Some believe it is a status in business to achieve.  . . . → Read More: By Referral Only]]> A popular theme these days in the business world is saying that you are a “by referral only” business or that you concentrate on “word of mouth” marketing.  Now what does by referral only actually mean?  There are a few different schools of thought.

Some believe it is a status in business to achieve.  It provides a feeling of exclusivity and doing any sort of  marketing would be seen as tainting this “club” of sorts.  Members of this club focus most of their attention on going to networking meetings with the goal of building  a power circle that will refer to them on a regular basis.  In order to make a strategy like this successful, one must constantly be in front of those with the power to refer.  Referrals in this strategy can ebb and flow depending upon the whims of whichever networking groups the business professional belongs to.

There are others that believe the only way to achieve a by referral only business is to have a strategic marketing plan.  These business professionals build relationships with past clients and referral partners through various marketing methods such as newsletters, e-zines, cards, letters, small gifts, and more.  Through systematic means, they are able to obtain predictable and track able referral results.

Now, what about word of mouth marketing?  It can be a great tool, but I caution you that on its own it is very dangerous.  Why?  Because of the telephone factor.  What is the telephone factor?  The telephone factor is the result of every game of telephone we ever played as a children.

You remember how someone would start with one phrase and by the time it made its way around the circle it came out completely different? Well, when one depends upon word of mouth advertising as their only marketing tool they are in a sense tempting the fates of the telephone game.  Someone is bound to completely wreck your message.  It is the nature of humanity.

But is word of mouth advertising completely useless?  No, but it should be the by-product of your marketing and should be delivered in a carefully crafted message time after time so that the person trying to help you out knows exactly what to say about you.  Otherwise it can do a great deal more harm than aid.

Those who believe word of mouth advertising and being by referral only are a realistic alternative to a well thought out marketing plan that is strategically implemented are losing out on a great deal of potential profits.  Much like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand does not make it invisible, saying that you are by referral only does not make it so if you do not have a strategy to build those referrals.

As I have mentioned before, you must have each area, much like a 3 legged stool, or else your marketing won’t stand up.  So, in other words your marketing needs to say the right thing, to the . . . → Read More: Who?]]> Matt and I have spoken before about the 3 “M’s” of marketing.

• Message
• Market
• Media (delivery method)

As I have mentioned before, you must have each area, much like a 3 legged stool, or else your marketing won’t stand up.  So, in other words your marketing needs to say the right thing, to the right person, in the right way.

Today, I would like to delve into the market a bit more as I have had several questions about how to craft an effective message to the right person.  So, in honor of the great band about to play the Superbowl half time show, let’s delve into “The Who” of your marketing.

Now, there are a lot of things that go into the make up of your customer database.  I can hear some of you out there right now saying, “Sarah, everyone is my potential customer.”  To those people I say to read my puddle jumping blog post and then come back.    To everyone else that understands the need for marketing to a niche, let’s start by looking at your average customer.

Your average customer is the type of person that has bought from you most.  Every business has this in some way shape or form, you just have to look at the commonalities.  Maybe all of your customers tend to play golf.  Or maybe they all are females.  There is something out there that will make your customers into a group and show you more of their mindset.  To help clients with this I take them through an exercise called, “Who Are You?”

In this exercise we ask questions about our customers such as:

1. How old are you?
2. What gender are you?
3. What education level do you have?
4. Are you married?
5. Do you have children?
6. Do you have pets?  What type of pets and how many?
7. Do you own your own home?
8. What income level are you?
9. What career are you in?
10. What type of car do you drive?
11. What is your favorite kind of restaurant?
12. What are your hobbies?
13. What side of town do you live on?

This may seem like overkill to some of you, but let’s think through this.  Would you rather attempt to craft a marketing message to simply females, or would you like to craft a message to:

• a 31 year old female
• who is married
• with 2 young children
• has a golden retriever named Lilly
• owns her own home
• lives on the north side of town
• graduated from IU (go Hoosiers!)
• with a degree in accounting
• makes greater than $40,000/year
• drives a Toyota Rav4
• loves eating Italian
• enjoys running, hiking, and reading

Do you get the point?  It is much easier to write a marketing message when you have more information about the person whom you are writing to.  Otherwise, you are merely shooting in the dark as you try to connect with the core beliefs and values of half the population.

