The Bookshelf

March 13 2021

What is Your Lead Nurturing System

Tom Kelly Marketing, The Bookshelf #bookreview, #bookshelf, #businesstips, #entrepreneur, #marketing, #smallbusiness, #startup 0

An analysis and commentary on The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

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The 1-Page Marketing Plan

About the Book:

In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib reveals a marketing implementation strategy to map out your own sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.

About the Author:

Allan Dib is a passionate entrepreneur, rebellious marketer and technology expert. As a highly sought after business coach, consultant and public speaker, he frequently shares his proven strategies and cutting edge tactics with people all over the world.

WHY IT MATTERS

Once you have a lead and they go into your database it’s important not to forget about them. 50% of salespeople give up after one contact, 65% after two, and 79.8% after three. If you imagine your database as a farm and each lead is seed then you would be the farmer. Farmers water their crops to make them grow for a harvest. It’s not immediate, each contact with your lead is a watering moment where you can nurture them to become a high-probability prospect. If you only water them once or twice your harvest will most likely be small and unsuccessful. Instead, you should have a lead nurturing model within your database that allows for repeated contact. This contact shouldn’t brow beat your leads into a sale, but build trust with them by giving value in advance of buying from you. Demonstrating your authority in your field of expertise is one way to begin building a credible and trustworthy rapport. This way when your lead is finally ready to buy, you are at the forefront as an invited guest instead of an unknown pest.

A SIMPLE THREE STEPS

There is a simple three-step process you can easily maintain to nurture your leads. First, advertise with the intention of finding people who are interested in what you do. This can be done with a free report, video, interview, or other sources. You want to position yourself as an expert and educator who can help fix their problem. Next, add them to your database. Once you find a lead it’s crucial to maintain their information and keep track of them, that way your advertising efforts are not wasted. Finally, keep in contact. You regularly want to be providing your lead with relevant and valuable information. You don’t however want to make everything you give them a sales pitch, it will become old very quickly. Instead you want to keep regular contact on good terms so you don’t become another cold salesperson that spams their inbox. It is your job to market to them until they buy or die. This may seem like advocating for being obnoxious and pestering people but it’s quite the opposite. Traditional selling techniques often focus on “always closing” which is a technique that uses pressure to push your lead into a sale. You want to stay away from this, focus on giving leads free high value information whether they are ready to buy or not. This opens them up instead of shutting them down. The sale you may have missed because a pressure tactic doesn’t work may become possible with a few weeks or a month of reliable information from your company to them. Now they trust you and your business and while they weren’t ready earlier, now they are and you’re their #1 choice.

OPTIONS FOR YOUR LEAD NURTURING SYSTEM

Here are some examples of things you can use in your lead nurturing system. Try different things out and see what works best for you and your leads.

Newsletter	Blog	Free Reports
Direct Mail Sequences	Email Sequences	Social Media
Online Video	DVDs/Audio CDs	Podcasts
Print Ads	SMS Auto-Responders	Shock & Awe Packages

These are a few core assets that you can implement within your marketing infrastructure. Each option serves a different crowd and purpose. It allows cold leads generated from ads to be plugged in and turned into raving fans. There are some questions you should ask yourself while building your marketing infrastructure. Are you constantly improving and updating it? Is what you are doing working and maximizing its value? Otherwise you may want to try different forms of media.

LUMPY MAIL AND SHOCK & AWE PACKAGES

The power of postal media should not be underestimated even as it competes with electronic mail. It is a strong media channel that you can use to your advantage. If you think about your postal sorting habits you generally end up with one pile of magazines for a rainy day and then envelopes you’ll need to open. Now imagine one of those envelopes has something in it that makes it lumpy. There’s an object in it, maybe a book, DVD, or small item of some sort. Which envelope out of the ones there do you think will get opened first and the most attention? Lumpy mail is an attention grabber and allows you to be creative with your marketing campaigns. These small items are called “grabbers” and can set the tone of the newsletter that should be in your envelope with it. Now your lead is interested in why they have received something out of the ordinary in the mail and are more interested in what you may have written. The next step up from lumpy mail is the “shock & awe package” which is a powerful direct response marketing follow-up tool. Many businesses don’t use it as a tool, instead they provide customers who request a follow-up with a link to a webpage, an email, or an uninteresting phone call. A “shock & awe package” eliminates these boring everyday responses and comes unexpectedly to a lead. Some things you can and should include in the package is a book. People are conditioned not to throw out books which makes them a good option and if it’s something you wrote, even better. This book that is being reviewed for its content right now is an example of valuable information provided that hasn’t been thrown out. You can also have DVDs or CDs that introduce yourself or the specific problems your product/service can solve. Testimonials from previous customers, clippings from media mentions or features are also strong additional information. Even coupons or gift cards can be a good idea. People hate the idea of wasting money. A sample of your product can also be very enticing since people love samples. If you have ever been to Costco and tried the food samples you know it’s very good at motivating you to actually go pick up the product they are selling. The “shock & awe package” is great at delivering a “wow” emotion to your prospect.

