Charlie Cook's MArketing for Success Insider's Club

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3 Small Business Marketing Strategies to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever

By Charlie Cook   |   December 29, 2007

Whether 2007 was a good, bad or indifferent year for your business, you’d like to make 2008 even better. What’s it going to take?

I was about to call it quits for the day when the phone rang. It was Donald Monroe calling from Sterling, Virginia. He told me that he wanted to learn everything he can about marketing his business. When I asked Donald which of my small business marketing manuals he was interested in, he answered, “all of them.” Why was he so eager to improve his marketing? Was his business in the dumps?

Read this week’s small business marketing article to find out >>

Happy Holidays,

– Charlie
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Get… Results

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What Santa Knows About Marketing Strategies

By Charlie Cook   |   December 21, 2007

What’s that ringing sound you hear at this time of year? It’s the sound of store registers ringing up the sales generated by Santa Claus.

Just because he’s old, overweight, long haired and unshaven and dresses funny, don’t overlook his marketing success. Santa is a marketing expert and you can become one, too, if you follow his marketing strategies.

Find out more in this weeks marketing strategy article >>

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How to Increase Sales in a Bear Market

By Charlie Cook   |   December 19, 2007

Have you noticed a chill in the air this December, in the weather and in your sales?

Use this small business marketing strategy to turn things around.

According to my Toronto based bookkeeper, this winter is forecast to be one of the coldest and snowiest of the last 15 years. That cold Canadian air seems to be spreading.

Here in New England, the bears are hibernating and so are many consumers. The financial sections of the paper have been forecasting lower levels of consumer spending all month, and debating whether or not we’re in a recession.

Has this affected your business? What should you do?

Marketing your business in an environment where your target market is spending less doesn’t make life any easier, but there is still plenty of money to be made. You can’t afford to hibernate, though, and just wait out the cold season.

One of my clients brokers construction loans. Over a year ago, when loans were still flying out the door, Ron decided to phase out his loan brokerage and specialize further in a market he knows well. He built a web site that generates leads for construction loans to firms all across the U.S.

By this past fall, when housing starts dropped precipitously, Ron had his new web site up and running. Even though the overall volume of construction loans was down, he now has a national reach instead of a local one, and has plenty of business – and income coming in.

How can you weather a bear market or a recession? Use this link to find out >>

Whatever else you do, don’t let pessimism get the best of you. There is opportunity in every market environment, but you’ll need a plan to take advantage of it. Here are two simple ideas you can use.

Market To A Larger Audience

One of the easiest ways to keep growing your business, even in a time of reduced spending, is to do what Ron did and market to a wider audience. If 20% fewer people in your target market are buying, but you’re marketing to twice as many people, your income could still go up by more than 50%.

A no-cost or low-cost way to do this is by join venture partnerships. Find a business that markets to your target market and get them to promote your products or services in return for your doing the same for them. Or work out a profit-sharing deal. [is this correct?]

Increase Your Conversion Rates

Do you wish you could generate more leads, close more sales and sell more to each client? What are you doing about it?

Let’s take a look at the four generic steps of website marketing:
1. Use a Google Ad to bring people to your web site
2. Generate a lead
3. Make a sale
4. Get clients to buy again.

What are your conversion rates for each of these steps?

Most web sites get dismal results from this process. If you own a typical website, only a fraction of a percent of site visitors contact you and an even smaller fraction buy from you.

Want to increase your online conversion rates and sales? Use this link >>

Increasing your conversion rates is a step-by-step process. I advised one client to make the changes below and she saw more than a tenfold increase in sales.
a. Rewrite the copy of your homepage to focus on the problem you solve for prospects.
b. Offer a freebie that your prospects can’t resist to get them to contact you.
c. Measure the conversion rate of each page on your site. Tune up each of the high-traffic pages so they convert visitors to leads and sales.
d. Set up a system of autoresponders to prompt your prospects to take the next step in your marketing sequence.

If your web site generated ten times as many leads, and your followup process converted twice as many of those leads into sales, how much more could you make, even in an economic slowdown?

Don’t let the talk of bear markets send you crawling into a cave or you’ll lose the interest of all your potential clients. Instead, implement a marketing strategy to grow your business all year long.

