SALES AND MARKETING: 7 Keys To Marketing Success, Part 2 of 2

Sales and Marketing with Bill Doerr

15 Second "Speed Read"

Marketing is an essential business discipline that can be academic or practical. Unless you're a university professor, the practical approach is probably better. Once you go practical, there are seven (7) keys to marketing effectively.

Last month we identified and discussed three (3) of them. This month, we'll finish them up.

The 7 Keys of Marketing Success, Part 2 of 2

Key #4: Build Trust Through Useful Information

John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing founder, defines, Marketing as "the process of helping people who need your services to know, like and trust you."

So marketing effectively means that whenever someone in your target market needs the benefits you offer, you will:

• come to mind (know),


• be positioned favorably relative to your competitors (like), and


• there will be little or no reluctance to use you (trust).

However, UNLIKE a product, a service is intangible. Prospects really won't know what they're buying -- the results your services will produce -- until some time has passed after hiring you.

So the "next best thing" to an actual result is for a prospect to learn that you know how to get the results someone wants or needs. In effect, you want to demonstrate your expertise at generating results. Do that and you are a "safe bet" to use (hire) to generate them, aren't you? Yes!

OK, how? Provide information that reveals your problem-solving insights! Unlike marketing materials that are focused on you and your business, create materials that are focused on what your prospects want to know. "Are you a low-risk provider to use?" Special reports, problem-solving checklists, online calculators, etc. are all client-centered ways to communicate your expertise and convince someone that you are a "preferred" provider of your services. In short, that you can be trusted.

Jeffrey Cohen, President of Imageworks, a Vernon, CT web design firm, runs an ad in the local business journal.

This ad attracts response from self-qualifying prospects for his services.

By being their "friend in the business" of web design, Jeffrey is addressing his prospects' concern about trust. Take a lesson from Jeffrey. It will work for your business, too!

Point:

Use educational information to promote your expertise. It will attract interest and differentiate you, favorably, from others in your field.

Key #5: Use The Three Amigos

No, not Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short. I'm referring to:

1) Advertising,

2) Public Relations, and

3) Referrals.

If you need to raise awareness, advertising and PR work quite well.

Ultimately, the best marketing is based on others endorsement of your business and services. That requires being an outstanding manager of the "experience" your prospects, clients and centers-of-influence have with you and your business. Great management produces an exquisite experience for your clients. Exquisite experiences, delivered consistently, makes you remark-able. And when that happens, referrals and word-of-mouth happen naturally, predictably and extensively.

But none of these "3 Amigos" can be done effectively, over time, if you do not PLAN to do them.

Point:

Regardless of how you choose to use advertising, PR and referrals to promote awareness of your business and attract response from qualified prospects, have a PLAN to do so.

Key #6: Automate and Dominate

Modern media is digital and largely online. Anything that is so computer-centric can be over-used and may turn people off. Modern media can do that because it's so easy to automate your marketing communications with key people for your business.

That may mean you use a form on your website to identify people who really care to hear from you, auto-responders to build and maintain a respectful (but, regular!) presence with them, and you create a profile on social networks such as Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Biznik and others.

Regardless of what you choose to do, there are now more ways to keep-in-touch and stay-in-mind with your prospects, clients and centers-of-influence than ever before. Learn what your options are, where/how your market members want to hear from you and do it as often as you can, respectfully, of course.

Point:

Use the "tools" of modern media to keep in touch and stay in mind with your prospects, clients and centers-of-influence. It will simplify your life and make you a more effective marketer, as well.

Key #7: Use a Marketing Calendar

Years ago I received a "Ziggy" card. On the cover, in outer space, was Ziggy with his arms outstretched and the word "TIME." Inside the card it read, ". . . is God's way of keeping everything from happening all at once." In terms of quantum mechanics, that's actually a very accurate insight!

In business, your marketing calendar makes sure key marketing activities do, in fact, happen, as your plan requires. That's huge.

Your marketing calendar forces you to think strategically as well as tactically. It considers an entire year of marketing activities -- not just one day, week or month. It answers the who/what/when/how issues that you must address to invite response from your target market, build bridges with media contacts (PR), and foster word-of-mouth and referrals for your business.

Point:

Use a calendar to coordinate your marketing activities. Leaving nothing to chance increases the odds of marketing effectively.

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Bill Doerr is CCO of SellMore Marketing. He helps professionals and other service providers to market their problem-solving expertise simply, effectively and affordably. You can reach him at www.sellmoremarketing.com, or by phone at 860-798-6964.


For more information, please visit Bill's TNNW Bio.

