Call us: 1300 799 737
“How To Sell Your Complex Products or Services With ‘Two-Step’ Marketing”
It’s getting more difficult and expensive to sell products and services, (especially complex ones) using traditional advertising approaches.
That’s because it’s hard to provide enough information and build enough trust in the space of one ad or letter to motivate prospects to take action on your proposition.
Even if you’re only asking prospects to visit your showroom or contact you for a free consultation, it’s getting harder and harder to get results, because people are wary of being subjected to a sales pitch.
But what if you could find a way to have interested prospects come to YOU, rather than the other way around? To do that, you need to break down your sales process into baby-steps:
Continue reading “How To Sell Your Complex Products or Services With ‘Two-Step’ Marketing”
“Keep Your Customer in the Crosshairs of Your Ads”
Have you ever noticed that despite all that’s been written and said about selling benefits, not features, many if not most ads are not sufficiently focused on the customer. That’s a shame, because a strong customer focus is the number 1 technique for making ads and promotions profitable.
Take a quick look at your ads. Do they effectively communicate the added benefit or result that your customer will enjoy by giving you their business?
Continue reading “Keep Your Customer in the Crosshairs of Your Ads”
Keep Your Customers In The Crosshairs of Your Ads
Have you ever noticed that despite all that’s been written and said about selling benefits, not features, many if not most ads are not sufficiently focused on the customer. That’s a shame, because a strong customer focus is the number 1 technique for making ads and promotions profitable.
Take a quick look at your ads. Do they effectively communicate the added benefit or result that your customer will enjoy by giving you their business?
Do your headlines project a strong, unique benefit? Does the content of your ad explain the reasons why YOU are the only logical choice, and not your competitor? If not, you may be leaving a lot of money on the table.
Here are a few tips for cranking up your customer focus:
- Make sure you use the word “YOU”, or at least imply it, in your headlines.
- List “bullet” points of benefits, and where possible pepper them with facts and figures. Don’t just say “double riveted”, say “double riveted for 53% more strength.”
- Try to avoid trite, overused phrases, like “Great service and low prices”. If your service really is great, take some time to explain the reasons why that’s so, and contrast what you offer with your competition. For example,
“Most smash repairers inconvenience you by taking 5-7 days to get your car back on the road. At Jiffy Smash Repair, our average repair time is 2.5 days, and we’ll even save you a taxi fare by giving you a lift to and from our premises.”
Taking some time to reword your headlines and content to be more customer-focused on your customer can be a very high return investment. Or if you have better things to do, ask a professional copywriter to do it for you.
After all, advertising can be expensive. You owe it to yourself to ensure that your ads pay for themselves in terms of increased customers, sales and profits.
Six Simple Strategies Guaranteed To Skyrocket Your Sales
by Sam Webb
1. The More You Tell The More You Sell
Contrary to what many believe, through the teachings of traditional marketing, you should explain what you sell in detail. People want and need to know everything they can about a product before they purchase. Just think about when you are buying a product. Do you just purchase without asking questions? You should tell as much about your product in all your marketing endeavours. When you do, your product is perceived as being better value.
Also, the more interesting information you give your customer, the more he or she can judge its suitability, can become emotionally attached to it and can justify buying it. A prospect who is well informed is more ready to buy. Informative face to face sales presentations close more sales and long sales letters outsell short ones. Your sales message cannot be too long, only too boring. Interested prospects will want as much interesting, appealing, stimulating and absorbing information as possible. You must provide it to outsell your competition.
2. Direct Your Marketing Focus To Your Intended Customers Only
When you keep your marketing keenly focused you will capture the biggest number of sales. You must target your sales message directly at focused customers and no one else. If you run a business with multiple products you should narrow your focus to one product at a time. If you sell a range of electrical goods, for example, you should focus your sales message on PCs when you want to attract more PC buyers, then washing machines, then Hi-Fi Systems and so on. Do not try to feature all your products in one ad or one sales letter. This is what the majority do.
