By Carolyn McCormick
I recently posed the following question to attendees at my Business Bootcamp -- "What is the real purpose of marketing?" (Yes, it sounds so basic, yet everyone initially answers it incorrectly. Everyone!)
Everyone is so eager to rush into marketing, but unless we really understand what our purpose in marketing truly is -- we stand the risk of our efforts failing to achieve our desired results.
Many people come to me for coaching when their marketing is not yielding the results to match their financial goals. With some diagnosis, the problem is simple to detect. You see, many people still don't understand what their true purpose of marketing is, and so they make the same mistakes over and over again.
These costly mistakes, arise out of not knowing your single most important mission in marketing. The bad news is, marketing costs the same, whether it works or not. The good news is, the problem can be fixed.
There are many different results possible of any marketing campaign, but there is only ONE marketing mission that will yield you the highest and best results each and every time! For most people, they think the purpose of marketing is to sell their products and services.
Big Mistake! And that is where the problems begin.
If selling our products and services were the real mission of marketing, then marketing would be so simple and easy. We could just send out a brochure advertising our product or service and watch the dollars come pouring in. However, here are a few discouraging statistics:
- A direct mail brochure gets less than a 1% return.
- People today are bombarded with junk mail and junk email overload.
- "Do not call" lists and "do not write" lists are growing exponentially daily.
- Fact: It takes at least 7 repetitive marketing hits for a brand name like Coke to get a new prospect buying.
It takes on the average 11 repetitive marketing hits for the ordinary person like you and I to get a response from a prospect to begin thinking about buying on average. (These numbers vary slightly with different statistics).
We all make the mistake of thinking the purpose of marketing is to sell something. This is the single biggest mistake people make. Here is the organizing principle around the real purpose of marketing.
Selling is not your marketing purpose. Attracting warm to hot prospects and turning them into customers who buy in time is your real purpose!
Think of it like dating. Imagine you are single for a moment and meeting a new person for the first time. Your mission in meeting that person is not to marry them on the spot, but to get to know them and they you -- to determine if you would even like to date each other.
There's meeting, then dating, then courtship. . . then possibly marriage down the road. The more people you meet, the more great dates you can have, and eventually you attract the ideal person you would like to marry.
Imagine someone walking up to you and saying, "Hi, it's nice to meet you. Ready to get married?" That is often how people approach marketing.
There are terms we use to call people like this, "slimy, sleezeball, used-car salesman, hypster, slick and slickster." Why? Because we all hate to be "Sold."
So your mission is to find and attract interested people into your marketing funnel, first building rapport, then building trust, sharing your expertise, offering value -- knowing when you add value to their lives and business, they will automatically want to do business with you. It becomes not a matter of if they will do business with you, but when.
So here are 8 Steps to Attract Quality Prospects and Turn Them into Customers:
1 - Attract them into your marketing funnel by getting them to respond to a compelling offer.
2 - Offer them something of value first (Special Report, Article, Trial Sample or Offer).
3 - Follow up with an email, phone call, mailing. Offer more value.
4 - Diagnose their deepest needs through surveys, interviews, assessments or questionnaires.
5 - Create a product or plan that solves their worries, challenges or concerns.
6 - Show them the benefits of how your service is a solution to their needs.
7 - Make it easy for them to buy your products, providing great customer service.
8 - Ask to help their friends and family by getting referrals.
The mission is to create life-long customers by taking the time to build quality relationships, inviting them to take one step at a time with you. Think dating! When you give them value first by sharing your expertise, you not only remove the stress and anxiety on your part, but you also create an atmosphere of zero resistance marketing.
You become the Expert meeting their needs, rather than the pushy salesperson they can't wait to get rid of. The real bonus is that your marketing results will become both more profitable and also more predictable.
Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com
As a business strategy expert with 20 years of extensive work for legends Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, John Gray, and Mark Victor Hansen, Carolyn now coaches ordinary people to extraordinary results. She helps you define your business and personal goals while discovering a deeper sense of fulfillment and confidence on the road to grabbing your dreams. Explode your business with Carolyn! Get her FREE Explode Your Biz Quiz here!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Why Social Responsibility Is Profitable?
By Terry Fitzroy
What is social responsibility? Well, Webster's dictionary describes responsibility as a duty, or a calling. Many people believe that marketers have a certain social responsibility, however, there are two main opposing views. One camp believes that marketers have no social responsibility. That the consumers themselves are responsible for making informed decisions about what they need, want, and are able to buy with their hard earned money. The other camp says that way of thinking is antique. The consumer of today is in a market that is so much more complicated and difficult to discern. Therefore they believe that the marketers themselves have the sole responsibility to society to keep them informed about the market changes, different product types and so forth. As you read this article, you'll hopefully see why good socially responsible marketing can be very profitable.
