Archive for May, 2010
Johnny Vargas Internet Marketing
In Part 1, I discussed how traditional marketing is no longer
working the way it used to. This is happening for a variety of
reasons — people have too many mass media choices,
they’re bombarded with way too many marketing messages,
the Internet is adding accountability to advertising, etc.
So if traditional marketing is no longer effective, then how
will you get the word out about your products or services?
What Internet Marketer Seth Godin, author of the book
Permission Marketing, calls permission marketing.
Permission marketing is when your customers give you
permission to market to them. This is opposite from
traditional marketing, also known as interruption marketing
(another term coined by Godin).
Interruption marketing works by interrupting you. Nobody
watches television for the commercials. Nobody flips
through a magazine for the ads. But that’s how interruption
marketing gets you to buy something.
Permission marketing is completely different. With
permission marketing, customers look forward to hearing
from you. They LIKE receiving information about your
products and services. That’s because they’ve agreed to
enter into a relationship with you. And if permission
marketing is done correctly, you’ll eventually develop a
stronger relationship with your customers than you ever
would have with interruption marketing. (But that doesn’t
mean interruption marketing doesn’t have its place. More on
that later.)
Permission marketing isn’t new. In fact, it’s older than
interruption marketing. Back before there was mass media,
business owners routinely developed long-term
relationships with their customers. And customers expected
to be involved with the selling process from the beginning.
Now, of course, we no longer need to be dependent on
building relationships face-to-face. With the Internet, we
have a whole host of low-cost options available to us, which
makes permission marketing easier now than it was
before.
Here’s how it works. You start by developing something that
your customers find valuable enough to give you permission
to contact them on a regular basis. E-newsletters or e-zines,
which are e-mail newsletters, are popular and so are Web
blogs. Web blogs are like online journals. For a fun sample,
check out http://www.boingboing.net Or Seth Godin has his
own blog — http://www.sethgodin.com
But e-zines and Web blogs aren’t the only things of value
people sign up for — you can offer them classes delivered
via e-mail or tips or contests or points programs or special
offers or whatever your creativity can come up with.
While it is possible to develop a relationship with customers
using only offline techniques (for instance, a printed
newsletter you mail to your customers) it’s less expensive
and more effective to use the Internet. It’s quick and easy for
your customers to sign up via your Web site and it’s cheap
for you to send it out via e-mail.
However, in order to get people to sign up, you first need to
tell them about it. That’s where interruption marketing
comes in. You still need to get the word out about what
you’re offering. Then once they sign up, you can start
building the relationship.
Is this a lot of work? Yes. Is it more work than interruption
marketing? Yes again. But is it more effective than
interruption marketing? It can be. Especially since
interruption marketing isn’t working the way it used to.
I feel that permission marketing favors small business
owners. That’s because permission marketing only works
when customers and businesses form a relationship, and
customers prefer forming relationships with people rather
than entities. Customers want to know the person behind
the business, not just the business itself.
But that doesn’t mean big corporations can’t employ
permission marketing techniques. They just need to get
creative about it. Perhaps developing a spokesperson or a
business “personality” or a forum or group of people.
The important thing is to start thinking about how marketing
is changing and what you can do about it.
(Resource for article: Seth Godin, Permission Marketing)
Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com
4 Tips to Profit from Niche Marketing | RISMedia
RISMEDIA, March 17, 2010
Internet Marketing Seminars, Sales, and 9 Email Marketing.
With the continued proliferation of the Internet, the meaning of the word “marketing” also seems to proliferate. Cyberspace has opened up a whole arena of new marketing technologies, techniques, and twists. Amidst the online exuberance, it seems each online marketer or salesperson changes the definition of marketing to suit his or her preference.
Many times, ill-conceived notions and perceptions reduce the meaning of the word “marketing” to a shadow of it’s true self. Many see marketing as a series of tactics or gimmicks. Some define marketing as pyramid programs and the like. Others treat the words “marketing” and “sales” or “marketing” and “advertising as synonymous. None of these adequately convey the definition of marketing.
Different Marketing Definitions
Along with all of the new terminology, new techniques, and new twists the Internet has brought us, it has also opened opportunities for misguided notions about the definition of marketing. While the above definitions describe different facets or definitions of related terms, they do not convey the much broader process that is truly marketing. By taking a look at some dictionary and trade definitions of marketing we can get a better feel for what marketing is truly about:
American Marketing Association Definition
The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. (Note 1)
American Heritage Dictionary’s Definition of Marketing
The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer. (Note 2)
Merriam Webster’s Marketing Definition
1 b: the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.
2: an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer. (Note 3)
Marketing Definition From MSN Encarta Dictionary
The business activity of presenting products or services to potential customers in such a way as to make them eager to buy. Marketing includes such matters as the pricing and packaging of the product and the creation of demand by advertising and sales campaigns. (Note 4)
Note the phrasing: “The process,” “functions involved,” “process or technique,” “an aggregate,” “the business activity.” These all get to the heart of the definition of marketing.
As a process, there are certain foundations of marketing that will never become obsolete. We still have products, services, and ideas to sell at some price. We deliver to our customers via some means of distribution. We promote and we advertise. Those are the basics. Those basics still exist and always will.
If The Marketing Definition Hasn’t Changed, Then What Has?
What has changed is the business environment. Companies compete with more efficient technologies. Customers have better access to their cost options and they communicate to each other in ways not conceivable in the pre-Internet age.
In some industries, the Internet has lowered the cost of entry so that entrepreneurs — many times from a home office — have entered the competition. The changes in competitive environment are numerous. What have also changed are marketing strategies and the marketing programs we have available to implement those strategies.
These have changed, but the basic marketing definition has not. Superior marketing is and always has been analysis, then action. It is strategy development, then logical and thought-out tactical implementation. It is the way to customer satisfaction and increasing profit.
The steps to successful marketing and implementation include:
1) Analyzing your customers and the business environment in order to
2) identify key opportunities to better and more profitably meet customer needs,
3) figuring out how to act on those opportunities, and then
4) implementing your plan.
The process doesn’t have to be cumbersome. Five-year plans and novel-length documents are not required. The logic of the action is what is important.
By applying the basic marketing process, rather than a tactic here and a technique there, your chances of success skyrocket.
Notes:
1. [http://www.marketingpower.com/live/mg-dictionary.php]
2. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
3. Merriam-Webster Online, http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary
4. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx
About The Author
Bobette Kyle draws upon 12+ years of Marketing/Executive experience, Marketing MBA, and online marketing research in her writing. Bobette is proprietor of the Web Site Marketing Plan Network http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com and author of the marketing plan and Web promotion book “How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing For Small Budget Business, http://www.howmuchforspider.com/TOC.htm .
Copyright 2002 – 2004 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.
Internet Marketing Solutions: | notes a small green godong
Internet marketing solutions are nowadays offered by many online companies. It matters on which companies Internet marketing solutions gives best result in.
