SMART BUSINESS

Today I am bringing you my top 7 secrets to successful marketing. I will admit that I had trouble sticking to only 7 so I am going to assume that you have read previous issues where I have stressed how important it is to have defined your target market; why you should always keep it simple (business does not have to be complicated); know the importance of building relationships with prospects; and why you are the only person who can write any advertising and promotional material for your business.

1. You must have a database – this will prove to be the key to your success.Your database should contain as much information about your clients and prospective clients as possible so that you can contact them with details of new products and special offers. Of course having a database alone is not enough, you must be constantly following up with leads and building relationships so that in time prospects will choose to buy from you.
2. Attract new clients and keep the interest of existing clients by using PR. Public relations does not have to be expensive or difficult and you can do it yourself without employing an expensive PR agency. What you need to remember is that every interview you give or article you write, must contain your contact details. Other great ways to raise your profile include writing a book or publishing a report.
3. Offer promotions that give people the chance to try your product or service and make your company stand out from the competition. These promotions must be exciting in order to make potential customers want to take immediate action – for example, there are not many people who can resist a ‘buy one, get one free’ offer. Here it is important that you have higher priced products to up-sell in order to make it financially worthwhile offering promotions. What you need to remember is that the promotional offers that are the most successful are those that have a time limit so tell prospective clients what they need to do and how little time they have in which to do it.
4. Get your clients to do your sales and marketing for you by asking them for referrals and testimonials – if they are impressed with your product or service then they will want to tell others. The easiest way to do this is when a customer compliments you on your product or service, ask if you can quote them. Write down what they said and ask them to agree it and then use it.
5. For your marketing to really be successful, you need to show your target audience that you are an expert in your field and there are many ways of doing this – one of the quickest is to be a published author.
6. Effective marketing is far more important and cost effective than a large sales team. A well worded direct mailing to targeted customers can produce great results especially when accompanied with a time limited promotion. If potential clients want more personal contact then you could try offering a teleconference but be sure to follow up afterwards.
7. This should probably be up at number 1, you must niche your product or service if you want to succeed. The 80:20 rule also applies in marketing. It is highly likely that 20% of your income comes from 80% of your customers. This means that since most of your income comes from 20% of your customers, it is this 20% that you really have to focus on even if it is to the expense of the other 80%.

And of course, if you really want your marketing to be a success, your reason for being in business must be more than just taking money from people in return for your products of services – you must provide outstanding customer service that people will not find elsewhere!

As with the last issue of my Inspirational Toolkit, these 7 tips are taken from a new program (“Effective Marketing Strategies to Get You More Clients”) that I have recently developed in an attempt to demystify the sales and marketing process and help my clients succeed.

If you wish to discuss any of the above or would like more information about this new marketing program then please contact me.

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

Peter F. Drucker

The holidays are a very-important time in the retail industry. As customers are shopping for the perfect gift for their loved ones, many businesses amp up their marketing efforts to reach a wider audience. There are many different strategies and ways to approach the holidays, but here are some that have been successful in the past.

• Create a festive atmosphere – Your customers should see that your store has the holiday spirit. Play holiday music and decorate your store to match the look and feel of the holiday of the moment. Window clings are a helpful product during this time to display holiday images because they have no adhesive. This means that when the holiday is over, you can peel off the clings and store them for next year. By showing that you have holiday cheer, you’re inviting your customers to spend time (and money) in your store.

• Wish lists – Everyone would like holiday shopping to be a little easier. Creating a wish list is the perfect way to simplify the process. With a wish list, the recipient can preselect exactly what they want, that way the purchaser doesn’t have to spend a lot of time deciding what to get (or making a return if he/she gets the wrong thing!). Post vinyl decals at your checkout counters letting customers know that you offer a wish list service.

• Gift with purchase – It’s important to have specials and promotions during the holidays that encourage customers to buy. Offering a gift with purchase is a great idea because customers see that they’re getting more for the money. Whether the purchaser decides to keep the gift for themselves or they give it as part of the original gift, he/she is more-inclined to make the purchase in the first place because they will receive something extra. Promote your gift with purchase using large vinyl banners hanging above your storefront and inside your store.

