Marketing Discipline And The Joy Of Success

Writen by Wendy Maynard

Discipline Is Important.

I recently read an article about why discipline is important to a marketer. The author said that undisciplined people only live for today. He added that disciplined people use a little of their time for pleasure, and then invest the rest of their time in the future. Disciplined people get out of their armchair and do something. This takes effort and willpower. On the other hand, undisciplined people squander their time and their money. It takes discipline to be a successful at business and in life.

While I fundamentally agree with this premise, there is something about the concept of discipline that sounded tough...agonizing, even. I had to take some time to think this through. As a person who believes free time and relaxation, how can this still apply? Can a person be both a pleasure seeker and disciplined?

Are You A Grasshopper or An Ant?

Does a person have to make a choice between being the fabled lazy grasshopper or the hardworking ant? You know the story. The ant slaves away all summer creating shelter and storing seeds for the winter while the grasshopper laughs and dances and sings, thinking the ant is a fool. Come winter, the ant is cozy and well fed. The grasshopper perishes from hunger and the cold. Both of those guys were flawed, in my opinion. One had no sense of community and the other, no joy or humor.

And it made me start thinking. I'm a marketing expert. I spend my days developing marketing strategies for my clients and I work to market my own business. Does it take discipline? Well, the answer, of course, is a big "Yes!" Does that mean that in order to be successful, I have to be like the ant? Am I relegated to the role of schlepping my days away carrying seeds back to the nest for the winter? Well...no, I think not.

All work and no play makes for a dull girl. As a creative person, I know taking that route would be a sure path to stagnation. Plus, I don't like to think of myself as stodgy. Do you know what the thesaurus has next to stodgy? Try blah, boring, humdrum, plebeian, trite, uninteresting, and wearisome. Ugh!

Discipline is a Practice

But, I'm not like the frivolous grasshopper, either. Because I AM disciplined. I do invest ongoing time in various endeavors that will have a payoff in the future. Yet, none of my day-to-day activities are agonizing for me. I love working on my business, my clients are wonderful, and I feel completely fulfilled by my outside interests, my home, and my friendships. And, these things each take ongoing care, nurturing, and attention.

What I realized is that everything I do in my life involves embracing a practice. Discipline is defined as "training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior." I think the best example of this is my yoga. Yes, it is a routine, but it is by no means agonizing. (Well...okay, there are some crazy poses that are a little over the top!) My yoga practice brings me joy and I feel more centered.

In the same way, building a business and a regular marketing routine is about a practice. It requires discipline, but this in no way detracts from being creative or enjoying today, right now, in this moment. Marketing is about building stronger relationships. It takes a continuous effort to relate to customers, vendors, referral sources, and leads. Invest in your business through an ongoing commitment to promoting it with both enthusiasm and creativity.

Successful Marketing Requires Discipline

For marketing to succeed, it is crucial to take the approach of a disciplined practice. And, the more time you invest in each activity, the more you will prosper at all levels of your business. Ultimately, I realize that the author of the article was correct. But, I believe it requires a combined approach of the grasshopper AND the ant.

Have discipline and build relationships, like the ant. But, also be sure to take time for relaxation and activities you enjoy, like the grasshopper. Work in a business that is fulfilling to you. And that is the biggest key. Discipline does not make you stodgy if you are investing your time in an endeavor that you feel passionate toward.

Success is an ongoing journey. Each time you return to your disciplined practice, whatever it is, you prosper from the moment-to-moment experience of doing it. As time goes on, your discipline pays off. So, take time to examine your practice of marketing. Is it a disciplined approach? Is it a practice you follow rigorously? Begin to move forward purposefully with an intention to expand your business and invest in your marketing activities every day. By committing to consistent and persistent marketing efforts, you WILL get amazing results.

Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven, is the owner of Kinesis. Kinesis specializes in marketing, graphic and website design, and business writing.

Visit http://www.kinesisinc.com/resources/articles.html for more articles and free marketing wisdom. You can visit her marketing blog, Kinetic Ideas at: http://www.wendy.kinesisinc.com

Want to harness the power of kinetic marketing? Sign up for Kinesis Quickies, a free bi-monthly marketing e-newsletter: http://www.news.kinesisinc.com

Focus Groups Marketings Secret Weapon

Writen by Leni Chauvin

So how's it going?

