Getting the profit out of Social Media for Small Businesses, Part 2: Fine Tuning with tools
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on May 28, 2009
This guest post is Part 2 in a two-part series by Patrice Barber, President Taylor Made Small Biz.
In the last post we discussed how to get profitable on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Start with the end in mind. Now we move on to the nuts and bolts of Communities and Tools:
So how do we get rewards from our investment of time on Twitter, LinkedIN, and Facebook?
Twitter (a micro blog of 140 characters ) is good for :
- Launching- creating a buzz to launch your new product or announce your new group or talk about anything important that is going to happen and continue the conversation right as it is happening through to the 2 -5days after it has happened.
- Linking- Providing occasional links to other peoples posts and products as well as some of your own.
- Connections- Enabling you to find others who will be in a city at an event you may be attending to hook up with them. There is nothing so powerful as walking into a room of 100 and having 3-4 people walk up to you with a big grin and hearty welcome. They are as glad to network with you as you are with them.
- Branding- when you are seen in multiple places with a consistent image and talk, you will build brand, credibility and expert status…. Naturally
The tools- You do have to find and use tools to make Twitter useful. Get organized on twitter with tweetdeck.com to see what is going on and use mr.tweet.com to set up automation. Check this link for serious Twitter tools.
EX :If I want to find out who is searching for help on “Starting a small business” ; viola I go to search.Twitter.com, type it and get the results. AMAZING results. It shows what people are saying, ties to their blogs and shows you who is responding to what , so you can join in where you have expert information to share.
Once you use the tools you will be able to see how to tweet , retweet and raise yourself up in the eyes of those who would be followers.
Check this link for top 10 mistakes on LinkedIN
LinkedIN is good for:
- Job hunting ( its original purpose)
- Marketing and sales - using the search and advanced search functions to find your prospects
- Connecting- to other professionals in a related group or groups with those needing your service. Join groups now.
- Expert status- by setting yourself to answer questions you become an expert
- Building your own group – this is a very fast way to gather a following as long as you provide a serious benefit to them. Be passionate or be dead.
- Best feature is that everytime you do a simple update, LinkedIn posts it out to all your 1st tier without you having to send a “toot your horn” message. Work it weekly and it will provide a LOT of links back to your website.
- More formal and slower paced than twitter
Facebook is good for:
- Rekindling prior relations
- Setting up new relationships for more personal and local use.
- Sharing your information from the frequent tweets to the less frequent Facebook details via Friendfeed.com
- Excellent for launching a new group or new product – your new group can be seen by 1000’s in as short as a week just by 20 people commenting and thus sharing with 50 of their friends.
- Less formal than twitter
I cannot over emphasize the need to have your website set up to CONVERT people who land there. Relevant action drives conversion and is critical from every page that you link back to. Tools are great, but what are you going to do with them?
About the Author
Patrice Barber is the Small Biz Tactical Guide. She gives small business owners who are wandering in the wilderness; the map to success, the tools for the journey, and guides them to their oasis. As a serial entrepreneur she has founded six small businesses of her own, a 501©3 foundation to support charter schools and helped 4-6 business owners per year (and doubling each year) since 2003. All of them are thriving in their oasis! Find out more at www.tmsmallbiz.com
Getting the profit out of Social Media for Small Businesses
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Apr 30, 2009
This guest post is Part 1 in a two-part series by Patrice Barber, President Taylor Made Small Biz.
Laying the Foundation
To get profitable on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook: Start with the end in mind. Once you have a great following, what exactly do you want people to do? Since most of you are concerned with the business use of attracting prospects, converting them to paying clients, and getting great referrals, my focus will be on just that.
Most frustrated business owners are stuck without a purpose and social media doesn’t make sense until you get past it. For those of you who know me, you know I am all about having a plan, tracking to the plan and correcting the course. With social media, I tend to skip the plan, jump in, see what is there and define the plan as I go.
Yes I still have to have a plan.
Who’s your audience: You must know your target market ( many a business owner does not). Click here for details about defining your target market.
What do they want to hear: Do your research online using keywords and searching as if you are one of your ideal clients. When you are ready, start your monthly newsletter and then a weekly blog. This assumes that your target market will be online reading tips and tricks, or hints. Once that habit is formed, it is time to branch out to find other venues.
It is important to have something to say that is not being said by everyone else or not in the same details or with the same perspective. Avoid the “me too” approach of repeating what others said or posting their posts with no added value. Make your content original. Be a master of your topic.