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In this article we will look in depth at a relatively new wrinkle in marketing for law firms known as “attorney-client matching services”. First a little background is in order. The legal services market segment is expected to reach $82.5 billion in 2008 according to Euromonitor International a market intelligence firm. In recent history consumers have been finding attorneys through word-of mouth or through the yellow pages. Often the word-of mouth advice does not deliver people to the best possible solution for their particular needs and the yellow pages is certainly not a great place to select a lawyer I am sure you would agree. Additionally, according to the Pew Internet & American Life over four million consumers and small businesses currently search for legal services via the Internet every month with these numbers expected to rise to over seven million by 2007. I think you can see this is a huge market getting larger. It is imperative that attorneys understand this marketplace if for no other reason your potential clients and clients are moving to the Internet and yellow page advertising is a dying marketing for law firms vehicle. Understanding attorney-client matching services is one new way to tap into this Internet marketplace.
What I will not be talking about here is attorney-listing services. Please don’t get confused between attorney-listing services and attorney-client matching services. The two majors in the attorney-listing services arena are Lawyers.com or FindLaw.com that are used by many in marketing for law firms. With attorney marketing one might want to get a minimal listing on one or both of these two major sites. Both do drive a large amount of traffic to their sites for sure (in the millions of visitors per year). If you do get a listing then track your results carefully and see if being in the middle of a pack of listed attorneys actually does produce clients for you. Please don’t spend more on them than the basic listing that will run about $150 or so per month, at least until you can document results with the basic listing. Also, don’t buy your website through either of them, even if after testing you find good results, for many reasons that can be found under the Internet marketing tab on my website. One last note here, you probably don’t want to test most of the lesser attorney-listing competitors like lawinfo.com, lawcore.com or attorneyfind.com is my take, however if you do be sure to track your results. The rest of this article is about attorney-client matching services.
Attorney Marketing Via Five Attorney-Client Matching Players
In the attorney-client matching field there are five competitors for the attorney marketing dollar offering online attorney-client matching services. The first and originator is LegalMatch.com and its newer competitor being CasePost.com as well as a third competitor LegalFish.com. The two big players that offer almost everything in attorney marketing, Lawyers.com and FindLaw.com; have also recently begun to offer a version of attorney-client matching services.
Lets begin with LegalMatch that was established in 1999 and is based in San Francisco. LegalMatch uses a double blind matching system. By double blind they mean the consumer does not see identifying information about who the lawyers are and the lawyer does not see identifying information about who the consumers are although all the cards are put on the table for both to see before any contact is made between them. Through an allocation model LegalMatch makes the decision about which lawyers get the consumer’s information. Consumers can opt into “priority service” for a fee to talk with a LegalMatch staff attorney about their case and work with that attorney in selecting the attorney for their case. LegalMatch does have partnerships with the Utah State Bar Association, ATLA and NACDL. Membership fees for this marketing for law firms vehicle run from $2,500 to $25,000 per year (they will finance the membership fee if desired) depending on practice area and geographic location of the attorney. For example, a PI attorney in Los Angeles would likely be charged more than a family law attorney in Los Angeles, while the family lawyer in Peoria is likely to pay less than the family law attorney in Los Angeles. Their guarantee consists of extending your membership at no fee until your revenues have exceeded the fee you paid them.
Are There Legal Marketing Ethics Issues with Attorney-Client Matching?
A relevant digression here, since this model is not a lawyer referral program, a pre-paid legal service plan, a joint or cooperative advertising or a directory listing service it is not subject to ethics rules around much of marketing for law firms it has been asserted. Recently the Professional Ethics Committee of the Texas State Bar was looking into these practices and that committee received a seven-page letter (May 26, 2006) from the FTC that was agreed to by a unanimous vote of the FTC commission members that this attorney marketing practice is indeed ethical.
Already the states of North Carolina and South Carolina found the practice ethical. The Rhode Island Supreme Court specifically named in an ethics opinion that online matching services are ethical. Finally, the Utah State Bar (a mandatory bar) has retained LegalMatch as their lawyer referral service clearly indicating their thinking about LegalMatch’s ethical nature it seems to me. Naturally you do need to check with your state bar to be sure this is an ethical practice in your state. Now back to the options in the marketplace.
CasePost.com, based in Southern California, was established in 2002 is a second player in this area of marketing for law firms. They operate in a similar fashion as LegalMatch in matching clients with lawyers; however, the directory of attorneys is shown to the consumer immediately. The consumer can decide whether they want to remain anonymous or give their contact information to the attorneys. The consumer is limited to four attorney responses. Thus the consumer determines what attorneys will get their information. In May of 2006 CasePost has made a major expansion as a result of their partnership with HandelOnTheLaw.com that is powered by a successful nationally syndicated radio show on over 120 stations with attorney Bill Handel. This show has been running since 1985. They also have a strategic relationship with LegalZoom.com that began in 2006 that has increased their reach. Like LegalMatch the membership fees for this attorney marketing vehicle are from $2,500 to $25,000 per year (financing is available if desired) depending on practice area and location. Their guarantee to a member is based on a minimum amount of referrals over the year.
LegalFish is a third player in this arena. It entered the marketplace in 2003 and is based in Chicago. It is a bit different than the other two in a few ways. Like the other players the consumer can input their information and post their cases to the site as well give their identifying information or not. In a number of cases LegalFish will contact the posting consumer themselves by telephone or email to delve deeper into the needs of the consumer so they are not totally automated. There is an allocation model used by LegalFish in referring the cases to their members. Another difference is LegalFish charges a monthly fee for this marketing for law firms vehicle ranging from $180 to $750 to members that are non-contingency based practices. For contingency based practices the fee ranges from $1600 to $5000+ monthly only if the client retains the attorney. If LegalFish does not deliver a referral to a member that retains that attorney they don’t charge a fee to that attorney for the month (a form of a guarantee). Creating something of a “shared risk” system. Naturally, with this type of shared risk system, long-term success for both parties is based on LegalFish’s ability to generate new client opportunities and create demand for legal services, and their member attorneys’ ability to convert those referrals to paying clients. Both parties have to “pull their weight”. Finally, LegalFish reports they are particularly committed to serving the solo and small firm market with ten employees or less.
The next player in this marketing for law firms arena is Lawyers.com (mentioned earlier in this article about their directory listing or attorney-listing service) with their new Attorney Match Service. If you go to their homepage what stands out on that homepage is their “Find A Lawyer Quick Search”. This is their free to the consumer attorney-listing service (this is why you might want to test a listing with them and track results). To get to the Attorney Match Service you have to know to click on “Contact Lawyers” navigation tab or notice it up there at the very top of the Lawyers.com home page. Clicking on that takes you to a page where you input your zip code and the practice area you are seeking, however, it also tells you how many lawyers there are listed that “are interested in receiving your request”. You are required to fill in the identifying information with other case information. Once you do that you see the attorneys listed and pick the ones you want to send your request to and wait for their replies. The fee for the attorney member is $495 per year, however, you must have a biographical level listing on lawyers.com to be on the Attorney Match Service and that is $150 and up per month depending on the size of your firm. There is no guarantee for this service.
