|
|
| Marketing |Information | Articles | Resources | Strategy | Research | Tip and Tool |
|
More Marketing Dope
Direct marketing can make you very successful, but you've got to understand the basics. Here are some more gems of the industry that can take you from being a diamond in the rough to the luminous bling-bling. When advertising your product or service, honesty is not only the legal and ethical path, but also the path to the highest amount of repeat business. Many times companies fall into the trap of trying to "lure" customers in to their store. They make claims that are technically true but are worded in a way that make them sound better than they actually are. The company may not be consciously trying to deceive their customer, but none the less if exactly what is advertised is not delivered the customer will feel deceived. This customer is not likely to do business with this company no matter what their advertising offers in the future. List the benefits of your product factually and deliver what is promised and your customers will keep coming back. When advertising, it is best to outline the benefits of your product or service. Simply naming the features that it has may not show what it can actually do for your customer. Example: A car company releases a new model of car that features "new indestructible porcelain brakes". This fact is touted in all of their commercials but the cars aren't flying off the lot. It is very likely that the customers in their target market, mostly families that are concerned about safety, have no idea what difference these brakes make in the performance of the vehicle. If they had instead advertised the benefit that the car is "equipped with brakes that can stop your car three times faster" it would have given the customer a compelling reason to be interested. Think about what the benefit of your product or service is and focus on that. If you are a computer maintenance company your product may be "server management and database maintenance" but you will be better off saying that you can help "increase office productivity by allowing easier access to client files". Many times your customers don't understand your business. That is why they have to hire you. Make sure to explain to them not only what you do, but how it can help them. When a customer gives you their email address you have one more way to get your message to them. One of the best ways to supplement Direct Mail Marketing is Direct Email Marketing. However, unlike direct mail marketing, unsolicited email marketing is illegal. You can't just go out and buy a list of email addresses and start sending to them. There is one way to purchase lists for emailing called "opt in" lists but this method is not recommended because the rate of people on the list that actually "opt in" to receiving your promo is very low. This is why you should always collect customers' email addresses as you are getting their physical addresses. Also be sure not to slam your customers with too much email promotion. I recommend not sending more than one email per week to each client. Not only will this keep you from angering your customers, it will also keep up the interest level and keep your emails from getting deleted before they are even opened. If your company is planning on emailing specials or a Monthly Email Newsletter you will need to have this list for them to be effective. If you are not planning on contacting customers and prospects via email, you should be! Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she's sharing her marketing secrets to others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at http://www.postcardmania.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How to Profit from Your Expertise (Part 1 of 2) Are you looking for a natural way to market your professional services? What if you could exponentially multiply the number of motivated, pre-qualified prospects you reach in a fraction of the time that networking and referrals require? Direct Mail Response Rates Low? Eliminate These Mistakes Are your direct mail response rates lower than you expect? Check your sales letter or direct mail package against this checklist to uncover the reasons for your poor response. Down To The Wire When you want to win and woo new clients with national publicity -- and don't have an enormous budget to distribute your message -- turn to the news wires. But first, be sure you're telling a story that's worth printing. Do I Need an RSS Feed? RSS has been around for more than 10 years but has only recently become popular. RSS provides headlines and summaries of information in a concise and standardized way. Top 7 Tips for New Businesses The marketing decisions you make for your new business are the most important part of making your business a success. Marketing is about building a strong presence, name recognition and credibility through various methods. Here are 7 things you can do to get a new business off the ground. Insiders Secret to Selling Mailing Lists If you've got a mailing list of at least a thousand names or more, you're sitting on a gold mine. All it takes is for you to get the word out that you've got a mailing list for rent, at a competitive price, and you should be home free! B2B Marketing Tips - Create an Interactive Online Experience for Clients Business to business communications on the web are as stale as a piece of week old toast. Where to Look for New Donors for Your Fundraising Letter Appeals Have you ever studied your best donors and wished you could clone them all? Maybe you can, with a bit of creative thinking. 10 Ways to Get Your Flyers Noticed An inexpensive way to promote your services is to createvarious flyers and distribute them wherever you go -- pinthem to the bulletin boards at the library, bookstore,handout out at networking events, or playing tennis. Hereare 10 tips on how to get your flyer noticed and remembered. Eight No Cost Ways to Market Your Business Are you trying to promote your business with a tiny marketing budget? Opportunities are plentiful for low or no cost marketing. Here are a few that won't cost you a cent. Publish articles about your specialty. "How-to" articles are always welcome. Ensure you include your contact information. Write letters to the editor of publications your target market reads. Get involved in an organization or community project. Build strategic alliances with non-competing businesses and cross-promote each other. Publish a special report. A "super how to" list for your specialty area. Distribute freely. Ensure that your contact information is included. Speak to groups and organizations. Make sure the audience is your target market. Carefully target relationships with media sources. Write newsworthy press releases and distribute to your special contacts. The more proactive you can be, the better off your business will be. Understanding Survey Software Features If you take a look at the features that different survey softwares offer, you will quickly realize that understanding all of them is no mean task. But it is very important that you do because only then you can choose the right survey software. It is important for one other reason, it determines your price. More features invariably means more dollars. So if you don't choose the right survey software, you might end up paying more for features you don't need. Six Ways To Attract New Customers To Your Restaurant Without new business, your restaurant won't be able to grow. You need a constant stream of new customers to replace those you lose as a result of customers relocating, switching jobs, or changing dining habits. Here are six strategies for getting more customers through your doors. How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 5 How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth?: Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 5 Building Skills in Information Marketing will Boost Your Business Yesterday I was sitting on a train going into London when I thought I'd take a look around the carriage just to see what everyone was doing. I wanted to make a mental note because my five year old son always asks me 'what happened at your work today Daddy?' So I put my newspaper down and took a look around me. How to Expand Your Target Markets Are your products or services geared towards only one target market? You can increase sales and profits by increasing your target markets. Below are some creative ways to increase your target markets by using your existing products and services you're selling right now. Is CRM Technology Living Up To the Hype? Over the last few years the buzz about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has grown extensively. It seems that every Sales & Marketing executive is talking about it. A study conducted by Jupiter Media Metrix found that U.S. businesses spent more than $5.2 billion in CRM technology software in 2001, a number that is expected to rise to $8.7 billion by 2006. CRM spending has been growing considerably, especially in financial services, retail, and telecommunications. Marketing Hesitation Costs Dearly Timing is everything. Hate to be late? The early bird gets the worm. Are You Ready To Research Your Market? Picture this. You develop some product or service, spend countless hours making sure everything is just right, set up a beautiful web site, make sure the ecommerce end is secure, and then release what you know will be of utmost benefit to others. It Takes Two - How to Cultivate Profitable Alliances "Cross promoting with other businesses can give you a significant advantage over the competition, with many benefits and cost savings." -Heidi Richards- Top 10 Benefits of Hiring a Marketing Writer to Write Your Marketing Materials 1. It costs less to delegate to a professional than to waste your valuable time trying to do it yourself. How many prospective clients could you call in the time it takes you to put the words together yourself?
|
|
|
| Home | Site Map | Salesmanship Ebook | Motivational Ebook | Job and Resume Posting| Affiliate program | |
|
| 2006 All Rights Reserved. by Mp.sg Term of use and service for the articles and information |