How to find them: You are looking for 2 different venues 1) where like-minded people are sharing information you can use and 2) those that are looking for information you can give and benefits them.
The BLOG and Newsletter are now the “backend” tools that will fuel your marketing machine.
The front end tool becomes your involvement in your new community. Just as in a live community, start by listening or reading first and then contribute as you become aware of the needs of the community. Look for the FAQ page for Newbies. These have a variety of rules that you don’t want to violate at the risk of being booted out.
The rules for your marketing machine: 1) HAVE something to SAY. 2) HAVE something for the reader to DO. 3) Build the relationship (preferably in an automated method)
What to tell /show them: On all 3 of the recommended business related sites of LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, you will have the chance to create your profile.
1) pick either your own name if you are branding you in your company or consider using your company name. 2) Put in your picture not the avatar 3) put in your web links 4) Include some personal aspects.
Take the time to put enough detail into your profile that will help you be clearly different.
While you can update your profile, and you should, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.
Get started by being real, honest, caring, supportive of others, a contributor. This takes time. Newbies generally start at once per week. To grow your following you will accelerate to 3 times per week and to be quoted by others (getting natural referrals) you will be online once per day.
Find out what others are saying using Backtype .com and start commenting on the blogs that relate to your master area of expertise. Provide additional inks back to your stuff that further clarifies your message and creates in bound links.
About the Author
Patrice Barber is the Small Biz Tactical Guide. She gives small business owners who are wandering in the wilderness; the map to success, the tools for the journey, and guides them to their oasis. As a serial entrepreneur she has founded six small businesses of her own, a 501©3 foundation to support charter schools and helped 4-6 business owners per year (and doubling each year) since 2003. All of them are thriving in their oasis! Find out more at www.tmsmallbiz.com
Marketing Your Small Business Through Generating Referral and Repeat Business
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Jan 29, 2009
Making Your Small Business Marketing Dollars Go Further by Generating Word-of-Mouth, Referral and Repeat Business
Relationship building is possibly the most effective way to market a small business these days. This is part one in a two part series that will give you a ton of ideas about how to market your small business through generating word-of-mouth, referral and repeat business:
Combat the clutter that your clients and customers filter out every day. We are so bombarded by marketing messages. Not one of us doesn’t experience information overload – nearly every day. There isn’t a lack of information out there about anything. In fact, the opposite is true today. If your business isn’t growing like you want it to, it’s not because there exists a lack of information about your product or service. It’s because of a lack of meaning.
Information by itself has become meaningless without context. The context you must create as the person responsible for marketing your small business: a relationship between you and your prospects and customers that communicates trust and delivers value. Without that context you are just noise. And your prospects have their guard up and are tuning you out.
Your job is to gain their trust so that you can help them cut through all the noise and make a decision. It’s not enough to get their attention with empty gimmicks and buzz creating marketing and advertizing. There has to be a meaningful, relevant and emotion-provoking context that carries the message you put out if you want it to resonate with people.
Your prospects have been conditioned to tune you out and mistrust you. Example: I know a roofer who, upon completion of a project, found he had many shingles left over. He looked around the neighborhood and noticed that many of the other houses were missing shingles of the same kind and color. Not having another job to get to that day, and wanting to get rid of the extra shingles, he decided to offer to replace the missing shingles on the other neighbor’s roofs for a ridiculously low fee. Door after door was slammed in his face. In the entire neighborhood, he finally found only one homeowner to take him up on his offer.
Now, let me remind you that all the other neighbors had a need that he could fill. He was standing in the midst of his target market, for sure. What’s more, he could deliver instant gratification at an incredible price. He was completely baffled as to why most of the homeowners treated him, as he put it, “like a snake oil salesman”. Have you ever experienced something similar? Haven’t we all been given the small business marketing advice to locate your target market and present them with what they need at a price they can afford? So - what happened here?
Think about this: What if the homeowners in this particualr neighborhood already knew him? Or, what if the homeowner whose roof he had just repaired called the other neighbors and told them about this great roofer that just finished re-roofing their house and had some shingles left over and agreed to patch a few other roofs in the neighborhood for an amazing price? If he had been recommended in this way, do you think he would have received a warmer welcome? Certainly.
We have been conditioned to mistrust those we don’t already know or who haven’t been recommended. It’s often not enough today to locate your target market and present them with what they need at a price they can afford. In most cases, they also have to know you.
