What makes an ad get your attention and then keep you interested and help generate more sales? It’s when it clearly identifies a common problem and then shows you an obvious solution that you can’t live without.
Here’s an example that does exactly this >>
Just use the above link and click on play to see what I’m talking about.
– Charlie
MarketingForSuccess
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Attract Clients and Increase Your Profits
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“First let’s get traffic to the site to get sales going and then we can worry about our image.”
Is this approach successful? Should you try to ramp up traffic to your web site first, and then worry about the image your copy and design project to prospects?
That’s what the business partner of a friend of mine thought. Rather than designing the site and writing copy to give it a unique identity, keep visitors’ interest and convert them to buyers, she
was solely focused on improving the search engine ranking of the site to get more traffic.
Her logic was that the higher their site ranked on the results page of search engines like Google, the more traffic they’d get and the more money they’d make. This is logically correct, but almost
always wrong.
A top ten ranking in Google can bring more visitors to your site, but in most cases, that doesn’t mean more sales or a dramatic increase in sales. Why not?
Most web sites are like out-of-tune car engines with clogged fuel pumps and dirty spark plugs. They’re barely turning over. With an engine like that, no matter how much gas you pour into the tank, you won’t get far.
Ready to tune up your site so it brings in massive profits? Start here >>
A top search engine ranking and more traffic won’t help you make more money if your site isn’t a lead-generating, selling machine. I regularly hear from people who’ve spent tens of thousands of
dollars on pay-per-click advertising and SEO whose sites still aren’t even breaking even, much less increasing profits.
Don’t waste your time and money driving traffic to a site that doesn’t sell. If you do, I can guarantee you’ll still be struggling 12 months from now.
How do you make your site sell?
Stand Out to Your Target Market!
Discover the fastest way to ramp up your online sales and profits >>
How many sites have you seen that look like cookie cutter versions of other sites? Can you even tell what the company does, or which services they provide? Is it immediately clear what makes them better than the competition or what’s in it for you and why you should bother sticking around?
If your web site looks like everyone else’s, makes the same promises, or is vague or unclear about the benefits you offer your prospects, you’ll lose them in a nano second.
A first-time visitor to your site scans the page they land on and makes a snap judgment about your company. They scan the copy and photos and decide in a matter of seconds whether you are likely to have what they are looking for and whether to leave or stay (at least for a couple of minutes). And obviously they’ve got to stay for you to make a sale or convince them to give you their email so you can market to them.
Discover the fastest way to ramp up your online sales and profits >>
How do you build a site that encourages prospects to stay? You’ve got just four tools to use to make your site jump out and grab your prospects’ attention. Use them or lose them.
1. Your Headlines
The first words that your prospects see when they hit your site, keep them reading or send them away. Make them about your prospects, what they want, not about you. And offer them something
for free that generates a lead.
Recently I added 4 words of text to the homepage of MarketingForSuccess that increased my opt-in rate by 32%. Take a look and see if you know which words made the difference.
2. Your Images
The pictures, or better yet, videos, you use should either directly support your headline or create the image that you think will attract your target market. For most sites, fewer images are
better, they just distract from the words.
One exception to this is sites that sell anything related to lifestyle, whether it’s clothing, jewelry or outdoors gear. For these sites it’s all about image, and that’s what attracts your prospects. Take a look at the sites of Patagonia, Horny Toad or the Sundance Catalogue.
Ready to discover how to use your site to both attract traffic and convert it into profits? Use this proven system >>
3. Use Audio
You can use audio testimonials to build credibility, audio clips to entertain to educate and to tell visitors what you want them to do. And these can increase your conversion rates of visitors to leads and sales by 10-20%.
4. Your Page Design
Your web site houses your online business. When you design it, find the most talented web designer you can. Find someone who knows how to do more than make your site look pretty. Find someone who can create a unique site for you that sells!
The look and feel of your site is all your prospects have to evaluate whether they should do business with you. The design of your site is what brings together your words and images and creates the impression prospects have when they visit it. Make it the right one!
