Are you spooked by your marketing. If you’re not getting results, its your marketing strategy which is playing a trick on you.
Should you sugar up your marketing and pass out treats to prospects? What’s the answer, how can you make your small business marketing bring in a flood of new business?
Find the answer in the article I wrote on Marketing Tricks and Treats to Use All Year Long >>
– Charlie
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Get… Results
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Are your marketing habits good for your business?
Bill is a friend of mine who is smart, hard working and dedicated to his management consulting business. His clients love him, but his business is stagnating. He gets referrals occasionally, but considering how good he is at what he does, new clients should be lined up outside his door.
When business slows down and his client list shrinks, Bill blames it on a lack of interest in the marketplace. What’s Bill missing?
He doesn’t have good marketing habits. Actually, he doesn’t have any marketing habits.
Marketing is like your health. If you want to see your business continue to increase its profits year after year you need to have healthy marketing habits.
If you eat three meals a day, get exercise, take some time to relax, brush your teeth and get 7-8 hours of sleep. You have reasonably good health habits. Maybe a few more vegetables instead of cookies, more exercise and some more sleep would help but basically you’re doing the right things to keep yourself in decent shape.
Want to do the same with your marketing to get it in shape?
Ready to discover the simple marketing regimen that can make you rich? Use this link >>
Every day you do at least 4 to 7 tasks to keep your body fueled and functioning well. You eat more or less balanced meals, get a little exercise, brush your teeth, sleep. etc.
But are you doing the 4 to 7 things you need to do every day to keep your business fueled with a steady stream of new clients and profits? If not, don’t panic, but don’t shrug this advice off either. It’s time to adopt healthy marketing habits.
The 3 Most Important Wealth-Building Marketing Habits
1. Take Responsibility for Your Marketing Strategy
Puzzled by what to do to grow your business? You need a proven marketing strategy that’s right for your business.
If you’re serious about growth, it’s time to find out what really works to generate more clients and sales. Use this link to get the details >>
Thinking of hiring a marketing firm to do it all for you? It doesn’t quite work that way. I can’t tell you how many business owners I’ve heard from who’ve hired marketing firms and seen little or no increase in sales. Even if you hire a firm to implement your marketing, you’ve still got to take responsibility for understanding what it takes to develop and maintain a winning marketing strategy.
You may have hired a personal trainer to guide your fitness routine and a full time cook to make delicious, nutritious meals (lucky you!); your health is still your responsibility. The same is true of your company’s marketing.
Discover what works to generate more clients and sales. Use this link to get the details >>
2. Schedule Time For Marketing
If they aren’t locked into your schedule, you won’t get to your marketing tasks and you won’t ever see your marketing strategy kick into gear.
You eat regular meals to keep yourself thriving; likewise – establish regular times to nourish your business by focusing on your marketing. I schedule a morning a week to write newsletters and manage the various on- and off-line tasks that keep traffic coming to my website and convert prospects to clients.
If you haven’t done so already, block out time each day or each week to spend on marketing – a minimum of five hours a week.
3. Use a Proven Marketing Strategy
Most business owners and marketers make the following mistake. They spend money on advertising and then sit back and wait for results. Or they put up a web site and sit back and wonder why so few people are buying from it.
If you wanted to grow your favorite variety of tomatoes, you wouldn’t just throw a handful of seeds onto a patch of soil and expect them to thrive. You’d water and weed and pinch them back and check their progress at least once a week.
In marketing as in gardening, a simple strategy will help those leads turn into clients and you’ll have healthy profits. Without a proven marketing strategy you’ll just end up wasting your time and money.
Ready to discover a proven marketing strategy to grow your business? Use this link to get the details >>
Charlie
Marketing Ideas That Make You Money
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When my client Sarah called on Tuesday earlier this week I was a little surprised, since her normal time is on Wednesday. Then when she told me she’d just packed her children and a few belongings into her Toyota Prius, it started to make sense.
Sarah was forced to evacuate her home in San Diego on Tuesday morning because of the wildfires closing in on her neighborhood. She was calling because she wasn’t going to be home for our scheduled call on Wednesday, much less she wasn’t sure she’d even have a home.
Sarah runs her business out of her home – and while she was worried about losing her home, she was even more concerned about how she was going to keep her business going. She had wisely grabbed her computer on the way out the door and was now out of harms way at a friends who had Internet access.
