Marketing 101

From CNET News: Greg Sterling, managing editor at The Kelsey Group, said Google representatives told him several weeks ago that the company plans to let businesses add advertisements and logos to the mapping balloons that appear on Google Local.

"It's a harbinger of more things on maps," such as video, embedded chat and pay-per-call or click-to-call, he told CNET News.com at Kelsey's Drilling Down on Local conference here Monday. "Putting technology in the balloons can enable all kinds of interesting exchanges with merchants."

Posted by at 01:40 PM | Permalink

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang defended the Internet search engine's cooperation with Chinese censorship of the Web, saying it was necessary to reach out to new users.

US lawmakers have accused tech giants Yahoo, Google and Microsoft of helping sustain the so-called Great Firewall of China, which blocks searches of terms considered to be sensitive, such as "free speech" and "human rights."

But Yang said it was better to be in China than out.

"We have to think of a way in which the Internet phenomenon can continue to grow and reach more users and at the same time comply with local laws.

"In places like China and other places that have different political regimes I think you'll see them trying to react and potentially regulate these kinds of activities.

"But our observation is that it is inevitable that things will become more open and free flowing," Yang told reporters here ahead of the 10th anniversary of the search engine's Japanese site on April 1.

Yahoo came under fire last year for supplying information to the Chinese government which led to the arrest of Chinese journalist Shi Tao.

Shi was sentenced to 10 years in prison for passing on a government censorship order through his Yahoo e-mail account.

Posted by at 01:37 PM | Permalink

According to information posted by Bambi Francisco at Market Watch, Google Inc. remains the public's favorite place to find answers online as the pace of its search-query volume more than doubled the growth rate for overall search-query volume in February.

Google's search-query volume rose 29.4% last month, nearly three times as fast as the 11% growth for the industry, according to comScore Networks. The rise in searches enabled Google to capture 42.3% of the market for all searches, up from a third a year ago.

Importantly, Google appears to be gaining ground at the expense of juggernauts Yahoo and MSN.Yahoo's market share dipped to 27.6% from 31%, and MSN dropped to 13.5% from 16.3%.

Posted by at 01:28 PM | Permalink

As reported at InternetRetailer.com: 51% of Internet users in the U.S. make purchases from opt-in e-mails and 44% make regular purchases from online ads, according to a recent report from Lyris Technologies.

39% of users said they make purchases from opt-in e-mails a few times a year. 10% said they make purchases a few times a month and 2%, a few times a day.

Of those making purchases from online ads, 37% make purchases a few times a year, 6% a few times a month, and 1% a few times a day, Lyris said.

“These poll results underscore the growing importance of the Internet as a sales channel,” says Dave Dabbah, director of sales and marketing. “For most companies, the best Internet marketing strategy employs a well-balanced mix of targeted e-mail campaigns and targeted on-line ads. Both vehicles are proving to be highly effective at converting readers into buyers.”

The poll also showed that users who make purchases from opt-in commercial e-mails are also likely to make purchases from online ads, and vice versa.

Lyris’ poll results were based on 126 responses from a nationally representative sample based on age, gender and income.

Posted by at 11:38 AM | Permalink

For many businesses, the best mailing list or customer database they will ever have is their own customer list. Yet time after time, we see businesses wasting this most valuable asset. They waste it by not keeping it in good shape, not mailing to it, not staying in communication with their current and former customers.

If you are in a business where you could be getting repeat business from former customers, and you are not contacting these people on some sort of regular schedule, then you are losing out on a lot of traffic and potential income. Failing to stay in communication with former clients, customers, patients, is a fatal flaw in far too many businesses and practices. Fact. And it's usually cheaper to get back an old customer than it is to create a new one. Of course, you need to create new customers and continue doing business with a good portion of the "old" ones if you really want to boost income and profits.