Interested in growing your business? Use this link >>

Charlie
Marketing Ideas That Make You Money

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Which Marketing Idea Can Triple Your Sales?

By Charlie Cook   |   December 12, 2007

Could you double your sales in the next two or three months? Use the marketing strategy below.

In November I doubled my sales from what they were just two months ago in September and I saw them increase by over 300% from what they were a year ago.

I’ve helped some of my clients do even better. One client quadrupled sales in two years; one increased sales by a factor of 20 over a period of four years.

Yes, I’m blowing my own horn a little, but I want you to understand that it really is possible to double or triple your sales in a relatively short amount of time.

Before you read another word, ask yourself:

– How much more income could you bring in if you doubled or tripled your sales?
– Do you have this number written down or noted somewhere on your computer?

Can you actually do it? Can you realistically double your sales? The answer to this question should be a resounding “Yes!”

What’s the secret to making these kind of outrageous gains? Do you need to put in even more hours of work? Do you need to double your marketing budget?

The answer to both of these questions is “No!” It’s not a matter of working harder or spending huge sums. The answer lies in understanding the 80/20 rule and knowing how to work with it.

In 1906 Vilfredo Pareto, a French-Italian sociologist, economist and philosopher, noted that in Italy 80% of the wealth, the real estate, was owned by 20% of the people. The same observation applies in marketing. On average, 80% of sales revenue comes from 20% of marketing activities.

Which key marketing strategies can generate 80% of your sales? Find the answer here >>

How can you use the 80/20 rule? Here are 3 options to choose from.

A. You could stop doing the 80% of marketing activities that aren’t working. Think how much money and time you’d save and how much higher your profit margins would be. Instead of spending two days a week marketing you could do it all in 4 hours and use your time to develop new products – or take the day off and play golf or go skiing, like I do.

B. Instead of spending only 20% of your marketing efforts on what works you could spend 100% of your marketing time and money on the marketing strategies and tasks that generate leads, sales and repeat sales.

The result? You’d generate five times as many sales and five times the profits. What would you do with all that income?

C. You could continue doing what you’re doing now, spending 80% of your time on marketing that isn’t working. Don’t you want to better than this?

In summary;
– 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your clients.
– 80% of your income will come from 20% of your marketing activity.

Understand this and you can make a lot more money.

You can bring in two to four times as much revenue by dumping the clients who take up 80% of your time. Concentrate your marketing to attract more of the ideal clients who bring long-term profitability. Clients I’ve worked with, from SEO firms to therapists, have done this and seen immediate and long lasting increases in income.

Ready to discover which 20% of marketing activities can generate 80% of your sales? Get the answers here >>

Sue owns a growing web development firm and wants to increase sales from $300,000 a year to $450,000. Her primary market is small businesses in New England. Where did she invest her marketing dollars?

She booked a trip to Las Vegas for herself and 2 of her staff to man a booth at an Internet trade show where she’s pitching to industry insiders, not her target market. Cost? $10,000 in expenses, not including the time invested.

The above example may be extreme, but have you ever sent out a mailing or email broadcast, bought ad space, or maintained a website that didn’t get the results you wanted? Most small business owners stay small because they make this marketing mistake over and over.

You’re bound to fail if you spend your time and your marketing dollars on the wrong things – or use your marketing tools in the wrong way – over and over. No matter how hard you work, you’ll be frustrated.

The key to multiplying your sales is knowing where and how to market your business. For example, each week I invest several hours in joint venture marketing efforts and in keeping in regular contact with my prospects and clients.

My efforts are focused on building my list of interested, qualified prospects and on staying in touch with prospects and clients by writing at least one newsletter a week. Why these two activities? Because that’s how I make 90% of my sales. I concentrate all my time spent on marketing on the activities that bring in the most sales.

Want to easily double or quadruple your sales? You can do it by applying the 80/20 rule. Use this link to find out how >>

Put the 80/20 rule to use; work smart, work less and make more and you, too, can live the life you want.

Charlie
Marketing Ideas That Make You Money

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Get Your Small Business Marketing in Shape

By Charlie Cook   |   December 6, 2007

What’s the secret to getting your marketing into shape? Do you want to attract more leads each week and grow your sales every month? Get your marketing in shape to achieve your goals.

