4 Dynamic Marketing Tactics

Author: Bob Leduc

Some of the simplest marketing tactics often produce the most profitable results. Here are 4 examples that have proven highly effective for any business.

1. Focus on Your Best Prospects

Imagine how profitable your business would be if more of your new customers were like the best customers you have now. Here’s how you can make that happen…

Take some time to analyze your current customers to determine what key traits they share – and why those traits make them ideal customers for you. Then revise your sales message to appeal specifically to them.

This will increase both the number of new sales you get and the profitability of each new customer.

2. Pile on the Benefits

Customers usually buy something to save time or to save money. Offer them an opportunity to do both and you will boost your sales. But offer them multiple opportunities to do both and you will cause your sales to soar dramatically.

For example, structure your sales message to stress both the time saving and money saving benefits of your product or service. Then include a discount price offer if they buy before a certain deadline (more money saved). Finally, figure out how you can deliver all or some of what they are buying immediately (more time saved).

Tip: If you cannot deliver all or part of your product immediately, add something to the purchase that you can deliver immediately. It can be as simple as a series of helpful tips related to your product posted on your web site …but available only to new customers.

3. Make Buying Easy

Make it easy for potential customers to buy from you and more will buy. Look for ways you can make your buying process easier – and faster.

For example, design your selling procedure so prospects do not have to make unnecessary decisions. Every decision they have to make interrupts the buying process …and diverts their attention away from completing the sale.

Tip: Don’t ask for unnecessary information during the ordering process. Instead, follow up after the sale with a personalized “thank you” message – and include a brief request for the information.

4. Follow Up – Again and Again

Selling is not a one step process. Most people do not buy something the first time the see or hear about it. You can salvage many of these potential customers with an effective follow up system.

Your follow up can be as simple as contacting these prospects periodically with a new offer. Or, better yet, follow up periodically with some useful information …and don’t charge them for it. You’ll build a supportive relationship that gains their trust – and eventually the sale.

Tip: Make sure you have a way to get the email addresses of visitors to your web site. You need it to follow up with them. For example, offer them a complimentary special report or other useful information …delivered only by email.

Each of these 4 dynamic marketing tactics provides a simple way for you to boost your sales and profits quickly. They are simple to use, highly effective and require very little if any new expense.

Copyright 2005 Bob Leduc http://BobLeduc.com

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards …and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You’ll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

Marketing Success – Marketing Strategy – Brand Identity Guru

Author: Scott D. White

Marketing message x Credibility x Visibility = Marketing Success

These three variables, when working positively together, create success. Period. But determining how to get those variables to work together is the trick.

Your marketing message isn’t a static entity. It can have a high or low impact on your customers. There are numerous factors at work. Often times, it’s your message that needs tweaking. Fortunately, making changes to your message is easy and very cost-effective. For instance: you may already have a website. Simply changing the headline on the home page can make a big difference.

Improving your credibility is a little more elusive. Genuine credibility is earned over time through word-of-mouth, actual customer experience and subjective judgment. However, good writing and design in your marketing materials can do wonders for establishing and maintaining credibility. It reiterates that you are a quality company through the subtle statement of the quality of your communications.

Lastly, visibility is how many people will see your message. Fact is you could have a great message and credibility, but if few people see you or know you, what good is it?

It’s highly important to have all three variables working positively for you at the same time. If you’re doing well on two and badly on one, your marketing efforts are spinning their wheels.

To determine if your marketing is currently running well, take this test:

Marketing message: Do people understand it right away? Does it evoke a “that’s for me” response? Can your clients and others explain your marketing message? Is your message on every single piece of marketing from website to business card? Score (1-10) _____

Credibility: Is your work consistently satisfying to your clients? Do you get word-of-mouth business? Is your website chocked full of useful information on you and your services? Is your brand image and marketing literature professional looking? Total Score (1-10) _____

Visibility: Are you an active networker? Do you have regular meetings with your main contacts? Do you speak at professional associations and conferences? Do write articles to be published online and off regularly? Do you have a regular newsletter or email newsletter? Total Score (1-10) _____

Now multiply your answers. That’s your marketing success score.

Your marketing success score is an easy gauge to determine where you are.

To measure how strong your brand is copy and paste: (http://brandidentityguru.com/bightml/brandmasterpiece.html). Then click “Take the brand strength test”. This is a short survey that measures the strength of any company’s brand. It’s a great tool to see where you are today.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru (http://www.brandidentityguru.com), a leading brand consulting and market research firm located in Easton, Massachusetts, USA, near Boston. Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Simon (America’s largest shopping mall manager) and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Scott White is a very enthusiastic speaker and has the gift of being able to explain the principles of branding in a compelling and entertaining manner so that people at all levels can understand.