You can steal a competitive edge by directly focusing on particular customers with an interest in a specific item. That way you will attract many more of those buyers because you are appealing directly to them and to them only. People are interested in one thing at a time and only buy one thing at a time. You must speak to them like they think – as if what you are selling is all they are buying. Your message must appeal directly to the buyer you want and spell it out loud and clear:
“Don’t buy a PC this week, until you read this important message …”
You will attract many more buyers with this specific message rather than a general appeal announcing all the different products that you stock.
3. Here’s A Guaranteed Method of Getting Referrals From Your Clients
Let me ask you a question, “If you provide an impressive, ongoing, regular, attentive service to your customers and express a genuine interest in them after the sale, can you think of any reason why they shouldn’t let you introduce your product or service to their friends and colleagues?”
I cannot think of any reason, can you?
Here’s the bottom line – your customers are your single most valuable asset and must be treated as if you fully understand this.
This is the procedure to follow:
Immediately after the sale, you send a personal thank you letter, remember to restate some of the main benefits which are part of the reason they bought from you. This also helps in diffusing any post purchase remorse. In your letter you also emphasise that if they need any further help or assistance, information or further supplies you are here to look after their requirements.
Next you start communicating with your customer with all relevant information to let him or her feel that they belong to your ‘special extended family of customers’. All interesting informative news, up-dates, add-ons, new product or service information, tips and user stories should be communicated monthly to help increase the value of the purchase they made from you.
Your customer will now be favourably disposed to the idea of providing you with referrals. This is especially true if he or she has already made a second purchase, but this isn’t essential before you ask for the introductions.
You simply now ask them if they would like you to introduce your product or service to any of their friends, family, colleagues or customers so that they too can benefit from the advantages they have received. They will readily give you names at this stage of people they are happy for you to contact.
4. The Big Mistake Most Marketers Make With The A.I.D.A. Formula
Attention, Interest, Desire and Action – a wonderful system to follow! Yes, but to make AIDA work in creating million pound sales appeals you must know this vital information …
You must keep using the AIDA formula throughout your sales letters and ads. You must repeatedly gain attention, arouse interest, develop desire and ask for action. This is the secret to maximising sales results with AIDA.
Using AIDA to first get attention, then arousing interest, then desire and finally asking for action is an excellent basic system but it only generates the massive response which it is capable of when you learn to disperse its power regularly throughout your entire sales letter, ad or brochure.
Your readers will be far more likely to take action and buy your product when you retain their interest by repeating the AIDA formula throughout your message. You achieve this by including plenty of sub-headings and interesting benefits, advantages and distinctions about your offer throughout your entire letter.
5. Why Increasing Your Prices Can Increase Your Sales
It’s not always a matter of automatically lowering your prices when you want to boost your sales. Overpricing may be one of the reasons people aren’t buying as much or as often as you would like. But have you ever thought that you might be underpricing your product or service?
The only people that know the right price for your product or service are your buyers. Put it to the market. Test your price. I’ve seen $59 outsell $39, I’ve seen $295 equal $195. I know of someone who increased his seminar price from $1,500 to $5,000 to $15,000 and his results were better each time. Sometimes higher prices don’t work. It all depends on how the prospect perceives the value of your offering. One financial newsletter writer I know of tested his subscription price at $69, $79 and $109. The result? The $109 price bombed – it produced 10% of what the $69 produced and the $69 outpulled the $79 by 300%!
The lesson is simple, put your prices to a market test and run with the winner.
6. Want To Put More Passion In Your Print? – Do This First!
Passion and enthusiasm sells. It’s infectious but so also is the lack of it! It’s vital therefore, that you inject your passion into your printed word. How do you do this? You simply write (or sell) when you are in a PEAK STATE. And how do you get yourself into this state? It’s all about your state of mind, attitude and feeling good. And the only way to automatically put yourself in peak state is through moving your body by exercising. Aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking, running or swimming is best. You automatically attain this state because exercising causes the release of pain-relieving and pleasure-stimulating endorphins.