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SALES AND MARKETING: 7 Keys To Marketing Success, Part 2 of 2

SALES AND MARKETING: 7 Keys To Marketing Success, Part 1

Sales and Marketing with Bill Doerr

15 Second "Speed Read"

Marketing is an essential business discipline that can be academic or practical. Unless you're a university professor, the practical approach is probably better. Once you go practical, there are seven (7) keys to marketing effectively. This article identifies and explains them all seven.

This . . . is Marketing?
Two (2) definitions. This first definition comes from a prestigious university dictionary:

"Marketing, in economics, is that part of the process of production and exchange that is concerned with the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer. In popular usage, it is defined as the distribution and sale of goods, distribution being understood in a broader sense than in a technically economic one."

This second definition comes from "real life."

"Marketing is getting someone who needs what you do to know, like and trust you so they'll retain you initially, return to you repeatedly and refer you to others consistently."

The second one works for me. How about you?


The 7 Keys of Marketing Success . . . Revealed


Key #1: Pick a Target Market

This means WHO do you want to focus your marketing efforts on?

Ask a business owner, "Who's a good prospect for you?" What do you hear? Is it a clear or muddled? It's usually not as clear as you'd like, right? That's not surprising. If someone hasn't a chosen a specific group of people to focus on -- a target market -- they probably can't tell you who they want to attract as customers or clients. That's unfortunate. The more clear your focus, the more attractive you become.

One example is a young dentist in Michigan. I call him Dr. Midnight. A recent graduate from dental school, he wasn't interested in becoming a junior associate in an established practice. At the same time, he wasn't in a position to finance the equipment and office lease he'd need to go solo. So he cut a deal with a local practice to rent their offices from midnight to 6 AM. And, (at that time) Michigan had a thriving economy due to the numerous factories in the area. Many had workers on the third shift: 3 PM - 11 PM. So he courted these workers as patients. "Stop by right after work -- I work late just like you!" It worked. He soon had a thriving dental practice, on his terms, and all because he didn't try to be just another dentist. He picked his market (third shift factory workers), positioned himself to be "different" ("I'm open when other dentists are closed and inconvenient for you") and profited as a result.

Point: Appealing to everyone is appealing to no one. The opposite is true, too!

Key #2: Find Your Uniqueness and Leverage It

Go look up your business in the Yellow Pages or, Google Local Business. It won't matter. What you'll see is how many alternatives to using you a prospective customer or client has to choose from. Scary? It should be! After all, HOW or WHY would someone, seeking someone like you, choose YOU, from the pool of possibilities? What makes you stand out as a Preferred Provider of your problem-solving expertise? Often, the answer to that question sounds like everyone else's. In fact, there's often little evidence to support that conclusion. It's called "Me-Too" marketing. When you and your competition all say the same things, no one stands out. But, that's where you have an excellent marketing opportunity, too!

Quick story: Years ago, in the Pacific Northwest, a salmon cannery noticed a disturbing trend. Revenues were declining steadily over the last few months. After investigating the situation, the cannery learned that pink salmon were being imported from Japan. Net result? The marketplace had a choice and pink salmon was gaining marketshare at the red salmon's expense. The solution? After some creative thinking, the red salmon people changed their label. They added the phrase: "Pacific Northwest Red Salmon -- Guaranteed NOT To Turn Pink!." Sales began to climb for red salmon again.

Point: Standing out in a crowded marketplace to your prospects is an essential key to marketing successfully!

Key #3: Sell Packages, Not Services

Whoa! Hold on. I'm not saying don't sell your services. I'm suggesting you don't sell them "A La Carte." Your mother or teacher probably told you early in your life, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Right? You know why they told you that? Because people do! It's also how we buy services. The package or bundle of services that has a name and addresses a prospect's pain or desire is going to outsell un-bundled services every time.

If you have kids, you've probably bought a MacDonald's Happy Meal. That's a package! With the magic words, "Two Happy Meals, please" you can get two kids to be (relatively!) quiet for about 7 minutes while you wolf down your Angus Burger and coffee and before you get dragged out to the playscape by the kids. MacDonald's knows that it's you, not your kids, who wants the "7 minutes of peace." And that 7 minutes is what you're seeking to get when you buy a Happy Meal. Great marketing from MacDonalds!

Point: Bundle your problem-solving expertise and services to solve a problem or achieve an important outcome, put a name on it and watch the magic of marketing your services take place before your eyes!

NEXT MONTH...
I'll finish up the last 4 Keys to Your Marketing Success. Stay tuned!


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Bill Doerr is CCO of SellMore Marketing. He helps professionals and other service providers to market their problem-solving expertise simply, effectively and affordably.You can reach him at www.sellmoremarketing.com, or by phone at 860-798-6964.


For more information, please visit Bill's TNNW Bio.

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The National Networker Companies

Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

SALES AND MARKETING: 7 Keys To Marketing Success, Part 1