Is all the time, effort, and m.on.e.y you've put into marketing your business panning out?

Are you getting all the clients you want?

And are they the right clients? If not, it may be time to convene a focus group to make sure you are marketing the right part of your business to the right people and that your marketing message is clear to prospective customers and clients.

Focus groups have long been used in advertising and marketing to determine the public's likes and dislikes around the client's products and services. You've probably seen focus groups depicted on TV or in movies. A random group of people is shown a product, a TV pilot, new packaging, etc., and are asked to offer critiques.

What are the strengths and what are the weaknesses? What works and what does not? Where are they confused? What would they rather see? Would they buy it? If not, why not? If yes, what do they expect to receive for their m.o.n.e.y? Would they prefer it in a different color?

The results of focus groups help the powers that be understand the public's perception of their offering and help them uncover what refinements need to be made before they can begin their marketing campaign in earnest.

If you are an entrepreneur, small business owner, or service professional, there's no reason at all why you can't take a cue from Madison Avenue and hold your own focus group to help you market your products and services more effectively. I have done it myself and I encourage my clients to do it, too.

The results can help you gain enormous clarity on what message you really want to get across in your marketing materials. Often one exits a focus group meeting with outcomes that are totally different (and far better) than anything that had been envisioned going in.

The how of holding a focus group is very simple. The most important step is to decide beforehand what you want the group to concentrate on. Is it a new company name? A slogan or tagline? Identifying a niche market? A compelling title for a seminar? The name of a new product?

Once you're clear on the purpose of your focus group, determine the best mix of people to invite. Narrow it down to five to eight people who know you both professionally and personally and whom you think really understand your business. You'll discover once you are into your focus group meeting whether or not they really do! :-)

In fact, that can be a very important first question to ask your group: "what is your understanding of what I do?" This can be a real eye-opener.

Your home can make a comfortable backdrop for such a meeting. Be sure to set the tone in advance, though, by telling your group the purpose of the get together when you invite them. You'll be pleasantly surprised to see how willing people will be to help you out.

Have some nibblies available for the group, but remember this is not a social event; the focus is business-your business.

Ask someone in advance to facilitate the meeting and have a flip chart, markers, and masking tape set up before people arrive. This will reinforce that you are all there to tackle a serious task. (Don't worry if you don't have access to a flip chart; you can purchase table top versions or Post-It pages the same size as flip chart paper at Office Depot, Staples, etc.)

Please do not attempt to facilitate the meeting yourself as you really need to be in the observer's seat and you'll want someone who is completely objective to run the session.

Because it is easy to drift off topic when focus groups convene in someone's home, speak with your designated facilitator beforehand to make sure s/he understands s/he must guide the discussion and bring everyone back on topic if they wander off.

Have the facilitator introduce the topic and what outcomes you are hoping for. Brainstorm like crazy, with the facilitator writing down every idea that comes up, no matter how crazy they may seem at the time.

Speak up when necessary, clarify, question, observe, and probe. But most of all listen and think.

By the end of a few hours, you will have many answers about the what and the how of your marketing efforts. Some of your marketing ideas will be reinforced; some will be discarded, and some will require a bit of fine-tuning before you can move ahead. Most assuredly, though, you will have new ideas for marketing your product or service that will be so much better than anything you had ever imagined.

Bottom Line: If you want to make sure you're marketing the right thing to the right people, you can...with a little help from your friends.

© Copyright 2006 Leni Chauvin, The Client Attraction Coach™

Leni Chauvin, The Client Attraction Coach,™ helps small business owners and solo professionals move mountains. If you're ready to attract more clients, make more money, and have more fun while you're doing it, you'll find TONS of f.r.e.e resources to help you at http://www.AttractClientsGalore.com

Getting New Clients When Only A Few Is More Than Enough

Writen by Stuart Ayling

Many of the business owners I speak with are looking for a relatively small number of new clients. It isn't that they're not ambitious, it's just the size of their businesses doesn't warrant a larger objective. Typically they own service-based businesses with an annual turnover counted in the millions of dollars, not hundreds of millions.