Ready to make your site come to life and start selling? >>
Put these 4 elements together to create a site that makes a strong positive impression, generates leads and sales. Then once your site converts visitors into buyers, it’s time to ramp up traffic with
SEO and pay-per-click advertising.
To your success,
Charlie
P.S. Most websites don’t convert enough leads or make enough sales… and most websites could be making a lot more money.
What’s the secret to making massive online profits with your website?
It’s simply a matter of putting the horse in front of the cart to get your web site working so you can maximize your online profits. Discover how >>
Click here to listen to a podcast of this article online >>
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What is it with putting lipstick on a pig?
Obama and McCain both seem to love this phrase. According to Meghan McCain her Dad uses it frequently and at last count McCain used it plenty publicly referring to Hilary’s health care plan and to Mitt Romney.
What’s it mean?
It refers to dressing something up and trying to sell it as something it isn’t.
Obviously you can take this idea too far and the first thing I’d recommend is that to anyone who uses this phrase drop but don’t dump the concept.
What am I saying? Should you put lipstick on a pig?
No! But regularly businesses rename products and bring them back to life. For example book publishers look at poorly selling titles and if the book looks like it could have life they come up with a better title, one that catches attention and sells.
So don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, use this idea, just not to literally.
Does this work? Does renaming and repacking existing products or services work to bring life to a poor sales?
Yes! It’s one of the easiest ways to ramp up profits. Just don’t call it putting lipstick on a pig. And of course I’m assuming none of your products or services are pigs anyways.
– Charlie
MarketingForSuccess
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Many small business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers struggle to be more profitable and overlook simple, effective strategies that could increase their sales by as much as 200%.
Are you one of them? Have you overlooked these marketing opportunities, too?
• Do you have a list of satisfied clients but you’re having trouble increasing your sales?
• Do you send out mailings and get a miniscule rate of return?
• Do you run ads and expect a landslide of new business?
• Do you have a web site that barely pays for itself?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re burning up time and money stretching and straining to increase sales and missing the low-hanging profits you could be taking in.
Have you been to one of those Pick-Your-Own orchards? It’s an annual fall excursion in my family. Each year we drive to our favorite orchard in Monkton, Vermont and pick a few pecks of apples for eating and baking.
If you’ve picked your own apples, you know that it’s a lot easier to grab the ones hanging on the lower branches. The wooden ladders that reach to the top of the trees are heavy, awkward, and never nearby when you need them. Once you’ve located a ladder and wrestled it into position, you’ve got to scramble up without damaging yourself or the brittle branches of the tree.
You can pick five times as many apples in the same amount of time by moving from tree to tree and grabbing the ones within reach. Likewise, there is profit potential within reach if you know how to take advantage of it.
Discover the easiest way to pick up more profits with your business. >>
Small Changes Add Up to Big Profits
Recently my VW dealer sent me an email detailing 4 ways to improve my mileage by 20%; replace filters, change the oil, tune the engine and keep the tires properly inflated. Each is a small, low cost change but making them could add up to significant savings. You can improve sales with similar low cost changes in your marketing and have a big impact on profits.
Here are seven small changes that can yield big results:
1. Replace your marketing message; Increase sales by 20% to 3,000%.
2. Use an automated lead generation system to target your best prospects; Increase sales by 100% to 1,000%.
3. Change your pricing strategy; Increase profits by 20% to 65%.
4. Replace your sales script; Increase closing rates and sales by 50% to 80%
5. Change your sales page headline; Increase your income by 50% to 150%.
6. Include related up-sell offers; Increase profits by 12% to 25%.
7. Use every page on your website to generate leads, instead of just one or two pages; Increase your sales by 15% to 40%.
Ready to discover how and where to increase your profits? Find the easy answers >>
The solution to making more with your business isn’t to look for a magic marketing pill that will solve all your problems instantly. It doesn’t exist. The solution is to pick the low hanging fruit to get 10% and 20% and bigger improvements.
How to Increase Sales by 300%
If you could find a way to increase your profits by 10% every month, you would have more than tripled your income by the end of the year. Harvesting low-hanging profits can do that for your business. Like plucking the apples at arm’s length in an orchard, it’s less work and a whole lot more fruitful.