THE MATH

You can’t substitute good marketing for bad math. You have to be careful when using “shock & awe packages,” because your numbers need to make sense. You don’t want to be too cheap where you are not making an impact but of course you don’t want to overspend with no return. Make sure you are tracking your costs and returns when trying out new campaigns. Another bonus to this type of marketing is that most of your competitors won’t understand the actual goal of your packages. Most see it as a money dump which will make you stand out as an outlier. It’s also a great way to create a trend or niche idea that people can associate with your company as being cool or forward thinking. These packages have a domino effect on the benefits they return when used properly. An important factor of a high-growth business is that they are not timid about their offers. They take risks, use compelling and unique copy’s and make outrageous guarantees. Just as there are different people who provide different things to a company you always want to be finding different types of projects and systems to help promote and maintain your leads. Coming up with new ideas or shamelessly stealing the ones from this book are a great place to start. Hiring graphic designers, web developers, and copywriters make it real; then getting administrative help and using fulfillment services will make it recurring. Much of this can be automated and what can’t should get delegated. It’s just important to make sure you’re not neglecting it. Lack of a functional or running marketing infrastructure will harm or even kill your business.

MANAGING IT ALL

We covered a lot of things in this chapter now it’s about tracking what you decided to use. Sometimes this can be done through different calendar tasks. Daily, you should be checking social media and replying appropriately to comments and questions. Weekly, you could be writing a blog post and sending an email list with relevant links to blogs, posts, or content to your subscribers. Monthly, mailing customers a printed newsletter or postcard is a good idea. Quarterly you can send past customers who haven’t purchased anything a reactivation letter. Lastly, annually sending all customers a gift basket thanking them for their business. You can do as much or as little of these items as you want. Customize a schedule to your business and continually update for the best results. In addition to a regular schedule for marketing activities you should also consider event-triggered marketing activities. As an example, if you meet a prospect at a business event: transcribe their details from their business card then put them on your monthly newsletter/postcard list. If you get a sales inquiry send back a handwritten note and your “shock & awe package”. If you get a new email list subscriber: add them to your CRM which will automatically send them a five-part educational video series over the next 30days. You should try to automate this process as much as possible. Your time is more valuable and better spent on higher-level marketing tasks. Designing and testing new campaigns and updating your current offers should be your priority. A concern about delegating your marketing jobs is that quality will suffer. Whether someone will do what you would like up to the standard you desire will be based on who you hire and making sure to do regular check-ins. The likely answer is that no one will be able to 100% keep up with the standard you expect but if they can get up to a satisfactory 80% level you should delegate it.

THE MAJORS AND MINORS

A quote from Jim Rohn, an American Entrepreneur, captures what a successful business needs to separate and delegate versus keep at the highest level:

“Learn how to separate the majors and the minors. A lot of people don’t do well simply because they major in minor things. Don’t mistake movement for achievement. It’s easy to get faked out by being busy. The question is: busy doing what? Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So, make sure you spend each one wisely. We can no more afford to spend major time on minor things than we can to spend minor time on major things. Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. Time is the best-kept secret of the rich. Finally, the most common complaint is that it’s too expensive to hire or outsource help. This may have been true a few years ago, but not anymore thanks to the wonder of geoarbitrage. There is an enormous pool of talent in Southeast Asia, India and Eastern Europe that will work for you at a fraction of the price of local employees and contractors.”

Keep in mind what you should be prioritizing in order to keep your business growing. There are many outlets for you to find suitable employees to delegate or commission tasks from. Platforms like Upwork, Freelancer and 99Designs all specialize in providing various employees with specialized skills. You simply need to know what you’re looking for and start hiring. People can be hired on demand for a one-off task or added to your team to continue to produce for you. The internet has made talented specialized people so readily available and cost-efficient that you should be maximizing its potential.

HIGHLIGHTS

Nurturing your leads once they are generated through your ad strategies is just as important as the marketing project itself.
There are three steps you can take to nurture your leads efficiently. First, advertise with intention. Second, add them to your database and keep track of them. Third, keep in contact regularly and build a relationship.
There are various ways you can build a nurturing system within your lead database, test different options and find what works for you.
Never underestimate the power of lumpy mail and “shock & awe packages” they will set you apart from the crowd and when you are different you attract attention.
Make sure you are carefully analyzing what turns a profit or causes you a loss. But, you don’t want to be too stingy about it that you miss out on sale because you didn’t want to invest a bit more in a lead.
This isn’t a one-man-army job, you should be delegating and automating everything that you reasonably can. Your time is valuable and you don’t need to be involved in every micro step of your company.

REFERENCES:

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd by Allan Dib

February 27 2021

What is Your Lead Capture System

Tom Kelly Marketing, The Bookshelf #bookreview, #bookshelf, #businesstips, #entrepreneur, #marketing, #smallbusiness, #startup 0

An analysis and commentary on The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

About the Book:

In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib reveals a marketing implementation strategy to map out your own sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.