The final player in this marketing for law firms arena is Thompson’s Findlaw.com (mentioned earlier as an attorney-listing service) with their new attorney-matching website http://www.LegalConnection.com. The FindLaw system is similar to the Lawyers.com system with three steps of #1 Select your legal need; #2 Tell us about your case; and #3 Choose the attorney that’s right for you. It is different from Lawyers.com’s system since they have broken it out of their attorney-listing services completely with its own dedicated website. Their fees generally run from $500 to $1000 per month depending on your practice area and geographic location. They do not have a guarantee. They do report that they do set targets for each geographic area as well as practice combination and then will manage their marketing to get positive results for attorneys.
Well, now we have all the players in this particular niche of marketing for law firms with a lot of information. I think it would be imperative for me to mention one more item. Both Legal Match and CasePost have negative information on the Internet and it needs to be considered. If you go to Google and search just the term LegalMatch and then do the same with CasePost you will be able to find details about the negative information. One location that covers the negative information on LegalMatch with relevant links is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LegalMatch although that is disputed as not being sufficiently neutral in tone, which is one of Wikipedia’s requirements..
Conclusions and Recommendations on Attorney-Client Matching
Let me list my current thoughts/conclusions in this marketing for law firms niche of attorney-client matching services and from there it is up to you to make your decision:
1. This marketing for law firms vehicle clearly has some merit. This approach can deliver business to you that you would not get otherwise and get it to you now. Yes, you can do better and at least arguably cheaper for yourself through the right Internet attorney marketing strategies (see my website). However, it is not going to happen tomorrow and attorney-client matching can happen tomorrow. You can build your own systems while using these systems and then decide if you want to continue their systems or not. They will always probably get some business you would not have gotten otherwise even if you had your own online systems.
2. Unfortunately you are only “renting” the methods used to get the business you are being sent and don’t “own” the business methods used. If you had the correct Internet marketing for law firms system up you would have a salable asset in those systems and be driving traffic exclusively to you, which is better than this option almost certainly in the long run for most if not all attorneys. Additionally, as a general principle it is not good to be dependent on any one source of referrals as I am sure you know. That said I still think attorney-client matching services are a good option before you have your own Internet marketing systems and/or other marketing systems up. You may even want to continue these services after you have your own systems up. Having your own systems up makes you more secure and now you are at choice about staying with the service or not.
3. Who is this marketing for law firms vehicle for really?
a. Someone who needs more business right now. These systems have a stream of business coming right now and they can send it your way right now. Other attorney marketing systems will take some time to make happen and yield results.
b. Someone who is very, very clear they don’t want to be involved in the marketing process and are willing to pay someone else to do it for them even if it costs them more and they are “renting”. If that is you, then this is probably a good move for you. That said, you still are going to have to “close” the client they send you via email or on the phone so you are going to be involved in marketing at that level, just less marketing. You are never going to get away from that aspect unless you are an associate who does nothing but technical work in someone else’s practice (not that there is anything wrong with that).
c. Someone who is doing some attorney marketing that is not working for them or not working very effectively for them since if you stop what is not working and do this type that is working you may be able to reduce your marketing costs while increasing your revenue stream.
d. Finally, a partner level attorney who has a senior associate that has good people skills that could work this marketing for law firms vehicle and close the referred clients.
4. Who is this type of attorney marketing not for?
a. Someone who won’t attend to the referrals from the matching service most if not nearly every working day.
b. Someone who does not have fair to good “closing skills” or “bedside manner” (Note: you can get some coaching from these firms to improve this aspect if needed and/or see my website for more information on this skill set). You are not the only attorney getting the referral from the match firm so you need to “shine” well enough to get hired. There is still an element of competition involved with maybe 3 to 5 other attorneys who got the same referral.
c. Someone in a geographic area that does not generate a lot of referrals in your practice area. Like a rural area or small town or maybe an estate planner in a low-income area. So you see this marketing for law firms vehicle is not for everyone.
5. The negative information on LegalMatch and CasePost is somewhat troubling to me even though much of it is from the past and has been positively addressed. The negative information of the past on LegalMatch appears to have not troubled the Utah Bar, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. This is reassuring to me.
6. If you were reasonably sure this type of vehicle is for you I would go with LegalMatch first. I am presuming you are willing to work their system diligently and have at least low average “closing” skills (they will work with you to get your closing ratio up if you need some support in that area). Why LegalMatch? They have over 1500 members currently (a good sign I think), over 90 employees and have been in business longer. I figure that gives them an edge in knowledge, results and staying in business over time. Additionally, their “footprint” of bringing business to their members is almost certainly larger since they have more resources to drive business to their site than the others. If for some reason you are uncertain if this type of marketing for law firms is for you then I would go with LegalFish first. Why LegalFish? The LegalFish option would allow you to get into this marketing for law firms arena now with less expense and less risk than LegalMatch or CasePost. Do realize the LegalFish attorney marketing “footprint” is going to be much smaller than either of the other two services so they won’t be sending as large a volume of business your way almost certainly. Do be sure you have in your agreement with LegalFish that they will not charge you for the months they do not send you business. If you had a good experience working the referrals from LegalFish, diligently worked the system almost daily, realized a good return on your investment and you wanted to do more then I would look into LegalMatch next. Either starting with LegalMatch or LegalFish, if you find that you really liked this approach to marketing for law firms there is nothing wrong with belonging to two or even three of the services.
7. If you decide to become a member with LegalMatch, Case Post and/or LegalFish do remember your financial arrangement and term of membership are somewhat to greatly negotiable. Do negotiate a win/win agreement for yourself. Naturally, if you can get references of current members to contact from them in your practice area and in a similar type market to yours so much the better before you sign your agreement.
8. I probably would not go with Lawyers.com at this point. Why? First, no guarantee. Next Lawyers.com does not appear to me to be promoting that part of the site enough. Additionally, I am not sure it is worth the cost of the bio and the fee that together will run at least $2,400 for the year. I suspect this money could be better put to use with one of the “big three”. Lastly, given the consumer has a list of attorneys that could be large (search on the site for your zip code and practice areas and see how large it is for your area) you are going to be in a crowd I fear. Thus it looks like not much business and it seems no way to impact the consumers’ thinking in your direction at the point where they are selecting who to contact. An exception to this thinking is if you already have a bio listing with them (and it is delivering business to you) this add on service might be a useful attorney marketing move given you are only spending $495 more per year. That said keep good records and see if it produces you any business. If not you would stop the service of course.
9. With respect to LegalConnection.com I probably would not go with them at this point. Why? No guarantee. I do see it as an advantage that it is a stand-alone away from the FindLaw.com site. For that reason alone I would favor it over Lawyers.com, however, I don’t see LegalConnection.com or Lawyers.com as being in the same class as the “big three” at this point in time.
