5/29/2008
Is your marketing effective? Find out for sure in this no-charge teleseminar
| How well do you explain to potential clients and customers YOUR product or service? SOME BAD NEWS: If your target market doesn’t understand your message, they will not buy from you and will never become your customer. Plain and simple! SOME GOOD NEWS: I have an exciting and FREE opportunity for you. On Thursday, June 5th, from 12 Noon to 1PM EST, I will be hosting a free teleseminar, From Marketing Limbo to Marketing ‘Aha!’ It is geared specifically toward business professionals (such as entrepreneurs,  coaches, consultants and VAs) who write their own copy.If you are unsure about your marketing copy or feel it could be more effective, this FREE teleseminar is a must for you. It is going to be value packed with DIY (Do-It-Yourself) strategies that will be easily applicable across all marketing media from web pages, brochures and ads, to e-mail campaigns and direct mail pieces. Click here for more information. Labels: information marketing, low-budget marketing, teleseminar |
5/20/2008
What's your marketing myth?
 Businesses of all sizes make mistakes, right? (Even yours, I promise.) Sometimes, despite our best intentions, we don’t learn from our marketing mistakes -- and it’s not due to a lack of marketing know-how. There are simply many marketing ‘myths’ that tend to be believed and acted upon even when they prove time and again to not be valid or productive: Myth 1: Believing your own hype. Telling prospects your product is best is fine, but only if you understand what really motivates the buyer. Research customers directly to find out why your customers think a competitor’s product might be superior to yours and why your product isn’t performing as expected. Myth 2: The lowest-priced product or service wins! Thinking that your customers will buy your product based solely on price is not a good strategy by anyone’s measure. More than anything buyers want to believe they are receiving good value for their money. If you think you’re losing out to lower-priced competitors, you may ultimately lose out to higher-value competitors. Instead, focus your marketing copy on demonstrating how your product offers the greatest value. Myth 3: Successful businesses are very serious. Make doing business with you is easy – and may even be fun. It’s amazing how many companies make doing business with them difficult. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and insure that every contact – whether by phone, email or in person – is easy, fun and personal. Take some time to put together questions and advice to ask or offer to customers (and prospects). Make it simple to find things on your website or in your store. Myth 4: Changing your marketing campaign frequently is the way to go. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” definitely applies here. Too many companies believe that frequently launching new marketing or ad campaigns is the way to go. Big mistake! It’s all about reach (getting to the right audience) and frequency (making sure your prospects are exposed to your message on a regular basis). Winning concepts should be given enough time to work… to sink in. Just because you’re tired of the same campaign doesn’t mean your potential customers have even come close to getting their fill or even recognize your brand. |
5/13/2008
Web Presence – Do You Have It? (Part 2 of 2)
| In the last entry, we focused on things (like prospective customers) you could potentially lose by not having web presence. Now let’s focus on the things you WILL GAIN by having a good well planned web presence. • Your website and web presence can be the center of your marketing strategies. Using the same branding as your site, you can create and send e-newsletters, blog about industry specific topics, take part in editorial sites, social networking sites and lead generators. Most of this could all be done for FREE! • Let people learn about your company. If you are a small business and personally manage your customer interaction, tell your prospective customers that on your site. People love working with small businesses, so be what you are and tell people all about it for FREE on your site. Well planned web presence can catapult your business and allow you the opportunity to reach a broader target market. Put your finely tuned business sense and people skills to work in this virtual environment and see where it can take you and your business. Labels: Internet Marketing, marketing, small business marketing |
5/08/2008
Web Presence – Do You Have It? (Part 1 of 2)
If you do not have a web presence for your business and feel like you are missing opportunities because of it, YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! • A website allows you to extend your business hours. Imagine being able to keep your “OPEN” sign up 24 hours a day without having to be “in” or paying someone to be “in.” You don’t want to be closed when your competition is open. • It doesn’t matter what type of product you sell or service you offer, more than half of your potential new customers will go on-line to try and find an expert in your field -- shouldn’t you be where they are looking? • Because of the Internet, local businesses are no longer just local in most cases. Take advantage of your potential global reach. Labels: Internet Marketing, low-budget marketing, online marketing |
5/04/2008
Using Your Voice In Copywriting
| Perhaps when you were in a high school or college English or writing class, your instructor talked a lot about “finding your voice.” In creative writing and other more personal writing styles, finding and using your own voice is very important. But… (and you knew there would be a ‘but’), your personal voice has no place in your marketing copy. No place. Now I know what some of you are saying: “My business is all about me and my expertise, if I don’t tell people about me personally then I’m not telling them the whole story.” Or, “only big companies have no personal voice, but we entrepreneurs and small business people rely on our own voice to get the clients we need.” Here’s my answer: the no-personal-voice-in-your-marketing rule applies to all of you. No exceptions. Focus on what you are selling and why your target market should be buying from you. Focus on that with laser-like precision and stop focusing on what you should not be doing. (And the things you should not be doing, as far as copywriting, include going on and on about your history, your personal story or your passion. Focus on what you are selling and why they should buy.) I promise you your copy (and subsequent sales) will be SO much better and more effective. Try it and let me know what happens. Labels: business advice, business writing, copywriting, creative writing |