Technology has made it so that businesses all over the world can capture your customers simply by offering them a better price or a better deal. Unless you live in a very small, rural town, there is no such thing as the neighborhood insurance salesman, or shopkeeper, or salon, or bank. Your “neighbors” are willing to drive 20 miles, or order it online. The best small business marketing solution you can employ is to build a sense of trust, loyalty and familiarity with your customers. Figure out how to position yourself as the ONLY choice in your customer’s mind for what you offer.
A great example of this is a handyman in Arizona who uses the tag line, “We’ll leave your house cleaner than when we came.” And they do – they not only clean up their own mess, but the leave the house noticeably cleaner than when they arrived. This has created intense customer loyalty while also giving their customers something to talk about. Which brings us to a very important point: your customer’s have relationships with those who will trust their recommendations. These referrals are extremely valuable. If you can generate enough of them, and give new customers or clients reasons to refer you to their network, your business can grow virtually on it’s own.
Clear, Compelling Marketing
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Jan 22, 2009
At Your Marketing Lab, we offer a free email course that’s all about how to create a consistent core message that resonates with your ideal customer or client. Why is this important? We are so over-marketed to these days (you might have noticed), that only the clearest, most compelling messages make it through - and even more importantly - move us to action. Below are a few of the main points covered in that course, summarized
1. Marketing is really about a continuous conversation you are having with your customers, prospects, vendors, and partners. In fact, every point of contact your business has with the outside world is marketing some message. Further, these conversations are either helping your business succeed or fail. Great marketing involves incorporating a core message into every one of these conversions.
2. When creating this very important core message, you must understand very well who you are communicating to. Further, you must understand who your unique ideal client is and cater your message directly to them. Create a system of continuous market research that involves surveys, paying attention to what they read, what they watch, what they love and what they are frustrated by and not interested in. Read their web sites, read what they are reading, subscribe to their newsletters, and join their associations. Talk with them - and even more important - listen.
3. In order for your core message to be meaningful to your ideal clients, there must be a strong point of differentiation within it. One of the best ways to differentiate yourself is to find something your competitors are not doing that your customers would find valuable. Or, find something your competitors are doing that your customers find annoying. Differentiate with that, but never with price. Remember - you can match your competition in every way, as long as you differentiate on one thing that matters to your ideal client.
4. Communicate your core message from a “benefits” rather than “features” perspective. None of us purchase anything because of the features of that product or service. We purchase because of what the features of that product or service does for us. More importantly - we purchase because of what we perceive the features of that product or service will do for us. Perception, as always, is king. Even more important: How we think about a product or service not only drives our purchasing decisions, it also shapes our expectations about that product or service and influences how committed we are to enjoying the product or service and getting value from it.
5. Some questions to help you on your quest of discovering the real benefits your ideal customers are looking for: What are your ideal customers really looking for? What do they really want? What do they really need? What are they already looking for? What do your products or services do that can deliver on those desires? Those are the benefits. Those are the hot buttons of your core message and they will have little to do with the actual features of your product or service. As long as your product or service delivers on what they really want, the actual product or service is incidental. So here’s the big take-away: Don’t craft your marketing message around what’s incidental. Craft it around what is desired.
You can sign up for the entire free email course, which elaborates further on these points and several other key components, by clicking here. It’s great information and free of charge.
But, I also want to ask you another question: Once you’ve developed a truly compelling core message, what are you going to do to ensure that your ideal customers hear it? While taking the time to craft the right message will put you heads and tails above your competition all by itself, if you can’t deliver it to your target audience in a strategic, consistent way, it does you no good.
That’s why, in Denver this Saturday, January 24th, we are bringing you a complete Marketing Strategy Blueprint Workshop. And we are bringing it to you for under $200. (If you’re not in Denver, we apologize. Stay tuned - we may be coming to your city soon and may also attempt an online version of this workshop. If either of these options are appealing to you, it would help us out a great deal if you let us know.)
If you are in Denver, this is a workshop you can’t afford to miss.
In this new economy, having a good marketing strategy is not just important - it’s essential. This Saturday, we’ll help you map out a Strategic plan - a Blueprint - for the rest of the year. Click on the link below to read more and to register. http://www.yourmarketinglab.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254
A few other important things you should know:
1. This workshop is backed by our 10x your money back gaurantee
2. This is the last time this workshop will be offered in Denver until June.
3. This is the last time it will be offered in Denver for $197. (Register with a friend, and pay only $147 each!) Also - seating is extremely limited, so don’t delay. Reserve your space now.