For more on this topic, be looking for our audio series on the 3 “M’s” of marketing.

Happy Marketing!

Sarah

This is the time of year that I get a lot of panicked phone calls from potential clients about what should be sent out for the holidays.  Usually, it is about the time that the first Christmas card hits their mailbox and they realize that they had not even begun to think about . . . → Read More: It’s Crunch Time: Marketing for the Holidays on a Tight Budget]]>

This is the time of year that I get a lot of panicked phone calls from potential clients about what should be sent out for the holidays.  Usually, it is about the time that the first Christmas card hits their mailbox and they realize that they had not even begun to think about what to send out.

If you fall into this category I am here to first of all say, “Don’t panic.  Take a deep breath.  It will be okay.”

Now that we got that out  of the way, let’s talk about what the next step needs to be in order to assure you are touching your clients this month…without having to dip into your kid’s college fund.  Here are a few key fundamentals when marketing during the holidays that will make sure you are getting the most from your money and still making a great impact.

1. Santa is checking his list…and so should you. Think back to your wedding or a friend’s wedding.  One of the first things most brides do is make a list of every person they have ever come in contact with in their lives.  After all, everyone will want to see just how beautiful she is that day and bring her presents, right?  Well, that may be true, but usually the next thing to happen is that Daddy gets the list and almost has a heart attack when he thinks about how much it is going to cost to feed the entire nation.  So Daddy tells her to cut her list down to maybe a couple hundred people.

Now apply that to your Christmas card or marketing list.  We know that you want everyone to know
you are telling them Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, but that is not practical on a tight budget.  I normally tell new clients to take their top 10-20% of clients, as these are the clients that they want more of and where money is best spent.  Now, keep in mind, I am not saying to throw out the rest of the clients and not send them anything…but we’ll get to that later.

2. Stay within a reasonable budget. Now, I know that this should go without saying, but you would be surprised how many times I have people asking me to send out $100 gifts to $20 clients.  I see this most in businesses where the technicians are the owners.  (Yes, that is another E-Myth reference.)

Specifically I see this in the businesses that have a creative mind at the wheel.  The creative mind says, “Wouldn’t it be neat if we could…(insert expensive idea here).”  Now, the creative mind only sees that handmade calendars embossed in gold would be really cool and fun to make.  They do not think about the cost of all the supplies, the cost of labor, the cost of postage, oh and wait…the extra cost of postage to ship the calendars since they took so long to make that the only way to get them there in time for Christmas is to overnight them.  So, again, stay within a reasonable budget.  It is quite possible to make an impact without being extravagant.

3. Use multiple media. Okay, now this is what I meant when I said that you don’t throw out your entire list after deciding on the top 10-20% of clients.  Often times I suggest that your top 10-20% of clients receive some sort of direct mail, whether it is a greeting card or holiday letter.  Then, send the entire list of clients an email newsletter or e-postcard so that you are at least appearing before them during the holidays.  You might even include a coupon gift for your product or services for them or a friend.  I have used this technique with several clients this year, even those who are not working with a tight budget.  The reason is that email is practically free and it is quick with no waiting on post office delivery times.  (Full disclosure:  You will generally have fewer open rates with email vs. direct mail.)

4. Be early. Like I mentioned before, if you are sending any sort of packages, be sure to get them to the post office by Dec. 21st to insure that you won’t have to pay express rates to get it there in time.

I hope that this has been helpful as you plan your holiday marketing.  For more great holiday marketing tips you can check out our newest free resource at: http://holidaymarketersguide.com/.

Oh, and I would love to hear from you about some of the ways you have saved money on your marketing this holiday season!

Happy Marketing!

Sarah

1)  You must know the area around your puddles.  Look for any potential obstacles that might . . . → Read More: Niche Science: Let’s Go Puddle Jumping!]]> Now, I know that makes everyone want to grab their yellow galoshes, but let’s not jump in quite so fast!  First you must know that there is a strategy to making the most of your time puddle jumping.

1)  You must know the area around your puddles.  Look for any potential obstacles that might cause a problem and any props that could make puddle jumping even better.

2)  You must know what is floating in the puddles.  Let’s face it, we’ve all seen the neighbor boys taking turns throwing whatever they can get their hands on into puddles or the stray dog from around the way relieving itself in a puddle.  You don’t want to be splashing through a puddle that Rover just warmed up, now do you?

