How can you build and sustain a steady volume of satisfied customers? Jim Hohl, CEO and Co-Founder of Visify, a New York City-based digital advertising agency, joined me on “Turn the Page” to share how you can transform your P&L by meeting prospective clients where they are in their readiness to buy!

Listen to our conversation to learn about the approaches that have worked well for his own business, and to benefit from Jim’s special offer for listeners of “Turn the Page!”

This post expands on the advice that Jim provided during the show. Here’s what he added to help you advance your marketing results:

FOCUS YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS ON YOUR IDEAL CLIENT
“When business owners are asked to identify their ideal clients, they often say “I can sell my widget or service to anyone.” Marketing to “everyone” is a losing game for two big reasons: 1) you literally cannot afford to do it – there are just too many people to reach and trying to do so will quickly bankrupt you, and 2) your message won’t resonate with everyone. Do you think the message Rolls Royce uses would appeal to Hyundai buyers, even though they both ostensibly sell the same product? Absolutely not.

Having an ideal client avatar in mind does not mean that you won’t sell to those who do not fit that profile; it means that you won’t ACTIVELY MARKET to them.

HOW CAN YOU FIND A MESSAGE THAT WILL RESONATE WITH YOUR IDEAL CLIENTS?
Jim recommends creating a grid that identifies their “before” and “after” states for the following:

WHAT THEY HAVE (e.g., for a massage therapist: sore feet > relaxed feet), HOW THEY FEEL (frustrated > rejuvenated), WHAT THEIR AVERAGE DAY IS LIKE (moving around is painful, so they spend a lot of time sitting > they can be as active as they like, play with their kids, etc.); and their STATUS (a lazy, boring mom/dad > a fun, energetic dad/mom).”

This tactic enables you to precisely speak to your clients’ “pain points,” and how you can help them to arrive at their DESIRED states.

RETARGET THOSE WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED AN INTEREST IN YOUR CONTENT, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES
Retargeting refers to advertising multiple times in varied ways to those who have clicked on your ads, subscribed to your blog, or in others ways have shown an interest in what you are selling.

Jim says, “Retargeting is a key part of any marketing approach, since multiple touch points are essential to a successful marketing campaign.” He suggests a few ways to retarget:

1. Send an email to people who provide their email address based on what they signed up for. For example, if a lead requested our Facebook Ads FAQ infographic, I would send them content by email about Facebook ads. If they downloaded something about Infusionsoft, I would send them email about marketing automation.

2. In Google Search ads, you can retarget someone who visits your site and then searches for the same or similar keywords again. The great thing is Google knows! They will track it on their end based on a piece of code you put on your site. For example, if you sell cars, you can assume people will take a while to decide, so after they check out your site, you can show up for them again the next time they search, maybe this time offering a sale or promotion.

3. On Facebook, you can retarget people who visited your site, or a certain page on your site, using the Facebook “pixel.” Facebook explains the pixel and how to install it.

4. Use video ads on Facebook to create a custom audience very cheaply and then retarget interested viewers. It is less expensive because you pay only a few cents in many cases for each view and you can then create an audience of people who watched 10 seconds of the video, 90% of the video, etc. You can use that to offer them something knowing they are already aware of your brand, product, etc. Normally, advertising to cold traffic (people who have little or no familiarity with your brand, or products and services) can be a few dollars or at least a dollar per click, versus a few cents for video ads.

5. Promote content on LinkedIn and retarget on Facebook. Refer to http://go.vzfy.co/linkedinb2bleads for additional guidance.

While these are advanced techniques, when done well they can generate leads at a much lower cost than advertising to a cold audience.

IF YOU’RE JUST STARTING OUT
If you need to start “small,” Jim suggests setting a budget of $10 a day, tracking the performance data, and evaluating results. Here’s a sampling of tactics Jim recommends to grease your digital advertising wheels:

1. Boost your social media posts to strategically targeted individuals whose profiles match characteristics of your ideal clients.

2. Upload a list of your clients’ email addresses and create a custom audience of people who “look like them” in interests and behaviors. This requires a minimum of 100 matching email addresses.

3. Target your existing clients with interesting content, an event promotion, or an upsell. Running an ad on Facebook can be a good complement to an email campaign to generate another touch point.

Review Visify’s Facebook Ads FAQ , listen to “Turn the Page” on demand for more of Jim’s tips , and reach out to him through http://www.visify.com/turnthepage .

Here’s to providing your products and services to MORE of the people who need them!