Lessons from the World’s Greatest Salesperson
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Jan 13, 2009
I’ve recently been newly inspired by a man by the name of Joe Girard. You’ve probably heard of him. He’s called the World’s Greatest Sales Person - and for good reason.
For more than a decade Joe sold cars. A lot of cars. In fact, in 1973 he was given the title of World’s Greatest Sales Person in the Guinness Book of World Records. Here’s a blurb from that entry: ” The all-time record for automobile salesmanship in individual units sold is 1,425 in 1973, by Joe Girard of Detroit, author of “How to Sell Anything to Anybody” and winner of the Number One Car Salesman title every year from 1966 to 1977.”
1,425 cars sold in ONE YEAR! In fact, during his fifteen year selling career, he sold 13,001 new cars and trucks, all at retail - no fleet, wholesale or used vehicles. After selling cars for just 3 years, Joe had so much business it was by appointment only. This is an amazing individual.
Read Joe’s bio when you have a chance. His entire life story is remarkable and inspiring and there is much to be learned from his story. However, I want to focus on just one of the things Joe did to build the amount of relationships necessary to sell thousands upon thousands of cars.
Joe truly understood the importance of relationship marketing if you want to consistently sell anything. (Or, in Joe’s case, completely dominate your market.) He did a couple of key things to build those relationships that all could revolutionize every business.
First of all, he hired people to deal with administrative work so that he could have more time to interact with his customers. Second, he kept in touch with people via mail month after month. At one point, Joe was sending 16,000 cards each month to customers and prospective customers. Imagine for a moment what it would be like to get a card in the mail each and every month from a car salesman. When you needed to purchase a car, wouldn’t it seem unthinkable to go to anyone else?
Dan Kennedy is quoted as saying that 68% of customers leave because they don’t feel loved or valued. You don’t really even know you’ve lost them. They just go away. Think about what would happen in your business if this wasn’t true. If, instead of loosing 68% of your business each year, you kept it. And imagine what would happen if that 68% felt so valued by you that they told their friends, family and coworkers. What would that do to the growth of your business? For Joe, it meant selling 13,000 cars.
This kind of customer retention and referral generation isn’t that hard to do, it just has to end up at the top of your priority list. You could send a hand written “Thank you for your time” every time you meet with a prospect. Send a hand written thank you card for each order. Send gifts of appreciation. Go beyond the flat customer retention programs that many companies mindlessly employ and do something for your customers to show your appreciation that is completely unexpected.
Here’s a great example: I heard about a handyman who built his business on the promise that his company would leave each client’s house cleaner than when they arrived. He trained his employees to not only clean up their own mess, but to noticeably leave the home cleaner in some way. What an amazingly simple way to not only create a wildly successful business, but to completely dominate a market.
What customer retention systems can you add to your marketing strategy this year to not only keep the customers you have, but to ensure that you are their only source for what you offer? How can you apply what Joe did to increase sales? What can you do that provokes those same loyal customers to tell everyone they know about you? Please share your ideas!
Your Mission for 2009 (should you choose to accept it…)
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Jan 5, 2009
Years ago my husband worked for a company that proudly hung a gigantic banner in the main office area with their Mission Statement printed boldly on it. The “higher-up’s” suspected low morale (quite accurately) and the CEO thought an inspiring reminder of “their” mission would fix that problem right up. The banner read, “TO BE ALL THAT WE CAN BE.” (Lest you think they were the Army, you should know that they were a software company.) They’re out of business now. From that clear and uniquely compelling Mission Statement I’m sure you can’t imagine why.
There are 2 useful points that we can take from this sorry tale.
#1: Marketing isn’t just about delivering a message to those outside the company. Internal marketing is also very, very important. Everyone that works for you or with you should be continually reminded of your company’s most important messages: the company’s story, values, purpose, mission, etc. Everything you market to the outside world should be marketed internally. This will ensure that your employees and partners are clear about what your business is about and turn your company into a marketing company that produces XYZ - Which is how every company must come to think of themselves if they are to survive.
#2. There seems to be some confusion about the purpose of the Mission Statement. Most companies seem to think that their mission statement is a short, pithy way of describing the overall purpose of the business. I beg to differ. For Mission Statements to be valuable they should form the basis of a short-term marketing strategy and they should change often – either when the mission has been accomplished, or when the mission needs to change. From this perspective, a more useful way to define a mission statement might be:
A clear end point to work towards.
