The traditional marketing funnel was invented in 1898 by Elias St. Elmo Lewis to illustrate the typical customer journey. The marketing funnel models how a new customer might move from being one of many people with “Awareness” of a product or service at the top of the funnel to becoming a customer by making a “Purchase” at the bottom of the funnel.

For over a century, this model has taught marketers that in order to get the most customers to “Purchase” at the bottom of the funnel (where the dollar sign shows up!) you need the broadest possible “Awareness” at the top. Often, that has resulted in companies striving for the broadest appeal for their ads and therefore committing the most egregious marketing mistake, that of “marketing to everyone”.

Is There Another Way to Target Your Audience?
But is this long-held model of “marketing to the many to convert the few” the true representation of the marketing process? Sangram Vajre, speaking at a recent SLC|SEM event at Adobe’s Lehi, Utah Campus, thinks differently.

“The traditional funnel starts broad – everyone is a target. Its greatest flaw is it treats people as numbers,” Vajre explains. “Today’s buyer expects marketing to be targeted and personalized on her or his terms. And expects sales to help in addition to sell.”

Account-Based Marketing is Personal
With statistics showing that “less than 1% of leads turn into customers” and “less than 2% of cold calls convert into appointments,” Vajre is not without the data to support the idea that the marketing funnel is flawed. But what is the solution?

Vajre has authored the book Account-Based Marketing for Dummies where he expounds on the idea that “marketing to everyone” is obsolete and proposes the solution for the new marketing funnel via the hashtag he’s helped popularize: #FlipMyFunnel.

Account-based Marketing “flips the funnel” by starting with the account or customer first. In this new method of marketing, your sales process begins by identifying the businesses or industry you want to target with your product or service. Instead of targeting a broad range of potential customers and then letting them filter themselves out until you have a purchaser, this method asserts that targeting narrowly will lead to an expanding audience of well-defined potential customers that progresses down a widening funnel of relevant content customized to the needs of the audience.

By focusing from the beginning on a smaller number of better-targeted accounts, marketers will be better able to understand and engage with potential customers through tactics like whitepapers, events, or webinars that can be laser-focused to meet customers’ specific needs. Vajre calls this an “omnichannel” approach, using a variety of touchpoints including email, digital and traditional ads, video, and phone calls to engage directly with the account.

What’s the Best Platform for Account-based Marketing?
LinkedIn expert, AJ Wilcox of B2Linked says that LinkedIn advertising allows marketers to be “surgically” accurate because “professionals keep this source updated as a reflection of [their] careers and personal value.” In comparison with other social marketing tools, Wilcox says, “Intent-based targeting focuses on someone’s intent right now; LinkedIn’s audience-based targeting is exactly the opposite. You get your message out to the people who are the most qualified to buy… generat[ing] prospects that have a higher propensity to convert.”

LinkedIn ads are often overlooked by marketers looking for cost-effective pay-per-click tools to reach their audience, but in B2B marketing it becomes the social selling tool of choice. At Epic Marketing, we have worked with our clients to test and optimize the use of LinkedIn ads for clients that generate sales and leads from B2B campaigns in addition to other advertising platforms like Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, and Bing Ads.

Are You Ready to Build an Account-based Marketing Strategy?
When clients come to Epic Marketing, the first question we ask is, “Who are you trying to reach?” This helps us to understand which channels or touchpoints will apply as well as what types of content to recommend. Additionally, we build in smart timelines to ensure that your message stays front-and-center for your target audience to get the largest impact from your marketing effort.

Account-based marketing is a powerful strategy that can improve the way your business spends its marketing dollars and generates sales. If you’re tired of the typical approaches you’re used to, it might be time to give it at a try.

In the digital age, it can be easy to forget past marketing methods. Navigating through the complex and intricate marketplace, it’s clear that technology plays an increasingly significant role in marketing strategies and campaigns. However, between mobile, digital, and social media channels, traditional marketing still exists. Similar to other aspects of life, digital marketing has irrevocably changed the consumer marketplace, and marketing professionals have been forced to adapt by integrating digital marketing with their traditional marketing tactics.