You can download free now the 125 page Report titled “31 Proven Law Firm Marketing Strategies” by Henry Harlow and much more. You can increase your income; reduce your work hours as you serve your clients better than ever – guaranteed. http://www.Law-Firm-Marketing-Coach.com
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To hit the nail on the pinnacle, Internet Advertising Companies is the trunk and search engine advertising is a department of a tree. Any services or products.
E-Mail Marketers Don't Get Mobile Marketing : Mobile Marketing …
Mobile Marketing, Mobile Phone Marketing, SMS Marketing, Mobile Phone News, Mobile Phone Marketing News, Mobile Handsets.
The Importance of a Marketing Plan for Small Businesses
The great thing about a marketing plan is that eliminates much of the guesswork associated with marketing. If you do the hard work of building a marketing plan, you no longer have to market by trial and error. …
Successful Marketing For Introverts
In my experience I have seen many levels of introvert and extrovert. Let me share some of my own.
* Invite me to a party — I’d rather have a root canal
* Have me speak about something I’m passionate about in front of a group of people — I shine.
* Put me in a “casual” networking group — root canal please.
* Put me in a “structured” networking group where I can ask for what I need and help others at the same time — I’m in heaven.
We all have our levels of how we interact, the environments where we thrive and the environments where we are extremely uncomfortable. I have seen many people go into business for themselves, myself included, that would rather give up their dream than to market their business and themselves. I was almost one of those statistics. I almost QUIT my dream until I discovered the secret.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrases for successful marketing, Find Your Passion; Market from your Passion; Marketing from Within, etc. This is actually correct, but there are a few more steps. Too many times we focus on things we can’t do (weakness) versus the things we can do (strength). The most common phrase I’ve heard is “I don’t want to feel like I’m selling.” Then we have this belief we’re supposed to market from the standard marketing box; cold calls, networking groups, speaking, knocking on doors, etc. NO! You don’t need to jump directly into the marketing box first. Get out of the should(s) and the can’t(s). Step into what you do well and what you enjoy first, then, open the marketing door.
The Secret
1. Give yourself permission to redefine marketing to fit your style.
Example #1
A program participant was very good at her profession as a lawyer but was very uncomfortable with marketing. I have clients brainstorm and write down their strengths and passions. She expressed she had very few on her list. It doesn’t matter how many are on your list as long as you pay attention to what’s there. Some people have 30-40, others have 5-10. She chose her top 3.
Out of her 3 the main passion and strength on her list was one-on-one conversations. We then began thinking of who might be good strategic partnerships for her business. She was thrilled she could not only market from her favorite and most comfortable approach, but also choose her favorite environment, which happened to be in a cozy coffee shop. However, that wasn’t all that was holding her back. She had never given herself permission to call one-on-one conversations marketing. Once she redefined marketing to One-On-One Conversations, she left saying, “I feel like I’ve had a black cloud lifted off my head.”
2. Give yourself permission to market from your comfort zone.
When she gave herself permission to market from her comfort zone she began taking more steps naturally. Two weeks later I turned around at my networking group and there she was. She was enjoying herself because she gave herself permission to redefine marketing to fit her passions and strengths AND she allowed herself to market from her comfort zone. I have seen this so many times. Once you give yourself permission to stand in your comfort zone, it’s amazing how you will naturally evolve towards expanding your marketing. It becomes FUN and Exciting!
Example #2
Look at what you already have. All you need to market may be right in front of you with your most comfortable group of prospective clients.
A Life Coach I met had a horrible fear of marketing but really believed in his chosen profession and didn’t want to give it up. Through the process described above most of his fears disappeared. But he still found himself hesitating. He had identified his best client but that first step of where to begin seemed too big. In asking Bob about his past profession and contacts he realized not only would they be a perfect client but he knew a large number of people he could comfortably approach. Bob did several things.
1) Gave himself permission to redefine marketing to fit his style.
2) Gave himself permission to market from his comfort zone.
3) Identified a market he had come from and was comfortable.
4) He became so energized with his approach he is making cold calls speaking from the passion of his business.
Sometimes we are so close to things we can’t see them. Look right in front of you — your perfect client and ease of approach might be within reach.
However you approach your marketing, you get to choose how you do it. If need be, ditch the word marketing and insert ____________ (the words that fit YOU).
Receive the Free, 5-Steps To Market Your Way e-course at http://tinyurl.com/ye34h6j
Beth Woodward, CPCC, CEK (Chief Executive Kid). Beth is the creator of the popular Marketing On The Playground™ Program, Adventures In Brainstorming for Women In Business™, The My Way Marketing Plan™; and is the author of the Marketing Ideas for Women In Business™ e-Storybook. (the guys like it too) http://www.MarketingOnThePlayground.com
Put a Little Meaning Into Internet Marketing
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Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer over at Audi, has made it known that Audi of America will increase its viral …
Take Your Marketing Operations to the Next Level | Igniting …
The marketing operations function enables the marketing organization to operate more like a business, with formalized processes, infrastructure, and.
Johnny Vargas Internet Marketing
Marketing Planning Made Simple – Another Small Business Power Tool
Marketing planning must be really difficult and complex, otherwise why would there be so many books written on the subject … right?
Well, I’m just enough of a skeptic to believe that many of these books were designed more to make money for their publishers and authors than to make marketing planning simple and understandable.
I spent more than 30 years working with very successful small business people who never wrote a single marketing plan. Why didn’t they need complex, 100-page marketing plans chock full of statistics, charts and graphs like the experts recommend? It’s because they knew exactly where they wanted to take their companies and how to get them there and they were universally successful.
The fact is they basically carried their product “marketing plans” around in their heads. That’s how simple marketing planning can be. In fact, if you strip marketing planning down to its most basic elements, you could just about write your plan on the back of a napkin.
Okay, that might be a bit of an oversimplification, but let’s look at the six basic things you need to know for successful marketing planning.
1. The situation. Is this a new or existing product or service? If it has competition, how is it better than the competition? Bigger? Lasts longer? Easier to use? Offers more features? Priced better? You should be able to sum up your situation in a couple of sentences. If not, maybe you don’t really understand the situation.
2. The market. How big is the market for your product or service? This can be defined in terms of total dollars, number of units sold or any other quantifiable number. The important thing is to know the size of your market because only by knowing this can you define a marketing objective. You also need to define what the market looks like — Males, age 25-45? Soccer Moms? Working mothers? Seniors? Childless couples? A market isn’t just numbers, it’s people. And it’s important to understand where they are economically, what’s important to them, and what problems you can help them solve.
3. Strategy. Now that you have defined your situation and your market, it should be easy to develop a marketing strategy. For example, if your product is footless, control top panty hose, your strategy might be to “focus sales efforts on figure-conscience women age 34-45 during the spring and summer months.”