This description from Growth Connection does an excellent job of conveying this concept:
A true mission is a clear and compelling goal that focuses people’s efforts. It is tangible, specific, crisp, clear and engaging. It reaches out and grabs people in the gut. Like the moon flight, a good mission has a clear finish line — you should be able to tell when you’ve done it — at which point, you need to create a new mission. “We’re going to climb Mount Everest” is a mission; the more general, “We’re going to climb the Himalayas” is not.
And, like the moon flight, a good mission is risky, falling in a gray zone where reason says, “This is unreasonable”; and your intuition and drive say, “But we believe we can do it anyway.”
In summary, a mission is
* “What we are here to do”
* A clear and compelling goal that serves to unify an organization’s efforts
* Crisp, clear, engaging, verging on unreasonable.
Think of the Mission Statements of your business as New Year’s resolutions for your business. What exactly are you going to accomplish this year? What changes are you going to make? What are you going to do better? The answers to these questions encompass your mission for the coming months. How you go about accomplishing the mission is the basis for your marketing strategy.
Just as many of us draft up resolutions every January, your mission statement(s) should change every time you draft up a short-term (6 months to 1 year) marketing strategy. Your mission statement is the definition of your marketing strategy’s achievable goal – a clear “finish line”. This statement should inspire and focus you. You should be able to read it and be able to imagine what it will feel like to reach that goal. Just like good resolutions, they should both stretch and empower you.
Creating Effective Email: A 10 Point Checklist
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Dec 10, 2008
This is an article by Corrinda Campbell of Business Connection Network. I thought it was excellent, and worth sharing. Enjoy!
If email marketing is on your list of marketing strategies now or anytime during the year, follow this 10 Point Checklist to increase the number of opened email and convert your prospects into customers.
1) Subject Line – This is often the most overlooked part of the email, yet it is the most important. The Subject Line is the primary factor that determines whether an email is opened or deleted. There’s a lot of discussion about the “art” of writing the Subject Line. Overall, keep it to about 50 characters or so as many email providers only display a limited amount of characters. Shorter tends to be better, but it really depends. Ask yourself, does the reader know who it’s from, what’s in it for them and why they should open this email.
2) From Line – This is also overlooked when creating email campaigns. The From and Subject Lines are mini-billboards. Are you going to open an email from “info” or from a person or company you know. The From and Subject lines work together. By including your name and/or the company name in the From Line you don’t need to repeat it in the Subject Line and have more characters devoted to the Subject Line message. Usually 15 characters or less is best. Use the word count function found in the tools section in MS Word to quickly count characters.
3) Get Permission – Spam laws are getting tighter and tighter with increasingly severe penalties. Including ending up on the black list of ISPs and email providers. Be sure you have permission to send email to the people on your list.
4) Clear Call To Action - So you’ve got permission from the people on your list and you’ve written effective From and Subject lines and your email has been opened. Be sure your readers know what you want them to do when they open the email and the benefits of clicking through the email links to your service, product, or content.
5) Links: Bigger Buttons & Underline in Blue – Many studies of have shown that bigger buttons work better; and specific copy works better than general copy. (e.g.: “Click Here for the Free Report” v. “Click Here”) If you use a text link, blue underlined links tend to perform the best.
6) Landing Page – Your email has been opened and the reader follows your Call To Action. When they arrive at your website, be sure to send them to a specific page relating to the contents of the email instead of the home page. If you’re a running a specific or limited time promotion it may be a good idea to create a special landing page just for that email. This will also make tracking the promotion easier. If you’re selling something make sure your shopping cart is no more than 3-clicks away from the email. After 3 clicks the level of abandoned carts increases.
7) Promotion Layout – Direct mail tests have shown that dollars off coupons versus percent off promotions get a better response. Framing your promotion with a dashed boarder also tends to increase conversion.
8) Text v. HTML – There is a lot of discussion around text versus HTML presentations. Text only email do well, but depending on the content of the email HTML can also be very effective & creative. The downside of HTML an layout is that many email accounts block the graphics. If you use HTML offer a text or web-based version. Also, very important, label your graphics with alt tags. They will appear even if the graphic is blocked. In addition to the alt tags be sure to support the graphics with straight text, don’t limit the whole contents to one large graphic.