Advantages of Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing has been around for much longer than digital. Not only is it more trusted by consumers, but they are also more accustomed to it. Your customers reach expands way past online, and so should your advertising. From magazines and newspapers, to radio and TV, there are several effective facets of traditional marketing. In fact, television is still the number one media choice by American consumers. Furthermore, traditional marketing can be extremely beneficial in boosting your bottom line.  While younger generations might look for news and ads online, it’s clear they are not abandoning traditional media altogether.

Integrating Traditional & Digital

Although Traditional marketing is not dead, it is facing a great deal of competition from the world of digital marketing. Integrating digital and traditional has been proven to reap more benefits than a one-dimensional approach. As a full-service agency, Epic Marketing has a well-rounded team to create the right package of services for each client. From print, radio and television ads, media placement and creative design to branding and digital marketing, we adapt comprehensive marketing solutions to each scenario for strategic, cost-effective and concrete results.

Knowing who your target audience is, isn’t always as cut and dry as one may think. Here at Epic we’ve noticed many of our clients had an idea of who they thought their target audience might be, but more times than not they were targeting the wrong audience. It’s probably better to say that some of our clients knew who they wanted to target, but their target audience wasn’t necessarily going to be the best audience to grow their business.

When it comes to marketing your business, it takes time and—yikes—money. If marketing was fast and free, there wouldn’t be professionals who know and specialize in marketing—like us! In order to fully understand who your target audience is, you need to address and identify where you want your business to go. What are the goals for your business? Do you want to bring in more new clients? Do you want to increase your annual revenue? Having solid answers for these questions will allow you to know which audience to target.

For example, if your business goal is to be the top healthy living weight loss clinic, your target audience will be different than if your goal is to double the amount of new patients you see each month. The target audience for weight loss responds differently to marketing than the target audience to drive new patients to your clinic. Clearly defining your business goals will determine the best audience for you to target.

Another approach in analyzing the best target audience is to look at your current client base. Determine who your best clients are, which ones pay the highest case fees, and which ones are the most consistent with their treatments. This audience may not be exactly who you had in mind when thinking about how to market your clinic, but this audience already has a proven track record with your clinic. This may be the best audience to target for your business to grow.

Once you’ve narrowed down the goals you want to accomplish through marketing, and have a good idea of who your target audience is going to be to make that happen, you’re off to a good start. That’s right, this is just the beginning of the marketing process, now comes the task of figuring out how to connect to your target audience. The ultimate goal is to reach them in such a way that they believe in what you’re offering, feel they need it and want to pay for it.

Target audiences are tricky because they identify with and react to different types of marketing and advertising. However, effective targeting of the audience that will help you to meet your business goals will help your business to grow. So in short, first identify where you want your business to be in a month, six months, a year. Second, identify the patients/clients that are most likely going to make this happen. Third, start figuring out what is the best way to reach them so that they’ll do business with you. And finally, keep in mind that if this all seems a little overwhelming to you, we’re here to help.

Customer Relationship Management, also known as CRM, is a vital part of every business. No matter the industry, every business has a group of past and current clients, as well as an audience of future clients that need to be reached. Effective customer relationship management is a strategy that spreads across all departments of a business, including everything from sales and accounting to customer service. While some businesses have an effective internal method of keeping their customer relationships organized, other businesses often miss out on new customers and profits because of their lack of detail with customer relationship management.

How CRM Software Can Help

The main benefit of CRM software is that it helps businesses share customer information in a group environment and gives an overview of all customer interactions. Not only can CRM software help manage customers on an individual level, but it also allows company administration to see activity with all clients, including appointment scheduling, web leads, follow ups, sales, marketing, email blasts, accounting, etc.

If you’re finding it difficult to easily find customer information, track leads, produce management reports, or view customer touch points across the different departments of your business, CRM software could be a great organizational tool to consider in boosting your business.

Choosing CRM Software

What used to be available only for large businesses with million-dollar budgets is now accessible to small- to medium-sized businesses for a fraction of the cost. Which software your business decides to use depends on the goals you want to achieve by using it. Make sure that the software you choose is simple and easy to integrate—because after all, what’s the sense in having it if your employees won’t use it? As business becomes more mobile, you may also want to look for software that incorporates remote and mobile access. But no matter the specifications, CRM software can make a big difference in customer retention and satisfaction, overall improving your bottom line.