Marketing Copy – Brand Identity Guru

Author: Scott D. White

Tips on writing great copy for your marketing efforts.

It’s just four steps that I call the Writing Path

1. I create a deadline for something to be produced. This creates pressure that I think is very important. Because I write this e-newsletter-BIGNews every other week, I must find an idea and the time to write. If I didn’t have a deadline looming, I think procrastination would be a lot easier.

- Do you have a specific goal and a deadline? If not, just make one up. If you don’t, you’ll have no focus to keep you on track.

2. I define a problem, predicament or challenge I believe my audience is facing. And since I’ve faced most of these problems myself, they are very familiar to me. It might be the problem of creating a marketing message, writing an e-newsletter or putting together a proposal. I only spend a little time thinking about a problem and one usually pops into my head in a few minutes.

- Can you identify several problems your prospects and clients have experienced in the past? What are they currently struggling with? What’s missing for them? Then pick just one.

3. I think about my solutions to this problem. Since I’ve solved many of these marketing problems in the past, I usually have a good idea of what will work and what won’t work. I just reflect for a few minutes about various solutions and approaches to the problem until I feel confident I have something valuable to communicate that will make a difference to those who read what I write.

- Do you have solutions, techniques and strategies you can apply to the problems of your clients and prospects? Can you express these solutions in a way that is easy to understand and apply?

4. Then I just start writing. I don’t worry about doing it perfectly the first draft. I just follow the Writing Path as I’ve outlined above. I try to avoid theory and stay very practical, giving very detailed how-to information. If I can make things clearer with a story or example, I’ll use those too. My main concern is: Can my readers use this information to improve their current situation? If they can, I’ve succeeded.

- Are you ready to start writing using this basic Writing Path? Are you willing to do it imperfectly and then go back and edit and rewrite until it makes sense and flows well? And that’s my simple Writing Path.

If you are stuck, I believe it’s all you need to get started. And the more you write using this formula, the easier it gets. Not only that, the more you write, the more all your other marketing activities improve because your thinking gets more focused and your communication becomes more persuasive. So take a shot at it and see what you come up with! What will you write about today?

Recap:

* Deadlines – You’ll have better results if you have a regular deadline for writing. Interestingly, I found that a bi-weekly deadline was more powerful than a monthly deadline. Set it up so that the consequences of missing the deadline are worse than doing the writing!

* Problems – A good way to prime the pump is to list every problem you can think of that your clients and prospects have faced. Then trim down and prioritize the list until you have several good topics you can write about.

* Solutions – Beside the list of problems, write the main solution that will be the foundation of the article. For instance, beside “Writer’s Block” I’d put “Writing Path.” These sets of problems and solutions will be the foundation for several articles.

* Just Write – The writing that gets the highest readership is writing that is conversational. Throw out most of what you learned in English class and just write like you talk. And then read what you’ve written out loud until it flows naturally.

* Stay Present – Don’t worry about what people are going to think of what you’ve written. Just focus on your ideas and communicate them with clarity. If your ideas make sense, people will read what you’ve written and get the value you intended.

To measure how strong your brand is copy and paste: (http://brandidentityguru.com/bightml/brandmasterpiece.html). Then click “Take the brand strength test”. This is a short survey that measures the strength of any company’s brand. It’s a great tool to see where you are today.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru (http://www.brandidentityguru.com), a leading brand consulting and market research firm located in Easton, Massachusetts, USA, near Boston. Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Simon (America’s largest shopping mall manager) and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Scott White is a very enthusiastic speaker and has the gift of being able to explain the principles of branding in a compelling and entertaining manner.

Marketing Person You Think You Arent

Author: Beth Woodward

Have you thought about starting your own business? Have you started one and are having challenges with marketing, fear of failure, fear of success…I could go on and on. Has the question, Now what? ever entered your mind? If so, I would like to share my story with you. A journey, from corporate to business owner and everything in between.

After working in the corporate field for 25 years, an opportunity presented itself to start my own business, to work out of my home. I found a fulfilling profession in personal and business coaching. I love working with others helping them to achieve a better life for themselves. Although it was my choice to develop my own business, I did not have the marketing experience and desire I needed to build that client base. The truth is, I disliked (kind word) marketing, I didn’t want to sell and I knew I didn’t have what it takes to achieve this part of my business…or thought I didn’t have what it takes. The fact is, if I had a dollar for every time I said, “I’m not a marketing person,” I wouldn’t have to market my business; I’d be set for life.