Why should you care first of all? Well, if you just look at our children, you'll see a big reason to care. Marketers not only persuade people to think a certain way in order to buy something, but their ads, and commercials also have an effect upon the way we think about the world we live in. This is especially true for the nation's children. If they see it on television, or read it on the computer, they will most likely see it as the way things are. Therefore, marketers have a certain social responsibility to our people to not misrepresent the way things truly are. One industry that is very guilty in this area is the adult industry. Their fantasized displays of sexual life are not even close to the norm. I for one believe that they are responsible for a large percentage of our nation's divorces. The marketing, has been unresponsible in it's consideration to our people.
If everyone is involved, it is profitable for the whole group. Can you imagine what would happen if the entire marketing industry decided to clean up its act and keep us informed? There is more than one area of profitability in this kind of scenario. The first, being society itself improving. The second is obviously a monetary profit. You see this often on the internet with review websites. Customers trust them because they give accurate reviews of the products in their industry, and are keeping their social responsibility. Therefore, the customers trust them, and come back time and time again.
Why is social responsibility profitable? In a nutshell, it builds reputability. People trust you when you give them the truth about your products, your industry, and what to stay clear of. The goal with social responsibility in marketing is to set yourself up as an authority on the subject. So when people have a question about something related to your field, they come running back to you for advice. Not only does it serve the greater good of the society, it makes you more money in the long run. If you're in marketing, be socially responsible with your ads, it will make a difference.
Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com
Terry Fitzroy is a professional writer specializing in social responsibility and Eco PR. To learn more about Media Relations visit PilmerPR.com
What is social responsibility? Well, Webster's dictionary describes responsibility as a duty, or a calling. Many people believe that marketers have a certain social responsibility, however, there are two main opposing views. One camp believes that marketers have no social responsibility. That the consumers themselves are responsible for making informed decisions about what they need, want, and are able to buy with their hard earned money. The other camp says that way of thinking is antique. The consumer of today is in a market that is so much more complicated and difficult to discern. Therefore they believe that the marketers themselves have the sole responsibility to society to keep them informed about the market changes, different product types and so forth. As you read this article, you'll hopefully see why good socially responsible marketing can be very profitable.
Why should you care first of all? Well, if you just look at our children, you'll see a big reason to care. Marketers not only persuade people to think a certain way in order to buy something, but their ads, and commercials also have an effect upon the way we think about the world we live in. This is especially true for the nation's children. If they see it on television, or read it on the computer, they will most likely see it as the way things are. Therefore, marketers have a certain social responsibility to our people to not misrepresent the way things truly are. One industry that is very guilty in this area is the adult industry. Their fantasized displays of sexual life are not even close to the norm. I for one believe that they are responsible for a large percentage of our nation's divorces. The marketing, has been unresponsible in it's consideration to our people.
If everyone is involved, it is profitable for the whole group. Can you imagine what would happen if the entire marketing industry decided to clean up its act and keep us informed? There is more than one area of profitability in this kind of scenario. The first, being society itself improving. The second is obviously a monetary profit. You see this often on the internet with review websites. Customers trust them because they give accurate reviews of the products in their industry, and are keeping their social responsibility. Therefore, the customers trust them, and come back time and time again.
Why is social responsibility profitable? In a nutshell, it builds reputability. People trust you when you give them the truth about your products, your industry, and what to stay clear of. The goal with social responsibility in marketing is to set yourself up as an authority on the subject. So when people have a question about something related to your field, they come running back to you for advice. Not only does it serve the greater good of the society, it makes you more money in the long run. If you're in marketing, be socially responsible with your ads, it will make a difference.
Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com
Terry Fitzroy is a professional writer specializing in social responsibility and Eco PR. To learn more about Media Relations visit PilmerPR.com
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Emotional Marketing As The Basis Of Your Promotions
By James Copper
The market out there is fast and furious. The competition is heavy and the marketing messages are reaching consumers in their thousands every day. To compound the challenge, most of your potential customers basic needs are already met. They are looking for things to enhance their lives, make them feel better, prettier, sexier. Marketing to todays consumers is a challenging business because you are no longer listing the specifications of products and services. Instead you are meeting people on an emotional level to break into their consumer awareness.
