We’ve put together a 90 day marketing plan that is guaranteed to bring you more local clients. We understand what it’s like for local businesses to struggle to compete with corporate brands. We’re often asked by business owners how to get more local clients and our answer is always the same. When your message and marketing plan is clear, clients will come to you.
90 Day Marketing Plan To Get More Local Clients
- What should be in a 90-day marketing plan?
- How do I know if my marketing plan is working?
- How to pick the right service to promote for your 90-day marketing plan?
- Why do I have to start with a BrandScript every time?
- What are some simple website changes to get more sales?
- Do sales funnels work for local businesses?
- When should I start doing advertising?
- What places should I advertise on?
- What can I do for free that drives traffic to my website?
- How to hit your 90-day marketing plan goals?
If you continue to keep doing what you’ve been doing then your competitor will attract the clients you could have worked with.
Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out exactly which parts of your marketing plan are working and which are not. It can be overwhelming when every marketing strategy you try doesn’t seem to work.
A crystal ball would be nice, wouldn’t it? Of course, nobody has one of those so we’ll just have to go with a plan. If you build your plan, they will come and you’ll have your very own field of dreams. Yes, we got a little cheesy there, but you won’t care about that when you’re raking in the dough, trust us.
No business owner should have to figure out marketing all on their own.
Read on to find out what you should include in a 90 day marketing plan to win more local clients.
What should be in a 90 day marketing plan?
As we state in the 90 Day Marketing Plan To Get More Local Clients video related to this article, there are three parts every local business marketer needs to take some time to think about.
- Messaging
- Sales Funnel
- Website Traffic Strategies
Good marketing doesn’t solely rely on quality SEO or Google Ads. Plus, there’s no point in purchasing ads that don’t ultimately lead to conversions.
A good marketing strategy will include:
- A clear vision of what you want to achieve, and how you’re going to go about it.
- A clear message about the problem you solve for your customers.
- An understanding of who your target market is.
- The tools needed to reach them effectively – including social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., as well as email campaigns and other online channels such as Google Adwords, Bing Ads, etc.
- Overall budget – how much money you’ll spend on each channel over the course of the campaign.
- What resources you’ll use to help implement this strategy.
- Any assumptions or limitations you need to consider when planning your strategy.
- Any metrics you may wish to track throughout the duration of your campaign.
If you don’t already have one, create an outline of all these elements before starting out. This way, you won’t waste valuable time trying to figure things out once you begin implementing your strategy.
Once you’ve got everything laid out, set yourself targets based on where you think you could improve. For example, maybe you want to increase conversions by 10% from last month.
How do I know if my marketing plan is working?
Key performance indicators measure whether your efforts are producing results. It can be overwhelming to look at the numbers when you already know things aren’t working. But, the numbers are black and white. They tell a story and they tell the truth. This gives you the opportunity to KNOW what isn’t working so you can make the necessary changes.
You might not see immediate returns but there are ways to tell if your marketing plan is effective. Here are just a few examples:
- You can check your analytics regularly to make sure people are visiting your site.
- You can also look at conversion rates across different pages on your site.
- You can ask customers directly if they found you through search engines, referrals, word of mouth, etc.
- Or even better, find out why someone visited your site! Ask them questions via surveys or interviews so you can learn more about their needs and wants.
Ready for some specific numbers that we pay close attention to for our clients?
Here are the 5 numbers that we track:
- Website Visitors
- Scheduled Calls
- Email Opt-Ins
- New Clients
- Non-Revenue Producing Time
We go over this more in detail on our blog “5 Numbers for Tracking StoryBrand Website Effectiveness”
Our marketing agency doesn’t do any local SEO or paid traffic strategies unless our client has a StoryBrand website. Clients who take the time to create a clear message using the StoryBrand framework make more money without trying harder.
Schedule a call and I’ll help you figure out if your marketing plan is working.
How to pick the right service to promote for your 90 day marketing plan?
If you’re a business that offers several products or services it can be difficult to select just one of those to focus on. The natural inclination is to want to focus on everything and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. However, you’ll find that focusing on one at a time will give you the most reward. This is especially true if this particular service takes less time and effort to fulfill than the others. Margins aren’t just to be measured fiscally; time counts.
You’ll also find that this service or product will be the one that generally leads you to your ideal clientele. It’s okay that your products, services, and message evolve over time. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in thinking you need to have the specifics for all services ready before starting your campaign. It’s best to take the one-step-at-a-time approach.