9) Relevancy & Frequency – The number one reason email is deleted or unsubscribed is lack of relevancy. Be sure your messages are on point. If you are cross-promoting another product or service, make sure it’s related to the topic. If you broaden the scope of the original content just ask for permission. Segmenting your list can also increase your level of relevancy. The answer to, “How often should I send email messages?” is “It depends.” Ask yourself if this message relevant or if the email includes new information. Relevancy and fresh content also tend to answer the question of the best time and day of the week to send email. If the email campaign is well crafted readers will open it.
10) Proof Read & Test Your Email – Whenever possible it’s best to have someone else proofread your email and provide feedback. This is when a mastermind or peer review group comes in handy to catch mistakes and fine tune your message. Testing your email’s appearance is also important because different email clients and web-based email accounts render HTML and even text differently. Even if your email service provider has a test function built-in I think it’s a good idea to use a dedicated test list. Create a specific list that includes the addresses of the accounts you have created with the top email providers. Send your email to that list first.
Top email readers: Outlook, Thunderbird, and Eudora
Top web-based email providers: Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, and Gmail
This is a fun link to see mistakes some of the top retailers have made. It’s entertaining but it’s also a good check list of things to watch out for.
http://www.retailemailblog.com/2008/01/oopsy-hall-of-fame-2007-inductees.html
About the author of this post: Corrinda Campbell, M.B.A. is a business and online marketing consultant in Denver, CO and host of the Women In Business Network Luncheon. She is devoted to helping entrepreneurs and small business owners succeed by providing affordable, high impact tools and resources. For more information visit www.BusinessConnectionNetwork.com
Positioning Strategy: Do you choose your customer, or do they choose you?
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Nov 21, 2008
(This post began as a response to Jeff P.’s comment on an earlier post. He asked, “do you choose your customer…or do they choose you?)
“Selling benefits, not features” is a mantra that is repeated often by sales and marketing experts alike in response to those seeking marketing help. At YML, we write about it a lot. One of the YML Partners, Sonia Simone even teaches a very good course on how to sell benefits rather than features.
This concept is taught often by many for good reason. It’s good positioning strategy. None of us purchase anything because of the features of that product or service. We purchase because of what the features of that product or service does for us. More importantly - we purchase because of what we perceive the features of that product or service will do for us.
Perception, as always, is king.
To go one step further: How we think about a product or service not only drives our purchasing decisions, it also shapes our expectations about that product or service and influences how committed we are to enjoying the product or service and getting value from it.
I happen to have the perfect example of the power of desire and perception. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I decided to go to the movies. We had just finished up a tough week and were in the mood to relax and laugh. We were in the market for fun!
So, we chose a comedy that we expected to be lighthearted and funny. We’d seen funny previews for this movie and read rave reviews and fully expected to laugh and have a great time watching it. Well.. the movie was terrible. Absolutely terrible. And we knew right away that it was terrible, and we really knew halfway through that it was terrible, and we still stayed for the whole movie, which ended…. terribly.
As we were walking out of the theater, we had to ask ourselves why we stayed for the entire movie. The answer is simple. We really, really wanted it to get better. We wanted it to get better so badly that we held out hope that it might get better way past the point that rational people should.
Have you ever done the same thing? Have you ever been so determined to enjoy something or achieve something that you held on to it for way too long?
A couple important points to make about this example:
1. If you can craft a message that taps into something a group of people really, really want, they will work hard to really, really like it. If our perception is that a product or service is going to give us what we really want, we will try very hard to get what we really want out of it.
2. We weren’t really buying a movie that night. We were buying comedic relief. We were buying an escape. We were buying laughter and fun. The movie itself (the medium to deliver what we wanted) was incidental.
So - the original question was, “Do you choose your customers or do they choose you?” I have two answers.
Answer #1: They choose you - IF you have managed to be where they are, offering what they want, and can deliver.
Answer #2: You choose them - IF you first decide that you want to be the option they choose to get what they already want and shape your message accordingly.
Even better: Remember earlier when I said that “perception is king?” If the message you are communicating to your target market is in alignment with what people are already looking for, you can shape their perceptions of expecting an exceptional product or service even before they purchase from you.
BUT - your message must hit home with what they actually want (benefits) and your product or service MUST deliver what you promise.