4. Tactics. If “strategy” is what you intend to do, “tactics” is what you need to do to accomplish it. In the case of the strategy example above, the tactics might be:
- Begin sales efforts against distributors by Feb. 1
- Have products in distribution pipeline by March 1 for delivery to retailers no later than April 1.
- Begin concentrated radio advertising in 12 key markets by April 15 …and so on
5. Objective(s). You can frame your objectives any way you want but you have to assign a number and a date. It’s no enough to say, “Successfully introduce the new product by year’s end.” In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else.” If you don’t include a number and a time, you will never know whether or not you were really successful. Write objectives like “sell 5,000 units by December 31.” Then, on January 1, you can count sales and determine how successful you were. Best case, you will find you sold 5,000 or more units and will know your marketing planning was right on. And if you didn’t meet the objective? You should be able to at least learn a lesson and do better next time.
6. Budgeting. The final thing you need to consider is how much money you can spend to meet your objective. The best way to do this is break down your budgeting by tactics. If you need to reach 100,000 women to sell 10,000 units of your product, do you have the money to do this – in terms or radio, newspaper, TV or direct mail? Do you need collateral materials such as brochures or in-store displays? How much will these things cost? Depending on your product or service, you may also have to hire a PR firm or an advertising agency. Be sure to budget for this expense.
Can you add more elements to your planning? Of course. Just go buy one of these marketing textbooks and you’ll find pages and pages of information that could be incorporated into your plan. The point here is that maybe you don’t have to make your marketing planning a huge and laborious project. Do what many of my clients have done – keep it simple, something you can just carry around in your head if that’s your style. The important things are your situation, your market, your strategy and tactics, your objective and your budget. Know these things and you’re well on your way to success.
Have you heard about HD radio technology? It makes AM sound as good as FM and FM sound almost like you were listening to a CD … and its free! To learn more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz. Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio and family finances.
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Are You Wasting Time and Money Marketing to the Wrong People?
One of the biggest mistakes I see consultants, coaches and professionals make is to be unclear about who their ideal client is, and to carry out their marketing without any specific definition of their target market. In fact, most are hedging their bets and trying to appeal to everybody.
Intuitively, this seems the right way to go. We might presume that the more people you can appeal to, the more likely you are to get business. It’s the law of large numbers – if you throw enough darts at the board, then eventually you’ll hit the bullseye.
However, this approach has a number of drawbacks. First, when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody. Your marketing message will be bland and, quite likely, meaningless to everyone that is exposed to it. Secondly, trying to market to an undefined group of people is extremely hard work and involves a lot of wasted energy and expense. How will you know where to place your ads, who to send direct mail to, where to network, who to call or who you want to attract to your website? Thirdly, if you don’t specialise in any way, then you’ll never build up specific expertise in any particular area or get paid the premium that specialists get paid.
So, if you haven’t already, I suggest that you define your precise target market and start building up a profile of the ideal client.
Who is NOT an ideal client?
For a lot of people, who they think is their ideal client and who genuinely is an ideal client may be world’s apart.
Here’s a list of types of businesses or consumers you probably don’t want to target:
Price-shoppers: People who are shopping on price are very, very rarely your ideal client. Unless you have a business model that allows you to somehow “mass produce” services and leverage your time, then you’ll never create your dream lifestyle or large pension fund working for price shoppers. My experience, and that of thousands of other service providers, is that “cheapskate” clients are often more demanding, take up more of your precious time and cause more headaches than clients who are looking for a premium service.
People who you think “need” your services: Virtually every small business I come across could use my know-how and expertise to improve their marketing. I could surmise that they “need” what I have to offer. However, there is an abundance of research that shows that people rarely buy what they need, but nearly always buy what they “want” (finances permitting). This is a critical distinction. You may be meeting people all the time who you feel “need” what you provide, but until such time as they actually want it, they’re unlikely to buy, and therefore your time spent marketing to them and building the relationship is largely wasted.
People who can’t comfortably afford your services: You may meet people who both need and want your services, but if they can’t comfortably afford them, then it’s going to be an uphill battle proving the value of what you do and why they should invest. If they do decide to buy your services then they may also become “problem child” clients.
Sometimes you will get business from people who can’t comfortably afford your services, but to actively target them and to spend too much time wooing them is likely a false economy. Your marketing efforts and resources will be better spent when aimed at a market that can easily afford you. This market will also perceive less risk in hiring you, as they can more easily rationalise the purchase to themselves.
People who don’t see you as credible: 20th century marketing has taught most of us to be sceptical. Because people have made bad purchasing decisions in the past, and sometimes been outright ripped off, they’re wary of how they spend their money and who they spend it with. This is true whether they’re a corporate buyer (they don’t want to lose face or lose their job) or a consumer. They’ll look to minimise their risks, and the easiest way of doing that is by buying from someone they trust who has a substantial amount of credibility. This goes hand in hand with positioning yourself as a specialist and expert in your field – high end clients who are willing to pay high fees will want reassurance that you can produce the results you claim to produce.
People who don’t truly want change: As a service provider, it’s highly likely that what you do involves some kind of change on the part of your clients. If you’re a consultant or coach, then your clients will probably have to change what they do or how they think in order to implement the strategies, tools and techniques that you advise them to use. If you’re a professional, then they may need to change how they do their accounting, how their website works, their visual identity or their contracts in order to benefit from the improvements you provide.
If you find yourself speaking to people who show all the signs of resisting change, then move on! They may pay lip service to wanting improved results, but if they don’t seem prepared to actually make changes and move with the times, then they’re probably not a good client.
What are the criteria for defining your perfect client?
When you come to defining your target market and ideal client, here are the factors to consider:
* Who’s prepared to pay a premium for the outcome you provide?
* Who wants what you offer, rather than who needs what you offer?
* Who can comfortably afford your services?
* Who trusts you and sees you as credible?
* Who’s willing to embrace the change you represent?
And finally, one last distinction – and this may be the most important one. You’ll build your own success more rapidly when you spend your time marketing to businesses and people who are already successful but want to move to the next level, than if you target businesses or people who are struggling.This may seem counter-intuitive. After all, aren’t those who are struggling the ones who most need your help? Yes, they probably do need your help the most. However, if they don’t want it, or aren’t prepared to pay for it, then you’re wasting your time and money marketing to them. Not only that, but the people and businesses that need your help because they’re in a mess probably got into their predicament by being short-sighted and not wanting to invest in professional help at the appropriate time. This points to them not having a success mindset or wanting to implement change, which means that not only will it be a harder sale, but they’re less likely to implement the changes you advise in order to become good success stories for you.
And at the end of the day, if you want to build a successful business, it pays to surround yourself with successful people, especially your clients!
