Four Super-Deadly Marketing Sins - And How To Fix Them
October 31, 2008
It seems nowadays every marketing guru and their brother-in-law has a "deadly sins and how to fix them" book, ebook or at least an article! But apparently nobody is reading this stuff! How do I know? Because nine out of every ten businesses continue making the same marketing goof-ups.
The most amazing part is ? they are convinced their marketing is great and their phone will be ringing off the hook any moment now!
Time for a reality check! Are you guilty of these four marketing sins? Find out how to fix it!
Deadly Marketing Sin #1Not Standing Out From Your Competitors
You want to be one in a million not one of the million. In the marketing jargon it’s called a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). I call it a HUB ? Hot Undeniable Benefit of doing business with you. Your HUB sets you apart from the crowd. It tells your customers why you are special. And it answers the question your customers are asking themselves, which is: “Why should I do business with you versus anyone else?”
So how do you go about discovering your HUB? Do you know what makes you different from others offering similar product or service? The more competitive your industry the more important it is to emphasize even the smallest differences. Do you cater to a specific group of people? Are you better than others in addressing a specific issue? Do you guarantee your work?
How about the one thing no one can duplicate - what makes you ? you?
If you can’t find anything unique right now, look for unresolved problems in your industry and become an expert in providing a solution to them. Here is good example. You’ve heard of a small parcel delivery company called FEDEX, right? Do you know their USP? It’s: “When you absolutely, positively need it overnight. Guaranteed.” Funny thing is they are no longer the only company doing it ? but they offered it first.
Discover your HUB, articulate it in all your marketing messages and watch your results soar.
Deadly Marketing Sin #2Assuming Your Customers Know AsMuch About Your Business As You Do
Small business owners are a very special breed ? we walk, talk, breathe, eat and sleep thinking about our business. Listen, just because you think about your business all the time doesn’t mean your customers do the same!
Fact is, I can count on one hand the businesses I became exposed to in the last twelve months that didn’t fail to educate their customers on how they solve their problems and meet their needs and wants.
Your customers don’t really buy products and services. They buy SOLUTIONS to their problems. Use articles, presentations and case studies to educate them about WHAT you do, HOW it works and WHY it’s the only logical solution to their problems.
And don’t just do it once. Frankly, if you don’t have a way to consistently and automatically keep in touch with prospects, customers, centers of influence and strategic partners ? you are missing the boat!
Deadly Marketing Sin #3Wasting Time and Money On MarketingStrategies That Don’t Work!
Do you know which of your marketing efforts result in new business? Do you ever calculate the time, money and effort it takes to get a new customer from each promotional strategy you use? Why? Because if it is working ? you want to do use it more often! And if it isn’t - you need to stop wasting your money!
Case in point; most professionals believe that networking is the best way to get new business. And it can be - but not always and not for everyone. Find out for yourself. Add up the amount of time you spent networking last month. Put a dollar value on it based on your fees. Add the actual price you paid to attend those events. Then divide this total amount by the number of new customers your networking produced. Are you happy with your results? Or is it a shock to see what it actually costs to get new clients by networking?
It doesn’t matter if it’s networking, advertising, referral or joint venture strategies ? if you don’t know your ROME (Return On Marketing Efforts) I guarantee you are wasting money doing things that don’t work! Every marketing strategy can be tracked and measured. So figure out what works best for you!
Deadly Marketing Sin #4Missing Out On Repeat Business
You’ve heard about the back-end-sales, haven’t you? Are you doing it? It’s astonishing how many small business owners do not develop strong relationships with their customers and have no plan for generating repeat business.
You see, one of your biggest costs of doing business is marketing and getting new customers into your funnel. And once you’ve done a great job for them, and then you nurture the relationship you’ve developed, it’s so easy to ask for more business. But you have to develop different levels of products and services to offer to them.
Listen to your clients and develop new offerings to respond to their needs. Create assessments to uncover hidden opportunities for additional projects. If you can’t or don’t want to offer those new solutions ? partner up with someone who does. McDonald’s made a fortune on "supersizing" their fries ? time for you to start thinking about supersizing your business with each client.
Bottom line is this: when I hear businesses talk about bad economy, clients not having money and overall complaining about how tough it is to make a sale I can always pinpoint their poor performance to at least one of those marketing sins. Frankly, there is no such a thing as a shortage of business ? there is a shortage of knowledge how to get that business.
