572: The Two Different Verticals Of Your Marketing You Need A Strategy For

In this episode, I’m diving into a topic that I know is crucial for every marketer out there. We’re going to explore the importance of having both a short-term and a long-term marketing strategy in place. It’s not enough to focus solely on immediate results; we need to consider the bigger picture and create strategies that will pay off over time.

I’ll be sharing a real-life example from one of our clients who experienced the power of implementing both short-term and long-term strategies. It starts with understanding that not every lead will convert right away, and that’s okay! By nurturing those leads and staying consistent with our marketing efforts, we can see amazing results down the line.

Listen now to discover how to leverage the power of both short-term and long-term marketing strategies.

Key Points: 

• Develop a Strong Short-Term Strategy to Convert Immediate Prospects:

• Importance of a short-term conversion sequence
• Targeting leads who are aware of their problem and actively seeking a solution
• Successful execution of short-term strategy relies on leveraging the immediate conversion potential of certain leads

• Implement a Long-Term Strategy to Nurture and Convert Leads Over Time:

• Investment in consistent lead generation and audience growth
• Understanding the value of leads as long-term assets to the business
• Patience and dedication to the long game, even if results are delayed

• Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Strategies:

• Effective execution of short-term strategy to generate immediate revenue
• Building relationships and nurturing leads for long-term conversion
• Embracing the holistic approach of combining short-term and long-term strategies for sustainable marketing success.

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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh:

Hello, everybody, welcome back to the podcast. Ah, it is officially fall weather, with a hint of winter, in Austin for the next four days, and I’m super pumped. It reached a high of 49° Fahrenheit today, so I have my fireplace and heater on. I had to put on my UGG boots yesterday, and I was very excited. I’ve never had a fall garden before, so we’ll see how all my plants do during this initial cold spell. We have some thirty-degree lows, so we will see. Otherwise, I’m coming back fresh after last week; I was in Telluride, Colorado. It was a surprise trip my husband planned, and it was amazing. I went completely offline; I don’t have email on my phone; I haven’t for about 6 years. But in the past year, I installed Slack back on my phone. Even when I traveled, it was on my phone with all the notifications and badges turned off, but I would still check it almost every day. This time, I’ve actually deleted it from my phone after returning from Costa Rica, so it hasn’t been on my phone for a month, and I didn’t reinstall it. I also stayed away from my computer and deleted Instagram; I was completely offline, and it was super refreshing for three full days. I slept for about 9 to 9.5 hours each night.

We hiked seventeen and a half miles; it was beautiful. The fall colors in Colorado are unreal, and it was like a dream trip. We had great conversations, visited mountain coffee shops, enjoyed good food, and went hiking, which I call my church. I also got a lot of sleep; I didn’t want to change my routine. The time zone was 1 hour behind, so I went to bed at 8:30 every night, and it was fantastic. Anyway, I have many exciting things coming up. Just stay tuned, follow my podcast, email, and social. We’re entering a new era, and soon I’ll share what that means in terms of company values. There’s also a change to the Hirsh marketing process. The core process I’ve had for years is getting a slight adjustment, and next week in a podcast series, I’ll share all of this with you and explain how it impacts our offerings. It’s super exciting, and I’m feeling very enthusiastic about the rest of this year and what we have in store. I think you’re going to love it.

Today, I want to talk about the two different verticals of your marketing that you need to plan for intentionally. This inspiration actually came from a client who experienced what I know to be true in marketing. They provided such a great example that it inspired me to record this podcast, which is all about leaning into both short-term and long-term marketing strategies.

What inspired this podcast was a client who started working with us about six months ago. In the initial three months, we got their strategy up and running, launched ads, and started generating leads. However, they were barely profitable based on the ad spend. We needed to make her more profitable to justify the management fee. So, we made some changes to the initial strategy to increase sales conversion, and it helped. Around four months after starting ads with us, she began to see sales from the leads that came in during the first month. Now she was able to use that money, which was profit because she’d already paid for those leads, and we had the initial short-term strategy working. She reached a point where the long-term strategy started to pay off, and that’s what inspired me. It perfectly aligns with what I teach about how marketing works; you’ll have people joining your email list who won’t convert right away. They might convert three, four, six, or even twelve months down the road.

Because a lot of people, depending on the price of your offer, need a lot more touchpoints before they decide to buy. This is very important to remember. One, you should have intentional strategies around this. Two, it’s for a mindset place of understanding and really grasping the long game, and being able to see the long game in your actual business vision. It’s about zooming out and seeing the bigger picture. Some of the most successful clients we work with are the ones who truly understand. They might say, ‘I added 200 leads to my list, and maybe only 2 people bought, but I also have 198 more leads that are an asset to my business and might convert in the future or will convert in the future.’ Not 100% of them, but perhaps 5% more of them. Understanding that investment, especially in the first six months of your marketing, and the first six months of your ads. Now, I’m not saying it takes six months to get your ads and marketing working at all. I think a ninety-day commitment is a good starting point; that’s why we have a ninety-day minimum. But if you can commit to six months to see it through, that doesn’t mean you’re not taking action and not actually executing and implementing things throughout those six months to improve your results. You’re not just sitting and waiting; you’re buying into the long game. You are investing in the consistency of your lead generation and audience growth, knowing that it will pay off in the future, even if you don’t see immediate results or if you see them on a smaller scale than you’d like.

So, I want to talk about short-term and long-term strategies, and how you can be intentional with the strategy you’re executing, as well as with your understanding and viewpoint of your marketing. This is where I see entrepreneurs encountering the most trouble, especially those who are newer to Facebook ads, marketing, or business. It’s because they tend to view marketing through a short-term lens and a small-minded perspective. It’s not because they lack the capability to see it differently, but because nobody has explained it to them. On the other hand, when I talk to friends and clients who are more seasoned in playing the long game in business and marketing, they are much more relaxed about their marketing and results. This is because they understand the long game, and I believe that understanding and having the patience and dedication for the long game is a significant differentiating factor between successful and non-successful entrepreneurs. It also affects the stress you may feel in your business. If you can’t see the long game, you might contemplate quitting because the short term isn’t meeting your expectations.