These business owners are successful in what they do but need to jump up to the next level. To do this they need another 5, 12 or even 20 customers. In the big picture, this isn't a lot of new clients.

Fortunately these firms already have many satisfied clients, so they have the opportunity to understand the type of client they best service and get a head-start on attracting new ones.

When working with clients in this situation I often find they have tried a few marketing activities (maybe some advertising or direct mail) and found they haven't worked very well. So we often need a fresh start - to look at what the current marketing tactics should be, rather than just re-hashing what has been done in the past.

OK. So here's a brief run-down on how to get a few good clients.

1. Firstly, take a closer look at the good clients you currently have. Is there a pattern? Are they similar in some way? Try and create a profile.

2. Make sure you understand why your current clients are using your services. What are the real benefits you provide? Be careful not to assume too much, even if you're sure you know.

3. Identify how you can contact more potential clients of the same type. You'll need to be as specific as possible to enable your prospecting work to produce results.

4. Approach your prospects with a carefully created message that will encourage them to talk with you. Expecting a "sale" on the first contact is usually unrealistic.

5. Follow up in person to customise the message for each particular prospect.

6. Where possible get referrals from your existing clients to prospects who are similar to them. Then follow them up in person as well.

7. When you get to meet with your prospects, use a 'sales process' that will ensure you:

a) Present a professional appearance

b) Get all the information you need

c) Answer all the key questions your prospect will have

d) Confirm with your prospect what you will do next. Don't let the sales process stall after this first meeting.

8. Get your prospect to sign up for your services.

Congratulations… you have a new client.

Do this a few times and you have reached your objective - a few good clients.

(c) 2005 Marketing Nous Pty Ltd

Stuart Ayling runs Marketing Nous, an Australasian marketing consultancy that specialises in marketing for service businesses. He helps clients to improve their marketing tactics, attract more clients, and increase revenue. Stuart also offers telephone consultations and runs regular marketing seminars. For additional marketing resources, including Stuart's popular monthly newsletter, visit his web site at http://www.marketingnous.com.au.

8 Secrets To Marketing Success

Writen by Bill Dueease

The profits of a business are totally dependent on marketing. Otherwise few, if any, sales will be generated. But what is marketing anyway?

Marketing is doing what it takes to convince enough customers to pay the necessary price for your products and/or services to produce the desired profits for the business.

Let's discuss the 8 Secrets business owners can use to greatly improve their marketing success.

Secret #1: Give marketing top priority. The primary reason any customer chooses to buy your products or services is because of effective marketing. The marketing process starts at the very beginning and continues forever! Marketing consists of four separate functions, known as the four P's:

1. Product - Develop your products and/or services to ensure they fill the needs of your potential customers, so they will want to buy from your business. You have full control over this marketing function.

2. Pricing - Set your price structure to ensure that the business will achieve the desired profits and that customers will perceive the value of the benefits they receive to be greater than the prices they pay. You have full control over this marketing function.

3. Positioning - Position your products and/or services to allow potential customers easy interaction with the business to evaluate and purchase your products or services. You have full control over this marketing function.

4. Promotion - The final step is promotion, where you communicate with your potential customers (normally through a communications medium) about the existence and benefits of your products or services to attract them to contact your business to learn more. You will have only partial control over this marketing function.

Marketing is culminated in sales when your customers' perception of the value of their benefits exceeds the price they pay for products or services. You generate successful sales only when you complete positive Product Development, Price, Positioning, and Promotion. In fact, you will want your business to be a marketing machine.

The sales process is frequently part of the promotions function, however it can incorporate all four of the marketing functions, depending upon the type of products or services offered and the make-up of your targeted customers. Secret #2: Do not confuse advertising with marketing. Advertising is only part of the last marketing step (Promotion) and it occurs late in the game. Many people think advertising is all there is to marketing, and they overlook the other three very important earlier marketing steps. Yet, they have total control over the other three marketing steps, which are far more important than advertising. Consequently, you will want to develop the other three functions that you control first, to allow advertising to succeed.