The best way to choose which service to use is to start with something simple like an email opt-in form. Then once you begin receiving signups you can decide how many other services you’d like to add later on down the line.
This process works because it allows you to test drive each service individually while still having enough data points to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of your overall strategy. If you haven’t yet created a StoryBrand website then now would be a great time to do so.
We recommend creating a landing page first and testing various forms of content until you find the ones that work well together. Once you feel comfortable with one piece of content, move on to another.
Why do I have to start with a BrandScript every time?
A clear message will always attract your ideal clients. They will want to work with you because YOU are the one that can solve their problem.
The way to clarify your message is through using a BrandScript. This will act as the foundation of your 90-day marketing plan. It’s important to start off with an overall BrandScript for your local business and from there you can create additional BrandScripts for each product or service you offer. Here are the steps:
- Create your overall BrandScript
- Create additional BrandScripts for each product/service
- Re-write and update your website pages to be reflective of your BrandScript(s)
If you can only do the overall BrandScript at first, that’s okay. If necessary, you can do the rest later. This is about progress, not perfection. A clear message will always result in conversions. Don’t skip this. Quality sales and ideal clients are nothing but a clear message away!
So, it’s TIME to complete your BrandScript! If you have a free offer or sales page on your website you need a BrandScript for those pages also. See our How To Use A StoryBrand BrandScript for more info.
Check out another video Should I Hire a Business Made Simple Coach Or StoryBrand Guide? to find out more about the difference between StoryBrand and Business Made Simple.
What are some simple website changes to get more sales?
Ready for 3 website changes to attract more of those local clients?
Here they are:
- Be clear and concise in the header area – people need to know and understand what you offer, how to work with you, and how it will benefit them! If you’re not clear about these things, how do you expect them to make an informed decision? They can’t because you haven’t given them the information they need.
- Make your direct CTA a ‘schedule a call’ button – there’s no point in having an aesthetically pleasing website that just sits there and looks pretty and passive without asking for a commitment. Be CLEAR about what you’d like them to do. Besides, if you end up with not as many conversions as you’d like while being more assertive in this way, it will clue you into other possible issues. It could be that your message is still not clear enough. Don’t fret, knowledge is power. When you’re aware of the problem, you can fix it.
- It’s time to agitate your client’s problem – you do this by talking about the problem and what failure looks like down the line if they don’t take the action you’re asking them to take.
Happy sales to you! Can you hear the music too?
Okay, I’ll stop… Let’s talk about sales funnels.
Do sales funnels work for local businesses?
The answer to this question is an emphatic YES! Sales funnels work beautifully. You should have a sales funnel for each service or product you offer. Again, you want to take that one-at-a-time approach so that you don’t get overwhelmed. Remember, perfection isn’t necessary to move forward.
There are 5 components of a sales funnel:
- One-liner
- Website
- Lead Generator
- Nurture Campaigns
- Sales Campaigns
One-liner
A one-liner should contain all the key points of who you are, why they would use your products or services, what benefits they’ll receive, and any special offers available. The purpose of the one-liner is to capture their attention quickly so that they feel compelled to read further. Once they’ve done that, they’ll hopefully click over to your site where they can find more details. Make sure you include links back to your home page and social media accounts.
Also, try to keep your one-liner copy short and sweet. People hate reading long paragraphs of text. So, keep it to 2 sentences max.
Website
Your website needs to look professional and provide visitors with everything they need to know about your business. Include contact info, location, hours of operation, pricing, testimonials from happy customers, etc. Remember, when someone visits your site, they already have a certain expectation of what your company does. If they see something different, then they may leave immediately.
In addition, make sure your homepage has a strong Call To Action. That means you must ask them to do something specific such as fill out a form, request a quote, schedule a meeting, download a white paper, etc.
Now you can create a sales page. This will get people excited about buying from you. This is usually accomplished through compelling content which includes images, videos, infographics, case studies, testimonials, product demos, etc. These elements help create interest and generate leads.
When creating these pages, think about how you can add value to your audience. For example, if you sell weight-loss programs, you might consider including before/after photos of real clients along with testimonial quotes. Or, if you offer web design services, you might share some examples of websites created by previous clients.
Lead generator
Lead generators are tools used for generating qualified traffic on an ongoing basis.
One of our favorite tools is the lead generating PDF which accomplishes 3 things.