With a well developed, relevant message you don’t have to do any of the icky parts of selling. Rather, your job is to connect and communicate and then deliver. Going back to our movie example, my husband and I were already looking for a comedy. No one had to “sell” us on wanting to watch a comedy. They just had to put something in front of us that had the potential of meeting our desire. We were sold before we bought the ticket. It took a poorly done movie to “unsell” us. And even that wasn’t easy. You have a better product. You can deliver.
So, what are your ideal customers really looking for? What do they really want? What do they really need? What are they already looking for? What do your products or services do that can deliver on those desires? Those are the benefits. Those are the hot buttons of your core message and they will have little to do with the actual features of your product or service. As long as your product or service delivers on what they really want, the actual product or service is incidental.
So here’s the big take-away: To be a successful business, don’t craft your marketing message around what’s incidental. Craft it around what is badly desired.
6 Secrets to Capturing More Business
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Nov 17, 2008
I attended a lunch last week where Tony Rubleski, author of Mind Capture: How you can stand out in the age of Advertising Deficit Disorder, spoke. I took a couple pages of notes that I thought I would share with you here.
A lot of what he talked about is not ground breaking information, but he positioned it in such a way that it had a real impact on me.
It’s interesting how we need to hear the same messages over an over in order for them to really sink in. As business owners and marketers, we know that it’s important to provide a consistent message across multiple media in order for our prospects to really hear it. This is also true for us. I might read 10 books this year and countless blog posts that essentially say the same things. However, I will likely pull different insights from each simply because of the positioning strategy of the message, or because of my frame of mind when reading it, or because of what someone else said about it.
The point is this: Keep reading. Keep listening. Keep learning.
With that said, here’s what Tony had to say about standing out in the “age of Advertising Deficit Disorder.” I’ve added some of my thoughts as well. Enjoy! (Then buy the book.)
The 3 Greatest Challenges We Face As Marketers in pursuit of a truly successful business:
1. Attention. We’ve all heard the claim that you only have 2 seconds to grab someone’s attention before you’ve lost your opportunity. I don’t know if that’s exactly true, but Tony points out that the principle is absolutely true. You have a very short period of time to capture someone’s attention with your marketing.
2. Time: 99.9% of people today are busy and easily distracted. When was the last time you talked to someone who wasn’t “really busy”? Yeah… I can’t remember either. All marketing campaigns are just one more thing competing for our prospect’s time.
3. Credibility: We are a highly skeptical society these days. In order for anyone to listen to you for more than 2 seconds and not immediately dismiss what you are claiming, you must prove your case. And, of course, you must do it quickly.
Here are 6 ways you can capture your audience’s attention, time and trust:
1. Referral Capture. Referrals are extremely powerful. We are much more likely to be open to hearing what someone has to say if they were first recommended to us by someone we know and trust. So… how can you get more referrals? Ask for them. You simply never know what will happen until you ask.
There’s an effective and not-so-effective way of doing this. The not-so-effective way is to just hand someone a few of your business cards and say, “When you come across someone who might be interested in what I have to offer, would you point them in my direction?”
The effective way is to be a bit more proactive and ask for introductions. If you are doing a good job taking care of your customers, they want you to be successful. Who do they know that you need to know? Ask them to introduce you.
A really great idea that Tony called “website magic” is to visit your top customer’s web sites and take a look at what they’re doing. Have they won any awards? Did they just launch a new product or service? Take note of something you would like to congratulate them on. Then, look for the space on their site where they list their clients. Find the one or two that you most want to be introduced to. Send your client an email that says, “I was on your web site today and noticed that ________. Congratulations! By the way, I also noticed that _____ is one of your clients. Would you mind introducing me to them?” You can also use this technique on Facebook, Linked in and My Space, etc.
Keep track of who is referring other people to you and reward them! If someone refers you once, it is highly likely they will refer you again and again - IF, you encourage that behavior by rewarding them. Every document you have should ask, “How did you hear about us?” Give your referrers gift certificates, gas cards, movie tickets, etc. Make the gift a real gift (not just a promotion) by giving them something you think they would enjoy that is not something you make or do.
2. Evidence Capture. Use testimonials, videos and blogs to support your claims. Give away content rich white papers, free reports and eBooks. Generate positive PR. Have an outrageous guarantee that shows just how much you believe in your product or service. Update testimonials frequently and consider the use of video testimonials.
3. Story Capture. Stories engage the mind. They are great attention grabbers. Once pulled into a great story, it is hard to pull away. Using stories in your marketing is a great way to capture someone’s attention and hold it for a decent length of time.