About the Author:

LEAD TURNOVER

Leads are people who know of your business and have indicated they are interested in what you have to offer by responding to your marketing message. It should be the goal of your marketing campaign to generate leads that can become potential customers. The best way to retain them is to have a database that allows you to follow-up at a later date. Not everyone will be ready to buy from you immediately and you don’t want to lose a potential sale to time. Many people forget this fact so this strategy can help you see infinitely better results from your campaign. You shouldn’t just be looking to “get your name out there”. This technique is called direct response marketing and its purpose is to generate an immediate response and encourage leads to take action on the spot. Only employing this type of marketing will cause your business to lose out on potential leads that need more time. If you forgo a database or follow-up capabilities a lead that would have been ready to buy in a week, a month, or even a year will have been lost.

THE PLAN

Focusing on lead generation and retention ads means instead of selling directly through your ad you are opening lines of communication. As an example, let’s say you spend $1,000 on an ad campaign, this ad is product based and is encouraging sales on the spot. If it reaches 1,000 people, you’ll have essentially spent $1 per person in lead generation without turn-over confirmation. Now let’s assume that 100 people out of those 1,000 are high-interest prospects for your product. Imagine if you could have spent the whole $1,000 on the 100 high-probability prospects in the beginning, investing $10 in each instead of $1 in many. Now you have invested more money in people that have a higher likelihood to purchase your product. So, what can you do? You can offer an “ethical bribe” through your ad instead of a product so your high value leads identify themselves. Through their request for your “ethical bribe” they will at least give you their name and email address all of which should go into your marketing database. In the early stages you want to sift out the uninterested and unmotivated prospects. This will limit unnecessary expenses. Another big factor to take into account when selling through an ad is that on average at any given time about 3% of your target market is highly motivated and ready to buy immediately. 7% who are very open to buying and a further 30% who are also interested just not in this moment. What these numbers tell you is that you should avoid selling through your ad as much as possible. Targeting the 3% instead of the 40% will just hurt your business. With a lead generating ad your addressable market increases by 37%, since it takes in all who are interested regardless of when they would be ready to purchase.

OTHER BENEFITS

Not only does this approach generate a larger pool of leads it also gives your leads more information about you. It shows them that you are not desperate to sell or discount a product. They see that you are interested in building a relationship first instead of shoving a sale down their throats. Similar to farming, you are placing seeds on a farm that you then grow and cultivate into crops that will produce for you. If you educate and teach your leads about the product/service or other information that surrounds it you will foster credibility. Instead of questioning you they are more likely to listen and take your advice. A sample campaign could offer a free report or video series that promises to educate your prospect on things they need to be aware of, how to avoid being ripped off and what to look for. Once your prospect receives this information, you have now delivered on your promise and your trustworthiness for them skyrockets. You set yourself apart from the competition and take on the role of an expert that is genuine and helpful. Instead of pressuring them into a quick sale you put the option in their hands to choose you when they are ready for a sale. If you’re convincing and informative then when the time comes and they are ready to buy they will contact you and identify themselves as a high-probability prospect.

YOUR COMPETITION

Sometimes when you look at your rivals and other business you see them constantly generating leads while you struggle to get any. This causes an internal dilemma based on your fight or flight reflex. You may choose to get out of the business because you think the competition is too stiff or you may beef up your ad campaigns and try to overhaul all your projects. Neither of these are the right answer. Most of the time when you look at these high performance companies it is their infrastructure that helps them generate leads so effectively. A strong base keeps a house standing. They are not tossing up ads here and there and seeing what works but have a customer relationship management(CRM) system in place. This is what you need to strive to build effectively in your company. Your ads first need to be lead generation based. Then those leads need to funnel into a CRM system that will work for you by turning them into customers. Your CRM is your marketing nerve center that manages your goldmine of prospects, having a functional and effective CRM system is one of the keys to continuous growth through your marketing campaigns.

HIGHLIGHTS

Leads need to be generated AND they have to go into a database, otherwise once they are generated if they aren’t immediately ready to buy you will lose them.
Your ad campaigns should not target the 3% of customers that will buy your product immediately but the 40% that are interested in your product at varying times.
Sometimes it’s not always about the immediate sale, building a relationship of trust over time with your leads can generate strong returning prospects that will continually turn to you when they have need of your product.
Don’t get discouraged if your competition or other companies seem to be hoarding the market, building strong lead generating campaigns and then subsequently funneling them to an effective CRM system will help build a strong backbone for your high-probability lead potential.

REFERENCES:

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd by Allan Dib

February 11 2021

What Media Will You Use to Reach Your Target Market

Tom Kelly Marketing, The Bookshelf #bookreview, #bookshelf, #businesstips, #entrepreneur, #marketing, #smallbusiness, #startup 0

An analysis and commentary on The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

About the Book:

In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib reveals a marketing implementation strategy to map out your own sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.

About the Author:

THE CUT

Every good company has marketing and advertising strategies they use to promote their business. However, not every company is maximizing their dollar and their potential with each advertisement. John Wanamaker, who some consider to be the “pioneer of marketing” said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” It is easy to get caught up in finding multiple different outlets to reach your audience and quickly begin hemorrhaging money for it. It’s one thing if your ads are working, but in most cases your ads are only half as effective as they should be. You have to be selective in keeping what performs the best and ending the ones that only cost you money. Measuring and tracking what your customers are clicking on is the first step to successfully quantifying your ads producing power.

