Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion revolutionized how people market their companies online with an innovative approach to content creation.
Put simply, they ask, he answers.
This is a strategy many of the best marketers use to create content today, and it’s all thanks to Marcus.
Click here the Marcus Sheridan interview transcript >>>
It includes every single point he discussed
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He developed this idea to avoid imminent bankruptcy in his swimming pool business, River Pools and Spas, back in the last recession. He had nothing to lose at the time and look what he gained.
I’ve been lucky enough to chat with him and have him explain how to market a business more effectively than your competitors. You need to become the trusted figure in your area by not being afraid to answer every single question you get asked.
Be The Person They Trust
When people have a question, they almost always turn to Google to answer it for them. So the key way of growing your business is being the person who answers the question. That way, you’ve given them exactly what they wanted, and you immediately become a person they trust. When they have a question again, they might just come straight to you next time.
When Marcus first began doing this, he simply endeavored to answer one question every night before he went to bed.
The questions he answered came from what his customers, and prospective customers, had asked him during the day.
Because the chances are, they aren’t the only person wanting to know the answer. This gave him an unending supply of content creation ideas for his blog. Customers soon started saying that they felt he had designed his website especially for them.
Now that’s a sign that you’re fully meeting your customer’s needs. And all he did was care about his customers and fulfilled a need which his competitors were not.
As a result, the people reading his blogs and watching his videos began to feel like they knew him. Within three months of starting, he was already beginning to see a change. He was no longer ‘the pool guy’, but instead ‘the guy from the videos’.
People he may have never met before began to feel like they knew him. It’s the same effect as following your favorite celebrities on Twitter.
You may have never even spoken to them, yet you feel like they’re one of your friends. This was so successful, Marcus has been featured in the New York Times and has a TedX Talk.
Care About The Customer’s Problems
You need to actually care about your customers. And the problems of your prospective customers as well. The problem which many businesses fall into is only caring about themselves.
Instead, you need to care about your customers. And everything you do online should be with them in mind, and offering them something of use. See things from their point of view.
And to do that, you need to really understand who your customers are. You need to know exactly what they want. Because ultimately, every business is the same.
The only thing which differentiates them all is the level of trust they have from their customers. You need to be exactly where the customer is, because otherwise, they won’t care about you.
Chances are, they won’t even notice you. One of Marcus’s specialties is his ability to see things from the perspective of his customers.
Click here the Marcus Sheridan interview transcript >>> It includes every single point he discussed
Don’t Always Do What You Learned At Business School
You should never be afraid of breaking the rules. Stop yourself from over thinking everything you do.
Marcus takes a lesson from the teenage millionaires of today. In your business, have the mindset of a teenager; minus the hours they spend on their phones.
Many teenagers find success because they have no fear to take a leap of faith. They don’t mind experimenting and reinventing something.
They’re not aware of the rules, so they’re breaking these boundaries many people are stuck to, without even being aware. They’re just doing what they want, and what they think will work.
And by doing something new which no-one has tried before, they might just crack it. And you could too.
There’s No Excuse For Not Producing Content
People are always saying that they can’t write and that’s why they can’t produce a blog. Or they’re not tech savvy enough to record a video or design and run a website.
As a result, they don’t connect with their customers online and they outsource their website to a professional. But that just doesn’t work.
As business owners, we’re all control freaks. The reason we do what we do, is because we want control over our day-to-day lives and our own finances. So you should want to have control of your digital enterprise as well.
Our easy website course will help you take back control of your site.
Having a designer might mean you have a great looking website. But you have to rely on someone else to produce your vision. And even then, they’re producing a website designed for you.
They’re not designing your website with your customers in mind because you’re their customer.
And as I said earlier, customers only care about themselves. They don’t care if you like technology and social media or are any good at writing and talking well.
If you can start producing content your prospective customers want, you’ll become an invaluable source for them. Then they’ll start giving you their custom in return.
And an inability to write isn’t an excuse anyway.
Chances are, as a business owner, you’re probably used to meeting people and communicating with them face to face. So use that experience and produce a video.
Sit in front of a camera for a few minutes and have a chat with them. Today, many people are visual learners anyway.
All of my podcasts are on YouTube as well.
And the key to being a writer and creating great content is being a great communicator. If you can do one, you can do the other.
But failing that, there are other sources you can use to produce content. After all, the colleges and universities of the world are all churning out great writers who are all after jobs. So make use of them.
Become Your Customer’s Favorite Teacher
We all have that teacher at school we will remember forever. He or she just seemed to connect with us. They understood how we learned and took the time to get to know us.
And as adults, we still need and want people like that. So the key to connecting with your customers is to be the person they have confidence in.
At one time, Marcus was a missionary in Chile, teaching. This experience taught him what it actually takes to be a good teacher.
You should never assume that people understand what you’re saying. Perhaps there is a better way of communicating the thought you’re trying to convey? And if there is, you need to find it.
Being able to explain a complex idea in a simple way, and to cause that spark which makes the light bulb in their head shine bright.
And one way you can do that is to ask the right questions. A good teacher doesn’t tell you the answer, but instead gives you the information to answer that question for yourself.
And asking the questions of your customer in your blogs and videos leads them to realize what they’re wanting to know.
People want to make their own decisions and don’t appreciate getting told what they should and shouldn’t do. You want them to at least think they’ve discovered the solution themselves.
So your job as the communicator is to give them the right information to do just that.
And when you know your customers intimately enough, you know what they’re asking and the best way of understanding it.
Just do what you do every day, but put it online to benefit everyone, rather than just that one person in time.
Stop Keeping Secrets
The key is to answer the question they’re asking. There’s no point tip-toeing around it and burying your head in the sand.
Millions of people take to the internet to find out how much something is going to cost. Before making almost any decision, they’ll need to know that one bit of information.
Many businesses don’t want their prices online because they don’t want their competitors to know their prices. Or, they want the customer to personally contact them.
Well, in today’s world, chances are your competitors already know your prices anyway, and people don’t ring a business. By not being up front about your prices, you’re only frustrating your potential customer.
Customers get scared by not knowing the price, not by the actual price.
And people aren’t stupid. If they can’t get the answer from you, they’ll just go somewhere else to find the price. And the chances are that wherever gives them the price, is where they’ll give their custom to.
Why? Because in that instant, the company has earned their trust. Plus there are so many people selling online that customers can afford to be fickle.
If you can take a moment to fully explain the costs, they will respect you. Address the issue head on, but explain the answer thoroughly. Because at some point, they’re going to have to know the answer anyway.
And that’s how Marcus made his swimming pool business stand out from the rest.
No-one else was putting their price online, and then suddenly he did. Now his company has gone from staring bankruptcy in the face to turning over millions of dollars a year. Simply because he gains the trust of his customers.
People only get multiple quotes if they don’t trust the first one they get. So make them trust you by being upfront, then you’ll get their customer.
And Finally
Take a look at Marcus’s swimming pool company River Pools and Spas. There you can take a look at all his articles and videos and see exactly what we’ve been talking about for yourself.
Click here the Marcus Sheridan interview transcript >>>
It includes every single point he discussed
The content creation style is very evident. Once you see how open he is, it will all just seem obvious. Why doesn’t everyone just do it? Because they’re scared.
If you want to read and hear more from Marcus Sheridan himself, then visit his website here. His blogs and podcasts will show you how to dramatically improve your sales and marketing communications.
Marcus devotes all his time to helping people become better communicators, better teachers, better content creators and, inevitably, leaders of their marketplace. And I’m sure he’ll be happy to help you out as well.