4. Content Capture. Give people really, really good content. Stop worrying about giving too much away for free. Do you really think that you have information that is not available for free somewhere right now? You can’t control information. You can’t capture it, hold it or corner the market on it. Don’t even try. Instead, set yourself up to be the main authority in your particular niche. Use the fact that people are short on time and don’t want to spend a lot of it searching for what they want or need to set yourself up as the one source they trust in a particular area.
Just because so much information is available for free doesn’t mean we aren’t willing to pay for it. Once we get serious about wanting to know something or do something, we will gladly pay for “how to” information. Your customers and clients are going to buy from someone when they get to that point. If you’ve given them plenty of great content over time, you will be the first one they go to when they are ready to purchase.
5. Grabber Capture. When using direct mail you must be creative in how you send it. Hand address the envelope and put a real stamp on it. Send it in a red greeting card envelope. Put something in the envelope (the lumpy mail technique). Mail the marketing piece in something other than an envelope. Be creative and bold about this. You could even send your letters via UPS or Fedex. The point is, put at least as much thought into how you are going to get your prospect to read a promotion as you do into producing the promotion. (This applies to email marketing as well. Be creative!)
6. Innovation Capture. Gather good ideas from everywhere. This includes outside your industry. A good idea is a good idea and can be applied to any industry. Make it a habit to look at everything with a child-like curiosity. Some of the best ideas have come from those who questioned everything. Keep track of all your ideas and the ideas of others’ by create and use a swipe or idea file.
Finally, Tony shared these quotes that I thought was worth passing on:
“Sometimes you have to be willing to be misunderstood.” Jeff Bezos (SP?) founder of Amazon.
“How many industry norms can you violate or turn upside down?” Dan Kennedy
Choosing your clients
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Oct 30, 2008
Last week I wrote a post that asked the quesiton, “Why Should Customers do Business With You?”
In that post, I dared to ask: “If you don’t know exactly why, in the eyes of your market, your business should continue to exist (and thrive), why should your prospects and customers?”
This is a vital question to answer, and answer clearly. But first - it is very important that you have a clear picture of who you are communicating to. Namely, who your ideal client is.
Understanding the difference between a client (or customer) and YOUR ideal client.
Your ideal client is made up of much, much more than some demographic information. Your ideal client has a face and a name. They have hopes, dreams, wants, needs, desires and attitudes that distinguish them from the “everyone else” that makeup your not-so-ideal clients. They also have a distinct lifestyle, distinct pain, and a distinct amount of money they are willing to spend to deal with that pain (level of motivation).
Until you know who you are communicating to, it is very difficult (if not impossible - as you may have already discovered) to discover the message that will resonate with “them”.
Until your ideal customer is much, much more to you than a general, faceless spreadsheet of demographic information, your message will not be targeted enough to even reach them.
Let alone get their attention.
So… Can you describe exactly who your ideal customer is?
There are many ways to do this. Scroll through your list of current and past customers. Ask yourself who resonated with you. Who has seemed to get the most out of your product or service? If you had to hold up one person and say, “Here! This is the kind of customer that makes me want to jump out of bed in the morning just so I can work harder at solving their issues.”
That is your ideal customer.
Good. Now, you need to know what they want?
You might have to do a little research here to find out what you need to know. Give them a call and ask if you can conduct a 10 minute “interview”. (They’ll be flattered.)
Send out a survey. Ask them questions about what they are worried about, what their hobbies are, what they fear, what they read, what they wish they could do or have, what they are looking for but having trouble finding, etc.
While you’re at it, ask them this: “At this time in your life, what is the one thing you need most from me/ my company?”
And, “In the sea of options out there, why did you choose (and continue to choose) us?” You might be surprised at the answer.
Other ways to find out more and further define your ideal customer: Read their web sites, read what they are interested in, subscribe to their newsletters, and join the associations they belong to.
This is an important task - don’t overlook it. It’s not only important in the process of developing a core marketing message, it’s important for your own happiness, well-being and effectiveness.
If you don’t define the kind of person you want to work with, you might end up with a group of customers that drain you and that you aren’t well suited to help. You could end up burned out and with the damaged reputation of being mediocre. Nobody wants that.
This post is part of a free email course that shows you how to uncover the motivating factors that drive your ideal customers to buy, and then breaks down the process for creating a core message that will drive them to buy from you. Subscribe to this free course now.
