Looking back at the last post I want you to think more about why YOU think that your business is different when it comes to marketing?
The fact is it's not. Whether your own a Florist or a Road Haulage company you still need to market your business don't you?
If you are selling business to consumer or B2B you are always selling to a person the only difference is one person is buying for themselves and the other for their business. Don't be fooled by the black curtain that is pulled across the two markets to separate them, that's there to make you feel safe which is risky business when it comes to making money, or at least good money.
I say rip it down pack up your ruck sack and go on a little adventure and find something from another industry and adapt it to yours, You'll be surprised at the results.
Marketing Man
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Friday, 3 September 2010
A few questions you may need to answer Yourself!
Answer these questions (Beware you might spell out a few home truths!)
Embrace change and listen to the future and the rest is history.
Marketing Man
- Why is it when I meet with a business owner who wants help with their marketing and advertising they immediately put up a defensive barrier when you suggest change?
- Why ask for help if you're not willing to change?
- Why do most businesses owners struggle day after day after day, yet when they are given a solution instantly dismiss it with "But my Business is different!"?
Embrace change and listen to the future and the rest is history.
Marketing Man
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Purple Cow
The Purple Cow
I never saw a purple cow
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one
by Gelett Burgess
How wrong could Gelett Burgess be. He obviously wasn't a marketer and if he was he would have been a terrible one. I use this poem as an example based on the great Seth Godin's perception of being a purple cow, It's much the same as the pink elephant it's about being noticed.
The bottom line is when it comes to marketing and advertising you want to be the Purple Cow not run away from it. This poem represents the millions of businesses out there who would just rather see the purple cows and gawp at them, the people who say 'Well my business is different, we could never market like that it just wouldn't work!'
At the end of the day the only way you will ever be seen as the market leader or different from your competitors is not by saying we have the best service and we have the best product but by shoving it in their face and mooing at them so they can't miss you.
Go away and read Purple Cow by Seth Godin learn how to be remarkable.
By it on Amazon: Purple cow
Marketing Man
I never saw a purple cow
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one
by Gelett Burgess
How wrong could Gelett Burgess be. He obviously wasn't a marketer and if he was he would have been a terrible one. I use this poem as an example based on the great Seth Godin's perception of being a purple cow, It's much the same as the pink elephant it's about being noticed.
The bottom line is when it comes to marketing and advertising you want to be the Purple Cow not run away from it. This poem represents the millions of businesses out there who would just rather see the purple cows and gawp at them, the people who say 'Well my business is different, we could never market like that it just wouldn't work!'
At the end of the day the only way you will ever be seen as the market leader or different from your competitors is not by saying we have the best service and we have the best product but by shoving it in their face and mooing at them so they can't miss you.
Go away and read Purple Cow by Seth Godin learn how to be remarkable.
By it on Amazon: Purple cow
Marketing Man
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Focus on them, Not you
When a prospect reads your ad, letter, brochure, etc., the one thing he will be wondering from the start is: “what’s in it for me?”
And if your copy doesn’t tell him, it’ll land in the bin faster than he can read the headline or lead.
A lot of advertisers make this mistake. They focus on them as a company. How long they’ve been in business, who their biggest customers are, how they’ve spent ten years of research and millions of dollars/pounds on developing this product, blah, blah.
Actually, those points are important. But they should be expressed in a way that matters to your potential customer. Remember, once he’s thrown it in the bin, the sale is lost!
When writing your copy, it helps to think of it as writing a letter to an old friend. In fact, I often picture a friend of mine who most closely fits my prospect’s profile. What would I say to convince this friend to try my product? How would I target my friend’s objections and beliefs to help my cause? When you’re writing to a friend, you’ll use the pronouns “I” and “you.” When trying to convince your friend, you might say: “Look, I know you think you’ve tried every widget out there. But you should know that…”
And it goes beyond just writing in the second person. That is, addressing your prospect as “you” within the copy. The fact of the matter is there are many successful ads that weren’t written in the second person. Some are written in the first person perspective, where the writer uses “I.” Other times the third person is used, with “she,” “he,” and “them.”
And even if you do write in the second person, it doesn’t necessarily mean your copy is about them.
For example:
“As a real estate agent, you can take comfort in the fact that I’ve sold over 10,000 homes and mastered the tricks of the trade”
Although you’re writing in the second person, you’re really still focusing on yourself.
So how can you focus on them?
Glad you asked. One way is to…
Emphasize Benefits, Not Features
What are features? They are descriptions of what qualities a product possesses.
• The XYZ car delivers 55 miles per gallon in the city.
• Our ladder’s frame is made from a lightweight durable steel alloy.
• Our glue is protected by a patent.
• This database has a built-in data-mining system, and what are benefits? They are what those features mean to your prospects.
• You’ll save money on gas and cut down on environmental pollutants when you use our energy saving high-performance hybrid car. Plus, you’ll feel the extra oomph when you’re passing cars, courtesy of the efficient electric motor, which they don’t have!