I did the typical routine of sending some letters of introduction to my friends and business acquaintances, giving away sample coaching sessions and making a few calls that felt safe. I even put a few ads in the paper. I soon came to the reality that the phone was not going to ring and people were not going to approach me while I was sitting comfortably at my desk. Then a turning point came while I was standing in my office one afternoon. I realized I just wasn’t a person that could be an independent business owner – what was I thinking that I could do this? I decided I should quit and go back to an office job. At that moment I heard a voice; it was very clear. “If you quit before you’ve given it 100% you will be very disappointed in yourself for the rest of your life.”

I thought I’d give it one more try. How was I going to do this? I asked myself two basic questions. What did I need and what did I want? The answers I received were simple. I needed movement and I wanted color. At that point that was all I knew. I decided to trust that these answers would forward my direction in marketing and building my business. About one week later I drove past a juggling academy in Burnsville MN. Color, movement – I signed up. I started with a juggling class, networked with friends and business peers and developed a monthly call with other business owners about “manifesting” what you desire. I started looking at me; what made me tick, what energized me and when was I at my best. This became a time period of self-discovery. I had been so tied up in who I thought I wasn’t, I had forgotten who I was; a great team player, a great partner, the queen of brainstorming and resource extraordinaire. I thrived from the energy of others to help build my business. I needed diversity to keep things interesting and took a look at what really interested me. What were my strengths and what made me unique? I also looked at what was giving me energy and what was taking my energy. I decided to cut loose a part of my business that was draining rather than energizing. About 2 weeks later “Marketing On The Playground™” was born. I had created the space for what was supposed to come in by releasing what wasn’t working.

About 1-½ years have passed since I allowed myself this self-discovery time and gave myself permission to market my business “my way”. My business has blossomed into: 1) writing a booklet, “Marketing On The Playground™” 2) developing playshops and teleclasses to help others struggling with marketing their business 3) creating retreats for entrepreneurs that need time to get away and develop their ideas.

Here’s the bottom line. Discover what works for you. It should be an extension of your own strengths, passions and uniqueness. You have chosen to be in your own business; that took guts, passion and a desire for making a better life for yourself. Tell me again why you don’t think you have what it takes to market your business? If you have passions, interests, the strength, and I do mean strength to step into this world and set your own course, you have what it takes to market your business. Now, it’s just a matter of finding what works for you.

What was my secret for overcoming obstacles? “True” belief. Belief so strong that you are willing to stand up and overcome anything and everything that challenges your vision.

A Few Marketing Tips:

• Give yourself “permission” to follow your own style as an extension of yourself.
• Network and Market Through Your Strengths, Your Passions and Your Uniqueness.
• Trust Yourself – You are the only one who has Your own unique talent to market Your business.
• Look at what’s working and what’s not – If it’s not working do you need to cut it loose?
• Believe in Yourself, and “Be” Yourself.

Visit http://www.marketingontheplayground.com to request your free Marketing on the Playground™ booklet. Or e-mail beth@thepinnaclecoaches.com to receive an assessment tool to identify your passions and strengths. Copyright © 2003 Beth Woodward, Pinnacle Coaching Associates About The Author

Beth Woodward, CPCC

Author of the booklet, Marketing On The Playground™

http://www.marketingontheplayground.com

612.861.7519

877.915.8090

beth@thepinnaclecoaches.com

What Our CAT Taught Me About Marketing!

Author: Cathy Bryant

Toby is one of our two family pets (both cats). He is quite astute, and he has learned one of the most basic tenets of selling – stick with what works!

Many of Toby’s days are spent perched on the top of my monitor as I work here on my computer. As a matter of fact, he’s here right now as I write this article. Toby is a very personable creature. He enjoys being in the company of humans, and he knows just what buttons to push to get us to do what HE wants us to do!

For example, two of his very favorite pastimes – which of course involve human interaction – are playing the “bathtub game” (don’t ask – I still don’t know all the rules!) and hitching a ride all over the house in the laundry basket.

How does he manage to get otherwise perfectly sane, intelligent adults to drop what they’re doing when he decides it’s playtime? Well, I’m not really sure, but I do know one thing – he learned the secrets by trial and error. In other words, he has tested the waters and found what works – and he uses only those tactics that produce results!

We can all learn something from Toby. In order to really be successful in our businesses, we need to learn what methods we’re using that work best and get the most response. The only way to do that is to try different methods and analyze the results. I’m not going to go into the mechanics of coding ads to determine which are pulling better, the best web design techniques, or other technical aspects of your marketing efforts. That information is easily available. What I want you to really learn from this is that you DO have to test your methods, record the results, and STICK WITH WHAT WORKS!

Toby does – and he is always successful!

About The Author

Cathy Bryant’s newsletter, HomeBizJunction Herald, is your source for information about how to generate an income from home. Product and opportunity reviews, as well as her own original articles, are a regular feature. And you won’t be distracted by outside advertising – it doesn’t have any! Subscribe today at http://www.homebizjunction.com