Posted by at 11:21 AM | Permalink

We sometimes hear from business owners that the positioning they would like to get in the minds of their customers has already been taken by another business. However, we often find that this is not true. In many cases that "other business" appears to "own" a certain position, when in fact it does not. How can this be? Because they are not capitalizing on their supposed position.

Preemptive positioning means that you preempt the position, even when others "appear" to be ensconced in that position already. Let's say that five business were competing in a certain geographical area for the same customers. And let's say those businesses all had online stores where people could place their orders over the internet. But what if none of those businesses were really pushing their online stores? They were just sort of up there online, with little or no traffic coming in.

One of those stores could decided to "own" the online position by really beefing up their online store, announcing their store loudly and clearly through their marketing and promotional efforts, and so on. They create a great online guarantee of customer satisfaction, make their website user-friendly and easy to navigate, provided useful information, on and on.

Bottom line, they end up owning the online "position," even though the other businesses also have online stores. The other businesses, if they eventually wake up and scramble to get their online act together will be perceived as "me-toos." Followers, not leaders.

Now this is a rather crude and off-the-top example of preemptive positioning. I'm sleepy this morning and it was the best I could come up with. But you get the idea. Before you decide that another business already "owns" a certain position in your industry that you wished you had, make sure that it's a fact that they do.

Sometimes you just assume it, because you know about certain aspects of their operations. Maybe they should own that position you covet, but, in fact, they don't because they are not capitalizing on it. You can then preempt them by grabbing that position and making it your own through effective marketing and PR channels.

Posted by at 11:01 AM | Permalink

If you can generate some publicity for your business through press releases and PR capers, you will often get an additional benefit from having other websites putting links to your website. Search engines tend to "view" incoming links to a website as a popularity vote for that website, which can help improve your rankings in the search engines results pages (SERPS). Serps are the list of websites you see coming up when you type in a search term at, say, Google.com or Yahoo, etc.

In business you have to attract attention. Publicity helps you do that. The links are an additional benefit. Some of the incoming links will be short-lived (newspapers, mags, etc.). But links from other sites (other businesses, blogs, etc.) can stay around for a long time. Use publicity to help create more incoming links to your site, in addition to the other obvious benefits gained from getting good publicity.

Posted by at 10:51 AM | Permalink

Why are we harping on this USP thing again? Because many business owners still don't get it. If you do not have a USP, you have nothing to differentiate yourself from other competitors or similar businesses. So you do not give your potential customers a good reason to deal with you instead of the other "me-too" businesses out there. If there's no difference, they might as well throw darts to decide who to give their business to.

You can read up on the USP at this link: http://www.attractcustomers.com/usp.htm

Posted by at 10:46 AM | Permalink

Results from Google Base are now showing up in some of the results pages when internet surfers type in certain "keywords" (search terms) in the search box at google.com. Are you in Google Base? You should be if you depend on internet traffic for a portion of your leads or sales. Local businesses should definitely be uploading their basic business info to Google Base. Known as Google Local business locations bulk uploads, these files contain addresses, phone numbers, and operating hours for physical business locations. This makes it easy and handy for people in your area to find your busness when they are looking for the goods or services you have to offer.

You can find Google Base quickly simply by typing in "google base" in the search box on Google's home page.

Posted by at 02:39 PM | Permalink

An effective cost-per-click campaign (CPC) can help bring more traffic to your website, assist in your branding, and generate more online sales if you sell online.

Good online marketing requires a well-desiged website that creates want and creates sales and is properly optimized for the search engines. In other words, it must be people-friendly (easy to navigate and functions well) and search engine friendly. With those two things in place you can now add cost-per-click campaigns to bring even more traffic and generate more sales.

We like to work with Google and Yahoo primarily, but there other smaller search engines that can create traffic. As a Qualified Google Adwords Professional, I can attest to the fact that Google's Adwords is well designed for creating a good online ad campaign and testing it on a continuing basis. There is quite a bit to know in running a good CPC campaign. You can't just stick some ads up and hope for the best.