Interested in harvesting low-hanging profits to grow your sales and your business? Discover how >>
– Charlie
Marketing Ideas that Make YOU Money
P.S. Add a few thousand dollars here and a few there each month and within a few months you’ll be on your way to making an additional $100,000 to $300,000 or more this year.
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Recently I mailed my subscribers an offer of a free report in exchange for answering one question. The response was terrific. I got thousands of people to download the report and got tons of data about what people are looking for. But then I got one person who wrote in and asked,
“How do you use your marketing to get people to contact you?”
Didn’t he see how I got him to contact me? Was I being too subtle?
If you haven’t done so already, sign up to get the 7 steps to build your business and increase your profits. It’s written for small business owners and marketers and it’s free, at least for now. Use this link to claim your copy >>
Am I being too subtle? Sign up before I start charging for this exclusive report.
– Charlie
Small Business Marketing Based On Results Not Opinion
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You want to attract more clients, increase your sales and maximize your profits. And you want to do it in less time.
What’s getting in your way?
Working harder isn’t the answer! After decades of helping struggling small business owners be more successful, I’ve seen the same three issues emerge in every case. I see them with business people looking to make their first $100,000 as well as to those trying to make their next five million.
What are they? What are the three things that you need to do to be more successful?
To be truly successful in any business you need to have a vision that’s big enough, have the knowledge of what to do, and most importantly, you need to delegate responsibility.
1. Envision Success Not Just A Stepping Stone
When someone calls me to talk about my one-on-one coaching services, one of the first questions I ask them is what their goals are. Typically, they want to increase their income or sales by 10 or 15%.
99% of the time these business owners are running businesses that have much more profit potential than that. Too many of them think in terms that limit how well they’ll do; their vision is too small.
Plan to grow by 10% and that’s all you’ll do. Plan to grow by 200% and you can achieve that!
You can go to the grocery store hoping to find a few ingredients to make a sandwich, or you can go determined to find everything you need to cook a delicious 3-course feast. Create a vision and goals that will help you get there instead of ones that are getting in your way.
If you’re going to go to all the effort to grow your business, why not make at least 250,000 or if you’re already making five million why not aim for seven million?
Do this right now, before you read any further. Write a paragraph describing your success and make a list of your goals for the rest of this year.
2. Get And Apply The Knowledge You Need
I’m continually amazed at the number of otherwise savvy business owners who want to become masters of marketing and keep trying to do so by copying other’s failed marketing techniques. You need to know what to do and how to do it in order to grow your business.
Start by answering the following questions.
What knowledge and skills are required?
Do you need to discover how to attract more clients, close more sales or finally turn your website into a profit center?
What do you need to do to reach each of your goals?
A faster way of generating leads?
A system for growing your business?
A web site that converts visitors to buyers?
What kind of advice do you need?
Do you need someone to help you organize your marketing and show you how to focus your efforts? Use this link >>
3. Delegate Your Way to the Top
There are only so many hours in a day; no matter how many of them you spend at work, you’ll never be able to do everything on your own. The third key to success is delegating administrative and operational tasks.
If you’re spending your day processing orders or setting up jobs for customers, you’ll never have time to focus on your primary job, growing your business. The sooner you stop trying to do everything yourself and start managing others, the sooner you’ll see your business grow in leaps and bounds.
Think big. Envision your success, get the knowledge you need to succeed and then delegate everything with the exception of your growth strategy. You’ll be amazed at how much more successful you’ll be!
– Charlie
Small Business Marketing Success
P.S. No matter what you market and sell, you can eliminate the barriers to growing your business more easily than you think. Create your vision of your successful business and then develop a plan for realizing it. To reach your goals, you’ll need to know how to attract clients, and you’ll need a system to generate a steady stream of leads, close more sales and use the internet to maximize your profits.
To listen to a podcast of this article use this link >>
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What’s the Once Thing 35 out of 40 Businesses Forget to Do That Kills The Sale?