3)  It’s all about the distance.  What do I mean?  Well, some of the most experienced puddle jumpers in the world can thoroughly soak all onlookers within a 4 foot radius!  Now that is some distance.

4)   The deeper the puddle, the more fun!  I mean seriously, would you rather jump in a piddly puddle that barely wets the tread of your sneaker or would you rather feel the water sinking up and over and into your socks?

Now what is all of this talk of puddles and what does it have to do with marketing?

Pretend each of your clients is a puddle.

1) Now, tell me about the immediate area around that “puddle.”  Are there any obstacles that you can see that may hinder the relationship you have with your client?  Maybe they just lost their job and they are going to have to cut back.  Will you be the service they cut back on?  What about props that may help you with the relationship?  Maybe they just had a baby and it just so happens that you have a new product out that is perfect for new parents.

2)  Now tell me what could potentially be floating in your puddle.  This is all the crap…all the baggage that may make them a bad client to have.  Maybe it is that they don’t pay their bills on time.  Maybe it is that they can never make a deadline.  Or maybe they are like Nelli from Little House on the Prairie and just plain annoying.  Whatever it is, be sure to examine your puddle carefully to make sure there aren’t any floaters.

3)  What kind of distance can you get from your puddle?  Is this client going to be a long term relationship or a one shot wonder?  We all know that it is tempting to just go for the quick sale and move on, but wouldn’t you much rather have a client that comes in for all of the accessories?  I mean seriously, how many applications can one person have on their iPhone?!  But isn’t that what you want from your customer?  You want them to not make just one purchase, but to continue to come back to you for all of the upgrades and add-ons that you could possibly dream up, just because they are available.

4)  So how deep is that puddle?  This is where we get into the psychology behind your client.  Why do they buy or not buy?  When do they feel like buying more?  What do they feel like when they buy?  This in and of itself is an entire semester’s worth of courses.  But this is where the gold is.  If you can really truly fine tune the psyche of your client then you can design your entire business around it and go to the bank all day.

Once you’ve examined all of these areas of your puddle you are ready to go puddle jumping.  But don’t forget your galoshes!

]]> http://www.psychological-marketing.com/2009/08/28/niche-science-lets-go-puddle-jumping/feed/ 0 http://www.psychological-marketing.com/2009/06/19/recession-marketing/ http://www.psychological-marketing.com/2009/06/19/recession-marketing/#comments Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:42:28 +0000 Sarah http://www.psychological-marketing.com/?p=671 Tightening the belt.

Cutting the fat.

Battening down the hatches.

Any way you put it, our nation has been trying to survive this stormy time and come out on the other side with a semblance of self-respect left.  Now, it is hard enough for the . . . → Read More: Marketing during a recession, possible or not?]]> Tightening the belt.

Cutting the fat.

Battening down the hatches.

Any way you put it, our nation has been trying to survive this stormy time and come out on the other side with a semblance of self-respect left.  Now, it is hard enough for the average person to survive right now just putting in the hours at the office and hoping not to make anyone mad enough to get put on the next layoff list.  But, for those of us who own our businesses, this time can be downright dangerous and incredibly taxing on us.

So, how can we still continue to market when we are merely trying to survive to the next electric bill or mortgage payment?  Is it even possible?  Should we do what everyone else seems to be doing and just duck into the nearest foxhole until 2010?  After all, the best offense is a good defense, right?  Well, I am here to say that is not always the case, and especially not right now.  Now is the time to go on the offense.

Think of it like this.  In the past almost every business out there was doing marketing.  Which means that for every postcard you sent out, your customer was probably receiving another 25 from various companies in the area, some your direct competitors and some in other industries.  But all competing for your customer’s time, money, and energy.  It was very easy to get lost in all of the noise.

But now?  Well, now people are doing away with marketing all together.  I have had so many people tell me, “We have decided that we can’t afford to do any marketing right now.  Please get back to us in 2010.”  I really wanted to grab them by the shoulders and shake some sense into them.  Tell them that they were actually doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing.  But honestly, it wasn’t worth my energy.  Those types of people won’t make good customers anyway, because they will bail at the first sign of trouble.

So, if all of these people are doing away with marketing you should do the same, right?  NO!  If your friends told you to jump off a bridge would you do that, too?

