3 Marketing Tactics That Will Send Your Sales Through The Roof

Writen by Allyn Cutts

When the tide comes in, all boats in the harbor go up... the tough part is figuring out how to bring the tide in. Booming economies come and go and bring surges of profit increases, then ebb to leave behind shortages and tough times. Regardless, there are some business that just seem to weather the tough times with grace, not really affected by recessions. It's almost as though they have a secret source... maybe they do... customers.

Hey, customers always buy... in the good times and in the bad times. They still have needs and still make purchases. When you understand their needs and wants, you have the keys to keeping your business afloat when others are grounded. Implement these three tactics successful marketers use, and you're set for success.

1. Just One

Customers can be like a two year old in a candy store... they want it all. Yeah, sometimes it's hard to make up your mind about what you really do want when everything looks so good. That's why it pays to promote one product over the others. It spells out loud and clear... I'M THE BEST DEAL. That will be the deciding factor in most cases.

2. Make Them Feel Good

Customers buy because they want to enjoy the benefits of the purchase. A lady might buy a dress because she wants to feel sexy, or a man will buy a saw because he finds pleasure in creating things. Emotions are the key element that drives purchases.

Use word pictures to stir up the emotions that will instigate the sale. Let them "feel" the benefits, and they'll be more apt to head for the cash register. Put them where you want them.

Selling a riding mower? ... the birds are singing, Easter lilies are blooming and kids are flying kites in the wind... spring has arrived. Yep, it's time to get out that mower and fuel it up for the summer ahead. How many springs have come and gone since you promised yourself a riding mower? ... It's not hard to paint mental pictures that whet their appetite for the product you are advertising.

3. Make Contact

Following up with a customer who didn't buy can be the determining factor between and "almost sale" and a satisfied, loyal customer. Simply contact them afterwards and let them know the product is still available or offer them further information they may find valuable.

Internet marketers can offer free newsletters or reports that consumers find useful and marketers find profitable. Not only do you keep your product in front of the customer on a regular basis, you get email information to stay in contact. Both parties win!

Copyright 2006 Cutts Group, llc

Who is Allyn Cutts, and why should you care? Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers. Allyn is a marketing and sales fanatic, providing measurable marketing solutions that drive huge results for small-to mid-size business clients. Allyn works personally with clients to design and deliver off-line and on-line direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://www.AllynCutts.com and you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Local Marketing 10 Easy Ways To Sell More To Your Neighbors

Writen by Jennifer McCay

Have a business that's purely local in focus? Or simply want to beef up your client roster with more folks from your local area?

Here are 10 simple solutions to your local marketing challenges ...

1. Make sure that your website specifically targets your local market. People are increasingly heading online to find local vendors. Make sure to broadcast your site's URL to all of your prospects and clients, and ask your web designer to ensure that the website is search-engine friendly for people seeking information about vendors in your city.

You might also investigate pay-per-click search engines such as Yahoo! and CitySearch, which offer targeted marketing to people in your local area.

2. Network. I know that the odds are good that you might consider the term "networking" to be almost as bad as a four-letter word, but I assure you that there are ways to meet other businesspeople in town that won't make you feel uncomfortable. Most of us have access to local organizations that are full of nice people just like you who simply want to meet other like-minded people.

The local Chamber of Commerce and other industry-specific organizations in your area are a good starting point. Just make sure not to just go to meetings -- make an effort to get to know people or even volunteer for a leadership position where you can show off your responsibility, reliability and talent.

3. Partner with other small businesses catering to the same group of prospects. This seemingly simplistic tactic works for both service- and product-based businesses very successfully.

If, for example, you are a graphic designer and are seeking additional design work, you will benefit from getting to know a local copywriter or printer who knows plenty of prospects who might need your services. Alternatively, come up with a plan that sells quantities of your wares to local businesses as gifts/rewards for their clients and employees. Either way, it means more business!

4. Give talks at local organization meetings. If you enjoy public speaking, seek out associations full of your target prospects and volunteer to give speeches for free in exchange for the chance to market yourself and your services/products.

5. Send direct mailings to local prospects, and make a quick phone call to each prospect a few days later. The beauty of local prospects is the fact that you can afford to call your prospects for free as a way of following up.

6. Write articles on your area of expertise for the local paper, organization newsletters or your local business rag. Here in the Los Angeles area, for example, there are quite a few possibilities to choose from in the immediate area, and looking beyond what's in close proximity, there are dozens of others in Orange County, Ventura County and beyond.

7. Don't underestimate the power of a good Yellow Pages ad. Local businesses still look in the phone book to find sources of assistance for many types of their needs. The key in all this is to use the space in your ad wisely -- include more copy than your competitors and share insights in that copy about how to select a and give them reasons to get to know you.