“I’m having trouble selling my hearing aids even though I discount them 30%. Should I sell it for even less?” — George R., MI
Why Prospects Don’t Buy
Ever wonder why your prospects aren’t buying?
You know the situation. You’ve got a qualified prospect on the phone or you’re meeting with them in person and they’ve agreed that your product or services are the perfect fit. Then you mention the price, and they don’t bite. They tell you that they want to think about it or they need to talk to X or they just flat out tell you its too expensive.
You could offer them a discount but is that the right thing to do or are you just shooting yourself in the foot.
When a prospect who needs your product or service walks away and doesn’t buy, typically it’s not price that’s the problem. And if your prospect isn’t buying, lowering the price won’t guarantee the sale.
Why Price Isn’t The Problem
Typically when your prospect doesn’t buy or objects to price, the real problem is that they don’t understand the value of your products or services. And it’s not their fault; it’s the fault of your small business marketing. Whether you sell consulting services, hand tools, hearing aids or chicken legs, the price you can charge is based on your prospect’s perception of its value to them.
Want your marketing to sell more? Go here >>
Don’t Make This Mistake
Want to avoid losing clients? Here’s an example of what not to do.
Last year I was planning a family reunion at a charming old inn in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. As part of the festivities, I wanted to organize a light breakfast buffet for the 50 or so relatives attending. The inn quoted me a price of $29 per person, without giving me any information about what was included. When I got the quote I was shocked. It was much more than I’d anticipated, and I decided to drop the whole idea.
What was the fatal mistake the Inn made?
Without a clear understanding of what I was going to get for $29 per head, I had no means of determining whether it was worth the money. I didn’t know whether the $29 per person charge included just a cup of coffee and a donut or a full buffet breakfast with a chef on hand to cook custom omelets.
Either way, the inn lost an opportunity to feed us another meal and profit from the presence of our large group.
When your prospects object to price or just leave without buying, it’s a signal that your marketing isn’t doing its job. You’re not giving your prospects the information they need to understand what your products or services can do for them. As a result, they don’t buy from you.
Want to discover the secret to overcoming prospects’ objections? Go here >>
How to Increase Sales
Want to avoid objections to price, sell to more people and even raise your prices?
Since the price a prospect is willing to pay for your products and services is directly related to their understanding of its value to them, then the higher the perceived value, the more you can charge.
One of my clients, Janice, was working way too hard at bringing new clients to her phone coaching business. She helps clients eliminate anxiety and replace it with self-confidence so they can be more productive in their work and lives. She had dozens of prospects, but when she quoted her fees, too many prospects opted not to sign up.
When I asked her to describe the things she does for her clients and the benefits of her services, she gave me a lot of information and many examples of her successes. Then I asked her how much of this information her prospects knew. Very little, she said. Whoops!
I find that most small business marketing managers and owners I’ve talked to make the same mistake. They have a great product or service but neglect help their prospects fully understand the value.
What’s the best way to define value so prospects become buyers? Go here >>
Define Value In Terms Of What Your Prospects Want
The solution was simple. I showed Janice how to structure her sales conversations and how to ask the right questions to get her prospects talking about their goals and needs. This sets the stage so that when she explains the services she provides, it’s clear that they are the perfect solution to her prospects’ problems.
The result? Instead of lowering her prices to get more business, Janice increased her fees. Within a week she was making 50% more money.
Wouldn’t you like to have prospects eager to pay the prices you charge? Sound impossible? It isn’t.
When your prospects fully understand of how much better off they’ll be or how much more successful they’ll be with your products and services, more people will want to work with you and buy from you and they’ll happily pay more to do so.
Interested in closing more sales? Go here >>
Charlie
Proven Small Business Marketing
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“There’s no free lunch.” Baloney!
Whether you’re just starting out or have a well-established business, the truth is that some of the most powerful ways to grow your business can be had for free! And these work whether you’re netting $50,000 a year business or a $10,000,000 a year business.
Here are two no-cost, high return ideas you can take to the bank:
Use Free Publicity To Increase Sales
Advertising in any medium costs a pretty penny and can quickly bleed you dry, but you can get great publicity for free. You can start by writing articles to establish yourself as an expert in your business. Then get them published where the greatest number of potential clients will read them.