Ok, seriously, though.  How can you afford to market in this economy?  You go where you can make the most money.  That means you must, I mean MUST look at your list.  If you are going to cut the fat, this is where you should be doing it.  Which customers are costing you more money than they are bringing you?  This could be in product, service calls, energy, time, etc.  You know the ones that I’m talking about.  For every $20 worth of product or service you sell them you are spending 3-4 hours on the phone or email with them trying to explain how to use it and how not to use it.  If you only make $10 an hour, which I hope is not the case, you are already $20 in the hole with them.  So get rid of them.  You can’t afford to keep them.

Next, look at who is bringing you the most money.  This could be through direct purchases or through referrals.  Either way, these are the ones that you can’t afford to lose.  These are the people you are going to spend extra to keep.  Make these people feel like the gold they are, without seeming desperate.  Thank you cards, touching base emails, phone calls to mention the new dress shipment you got in that is just their style…and by the way you saved back their size.  And then when they do purchase or refer again, show them just how much you appreciate them again.  A night out for two.  Flowers to their wife on their behalf.   Food of some sort (one of my favorites).  You get the picture.

Now, I know what you are saying, “But I can’t afford that!”  Let me tell you something.  You can’t afford not to.  Because as I’ve said before, someone is courting your customer besides you and if you want to be the one with the date to the dance you had better step it up.

Let me also state one other thing.  If you cannot afford to “market” and you are losing money then let me say this.  It isn’t being done correctly.  Marketing should be a trackable, quantifiable, activity that produces a positive return on investment.

A good analogy is charades or humming.  Pick a song and then try humming it to a friend.  Sometimes the person can pick it up quickly, and sometimes the person can’t.  Unless you’re humming a . . . → Read More: Are you humming your message, or singing it?]]> Most companies are not very good at explaining what they do in a simple format that is easily understandable.

A good analogy is charades or humming.  Pick a song and then try humming it to a friend.  Sometimes the person can pick it up quickly, and sometimes the person can’t.  Unless you’re humming a song so obvious like the Star Spangled Banner or Happy Birthday people generally struggle.  The same thing can be done with charades.  Sometimes people can tell what you are doing instantly, but often times it takes a bit of work.

Your marketing message needs to communicate and not speak in generalities or buzz words that involve tons of platitudes.  It needs to be very clear.  It needs to be specific, and it needs to “feel right.”  That way when someone sees your message they say (or think) to themselves, “that’s for me!”  Picture a dog whistle when a dog hears it, the dog’s ears instantly perk up.

Why do I bring this up?  Because in your business you have to bridge the gap.  The gap of what you really do and what people think you do. I run into this challenge all the time.

Ask someone what they do and they ramble on for a minute or two and the prospect still can’t explain what he or she just heard.  Then they wonder why nobody buys their product or service — just like the person who is humming the song or doing the charades gets frustrated because the person can’t understand the message he or she is trying to get across.

Does this make sense?  You have got to get the message across clearly.  And even more clearly now than ever before due to more and more information that is being produced on a daily basis.

Yes, YOU (the person who is humming or doing the charades) knows what the message or song you are trying to get across is, but the other person doesn’t.  And how often have you ran out of time in charades and the other person said something like, “Why didn’t you just make this motion.  It would have been soooo obvious.”  And then you think, “dang they are right!”

In other words, it is your fault if you don’t communicate the message correctly, not the prospects.

Now, try to guess this song…

-Matt

My guess is that within seconds you can probably start to hum some famous songs. . . . → Read More: Life would be much more interesting….with background music!]]> Next time you’re watching a television drama show or a movie notice the soundtrack. Why am I bringing this up? Because the soundtrack or background music makes a HUGE difference in the mood of the show you are watching.

My guess is that within seconds you can probably start to hum some famous songs. Jaws? Star Wars? Superman? Do you get the idea?

Your business needs to keep this in mind. How so? Everything is engineered and designed by purpose for a movie. The soundtrack is carefully chosen, the costumes and wardrobe, the lighting, etc. But lets just focus on the soundtrack.

What “soundtrack” can you use in your business? Perhaps it is a television with a certain news show on in the lobby, perhaps it is background music, perhaps it is a “soundtrack” for a DVD or CD you utilize. Perhaps it is the phone recording on your voice mail or “phone tree.”

