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If you’re like most entrepreneurs, most if not all of your marketing energy is focused on bringing in new business.

Maybe you’re doing a lot of networking…Or placing ads…Or cold calling…Or finding referral partners…Or all of these and more.

I call these “attraction” tactics because they attract new clients and customers. And they can be quite effective.

Most entrepreneurs gravitate towards using attraction tactics right off the bat. Mainly because attraction tactics are what everyone is most familiar with.

Think of all the companies that advertise on TV or radio, or in magazines and newspapers, all the time. Not to mention on billboards, the sides of buses, and these days even on eggs (yes eggs–apparently this is the next advertising frontier).

If all those big, successful companies are spending oodles of cash on attraction tactics, you probable should too. Right?

Well, yes and no.

There are actually two more, powerful types of tactics. And you need to use all three if you really want your business to grow.

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The problems with attraction
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Now, I’ll be the first to say that attraction tactics can be a valuable and effective part of any marketing plan. They get your name out there, create a sense of familiarity, and hopefully make your business memorable.

The problem is that straight attraction tactics are usually the most expensive, and take the longest to generate results (IE sales).

Here’s why…

On average, it takes 7 times more money to get a new customer than keep an existing customer.

Because you’ve got to get in front of people 7-10 times before they notice you. Then another 7 times or more before they even think about taking action (calling, buying, etc.) And that’s assuming you’re getting in front of the right audience.

On top of that, it is often difficult to track results from attraction tactics. Coke has no idea how many people, if any, buy more soda after watching their Super Bowl commercials.

But they can afford to spend a ton of money just building and maintaining brand familiarity.

Most of us small business owners can’t.

Thankfully, attraction tactics are not the only game in town.

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The 3 types of marketing tactics every business should use
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To really make your marketing work magic, you can’t just focus on attracting new customers. You need to use a mix of:

1) Attraction tactics to get you noticed, develop brand recognition, and increase familiarity and memorability

2) Conversion tactics to get people to take action, call, sign up or buy

3) Retention tactics to keep you in touch with past customers, and ideally turn them into repeat customers and referral sources

Actually, I rarely recommend my clients even invest in straight attraction tactics. Because the other two kinds of tactics–”Conversion” and “Retention”–provide far more bang for the buck. Plus, conversion tactics can usually do double duty as attraction tactics anyway.

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Converting the masses
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Basically, conversion tactics are designed to get you to take some kind of action. They convert cold prospects into warm prospects, or prospects into customers.

The best example is direct response marketing–whether it’s direct mail, a coupon, sweepstakes or a special giveaway.

A letter in the mail that says “Put a sticker here. Send this back in. Order this. Do that.” is conversion marketing.

An advertisement that says, “Call now for your free report on…”
is looking for you to take action. Conversion again.

Effective conversion is a very, very good thing because it often results in sales.

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Don’t forget about retention
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The final category of tactics is retention. This is where most entrepreneurs fail miserably.

It’s easy to spend so much time focused on getting new customers–or taking care of ones you have–you forget about the ones you already have. And before you know it, they’ve forgotten about you too.

Yet retention tactics are usually the easiest, most effective and least expensive to implement.

After all, you don’t have to tell past clients who you are, or explain the value of what you offer. If they were happy the first time they did business with you, chances are they’d feel good about coming to you again–or referring someone else.

But that’s only going to happen if they fondly remember who you are and what you do. So you need a system for staying in touch and top of mind.

Maybe you send out a newsletter. Write thank you cards. Hold special events.
Call people personally. Whatever.

The bottom line is, you can’t just advertise and sit back hoping people will decide to call or come in. If you want to turbo-charge your business growth, you need to use a mix of attraction, conversion and retention marketing tactics. Once you do, your sales will soar.

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