My son Nate used to play this game with puzzles when he was younger.
It went like this:
- Open puzzle.
- Tip puzzle on the ground.
- Laugh and insist you put it together.
Some puzzles are easy and some are hard, but what makes them all easier is when you know what they’re supposed to look like at the end, right?
Without that, well, it’s just pieces and a vague sense that they’re supposed to fit together.
Now imagine all those puzzle pieces Nate’s just tipped on the floor are ways of marketing advice. It might look a bit like this:
…but some of those pieces belong in different places.
- Some belong at the top of your funnel, designed to connect you with people who don’t know who you are.
- Some belong in the middle, to move people from “I know what you do” to “maybe you could help me…”
- Some belong at the bottom to accelerate the journey from “maybe I need advice” to “today!”
…and you just found out the pieces are actually for three different puzzles:
- One that’s about client referrals,
- One that’s about COIs and partnerships,
- One that’s all about digital marketing (because every practice is now an online business whether you’re involved or not)
…oh, and here comes the kicker.
It’s actually a 3D puzzle where some pieces are involved in more than one puzzle…
Confused? Don’t be. You only need two things:
- Just three focused marketing funnels and an understanding of how they work together,
- Clarity of which activities belong where and how they combine to create a pathway to a meeting with you.
