Marketing – Page 4 – Career Life Institute

5 Secrets to Marketing Magic

"…Because its purpose is to create a customer, business has two—and only two functions: Marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results, all the rest are costs." Peter Drucker

1. Understand Your Product

If you can’t state it, your customers won’t see, understand, or want it

What are you REALLY selling?
You must be able to articulate this is a way that makes others want to buy from you.
Features vs Benefits
Always focus attention on the benefit to your customer as a result of using your product or service.
Unique Selling Proposition/Competitive Advantage
What makes you/your product distinctively different?

2. Have a Marketing Plan

Whatever marketing plan you intend to roll out, test first to measure your success probability and to reduce the risk of failure. Test prices. . .Test product. . .Test headlines. . .Test everything. Have a diversified effort and then continue to test EVERYTHING. Some areas to consider:

Public Relations
Publicity
Direct Mail
Personal Selling
Trade Shows/Industry Participation
Newsletters
Specialty Items
Articles, Books, eBooks & eProducts
Speeches, Seminars, Workshops
Referrals
Networking
Ads – newspapers, signs, flyers, radio, TV, Yellow Pages, etc.
Thank you notes & gifts
Coupons, Special Offers, etc.
Websites, email signatures, etc.

3. Understand Your Customer

How do you create real value? By understanding what's important to your customer or client…and then providing it

Who is your “ideal” client?
Ask yourself:
"What do I know about them, their buying/spending habits?"
"Where would my customer look for me?" Then make sure you put "yourself" (your coupons, advertisements, website address, etc.) in the places where they can find you.
What do your clients need? How can you find out?
Ask your clients:
"How can I help you?"
"How can I make it easy for you to buy from me?"
And of course: "What else?" (do you want, need, wish to tell me…)

4. Value Existing Customers

Follow their needs
You can use a simple data base to track customer buying patterns as well as the effectiveness of your marketing plan. Determine the "lifetime" value of your customers and clients, and continue to find ways to keep them loyal by providing what they want and need.
Special offers/preferential treatment
Existing customers have already made a commitment (they've spent money with you), don't reserve your “specials” just for new customers – reward the loyal (existing) ones, too. It's much easier and more cost effective to sell to existing customers than to try to find new ones. Surprise and delight your existing customers by giving them "freebies" or added value from time to time.

5. Collaborative Marketing

Networking

Networking is really relationship building. When you want to expand your market, an effective way to have instant credibility is to use the influence of someone who is well respected. Remember to provide value, not only in the product or service you are offering to the "new" network, but also to the person who is introducing you to their network.

Host/Beneficiary Relationship
Consider who you know that you could "team up with". People with complimentary businesses (those who market to similar customers) provide a great non-competitive way to expand your own customer base. (It works the other way, too!) By the way, have you ever asked your suppliers or vendors for help in growing your business? They have an interest in keeping you in business, too.
Referrals
Remind your customers that your business grows through their referrals. And then, make sure you thank and give value back to those who are willing to share their satisfaction of your services with others.

What makes some businesses more successful in the marketplace? They continue to explore new ways to bring in business. Remember what marketing guru Jay Abraham has to say about your marketing plan:

When you limit your business to doing things the same way every other competitor of yours does it, you can only produce modest, incremental gains at best.

Diversify Your Marketing Strategy

Marketing is always a "hot" topic for business owners. Jay Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing, shared some of his marketing strategies for business owners at the Eureka Inn last spring, and they are well worth reviewing.

Investing your time, energy and imagination into your marketing is essential for your success. Just as synergy works between people, implementing marketing combinations has a greater chance of creating a successful business.

Some of the marketing strategies Jay Levinson highlighted are:

Have a Marketing Plan. It should only be 7 sentences long—which forces you to focus.
Develop a Marketing Calendar. Project over the next year what you are doing each month to promote your business. This prevents emergencies and makes decisions easier.
Create a marketing niche for your business. Be sure all your promotional materials reflect what you stand for.
Make sure the name of your company is easily understood.
Create an Image based on truth and honesty. You want your Image to identify you and to let people know what to expect.
Create an eye-catching logo that stands out and use it on all your promotional materials. Use color to your advantage. Most people remember something they see better than something they hear.
Develop a theme for your business—a set of words that summarizes your company and what you stand for. This should be something you can live with in the future. Your theme will get stronger over time.
Your stationary makes a statement about the quality of you and your company.
Your business cards are a great marketing tool. People enjoy getting lots of information on a small space. Be sure to include your fax number, e-mail, web-site, etc. You could even include your theme.
Have Inside Signs—information in your office that promotes several things you are doing or other services you are offering. 74% of all purchases are made at the "point of purchase." Make it easy for your client to purchase from you.
Have Outside Signs—that represent you well. Look for places where you can put up your business cards, flyers or signs about your business.
Provide EASY access to your business—preferably 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This can be done by having e-mail or voice mail: a way for folks to be in contact. Be flexible, and make it convenient for your clients/customers to contact you.
Think of your business as a package. Make sure it conveys your identify. This includes your reception area and office, how your telephones are answered and how your clients/customers are greeted. "Neatness" is a quality that reflects how you run your business.
Remember "quality" no longer sets you apart—it's now the price of admission. "Innovation" is the key for the 21^st Century.
Recognize the importance of "word of mouth" marketing. The moment of maximum satisfaction is within the first 30 days. Happy customers will be glad to share their good fortune (and your brochures) with people they know. Create a flyer or brochure that can be sent to new interested people. Think about other places potential customers are likely to patronize and put promotional pieces in such places.
Community involvement is a great way to meet new potential customers and clients. People prefer to so business with people they know. Let people know what you do and promote your business wherever you are.
Referrals are your greatest source of new customers. Ask for referrals—3-5 names of people who would like to be on your mailing list or who would benefit from you service. And don't be shy about following up on these referrals. Once a year, send letters to your old customers and ask for referrals. (Send a reply envelope to make it easier for them to respond.)
Stay in contact with your clients and offer follow-up services or products as needed.
Share with groups (such as Business Connections) about what marketing strategies worked or didn't work for you.
Guarantees are mandatory in the 90's; you must always stress your guarantee.