This article is mostly geared toward the product distribution business but it can be adapted to meet the needs of your service oriented customers. Here we will focus on some of the tactics, what they are and what you should do to benefit from marketing on an emotional basis to your potential customer base. First take your cue from the marketing greats such as Nike, Coke, Pepsi. They have been top marketers for decades and have multi-million dollar budgets. And yet you never see a Coke or Nike ad list the specifications for soda pop or running shoes. They market entirely on an emotional level.
When figuring out how to market emotionally, you need to work out what drives your customers. How do they spend their days? How can your product make their lives easier, make them healthier or better looking or their lives more fun? Once you get a grip on how your product appeals to your customer, you can then focus your marketing efforts on bringing to the fore the emotional offer that your clients will respond to. For example, if you sell liquid vitamins I would say off the top of my head that your target market are people who are health conscious, not as healthy as they would like to be, high income earners, probably leading quite stressed lives and they want their vitamins quickly and immediately.
Obviously you need to pitch your marketing tactics at intelligent, busy people who are concerned about their health and want instant results from vitamins. You could show a before stressed executive at office or stressed mom ferrying the kids and after executive in control of a meeting, mom laughing with the kids to show the benefits of these vitamins.
This approach hits a number of emotional points in the consumer. 1. There is help out there. 2. It doesn’t have to be this way. 3. Ordinary folk are benefiting from this. 4. All it takes is liquid vitamins to change your life. 5. My destiny is in my hands because I can buy liquid vitamins to change my life. 6. Vitamins make you healthy so they will make me healthy too. 7. Liquid vitamins have an instantaneous effect on your mood and life. Whether any of these assumptions bear scrutiny is not the point. The point is the emotional response that your campaign induces in the potential customer.
To build an emotional marketing campaign you need to read the psycho-social make-up of your target market and build up an emotional campaign to meet their needs. It sounds like common sense but surprisingly few businesses go about doing this. They simply have advertisements published and hope for the best. What you actually need is a promotional campaign where you are entering into an emotional back-and-forth relationship with the customer, persuading them that your service or product can meet their emotional need.
Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com
James Copper is a writer for www.marketinglinx.com where you can get help with business marketing
The market out there is fast and furious. The competition is heavy and the marketing messages are reaching consumers in their thousands every day. To compound the challenge, most of your potential customers basic needs are already met. They are looking for things to enhance their lives, make them feel better, prettier, sexier. Marketing to todays consumers is a challenging business because you are no longer listing the specifications of products and services. Instead you are meeting people on an emotional level to break into their consumer awareness.
This article is mostly geared toward the product distribution business but it can be adapted to meet the needs of your service oriented customers. Here we will focus on some of the tactics, what they are and what you should do to benefit from marketing on an emotional basis to your potential customer base. First take your cue from the marketing greats such as Nike, Coke, Pepsi. They have been top marketers for decades and have multi-million dollar budgets. And yet you never see a Coke or Nike ad list the specifications for soda pop or running shoes. They market entirely on an emotional level.
When figuring out how to market emotionally, you need to work out what drives your customers. How do they spend their days? How can your product make their lives easier, make them healthier or better looking or their lives more fun? Once you get a grip on how your product appeals to your customer, you can then focus your marketing efforts on bringing to the fore the emotional offer that your clients will respond to. For example, if you sell liquid vitamins I would say off the top of my head that your target market are people who are health conscious, not as healthy as they would like to be, high income earners, probably leading quite stressed lives and they want their vitamins quickly and immediately.
Obviously you need to pitch your marketing tactics at intelligent, busy people who are concerned about their health and want instant results from vitamins. You could show a before stressed executive at office or stressed mom ferrying the kids and after executive in control of a meeting, mom laughing with the kids to show the benefits of these vitamins.
This approach hits a number of emotional points in the consumer. 1. There is help out there. 2. It doesn’t have to be this way. 3. Ordinary folk are benefiting from this. 4. All it takes is liquid vitamins to change your life. 5. My destiny is in my hands because I can buy liquid vitamins to change my life. 6. Vitamins make you healthy so they will make me healthy too. 7. Liquid vitamins have an instantaneous effect on your mood and life. Whether any of these assumptions bear scrutiny is not the point. The point is the emotional response that your campaign induces in the potential customer.
To build an emotional marketing campaign you need to read the psycho-social make-up of your target market and build up an emotional campaign to meet their needs. It sounds like common sense but surprisingly few businesses go about doing this. They simply have advertisements published and hope for the best. What you actually need is a promotional campaign where you are entering into an emotional back-and-forth relationship with the customer, persuading them that your service or product can meet their emotional need.
Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com
James Copper is a writer for www.marketinglinx.com where you can get help with business marketing
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