We all know how important it is to market your product to the world effectively, but what are the most crucial rules of marketing to follow? Whether it’s advertisements on Facebook, posts on Instagram, or giant billboards, you’ll always need captivating marketing messages to attract customers. Not only do you want new customers, but you also want raving fans who will come back to buy over and over again. There are three crucial rules of marketing you should always follow

Now, before we unveil these three rules of marketing, take a minute to think about why you’re reading this article in the first place. Is it because you’re tired of people ignoring your advertisements? Are your marketing campaigns falling flat? Are you frustrated about spending thousands of dollars on marketing without much return? Or is it because you’re tired of getting mediocre results, and you aspire to grow a fan base who will bring in revenue day and night? If you’ve answered, “Yes” to any of these questions, then sit tight, take a deep breath, and let us teach you everything you need to succeed.

Before we jump into the three most crucial rules of marketing, let’s first identify what marketing is really about. According to a 2019 Hubspot article entitled What Is Marketing?, “Marketing is the process of getting people interested in your company’s product or service. This happens through market research, analysis, and understanding your ideal customer’s interests.” So you might be wondering, What does any of this have to do with getting raving customers that love your brand?

Pay attention to the keyphrase indicated in the definition for marketing, and notice how it says, “your ideal customer’s interests”. What do you think this means? Simply put, you have to find a connection between your customer and the marketing message you send out. Think about it: Would you send golf enthusiasts advertisements about basketball? Probably not. Which is exactly what brings us to the first rule of marketing.

Rules of Marketing: The First Saga

Before we elaborate on rule number one, I want you to picture the last advertisement you saw on Facebook, Instagram or outside on the streets. Why did you ignore the product that was offered? Why did you scroll past the ad, or walk right past the sign, without clicking the link or checking out their website? Was it because the message was boring? Did it lack color? Was it not appealing to the eye? Maybe, but do you want to know the real reason why you didn’t click their product? Because, you’re not their ideal customer.

So you might be wondering, Why am I seeing an advertisement if I’m not their target audience? Want to know the reason why? Great, because we have no idea. Because whenever it comes to advertising a product, it’s never wise to target everyone in the marketplace. Think about it like our previous example mentioning golf enthusiasts. Would golf players ever look at an advertisement for a different sport? Maybe, but chances are they’ll never buy because it won’t spark their interests. So here’s the message we’re trying to get at.

Whether it’s an alien on planet Mars, a man from a different dimension, or a talented athlete, you have to define your audience and target their specific needs. This brings us to the first, and most important step in the rules of marketing. 

Identifying Your Target Audience

According to an Entrepreneur article entitled Why Most Ads Fail, “The customers who cost you money are the ones you never see, the ones who didn’t come in because your ads never got their attention.” So what does that mean? The first rule of marketing is to always identify your ideal customer. And this is the first step you should take before jumping into any advertising campaign. 

A huge mistake companies make today is the belief that everyone can be their customer. Makes sense right? You can show your product to the world and give everyone an equal chance to buy your product. Believe it or not, this belief is actually the core reason why most companies never get a customer in the door. Think about it, if you can’t get sales with a million people then odds are advertising to more people won’t help the situation. The real solution to this problem is identifying your ideal customer. Perhaps you’re thinking, How do I determine or define my ideal customer?

Here’s the simplest answer we can give you, stalk them. And no, we don’t mean showing up to their doorstop for a Q&A, but getting to know every single piece of information about them. You need to find their age, location, language, interests, career, location, interests and hobbies. There are many platforms online such as Reddit, Google reviews, Amazon reviews, and various forums where you can find customers who share an interest in your industry. But why is knowing this information important?

When it comes to advertising on a platform, e.g. Facebook, their algorithm uses tailored advertisements based on  information you’ve collected such as age and gender. If you fail to get this information right you’ll end up wasting money on prospects who show no interest. Just remember to always read posts that are up to date so your information is relevant.