Secret #3: Base your marketing on customer perspectives. Owners believe their power and freedom of choice, as the boss, means that they don't have to deal with the opinions of others. "I am now my own boss" is only partly true. You are in virtual control of either succeeding or failing to convince - The Customer- to buy your products or services. You want to avoid IMPOSING your opinion on your potential customers. Focus on fulfilling the perceived wants and needs of your customers, from Their Perspective.

Secret #4: Research your potential customers. When you have determined who your target customers are, learn everything about:

- What your target customers THINK they want to buy

- Why your target customers THINK they buy

- How your target customers THINK they buy

- When your target customers THINK they buy

Secret #5: Screen out undesirable customers. You have the right and obligation to determine which potential customers you will agree to serve. You should screen out undesirable customers early so you can focus more attention on customers you want to serve. Sadly, owners often may not know how to select desirable customers from the pool of potential customers they encounter. As a result, they often spend too much time, money and energy trying to deal with a handful of hard-to-please customers who frequently demand lower prices at the expense of better customers, who go elsewhere because they were ignored.

Determine the key criteria to decide which potential customers are desirable. You will want to encourage undesirable customers to visit your competitors, so they will expend their time, money and energy instead of you.

Secret #6: Give existing customers full attention. Owners frequently become so focused on getting new customers that they ignore their existing repeat customers. Your business will probably not survive without repeat business. Repeat customers present a wealth of opportunities to you.

- They frequently provide you excellent feedback

- They provide an excellent reference and referral service (read free advertising)

- They are the least expensive to service

- They provide the most likely source of additional business

- Their unnecessary departure causes substantial damage (upset customers will complain to 5 to 9 other people)

Stay close to your existing customers and learn as much as you can from them.

Secret #7: Create a positive identity that is distinct from your competitors. Most customers compare. They need good reasons to choose your product or service over others. You complete more sales when you understand your competitors extremely well and position your products or services for positive customer comparison.

Secret #8: Consider the overwhelming power emotion has on the buying process. Human emotions govern the buying process (some say over 80% of the entire process is emotional). Yet owners frequently focus their energies on price and avoid the real emotional reasons customers will buy. You will want to know and feel the emotional connection your potential customers will connect to your business, your products and/or services, and the way customers interact with your business. Design your marketing program to address the emotional issues to attract and keep the right customers.

The normal human thinking process of deciding to buy almost always starts with an emotional need. The emotional need causes the customer to consider buying something to fill it. The search and evaluation of the possible choices of products and or services is also frequently emotional, and additional emotional forces are often added. The price issue usually comes in near the end. Normally, customers ask about prices to help justify the emotional decisions they have already made. In fact, the request for the price from normal customers is a very strong buying signal (does the cost allow them to buy what they want and is it fair for what they decided to get?).

Encourage customers to enjoy their emotional buying choices

Once the purchase is made, far too many businesses can't wait to shuffle the customers off and almost treat the customers like they have some disease. This frequently causes customers to experience buyer's remorse. Yet, this is the time to finalize the sale once and for all and begin the process of future sales. Congratulate your customers on their buying choices and encourage them to enjoy the emotional benefits they sought from the purchase.

Business owners succeed when they know how to deal with this emotional process and permit the customer to complete this process through final payment.

What a wonderful opportunity! You can take charge of your entire marketing effort and attract the customers you desire with much less effort and less cost.

Provided as an educational service by Bill Dueease of The Coach Connection, where "connecting great people with great coaches" is their goal. You may receive a free copy of the article "10 Insider Secrets Most Business Owners Never Learn" by contacting The Coach Connection at 800-887-7214 or 239-415-1777 or coaches@findyourcoach.com, or at http://www.findyourcoach.com/0o-business-coach.htm

Enter The Rich Jerk A Marketing Odyssey Part 1

Writen by Alex Goad

The Rich Jerk is a more or less known internet marketer. According to all available information, it appears that until recently, this Rich Jerk was quite content keeping a low profile on the net and enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Now that has all changed. From an anonymous internet marketing success, the Rich Jerk has trampled his way in and exploded on the scene, the "You can make tons of easy fast money on the internet" scene, that is.