• Lightweight durable steel-alloy frame means you’ll be able to take it with you with ease, and use it in places most other ladders can’t go, while still supporting up to 800 pounds. No more backaches lugging around that heavy ladder. And it’ll last for 150 years, so you’ll never need to buy another ladder again!
• Patent-protected glue ensures you can use it on wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, glass, and tile…without messy cleanup and without ever having to re-glue it again—guaranteed!
• You can instantly see the “big picture” hidden in your data, and pull the most arcane statistics on demand. Watch your business do a “180” in no time flat, when you instantly know why it’s failing in the first place! It’s all done with our built-in data-mining system that’s so easy to use, my twelve year-old son used it successfully right out of the box.
I just made up those examples, but I think you understand my point.
By the way, did you notice in the list of features where I wrote “steel alloy?” But in the benefits I wrote “steel-alloy” (with a hyphen). Not sure off-hand which one is correct, but I know which one I’d use.
Here’s why: you are not writing to impress your English teacher or win any awards. The only award you’re after is your copy beating the control (control being the best-selling copy so far), so take some liberty in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You want it to be read and acted upon, not read and admired!
But—back to benefits… If you were selling an expensive watch, you wouldn’t tell your reader that the face is 2 inches in diameter and the band is made of leather.
You show him how the extra-large face will tell him the time at a glance. No sir! He won’t have to squint and look foolish to everyone around him trying to read this magnificent timepiece. And how about the way he’ll project success and charisma when he wears the beautiful gold watch with its handcrafted custom leather band? How his lover will find him irresistible when he’s all dressed up to go out, wearing the watch. Or how the watch’s status and beauty will attract the ladies.
Incidentally, did you notice how I brought up not squinting as a benefit? Does that sound like a silly benefit? Not if you are selling to affluent baby boomers suffering from degrading vision. They probably hate it when someone they’re trying to impress sees them squint in order to read something. It’s all part of their inner desire, which you need to discover. And which even they may not know about. That is, until you show them a better way.
The point is to address the benefits of the product, not its features. And when you do that, you’re focusing on your reader and his interests, his desires. The trick is to highlight those specific benefits (and word them correctly) that push your reader’s emotional hot buttons.
How do you do that? Well I’ll tell you next week...
And if your copy doesn’t tell him, it’ll land in the bin faster than he can read the headline or lead.
A lot of advertisers make this mistake. They focus on them as a company. How long they’ve been in business, who their biggest customers are, how they’ve spent ten years of research and millions of dollars/pounds on developing this product, blah, blah.
Actually, those points are important. But they should be expressed in a way that matters to your potential customer. Remember, once he’s thrown it in the bin, the sale is lost!
When writing your copy, it helps to think of it as writing a letter to an old friend. In fact, I often picture a friend of mine who most closely fits my prospect’s profile. What would I say to convince this friend to try my product? How would I target my friend’s objections and beliefs to help my cause? When you’re writing to a friend, you’ll use the pronouns “I” and “you.” When trying to convince your friend, you might say: “Look, I know you think you’ve tried every widget out there. But you should know that…”
And it goes beyond just writing in the second person. That is, addressing your prospect as “you” within the copy. The fact of the matter is there are many successful ads that weren’t written in the second person. Some are written in the first person perspective, where the writer uses “I.” Other times the third person is used, with “she,” “he,” and “them.”
And even if you do write in the second person, it doesn’t necessarily mean your copy is about them.
For example:
“As a real estate agent, you can take comfort in the fact that I’ve sold over 10,000 homes and mastered the tricks of the trade”
Although you’re writing in the second person, you’re really still focusing on yourself.
So how can you focus on them?
Glad you asked. One way is to…
Emphasize Benefits, Not Features
What are features? They are descriptions of what qualities a product possesses.
• The XYZ car delivers 55 miles per gallon in the city.
• Our ladder’s frame is made from a lightweight durable steel alloy.
• Our glue is protected by a patent.
• This database has a built-in data-mining system, and what are benefits? They are what those features mean to your prospects.
• You’ll save money on gas and cut down on environmental pollutants when you use our energy saving high-performance hybrid car. Plus, you’ll feel the extra oomph when you’re passing cars, courtesy of the efficient electric motor, which they don’t have!
• Lightweight durable steel-alloy frame means you’ll be able to take it with you with ease, and use it in places most other ladders can’t go, while still supporting up to 800 pounds. No more backaches lugging around that heavy ladder. And it’ll last for 150 years, so you’ll never need to buy another ladder again!
• Patent-protected glue ensures you can use it on wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, glass, and tile…without messy cleanup and without ever having to re-glue it again—guaranteed!
• You can instantly see the “big picture” hidden in your data, and pull the most arcane statistics on demand. Watch your business do a “180” in no time flat, when you instantly know why it’s failing in the first place! It’s all done with our built-in data-mining system that’s so easy to use, my twelve year-old son used it successfully right out of the box.
I just made up those examples, but I think you understand my point.
By the way, did you notice in the list of features where I wrote “steel alloy?” But in the benefits I wrote “steel-alloy” (with a hyphen). Not sure off-hand which one is correct, but I know which one I’d use.