The Personalized Approach

Now that you know the foundation for the rules of marketing, let’s dive into the second step to help your advertisements come to life. The second rule of marketing involves creating an advertisement that appeals to your target audience. Maybe now you’re thinking, How can I create an advertisement that people will open? Well, it’s a good thing you did your initial research.

Remember the first rule for marketing? Aka, the preliminary step before jumping into an advertisement? The identical method for research applies to gathering information that triggers a prospect to buy. As Steve Jobs once said, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to sell it.” And the only way to target the customer, is by targeting their specific needs.

When researching your ideal market, it’s important to look at their reviews and opinions of products in your industry. To make it easier, let’s go through an example to help with your understanding. Let’s pretend you’re selling the next generation of televisions to a market. Head over to reddit and look at their forum page for televisions. After a few minutes of scrolling, we’ve found a post entitled, “The prices of new TV’s are getting ridiculous’. So ask yourself, how can you turn this into an advertisement that attracts this market?

You can take that exact method, and craft it into a headline saying, “Tired of Spending Thousands On A New TV?” Or, “Picture Perfect Television Quality Without Breaking The Bank”. Generally, you are taking their problems and presenting your idea as the holy grail solution. And chances are, there are hundreds of other people who face the same problem everyday. 

Buyer Psychology

According to a business professor at Harvard, “Humans are driven by feelings. So if you want the consumer to remember your product or brand, they must be engaged and impassioned by the interaction with your company.” If the buyer can find an emotional connection between your advertisement and the product you offer, then there’s an incredibly high chance the prospect will wave his or her wallets at you. 

Think about the last item you purchased. It could be a bike, wallet, car, purse, whatever comes to mind. Now, ask yourself, why did you buy that item? Is it because you needed it? Is it because you had money to burn? No. It’s because you felt an emotional connection with the product at hand. The car to make your colleagues jealous at work. The purse to make you classy. The bike to help you stay in shape. The wallet to keep your credit cards safe and organized. So what are we trying to get at?

You never bought the car because it had a V8 engine or a limited slip differential. Nor did you buy a wallet because it was created out of the finest leather in the world. But you bought the vehicle because it made you feel prestigious on the road. Because it acts as a safe mode of transportation for your family and loved ones. You bought the wallet because you’re worried about misplacing credit cards and money. 

Take a look at the main headline for the iPhone SE recently released by Apple. It reads, “Lots to Love, Less to Spend.” Do you wonder why they chose that headline? Because after researching the marketplace, Apple released cost was an issue for most people who were looking for a new phone. Therefore they advertised their product as the same reliable iPhone with the perk of spending less money. 

The Last Step to a Personalized Message

The two rules of marketing discussed are important for grabbing the reader’s attention. We focus on the headline so thoroughly because it’s the core foundation behind getting a buyer into your doorstep. As David Ogilvy once said, “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” Once you have the headline nailed down, you can go on to creating the body of your advertisement.

The body section of your advertisement has to be intriguing enough to maintain the reader’s attention. And as a general rule of thumb, every sentence and paragraph written should be designed to get the reader to read the next one. Remember, the headline is just meant to grab the prospects attention. It’s the body that introduces your product or idea to the reader. So how do you keep readers from leaving your ad?

The information gathered in the first and second rules of marketing are key for keeping their attention. If the reader relates to your body and gains an emotional connection with your story, offer, or message, there’s a good chance the prospect will check out your product. Dan Lok always says, “Remember, people don’t buy from you because they understand what you sell – they buy from you because they feel understood.”

Rules of Marketing: The End Game

Before we unveil the last rule of marketing, we want to give credit to where it’s due. One of the most successful and recognized copywriters goes by the name of Eugene Schwartz. If you’ve ever read his book, Breakthrough Advertising, you’ll see that he discusses and elaborates on this rule to a high degree. Ready to learn the last secret in the rules of marketing? Let’s get started.

