What makes a company’s marketing successful?
Is it better ADs? A better landing page? Super cool videos?
What makes advertising profitable?
Is it using Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, Bing, SEO or some other “magical platform” – and “optimizing it to infinity”?
Of course these are good questions, but they’re not the most important questions.
The 2 most important questions are:
-
Is your mindset correct?
and
2. Are you coachable?
These are the things that are the MOST important to having success – because if either of these is OFF base, your success will be limited by your subconscious mind.
Case in point…
Years ago, I had a client that we were generating B2B leads for with AdWords traffic. I convinced him to let us split test a new version of his landing page with a different (more modern) version that my team and I created.
We used Visual Website Optimizer, a popular split testing platform, and the new page we designed consistently produced a 53.81% INCREASE in the number of leads that were being generated, from the same traffic (at a 98% confidence rate!).
The implications of what this could mean to the client’s ROI were almost too good to be true. So to be SURE, we ran the test again – and sure enough, it produced the same AMAZING results at a 98% confidence rate!
Now, Here’s the Kicker…
The client told me, “I’m not seeing it” and fired us shortly thereafter – returning his site to it’s original, ineffective state.
“Holy SHIT! Are you efin’ kidding me?!”, I thought.
This was my first real case study into the stupidity that’s running in the background of otherwise very intelligent business owners…
You may have seen other examples of this on reality shows like Chef Ramsay’s, “Kitchen Nightmares” or Marcus Lemonis’, “The Profit“.
…Where the business owners consistently piss on the consultant’s leg and tell them, “it’s raining”.
The restaurateur declares to everyone, “It’s FRESH” – then later admit – “it’s fresh FROZEN”.
Or the business owner who says to Marcus, “I don’t do that!” – while their DOING IT (on camera no less).
WTF?
The reason I’m writing this post is not to complain about people, it’s to try and shake some sense into our collective-consciousness and STOP THE MADNESS.
I Want YOU To Succeed
I want you to get a > 2:1 ROI on your advertising and marketing efforts – and before that can ever happen – you need to be GROUNDED IN REALITY.
Slight adjustments to your “mental trajectory” can have a BIG impact on where your business ultimately ends up – and that’s where “Marketing Coaching” comes in.
I’ve seen far too many (otherwise educated and intelligent) business owners self-sabotage their efforts and mindlessly focus on things that inconsequential and superfluous – at the expense of things that are both urgent and importent.
Having an experienced Marketing Strategist to guide you towards making decisions that will improve your ROI is great – but being able to be “coachable” and make changes – is what TRULY Makes the difference in your business.
Marketing R&D
Dan Kennedy (one of the Godfathers of direct response marketing) once wrote, “all businesses need to invest in R&D, whether they are making money or not” – and this has always stuck with me.
We all know that the world is not static. Patterns, markets and perceptions change over time, and keeping up with these changes requires that we, as business owners, stay in touch with what our MARKET WANTS (not just what we THINK they want).
That’s why I specialize in doing what I call, “Marketing R&D“. We use feedback tools like Google AdWords, Facebook Advertising and Landing Page optimization to let your VISITORS vote on what they want (rather than trying to tell them what they want).
This is what makes the difference.
Different ideas, different imagery, different copy, concepts and different angles.
Take this blog post for example….
If you’re on my emailing list – you’ve probably seen my “nice” videos and posts where I’m putting my best face forward, and being as “corporate” as possible.
A trusted marketing colleague, that I met in a marketing mastermind, told me the thing she likes most about me in person, is my outspoken, honest and unfiltered way of expressing myself.
In fact, she insisted I write this article like I would if I were speaking to you, so here you go… (I practice what I preach)
In fact, I’m testing it to see how my market responds. 😉
Come to think of it, this is the way I communicate with my MOST SUCCESSFUL clients/CEOs.
Hmmmm, maybe I am onto something here?
Leverage, Growth & Profitability
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters to me – is that we are providing our clients with more leverage, growth and profitability (without of course lying, cheating or breaking the law).
Letting yourself be open open to new ways of doing things, leads to these kinds of extraordinary results.
So don’t wait until your ship is going sideways (or worse yet sinking) to start thinking differently. Open yourself up to the possibility of change, growth, and scientific experimentation (e.g. Marketing R&D) in your marketplace.
This is how you gain leverage – not by doing the same crap over and over again, trying to get different results.
If this makes sense to you and you are ready for something new. Ready to go to the next-level. I welcome you to request a free (no obligation) Strategic Consultation with me to discuss how we might work together to grow your company and make it more profitable.
To your success,
Donovan Kovar
Digital Marketing Strategist
AdWords, Facebook &
Landing Page Optimization Specialist
P.S. If this article offended you, or seemed off putting in any way – that’s okay. We are probably not a good fit, and you can look elsewhere for a marketing-coach that can tell you what you want to hear.