who you serve. This is essential in making connections with people who will eventually help you grow your business.

Step three is what I call the Dating phase.

In this step, begin lead generation. you build connections with your audience. People know who you are, but you’re still just a name. In the Dating phase, you dive deep into who you are, what you do, and how you can help them.

Why is it essential to your marketing plan? Think of it this way: When you’ve met someone new, you don’t really know them. On the relationship meter, they’re cold. But as you start taking steps to build a connection, such as having a conversation, finding those commonalities, and figuring out their interests, hopes, or dreams, your connection gets warmer.

In business, you have to put in this effort as well. It serves your business to take the time to make warm connections with your audience. This is how you take your followers or audience from someone on your social media or network and turn them into a client.

How do you implement step three of digital marketing? Social media platforms are a great way to build an audience. However, when you want to start transitioning your audience into clients, social media is not always the best option.

Why?

The reality is you don’t own the Social media platforms you are using. And we all know that person who has had their accounts shut down for no apparent (or a very good) reason. If for some reason, your social media platform of choice disappeared, you’ve lost connection with your whole audience.

So, building an email list is essential to the success of your marketing plan. To do this, offer something of value to your audience–your lead magnet–that they will be willing to give you their email address in return. This is who you start to warm up your audience to eventually turn your audience into clients.