Here are some examples of these principles in action:
1. The desperate prospect I spoke to one potential client, who was on the brink of bankruptcy, who wanted me to help him with some marketing materials. I thought his business model was basically flawed and therefore he’d probably never see a good return on his investment in my services within the brief he’d given me. It was unlikely that he’d want to pay my fees, and I couldn’t guarantee him a result in the kind of time frame he needed to prevent the bankruptcy. I decided not to take the conversation any further on the basis that I didn’t want his money if it might become a contributing factor to his bankruptcy and because I wasn’t convinced that he was heading in the right direction.
Although he wanted what I was offering, I didn’t think he could comfortably afford my services or get the returns he needed in such a tight timeframe.
2. The sceptical prospect I had a conversation with a potential client who seemed to have some good services, but was struggling to sell them. He really needed marketing help because he was running all over town (quite literally) presenting proposals to people who weren’t buying and was struggling to make his business model work. I suggested a number of changes and actions he could take, but he resisted each and every one. Not long into the conversation I felt my energy drop and a sense of despair overwhelm me. This is usually a really bad sign!
This guy sells services that could really help a lot of people, but his depressed attitude and resistance to every thing I said meant that he was never likely to become wildly successful or build the exit strategy he wanted. Not only that, but he claimed that he’d heard it all before! This begs the question “so why didn’t you act on it the first time you heard it”? This prospect needed what I was offering, but didn’t want it. He didn’t have a success mindset, and was therefore unlikely to ever really appreciate the value of the change I was offering him.
3. The optimistic client Stefan recognised his own limitations when it came to marketing. He knew in his heart that he had a good product and service, but was struggling to get his message out to the right people and in the right way. Although he had regular work coming in from a few reliable sources, he recognised the need to shore up his foundations by reaching more people and consistently bringing in new client from other efforts.
Stefan signed up for my Client Attraction Blueprint programme right away, and set about doing the exercises and taking on board the advice I offered him. He is now reaping the rewards through having a marketing plan that works for him and a much clearer idea of who he should be targeting, and where he should expend his marketing efforts, time and money.
Stefan wanted what I was offering. He was open to change, and happy to be directed. Although he didn’t fit the criterion of easily affording my services, he was prepared to invest in them anyway because he saw the long term advantages.
What about you? Are you targeting the people who trust you, see you as credible, who want what you offer and are willing to pay to gain the benefits of your solution? Are you positioning yourself as an expert and working to attract other like-minded and successful people to your business, or are you struggling to sell your services to a sceptical and reluctant market? Could you take your business to the next level by clearly defining the ideal client and then ensuring that all of your marketing efforts, particularly your message, are tailored to the wants and aspirations of that market?
Copyright 2006 Attractioneering
Jane Hendry helps professionals, consultants and coaches to create marketing systems that easily and consistently attract their ideal clients. To get your free Attraction Marketing Starter Kit please visit http://www.attractioneers.com/
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As you begin marketing and promoting your online business you are going to run into some unbelievable advertising opportunities. Generally speaking if the ad.
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When Should Marketing Take a Front Seat?
At some point in a company’s growth, there comes a time when it decides whether the product or service it offers has exponential growth opportunities. If these opportunities exist, then a strategy must be formed to take the company to its full potential. Often this involves a shift from a sales-driven focus to a marketing driven status.
All change in the corporate world is stressful, even if it is positive change. Nevertheless, the move from sales to marketing is one of the most stressful. Why? Because it entails leaving “what brought us here” and embracing a future with which we are somewhat inexperienced. The entrepreneurial spirit that spurred the company growth in the first place needs to be harnessed and yet stimulated in a manageable way.
The reason to make the change is simple: the bottom line. If the product or service has mass appeal, it is more efficient cost-wise to market and advertise for the business than to expand the sales force. Cost per lead and cost per close should weigh in favor of advertising and marketing. If it does, then the return on investment will increase.
Top Sales People Do Not Great Marketers Make
Sales people are often put in charge of the department and the mindsets are, and should be, vastly different. At times, they may well be at complete odds. Salespeople make their bread and butter by tailoring the sales argument to the prospect. If they are any good at all, they will avoid strict positioning and benefit because they know that all sales ultimately require “selling themselves.” A predetermined sales argument and a scripted benefit presentation are their worst enemy and greatest nightmare. A top sales manager will try not to interfere with what works.
Marketing is different. It is not by nature one-on-one and is designed to have mass influence. It requires a discipline and marketing shrewdness that flies in the face of much of the sales experience. The disciplines needed to make the changes are exactly that — disciplines. In addition, more often than not, the lack of discipline and unorthodox approach of division heads has accounted for their prior success. However, just as the micro management that is instrumental in building a business suffocates its eventual growth, entrepreneurial marketing will derail the attempt to harness its momentum in a corporate culture.
The Cultures Can Work Together
The secret to building success is incorporating both cultures in the new one. It is preferable to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit because it is the germ of growth and innovation, but it needs to be harnessed.
The internal combustion engine gets its horsepower because the unbridled explosion of gasoline and spark is contained and focused within the mechanics of cylinder, piston, and valve.
Corporate management must find a way to fan the flames of ingenuity. They must bolster the “take charge” attitude in the company’s middle management while wrestling the marketing power from the same individual units.
A Big Difference
Marketing requires us to look at the target audience as a whole, understand them as a group, evaluate their psychographics as well as demographics, and apply a strategy that exploits the most powerful advantage available to us. Notice that I did not say the most powerful advantages we have. This is important because advertising that works is always single-minded. A great marketing and advertising director will seek the counsel of the sales force when creating the strategy, but will avoid running the final product by them for approval. Why? Because salespeople deal with closing the sale and need lots of benefit weapons to be successful. They view marketing and advertising as a similar beast. Sure, the zebra and the horse might look similar, but genetically they are so different that they cannot successfully mate.
Great advertising and marketing requires the identification of a position in the marketplace.
Don’t Be Myopic
The big picture is important here. Know the competition. Know the terrain. Know the target market. It is not enough to understand your product or your competition’s product; you need to understand their position in the marketplace. Benefits tell only a small part of the story. If all that ever mattered was benefit and product superiority, then we would all be using Apple’s Macintosh and news from DELL would not matter to us at all. Salespeople care about benefits. Marketers care about ownership of strategic position.
The first step in building a brand position in the market is looking at your product or service in the crucible of the marketplace and identifying a germinal belief that relates to your business. What is it that the target market holds to be true in their lives? How does this understanding make your product or service a fundamental building block in their quest for fulfillment? What drives this category? What is the single most powerful statement you can make about your brand that might cause an action or change to take place in the precepts of the target audience?
Look for a Niche That You Can Own
Change the playing field and alter the selling argument. If we can successfully shift the view of the target audience, even slightly, we can mortally wound the competition. Remember, preference for a product need not be overwhelming. If your category creation can provide a simple “might be better” uncertainty to the status quo, you win.
In a horse race, it is not necessary to win by a length. A nose will do just fine. No one remembers who took second place to Secretariat’s Kentucky Derby win. Yet, Secretariat won by a nose.
The Tools
The opportunity here is to look at the category as it is. Most businesses have grown organically and so have the categories. It is an advantage to look at them and redefine them through careful planning. Then we must develop an understanding of the precepts that always drive them.
