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Marketing Ideas – Where To Start In This Economy…

By Charlie Cook   |   March 24, 2009

Even some of the most successful small business owners are seeing their sales slow down in this economy. As a smart entrepreneur, you know that marketing is the key to successful selling. It’s the engine that drives your profits.

Has your marketing stalled?

How can you get things running again and get your sales and profits back on track?

Discover how to power up your marketing ideas in this economy >>

I was at my grandmother’s place in Maine with my roommate Rex one summer during college. She had offered us the use of her aging 1949 Jeep while we were there.  We thought it would be a blast to take it for a spin. There was only one problem.

After a winter of neglect, the old rusty Jeep wouldn’t start. I had no idea what to do. I was about to give up and walk away when Rex stopped me. “It’s not that complicated to get one of these engines running again. It’s either a fuel problem or an electrical problem. We just have to figure out which it is and then we can fix it ourselves.”

With that mindset, we checked the battery, spark plugs, fuel lines, and fuel pump. We finally traced the problem to a dirty carburetor. Once Rex showed me how to approach the problem, with some basic tools we were able to get the Jeep running again.

Troubleshoot your marketing the same way. If you’re not getting all the sales you want, the problem is either leads (the fuel) or conversions (the spark that turns leads into profits).

Not reaching your sales goals? You need to fix your leads or your conversions.

Discover how to get your marketing up to top speed >>

Ready to repair your marketing problems and get your marketing engine running again? Start with these basic diagnostic questions:

Leads
1. Do you use a free offer to get qualified prospects to contact you?

2. Is your free offer compelling? Do at least 1 out of 20 people who are exposed to it contact you?

3. Do you feature your free offer prominently on your web site so that 10% of visitors to your site contact you?

4. Are you using a client-focused marketing message that explains in 10 or 12 words what benefit you provide?

5. Do you have a no-cost referral strategy for extending your reach and helping more people learn how you can help them?

Want more leads and sales? Start here >>

Conversions
1. Do you have an automated follow-up process in place to convert leads to sales?

2. Are your sales processes, your sales conversations and sales copy structured around product features or your prospects’ problems? If you’re focusing on product or service features, you’re doing it wrong.

3. When you get a prospect to the point of purchase are you using an up-sell strategy to maximize your profits?

4. Do you have a system for cross-selling clients to maximize the dollar value of each client?

5. Are you currently testing ways to increase your conversion rates? If you’re not, you may be leaving a large portion of your profits on the table.

Interested in converting more prospects and closing more sales? Find out how >>

If you answered no to any of the above, your marketing is missing key parts. Add them to get your profits pouring in.

Like your car engine, marketing is a system. If it’s not bringing in the level of profits you want, the fastest way to restart it and get it up to top speed is to figure out what part of the system isn’t working.

Start by determining whether it’s a problem with leads or conversions. Once you know that you can identify whether the problem is your offer, your marketing message, or your closing process. And often, just by fixing one element of your marketing, you can get the whole system running and easily double your income.

Don’t let this economy slow you down >>

– Charlie

P.S. Current car engines are a lot more complicated than the 1949 Jeep that Rex and I got running again. But don’t let new technologies distract you from the basics. You can still diagnose your marketing engine and fix it. Need a hand?

Discover the simple system for maximizing your leads, conversions and profits >>

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There Is Something You Can Do In This Economy

By Charlie Cook   |   February 18, 2009

Tired of watching your sales and profits slip in these tough financial times?

While it’s true the wizards of Wall Street, left to their own, have certainly played havoc with our financial system and made making a living, much less realizing your dream, a lot harder – there is something you should know.

You can do something about your web marketing.

No, I’m not talking about writing your Congressperson, waiting for the bailout to take hold, or playing the lottery. What I’m talking about is using one of the simplest and most profitable marketing strategies on the planet and the one that most business owners ignore.

What is it? What’s the solution to making higher profits and to being successful in this economy?

Before I tell you the simple solution, let me tell you the mistake that most business owners make. Most business owners make the mistake of trying to be everything to everybody. They labor under the illusion that higher profits come from web marketing the broadest range of services and products to the most number of people.

Are you doing this?

Are you trying to appeal to multiple target markets?

If you are, you’re on the wrong track and you’re missing out on huge profits. Yes, I know some people want everyone to like them and I have one thing to tell those people. Get over it if you want to make money.

You’ll be much more successful if you focus your business and your marketing on a specific set of products and services and prospects. When you try to appeal to everyone, no one will see you as the go-to expert, or the perfect provider.

Find out the fastest way to increase your profits >>

The solution?

Focus your business on a profitable niche!