You need to research out the best search terms for your needs, create ads that pull, continue to test your ads and monitor your keywords and the amounts you are bidding for those terms.

But if you have something worthwhile to sell (including ideas), a good website that is properly optimzed for search engines, a solid CPC campaign and some effective online PR, you could take your internet marketing out the top!

Posted by at 10:31 AM | Permalink

"He who whispers down a well
About the goods he has to sell
Will never reap the golden dollars
Like him who shows them 'round and hollers"
- Anonymous

TIP #1: First and foremost you need a strong headline.
People who write mail order ads for a living have learned over the years that the headline is the most important part of an advertisement. The headline is what catches or hooks the reader's attention. And, really, it's the same for radio or TV ads: your opening statement has to “hook” the listener and pull them into the rest of the ad.
Following are the best types of headlines according to many studies that have been done by direct-response marketers. These individuals create ads or mailing pieces that ask for an immediate response - “call (800) 555-555.” Or “Send your check or money order to...”

Direct-response marketers eat or starve in direct ratio to the number of responses to their ads or mailers. They know what pulls and what doesn't. And they are always testing their ads.

Benefit Headline -- “What's in it for me? What benefit or advantage will I get by responding to your ad?” People buy people benefits , not product features...
Examples:

“Earn Extra Money At Home... In Your Spare Time”
“Reduce Fat”
“Protect Your Property”
“Get Better Gas Mileage”

Other examples of benefits are: save money, feel better, look better, have more self confidence, acquire a new skill, avoiding negatives (avoid worry, drudgery, discomfort, etc.)

Overall, benefit headlines are the best. The techniques of writing a good headline and the topics may change with time. But the basic sales appeal of benefit headlines is ONGOING.

News Headline -- This gives news about a new product or announces a sale or the latest model, etc.

"At last! Our ‘2002 Models Are Here!"
"Announcing ... A Car Battery That Lasts A Lifetime!"
"New UFO Evidence! -- Abductees Take Their Case To Court"
Storytelling Headline -- This can intrigue people because it promises to lead them into a story. Stories are interesting. “How I Went From Bankruptcy To Financial Security In Less Than Two Years.” This headline also has an implied benefit: financial security.

Advice Headline -- The heading of this report is an advice headline. It gives tips or advice. Another example: “7 Tips For Lowering Your Fuel Bill.” (Also has a benefit).

Curiosity Headline -- “Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Employees?”

Testimonial Headline -- These can be very powerful. They have the added credibility of a third-party endorsement.

Example:

“I earned $40,000 in six months using your wealth-building techniques!”

TIP #2: AIDCA -- A winning formula.
A good formula to follow when creating ads is AIDCA. One of the great copyrwriters, Clyde Bedell, used this formula in many of his famous ads. AIDCA stands for:

A: Attract Attention
I: create Interest
D: build Desire for what you are offering
C: Conviction -- be convincing & believable
A: Ask for Action
You attract attention with the ad's headline and appearance. Then you create interest right away by tying into the headline and expanding on it with a first sentence or two in the body of the ad. You tell people why they should be interested. The first sentence is key and must engage the reader right off the bat. Followed by the second sentence, also key.

You build desire for whatever it is you're offering by describing its various features and turning them into benefits for the reader . You MUST itemize and describe all benefits.

“This phone has a sliding volume control on the handset so you can easily adjust the volume .” (In this example, the benefits are “easy volume adjustment” (ease & convenience) and the implied benefit of “better hearing”.)

You add convincing statements -- perhaps customer testimonials -- to support what you are saying and make your offer more believable. To further removes doubts and make your ad or mailing piece more believable (build conviction) you must also address and overcome each key objection that the reader could come up.

Then you ask for action. “Don't Delay! Call today for your free examination!” If you don't ask for the order, the response, the call, or whatever, you won't get it. You must tell people what you want them to do.