What IS Marketing?

In a current survey of businesses, marketing is one of the main concerns. It is also one of the most confusing. Some think marketing is advertising or direct mail; others consider it sales or public relations. The truth is, marketing is all of these.

A simple definition of marketing is "how you present your business to your customers that makes you special or unique to them." The hard part is finding out exactly who your customers are, your customers' profile, and what part of your "presentation" is the most effective in motivating them to buy your product or service. This is an area you should spend a lot of time studying. Get professional help if you need statistics you can't find at the library or through surveys. From this you can begin to plan your marketing strategy.

The critical component of your marketing should be to develop a long-term customer/client mail list; research shows it is 85 percent less costly to keep an old customer than to get a new one. In this day of large discount stores, it is hard to compete through price.

Word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing tool, but one you cannot control, unless you give poor service or have a dissatisfied customer. Service is the best marketing tool to separate you from the big discount stores or competitors–service that includes product knowledge and customer education. Offering this service will get you great word-of-mouth marketing.

Some of the simple parts of marketing can be the most important and the least expensive. Tips to keep in mind:

Keep your business very clean at all times, both inside and outside;
Paint the walls pleasing and appropriate colors;
Make sure your business sign represents you well;
Retail windows should catch the eye and reflect your customers' tastes;
Keep track of your customers in a database and stay in touch with them through direct mail and phone calls.

Q & A: Marketing My Business

Note: Although this person provided specifics about her business, we have chosen to maintain confidentiality in order to protect her idea.

Dear Katie:

I have started an email support service (that costs a small monthly fee), and I don't know how to reach the people who could really benefit from my service. I sent out notices to everyone on my personal and professional email list, informing them of my service and asking them to refer anyone whom they thought would be interested.

I have placed ads on Yahoo and some other internet classified sites and I'm in the process of getting a domain name and creating a website. I am also going to list my daily emails as an ezine at various listing sites.

What else can I do to get the word out to homebound, isolated, disabled or ill people who might want to subscribe to my service? I want to spend my time on actually creating and running the service, not on promoting it.

I'd appreciate any help you can give me.

Sincerely,

Miranda

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Hi Miranda,

It sounds as though you have a very interesting idea. Hopefully it can take off for you, although to be honest, most people offer email newsletters at no cost to the individuals, so remember you will be competing with those folks, too.

Most of your questions are marketing questions, and to be honest again, in order to create anything that is successful online, you're going to have to spend a substantial amount of time (or money as you pay someone else) to get your project rolling the way you'd like. Like anything else, once you hit "critical mass", it should take off and almost run itself.

The first thing you will need to do to be "legitimate" in the internet community is to have your own domain name. They're very easy to get, only cost $70 for the first 2 years (note: yes, it used to cost this much – now you can get them for as low as $7/year), and most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should be able to park it for you for no extra charge until you're ready to open your website. In fact, this is something I recommend before you "open your doors" for business. Think about it: a retail store wouldn't start selling stuff from their warehouse, and then expect folks to transfer to the store later.

So, get your domain name, set up your email from there (some hosts even let you park your domain and still get email using the domain name for a small fee prior to actually publishing the site to the web).

Then, or even in the meantime, some other things to consider include using the internet to investigate sites where the people you are interested in will be "hanging out". When you find a site that would appeal to your audience, contact the owner of the site and ask about a reciprocal link. A reciprocal link means that each of you link to the other's site. If your site is already up, you can add the other link first. Letting the owner of the other site know you have already linked to his/he r site will strengthen the attractiveness for linking to yours.

Build your network by building your relationships, and that will build referrals far more quickly. You will need to convince the other owner that you have something to offer him/her in exchange for the link (for instance, a substantial subscriber base, information that his/her visitors may be interested in, etc.).

I like that you offer a free sample. That's a good way to let people know what your product is like before they are required to pay for it. Perhaps you could also offer an incentive for people who send you referrals who "stick" (for instance a free month for anyone whose referral signs up for 3 months).

Now, to be honest for the third time, I need to ask, how much market research have you done? Are you sure there's a market for your services (have you found enough people who will want to pay for them)? Have you found other people who are doing similar things in a different market and actually making money on them? For instance, someone else who has a pay-for-email service relating to a different market segment? You have a lovely idea, but with so much free stuff on the internet, you may well find out that there's just not enough interest by folks who are willing to pay. I recommend you do a great deal of research first, and consider having your service be a free one that supports something else that provides the profit. For instance, provide a website that has all the information online (that you've listed in your offer), some free email services, and then a product or other service for a fee.

You might also be able to offer your service (at a fee) to existing online companies for whom it could become an acillary/free product from them. An example might be a pharmaceutical company, or one that specializes in medical equipment for the home. You wouldn't make as much money per subscriber, but you would be generating an income. One of the secrets to success on the internet is giving stuff away, so I'm wondering about the viability of your idea. Before you get too far down the path , putting your heart and soul into something you think is a good idea, I'd highly recommend you do a lot of research.

If you find you have a viable product, there are several internet marketing programs that can help you promote your business. Unfortunately, you will have to do marketing in some way. Any business that wants to stay in business has to put time, effort and at least a bit of money into marketing.

Good Luck, and let me know how it goes.