To gain traction. It’s a popular buzzphrase for marketers and business owners these days.

But what does it really mean? And how do you build marketing traction if you’re not seeing the results you thought you would from your marketing?

In plain English, to gain traction means to begin to have success. To make progress. To get attention.

This is probably what you want when you’re wondering why your current marketing efforts seem ineffective. Once you start to see positive results, i.e., get traction, from your marketing, it’s easier for you to believe in your strategy. You’re on your way!

Sometimes marketers are so intent on driving traction that they fail to appreciate the long view of marketing success. The kind that’s driven by your true business purpose, what motivates your prospects, and how you get those prospects to convert to customers. In fact, aligning traction with conversion can go a long way to getting the traction you’re looking for from your marketing initiatives. Here’s how.

6 Tips for Building Marketing Traction From The Start

Getting traction from your marketing initiatives starts with baking it into your game plan from the beginning. Create a strong strategy that relies on incremental successes to stay effective. These tips will help.

1. Create performance indicators that focus on conversions. Getting more people to notice your business is great for start-ups. Getting them to convert to customers is an effective way to get traction from your marketing 
2. Go deep to define each ideal customer. The key here is the singular: Get to know your customer on an individual basis. Focus less on surface-level characterization and see your customers as individuals with specific needs. Use strategy that relies less on marketing to a mass audience of individuals and more on marketing to each individual of a mass audience.
3. Find out what will inspire each customer to convert. Carefully examine how a prospect’s emotions influence their desire to become one of your customers. What’s creating a need to buy from you? What’s holding them back? Is it fear that’s preventing a green light?
4. Leverage the power of community. A great definition of community is, “a feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.” It’s much more effective to market your business to a group of like-minded people. Building a community strengthens a sense of comfort, reassurance, and trust among its members. Provide value to your community and the members will support you – they’ll not only buy from you, but they’ll advocate on your behalf.
5. Return to connecting in person. Even though digital technology has enabled people to interact from anywhere at any time, nothing compares to real-life, face-to-face conversations. Get in front of your customers again and talk to them personally. Network again at trade shows, in-person seminars, and other industry events. Create opportunities to be in the same place at the same time with your prospects and customers. Not only will it provide priceless insight, but it can be eye-opening, fun, and rewarding, too.
6. Consider next-level email. At least 91% of the four billion current daily email users check their email every day. Even if only a fraction of them are your customers – and they populate your company-owned contact list – that’s a huge business asset. With trust-building email campaigns, you can connect regularly with your customers and pique the interest of prospects into converting every day, if you’d like.

11outof11 Knows Great Marketing

When you’re ready to gain marketing traction, connect with 11outof11. Request a complimentary call with an 11outof11 expert. Contact us to learn more.