TIP #3. Know what your offer is.
The “offer” is not necessarily the benefit or news that's contained in your headline. You may be telling people that you can help them reduce fat or get fit. That would be in your headline. But your offer is the mechanism that gets them to ACT NOW.
Example: “For a limited time only, we are offering our ‘Fit And Healthy Lifestyle' program at a specially reduced price of only $199!” That's your special offer.

Sometimes the offer is part of the headline....

"Get fit fast with our ‘Fit & Healthy Lifestyle' program. Spouses half-price! (Limited-time offer.) "

This would likely be aimed at capturing clients who were already aware of the program but had not responded thus far.

Offers can consist of “Two for One” deals, “coupon good against purchase”, “Fly Now, Pay Later.” And so on. Offers are very IMPORTANT if you want to get responses.

TIP #4: Use active phrases and sentences in your ads and promotional materials, not passive ones.
Example: “Lightning struck the boy as he was crossing the bridge.” NOT: “The boy was struck by lightning while crossing the bridge.”

Example: “Buy 3 get one free!” NOT: “You'll receive one free if you purchase three!”

Get to the point. And use simple sentences and phrases. On the whole, people aren't as literate as they were years ago. And the well-educated will also appreciate it when you state things simply and get to the point!

TIP #5: Write your ads the same way you would speak them.
You are talking to real live people. In daily conversations, you keep things simple. And you use words such as, “you”, “yours”, “mine”, “our”, “his”, “hers.”

Do the same in your ads. Make them conversational. Hard-hitting, to the point, but conversational. Pretend you're talking to someone right across from you and read your ad out loud. Would you actually talk that way? If not, you probably need to rewrite it.

TIP #6: Unless you are targeting profession or technical buyers (engineers, enthusiasts, etc., ) always turn product features into human benefits.
We touched on this in #2 above, but it's important enough to be featured as a separate tip.

Unless they are professional or technical buyers, people do NOT buy product features. They buy benefits. So you turn the features of your products or services into customer benefits. Like this:

“Because this garment has double-seams throughout (feature), it won't unravel .” (benefit)

“Now you can get a 60-month car loan. This gives you more months to pay, so you pay less each month.”

NEVER ASSUME YOUR READERS WILL “GET” THE BENEFIT INSTINCTIVELY. Spell it out for them in plain language.

TIP #7: Always test your ad by having someone read it out loud to you.
When you hear it coming back at you, you may hear things you don't like and can change them.

Also, watch to see if the person who's reading it tunes out at a certain spot or “doesn't get” something. Chances are, others will not get it either. You need to fix every spot where the reader could tune out so you can keep them flowing through your ad.

TIP #8: Use these key words in your ads and promo materials.
Use them in your headlines and in the text of your ads. They are time-tested, proven “hot” words. And they don't wear out with usage.

you, free, yours, easy, how, now, how to, people, money, save, new, who, why, announcing, gift, hurry, handy, useful, big, large, secret(s), want

TIP#9: Use the following table to determine what size of ad you need to use.
This is based on recent research conducted by a major research company, Cahners, which analyzed 8,854,932 inquires generated by 86,002 display ads in 34 of their publications. This table shows the average number of inquires per ad size.

AD SIZE: # OF INQUIRIES

spread ads: 107
full page: 76
2/3 page: 68
1/2 page: 56
1/3 page: 47
1/4 page: 52

From this you can see that you usually increase your responses when you increase the size of your ad. HOWEVER, you have to keep in mind costs. If you could get 52 responses from a 1/4 page ad, is it worth it to run a full page to get 76? Only you can decide based on your objectives, what it is that you're selling, and your budget.

Notice also that a 1/4 page ad pulled more than the larger-size 1/3 page ad. Again, this could all vary depending on what's being sold, the publication the ad appears in, the target audience, etc. Use it as a rough rule of thumb.