• Gift cards – Gift cards are a great way to secure holiday sales because they have to be spent in-store. Encourage unsure gift-givers to purchase a gift card, that way the recipient can get exactly what they want. When the recipient redeems his/her gift card, you have a chance to up-sell them on even more merchandise. Make sure your gift cards are very noticeable during the holidays-post them right next to your cash registers.

• Postcard mailers – If you’re looking for ways to get customers in your store during the holidays, a postcard mailer is a great choice. Postcards are very affordable and can be used to feature your holiday sale. Make sure to include a deadline for savings so that customers are encouraged to come in right away!

Michael Allen works as a Director of Marketing in Boston, Massachusetts. He has worked with both large companies and small local businesses for over 20 years. His vast experience in the field of marketing positions him as an expert in helping businesses expand by using marketing tactics.

As a seasoned expert in Marketing and Branding, Michael has a wealth of knowledge in the use of car signs and retail signs. In his articles, he covers tips and techniques for effective use of vinyl decals, vinyl banners, and window clings for small businesses.

Habit 1: Highly successful sales people have a genuine interest in the client.

This is important. People sense dishonesty and insincerity. I’m sure you’ve experienced (all too often) the pushy and artificial salesperson that is overly keen to sell their product or service, without any consideration for you or what you actually want. They pounce on you and launch straight into their sales pitch, often, without pausing for breath! Maybe a little dramatic, but I’m guessing we’ve all been on the other end of this at some point. It simply doesn’t work.

Instead, you need to have – as well as demonstrate – a genuine desire to help your client. Do this, and you will be welcomed as the kind of person that they want to do business with. You are representing your company, but, your focus should always be on the client. After all, it is the client who is going to make sure you stay in business!

So, how do you measure up? Be honest, do you demonstrate and permeate all of your interactions with a have a sincere and genuine interest for the client…

Habit 2: Highly successful sales people have absolute belief in what they sell.

The more passionate and enthusiastic you are about your product or service, the greater the chance you will succeed. Why? Because your prospects will also sense this: enthusiasm is infectious! If you are (genuinely) passionate about what do you do, then the client will feel that you are not just delivering a sales pitch but that there really is something worthwhile in your product or service Similarly when you genuinely believe in what you do, you will make more effort and you will continue to press on, even during difficult times.

If you aren’t genuinely excited about selling your product or service, give serious consideration to making a change. You are not doing yourself or your clients any favours by continuing to represent something you can’t get excited about. Now it may be too difficult to ‘make that change’, so perhaps there might be an aspect of your product or service that will ignite your enthusiasm.

So again be honest, how do you measure up? Do you demonstrate and portray absolute belief in what you sell…

Habit 3: Highly successful sales people have knowledge about their sector, industry or niche.

Following on from Habit 2, it’s important that you also clearly demonstrate your knowledge of the area you operate in. Again it portrays confidence and credibility. People buy people, and so your knowledge, your acumen and your expertise will engender trust.

I suspect most of you will already have this habit, but I think it’s important to have a good grounding not just in your specific product or service, but also the sector your work in. You need to know your ‘stuff’ and more importantly exhibit this!

Habit 4: Highly successful sales people act with authority.

Notice I used the word ‘act’. This is important because, well, when do you actually become an authority in your field. After 1 year, 3 years, 15 years..? No, it’s when you decide – it’s when you adopt a specific mindset. There are two parts to this habit as follows:

Firstly, if you’re at the top (or want to at the very least demonstrate this), then the mindset you need to adopt is one of ‘not trying’. Real experts don’t need to sell nor do they need to convince. I’m sure you’ve met, seen or heard an expert in your field: did he or she have to push for the sale? My guess is that they didn’t, in fact, they didn’t need to.

The other part to acting with authority is your overall demeanour. In other words, the manner you use should be one of ‘relaxed certainty‘ i.e. calm, collected and composed. Now, this is very far removed from being arrogant. Instead, there’s just a real sense that you know what you’re talking about. You’re quietly confident.

So again, do take the time to reflect on the above. Do you ‘act with authority’? If not, what can you do to improve upon this.

Habit 5: Highly successful sales people only ever speak to prospects not suspects.

All too often you can spend time with prospective clients that simply aren’t in the market for your product or service. It can be very frustrating, especially when spending a great deal of time and effort talking to the wrong person!