Once we have analyzed the market and category, once we have evaluated the target audiences based on the strategy of identifying the beliefs that drive them, we can begin the task of owning a position. Position speaks about your company. Your position statement should be answered by the question. “Why are we here?” it is your mission statement and corporate charter distilled down to a simple phrase. For our target audience, it is an elevating and aspiring reach that helps pay off our brand.
Position Is Not a Sales Tool
Position is like real estate. The more secluded and free of neighbors the more valuable the property is, provided it is located in a desirable area. A powerful position is your reason to be. It is the spark that ignited the company in the beginning and is the flame that keeps it going, growing, and innovating. It must never be static and is never defined as a product or service. The best place to start is to look at what you do and ask yourself why you do it. Every product or service you provide meets a need. We are successful only if we create a new product to meet an existing need, illuminate a new need, and fill it, or improve an existing solution to a need.
The key element in all this is the word “need.” Positions are real only in the light of a real tangible need. The more immediate the need, the more powerful the position. Our job as marketers is to define the need in unshakeable terms and bring the benefit of vision. A great position allows for growth, change, and personal benefit. Once we know what our customer holds as being necessary, we can position ourselves as the company that understands the importance of delivering it, whatever it is. This is a subtle difference. We are talking about what we believe, not what we do — it is in this difference that the marketing position takes its breadth of life. I have seen many poor positions in my experience — positions that are unbelievable, indefensible and without real meaning. Such as providing “better products, solutions or systems.” The problem with these ideas is that they have no meaning; they talk about what you do and not why you do it.
Why you do it is a differentiating benefit that influences your target market. The more distinct the position is from the competition’s claims, the more powerful it becomes.
Marketing is a Different Focus
Without the focus provided by a powerful and distinct marketing position, advertising and marketing dollars are wasted. To that end, it is inevitable that a consistency of message and centralization of marketing power be set. All aspects of the brand and position ‘need to be reigned in and one final authority needs to exist. Marketing by committee means certain failure and can only be unlimited spending.
The idea of a central theme and marketing/advertising strategy is to manage spending and outperform an independent sales force. Once you have built and evaluated a position, efforts should be turned to brand. Our theory of brand differs from the brand management used by package goods companies. The old brand ideas have failed. Brand was supposed to protect margins against commodity products. However, I am hard pressed to name any package goods product that is not competing today on price and promotion. The care and concern of USP, tag line, logo and consistence of presence are Important, but sound more like corporate identity to me than brand theory.
In the Stealing Share® modern brand model, brand does not belong to you. It resides in the perception of your customer. We know that position speaks about us and proclaims our reason to be, but speaks about our customer and their need to become.
Marketing Needs Brand To Work
Brand is the expectation that the customer brings to the purchase of a product or service. It is the difference a customer is willing to pay for your product or service over and above the accepted value of the commodity solution. In the realm of brand resides ail’ profit margins.
Brand answers the question “Who am I?” and the who refers to the customer, not us. Everyone is in a constant state of becoming and every purchase choice we make is an attempt at reinforcing whom we believe we are.
The purpose of brand is to make the use or purchase of our product or service irresistible, to make the target audience feel incomplete without it. This means making sure that the tenor and personality we project are in keeping with the core beliefs of our target audience. Brand attracts the customer as ice cream attracts children.
Building a brand is akin to turning on the power of an electromagnet. The more amps we send through the wire, the more attractive power it influences over the iron shavings it is designed to attract.
Tom Dougherty
CEO, Senior Strategist at Stealing Share, Inc. (http://www.stealingshare.com) Tom began his strategic marketing and branding career in Saudi Arabia working for the internationally acclaimed Saatchi & Saatchi. His brand manager at the time referred to Tom as a “marketing genius,” and Tom demonstrated his talents to clients such as Ariel detergent, Pampers and many other brands throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. After his time overseas, Tom returned to the US where he worked for brand agencies in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. He continued to prove himself as a unique and strategic brand builder for global companies. Tom has led efforts for brands such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clark, Fairmont Hotels, Coldwell Banker, Homewood Suites (of Hilton), Tetley Tea, Lexus, Sovereign Bank, and McCormick to name a few. Contact Tom at tomd@stealingshare.com.
(postmodernbarney.com) » Truth in Advertising
Truth in Advertising. Posted by Dorian in vintage. House ads of the b&w boom era are
Turbo-Charge Your Viral Marketing- Five Easy Ways
The world of marketing has changed. With increasingly better educated and more skeptical consumers, marketing methods must be increasingly accountable.
Questions being asked by CEOs and business owners from the largest companies through to the smallest solo operators include:
· How can you be more confident about your ability to quantify your return on your marketing investment?
· How can you prove the effectiveness of your marketing?
· How can you define, measure and take action on your return on investment?
· How can you match your marketing to meet your corporate goals and expectations?
· How can you predict what would happen to sales if the marketing budget were cut?
· How can you forecast the impact of your marketing program on your sales?
· How can you integrate modern marketing methods into your existing marketing plans?
· How can you convince your boss that marketing does deliver measurable results?
· How can you convince your boss to increase and not decrease your marketing budget?
One of the emerging tools that answers these questions is viral marketing. Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence
Word of mouth marketing and personal referrals or recommendations from peers are the most powerful marketing tools. Email and the Internet have extended this by providing technology that induces Web sites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message’s visibility and effect.
A sort of word of mouse!
And this is easily measured through using web statistics and sales data. So how do you get results by your customers, clients, subscribers or program members promoting your service for you?
Here are five easy ways to turbo-charge your viral marketing efforts and quickly spread enthusiasm about your product or service.
1. Collaborate With Thought-leaders In Select “Communities” of Influence
The more influential the group and aligned with your target market, the more likely you are to have success. This requires research, communication and understanding of your target market and affiliated, or potentially affiliated, businesses.
2. Offer An Incentive
Most people are motivated by rational self-interest. Offer something they really want like a holiday, free knowledge or education, discounts, or package deals. Just as your company will benefit from their involvement, offer a benefit in return.
3. Follow-up With A Personal Approach
Relationships are always strengthened by personal interaction. Often your emailed expression of interest or offer may be one of thousands received daily by a company. A follow up phone-call or meeting will develop a more personal relationship and strengthen your company’s involvement. This also allows time to negotiate with the company directly and better identify with their needs.
4. Make It Immediate
Viral marketing works when you consider news values such as drama, consequence and immediacy. Be aware of what’s happening in the community and the world and try to tie in with recent dramas.
An example of effective viral marketing in the wake of the London bombings is demonstrated by the following email widely distributed around the world:
“Hi All,
Don’t usually forward emails but thought this may be a good idea.
Following the disaster in London . . .
East Anglican Ambulance Service have launched a national “In case of Emergency (ICE ) ” campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston.