TIP #10: When you can, use a photo in your ad or promo piece to increase its pulling power.
The large mail-order companies have learned that even a small photo - the size of a postage stamp -- can increase the pulling power of an ad or mailing piece.

In a small ad, you can simply have a photo of a person looking out at the reader -- either a straight ahead shot or at an angle.

NOTE: If you do use a photo, be prepared to have a “half-tone” made. Without getting into all the technical aspects of this, the way a half-tone is made is by photographing the original photo through a screen mesh. The result is another photo that is made up of thousands of little black dots. The darker areas of the photo have lots of black dots. The less dark areas have fewer dots.

All of the dots are solid black, but your eye blends the black dots with the white paper and sees the photo as having, black, gray and white tones. If the half-tone process wasn't used, your original photo would show up in print as stark black and white - no gray tones.

That's it. Use these quick tips to improve your ads and pull in more business.

Posted by at 10:26 AM | Permalink

If you don't have a product or service that enough people need or want to make it worthwhile (or could be made to want), you won't prosper.

If the costing and pricing of your goods or services is off, you won't prosper.

If you can't locate "suspects" to contact and promote to, in order to see if they are prospects, you won't prosper.

If you don't know what to say to suspects once you find them, so you can identify or isolate the prospects among them, you won't prosper.

If you can't respond properly when prospects identify themselves by expressing a reach or interest for what you offer, you won't prosper.

If you can't determine the actual needs & wants of your prospects, you won't prosper.

If you can't make a good sales presentation to prospects, you won't prosper.

If you can't overcome objections that prospects have, you won't prosper.

If you can't "close" prospects, you won't prosper.

If you can't or won't deliver what's promised after you close your prospects, you definitely won't prosper.

Your marketing programs, activities, events, methods and procedures are only as strong as the weakest link in your whole marketing "chain."

Posted by at 04:44 PM | Permalink

Selling is a vital part of your overall marketing effort. If your sales are not enough to cover all your expenses plus provide a profit, your company will not be around very long.

Some sales people, when you ask them what they sell, will list off the products or services they have to offer. However, an answer like this is only partially correct.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS
If you're selling a fancy phone to a certain public, are you selling them high-tech gadgetry? Or are you selling benefits such as convenience, ease-of-use, time saved, etc.? People – especially consumers - buy benefits ("What's in it for me?").

They're not really buying the feature that the phone can store up to ten phone numbers. What they're buying is CONVENIENCE.

Stored phone numbers save time when dialing. So convenience and time saved are the benefits to the customer. That is what they get out of this purchase. When you sell, always turn product or services features into benefits.

Like this:

"Because this phone has a speaker-phone and automatic dialing, you can call someone with the push of a button (ease) and continue to work hands-free while you wait for them to answer, or even while you talk to them (convenience)."

Features pertain to (have to do with) products. Benefits pertain to people.

ALWAYS TURN PRODUCT OR SERVICE FEATURES INTO PEOPLE BENEFITS.

The reason that turning features into benefits works so well is because the benefits are what impinge. They get the buyer emotionally involved.

Features involve logic. Benefits involve emotions.

We often buy on emotion and justify it with logic.
Example: Man buys a new, expensive Mercedes. He justifies it by saying, "Well, you know these things are really built with precision. They're quality cars that will last for a lot of miles… blah, blah."

But we also know that he REALLY bought it because he wanted to be in that particular class of people who have style, who can afford luxury. In fact, we could really say it's an image thing, which we'll look at it a minute.

So, don't put your customers to sleep by chanting off a laundry list of product features. Instead, create want and desire by emphasizing people BENEFITS.

Marketing and sales people should know all the important features and aspects of whatever it is they are promoting or selling - and be able to turn each one into a customer benefit in their sales presentations or advertisements. It just takes a bit of practice.

TECHNICAL BUYERS
Now, when it comes to technical buyers, professional buyers, engineers and the like, this is not always true. In fact, you can turn these types off by emphasizing benefits over specifications.