WHERE TO FOCUS

Depending on what form of advertising you use either print, social media, search engine optimization(SEO), or other channels each has different capabilities and limits. Understanding their potential to produce for you with regard to cost should be a priority. You should constantly be checking your return on investment (ROI) for them. If it costs you more than you will make from it then its a failure, if the reverse is true then it’s a success. A lot of companies focus on quantity, how many different places can I put my name in order to be known? When they should be focused on how they get the people who would be concerned with their products to them. Targeting effectively with your ads will lower costs and provides a higher rate of success to entice potential customers. Let’s say you are selling a high performance yoga mat with a high price tag due to quality, the ad you have decided to run is an in-game pop-up for a largely played game. While your ad will be reaching a large audience, the demographic factors that make up that audience (most likely male gamers between the ages of 12 to 40) will not be enticed to buy from you. You will have spent more money putting this ad in a popular game with limited returns. Instead had you opted for a section in a fitness trends magazine or sponsored a stay-at-home mom who blogs you would have reached an audience that would have more desire for your product. The audience would not have been as large but your turn-over rate would have been measurably better.

FINANCES

Larger companies have more spending power and more reach than small businesses so casting a wider net has less of a burdening impact on overall sales/customer acquisition. That doesn’t work for many small businesses. Money made up front on a campaign is known as “the front end,” while money made with subsequent purchases is known as the “back end.” Putting these figures together make-up the lifetime value of a customer. Lifetime value and cost acquisition are the two key measures of marketing effectiveness. Without one your marketing campaigns are most likely costing your business instead of providing for it. The goal of your front end offer should be to at least cover the cost of acquisition, this makes advertising sustainable. Repeated purchases by existing customers after the fact is what makes advertising profitable. You can still track conversion rates and customer interactions with your ads but they have little to no value beyond telling you that your ad is existing rather than performing.

A SUCCESSFUL MARKETING CAMPAIGN

There are three main elements to a successful marketing campaign. Firstly, your target market which we covered in depth in the first article. You need to make sure you are targeting the right audience for the products you’re selling. Don’t cast a net too wide and don’t limit yourself by discounting markets you think aren’t as valuable. Second, your message which was covered in chapter 2 and the second article in this series. It should be clear, concise, and relevant. It should say everything pertinent for that sale about the company and product without forgetting the audience you are talking to. Finally, your media which is our main focus in this article. Media is the source you use to reach your target market. Radio, Tv, direct mail, telemarketing, the internet, and so on are all various forms of media you can use. With the expansion of technology and other platforms social media has become a fixed part of any marketing strategies. You can reach wide and niche all through the same media but it does come with some challenges. We will focus on a couple different options here and how they can be used to benefit or harm your campaigns.

YOUR PLATFORM: SOCIAL MEDIA

The first thing to remember is that social media by definition is a form of media, not a strategy. It’s not the ideal selling environment because it is a place people come to hang out and communicate, learn, or generally just browse. You can make people uncomfortable by overtly selling and constantly bombarding them with offers and pop-ups. Overuse of the different ways you can reach an audience like this can turn your potential customers off. If everytime they click on a site they are instantly met with a pop-up that interferes with their intention they are liable to begin associating your business with annoyance. One the positive side it is much easier to gauge customer reactions and engage in a dialogue with people through your ad which has not been the case through other sources. A neglected problem that has recently come up is the time drain on social media in order to reply to comments, build posts, content, and continually stay up-to-date. You have to be able to discipline yourself when it comes to your usage of social media. Some may say it’s “free” advertising because all it does require is your time and energy but that is only true if your time is worth nothing. Another problem is that of ownership, your social media page and profile is the property of the social network. So when you build up your profile and audience you are building up their assets as well. You should instead use social media to drive traffic to your marketing assets such as a website, e-commerce shop, or other outlets. Now your audience spends more time with you and for you instead of giving the network you’ve chosen more access to them.

YOUR PLATFORM: WEBSITE

Sometimes social media isn’t the best choice for your ads because your market may not hang out on its platforms. Another good way to reach your target is through a website. If you have one already your one step ahead. This is crucial for giving your customers not only information about your company and what you offer but also provides another avenue for sales and lead generation. Your website should help you build a database of subscribers that are interested in your product. This can be done with an email opt-in form and allow you to nurture customers that may not be ready to purchase immediately. An email list will also generate more returning customers through weekly newsletters or promotions that keep you at the front of their minds. Be careful not to send too many emails or unrelated content as it can get monotonous and drive your customers away.

YOUR PLATFORM: EMAIL

Now that we have an email list let’s expand on what your emails should say and how to maximize their efficiency. There are three big challenges to having successful emails. The first is getting your email delivered. Your website can help generate a larger volume of potential customers through email, without it your email acquisition is severely limited. The next challenge is getting those potential leads to open the email. One way you can entice them is with a compelling subject line with “hot press” words such as: deal, exclusive, new, limited time offer. Making sure your emails are also free of spammy words and an overwhelming amount of pictures or links also make your email more enticing. Finally, getting your leads to read the contents of your email. Some marketers have advocated for keeping emails to subscribers short. However, the length of your email isn’t the biggest problem but rather how much relative content is within it. If you have relevant, quality content written in a concise and clear manner it will get read. Taking the example of bloggers, many write long emails because they know exactly what their audience wants to read. So while the email is long it is highly compelling and relevant. On the other side another technique is to write a short summary in the body of the email that will entice the reader to click on a provided link, then bringing them back to your site.