Is your business disaster proof?
What would you do if a disaster wiped out your place of business? Would you be able to be up and running within a day or two at a remote location?
Want to disaster proof your business? Use this link to find out how >>
I hope you never have to pack up all your belongings in a suitcase and leave your home or your business, but it happens more often than you think.
California has it’s share of wildfires, my daughter was forced to flee New Orleans half a dozen times during her four years of college at Tulane, my family was forced to evacuate our home here in coastal Connecticut in the bucket of a highway front loader when a December Noreaster flooded our neighborhood.
Making your business portable is a good idea whether you ever encounter a disaster or not. Last winter I set up my business so that I could spend every other week working from our ski home in Vermont. All I needed to do to pack up my business and run it from anywhere with a phone line and Internet access, was grab my laptop. Thanks to my marketing strategy, the Internet and two Virtual Assistants, (now three), my business is both disaster and vacation proof.
How can you make your business portable so you can run it from anywhere whether you fleeing a natural disaster or just going skiing like I do? Use this link to get the answer >>
No, this won’t work for everyone but you’d be amazed at how many businesses can be run just with a phone line and the Internet if you know how.
How to make your business portable?
1. Have a website that generates leads and use your follow-up emails to pre-sell prospects.
2. Outsource your administration and operations to a small handful of trusted employees around the country. If one person in your virtual organization loses power due to a storm, another one will be able to take over. I’ve got staff in Toronto, Texas and I’m here in Connecticut.
3. Put your agenda, calendar, contact list, etc online so even if you lost your computer and had to borrow one, you’d still be able to keep your business running.
Want to know a secret?
Setting up your business so its portable can not only give you more freedom to live the life you want but doing so can help you make more money with less effort.
Ready to get started? Use this system >>
Charlie
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work
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When I talked to Lisa from San Diego she was frustrated. She’d been out of town for a couple of days and when she returned, she found a handful of orders waiting. That was the good news, though if she’d been there to take calls, she could have had even more. The bad news was that the orders hadn’t been processed or sent out.
When she’d returned from a few days away she had to pick up the pieces and get her business up and running again. As a small business owner she not only ran the business, she handled sales, and processed the orders. In other words she did almost everything!
Sound familiar?
Wish you could go away for a few days on business or take a vacation with your friends and family and still keep profits pouring in with your website marketing?
You can!
This week I’ve been in Vermont, watching the leaves turn, biking and hiking with my wife and friends.
I’m away on a week’s vacation but that doesn’t mean my business has slowed down. My web site continues to generate 30-40 new leads a day and my fufilment house ships out my marketing courses daily.
Even while I’m biking and enjoying the fall scenery, my website marketing keeps making money 24/7 and you could be doing the same with yours.
What’s the key to making money even when you’re on vacation?
1. You need a killer website, one that grabs your prospect’s attention gets them to contact you and buy from you.
2. You need online and offline systems to manage the flow of leads and orders.
3. You need to outsource delivery of your products.
Want your site to make more – even if you’re out of town? Use this website marketing strategy >>
Most small business owners and entrepreneurs start off doing every part of the business. The key to growing your business is to recognize that you have to stop doing every task and get help or you’ll always be the business instead of be running the business.
How hard is it to change this self-limiting pattern of behavior?
I’ve heard people say:
– I don’t know where to start,
– I can’t afford to hire help,
– I don’t have time to find someone,
– I don’t know where to start looking.
Ever heard these excuses?
Most people put off the decision to get help and the result is their business gets stuck in the slow lane, sometimes forever. Are you one of them? Make today the day you get the advice and assistance you need to really grow your business.
Want your business to grow 24/7? Use this web site marketing strategy >>
I enjoy time away, hiking and biking in Vermont as most people would, but knowing my business is humming away making money while I play makes it all that much sweeter.
– Charlie Cook
Web Site Marketing Ideas That Work
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Could you get twice as many clients to pay twice as much for your products and services?
Yes, it’s possible with the 4 marketing ideas detailed here. You could potentially double the fees you charge and more than double your annual revenue just by applying one marketing strategy.
Let me ask you a question; what makes a stock go up in price?
Say, for example, gold stocks. A few years ago, gold stocks were in the dumps; now they’re headed for the heavens.
What’s changed? Are the companies that mine gold doing anything different?