Although I can't comment just yet on the validity of the information contained in the ebook he is selling because haven't bought or read it yet, what I can tell you is that the Rich Jerk has beautifully orchestrated a massive tactical deployment of his ebook that is making him even richer than he was before.

Here are the key elements of that success.

From the marketing perspective, this is sheer genius and all but the most experienced among us has something to learn from this. Not from the ebook just yet, we'll get to that later, but from the way that it is sold and distributed.

Genius Unfolds

The combination of these elements is what makes this sheer genius and of course some of it is hard to copy because it seems to be based on fact rather than fantasy.

1) The Rich Jerk, whether on purpose or not, has waited until all the elements where in place to launch his offensive. Maybe you've heard of the combination of parts creating something larger than the sum…

2) The Jerk got dozens, if not more, of super-affiliates to promote his product from the very moment it became available, thus saturating the medium with it and creating a huge buzz. Proof that some of these affiliates are the real thing? They got his ebook on impressive news sources such as a full article on Yahoo News. That goes a very long way for credibility…

3) Speaking of credibility, the Rich Jerk apparently sold one of his websites for nearly $400,000 on Ebay. This seems to be documented and true. I say seem because I want to remain a bit skeptical, but it looks true, and that's another huge boost in the credibility field. He also makes available page after page of his income statements from different processors, this doesn't do anything for me because such page could easily be created but I'm sure it swayed more than one buyer in his favor.

4) The Rich Jerk uses the same "easy money, buy yourself a Ferrari next month" kind of talk to make you visualize what you will do with all the money you make once you buy his ebook. You've read this kind of stuff before from all the so-called gurus out there, but admit it, it still gets to you.

5) The Rich Jerk lays out 15 or 20 specific ways that he makes his money and promises to deliver the keys to them all. As you read through the list, it makes a whole lot of sense and you can't help but think "hey, that just might work" and "I want to kow how to do that". He also promises to show you his own profitable websites and if you've tried to find profitable websites, you know that it can be hard to tell what's making money and what isn't…

But here's the real Killer

6) These are the tactics I was referring to in the introduction. The Rich Jerk walks the walk all the way through his rather brilliant sales letter.

You've surely heard the saying "good guys finish last" applied to relationships. Well it also applies to marketing in a big way, and unfortunately, more often than not its true.

The Rich Jerk's slogan is "I'm Better Than You". Yep, that's right and it doesn't stop there. If you've come upon one of his ads, you may have read something along the lines of "I just bought a yacht. I'm better than you". Can you resist an ad like that, or at least giving it a click to find out more about what its about? I couldn't.

And then it just picks right up where you clicked in. The Rich Jerk's sales letter vehicules an "I made it, I have everything you dream of, I'm obnoxious and rich and I don't give a rat's ass about you" attitude.

Its a perfect example of selling without selling. Who would dare call their customers morons, give them boat loads of attitude and them tell them to leave his site right away if they're not happy about it, or that if you write him a complaint, his staff will put it on their bulleting board and throw darts at it…

Ok, enough for now.

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to put up the $97 required to get my hands on a copy The Rich Jerk. I'm going to read it and my next article here will be an objective review of its content and the purpoted secrets found inside.

Based on my appreciation of the material, I will launch my own marketing offensive around the Rich Jerk, and its not going to be the regular "I reviewed this book and it was good so buy it from me because I'll give you $20 off from my affiliate commission". Nor will I promote the ebook if I can't say 100% that its worth spending on. But whatever the case may be, I will launch a marketing offensive around it and chances are both you and I will learn something from it…

Without further ado, here is your link to the Rich Jerk's site and sales letter. If you're easily offended, don't read it. Otherwise just take it with a grain of salt and go right ahead.

The Rich Jerk

Stay tuned for the next exciting chapters of Enter the Rich Jerk, a Marketing Odyssey

P.S. If you're wondering how I'm so sure the Rich Jerk is selling his ebook faster than Oprah can eat cupcakes, his program is the number one best seller on Clickbank for its category, among 10,000 or so competing products…

We provide turnkey and custom solutions to freebie site owners http://www.buildafreebiesite.com

Check out our new network site GoGreenNetwork

We're always on top of things, pick our brains by reading our blog MyEasyBlog

May the Force be with you!