Go back into the section of this article where we mentioned headlines. What’s the problem behind creating an advertisement based on someone’s problem found on reddit? Well, let’s think about it in a different way. What happens if your target market has already found their dream product? What happens if they’ve already made a purchase based on another company’s advertisement?  Eugene Schwartz saw this as an issue, and came up with a formula called the 5 stages of market awareness. We nominated this as the last rule as it’s very elite and difficult to grasp. Note, this should be done before stepping into advertisement creation.

Market Awareness

There are 5 different stages in which a prospect might be situated at during their buyer’s journey. These stages, as mentioned by Eugene Schwartz, are completely unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware, and most aware. The journey for most buyers starts at the “completely unaware” stage. This is where the prospect has no knowledge on a product or problem and needs a direct voice to implicate the problem.

The second step in the buyer’s journey is “problem-aware”. This is where the prospect knows he or she has an issue, but is not aware of a solution that can solve it. After is the “solution-aware” stage, whereby the prospect knows the problem but  he or she does not know where to look for it. After this is the “product-aware” stage, whereby the prospect knows what you offer but still doesn’t know if the product is right for them. And lastly, we have the most-aware stage, whereby the prospect knows all the products offered and are looking for the best deal.

Now, this is a lot of information to take in. The reason why we saved this for last is because it’s extremely advanced and requires thorough research and fundamentals to hit this right. The basis behind any marketing message should be research, and you’ll be able to identify the market’s awareness based on what other companies offer or what others are saying. Copyblogger has created an article to help explain each of these thoroughly.

So you’re probably thinking, Why do the stages of market awareness matter? Well, think about it like this. Would it be logical to advertise a product if the prospect has no awareness of his issue? Or is it logical to advertise someone’s pain-points if they’ve already found a solution to it? The stages each serve a unique purpose, and it is at your discretion to make sure your market messages hit their correct stage.

The Secret Marketing Masterclass

What if we told you there was a way to craft advertisements that is designed to attract new customers? What if we told you this way is so secretive, that only the most elite individuals know about this method. And what if we said, you could possess these same skills and turn your company into a million dollar empire? This method is found within the art of copywriting.

Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with the term “copywriting”, or you may have heard the term from someone who works as a  copywriter. A copywriter is an individual who possesses revenue-generating capabilities with the power to turn words into dollars. Copywriters are trained to craft advertisements, emails, and landing pages that attract new customers, and turn them into raving fans. In the history of sales, the true reason why companies succeed and fail is their ability to craft empowering messages. So we want you to capture these same capabilities.

We’ve created a 4-day masterclass with all of our copywriting tips and secrets to help your company craft winning advertisements from day one. We’ll teach you winning strategies and powerful techniques that can help your company sell millions of dollars in a heartbeat. And if you don’t have a company, no worries. You can use this powerful skill to turn yourself into a freelancer and climb the rankings in the business world. P.S., copywriters are some of the highest paid professionals in the world.

If you’re ready to become a professional copywriter, and desire to bring in countless revenue for your business or freelancing career, click here to sign up for the High-Income Copywriter Certification Program.

Summary

Remember that the first rule for marketing revolves around crafting an advertisement based on research and audience insights. It’s important to grasp valuable information such as age and gender to target a specific demographic and get the right individuals to buy. The second rule of marketing revolves around using the same research to grab pain points and issues individuals are having in the marketplace. Use these emotions in your messages and craft a body paragraph that keeps their eyes on the page. And lastly but most important, make sure to understand the stage at which the market is in. Understand their awareness and tailor your messages to the desired market.

If you’re interested in learning copywriting mastery, click here to sign up for our masterclass. We will teach you everything needed to craft winning advertisements and win the hearts over everyone in your market. We want you to succeed, so remember to take notes, listen carefully, and implement everything you learn from day one. This is a masterclass only for those with the discipline to act consistently. See you in class.