- It provides enormous value for customers. The value is in the information you give away. Don’t worry about giving away too much. The more the better, we promise.
- It establishes your client as an authority in their field of expertise. Everyone needs a guide and your client, who has been there and done that, is the guide for their customers.
- It creates reciprocity in potential clients. Back to the first benefit of the PDF… being generous with loads of helpful information will only serve to benefit your client and ultimately their loyalty will more likely be given to you when they are ready to commit. When we know someone has our back and will be a great resource for us, we generally gravitate toward a relationship with them.
There are 5 types of Lead Generating PDFs:
- The Magazine Article
- The Interview
- The Checklist
- The Value List
- Free Samples
The following are components needed in your PDF to make sure it’s effective.
Feel free to use it as a checklist:
- Positions you as the guide
- Stakes claim to your territory
- Qualifies your audience
- Creates trust by solving a problem
- Is worth an email address
- Has a catchy title
- Creates reciprocity
Here are some common mistakes to watch out for when using a lead generating PDF:
- Focusing on too many problems at once
- Using too much text
- Being too vague
- Having an uninteresting title
Nurture campaigns
A nurture campaign is commonly done in the form of an email drip campaign. Essentially, it’s like having a team of people working on sales while you’re free to do other things. Over the course of 4-6 weeks, with one email per week, you’ll reach out to your audience (those that have opted in), and you’ll continue a relationship with them by offering more information and value.
An email nurture campaign is basically dating. You won’t necessarily ask for a formal commitment each time in the form of a CTA, but you’re wanting them to continue wanting to see you. You don’t need to have thousands of emails to get started. If your business is pulling in less than five million you can see results with as little as two hundred and fifty email addresses; as long as they’re qualified.
While emails that provide value should be sent regularly to your potential customers, an email campaign will be more pointed and purposeful. Having a downloadable PDF chock-full of useful information is a great resource to include in one of these emails. Another email could have testimonials from happy customers while another could include videos or social media posts.
You’ll want to include a strong CTA in one or two of the emails over the course of 6 weeks. A nurture campaign is designed to convert prospects into buyers. They’re often automated but can also be manual.
And remember, don’t forget to track results!
Sales campaigns
A sales campaign is designed to hard-sell your customers on a specific service. Ideally, this email sequence would begin once a customer opt-in for a lead-generator. This email sales campaign is a series of targeted emails that directly sell your services.
Most people never check their email after opting into your lead generator if you give them the downloadable PDF on the thank you page.
We do two things differently.
First, we put a thank you video giving instructions to go check their email and what to expect over the next week.
Second, our sales campaign of 7 emails is sent out over 2 weeks with a call to action of “Schedule A Call”. At the same time, we have a text messaging campaign that is triggered as well.
Like many of the local service businesses we work with, they too have multiple services they offer so sales calls are the best way to determine which service is best for them right now.
A sales campaign closes the deal and should accomplish these things:
- Define the problem you solve
- Tell the story of solving the problem for another client (testimonials or success stories)
- Overcome the dominant resistance
- Offer a limited-time bonus
- Tell the customer their opportunity to buy is going away
Like I shared above, there are 7 types of emails we write and put in the ActiveCampaign automation when someone opt-ins for a lead generator.
Types of Emails:
- Welcome Email
- Offer More Value
- Overcome an Objection
- Problem and Solution
- Deliver a Paradigm Shift
- Customer Testimonial or Success Story
- The Sales Email
We have a 90-day Website That Books Calls coaching program that will bring you $10K per month. We’ll provide you with all the templates, training, and accountability to grow your local business.
This is the 90-day marketing plan that works. We’ve helped dozens of 6-figure local businesses generate multi-millions following this process.
Take a look at the above image. Think about how great it will be when you’ve finally taken the time to dig into the real message that your potential clients are waiting to hear from you. Will you finally be able to take your family on that long-awaited dream vacation? Will you be able to get that ever-growing mountain of debt under control and therefore have some spending freedom? Will you be able to treat yourself to that bucket list item?
Your ideal customers are out there, wanting YOU to solve the problem they have. When you take the time to get this done, the profit will follow.
The only thing standing between you and the success you KNOW is waiting for you is to clarify your message Once you do this, your business will be booming!
When should I start doing advertising?
It makes sense that you’d want to skip straight to traditional advertising. Why not go the tried and true way that you’ve seen work so many times before? Why not just pay the money to have it done for you? It’s also less work with late-night strategy sessions and endless thinking on your part. We get it!