When it comes to your media strategy, you should understand that email doesn’t replace postal mail, it complements it.

YOUR PLATFORM: POSTAL MAIL

While speed and efficiency are the hallmarks of the internet and technology today you should never discount other opportunities to connect with your target market. Physical objects are good at motivating people emotionally and moving people emotionally toward a desired action is what marketing is all about. Another good point for postal mail is that because of technologies vast power there are less people using postal platforms. Less clutter from enemy messages means more spotlight time for yours. You can also reach very different audiences with postal mail. Younger generations don’t subscribe as readily as previous generations, but if your looking for an older crowd then this platform provides more opportunity for you. A magazine or mini brochure for your company is more likely to be displayed in small businesses instead of scrolling Tv ads which may reach your target market better. It’s important throughout gaining information on different platforms that you don’t just pick and stick to one. You should try different strategies in different ways and find the best ROI for your work.

THE MONEY

There are three outcomes to spending your money on marketing. One your marketing fails (meaning you spend more than you profit). Two, you have no idea whether it was a success or failure because you didn’t measure the result. Three, your marketing is a success because you have turned more profit over than spending. In each of these scenarios there’s a simple course of action. If your marketing fails, change it up, there’s no point in dumping money into something that isn’t helping. If you can’t tell whether it helped or hurt go get some measuring tools! There are numerous available that are cheap and easy to apply to your business. If your marketing is a success then keep funneling more into the project. It should only continue to strengthen your consumer portfolio and increase your bottom line. Marketing on a budget is the best way to train yourself to require results. It not only protects you from over investing and costly endeavors but promotes good business practices. After you find a strategy that works you can easily pour unlimited resources into it that way you are continuously receiving the benefits. Best to fail often and cheap in the beginning testing headlines, platforms, and content in order to find the best possible combination. Another challenge that may arise from this is having too much demand, which is a great problem to have but many don’t know how to deal with. If it’s sudden then you need to look into bigger suppliers for your product/service. If it’s continuous consider raising your prices, you are now providing a high demand service which means not only is your product valuable but your time is too. These will all help to boost your bottom line and drive more quality clients toward your doors.

THE NUMBER ONE

The most dangerous number in business is the number one. Do you only have on source of leads? One major supplier? One major customer? Do you rely on one product or service to be your bread winner? Is there a linchpin in your company that can either make or break your future. If so you need to identify it, change it, or expand to improve it. What happens if your supplier has a malfunction that causes a shipment to be delayed? Your business will suffer, customers will lose faith and profits will lower. The most important relationship you can foster with your customers is one of satisfaction and loyalty. The term brand loyalty refers to a customer’s choice to only buy from a specific brand. Having your customers trust and loyalty be scrounged due to situations you could have prevented falls into bad business practice. In order to build not only a good business but a strong one that doesn’t fold due to unpredictable circumstances builds a great business. If there is a change in regulation or law that prevents your current main product from being sold then no problem, you’ve got a back-up. If your biggest paying customers fall on hard times no problem, you are constantly bringing in new clients. Jim Rohn, a famous American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker, has a famous quote on the matter, “You’ve got to think winter in the summer. It’s just too easy to get faked out when the sky is blue, and the clouds are fleecy. You’ve got to prepare for winter because it’s coming, it always does.” Whether it’s tomorrow when snow randomly falls or in fact 6 months away you should be prepared.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Use only what will benefit you, cut unsuccessful endeavors as they appear and encourage success where you find it.
Start with a budget that protects you in case your marketing plan fails. This way you don’t dig yourself into a whole on something that’s not working.
Experiment with different kinds of ads, messages, and media. You never know what could be a big success for you.
Track your ROI on your ads. It is important to always be measuring and updating your marketing strategy as the times change and protecting yourself from losing money.
Expect the unexpected, never leave yourself open to a problem that could arise. You should never limit yourself to the number one. Expand, research, and prepare in case you encounter an unforeseen situation.

REFERENCES:

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd by Allan Dib

January 28 2021

What is Your Message to Your Target Market?

Tom Kelly Marketing, The Bookshelf #bookreview, #bookshelf, #businesstips, #entrepreneur, #marketing, #smallbusiness, #startup, #uLumos 0

An analysis and commentary on The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

About the Book:

In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib reveals a marketing implementation strategy to map out your own sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.