(c) 2004 Adam M. Urbanski
Niche Marketing - Three Successful Business Models
October 31, 2008
Niche Marketing - Three Successful Business Models
by: André Anthony
So you’ve decided on a Niche Market, you’ve researched it, created your product and found there’s a potential gold mine in it, now you have to decide how you’re going to set your business up. To help you decide here are three successful models to consider.
Niche Business Model One - The Mini-Site
This is probably the most common model online based on a single niche product. Here’s the process :
==> Buy a domain name based on your main keyword/phrase.
==> Create and set up a sales page and thank you/download page (mini-site) targeting the niche.
==> Drive targeted traffic to the site.
==> Once established and producing revenue, find a different niche and repeat the process again and again.
This model is relatively quick and easy to set up and requires almost zero maintenance once it’s up and running. It also provides safety in numbers, because if one of your sites fails you still have income from all the others.
Achieving Success Through Effective Goal Setting
October 30, 2008
It is important to have goals because they are good for your physical and mental health. You can have goals for all areas of your life. Here are a few ideas: Career, Learning, Clubs, Money, Community, Politics, Contribution, Professional, Emotional, Reading, Family, Relationships, Health, Service, Home, Spiritual Interests, Travel.
What Makes an Effective Goal?
Not all goals are motivating. If a goal is too vague, hard to measure, or impossible to achieve, it will lack effectiveness and ultimately be a wasted exercise. Goal statements should be:
? Stated with action verbs
? Specific
? Measurable
? Challenging
? Written down, with completion dates
Effective goals have all five ingredients.
The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 Rule (also known as Pareto’s Principle) says that 20% of what we do produces 80% of the results.
Here are a few examples:
? 20% of the area in your house requires 80% of the cleaning.
? 20% of the stocks in an investor’s portfolio produce 80% of the results.
? 20% of the kids in a class cause 80% of the problems.
? 20% of the books in a bookstore account for 80% of the sales.
Shopping Comes Back To The Community
October 29, 2008
THE GREAT BRITISH TRADITION OF STREET MARKETS IS UPHELD AT STREETTRADERSUNITED.COM
Hammer Force Ltd, a Croydon-based online service provider offers people who enjoy an alternative to impersonal shopping malls a chance to access a site which lists more than 708 UK markets, arranged by region in an easy-to-use format.
StreetTradersUnited provides readily accessible information that caters for UK shoppers, community groups, and tourists who wish to visit historic markets near where they are staying. Unlike many directories and portals, StreetTradersUnited favours text-based links and minimal use of images, ensuring users with lower spec PCs and internet connections are not locked out.
Street traders can list their market or stall on the directory, to gain greater public exposure. They can choose between two options: a Standard Listing (£4.99/year), which includes market name, town, region, whether it is indoors or outdoors, days of operation, market operator, and contact details; and a Gold Listing (£29.99/year), which includes all the standard information, plus a market photograph, full market description, detailed opening times, how to get there, a link to the council or sponsor’s website, and a map of the market location.
Ten Ways to Super Charge Your Sales
October 28, 2008
1. Add a no-fee interactive game to your web site. You couldhire someone to create it. You want to make the game relatedto the theme of your web site. In the case of our web site– the Abundance Center — the theme, abundance, could be agame on how to find abundance.
2. Everyone is training their employees to be good teammembers and have lost sight that each of them areindividuals as well. The team will not work well unlesseach individual is doing his or her job and then cometogether. Not the reverse as so many trainers are trying tosell you on.
Make sure each of your sales team members have individualtraining as well, so that they can do their job well. Itreduces the time it takes for them to work as a team.
3. Make people feel like it is their idea to buy, they willbe less hesitant. Use language like, “You’re making a smartdecision for buying our product” in your ads, in direct mailmaterial, in phone conversations — everywhere.
4. Promote yourself, your products, and increase yourvisibility by writing Internet articles, magazine articles,ebooks, white papers, special reports, and booklets. Youalso want to endorse products written by others when youbelieve in a product or service.
How Can a Small Effort Result In More Profits?!
October 27, 2008
How Can a Small Effort Result In More Profits?!
by: Kevin Davis
Being Humble
Being humble = having or showing a low estimate of yourself.