Here’s the thing. We encourage our clients to have a StoryBrand website and sales funnel before they hire us for local SEO. The reason for this is that once you have a clear message for your ideal clients, everything flows much more easily. It’s possible to get it done other ways, but it really is best when you have clarity in your message. When you’re clear about exactly what it is that you do, your customers will not be confused and trying to figure out how you can solve their problem. A confused customer is no customer at all.
Remember that you’re likely competing with other local businesses as well as giant brands, and the corporate brands have matching marketing budgets and teams working for them. People buy the product that was marketed best, not necessarily the best product.
Bottom line… the last thing you want to do is spend money on advertising that doesn’t bring your ideal clients to you just because you didn’t do the leg work. Lots of companies do this and it’s hard to watch.
You can pull those perfect customers from the masses as soon as you have your clear message, sales funnel, a ready-to-go current proposal, and working sales script. Once you’ve done the work upfront you’ll be raking in the rewards.
What places should I advertise on?
The best place to advertise is the place where your ideal customers are spending their time. If you’re a fitness product or service then Facebook and Instagram are great options. If your business solves a problem related to home services, then Google will be a great bet; you’ll also get that check mark that shows your authority and adds credibility to your business. Make sure your GMB is completed and that the same information is available on every platform you use.
Not everyone has the budget to hire a company to do it for you. That’s okay! You can learn by buying online courses and hiring coaches to review your analytics, ad copy, and video scripts.
What can I do for free that drives traffic to my website?
This is a great question. There’s not much that beats free!
Now here’s a question for you. What is it that your customers are searching for on Google? What problem do they have and what questions are they asking to get their problem solved? These are great starting points and subjects to use for a weekly blog that you can link to your website. Google likes to see new, unique, and regularly posted content. The more regularly you can make this happen, the better.
This will ultimately lead people to your blog, and therefore your website when they perform their Google queries. When you have creative and quality content, your potential customers will be intrigued and you will start collecting email addresses.
Social media posts, YouTube videos, podcast episodes, and so much more can be used to drive traffic to your website. In addition, don’t neglect to complete your Google My Business (GMB) profile so that local traffic will be able to find you when they search the area. GMB allows you to see how many people see your profile and click on your website. Our clients see approximately 1000 monthly profile visits.
Just think… if your marketing message is on point your potential customers will clearly understand how you can help them and you can use that to lead them to the help they need. That’s you!
This is where you call them to action in the form of scheduling a call with you or straight to your BUY NOW button.
Here are more things you can be doing on a daily basis for your business. You Are Losing Money by Not Doing These 3 Daily Activities!
Download our free Daily Activities PDF, “You’re Losing Money By Not Doing These 3 Daily Activities” to get more ideas.
How to hit your 90 day marketing plan goals?
Did you know that less than 5% of people complete an online course they bought? This tells us a couple of things. First, as people, we usually don’t go in with a plan. What a waste. The second thing this shows is that whatever course they bought made them feel that a problem they had would be solved. Of course, this is like buying a gym membership and expecting your membership alone to change your body. We know we won’t see a change unless we put in the work.
We’re huge proponents of breaking big goals down into manageable steps. That’s the only way things ever get done as far as we’re concerned. Choose one or two items from this blog per week and see how it goes for you. We know you can do this! Of course, we also know that it’s a massive help to have a community that helps to support and keep you accountable.
We provide this kind of support and accountability with our 90-day Website That Books Calls coaching program. The website you worked so hard to beautify should also be converting for you. In this program, you will get your marketing message dialed in to reach your ideal clients.
Many of our agency clients choose to have us do the work for them which is a great option. But, I can also teach you how to work with a virtual assistant and you will learn our process so that you can make multiple sales funnels that generate 10 thousand per month.
Are you curious about what StoryBrand and Business Made Simple could do to help you increase conversions? Imagine finally being able to sit back and watch your ideal clients come to you. They’re out there, waiting for you to clearly explain how you’ll solve their problem.
We’re curious about something too! We asked you about your specific vision above… about what life will be like when you’re able to attain the freedom that regular business brings. The vacations, the bathroom remodel, that special thing you’ve been wanting but keep putting off because ‘you’re just not there yet.’
We want to know what your vision is. Tell us in the comments below. We can’t wait to hear from you!