Make Your Advertising Words Count By Using Bottom-Line Benefits at the Top
I get dozens of marketing pieces in both my mailbox and email box on a daily basis. I’m betting that you get more than your share, too. How do you sort through it? Most of us only read the headline and take a quick glance at the photo on direct mail pieces – using less than five seconds of our attention to decide if we are interested to know more about this product or service. LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS! The same is true for a radio ad and television spot, too. Our ears are finely tuned to discern an ad spot ...
The Art of Asking for Referrals
Last week I received an email inquiry from a woman named Donna. She told me she was having miserable luck getting referrals from her clients and ask, “What am I doing wrong?” After a few email exchanges to determine how she was approaching clients, I was a bit stunned to learn the way Donna was going about it. In a nutshell, she would send her clients thank you notes and include about a dozen of her business cards, asking them to hand them out to others who might need her services. Yikes! Now, let me first say that the thank you note is ...
Profitable Email Marketing Tactics for Offline Businesses
We print it on our business cards and stationery. We give it out to (almost) anyone who asks for it. We conduct research and gather valuable information with it. We rely on it for communication with associates, friends and family. "It" is e-mail. And there's no denying that e-mail is as common of a communication tool as telephones -- maybe even moreso. Regardless of whether or not you have a Web site, if you are NOT using e-mail marketing for your products and services, you are ignoring a very low cost (and often no cost!) marketing tactic with high-return (and profit) potential. Why not ...
Get Great Business Advice for FREE
I often receive e-mails from business owners asking for advice in marketing, publicity, finance and operations management. Unfortunately, most of the advice I give has to be in fairly general terms because in order to give advice that will benefit each specific business, I would need to fully understand the dynamics of each individual situation, industry, demographic, opportunity, etc. This would take more time than I have to give without having to start charging for it. However, many small business owners and entrepreneurs – both online and offline – overlook one of the best ways to get FREE advice for ...
Harness the Power of Positive Vacationing
It’s June. Have you made vacation plans? If you haven’t, you’re not alone. Self-employed professionals and small business owners are notorious for delaying vacation time. You might escape to the golf course for a half day or take a three day weekend to attend a wedding, but a full-blown pack-your-bags-and-get-out-of-town-for-a-week-or-two vacation is tougher to justify. Most of us find ourselves in the typical entrepreneurial Catch-22. If business is on the upswing, you’re working long hours to meet deadlines and keep customers happy. If business is shaky, you spend as many or more hours just trying to find new solutions to bring ...
Quick Tip: Follow Your Customer’s Lead
"It’s easier to ride a horse in the direction it’s going." – Abraham Lincoln Abe was probably talking about leadership, but the above quote is excellent advice for marketers. Go in the direction your customers want to go, and it will be an easier sell. In other words, make sure the marketing you do for your products and services reflect what your customers want, not what you want them to have. Marketing based on convincing someone he or she “should” have something is less effective than marketing focused on what your customers are already convinced they want. If you’re struggling with a ...
Survive the Economy by Reading Between the Numbers
Every day I turn on the news, it seems there is another report about some company ready to lay off thousands of their workers. While it may not be the worst times there ever were, there's no denying that the economy is throwing some tough challenges our way to keep our businesses going. Big business, small business -- no one is exempt. I've recently received an increasing number of emails from micro business owners and independents sharing the many fears that come with such economic uncertainty. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to survive the downturn, a good place to start ...
Quick Tip: Shower Power
If most of your best ideas seem to come to you while you’re in the shower but appear to have gone down the drain when you try to recall them later, try this: keep a grease pencil in the shower area so you can write ideas or key phrases on the shower stall walls. (But be sure to clean up after you’ve transferred those ideas to paper!)
Quick Tip: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
If you have people who can’t serve customers because they are doing other tasks (i.e. making calls, tracking orders, preparing a bank deposit, etc.), arrange for them to perform those duties somewhere else. It’s frustrating for customers to approach an employee who is not willing to wait on them, or to be told to find someone else who will. You spend a lot of time and money to get people into your store. Make sure your "customer first" philosophy meets their expectations.
Make Your Business Work Like Magic
I’ve been fascinated by magic and magicians since I was little. A successful magician can reach behind my ear, say “abracadabra” and – voila – pull out a quarter. Or with focused concentration, and two taps of a wand, a rabbit comes out of a top hat that was previously proven empty. On a bigger scale, a successful magician can drape a silk cape over a caged tiger and with a grand gesture and the flip of a wrist – poof – the cape falls to the ground and the caged tiger has disappeared. I love that stuff. It’s amazing. It’s ...
Whenever I sit with a client who has hired me to assess and identify ways to streamline their business operations, we eventually get around to what I call the “no pain, no change” discussion. I can present a neatly packaged assessment report with recommendations for increasing efficiencies or streamlining processes, but new efficiencies and streamlining requires change. And, change typically meets with resistance because the way of doing things has become habitual.
As the old adage goes, old habits die hard. It happens just as frequently in one-person operations as it does in businesses with 10s, 100s, or even 1,000s of employees. It’s just easier to take the path of least resistance by doing what we have always done. And, until you realize how ‘doing what you’ve always done’ dramatically affects your bottom line, change is less likely to occur. For any change in behavior, procedure or practice, there must be a desire for it – the benefits of change must become more attractive than the comfort of keeping old habits.
