You could be a CMO of a Fortune 500. Or a solo business owner. We all have one thing in common: wanting more leads and customer referrals.

You've tried a few different marketing methods. But it's difficult to gain traction or stay consistent. Trends keep changing. More and more methods of marketing are popping up. Starting to feel overwhelmed yet?

If you want a larger audience, more followers, leads, and referrals, it is time to step up your marketing game.

There is an approach to help unlock your marketing and lead-generation goals. It's called the Triple A  Approach – Attention, Affinity, and Authority. The Triple-A Approach is a simple three-step marketing strategy for businesses wanting to generate more leads, referrals, and clients. Start following these three principles, you'll add marketing leverage to your business.

• Attention refers to getting customers’ attention — it’s what helps people become aware of your brand or product in the first place.

• Affinity is about creating a personal connection with potential customers and building trust with them.

• Authority is about showing potential customers how knowledgeable and experienced you are.

Business Digital Marketing and Social Media Stats

Over two-thirds of small businesses (67%) use social media tools.

• Small businesses found that social media (25%), their company website (20%), and online advertising (18%) were their top three most successful digital marketing tools.

• Only 6% of small businesses believe that video marketing helps achieve their goals.

• Nearly half of small businesses (48%) still use email marketing.

• Just 6% of small businesses find value in SEO and content marketing.

It is clear from the data. Many businesses know they should be using social media and digital marketing. But they don't have a clear strategy or specific tactics aligned to bring the desired results.

They create, then wait.

And even if they get some likes, or views or have something go viral, it doesn't seem to move the needle in the bottom line of their business.

What gives?

Finding success in today's marketing landscape doesn't happen by accident or by luck. There is no success in jumping on trends. You need the right principles that position you. And the right frameworks to make content creation easier and more sustainable.

The Triple-A Approach

I've worked with thousands of people to develop solutions for their businesses.  Strategies to improve their productivity. Systems to amplify their marketing. With all this work, I've been able to observe where these three areas come together. And how as marketing and the world changes the more your approach needs to adapt.

It's called the Triple-A Approach.

When you have these three areas working for you, your marketing feels effortless. Diagnosing marketing problems becomes easier. If you find your marketing isn’t  bringing results, the question isn't "what's not working?"

The right question is "Where is it not working?"

Here's an example:

When you have Attention, but no Affinity or Authority, you might find yourself with lots of Likes, or Followers, and even getting views.  But you're not generating leads, referrals or closing sales.

When someone has Authority, but no Affinity or Attention, they're usually good in the transaction or fulfillment. They get rave reviews and testimonials. But their database or follower count isn't growing. They're not getting referrals.

Identifying the marketing problem becomes easier when using this approach.

The 3 Principles

There are three things that you want to do to unlock more leads, more referrals and more clients. 

You want attention, affinity, and authority.

Attention

Attention will bring people into your world, and into your ecosystem. Without attention you are obscure.

Definition of obscure: not discovered or known about; uncertain. It can also refer to a lack of exposure, recognition or understanding.

This can happen when businesses fail to create attention-grabbing content. Or not using effective marketing strategies to increase visibility. They blend into the noise.

Without Attention, businesses can't break through the noise and capture potential customers’ attention.

Without Attention, people can't learn about you, you're offer, and how you can help them.

Without Attention, it’s impossible for potential clients to develop Affinity with you. You can't gain their trust, turning them into loyal clients who refer and recommend you.

Attention comes from micro-content. More on that later. 

Affinity

Affinity is what allows people to like you, they start to relate to you. Without affinity, there is a disconnect.

Affinity is what allows people to connect with you and your business on an emotional level.

By sharing helpful content that conveys aspects of your identity beyond what you sell, you can establish meaningful connections with potential customers. It's no longer just transactional.

This increases the likelihood of your audience buying products or services from you. And the chances of them referring or recommending you increases.

When you have Attention and Affinity you have support.

People will like you. They'll engage in your content even more than only giving you attention or giving you a view.

They'll like it.

They'll comment.

They'll share it.

Affinity comes from macro content. (More on content types later)

Authority

Authority is when your audience feels confident you know what you're talking about. Without Authority, the market thinks of you as incapable.

Definition of incapable: unable to perform or do something; lacking the necessary skill, and knowledge.

When you have Affinity and Authority you have leverage. This makes marketing and sales easier. Because you have a likability factor and proven results - your marketing works better.

More leads.

More referrals.

More clients.

And to close the loop, when you have Attention and Authority, you have trust. 

Trust is what allows people to buy because they feel safe knowing you are the expert.

When you have all three of these things; trust, support and leverage - you become an Approachable Resource.

What Type Of Content Marketing Works To Match The Objective

To generate Attention you'll want to use micro-content.

I define micro-content as IG Reels or YouTube Shorts. Of course, TikTok. If you're going to use text, use 70 words or less.

You can even generate attention with direct mail, like a postcard.

You use macro content to create Affinity. Macro is longer form pieces of content.  Podcasts, three-plus-minute-long videos. Lives are a great for Affinity. If people are willing to watch a live, they have or it will create affinity for you.  They will see an authentic you instead of a polished, edited and highly produced version.

Your social posts that are text, greater than 300 words. If you're writing blogs and articles on your website, those will be a thousand words or more.

Showing up with consistency also creates Affinity. If you're doing mail, a newsletter or a handwritten note card is a great way.

The measure of success through Authority is by being able to provide results. Real-world results, reviews, testimonials. Being able to show that you are working, and that other people want to work with you is a great way to show authority. It's not always about creating helpful content. Sometimes it's showing that people already trust you and are working with you.

How To Measure Your Marketing Success

The Triple-A Approach can help you see where your marketing is going wrong. This is a huge benefit.

Not getting attention?

Not generating leads?

Not generating clients?

Not getting 5-star reviews or good testimonials?

Use the 3 principles as a lens to measure success.

If you're not getting attention,  you need to change something about your micro-content.

If you're not getting Affinity and Authority, you need to change something about your macro content or your product/service.

You can measure success by looking at Attention & Affinity gained as well as the conversion rate from leads to clients and the status of reviews & testimonials.

The Triple-A Approach is a great way for businesses to build their customer base and grow their business.

If you understand how each area works individually and together, you can use these ideas to create a complete marketing strategy.

Measuring and monitoring the 3 areas will help you stay on track and see your progress.

TLDR: TRIPLE A: The 3 Principles Of Marketing To Unlock Generating More Leads, More Referrals and More Clients

1. Attracting Attention:

  - Utilizing Micro Content such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikToks and short text posts (less than 70 words).

  - Direct Mail campaigns such as postcards to grab attention.

2. Developing Affinity:

  - Creating Macro Content such as podcasts, long-form videos, lengthy social media posts (over 300 words), blogs and articles on website (1000+words). 

  - Showing up consistently for customers to get to know you.

  - Direct mail campaigns such as newsletters or handwritten note cards.

3. Gaining Authority: 

  - Providing tangible results and evidence of success through reviews and testimonials. 

  - Demonstrating intent to work with customers through action rather than just creating content all the time.

And finally Measuring Success:

  - Tracking audience growth, engagement, leads, referrals, customers and ROI from the Triple A approach implemented in marketing strategies. 

  - Analyzing customer feedback on how well the strategy resonates with them for further refinement and optimization of outcomes.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Triple-A approach is a powerful three-step strategy. It helps businesses generate more leads, referrals and customers. It focuses on the principles of attracting attention, developing affinity, and gaining authority. These are key components in any successful marketing plan. By understanding how each area works together, you can install these principles into their own strategies.

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