Years ago, before there were good directories of articles online, I collected over 600 online editors’ email addresses and sent my articles to them on a regular basis. While this was a good idea, the next one I’m going to tell you about is even more powerful.
Collaborate to Widen Your Reach
I met Michael Angier at a marketing conference in 2000 and we discovered our target markets overlapped. We both had built lists of five to six hundred editors interested in our small business marketing and sales articles. The synergy was obvious. Michael emailed me his list. I added it to mine, culled the duplicates and sent it back to him. The result?
At the cost of a couple hours of effort, I increased the reach of my list to 900 editors, dramatically increasing the readership of my articles. At almost no cost I was getting tons of publicity.
Tired of wasting money on that gets minimal results? Discover the fastest, least expensive ways to attract all the clients you can handle. Get the details >>
Use Marketing Partnerships
Over the years my business has grown steadily, but there were points when sales jumped to new levels. In many cases the leap in sales was due to a new partnership or collaboration. These have taken time to develop and negotiate but have more than paid off in increased sales and profits.
This past fall I signed on a handful of new super affiliates who promote my products to their mega-lists. As a result, I more than doubled sales in three months with no additional advertising costs.
Of course my marketing partners earn a percentage of my sales through their lists, but each promotional partner helps my business grow.
Find Partners For Profit
How do you find small business marketing partners? Start with your clients and their needs and interests. Businesses that target the same people you serve and provide related products and services are potential marketing partners.
Unless you’re a company like Walmart that provides an enormous scope of products and services, there are going to be many companies selling a product or service to the same target market that complements what you’re marketing.
Let me give you a few examples.
You’re an athletic trainer. You could partner with someone who provides sports massage or nutrition counseling. Even weekend warriors will benefit from this combination of services. You promote each other and all of you could double your clientele at no cost.
Or if you own a web site that sells shoes, you could offer a $25 discount coupon with each sale over $75 that your customers can use on a partner site that sells socks, and vice a versa. You both generate more sales and make more money without actually spending a penny.
Or if you’re a voice coach working with aspiring executives you could partner with a leadership or sales coach. If you each provide your partner with the marketing collateral they need to promote you, your cost is minimal and you both double your marketing reach.
Each time you partner with a business that has a broad customer base, you’ll dramatically increase your sales and profits. And you’ll do so at almost no-cost.
Want to power up your marketing? For small business owners knowing what to do and how to do it is more important than having a huge budget to spend on marketing. Ready to spend less and make more? Use this link to find out how >>
3 Steps to Finding Marketing Partners
1. Identify the key characteristics of your target market. Who are they? Where are they? What do they want and need? The best marketing partners aren’t your competitors, but businesses that provide a related product or service your target market’s needs.
2. List related products and services your customers want. One goal of a marketing partnership is to make more money for both partners at minimal cost. Approach this from your customers’ point of view. Think about what they want and how your marketing partnership can meet more of their needs.
3. Make a list of potential marketing partners and then email them, call them, and explain why they should partner with you. Demonstrate the benefits for them and their customers. Send them samples. Be persistent.
There are dozens of other ways to position and expand your business, strategies that work whether you’re just starting out or you’re growing a well-established business.
Discover no-cost and low-cost ways to leap-frog the competition and double your profits this year. Get the details with this link >>
Charlie
Small Business Marketing Secrets That Make You Money
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How well does your small business marketing work? Use this marketing checklist marketing to help prospects become clients and customers today.
– Charlie
Proven Small Business Marketing
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Have you ever spent money on an ad and gotten a limited response?
You’re not alone. Everyone who has ever advertised has run an ad that failed at least once. Doing it the first time is educational; running an ad that isn’t working again and again is throwing good money after bad.
Want to know how to write ads that attract twice as many buyers?
Use this link to find out which small business marketing ideas generate more leads and sales. >>
Want more small business marketing ideas? Use this link >>
Charlie
Business Small Business Marketing Ideas That Make You More Money
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