Here’s why: you are not writing to impress your English teacher or win any awards. The only award you’re after is your copy beating the control (control being the best-selling copy so far), so take some liberty in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You want it to be read and acted upon, not read and admired!
But—back to benefits… If you were selling an expensive watch, you wouldn’t tell your reader that the face is 2 inches in diameter and the band is made of leather.
You show him how the extra-large face will tell him the time at a glance. No sir! He won’t have to squint and look foolish to everyone around him trying to read this magnificent timepiece. And how about the way he’ll project success and charisma when he wears the beautiful gold watch with its handcrafted custom leather band? How his lover will find him irresistible when he’s all dressed up to go out, wearing the watch. Or how the watch’s status and beauty will attract the ladies.
Incidentally, did you notice how I brought up not squinting as a benefit? Does that sound like a silly benefit? Not if you are selling to affluent baby boomers suffering from degrading vision. They probably hate it when someone they’re trying to impress sees them squint in order to read something. It’s all part of their inner desire, which you need to discover. And which even they may not know about. That is, until you show them a better way.
The point is to address the benefits of the product, not its features. And when you do that, you’re focusing on your reader and his interests, his desires. The trick is to highlight those specific benefits (and word them correctly) that push your reader’s emotional hot buttons.
How do you do that? Well I’ll tell you next week...
Monday, 23 August 2010
Time To Re-Evaluate Your Market
Time To Re-Evaluate Your Market
There are offline businesses going into bankruptcy everywhere. In a time of prosperity, people rush to buy the latest electronic gadget or to get the latest bath accessories, one for each change of the season. So, your market niche may have done well when the economy was doing well, but now you've noticed a down tick in purchases. What's going on? Don't assume that this is a product of the economic recession; instead, be proactive and try to determine what factors are affecting your sales. It could be the economy, but it could also be various other factors: A shifting demographic, poor sales strategies that don't work in a downturn, or bad or no advertising campaign.
Shifting Demographics
When you set up your business, you probably had a good idea of what demographic you wanted to serve. With the recession, the demographic you serve may have had shifts in their income level or even living situations. Take a look at the boomer generation. They are experiencing an epic shift in their income as they retire, with battered retirement accounts from poor market results. Even though you could rely on this demographic to purchase certain products and services as they continued to dominate the market, this may not be true in the future. So, you need to re-evaluate the demographics that you are serving in your market niche.
Sales Strategies
Running the same promotions with worse results? That's not really surprising considering that the psychology of the market place has changed dramatically and that the consumer may not be in a buying mood for a while. Before the recession, status was a great psychological trigger to use to create a buying opportunity. The same trigger is somewhat meaningless in a downturn unless you are marketing to the very rich. The biggest strategy for the downturn is going to be value offers; you need to make sure that many of your strategies reflect a trigger for value.
Bad or No Advertising Campaigns
The immediate impulse of business owners in a downturn is to stop throwing money at advertising since there are fewer buyers. This is a mistake and can be a self-fulfilling prophecy for poor sales later on. So, if you haven't evaluated your advertising campaign, you need to do that now. Look at where you are advertising, what psychological triggers and sales strategies you are using, and whether you can provide value offers that put you ahead of the competition during this tough economy.
Phill Hudson
Visit: www.westlancsleafletdistribution.co.uk
There are offline businesses going into bankruptcy everywhere. In a time of prosperity, people rush to buy the latest electronic gadget or to get the latest bath accessories, one for each change of the season. So, your market niche may have done well when the economy was doing well, but now you've noticed a down tick in purchases. What's going on? Don't assume that this is a product of the economic recession; instead, be proactive and try to determine what factors are affecting your sales. It could be the economy, but it could also be various other factors: A shifting demographic, poor sales strategies that don't work in a downturn, or bad or no advertising campaign.
Shifting Demographics
When you set up your business, you probably had a good idea of what demographic you wanted to serve. With the recession, the demographic you serve may have had shifts in their income level or even living situations. Take a look at the boomer generation. They are experiencing an epic shift in their income as they retire, with battered retirement accounts from poor market results. Even though you could rely on this demographic to purchase certain products and services as they continued to dominate the market, this may not be true in the future. So, you need to re-evaluate the demographics that you are serving in your market niche.
Sales Strategies
Running the same promotions with worse results? That's not really surprising considering that the psychology of the market place has changed dramatically and that the consumer may not be in a buying mood for a while. Before the recession, status was a great psychological trigger to use to create a buying opportunity. The same trigger is somewhat meaningless in a downturn unless you are marketing to the very rich. The biggest strategy for the downturn is going to be value offers; you need to make sure that many of your strategies reflect a trigger for value.
Bad or No Advertising Campaigns
The immediate impulse of business owners in a downturn is to stop throwing money at advertising since there are fewer buyers. This is a mistake and can be a self-fulfilling prophecy for poor sales later on. So, if you haven't evaluated your advertising campaign, you need to do that now. Look at where you are advertising, what psychological triggers and sales strategies you are using, and whether you can provide value offers that put you ahead of the competition during this tough economy.
Phill Hudson
Visit: www.westlancsleafletdistribution.co.uk
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