By Jason Williams
Fun Fact: Not every founder or entrepreneur comes with marketing or technology expertise. Most entrepreneurs struggle with marketing or sales because they don’t know where to start. Marketing has changed a lot in recent years, and with advancements in technology, there are now hundreds of ways to market your business. From hashtags, to direct mail and SEO, to email nurturing, there is a lot to get your head around, and it’s challenging to know what works and what doesn’t.
With this in mind, we asked Vikash Shah, a fantastic marketing expert and speaker for Fylí’s “Systems to Reach Goals” for a bit of insight on what entrepreneurs and business owners should look out for if struggling with marketing.
Vikash is an accomplished Strategic Marketing Leader that led multi-million-dollar campaigns and drove innovative go-to-market efforts that have resulted in $67M in revenue for start-ups. He’s managed multi-functional teams and incorporated training and mentorship into various positions to advocate for professional success.
Jason: How do You Retain Long-Term Clients?
Vikash: Understanding what you can bring to a client. Whether it’s long term or short term and realizing that it’s okay to say no to serving them in the short – term. Start small and try to branch out and do testing. Don’t try too much too fast. Find your audience to find your chance! Don’t branch until you own your audience.
Jason: Why are you passionate about marketing?
Vikash: Marketing is the way we react with anything; it’s essentially connecting someone to an idea. It’s a way to find out the human nature of the existing generation. It helps me to understand why people buy a new product when they trust something new, what inspires people and what kind of mindset people have.
Jason: How do you keep up with changes in the field?
Vikash: Research, network and education. Build a network to ask questions because you don’t need to know everything, just the correct things.
Jason: How would you define omnichannel marketing?
Vikash: Omnichannel marketing is aptly named. It’s a multichannel sales approach that provides the customer with a more personal shopping experience. The customer can be shopping online from a desktop, a tablet, a cellphone, or in-store and the experience will be seamless.
Jason: Why is omnichannel marketing important?
Vikash: Omnichannel marketing is vital because, if done well, it allows you to provide a consistent experience across different platforms, customizing your audience’s message for different strata. With that being said, the issue with running Omni-Channel Marketing is cohesiveness and making sure you don’t have incorrect information spreading from your channels so you will need to prioritize communication between channels to help avoid this.
Jason: Do you have any tips on implementing omnichannel marketing?
Vikash: Focus on the user journey and ask yourself what do they buy? How can we improve on that journey? What is that customer journey? Understand how your consumer talk and why. Understand your consumer problems and try to find a fix and if your struggling to gain that information try interview of surveys. When used correctly, surveys can be valuable tools for uncovering buyer personas.
Jason: Do you have any tips to increase SEO?
Vikash: Follow guys like Neal Pettal and Brain Dean if need advice growing your SEO in the marketplace, but as for assessing demands for your services keyword research try to understand how people think and search. You can read a book but talking or asking for honest feedback from a mentor or professional is the way to go.
Jason: How would you define your business?
Vikash: We help companies generate income through marketing systems. For us work is more than a job, it’s more of a calling: To build. To design. To code. To consult. To teach. To think along with clients and sell. To make markets. To invent. To collaborate. Not just to do something better, but to attempt things you’ve never thought possible.
The main take away is marketing is never easy, there are going to be ups and downs and only through those trails can you really understand how to market your business correctly. It’s okay to say no to serving clients in the short-term. Start small own your first market and then try to branch out and do testing. Don’t try too much too fast. Find your audience to find your chance and remember marketing is more than just selling or advertising. It’s a way for your business to communicate with your audience so try to be more personable.
To get to know more about Vikash, connect, or subscribe, view his social media links here:
- Newsletter: https://www.vikashshah.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikashnshah/
- Twitter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikashnshah/