How do you decide what marketing activities to focus on so that you'll have the highest chance of success?
Let’s talk about sales. More specifically, attributing marketing activities to sales.
Typically it takes between 7 and 13 touch points to convert a prospect into a client.
This is also known as the Rule of Seven, which is a marketing principle that Dr. Jeffrey Lant coined in the 1980s. (A nice little piece of general knowledge that you might need at your next pub quiz).
The thing is, not every touch point or marketing activity is weighted the same. If you call someone 7 times trying to sell them something, you know exactly what will happen. ☠️
Here’s a list of marketing activities I’ve rated from 1-5 stars, with 5 stars being the most effective activity you can do.
| Marketing Activity | Star Rating |
| Send a cold email | ⭐ |
| Send a LinkedIn message to a connection | ⭐ |
| Following your company’s social media accounts | ⭐⭐ |
| LinkedIn post that a prospect engages with | ⭐⭐ |
| A clicked-on Facebook ad | ⭐⭐ |
| Social media interaction (e.g., liking or commenting on prospect’s post) | ⭐⭐ |
| Reading a blog post or article you’ve written | ⭐⭐ |
| Sending a newsletter | ⭐⭐ |
| Watching a YouTube video of you teaching something | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| A clicked-on Google ad | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Content download (e.g., whitepaper, e-book, case study) | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Personalized email or message addressing prospect’s pain points | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Engaging in a live chat on your website | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Subscribing to your Podcast | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Hearing you on one of their favorite podcasts | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Webinar or online event attendance | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Being a speaker at an event | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Attending a workshop or training session hosted by your company | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Referral or introduction from a mutual connection | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Signing up for a free trial or demo | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Notice that the higher the rating, the less scalable the activity is.
Send 1000 cold emails every day? That’s easily automated, but you’ll get a low-value return.
But running an event or getting referrals? Not scalable, but by far the most effective.
Don’t stop the 1 or 2-star activities because every activity counts towards the Rule of Seven, but just know, the higher the number of stars you’ve scored after 7 activities, the higher your likelihood of landing that next sale!
We’d love you to share it with your friends, colleagues or your marketing team.
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