What is "marketing," really? It's a term that gets thrown around a lot, but for many business owners, it feels complicated. Let's simplify it. This post breaks down what marketing is, why it matters, and how to think about it in a way that actually works.

What is Marketing?

In the simplest terms: Marketing is letting people know you exist. That's it.

It generally falls into two categories:

Inbound Marketing:

This is when people come to you. It includes your website, your social media presence, and any content you create (like this blog) that attracts people to your business.

Outbound Marketing:

This is when you go out and find people. This includes activities like cold calling and email outreach, paid advertising, door knocking and attending events. There are two types of outbound, warm or cold. You either know someone or you don't. Cold comes with the extra challenge of getting their information, reaching them, and convincing them to listen to you. Warm is easier because you already have a relationship, but you are limited to your network and referrals.

Cold Marketeting

We'll briefly break down some of the cold marketing tactics, outside of running paid ads. Common methods include

1. One to One
   • Cold Calling
   • Cold email
   • Sending Direct Messages on Social Platforms
   • Door knocking
   • Sending physical mail
2. Hosting Events
3. Paid Advertising
   • Search Ads
   • Social Ads
   • Billboards
   • Signs
   • Billboard like on cars, buses, murals, etc.

All the above are allowed in B2B. B2C is limited to

1. Cold Calling if they are NOT on the Do Not Call Registry
2. Social Platform DMs
3. Door Knocking
4. Mail
5. Events
6. Ads

Intro to One to One Cold Marketing

One to one attempts to get you directly in front of the person you want to work with. Volume and omni-channel, AKA trying multiple at one, to get in front of someone is usually required to make contact since channels are noisy and people are busy.

There are a lot of opinions on the strategies of what you say during these engagements. We will only focus on what options you have and how to do them. I personally believe what matters most is if your service is needed now or soon, or if you can provide enough free value to move from cold to warm then sell or get referrals.

The overall steps for one to one cold marketing are always

1. Build a list
2. Enrich the list
3. Reach out

Special Case: Social listening is when you listen or watch for keywords or phrases that someone looking for your service would post about. These are people you can directly message, comment, etc to let them know you have the solution.

Building Lists

Building a list means getting a list of people that you can reach out to about your service. They can be a stored spreadsheet, inside a CRM or both.

1. Who could use my services?
2. How do I get their information?
3. Where can I connect with them?

You can build these from tools like

• LinkedIn, with or without Sales Navigator. Sales Navigator will make your search faster and stronger.
• Data vendors like Apollo, ZoomInfo, etc. They have lists you can filter companies and people meeting your ideal customer profile (ICP)
• Checking businesses listed on Google Business
• Checking local business networks like Chambers of Commerce members, BBB, or any networking groups.

Enriching Lists

Enriching a list is when you add more information to it. Maybe you find phone numbers, the website of the company, how much they make, or if they use equipment/tech that would make them more suitable to be your customer.

This is a critical step for cold email you need to verify the emails you send to are valid, otherwise if your email fails then it massively penalizes future sends. It is also critical for mailers since that is an expensive way to market, so every address needs to be valid and to your targeted audience.

Options

1. Enrich with a provider like Clay, FullEnrich, etc.
2. Automations to scrape their website, social profiles and posts
3. Manually review website and social.

Common Marketing Activities

Based on that definition, your marketing activities include:

• Telling people you meet in person about your business.
• Creating content for your website, social media, and ads.
• Reaching out to people who don't know you yet, whether through cold calls, emails, social media messages, events or ads.
• Informing current customers about new products, services, or promotions.
• Reminding your audience why they should choose you over competitors.
• Asking for referrals and reviews.
• Establishing partnerships with other businesses who consistently refer customers to you.

Why Marketing is Everything for Growth

What follows marketing is a sale. Simply said, a sale is the exchange of goods and services for money. The sales process is about helping someone make a buying decision. 80-94% of that decision to work with you was already made during the marketing phase.

This is why marketing is so critical. If you don't do it, people won't know you exist, and you won't have any customers. If you do it well, you can attract the right people to your business and either help them directly or guide them to someone who can.

It's the foundation upon which all sales are built.