I know this sounds obvious but 98% of all business owners I talk to are trying to appeal to too many people. They are trying to do too much and as a result aren’t getting the loyalty and business of their primary target market.

You’re marketing should both attract and repel. If it’s so general that it doesn’t repel anyone then it won’t do a very good job of attracting qualified prospects.

Want to discover how to attract higher profits >>

Imagine you wanted to open a restaurant that everyone would like. What would you serve? Well after you made your entrees low salt, low sugar, low fat, non-meat to satisfy the vegetarians, and non-spicy to meet the needs of people with sensitive stomachs, what you’d be left with would be tasteless gruel. It wouldn’t appeal to anyone and you’d go broke or be stuck selling it to hospitals.

Now imagine instead you only wanted to be the best restaurant for a specific niche. That’s what the “Gun Barrel” does, a restaurant my son and I ate at on ski trip to Jackson Hole this month. The “Gun Barrel” serves mammoth beef and bison steaks, as well as elk, and venison. The elk I ordered arrived practically dripping with blood and I’d asked for it medium rare, the most they cook their meats.

No, the “Gun Barrel” isn’t for everyone and it’s definitely going to repel vegetarians, vegans and the like. But if you’re a full-fledged carnivore, you’re going to love it. And while I’m sure some people avoid ever setting foot inside, it was packed with meat lovers and doing a brisk business.

Interested in packing your business with loyal clients >>

Is your business focused on a specific target market? Most people will say of course, but before you do take the following test.

If you asked five people to describe what you do – would they all give the same answer?

In the case of the “Gun Barrel” I’m sure you would. They’ve targeted a specific niche, providing steak and game, and hit it dead center in order to maximize their profits.

Could you focus your business more and increase your profits?

In the past few years, homebuilders have seen a huge drop in sales. As a group, they’ve taken a beating and most of the ones I talk to tell me there isn’t anything they can do – the problem is the banks.

I’d agree that Wall Street and the banks in this country have royally screwed things up, but I’d also say that most builders have it wrong. There is something they can do – they can go from being generalists to specialists. They can focus their business on where the money is in this market. And you can too.

Want to know how to focus your business to make more this year >>

Yesterday I talked to one smart builder in Georgia who had done just this. He’s focused his business on first time home-buyers and on empty nesters. He’s got a 2400 square foot design that is built to be expandable. It’s built with an unfinished second floor that’s ready to be completed. That way people pay for what they can afford, then when they have the money they can expand. Smart builder!

By specializing, focusing your business, you too can become the go-to expert in your industry. No you won’t appeal to everyone but you’ll attract a lot more qualified prospects, the people who will become ideal clients.

And there is a secondary benefit to specializing, to focusing your business. You’ll make more!

Think about – who drives a fancier car, who brings in the most money? The local doctor, the general practitioner or the specialist, the surgeon? In every case it’s the specialist who makes more money.

Interested in making more this year? Start here >>

-Charlie

P.S. One of the most common questions I get from people is how can I make more without spending a fortune. Focusing your business costs you nothing and can easily double or triple your profits.

Discover the secret to cost effective marketing >>

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Most Marketing Is Schizoid and Blogs Are One Way To Make It More Normal

By Charlie Cook   |   March 30, 2007

Why should you take a few minutes a day to write a blog and will it help you market your business?

Take a look at your marketing materials. Do they grab your prospects’ attention and make then laugh or cry? On the scale of dry and boring versus engaging and entertaining an insurance application form would be on the dry and boring side and what one of your impassioned colleagues shouts when he is throwing his coffee cup across the room is on the engaging and entertaining end of the spectrum.

The norm around marketing is that it’s supposed to be dry and “professional”. The result is that most small business marketing is boring as dirt. With blogs, the norm is still being defined. It’s acceptable to include opinions, rants, ideas, commentary and personal stories. The result, many blogs are attention grabbers, interesting and fun to read.

Blogs provide an accepted vehicle for you to make your marketing more personal, more direct and let people see your ideas and personality. Of course you might want to keep your wildest ideas and thoughts to yourself.

Why is this type of communication good for business?

Blogs give people and companies a chance to break out of an out-moded boring model of marketing and market and be more engaging, conversational and personal.

Whether you sell to small or large companies, the end buyer is just another person, someone like you. When they get to know you as a person, a person full of ideas, expertise and passion, they’ll be more likely to relate to you and to want to do business with you.

And then there is the added plus, that Blogs are easy to use and you can publish your ideas instantly without having to build or load a new page to your web site.

Want more prospects and clients to know you, trust you, understand how you can help and keep you front of mind?

Start blogging!

– Charlie

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