Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market, as in shopping, or going to a market to sell goods or services.
Marketing is usually defined by businesses as that Voodoo BS we waste a ton of money on.
Marketing is defined by Eric May as the process by which we help clients make more money and better serve their clients and customers. The better a marketing professional YOU become the easier it is for us to accomplish our goal of making you money.
I want all our clients to know:
1) How to identify their Target Market(s)
2) How to create a Marketing Program
3) How to evaluate their Marketing
4) How to continually improve their Marketing Program
5) How to add a Hook to their Program
6) Bottom Line: How to make more money. The more You make the more you have to spend on Marketing & Advertising.
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Here's Your Marketing Program.
Some assembly required. If you take the time to do the following, you will save yourself thousands of dollars in marketing expenses.
Grab a piece of paper and write these basic marketing questions down. Then think about them. Then answer them. Then put it some place you where can see it all day - everyday. If you choose to hire a marketing professional someday. Show it to them!
1) What is your Sales Goal?
How much money do you want to make? How much do you have to sell to achieve this goal?
2) What is your Target Market?
Everybody is NOT a Target Market! Everybody is everybody. Your target market is the smallest niche you can sell to that will achieve your Sales Goal. The smaller your target market, the easier it is for you to "Solve Their Problem."
3) What Problem do You Solve?
What is their Problem?
How do you Solve this Problem?
Why is yours the best solution?
4) Where is Your Target Market?
Local, Regional, National or Global?
Do they belong to any groups?
Chambers, Social groups, Trade groups?
Do they read a particular publication?
Magazine, newspaper, blogs, forums,
trade journal.
Do they gather together?
Fairs, Trade Shows, Chamber events
5) Research Your Target Market!
Who's Selling to your Target Market? How are they selling?
What's Working? What's not working?
6) How will You Connect with Your Customers?
TV, Radio, Magazine Ads, Newspaper Ads, Internet, Direct Mail, Personal Letter, Sales Team, Cold Calls, email marketing, event sponsorship
7) What is your Marketing Budget?
Your marketing budget is going to determine how you contact your customers!
8) COLLECT FEEDBACK!!!
How will You know if your marketing is working if you can't track results?
Set up Feedback loops!
Sales people
Must collect the following Every Time they talk to a customer:
1) "How did you hear about us?"
(What advertising is working?)
2) "May I have your name & #
...in case we're disconnected?"
(Who are you and where are you?)
3) "What can I tell you more about?"
(What aren't we telling people?)
This information must be passed on to the Marketing person.
Internet
Get to Know & Love Google Analytics
See eMarketing for more on this.
9) Evaluate Your Marketing ROI
Are you receiving good ROI? How long does it take to see if "______" is generating a good ROI?
What's working? What's Not? Make Changes! Marketing never ends. In the long run you will learn more from your mistakes than your successes.
Make sure you can Give Feedback on
What, When and How "_______" was done in the past.
Did it work? Why or why not? Just because something didn't work once doesn't mean it won't work when done correctly.
10) When are You Going to Start?
What day are you going to begin?
What day will you start connecting with Your Customers?
When will you expect to see a result?
Do Something regularly.
Evaluate Weekly
11) Call Eric if this is unclear, if you have questions, if you want to say thank you, or if you just want a FREE 1/2 hour consultation*. 303-417-1855
* You must have at least tried to answer some of the questions to qualify for the free consultations... ;-)
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Do you enjoy Cold Calling?
"Hi... give me your money..."
What if you had a Hook?
"Hi can I give you ________?"
Or
"I want to give your company ______ FREE. Who would be the best person to talk to?"
A Hook is something of Value you Give people for FREE!
People Love FREE! People like people who give them things.
. Creating a Successful Hook .
1) Your Hook has to have Real Value
A discount or a coupon is not a hook.
Example 1 - A carpet cleaning business puts out Free bags of dog treats at the local pet stores. In the bag is their fridge magnet for the business. People LOVE their dogs! Dogs are Ruff on carpets. When they need a cleaner who are they most likely to call? Cost per happy potential customer - < $0.50
So if they get 1 job out of 100 their ROI is $100. Or to put it another way, they can make a 1,000 highly targeted customers happy for the same cost as a basic yellow pages ad every month.
Example 2- Knowledge
Is what I'm sharing valuable to You? (establishing my credentials) Are you happy I'm sharing my knowledge? (establishing my credibility) Are you likely to use or recommend me? (potential clients)
Other Examples - Samples, Food, Drinks, Books or Booklets, Demos, Memberships, Evaluations, Reviews, Clothing, Calendars, Invitations to Events, Gift Cards ...
2) FREE IS FREE!
Hooks do not have any strings attached. Nor do they begin a sales pitch. You are giving something of value away for Free, period, full stop.
Later... After they have had a chance to enjoy what you have given them... You can follow up with a sales call. At which point your potential customer will be happy to talk to you. Most people are hard-wired to "return the favor."
3) Take No for an Answer
If you can't Give them something for Free - You aren't going to sell them anything. Move on to someone you can do business with.
4) Track Your Results
Get a contact manager. Act, Goldmine and Daylight are examples. Follow up when it's convenient for them. Start your own "Do Not Call" list. It's a serious waste of time and money to keep trying to contact people who don't want to do business with you.
So to recap... Decide what you want to Give people for Free.
Give it to people in your target market who want it.
Follow up later and see when you can do business.
Chuckle when other people complain about cold calling.
Final thought - 1/2 hour a day is better than 4 hours one day a week. |