How do you focus on this? You need to determine which music sounds and audio create what type of moods are best for your business situation. What do I mean? Well, if you are a car dealership certainly you need different music is appropriate for you versus a financial planner’s office. And at the car dealership the type of cars you are selling and the type of buyers is also different. Someone buying a Buick (do they still exist?) is different than someone buying a Nissan. Does this make sense?

And then after you determine the market what is the action you are wanting them to do. Are you wanting someone to buy something? Are you wanting them to sell something to you? Are you wanting them to refer business to you?

Can each of these things make a difference? Absolutely.

To prove my point lets do a quick experiment. Now granted, sometimes the case is the opposite but generally the lack of music doesn’t create the drama.

Do you get my point?

So, make sure to utilize every type of psychological viewpoint you can.

And be careful when you swim in the ocean. I know I always am!

-Matt

Being the curious person that I am, I had to get more . . . → Read More: Direct mail…are you trying to be a one shot wonder?]]> I had someone tell me the other day that they saw no value in direct mail.  When asked why they felt this way they responded, “Well, this one time I spent a fortune on direct mail and I barely got any response.”

Being the curious person that I am, I had to get more details, so my next question was, “Oh?  What type of direct mail did you send?”

“A postcard,” they responded.

“A postcard?”  I asked.

“Yes.  It took almost all of our marketing budget to send it and we didn’t even break even on it,”  they said.

“Wow,” I responded.  “It sounds like you had a really bad experience.  Do you mind if I ask what you were trying to accomplish with the postcard campaign?”

Our conversation then went into the fact that they had been told by a marketing “expert” that they needed to brand themselves.  So they had some beautiful, full color, high gloss postcards made up with their logo on it and their address and phone number.  And yes, they had been charged a fortune for the printing and mailing of the cards.  Not only that, but the list they purchased was incredibly expensive.  I had a sinking feeling in my gut as I asked my next questions about their list.

“How many people were on your list?”

They said with pride, “Oh, we were able to get a ‘deal’ because we went for a larger number.  We thought why start small when we can hit everyone at once.  We sent it out to 20,000 homes.”

“Wow!” I exclaimed.  “That is a large list.  What was the common factor for these 20,00o homes? Did you try a test run before you mailed it to the whole list?”

**cricket’s chirping and blank stare**

That was the response I got.

So what happened?  If you said nothing, they did everything right, we will need to have a talk later about direct mail 101.  If you said they were had, I would say that you are absolutely correct.

Let’s look at a couple of key things.

1) Direct mail can be defined by one word.  That word is “Test.“ If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

2) Know your list.  In order to have a message that matches your market, you must know who that market is.  So, if your average customer is 34.5 year old black female who has a graduate level degree, enjoys cooking and pilates, and shops at Pottery Barn, then don’t be sending your direct mail to 67 year old white males who enjoy playing shuffleboard and shop at the local flea market.

3) 1 postcard ain’t gonna do it.  Let me say that again.  1 POSTCARD IS NOT GOING TO GET YOU ANYWHERE!  The key to direct mail is to not give up.  Think of it like this.  How many times does a kid ask his mom for a cookie before dinner before she finally relents and gives the boy a cookie?  The answer?  A LOT.  He has to either a) wear her down, b) catch her off guard, or c) catch her on a good day.  Am I saying to wear your prospects down?  No,that would be annoying, although there are times for that.  I am talking about trying to catch them off guard by getting their attention or catching them on a good day

4) Start small.  That’s right.  In direct mail, bigger isn’t always better.  Think about it this way.  If you start with a list of 1,000 from a highly targeted list and you get a lousy response, you can tweak your message and still afford to send more.  But if you send to a huge list right out of the gate, you have just used your entire budget and have nothing to show for it.  What if you have a great response from the 1,000?  Great!  Then send the same piece out again and again and again and again.  You can take that piece to the bank.

And finally…

5) Branding is not the goal of marketing, it is a by-product.  That’s right, your marketing professor was wrong.  Unless you have the budget of Coca-Cola, you are not going to be able to use marketing to brand yourself in any way that would accomplish anything.  But that is a post…or maybe even a book for another day.

So if you are thinking of sending out a direct mail piece, keep these points in mind.  If you have sent something out in the past and are feeling a little horse shy, don’t give up.  You need to tweak it and try again.

Till later~

Sarah