Find out how in this week’s web marketing article >>

Charlie
Small Business Marketing That Gets Results

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3 Marketing Ideas to Avoid the Holiday Slowdown

By Charlie Cook   |   December 4, 2007

Don’t you wish you could leverage the holidays to generate a surge
of sales, no matter what you sell?

You can, using these marketing ideas!

The Friday after Thanksgiving, “Black Friday”, is the day many
retailers count on to pull them out of the red and turn a profit
for the entire year. Here in Connecticut, shoppers line up before
daylight to be the first to get into stores at the local malls. By
noon, I-95 slows to a crawl with all the shoppers on the highway.
It’s the beginning of the retail holiday spending spree.

Are you benefiting from the spending spree, or do your profits
suffer at this time of year?

Many business owners and marketers will tell you that their sales
slump in December. Yes, many people are distracted and busy with
holiday shopping and other holiday activities. If you aren’t in
retail, the question is, how can you turn the holiday season into a
sales opportunity, not an obstacle?

During the holiday season your prospects are in a mindset to spend
money, and are more than willing to spend money on themselves.
They’ve got their credit cards out and are ripe for you to market
to them.

What’s the secret to tapping into this holiday spending spree? Use
this link to find the answer >>

Retail holiday sales are a success because they rely on a handful
of tried and true marketing concepts. Use these simple marketing ideas to
create a tsunami of year-end profits:

1. Wish Lists
Many people make wish lists of presents to give and get during the
holidays. Why not ask prospects to create a wish list for
themselves and their business. Ask them what they want and need to
be more successful next year. Then sell them the solution.

2. Urgency
Once people have decided they want something, whether it’s a
present for a loved one or a new car or a better computer or new
marketing collateral, the quickest way to get them to buy is to
tell them might not be able to get it unless they act now.

When people head out to shop after Thanksgiving, they’re taking
advantage of short term sales, feeling the pressure of the limited
shopping days until Christmas, and they know that the stores may
run out of the items they want if they don’t act right away.

Creating urgency is one of the most effective ways to increase
sales, no matter what or when you market. Even if you’re selling
HVAC maintenance contracts or snowplowing services, marketing
limited availability or limited-time offers is a big motivator.

3. Special Offers
Typically, you may associate Christmas sales with toys, TVs and
personal items. You’re right, that’s where much of the spending is.
But there are no rules that say you can’t have a holiday sale on
your products or services, whether you provide computer systems or
accounting services.

Whether it’s a discount on price or a special bonus, when you give
your prospects something extra it increases their perception of the
value of your offer. Add in a sense of urgency, and you’ll have an
irresistible offer.

Are more clients and profits on your wish list? Use this link to
get them >>


In past years have you given up on the weeks between Christmas and
New Years and assumed you’d be lucky to ring in a few sales? If you
did, you’re missing out on some of the biggest selling days of the
year. The holiday shopping season generates about 20% of all retail
sales for the entire year.

With the right marketing strategies, December can be your best
month ever. And if it hasn’t occurred to you yet, you can use these
same strategies to generate a holiday rush of sales, all year long.

Ready to bring a flood of sales all year long? Use this link to
find out how >>

Charlie
Marketing Ideas That Make You Money

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How Important is Your Marketing Message?

By Charlie Cook   |   November 29, 2007

What difference can the right marketing message make to your sales? Are you interested in getting more prospects to your website and prompting them to contact you? How much more could you be making if you had three times as many people contact you about your products and services?

Find the answers in this week’s web marketing article >>

– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Make Sense

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What Turkeys Know About Marketing…

By Charlie Cook   |   November 20, 2007

Will you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner eager to dig in to a feast of tasty turkey, succulent sweet potatoes, green beans, gravy, cranberry relish, fresh rolls and an array of apple and pumpkin pies?

In our house, the cooking begins the day before. Homemade pumpkin and pecan pies start popping out of the oven – but we can’t eat them yet. Early Thanksgiving morning, the big bird gets washed and stuffed and hefted into the oven. Then the work of preparing all the side dishes commences.

Walk into our house on Thanksgiving day, and you’ll be greeted by delectable smells. I’m sure most of your homes are the same.

By noon, the roasting turkey smells delicious, and you’re making frequent trips through the kitchen hoping to sneak a bite. You’re ready to eat, but if your family is like ours, you don’t sit down for the Thanksgiving meal until mid- or even late afternoon. By that time you’re very hungry.