The answer in most cases is no. But perceptions have changed. In spite of past volatility, gold is now worth more because it’s seen as a safer investment than the U.S. dollar, whose value is dropping like a stone.
What controls how much your clients will pay for your products or service?
It’s your prospects’ perception of the value you deliver that determines the price.
In the case of gold mining stocks, a bunch of domestic and global economic factors came into play and created a context where gold became a great investment, at least for the moment. You can’t control the global economy, or wait for it to cycle around to create just the conditions you want, but…
You can leverage your marketing to influence your clients’ perception of the value of your goods or services.
Want to sell more at higher prices? Use this marketing idea >>
There are four key factors in influencing prospects’ perception of value. The first is obvious but is the basis for everything you do.
1. Provide a Top Quality Service or Product
Last weekend my wife and I wanted to go out for nice dinner. She picked one of our favorite restaurants. It’s got a great location on the water’s edge and the chef really knows how to prepare fish and shellfish.
Oysters, salad, main course, desert, a glass or two of wine and the bill was over $130 for the two of us. We could have prepared the same meal at home for under $30, but I paid the bill happily. The excellent food, service and view made it all worth it.
Discover how to get more hungry buyers to pay top dollar with these marketing ideas >>>>
2. Market to People Who Are Hungry For What You Sell
You’re going to pay a lot more for a hotdog at a ball game or for candy at the movie theatre. Even so, people line up to pay these high prices.
What prompts so many people to pay almost double the price they would at the grocery store?
They’re hungry, and it’s convenient. Instead of trying to market to everyone, target the people who are hungry and make it convenient for them to buy and you can charge a whole lot more.
3. Position Yourself as an Expert
Why are some doctors in such great demand? Top surgeons get patients who’ll pay 50% more than the usual fee for a consultation or surgery, because those doctors are considered to be experts in their field.
If you want your clients to pay you more, become an expert in your field. Then share your expertise, so your prospects are aware of how much you know and how much you can help them. Honest advice has a high value. Position yourself as an expert and you’ll be able to get more for your products and services.
4. Make Your Marketing About Your Prospects, Not About You
This is the most important part of hooking your prospects and influencing their perception of value. Typical sales copy about how long a company has been in business is boring and does nothing to boost value.
Describe your prospects’ needs and wants in your marketing pieces and sales copy, so they see themselves in it. The more your prospects feel you understand what they want and need, the more likely they are to buy from you.
The fastest way for most businesses to increase sales and profits is by changing their marketing so prospects understand the great value they will get. When that happens they’ll jump at the chance to buy from you.
Low perception of value by prospects = low dollar sales and
low volume of sales.
High perception of value by prospects = high dollar sales and
high volume of sales.
To change prospects’ perceptions of the value of you products and services, and increase your sales and profits – use this marketing idea >>
– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work
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Ever buy something that included a rebate so you’d essentially get the product for free or at least with a great discount?
Last fall I purchased a laptop from Apple that include a rebate of over $100. I dutifully cut off the UPC / product serial number tag from the shipping box exactly as directed in the directions and mailed it in with the paper work. Eight weeks later I received a letter saying the rebate was denied because I’d sent them the product serial number / UPC, which in fact I had. Now they wouldn’t accept a photo copy and I’d already sent them the original so what did I get? Nothing.
Think about it when a company offers a $25 or $50 rebate and it involves cutting up the shipping carton, filling in a long form with product numbers, serial numbers, etc what percentage of people will do it? And then if you deny them the rebate months later, it’s too late to take the product back and even though it turned out not to be such a good deal you keep it.
Are rebates like Apples rebate a good marketing idea?
They are one more tool that can increase the perceived value of the offer but in most cases they’re a scam. I got scamed by Apple’s rebate and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.
Should you use rebates?
I strongly recommend against them – unless your goal is to get people to spend once and then alienate them as Apple is. If you do use rebates, make sure you honor them. If you do you’ll have happy customers instead of people bad mouthing your company.
What do you think?
– Charlie
Which Marketing Ideas to Use and Not to Use
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You may not have the marketing budget of AT&T or Verizon or Sprint but imagine if you could borrow some of their marketing tactics how much money you could make?
What marketing tactics am I talking about?
