3M Marketing -- Better than the 4 Ps?

I've never been a big fan of the 4 Ps of the marketing mix: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Why?

I'm naturally suspicious of any marketing theory that's taught in colleges and followed by big, dumb corporations.

Instead, I follow a simpler marketing formula, tailor-made for small businesses and solopreneurs.

I call the formula The 3 Ms: Market, Message, and Mechanism.

Here they are, in order of importance ...

Market = To whom are you selling?

Your best market is the people who know you, trust you, and want your business to success -- your clients, past and present.

As copywriting legend Gary Halbert once said, if you're selling hamburgers, you don't want the best beef or the lowest prices ... you want a starving crowd. That's your ideal market.


Message = What do you say or write?

The most important parts of any marketing message are:

• the headline (of the ad) or first sentence (of the email or sales letter)
• the offer (what you give people in exchange for their money)

Here's how to budget your time when creating a message: If I spend 6 hours on a 3-page email promotion, about 2 hours are research, 2 hours are devising an offer and headline, and 2 hours are actual copywriting.


Mechanism = How will you deliver this marketing message to your market?

Here are example delivery mechanisms: email, direct mail, seminars, phone calls, webinars, print ads, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.


When you map out on paper these 3 Ms -- Market, Message, and Mechanism -- then assign deadlines and budgets, you'll have a clear plan for selling more of your product or service. Try it.

You'll find more ideas like these in my Free Report, Guaranteed Marketing.