Do you need to be sold on the idea of digging into this delicious meal?

Of course not. When you’re hungry and someone offers you something to eat you don’t need to be convinced. The hungrier you are, the more impatient you are for a meal and the better the food tastes.

Wouldn’t you like to be in a similar situation with your business? How would you like to have prospects so eager to buy that you didn’t have to sell and could focus instead on taking more orders?

Want to make your prospects hungry to buy from you? Use this link to find out how >>

If you’re like most business owners, marketers and sales people, you want to increase sales, but you don’t want to be so pushy that you turn people off. The problem is that you aren’t selling a delicious Thanksgiving dinner to family and friends. What can you do to increase the success of your marketing?

Focus Your Marketing On Your Prospects’ Hunger
Food, family and friends are what motivate most of us to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. What are your prospects hungry for? You need to know in order to attract them to contact you and motivate them to buy.

Are they looking to eliminate wrinkles in their skin, get rid of back pain, avoid costly data loss, increase sales from their web site, increase repeat sales, look younger, make more money in a volatile stock market, or save on taxes?

Everybody is hungry for something and their hunger prompts them to take action. The hungrier they are, the more likely they are to take action.

Want to prompt your prospects to take action and buy from you? Find out how with this link >>

Make a list of the five top reasons your prospects seek out your products and services. Next, list the reasons that it’s important or urgent for them to buy from you right away. Then use this information to focus your marketing.

Help Your Prospects Get What They Want
When you sit down for your Thanksgiving dinner and someone asks you if you want turkey, rolls or cranberry relish, you don’t feel like they are trying to sell you. You’re pleased that they’re helping you get what you want – delicious food.

Your prospects don’t want to be sold, either. They want help solving a problem or satisfying a need. The fastest way to get them to buy is to stop trying to sell them and help them get what they want.

Picture this; before you get your fork anywhere near a plate of your Thanksgiving favorites, the cook insists on telling you where he or she bought the turkey, what it had been fed, where it was raised, how it was roasted, etc., etc. You’d probably never eat another bite of the big bird.

Instead, imagine what your reaction would be if the chef of the day simply asked you what you want to eat, and helped you get another serving of your favorite dish.

In your ads, your marketing brochure, your web site and your sales conversations, tap your prospects’ hunger for solutions to their needs. Speak to their concerns, problems and goals. When you communicate to prospects in terms of their hunger, you’ll get their attention and their business.

Ready to finally “talk turkey” about what works to generate more
leads
and clients? Get the answers with this link >>

What do turkeys know about marketing?

Nothing, obviously. Turkeys’ brains are said to be about the size of a walnut and they have fewer brain cells than a cockroach. But they sure taste good when you’re hungry.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Charlie
Small Business Marketing That Gets Results

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How to Keep Your Customers Happy… Marketing Ideas from Charlie Cook

By Charlie Cook   |   November 15, 2007

“I’m working for a company that sells windows for high rise apartments. I love my job except one thing is my company doesn’t keep their promises. They don’t deliver on time and customers get upset.

How should I handle it, to keep my customers?”
– Peter T.

How do you keep your customers happy even if the product doesn’t get there promptly as it should? Use this marketing idea and this idea to manage your boss.

Manage Your Customers’ Expectations
Let them know that even though delivery is scheduled for two weeks that it usually takes four weeks or whatever. No one likes surprises but most people can adjust to a realistic delivery schedule even if its the three to six months it takes to get a couch made and delivered here in the U.S.

Do the Math.
Calculate how much more business you’d be getting if your customers windows were delivered on time and they were happy. E.g. with happy customers you get reorders and referrals which can easily double your sales.

Then take your report to management and ask them if they are interested in increasing sales by 25% or more next year. Show them how much more they could be making if they delivered the product on time and ask them if they can make a commitment to improving delivery times.

– Charlie Cook
Marketing Ideas That Work

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What’s Missing From Your Web Marketing?

By Charlie Cook   |   November 13, 2007

How can you tell what’s missing from your marketing, and how do you fix it? What’s the secret to attracting more visitors and converting them into buyers?

Find the answer in this week’s article on web marketing >>

Charlie
Small Business Web Marketing Ideas That Get Results

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