One other way you can put yourself in peak state is by motivating yourself through positive and possibility thinking. Vividly imagining and visualising your past successes can also have a stimulating effect. These methods can work extremely well, but require more practice.
So, the idea is, that before you sit down to write your sales letter or brochure, you get yourself into your peak state preferably through energetic exercise such as a 40 minute jog.
Then you’ll be ready to write at your peak – passionately, expressively and persuasively.
Principal and founder of the ‘National Forum for Balanced Success’, Sam Webb has helped thousands of business owners to multiply their profits and skyrocket their sales. Sam has recently launched ‘The Smart Achiever’s Master Plan’ – Your answer to marketing smarter with much higher profitability, promoting your business rapidly and creating the mindset for your personal superior success. http://www.smartachiever.com
The “YOU” Mentality Sells More
I was on a conference call the other day with marketing genius Jay Abraham, and he said something very simple but powerful that I wanted to share with you.
That is, the single most powerful marketing strategy or mentality available to you and your business is the YOU mentality. Put simply, the YOU mentality means focusing on the needs of your customers over and above your own needs.
“Of course”, you say, “That’s marketing 101 for dummies”. But isn’t it funny how often many businesses ignore this most basic principle? For example, over 50% of websites start by focusing on the company, NOT on the needs of the visitor. They open with something like this:
“ABC widgets is the foremost supplier of quality plastic, vinyl and stainless steel widgets in Australia”
YAAAAAAAWN!
This approach is spectacularly unsuccessful, because
1) people care more about themselves and their problems than about other people AND
2) it’s invariably filled with unsupported claims and meaningless boasts.
All you have to do is turn this around is to focus on why the customer is even interested in your widgets in the first place – that is, their PROBLEM. Once you’ve shown that you understand their problem, you can start to get them interested in your SOLUTION.
A good rule of thumb is, the word “YOU” should either be written or implied in your headline, and it should feature many times over in all of your advertising materials.
Here’s an example: In my work as an advertising copywriter, I recently wrote the copy for a website aimed at helping companies Export to Japan. Notice how many times “you” and “your” are used to engage the reader.
By examining all of your marketing materials and honing your “YOU” mentality, your marketing results can only increase.
If you haven’t already subscribed to the free monthly “Results-Driven Marketing Secrets” newsletter, sign up now so you can start implementing effective low-cost and no-cost marketing strategies in your business. Subscribe here…
Low-Cost Repeat Marketing For SMEs
It’s surprising the number of small and medium businesses that don’t take active steps to encourage repeat business. They take what’s given to them, but they don’t actively seek to increase the amount of repeat business that they’re getting.
That’s a shame, because repeat business is much cheaper and easier to get than new business.
The easiest strategy to drive increased repeat business is to build an in-house list, then regularly contact that list with offers and news of interest.
Most businesses already have a list of customer names that they can mail. Or if you don’t have a list, start building one now.
In our free “Results-Driven Marketing Secrets” Newsletter, we cover a number of strategies for building a list and generating repeat business. You can sign up free at www.Marketing-Results.com.au
Are You Making These Common Small Business Marketing Mistakes? (Part 4)
This mini-article is one of a series aimed at helping you avoid common small business marketing mistakes.
Many businesses only generate a fraction of sales and profits that they’re capable of because they limit the number of different marketing methods that they use.
In fact, most businesses use exactly the same marketing methods as every other operator in their industry – in effect, they focus all their energies on the areas where they have maximum competition!
On the other hand, many small businesses have grown their profits by adapting the successful marketing practices of other industries to their own situation. By simply using a greater number of successful marketing methods, they’re able to do achieve excellent results.
Here are a few examples of slightly unorthodox marketing methods that some of my marketing consulting clients are using with good results…
1. A sticker printer sends direct mail to targeted industries, offering “Full-Color Promotional Stickers at a 1-Color Price”. None of the competition are doing it, so he mops up!