So how can a desire for change be ignited?
Posted in Improve Business Operations by .
Mar 11
22
Quick Tip: Error Incentive
Although a little bit “old school” this marketing tactic is as effective today as it has been in the past. Offer a discount to anyone who can spot an error or specific phrase in your marketing copy (one that you purposely put in). Make sure the error or phrase is very obvious and that it appears towards the end of your message so potential customers have to read through most of your sales message to find it.
Posted in Marketing & Promotion Ideas Quick Tips by .
With tougher direct marketing laws for lead generating practices such as telemarketing, door-to-door solicitations, unsolicited email, and broadcast faxing, many small businesses are experiencing a painful, profit-whittling, shut down of their primary methods to generate new business. Even the old standby, direct mail, is being challenged with proposals for “do not mail” lists, similar to the “do not call” telephone lists.
Posted in Marketing & Promotion Ideas by .
Feb 11
22
Quick Tip: Business Card Billboards
Get the most out of handing out your business cards. Convert them into tiny, portable ads by printing on the back side with:
- A discount coupon for your products or services
- A “free with purchase” offer next time they stop in the store
- An invitation to sign up at your website to win a prize in your monthly drawing
You know what your customers want–or you should–so create an offer they won’t want to refuse and print it on your business cards.
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The annual Super Bowl gives football fans more than access to the NFL (National Football League) championship game. “Super Bowl Sunday” has also quickly become the one and only day of the year that many viewers tune in to actually see the commercial ads — ads that cost an average of 2.3 million dollars for one 30-second time spot. And that cost doesn’t include the cost of creating and producing the commercial!
So are these highly creative, high-priced ads effective?
Not if the creativity is all you remember about them.
Most of this year’s new ads were oozing with creative genius. My disappointment is that, for the most part, they were remarkably memorable for creativity alone – not the product or service they were promoting.
Is that money well-spent? Not in my small business-minded opinion.
Especially when you consider that on this ONE day, viewers are actually WILLING and EAGER to see your ad. On any other given day, during any other television program, people would be wielding their remote controls to channel surf once the programs they are watching fade to commercial.
You and I don’t have 2.3 million dollars to spend on a one-shot chance to reach our audiences. We can’t afford the arrogance of assuming people will like us or our products based on a “clever” commercial. The people we market to need to know what good we are to them, their lives, their businesses, etc.
Now, I’m not suggesting you avoid using creativity in your advertising. I’m just asking you to remember that creativity is the icing, not the cake. Creativity enhances an ad; it cannot take its place. Don’t try to frost something that’s only half-baked!
Tired of hearing the word turnkey?
It’s a little overused these days.
It’s an age-old buzzword that has surged back into popularity with the advent of doing business on the Internet. Why? A turnkey business is an automated business. And, on the Internet, this automation is imperative to be successful and serve customers who are fast becoming accustomed to getting products and services in lightning fast time.
Ironically, this concept of automating the business process makes sense to successful online business owners, yet the benefits of an automated, turnkey business often escapes offline business owners – even though the development of a ‘turnkey’ business has been a business-builder for decades. Perhaps it’s because there is an assumption that turnkey directly relates to technology.
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Whether you sell products or services, your offline business can reap huge rewards by marketing online.
Specific marketing techniques are not exclusive to either offline or online businesses … and that’s the GOOD news for those of us who have previously relied on expensive direct mail and advertising campaigns that quickly suck the life out of a marketing budget!
Here are just five profit-building reasons to use online tactics as one of your targeted marketing methods:
Posted in Marketing & Promotion Ideas Online Tactics for Offline Businesses by .
Jan 11
16
How To Get Clients to Pay Up
Independents, sole proprietors, freelancers… anyone who deals with minimum cash flow knows the anxiety that comes with a client or customer who doesn’t pay. You can put “net 10 days” on your invoices, but most of the time it’s ignored by both big business clients and small business clients.
As an independent myself, I face these same challenges. In large companies, the red tape is long and knotted – and if there’s just one little hold up in the approval process, you can be waiting 45-60-90 days for payment. It eats up a lot of follow up time that could be better spent on building your business, not serving as bill collector. Sometimes you can plead your case and get paid quicker, and sometimes you have to resign yourself to their system.
However, a handful of small business clients ignored my “net 10 days” invoices, too. As my Accounts Receivables grew, so did my anger. So, instead of just sending “past due” notices,
Posted in Improve Business Operations by .
Jan 11
8
Quick Tip: Telephone Tip Off
Tape the word “opportunity” to each telephone in your office. When the phone rings, the word will remind employees to make a good first impression and to present themselves in a positive way.
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MONSTROUS Marketing Mistake #1: Sinking a Fortune Into an Unproven Product
Is your business idea built on market research or a hunch?
Entrepreneurs often fall in love with their products or services before they determine if there’s a real market, and they throw fistfuls of money into the venture. If you, your spouse, your uncle, and your neighbor think you’ve got a winning idea, that’s simply not enough qualified input to run to the bank and drain your savings account!
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29 Ways to Increase Profits & Productivity