Now, let’s discuss your short-term strategy. This is the initial revenue you generate from your marketing when you attract leads. They go through an experience, and they either convert or don’t convert right away. This is similar to what happens in the first 30 days of bringing a lead onto your list, and perhaps even shorter. Many people’s marketing strategy might involve having leads join their list, followed by a 7-day sequence or a 7-day follow-up to try to convert them into a sale. For the most part, the people who are going to convert during this short-term strategy and experience you create are the ones who are ready and willing to buy. They have the money, are highly aware of the problem, and may have been actively seeking a solution. They are ready. They might also belong to the personality type, like me, that doesn’t take a long time to make decisions. Once they know they need something, the decision is made, and they move forward. However, not everyone is like that, and not every lead or person who interacts with your business today is ready or willing to buy. This is where the long-term strategy comes into play. It’s about moving those people over to the other side. Typically, only 1% to 5% of all your leads will convert through the long-term strategy. Your short-term strategy should aim to achieve at least a 3x return on the amount you invest in your ads. Achieving this goal will likely require some optimization, and it may take you four to six months to reach that 3x return.

Once you break even and become profitable, it becomes easier to improve and exceed this threshold with some small tweaks. The challenging part is reaching breakeven, especially if you’ve never converted cold traffic leads to your offer. This can take time and require refinement of your messaging and strategy, which is quite common. Your objective should be to achieve a 3x return on ad spend. For example, if you spend $1,000, you want to make $3,000 from that initial short-term sequence. By doing this, you not only obtain a 3x return, but you also acquire all those leads and traffic as assets for your business. You’re not just gaining the 3x return; you’re also accumulating leads that can generate future revenue without additional spending. This applies to the initial email sequence or customer journey, as well as lead generation funnels.

In the short term, your goal is to ensure that your marketing investments are profitable and sustainable. Now, let’s talk about the long term. This is where the real profit, momentum, and growth originate, which many people overlook. The long term involves nurturing, consistency, and no-strings-attached relationship building. It’s about building and growing your list and audience, regardless of whether they are ready to buy immediately. This is achieved through consistent content, valuable emails, social media content, videos, podcasts, and more. The primary focus here is on maintaining consistency.

Live launches also play a role in the long-term strategy, as they allow you to capitalize on the leads you’ve accumulated over the past few months. When you know your investment will pay off in this way, handling ads becomes much easier. Consider a scenario where you spend $1,000 a month and generate 200 leads each month, with a 2% conversion rate. This means you get four sales for every 200 leads, resulting in a 3x return on ad spend, making $3,000.

Over three months, you accumulate 588 leads who haven’t purchased yet but are interested in your business. This presents an opportunity to launch to those leads and capitalize on the investment you’ve made. If another 2% of those leads convert, you can get around 12 more sales, resulting in an additional $9,000 in revenue. This means that in the first three months, you’ve secured 12 sales and a total of around 600 leads. Imagine what happens if someone, in the initial month, obtains 200 leads but only sells one product, which isn’t profitable. If they panic, shut off their ads, and pivot to a new offer, they may never realize that optimizing their approach could have led to profitability.

By staying consistent and understanding that leads will convert over time, you can achieve success in marketing. Far too often, people acquire leads, don’t immediately get sales, panic, view everything through a short-term lens, and abruptly change their strategy without recognizing what they are doing. Therefore, in your marketing, it’s crucial to have focus, goals, and initiatives to convert initial leads who join your list and ensure 1% to 5% (depending on your offer’s price) convert in the initial experience.

And then, what’s your long-term strategy? When I say ‘no strings attached approach,’ it’s because it’s very hard to track and know how many of those leads are going to convert and when they will convert. This understanding comes with experience. For example, I can tell you that, on average, it takes five to six months for leads to convert based on my extensive data, which includes hundreds of sales, applications, and thousands of leads. However, in the beginning, you won’t have that data. You must have faith and commitment to consistency and nurturing. Don’t dismiss these leads as poor quality. I see this happen often. People say, ‘I only got one sale from 200 leads; they must be poor quality.’ Instead, consider that they might not be ready to buy from you yet because they have just discovered your brand. It’s more likely that they’re not yet prepared to make a purchase. Think about how you interact with new brands. Buyer hesitancy is common in the beginning, unless you’re already in a buying mindset or have been referred by a trusted friend. Referrals usually lead to quick conversions because there’s already a level of trust established. However, relying solely on referrals is not sustainable. You need a strategy to consistently convert cold, brand new prospects into loyal customers, and that requires both short-term and long-term marketing strategies.

If you find that you’re generating leads and building an audience, but not enough are converting, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Commit to consistency, quarterly live launches, and continuous audience re-engagement, which leads to sales. If you maintain this for at least six months, you will start to see results. This is what happened with the client. She was initially frustrated that her sales weren’t where she wanted them to be after three months of profitability, but around the five-month mark, her efforts began to pay off. It’s usually between four and six months of consistent lead generation, nurturing, and growth that you’ll start to see results.

So, my challenge to you today is this: 1. Consider whether you need to shift your perspective on your marketing. 2. Do you have both short-term and long-term strategies for your business? Are you consistently growing your list and audience, with a plan to capitalize on that traffic and those leads both immediately and in the long term? Take inventory of your mindset, strategy, and execution, and determine what shifts or changes might be necessary. Thank you all for tuning in today, and I look forward to talking to you on Thursday.