2. A proofreading business hands out flyers at local universities, and gets a huge amount of interest from students who want help checking their essays.
3. A rubbish removal contractor has a very profitable website, which they use to get new business – while their competitors slog it out in the overpriced and hyper-competitive Yellow Pages. Who would have thought people are looking for rubbish removal on the web? But they are.
4. A counsellor uses an active referral program to generate many new clients from a tighly-knit social group.
5. A professional services firm gets highly qualified prospects by offering a free informational report, then converts prospects into clients using a sequential sales process.
My point is – there are a huge variety of marketing methods at your disposal. Do you know what they are, or how to get the most out of them? As a first step, you can subscribe free to our “Results-Driven Marketing Secrets” Newsletter, where you’ll learn how to implement effective low-cost and no-cost marketing strategies in your business.
Sign up here…
Are You Making These Common Small Business Marketing Mistakes? (Part 3)
Not Making The Most of a Powerful Guarantee
This mini-article is one of a series aimed at helping you avoid common small business advertising mistakes. Many small businesses don’t have a strong guarantee, or they don’t know how to incorporate their guarantee into their ads. This is important, because powerful guarantees have been shown to increase ad response by 50+ percent.
Gurantees work because they remove the risk of purchase from your customer, making it easier for them to buy. When you guarantee your product or service, you’re showing confidence that it will produce the result you claim – customers respond to that.
Here are a few tips for successfully incorporating your guarantee into your ads:
1. Your guarantee should be a specific promise of performance or results.
Don’t use boilerplate phrases like “Satisfaction Guaranteed” or even “Money-Back Guaranteed”. While these are probably better than nothing, they don’t have a fraction of the effect of a specific promise like:
“Be thrilled with your treatment or we’ll pay you to go to the competition”
” Enjoy a minimum 50% increase in website traffic within 60 days or your money back”
“Send $35 to [Your Company Name and Address]. $40 refund if you’re not completely satisfied.”
2. Test Your Guarantee
In my work as a small business marketing consultant and copywriter, I often work with clients to develop a powerful guarantee. Sometimes the business owners are hesitant – what will happen if customers try to take advantage of a money-back offer? The simple answer to this is to test. Test small at first (one ad with the guarantee, versus one ad without). Keep track of the difference in sales results and any returns or refund requests. If it works, keep doing it!
I’ve always found that a strong guarantee generates more than enough additional sales to cover any returns or refund requests.
Also test different aspects of your guarantee (e.g. wording, time period, conditions etc.) The difference in sales generated by a 30 day and 60 day guarantee can be significant.
3. Make your guarantee highly visible
If you have a strong guarantee, don’t hide it away where it won’t be seen. Strong guarantees make great headlines. Visual devices such as a “Money-Back Guarantee” rosette also work well – but remember to enlarge on your guarantee statement.
What powerful guarantee can you offer your prospects to make it easier for them to do business with you?
If you haven’t already subscribed to our free marketing newsletter “Results-Driven Marketing Secrets” newsletter, sign up now so you can start implementing effective low-cost and no-cost marketing strategies in your business. Subscribe here…
How To Write Eye-Grabbing Headlines That Catapult Your Prospects Into Your Ads
Just taking a break from the “advertising mistakes” mini-article series because I had to write a little something about headlines – without a doubt, the most important aspect of your ads.
A great ad with the wrong headline can bomb, whereas a great headline on an average ad will probably do quite well. Let’s take a look at a few techniques for coming up with sales-boosting headlines.
First things first: Avoid these proven sales-killing “headlines” like the pox
1. Your company name
2. A generic industry or service category (e.g. “Plumbing Contractor”)
3. Or on a website or brochure, “Welcome to ABC Industries”
The points above sound basic (and they are), but it’s surprising how many ads and websites make those mistakes.