About the Author:

YOUR MESSAGE GOALS

Advertising is a valuable asset in building sales and customers for your business. It is important that your ad have an objective, if it doesn’t meet that objective or help your company it has to go. This can be said about your company name and logo as well, ads help build your marketing business. A better practice for your ads instead of selling something directly is to invite customers to indicate their interest. This tactic generates less resistance and ads them to a marketing database that can be tracked and targeted easier. When getting potentials to show their interest you also need to be specific about what you want them to do, e.g. call a number to order, request a sample or report. Vague phrases such as “don’t hesitate to call us,” leaves too much leeway on what you want your customers to do. Using a Unique Selling Proposition(UPS) is one way to accomplish this. Having a strong UPS should convince your potentials of why they should buy from you and not your competitors. Many businesses use a UPS that guarantees “quality” or “great service” however it’s not the best strategy. Customers expect “quality” and “great service” from you already, especially after they’ve bought they know you are true to your word. Your UPS needs to reach people before they buy or feel the need to purchase. There are two defining questions you need to ask yourself and answer: Why should they buy and why should they buy from you? Your answers should be “clear, concise, and quantifiable.”

CRAFTING YOUR MESSAGE

When a customer becomes aware of a product they have roughly three options: buy from you, buy from a competitor, or do nothing. A common misconception about these options is that your competitors pose the biggest threat, when in actuality the propensity to spend is a larger challenge. The question of why they should buy should take priority when crafting your target message. First enticing a consumer to whatever your selling, then convincing them that your product is the best. Even if a consumer knows of your product and would choose you over a competitor, if they’re not buying it is a net loss. Take the example of Apple versus Samsung phones, through a series of advertisements a customer decides they like Apple products better, however this consumer wont need a new phone for another 2 years, so your messages energy is lost. Now that we have established the importance of buying intent we can set your company apart from others. Your message in favor of your company should be unique, this can come from many different places such as the way your product is packaged, additional services you offer in conjunction, or the way you sell it. Not only does this set you apart from your competitors, but by having more unique qualities you may even be able to charge higher prices or promote a different standard of service. By making your product remarkable you also turn better profits, customers who try your product are more satisfied, and satisfied customers share their experiences generating more customers. It is a self-fulfilling cycle.

YOUR PITCH

A simple way of testing and building an effective UPS is through an activity called the “elevator pitch.” The concept of an elevator pitch is that you can deliver a well-rehearsed, concise summary of your business and its “value proposition” within the span of an elevator ride (30-90sec.). The focus of a good marketing pitch should be providing a solution to a customer facing a problem. You want to be remembered for satisfying your customer more than you want them to remember an incomprehensible title or line of business. To effectively communicate this message you can follow a simple guide: “You know [problem]? Well, what we do is [solution]. In fact, [proof].” Easily you can insert what your company does and how you do it, you can spice up this message in an ad through many creative outlets, just make sure your main points still come through clear.

IN-DEPTH ON YOUR OFFERS

An important question to ask yourself is of all the products and services you offer which do you have the most confidence in delivering. This will be the most powerful of your products to market. Another way to say this is what problem are you sure you can solve for your target market? You can look at what the underlying satisfactions your consumers gain from your product to help you identify which would be best. For example, if you sell home insurance not only do you just sell that physical product but emotionally what people are buying from you is security and peace of mind. Attaching the emotional and underlying benefits of your products as further selling points can help your pitch and delivery. Now you can sell your consumers a story they can identify with not just a point blank product or service. The biggest downfalls for offers is the fact that most of them are unexciting or engaging.

Another important distinction to make in your offer is who you are selling to. You may have the best ad created for an outdoor enthusiast to by your one of a kind cooler but if its a businessman who is always traveling that sees your ad loses value. The best way to figure out what your potential prospects may want is by asking them, using surveys and other formal market research strategies you can find this out. Taking the same business that caters to outdoor enthusiasts, if they wanted to expand their consumers to business men they would need to find out what would attract them. A side not about market research is that many people who take surveys and answer questions think logically while the actual purchasing of items is more emotional. A more telling way you can analyze your market is to look at what they have already bought or are currently buying. There are many services and softwares out there that provide such a service, some can give insight on what’s trending, what people are reacting too, and tap into the global consciousness that is social media.

THE POWER OF WORDS

Using all the information we have gained from looking at what the company provides and what a target market may want we can now craft our message in the best form. Your offer needs to start with the basic information of knowing what your going to sell and to who from there your audience will guide the rest of your decisions. An important audience identifier that should be considered is language, what “jargon” do they use that identifies them with their market group. When you have a really compelling offer people can become skeptical about potential motive, using their language helps them trust you and the product easier. Another way you can encourage customers to purchase is “value stacking” adding more offers and additional bonuses can make your original offer look even more valuable and like a no-brainer. Often in info-commercials that you see on the tv you’ll hear the announcer say “order now and we’ll send you an additional (product), yours free!” On the same level of adding more products “upselling” is also an important part of business. Taking a salon as an example, a customer books a haircut guaranteeing a purchase but this is your opportunity to capitalize. Since they are already coming in you can also offer them a hair treatment or styling to compliment their service which can generate more sales for you.

Something to keep in mind across different business types is having a payment plan available. You may offer a high end and expensive service but for certain service you may include a payment plan that makes it more accessible and affordable to people. When you go to a department store some have Tv and computer displays, many would be out of the price range of a customer living with many bills and financial obligations. Instead of losing the sale completely a payment plan provides a more realistic option for some consumers. Another difference to keep in mind is having a high risk product(ex: stocks or market shares) and what assurances you can provide your consumers should they choose to invest. Giving consumers a guarantee when they invest whether small or large will entice them to take the risk of purchasing. Another strategy you can employ is scarcity. People respond more to fear of loss than the prospect of gain. Having seasonal or limited stock of products can become a strong selling point for your business.