Before you can sell anything, you must ensure that your prospect can fulfill these three criteria:

• They must have the means and the desire to purchase what you are selling;
• They must have the authority or ability to make the decision to buy, and;
• They must have a need for your product or service.

Or in other words, identify the M.A.N: someone with the money, authority and need.

So your first step in the sales process, is to not only qualify the prospect, but also to feel comfortable in taking control of the sales process from the very beginning. If your prospect isn’t the right fit, then move on.

Try to initially discover and really tease out the emotional reasons why the prospect wants or needs your product or service. See Habit 1.

Here’s a checklist to help you further differentiate between a prospect and a suspect – make sure any a prospective client ‘ticks’ the first five boxes:

The Prospect:

• Has a need and recognises this.
• Has the resources, ability and authority to satisfy the need.
• Has a sense of urgency.
• Has agreed to listen to you.
• Is open to communication and establishing rapport, even over the phone.

The Suspect:

• May have a need but doesn’t know this.
• May or may not have the resources, ability and authority to satisfy the need.
• Does not have a sense of urgency.
• May or may not want to listen to you.
• Is resistant to open communication and establishing rapport.

Don’t be afraid to walk away from a ‘prospect’. In fact, the very best sales people qualify and move on, if indeed the prospect turns out to be a suspect.

Andrew Ludlam is the owner of Maverick Marketing Consultancy, and is recognised as a leading expert on advanced marketing strategy and tactics. As a marketing consultant, trainer and author, he has advised many hundreds of business owners one-to-one, and many more have attended his private training programmes. Andrew also publishes a fortnightly newsletter which has some 2,000 subscribers.

The latest fashion in business marketing is the QR code, or Quick Response code. You may have seen these codes in storefront windows, by cash registers, and even on business cards without knowing what it is. QR codes are meant to work when scanned by Smartphones and because of the recent explosion and mainstreaming of the Smartphone, it is fast becoming a highly effective way to increase both the visibility and the customer recall of a business.

From the perspective of the end user, the Quick Response code is free to use, as the application which scans the code into the Smartphone is free and easily found. For the business owner, obtaining a QR code is a very high ROI activity, as they are relatively cheap, easy to create and implement, and on the cutting edge of business marketing, meaning that your customers will be highly appreciative of their implementation in your business.

Why to Use QR Codes for Business Marketing

Customers that are using their mobile phones are more likely to take action on their finds than any other type of customer. According to a study conducted by Google, around 90 percent of mobile phone users who are conducting a search either call or visit the business that they were searching for and actually purchase.

By the end of 2011, Smartphone owners are expected to double from the 19 percent of the population which now owns a Smartphone, which will of course, greatly expand this action oriented audience.

How to Use QR Codes to Market Your Business

QR codes can be used on business cards. One idea is to allow a customer’s Smartphone to automatically save your contact information simply by scanning the code.

Another idea is to put a QR code on a t-shirt advertising your business. Aside from giving away the shirt itself for customers to wear, customers can also scan the code and allow their friends to do it as well. One idea is to have this code send potential customers to a promotional website for current introductory offers.

These types of codes have been shown to boost the response rate of a direct marketing campaign. For the sake of convenience, you can also include the a Quick Response code on the outside envelope. You may need to provide instructions, and you should know beforehand which of your customers own Smartphones before beginning a direct mail campaign of this sort.

You will also want to put your Quick Response code on any magazines, brochures, fliers, or posters associated with your business.

Make sure that your customer base is educated about Quick Response codes and that the website that you send them to is mobile friendly. You may have to help them find QR code readers as well.

Marketing professionals are responsible for following a professional code of ethics. This code of ethics, which is written and monitored by the American Marketing Association, outlines how marketing professionals should act and how their services should be formatted and distributed to the public. If you are a marketing professional, or if you are responsible for your company’s promotional materials and advertising, then you need to learn this code of ethics and apply it to your promotional strategies.

Trustworthiness

The first element emphasized is trustworthiness. This characteristic not only needs to be applied to the marketing professional’s actions, but it also has to be applied to the promotion of their company’s products and services. To comply with this segment of the marketers need to create campaigns that accurately reflect what the product is intended to do and they also need to sell their services to new clients based on their actual qualifications. Consumers these days are very savvy and they will see right through false claims. It’s important to simply be honest. Use real customer testimonials. Let the power of those testimonials speak to the trustworthiness of your company. Word of mouth referrals from customers yield a great deal of power in the trust department – use it to your advantage.