Professional technical buyers WANT specs. They want to compare your product's attributes with other competing products.

Do they still want benefits? Of course. But you'd better address the technical specs and features if you want to win them over.

IMAGE/STATUS
Some products are easier to sell when you emphasize their image, status, or glamour more than their features and benefits.

For instance, a Rolls Royce has a certain image and status. Most people who buy a Rolls are not that concerned with its various features and benefits. They are more concerned with the overall image this car conveys: Class, wealth, status, etc.

Products that have romance, status, an interesting history, glamour, and so forth need to be sold accordingly. So determine whether the products or services you are marketing or selling -- and the people you are selling them to -- require a "features and benefits" approach or an image/status approach.

Sell features and benefits to people who are not particularly image-conscious, and sell image to those who are.

One way to remember to sell benefits (or image when that's called for) is the old saying, "sell the sizzle, not the steak."

Example: Two salespeople are selling the same product. But they use two different approaches. All other things being equal, who do you think would get the most sales?

Salesperson "A" uses the STEAK approach. He sells time shares in Hawaiian condos.

Salesperson "B" uses the SIZZLE approach. She sells romantic hideaways in paradise.

Look for the romance or image or drama in your product. If it has some, sell that. And as a general rule, always push benefits harder than features.
SOLUTIONS

Another powerful selling approach is to offer a solution.

To keep things simple, let's use the phone example again. We know the phone has a feature that lets you store up to ten phone numbers.

The benefits in this are the convenience of not having to look up the numbers and dial them manually, and the fact that it's fast. Fast, convenient, easy.

The solution might be that this phone system gives the customer a fast and reliable means of communication with the outside world. Basically, isn't that what they want?

Naturally, in a mature market such as phone-system sales, you'd have to show how your system delivered this solution more reliably or economically than the competition's, and so forth. But you get the idea. This method of selling is very effective when the situation calls for it, because it fills a need or desire.

Solution selling works especially well for products like technical equipment and so on. But it can work well for sales of services, too. For instance, when someone hires a consultant, they're not just looking for information. Ultimately, they're looking for answers and solutions.

You should work out which is the best overall sales approach for your products or services: image, solution, or F&B, or a combination.

IMPULSE SALES
Ah, yes… you stand in line at the checkout counter in the grocery store, and you spy that rack of batteries. You know that some of your favorite gadgets are going to quit running because their batteries are running low. So you grab a pack of batteries and add it to your collection of groceries. It was a quick, impulse sale.

Or you're shopping in the mall, and you walk by a kiosk that has the most fascinating costume watches on display. On impulse you walk over, try one or two on, and out comes your purse and you now are the proud owner of an eye-catching accessory item – one that may or may not tell the time all that well, but sure looks cool.

Millions of dollars are spent on impulse sales every year. Probably, every month!

If you sell impulse items, you're not going to spend a lot of time explaining a dozen features & benefits. Your sales people should be trained to get to the point quickly and point out the one or two killer features and benefits that sum it all up, and ask for the sale.

Part of the "trick" here is to attract attention. You need to have your merchandise prominently displayed in high-traffic locations where people have to walk by (or in some cases, drive by).

Even people who market life-changing or life-enhancing services, can utilize IMPLUSE sales. Have you ever seen healthcare professionals offering health screenings in a mall? You probably have.

The greeter will say something like, "Do you know what we're doing over here?" This creates a bit of mystery and is an attention-getter.
Next thing you know, you're getting your blood pressure checked, or something similar. A good thing to do!

So… what's your sales strategy or approach? Do you have it nailed? Is it working? Could it be better? Maybe the answer lies in some of the above.

NOTE: If you are selling big-ticket items or services you should give people many reasons to buy your product or servcie instead of going elsewhere. These could include the customer benefits, the key product/services features, your USP (unique selling proposition - you do have one, don't you?), and so on.

Posted by at 04:24 PM | Permalink