8. Hold a contest and get local press for it. Could your business benefit from the added attention of a contest? Get creative and go for it!

In all of these suggestions, I've focused on how you can find new clients, but don't forget: One of the very best ways to make more profits is to get your current clients to spend more on each purchase and/or get them to come back to you more often.

With that in mind:

9. Make sure to educate your current clients about what you do. Regardless of how many clients you have, you need something in place to keep them up to date on what you and your business are capable of.

Recently a listmate on a discussion group I participate in mentioned that she lost business to another vendor because her client didn't know that she could provide that particular service. How much business are you losing because your local clients don't have a clue what you do?

10. Set up a loyalty program designed to keep your current clients coming back for more. Depending on your business, you might want to send out coupons, freebies or even simply send out an update of the types of products/services you offer.

The good thing about most of these methods is their low cost. Regardless of your business's location, make sure to study your local competitors' marketing methods and see what works. Then give it your own personal twist and reap the benefits.

Are you a coach, consultant or other solo service professional who's struggling to grow your business? Small business marketing strategist Jennifer McCay will show you how to attract more clients more easily. Get her FREE audio course and FREE weekly small business marketing lessons at http://AvenueEast.com.

What To Do When Nothings New Five Strategies For Success

Writen by Susan Friedmann

Look at that throng of people crowding the trade show floor. People come from all over the country to walk these aisles, eager eyes flitting from booth to booth, scanning the exhibits for…what, exactly?

Research shows that the vast majority – 76% -- come to trade shows to discover what's new and exciting. Maybe it's a new product, or an innovative bit of technology, or a snazzy new application, or even an entire company that they were never aware of before. In an ideal world, every company would be constantly innovating, creating cutting edge products at phenomenal savings guaranteed to meet the customer's needs.

But as you and I know, business doesn't work that way. There are years when companies struggle to survive. Other years, it takes every ounce of effort just to maintain market position. And still other times, things might be fine, but the newest innovation is six, twelve, even eighteen months on the horizon.

Is it even worth exhibiting during these times? Do the results of participating in a trade show while your company's in a lull phase justify the costs?

Absolutely! In fact, it is precisely at these times when not participating could hurt your bottom line. Businesses rise and fall based on the strength of personal relationships. There is no better place to form new relationships and maintain and reinforce existing relationships than at a trade show.

To do this, you need to create a positive impression with your exhibit. Demonstrate something new and exciting. Give the people what they want. How can you do that, you ask, when you don't have any new and exciting products?

Here are five focus strategies the pros use when they're in a similar situation:

1. Focus on Features: Purveyors of high-tech or complicated products often don't realize how little consumers know about the items they purchase. For example, take the average word processing program. It has countless features – yet how many does the everyday user know about, much less use? Realize that your buyers may not even know what they don't know. Here's an opportunity to offer seminars, tutorials, or other interactive options centered on the more obscure features. This way, you're demonstrating that you value your customers and want them to make the most of your products/services. You could win their loyalty for life.

2. Focus on the Future: If the next big innovation is in sight, but you're not ready to spill the beans just yet, you've got an ideal opportunity to create a buzz. Some of the most effective excitement generating campaigns say little, if anything, about the new product, yet still create an impression that something noteworthy is about to happen. Signage, graphics, and literature all declaring "It's Coming!" let the public know that you're excited about the new product – and that they should be too.

3. Focus on Finesse: Is there a way to make your product new and improved? You'll sometimes see this technique that I've called the Proctor & Gamble strategy. Every so often, you'll see a new and improved version of a product introduced – laundry soap, shampoo, deodorant, and so on – yet you'd have to be a chemical engineer to notice any discernable difference between the old product and the new one. Still, consumers flock to the new, even if it's only slightly different than the product they were previously satisfied with. If you can't change your product, what about the packaging? Glidden changed their paint can while still keeping their actual product, the paint, the same as it ever was, and saw sales rise as a result.

4. Focus on People: Great products wouldn't exist without great people. Consider putting a human face on your operation by centering your latest exhibit around the people who make, test, or use your product. Post Cereal, Reynold's Wrap, and NAPA auto parts have all used this strategy successfully during periods when their product line was fairly static – and then carried the idea forward, altering it as needed to introduce new products!

5. Focus on Service: Many times, we're asking buyers to make a huge investment to buy our products. If something goes wrong, the buyer worries that they will be left holding the bag on a very expensive mistake. Reassure consumers that they'll never be alone if there is a problem. By promoting service plans, support networks, and other types of assistance, you're demonstrating that you'll be there for your customer – through thick or thin!

Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: "Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies," working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and tradeshow training. For a free copy of "10 Common Mistakes Exhibitors Make", e-mail: article4@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: http://www.tradeshow-training.com

Your Marketing Message

Writen by Keith Thirgood

Your message is first among your weapons in the battle of perceptions.

Your message allows you to accomplish many things. Your message can educate the masses, convert the non-believers or separate the wheat from the chaff. But not all three.

Your first clue to your message comes from where in the Awareness Scale™ your target sits. (See my article titled "Target Your Market" for further discussion on the Awareness Scale™)

The Educational Target

The Educational Target needs the benefits of your type of service/product fully and carefully explained. Don't spend time differentiating your company from your competition, there isn't any. Instead, your target must have their awareness raised until they care.

The Doubter Target

The Doubter Target needs to have their objections overcome. You still must present the general benefits, but concentrate on overcoming the fears revealed in your research. Show how you deliver these benefits better than your competition. Your materials have a greater fight for attention here.

The Differentiation Target

The Differentiation Target is the most obvious target. All your competition is there. This market is already buying your type of service/product and they know what the major benefits are. You must highlight how you deliver the major benefits better than the competition. How you have other, less obvious benefits, your competitors don't. You must really stand out in this crowd. To be noticed, your materials and approach must be unique.

As you can see, each target needs a different message. Don't make the mistake of trying to combine the messages in one approach. It won't work.

Bad marketing happens to good people because they can't believe others are blind to their goodness. Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products. Objective reality doesn't exist. What people believe about you and your product is what's real. This is tough for most people to come to grips with. Creating a positive impression is not saying you are wonderful. It's proving it. Marketing works when it demonstrates, not when it asserts.

Don't explain the tools of your trade and don't list the features. Go for the benefits. Make them clear and desirable. If your target has to figure out the benefits for themselves, you're asking them to do your job for you. They won't. They'll do something else. The loss is yours.

For marketing purposes, each feature must deliver a benefit. Otherwise, it's worthless. Write out all the benefits of your product/service. Pretend you are a prospect. For each benefit statement you write, ask yourself, "So what?" If your answer to "So what?" is more explanation, your statement is not yet a benefit.

Example:

Client says: "Our car has passenger-side air bags." We reply: "So what? This is a feature." Client: "Our air bags inflate in 1/1000 of a second and can withstand 24 G forces." Us: "So what? This is still a feature." Client: "The passenger can walk away from a head-on collision." Us: "Now that's a benefit."

Keith Thirgood, Creative Director

Capstone Communications Group

Helping businesses get more business through innovative marketing

http://www.capstonecomm.com Markham, Ontario, Canada 905-472-2330

Subscribe to Thrive-on-line http://list.capstonecomm.com/mail.cgi?f=list&l=thrive_on_line

Product Position Why Is It Important

Writen by Crystal Vilkaitis

Product Positioning is very important in the marketing world. Think about a product, let's say a car. Now try thinking about a clothing brand or a certain food. What came to your mind? The reason those products came to your mind is because of those product's positioning. For some reason those products stuck with you, and that is because of the marketing strategies behind the products. Why is Product Positioning Important? It is important for long-term success for your company because it will make your product memorable and also make your product desired by your market segments.

A company will position a product, which means that they are trying to create an image or an identity in their targeted market's mind. This can be done for their product, brand or organization. The company creates what they want their market to think and feel about the product, which establishes their perception of the brand image. Businesses do this so their segments become familiar with the product and recognize it based off of the position. This goes hand and hand with brand image because through positioning a company is creating a brand's image.

However, the hard part is that a company needs to try to create a desired position. If this is achieved then the company has the position that is desired by the target market, which will most likely increase the success of the company. But if a company fails to create the desired position then the target market will not value the image and the product, and this could lead to losing consumers to a competitor that has a valued image.

A company needs to create a desired position for their product, brand or organization. This can be achieved through perceptual mapping. Perceptual mapping is a method marketers use to visually display and measure the perceptions of consumers or potential consumers to develop a product's position. In general, the product's position is displayed comparative to their competition. This is an important technique that should be used by marketers when deciding a product's position. It is important because it identifies what the competition is doing, what consumers' perceptions are of that market, and how one could successfully fit in that market to become desired by consumers.

Although the research needed for perceptual mapping might be extensive and time consuming, it is worth it. A successful product position could create long-term success for a company and produces continual desire for the product by consumers.

Crystal Vilkaitis is a graduate of DeVry University with a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing. As a writer for Red Rocket Media Group, a full-service Colorado marketing firm, she is able to further her interest in marketing products. Her marketing experience, extensive online product development research, and an in-depth understanding for product positioning has helped Red Rocket's clients achieve new heights. For more information, visit redrocketmg.com.