Above is the dictionary’s interpretation of being humble. Now, you may be thinking that if you were supposed to be a leader, why would you want to have a low estimate of yourself? I’m glad you asked! I would change the dictionary’s interpretation slightly so that it reads:
‘Not having or showing a high estimate of yourself or your importance’
A leader cannot have an over-inflated opinion of his/her self or their importance. One of the 3 Killers of Success is having an ego; it simply prevents anyone from respecting you and ultimately following you. It’s not a good idea to call yourself a leader while nobody will follow you!
Being humble is actually a relatively easy skill to master, but so many managers etc don’t get it right. First and foremost, never think that your answer/solution is always going to be the right one, and never ignore other people’s input and advice. Ultimately as a leader, the final decision will be yours but you absolutely must listen to concerns from people around you. Nobody is perfect, and overlooking one simple factor can result in making the wrong decision. Your role as leader simply means collating all the facts and possible courses of action from everybody you can, and acting upon it in an efficient and effective manner.
What is Mystery Shopping, and Can You Really Get Paid to Shop?
October 26, 2008
Mystery shoppers visit businesses "disguised as normal customers," and do the things other customers do-ask questions, make a purchase, make a return-but with a twist. These undercover customers are there to evaluate the businesses and their employees. After a visit, the mystery shopper completes a report or questionnaire detailing what occurred.
Why Do Businesses Hire Mystery Shoppers? In general, shops are done to find out about the level of service provided to customers. However, mystery shoppers may also be asked to verify that employees are neatly groomed and in uniform, the business is clean and merchandise is displayed neatly, staff persons are knowledgeable, etc. As a mystery shopper, you may be asked to verify if employees used a certain phrase (such as, "Thank you for shopping at Mega Mart.") or if they used suggestive selling techniques ("Would you like fries with that?"). You may even be asked to shop a client’s competitor, so the client can compare their operations to others’. Mystery shoppers may monitor pricing, or verify that the business is in compliance with professional standards or government regulations.
Critical Success Factors - Next
October 26, 2008
The Critical Success Factors Focusing on the things that make the biggest difference to your future prosperity.
(Note, although this article was written in early 2002, it is totally relevant. Right now.)
About three weeks ago I was surprised by this headline in the morning paper:
“Fed says September 11th hurt economy.”
Wow!
“What did I miss here?” Was this news? USA Today thought it was. I was shocked the Fed saw fit to announce it.
And this week, another one: “NBER Confirms Recession.”
Hey, Greenspan! Get out and talk to people. All over the country people tell me that if they break even this year, they’ll consider it a win. If that’s not a “recession”?
But have you ever wondered what it takes to end a recession? Not the textbook answer: two consecutive quarters of growth. Have you ever wondered what causes those consecutive growth quarters in the first place?
The economy turns up when enough people get tired of the economy being turned down.
People Do Business with People They Like
October 25, 2008
People do business with people they know and like!
In my networking classes I have been saying this for six years. Can’t say I was the originator of it, yet it appears people are catching on. Finally, people are referring to this statement in casual conversation when they are talking about marketing.
BAN COLD CALLS
Just this morning the news reported there have been 400,000 complaints registered by people who had received unsolicited calls even though they had registered on the "No Call List. When checking, I couldn’t discover how many people have signed up on the "No Call List," yet the number is in the millions. It is apparent; people do not want to get sales calls at their home or business.
Signing up on the website the minute it was launched was a priority for me. Yet, in the last two weeks I have received calls from local businesses. I have to say now I am even more frustrated with them. They didn’t follow the guidelines of the new law and they bothered me.
NAME COLD CALLS
10 Hiring Tips for Small Business Owners
October 24, 2008
As a successful small business owner,you’re accustomed to long hours; non-existent holidays and weekends spent working.
When was the last time you went to your dentist? When was the last time you had an uninterrupted night out with your partner?
Whether your goal for 2005 is to find more time for family or personal enrichment –like attending classes and conferences — you’ll want to consider bringing on some help.
The following tips can help you get started whether you want to bring on a team of 10 or an occasional backup!
Don’t expect to hire a replica of you! Each person you meet and interview will be a living, breathing human, with their own habits, mannerisms and even ideas! This is fine - -as long as their ideas and habits are not philosophically opposed to yours. My first hire, Jen, was pursuing a graduate degree, had just moved to the area and is nearly 20 years younger than I am! She’s detail-oriented and relies on schedules to get things done. I’m a bit more ’seat of my pants’ type of operator. She’s a perfect fit because she complements my way of working! Over time she’s grown into managing portions of my business that I neglected - like maintaining scheduling and billing.