When you sign up for cell phone service with the U.S. cell phone service giants you:
– Get a phone for free or almost free but to get it you,
– Can only use phones they sell with their service,
– Have to sign up for 24 months of service at a minimum rate and,
– Pay an activation fee so you can start paying them your monthly fee,
– Pay the minimum monthly fees,
– And if you decide you want to change services you pay a deactivation fee.
Let’s see how you can apply these same six marketing ideas to a few products and services.
You sell ebooks and your customers:
– Get the first chapter to free but,
– Can only read it on a computer you sold them,
– Must sign up to keep the ebook for a minimum of 24 months,
– Have to pay an activation fee to get the password to open the ebook,
– Pay you each month they have your ebook,
– Pay a penalty fee if they decide they don’t want to keep if for the full 24 months.
Sounds absurd doesn’t it!
Continuity marketing, marketing where people sign up for a membership or ongoing service is one of the best ways to bring in a steady cash flow each month but you can take it too far and alienate your clients.
Imagine if you owned a gym, would you force your members to buy all their sneakers and sports gear from you.
Of course not.
While the cell phone companies can force you into service contracts you may not like, as a small business owner you need to more careful about how you apply continuity marketing to make sure your prospects and clients still want to do business with you. There are only a couple of cell phone companies to choose from – but I bet you have lots of competitors.
Which continuity marketing ideas are you using and which could you be using to bring in a steady cash flow and still have your clients love doing business with you?
– Charlie
Small Business Marketing That Gets Results
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Many companies have jumped on board with internet and email marketing and now they’re discovering the mistake they made. Take NetFlix, one of the fastest growing companies in the DVD rental niche. Like their competitors they used to provide support solely by email. Now they’ve switched to phone support instead.
Email customer support is quick, cheap and can easily be outsourced offshore. The perfect solution?
Not if you want to do the one thing your marketing should do, build strong relationships with your prospects and customers. Think about it, which is going to keep your U.S. customers coming back and build loyalty better –
– email answers to your questions from someone in India with less than perfect English
or
– a live person on the phone from the U.S. who you can have a conversation with.
Email is a great tool but it tends to be impersonal at best. It’s one of the ways to keep in communication with customers but if you want to stand out from the competition with your marketing phone support is essential.
The ultimate goal of your marketing is to build a strong relationship with your prospects and clients so they start or keep doing business with you. Don’t assume that email is the only tool to use. The phone can be of your best marketing tools too.
– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work
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“Do you do web site critiques?” – Mimi
Want a review of your website and pointers on how to improve your search engine placements and web conversion rates so you can increase your sales? Yes – I do help people one-on-one with their internet marketing strategy.
A. You can buy a copy of the Insider Creating Web Sites That Sell and get a one hour personal internet marketing strategy consultation included with this link >> Yes I want to improve my web marketing!
B. I’m running a trial offer for the next 4 days at $2.95 today for the Insider Creating Web Sites That Sell. When you order you get to keep the manual for 30 days and then if you like it, you pay for it in two monthly installments >> trial offer (web review included after 1st 30 days)
C. Don’t want to read? Not everybody wants to sift through the ideas in a internet marketing course, no matter how good it is. They just want answers and help so they can build or fix their web site right away. If this sounds like you – use this link to contact me and get one-on-one help if you qualify for my web marketing mentoring program >> Yes I want one-on-one help growing my online sales!
– Charlie Cook
Internet Marketing Strategies That Work
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What’s one of the reasons eBay is so successful and how can this simple idea help your small business marketing?
Most items on eBay are sold as auctions that end anywhere from a few days away to a week away. When you find an item you want you know its only available for a limited amount of time. If you don’t do anything someone else will likely buy it.
The limited time frame coupled with the limited availability of the item works to motivate you and others to take action. The closer the deadline the more likely you are to bid on the item and the more your emotions start to take over and the more you want it.
While you may not auction off your products or services, you want to impart a sense of urgency to your marketing. When you put an end date on an offer if prompts people to take action and buy. Everyone tends to procrastinate and put off purchases until the last minute. So make sure to include end dates to promotions and let your prospects know about them.
What happens to the people who decide later they want to buy but missed your marketing campaign? Next time they’ll be more likely to respond.
Are you using the eBay model of limited time offers as a marketing strategy? If not you should be. You’ll generate more sales and get a better response with your marketing.
– Charlie
For Small Business Marketing That Works
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