OK, so how do you create great selling headlines that practically catapult your readers into your ad? Here are a few tips…
1. Call out to your target audience. If your message is aimed at stockbrokers, mention “stockbrokers” in the headline.
2. Mention specific benefits. Face it – consumers are jaded. We all are. Heck, I can hardly get out of bed in the morning 
General statements like “Lose weight fast” or “Save Money on ” are no longer effective. Specific numbers and images evoke much more potent images in your prospects’ minds than generalities. That’s why they sell much better.
3. Use vivid, action-oriented verbs. Especially online, high-energy headlines work very well.
Here’s a headline that uses all 3 of the above techniques…
“New Software Boosts Stockbrokers’ Income by 34, 43, even 125% – by Slashing Time Spent Chasing “Dead” Accounts and Lazer-Focusing Your Energies on the Big Players”
OK, it needs a bit of work, but you get the idea. Onward.
4. Use “cognitive dissonance”. That’s a fancy way of saying, make your audience curious. Here’s a headline we’re testing for a client that sells custom bumper stickers:
“Do You Wonder How We Can Sell Full-Color Stickers At A 1-Color Price, with FREE Artwork?”
This type of headline makes people curious – they feel compelled to find the answer and relieve a sense of “dissonance” with this apparent paradox.
5. Include some challenging or surprising information. Here’s another headline that I wrote for a rubbish removal firm’s website…
“Fast, Professional Rubbish Removal, Sydney-wide…We’ll Pay You $1 Per Minute In Cash If We’re Late!”
The “hook” is the guarantee. Also bear in mind that most of the people who see this headline will have already searched for the term “rubbish removal sydney” or similar…That may influence the content of the headline, compared with say a newspaper headline that is designed to appeal to only a few prospects from a large number of readers.
If you haven’t already subscribed to the free monthly “Results-Driven Marketing Secrets” newsletter, sign up now so you can start implementing effective low-cost and no-cost marketing strategies in your business. Subscribe here…
Are You Making These Common Small Business Advertising Mistakes? (Part 2)
In my last mini-article, I mentioned how many small business ads read more like a shopping list than the benefit-rich, call to action that a good ad should be.
Another very common mistake or oversight that 99% of small businesses are making right now is…
Failing to Test and Track Ad Response
Why should you test and track different ads? Because one ad, sales letter or web page may sell 2, 3 even 21 TIMES more than an alternative for exactly the same product or service. You need to know what’s working and what isn’t so you can cut the losers and optimize the winners.
How to Track Advertising Response
Tracking advertising response is as easy as asking callers where they heard about your company. As you publish more ads and test one ad against another, you’ll need to get a little more sophisticated with your tracking by implementing one or more of the following…
Coded coupons in your ads
Different coloured reply-paid postcards
Different department numbers
Asking your callers to mention an offer or ask for someone by name
etc.
Online it’s even easier – there are lots of great tracking software programs that will allow you to compare one page against another or one traffic source against another. We use and recommend ProAnalyzer Tracking Software to do this, but there are other good programs out there as well.
When one of my marketing consulting clients started tracking their ads a while back, they found that $500 newspaper ads were generating almost zero response, while cheap flyers were bringing in loads of customers. So they were able to save a bundle on ineffective advertising.
What To Test
You should test these things in your ads:
Headlines
Offers
Body Copy
Guarantee
Price
Hint: You’ll get the greatest return by testing headlines first.
When you find something that works, stay with it until you find something better. It really isn’t hard to improve your marketing ROI if you use this approach, yet hardly anyone does it! If YOU decide to take action on this tip, you can save money, leverage your marketing budget, and put some distance between you and your competition.
Simply making your ads sell harder can boost your business massively – start by testing and tracking your ads, and consider hiring a good copywriter – a small investment in professionally written copy will makes your advertising dollars work much harder.
If you haven’t already subscribed to the free monthly “Results-Driven Marketing Secrets” newsletter, sign up now so you can start implementing effective low-cost and no-cost marketing strategies in your business. Subscribe here…
Connect With Us