The idea is that you store the word ” I C E ” in your mobile phone Address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted “In Case of Emergency”.
In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them.
It’s so simple that everyone can do it. Please do.
Please will you also email this to everybody in your address book, it won’t take too many ‘forwards’ before everybody will know about this. It really could save your life, or put a loved one’s mind at rest.
For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.”
By acting on the incident, viral marketing has spread this message quickly, and cheaply, around the globe.
5. Make It Interesting To Create Buzz
We have become rather immune to a number of tactics commonly used to generate attention. Spam emails, free offers etc. are often overlooked in a sea of similar materials received daily. Always think outside the box in order to make and impact.
A good example of this is the recent US made TV commercial featuring Paris Hilton for a burger chain.
PR expert Don Crowther said recently “it cost the chain eight to ten million dollars to air the commercial, plus, probably another million or two in production, Paris’s fees, and website production fees.
But what did it do for sales? Same store sales revenues at Carl’s Jr. increased only 1.7%, at Hardee’s just 0.7%.
Sounds like a great investment to me – Spend 8 to 12 million dollars, get back $1.1 million in sales.”
On positive side Don adds “the ad has generated a significant amount of controversy, a reported 802% increase in web searches (though I seriously question how many people were coming to the Carl’s Junior and Hardee’s sites before…), 4 million hits on the spicyparis website, free showings on news shows, several petitions against it, and some franchisers refusing to run the ad.
So, unquestionably, it generated buzz.”
Whether scandal, drama or incentives are being utilised it is important to capitalise in order to make your viral marketing effective, measurable and noticed.
Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries.
You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom’s blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com.
Columbus Internet Marketing Firm, Webbed Marketing, Achieves …
COLUMBUS, OH, November 19, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ — Webbed Marketing, a social media marketing and search engine optimization company in central Ohio, earned several awards from local and national organizations for their work in …
Banner Advertising – game ninelives. – Project Reality Forums
Ive been working on my own game and just wanted some feedback on this.. Its for educational purposes against knife crime.. The game is SP and the entire game happens over 1.
Affiliate Marketing Pick The Best Advertising | TOP SEO SERVICES
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Behind every successful product or service is a well-researched marketing plan. A marketing plan guides a company step-by-step how to market its product or service to a specific target market and it helps a company remain focused on its marketing objectives.
The Marketing Plan defines all of the components of your marketing strategy. You will address the details of your market analysis, sales, advertising, and public relations campaigns. The Plan should also integrate traditional (offline) programs with new media (online) strategies.
Topics discussed in a Small Business Marketing Plan include:
1. Market Research
Collect, organize, and write down data about the market that is currently buying the product(s) or service(s) you will sell. (From now on we’ll refer to your products or services as “product.”)
Some areas to consider:
* Market dynamics, patterns including seasonality
* Customers-demographics, market segment, target markets, needs, buying decisions
* Product-what’s out there now, what’s the competition offering
* Current sales in the industry
* Benchmarks in the industry
* Suppliers-vendors that you will need to rely on
* Target Market-Find niche or target markets for your product and describe them
2. Product
Describe your product. How does your product relate to the market? What does your market need, what do they currently use, what do they need above and beyond current use?
3. Competition
Describe your competition. Develop your “unique selling proposition.” What makes you stand apart from your competition? What is your competition doing about branding and positioning?
4. Mission Statement
Write a few sentences that state:
* “Key market” – who you’re selling to
* “Contribution” – what you’re selling
* “Distinction” – your unique selling proposition
5. Marketing Strategies
Write down the marketing and promotion strategies that you want to use or at least consider using.
Strategies to consider include:
* Networking-Go where your market is, Chamber of Commerce, BNI, etc.
* Direct marketing-Sales letters, brochures, postcards, flyers, etc.
* Advertising-Print media, directories, billboards, yellow pages, radio, TV
* Training programs-Seminars that you give to increase awareness
* Write articles, give advice, become known as an expert
* Direct/personal selling
* Publicity/press releases
* Trade shows
* Web site marketing (pay per click, search engine optimization)
* Referral programs
* Co-marketing with businesses that share your target market
* Barter
6. Pricing, Positioning and Branding
From the information collected, establish strategies for determining the price of your product, where your product will be positioned in the market and how you will achieve brand awareness.
7. Budget
Budget your dollars. What strategies can you afford? How much can you afford to spend per month?
8. Marketing Goals
Establish quantifiable marketing goals. This means goals that you can turn into numbers. For instance, your goal might be to gain at least 10 new clients each month or to generate 100 leads per month.
9. Monitor Your Results
Test and analyze. Identify the strategies that are working.
* Survey customers
* Track sales, leads, visitors to your web site, percent of sales to impressions
* Determine which marketing strategies are producing the most customers and which are producing the least customers
* Measure Return on Investment per each marketing activity
Peter Geisheker is the CEO of The Geisheker Group Marketing Firm. Peter develops and implements strategic marketing programs for small businesses. For a free marketing plan ebook, please visit http://www.geisheker.com.
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A marketing strategy can either make or break your business. As you know, there are many different aspects to a good marketing strategy. You may be wondering which marketing strategy is right for you. Also, how do you know which marketing strategy really works? The best marketing strategy is the one that gains profits. In this article, we will discuss the various aspects of a great market strategy.
The first marketing strategy you should look into is your website. Make sure your web design is eye catching and easy to maneuver. A marketing strategy you can add to this is to have attractive pictures or illustrations that get your customers attention. This is always an important marketing strategy.
A second marketing strategy is to promote you product. Any marketing strategy will tell you to get yourself noticed. Different aspects of this marketing strategy are to send out flyers, business cards, post cards, etc.
A third marketing strategy is to use an autoresponder. This automated form of a marketing strategy is commonly used. Using an autoresponder to send out advertisements of your product is fast and convenient. Everything is done by email.
Another marketing strategy is to use a slogan or logo. This is a great marketing strategy because it is a way for people to easily remember your business. If they remember or recognize you, they are likely to use your website.
Another powerful marketing strategy is to use an SEO (search engine optimization). Using this will attract more people to your sight. This is because when they do a search for a particular service or product, the SEO will make sure your site is listed at the top of the search results.
A very important marketing strategy is to have a great price for your products or services. This marketing strategy is an absolute must. If your prices are not great, you will never have any business. Try to show people why your prices are so great to entice them to make a purchase.
Finally, the last marketing strategy is to have good public relations. With good public relations, your business will prosper through word of mouth. Allow customers to submit feedback of your business. Place positive feedback and testimonials on your website. It makes your business look good and customers tend to prefer to use businesses that have positive feedback.
As you know you what a marketing strategy that will not leave you with empty pockets. In reality, any marketing strategy is going to cost you a little bit of money. But if you look in the right places and follow some good advice, your marketing strategy should leave you coming out on top.
Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.marketing-rentable.com a website specialized on Marketing, resources and articles. This site provides updated information on Marketing. For more info visit his site: Marketing
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