PERCEPTION

Selling the features and benefits of your products instead of the having a price centric message entices your audience more. The timing aspects of your product should also be considered when developing a message. Pharmacists often sell medicine focused solely on curing an existing problem rather than preventing, this is because people often want instant gratification with their purchases. The relief you can provide with your product across any number of goods or services will see higher conversion rates and lower price resistance when following this model. An additional point on word perception is “salesmanship in print,” or attention grabbing headlines/calls to action that elicit direct emotional responses are sometimes seen as inappropriate but are necessary to understand. It has been more modernly dubbed “click bait” where a title may be overimbelished and exaggerated in comparison to the content it is representing. It targets what people would emotionally be more compelled to click on instead of what you’re selling in entirety.

People buy from people, not corporations, making sure you build a rapport and relationship with your customers makes them more inclined to purchase your product. From an emotional standpoint people care about personality, a consumer is much more likely to buy from a company that has a history of clean production and good employee treatment. Your ads can display your personality through words with strong emotional connotations and making sure that consumers can tell you are sincere. Authenticity makes your company approachable and humanizes you. Different ways to do this can be a short video on your website of someone explaining and describing your products, a talking-head can connect to your customers easier. You can also post on social media frequently addressing your target market and building history with relevant content from your business. Be unique, listen to your audience and provide what they want. Whether you’re the first within your business market to do something like this or not, it matters only what your customers will think. You have to take the fear element out of what your competitors do and how you may personally feel on the matter in order to be the most effective.

EMOTION VS. LOGIC

Something important to remember is that people buy with their emotions and justify with logic afterwards. Changing even one-word in your headline or message can alter the way it is received by your customers. Here are a few words that have been found most compelling: free, save, results, love, proven, easy, guaranteed. The five motivating aspects of human behavior are often named: greed, guilt, pride, fear, and love. Your sales copy should be focusing on one of these “hot press” buttons otherwise it is most likely not maximising impact and verging on timid and ineffective. Your headline is the most important part of your sales copy, it grabs your reader and pulls them in to actually get information and delve into your ad or message. It’s like a teaser add thats suppose to give them a glimpse into what your actual ad will contain and drive them to want to read it.

Some examples:

They Laughed When I sat down at the Piano-But When I Started to Play!
Who Else Wants a Screen Star Figure?
An Open Letter to Every Overweight Person in Portland Is the Life of a Child Worth $1 to You?
For more references: 1pmp.com

All of the above headlines grab your attention, give some glimpse into the content that would be featured, and leave enough unsaid to make the reader want to find out more. This should be the goal of all of your headlines. Some people may think manipulating emotion through ads is unethical such as targeting fear or guilt but like any tool it can be used for good or bad. You as a salesman are trying to make a profit and push your product but if you provide an honest service that does benefit your customers then you aren’t being underhanded or deceitful. If you have the best interest of the customer in mind then you are doing them a service making sure they know and feel compelled to buy your product instead of the competitions which may be inferior. Knowing your target markets influencing emotions can help you start a sale but you also need to be prepared to assuage their fears. It is inevitable that your customer will have doubts and work through all the risks that could be associated with your product. Your best practice should be to address those fears or concerns head on instead of shying away from them and letting the customer’s brain work it out. Potentially lost sales to the mind game of risk rationalization will be lessened and it will give your customers a more well-rounded picture of what you’re offering. Many customers don’t even voice their concerns because of the “polite” society we live in, most will differ to the “let me think about it” line. Your sales copy should not only say who or what your product is about but also who it is NOT for. It is your duty to make sure you aren’t selling to low-probability prospects, this will also help lessen complaints for misunderstandings and makes your more credible in the customer’s eyes. Selling your product as being unique and tailored for a certain set of needs makes it seem more exclusive and “best fit” for your intended audience.

RESPONSIBILITY

If you ask people why they haven’t had success with something some common responses are: the economy, government taxes are too high, poor upbringing. None of these responses however mention themselves or their own shortcomings. When a kid does something wrong their normal response is “It’s not my fault,” this is the same with adults. Most people don’t believe they are in the wrong. This applies to the way you need to take responsibility for the success of your company, it will always come back to you when there’s a problem. You should never be blaming your prospects, whenever they give an excuse that derails a sale or when they have a problem you are trying to solve you should never actively blame in your words or your actions. The best you can do to combat the blame game is to take their reasons or problems accept it and try to provide a solution. If the economy is bad and you see this as a common problem consider offering a layaway plan. If your customers have no time to come in and buy your product, offering an online purchasing or ordering solution may work wonders for you. Always try to find a way to accept the problem and provide a solution, those will turn out the best results.