Do No Harm

Another important aspect of proper, ethical marketing is the “do no harm” clause. This clause simply means that marketers follow all laws and that they follow the professional codes of ethics for the industries that they are involved in promoting or advertising. For example, marketers should never create statements about a product that they know to be false. This is why the advertisements for psychic lines have a disclaimer printed at the bottom of the screen or ad that informs people that the line is for entertainment purposes only. “Do No Harm” is very much related to the trustworthiness element that we’ve already mentioned.

Respect

Respect is yet another important element of the marketing. This element is critical for marketers to master, as a lack of respect will hurt their business and the businesses that they represent and promote with their campaigns. To comply with the respect clause, marketers need to listen to and respect the opinions and desires of their clients, as well as create marketing campaigns that are respectful of the differences within their client’s demographics. Offending your customer base won’t yield respect, trust, and certainly doesn’t comply with the ‘do no harm’ ethical aspect either.

Citizenship

The final element of the marketing code of ethics is citizenship. Citizenship, in relation to marketing, means that the marketing professional is an active and valuable member of their community. To accomplish this goal the marketer needs to protect the environment, give back to their communities via volunteerism and they should promote fair trade practices. It’s important to get involved in the local community and there are many ways to easily and effectively do just that – join the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, or another local civic organization. The key is to get involved, let people know who you are and let them see you genuinely care about the community where you live and work. This step goes a long way in establishing trust, respect, and validates your professionalism.

If you’re an online or offline small company owner who offers products or services to your community, your country, or people around the world, you can benefit from online marketing for small business owners. If you have been running your own business for more than a month or two, you likely already understand the value of using the best marketing practices and lead generation opportunities. Not terribly long ago, marketing ideas for small businesses included billboards, radio spots, bus stop bench ads, and even advertisements in your local newspaper. While these methods may still be effective to some degree, they are costly and a bit out of date.

The Internet has changed small company marketing for the better. Online marketing for business owners have developed into the most common and cost-effective option when it comes to marketing ideas for small business. Most other media advertising opportunities are far too expensive and beyond the reach of small businesses. Social media and other online marketing techniques, on the other hand, are inexpensive (often free) and much easier to track. If you’re a small business owner, there are many, marketing ideas for small businesses available online to help you increase your revenue while decreasing your costs and time spent on marketing.

The best way to create more potential customers is by creating a customized website presenting your business and brand to potential customers. Once you begin developing your site, you will have to think about various elements to help ensure that it is successful. Such elements include: the objective of your site, your target audience, what your visitor may expect when they come to your site, what takeaways your visitors will leave with, and finally, why a visitor would want to come back to your site. Simply by taking into consideration these elements you’ll be able to develop a website based upon the actual needs of your potential customers rather than your assumptions about how you should present your business.

There are lots of successful approaches to collecting contact details from your website. While many website owners set up an opt-in newsletter with informative content to add value to the lives of their potential customers, some site owners require an email address or other contact information in order to receive promotions and special offers from the website.

The important thing to remember about running a profitable website is to offer your visitors added value. Added value helps you set them up for future sales. The more frequently you can actually make contact with a potential customer and remind them about your site and name brand, the more successful your emailing and other marketing campaigns will be.

Small business marketing techniques will often focus upon developing your website and bringing traffic to it. With social networking, blogging, article marketing, and other social media marketing techniques, small business owners can substantially cut back (or even completely eliminate) their marketing costs. Online marketing for small business owners also gives you access to an extensive audience, eager to learn about the next big thing. Make the next big thing your website and achieve your online success.

Many business operators today still doubt the essence of marketing as a way of increasing the sale volume of their products. This is a wrong perception that must be eradicated and in place replaced by the understanding of the need for any business operating today to practice marketing as a way of selling their product and increasing profitability. Today, marketing is viewed as the ‘voice’ of the product, helping to create much sought awareness in the increasingly competitive world. Well said. But, this is a no mean task. A lot of considerations must be discussed and fulfilled so as to make the marketing of a product a success, bringing in the much sought profitability.