YOUR NAME

Your name, whether for a company or product is your first impression and should be carefully thought of. A common problem with names is that they are too vague or “Inner circle.” If you have to explain your name in any way you have already gone wrong. Now you spend more time and money with advertisements and explanations to try to get across the basics of your company which should have been apparent in its naming. Just as we spoke about headlines being hooks into your ads, your name for your company or product needs to do the same. The title should equal content. “Fast Plumbing Repairs,” tells you exactly what you need to know about this company versus “Aqua Solutions.” Now you need to explain that aqua is water in latin and what you mean by solutions, is this for fixing bad pipes, cleaning/filtering water, maybe dealing with a leak in your house. Your customer has no idea from your name what you are all about. Often people out think themselves trying to be clever when simple is better. Confusing customers is the fastest and easiest way to lose a sale. It is difficult enough to have your customer, read, act, and engage with you in the beginning. You double your chance of creating a problem when you choose cleverness over clarity. If you need an opinion about your idea for a name it is good to ask for advice from others. However you want to be careful taking advice from friends or family because they are biased and tend to try to praise or compliment your for your ideas. While it may feel nice it may not be helpful and in your best interest.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Your message is the most important part of your ad. Crafting something clear, concise, and targeted will have the best results.
Understanding your target market physically and mentally will help you appeal to them and account for questions or concerns they may have.
Appeal to your customers emotion not logic, people buy with their feelings and then rationalize second.
Your words and language can either help or hinder you, be selective and decisive about how you write anything that pertains to your business name, product, or message.

REFERENCES:

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd by Allan Dib

January 12 2021

Who is Your Target Market?

Tom Kelly Marketing, The Bookshelf #bookreview, #bookshelf, #businesstips, #entrepreneur, #marketing, #smallbusiness, #startup, #uLumos 0

An analysis and commentary on The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

About the Book:

In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib reveals a marketing implementation strategy to map out your own sophisticated marketing plan and go from zero to marketing hero.

About the Author:

SELECTION

It is a natural part of selecting your target market to exclude different groups that you think your product won’t appeal to as well. Being very selective of your target market is an underestimated part of setting up a successful marketing campaign. Many small businesses feel excluding potential customers is costly to business and that a wider net yields better results. This is not the case, in fact it is one of the bigger mistakes of identifying your market that people can make. Finding a niche, or small group of people that would absolutely benefit from your product then dominating that niche is step one. Once you build a base you can pick other niches to appeal to and add to your customer portfolio. If you target wider, you are likely to encounter a majority of people who won’t be interested versus finding a small group that would love your product and expanding from there. This creates not only a strong consumer base but also a sales base to continue growing your business.

MARKET SPECIFICS

The specifics of each individual market you define are important. Knowing their age, gender, geography, likes and dislikes all contribute to who they are as a consumer to your business. You want to be detailed and specific, not only when identifying multiple markets but also the individual consumers within it. Let’s say you start with a market of women because you sell a feminine product, while that may seem like a great target group, it’s much too big. You need to narrow it down to a specific age, will teenagers, adults, or elders be more interested? What job profession or hobbies may be influenced more to want your product. The more details you can pin down, the smaller and easier your identifying markets will become.

THE DETAILS

While we just talked about getting down to specifics for your markets, it’s important to look even further and personalize them to your business. It’s not enough to know what they are within the market, but who they are. You can look at their daily frustrations, who they might be mad at (e.g. their local governor, business they don’t agree with, etc.). Looking at the trends that occur around them and what secret desires they might have can also help you appeal to their market. For example, a mom with teenagers(not adults or babies, but teenagers) can be interested in a lot of teenage products and services they can share with their family. As an adult woman, she may not have been interested in those without kids. Their speech and jargon is also important when trying to relate to a market, they may have special words that identify someone as being part of that group, using those words may make you “in” with them and your product more appealing. There are many small things that make us as individuals tick and knowing which ones will help you the most, can do wonders for a business.

VALUE

Finding your ideal target market can be made easier by following the PVP index, this stands for Personal fulfillment, Value to the marketplace, and Profitability. Personal fulfillment is how much you enjoy having this type of customer, sometimes we get “pain in the butt” customers but they are really good for business. You can rate each of these categories on a scale to 10, the higher the number the better. Value to the marketplace is how much does this market value what you are providing for them? Would they pay more for the service because they want it so much? Lastly Profitability, how profitable is the work you do for this market? This isn’t talking about the overall price tag and gross purchasing but instead you’re after cost profitability. A lot of the times you will have a very expensive product but you will only be barely profitable after costs and expenses, sometimes even netting a loss. It is about “turnover” not “leftover”. By rating all these categories, you can add the numbers up and compare them to see which market you should focus on. This is why it’s better to establish smaller markets and then build up into bigger ones.

Highlights:

In The Book of Survival by Anthony Greenbank, he wrote: “To live through an impossible situation, you don’t need to have the reflexes of a Grand Prix driver, the muscles of a Hercules, the mind of an Einstein. You simply need to know what to do.”
Targeting a tight niche allows you to become a big fish in a small pond. It allows you to dominate a category or geography in a way that is impossible by being general.
Dominate a niche, then once you own it, do the same with another and then another. But never do so all at once. Doing so dilutes your message and your marketing power.
Find the value within your niche, choose the best place to start for your business following PVP and then start building and growing.

REFERENCES

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd by Allan Dib