Any business set-up today will require to have a professional marketing team whose main role is to ensure that the product in question is moved to the market and maintained in a popular atmosphere amid the increasing competition from similar products. For one, the marketing team will have to research on the attributes of the product in question, in comparison to the target market environment. This entails considering the attributes that best attract potential customers to the product,and make that attribute their ‘sale point’.

For such a product, such a sale point is ‘sent out’ to create awareness of its existence in the market, and woe the consumers to go long for the product. But, that is not all. A competent marketing team will need to carry out a background research of the product attributes in comparison to those of competitors’ similar product. This will help them come up with a ‘strong point’ that will form the ‘sale point’ over the competitors’ product.

But that is not all. A marketing team needs to carry out a basic market research to establish two critical issues before unveiling the product in the market. A market research will have to be carried out in the market in a bid to establish the needs of the target customers as well as their purchasing power. This is critical to ensure that the businesses unveils a product that fulfills the common aspects of need/interest identified from the sample of potential customers interviewed. This is helpful to assist the business unveil a product that is popular to the target consumers. This is great in increasing the sales of the product. The other need of market research as identified is to establish the purchasing power of the target consumers. This is critical in ensuring that the product is unveiled in a pre-determined quality or quantity that will meet the consumers’ needs and still raise the much sought business profits.

The marketing team of a product needs to fulfill some basic roles in a bid to make the product sale a success. One, do a market research to establish the favorable market environment that the product will be able to do well over similar products or those that they share product attributes.

What is marketing? To a lot of people, marketing and sales are one and the same thing. It’s true that they’re pretty closely related to one another but if you think marketing is all about getting in people’s faces and shoving your product or service down their throat, you’ve got the wrong idea.

Marketing is all about matching up two groups of people: people who have problems and people who have solutions. In the context of a business, these are buyers and sellers. Which one do you think has problems and which has answers?

On the surface, it might be easy to think that the person selling the product or service has the solution and the person they’re selling it to has a problem, but it’s just as correct the other way around:

1. the seller has a problem: if he/she can’t sell enough of whatever he/she is selling, he/she will go out of business.

2. the buyer has a solution: money. If the seller can solve his problem, the buyer can also solve the seller’s problems.

You still with me?

Marketing is what brings these people together. A marketer is basically like a problem-solving middle-man (or woman). He (or she) can identify where two people can help each other out and bring them together.

Now, obviously it’s a lot easier said than done, but that’s the general gist of it. Nothing more, nothing less. The fact that a lot of people have grown to dislike marketing and to align it with high-pressure, pushy sales people is because not all marketers are created equal.

The marketers that get in your face (or in your ear, if you’re a telemarketer) let the problem that they’re trying to solve get the better of them, blinding them to the fact that their product or service isn’t a suitable solution for the buyer.

If the person wanted to lose weight but didn’t want to go on a diet and you approach them trying to sell them a diet book, how likely are they going to be to buy it from you, even if it is the “right” solution? Pretty unlikely, right?

What about if you’re selling something that will get rid of that person’s painful problem forever, but it’s beyond their budget? Again, another solution, just one that isn’t right for them at that point in time.

It’s easy to call yourself a marketer, but to be a master marketer, someone who:

• doesn’t get in people’s faces,
• can help you find only people that your solution is a perfect match for, and
• has the proof and confidence to back it up

is rare. It’s sort of ironic that there are so many people who claim to be marketers, yet they can’t find a customer (person with a problem) to save their lives. How the heck do you be a marketer if you can’t put your own advice into practice and find someone whose problem you can solve?

That’s why a lot of so-called marketers don’t make the cut. They’re either wannabes or don’t have what it takes to make it in the long run. Theoretically, being a marketer is a self-fulfilling occupation; your job is the help other people find customers, meaning that you should be able to find these people to help out in the first place.

In reality, this isn’t so.

You’ve spent your marketing dollars that your boss has given you with frustratingly disappointing results. He’s now threatening to fire you if you can’t produce some qualified, ready-to-act leads within the following 30 days. You need results and you need them fast and cheap.

My free report, “7 Ways To Produce Low Cost Leads On Demand” shows you step-by-step how I grew my own consulting business with a budget of $250/month. I can’t guarantee that it will be available in the next 24 hours, so you’d better visit my website http://KeeMarketing.com and download it while you still can.