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Where To Put Your Marketing Message?

By Charlie Cook | July 19, 2005

One client wrote to tell me,

“We have placed the marketing message you wrote for us on the back of our envelopes not knowing what would happen. Well, I have a complaint to make. You forgot to warn us!! The phone calls have increased leading to even more sales. We must and will blame you for our increase in sales”.

Once you have a marketing message that you’ve tested and you know pulls in prospects, use it everywhere, on your business card, in your ads and on the back of your envelopes.

Discover how to write a marketing message that helps you increase your sales with,The 15 Second Marketing Guide
. – Charlie Cook

How to Differentiate Ourselves from Our Small Business Competitors?

By Charlie Cook | June 24, 2005

“We are one of 15 competitors in the NY area all selling the same product. There are no real differentiators outside of price. Working for a corporate entity — I cannot change pricing.” – B.K.

How you talk about your services, the marketing copy you use can help to differentiate your business from others.

1. Identify your prospects’ concerns.

2. Appeal to your prospects’ emotional needs relative to your product or services.

3. Use your business marketing messages to focus on how you help your prospects instead of some meaningless mumbo jumbo.

Your small business marketing can help you differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Many decades ago Miller beer sales were in the doldrums, hitting new lows. The came up with a new advertising campaign that step by step explained how they brewed their beer. Never mind that other manufacturers did the same thing. In creating an awareness of the what was involved in making their beer Miller was able to become the top selling beer within a year or two.

Marketing, how you talk about what you do makes a difference to your small business results.
– Charlie Cook

Marketing Strategies to Put Yourself Out of Business

By Charlie Cook | April 20, 2005

Want to learn how to lose a billion dollars?

Just follow the marketing strategies used by GM , Ford and Daimler Chrysler. Yes some of the largest corporations in the world are missing some basic tenants of marketing and its worth taking a look at what they’re doing wrong so you don’t make the same mistakes. You don’t want the following headline written about your company.

“GM Hits Billion Dollar pot hole” – Miami Herald
“GM shares fell to a 12 year low.” – New York Times

What are some of the most glaring mistakes a handful of car companies are making?

1. Discount Pricing
GM and Ford offer free loans and rebates worth thousands of dollars to prompt people to buy their vehicles. Good idea?

When you need to resort to bribing people to buy your products or services, its a sign that something is terribly wrong. The idea is to provide value, help your prospects understand the perceived value and charge enough to make a reasonable profit. When you start discounting your product as a means to get people to buy it you’ve entered an endless downward cycle.

The next time a prospect buys, they’ll want an even bigger discount and there will always be somebody who will undercut you on price. Eventually you’ll end up like GM, losing lots, maybe not billions, but enough to threaten the life of your business.

2. Making Products People Don’t Want
According to the New York Times, “General Motors and Ford have swerved off course for a far more basic reason: not enough people like their cars.” Whoops!

The objective is to market a product or sevice people want.

3. Not Paying Attention to What People Want
If you want to make money you’d pay attention to what your prospects want? Right?

In the case of Daimler Chrysler you’d be wrong. At the Detroit Auto Show crowds loved the two-seat 8 foot long “Smart Car”. So logically Daimler Chrysler decided not to sell it in the United States despite booming sales in Europe for years. Zap, a Santa Rosa CA firm saw an opportunity especially with rising gas prices and went direct to the European Daimler dealers to buy the cars. Surprise! Ten thousand U.S. buyers put themselves on a list to order over $55 million worth of cars in just a few months.

Avoid discount pricing, provide products and services your prospects want and you can avoid losing a billion or instead make 55 million. I don’t know about you but if I lose ten thousand dollars I get upset and when I make a million in a year I’m pretty happy. – Charlie Cook

How Do I Create A Budget For Building My Site and My Web Site Marketing?

By Charlie Cook | April 4, 2005

“How do I create a budget for creating, marketing and operating a web site?” – Arthur Doglione

Here’s a brief overview of what to do to get your web site marketing in gear.

1. Identify the objectives for your site, what you want people to do when they visit it. Map out the steps you want them to take based on how people make purchasing decisions.

2. Identify the problems you solve for prospects.

3. Write your marketing copy, focusing on your prospects concerns.

4. Create a list of the tasks involved in building, marketing and maintaining your site, such as:
– url purchase and annual fees
– paying someone to build “design” your site
– purchase of sit graphics
– maintenace costs (who is going to regularly update the site?)
– site hosting fees
– if you plan to sell services or products include merchant card fees, online transaction fees and shopping card fees.
– if you plan on using a service to help you manage your list building and email broadcasts, include these fees too.
– identify how you plan on attracting people to your site, and the associated advertising costs.

5. Determine which of the above you will be doing yourself and which you plan to pay someone else to do.

Learn how to structure and write your web site to attract prospects, position your products and services and sell more with the manual I wrote for you detaiing how to build or fix your web site so it helps you grow your business. Use this link to order Creating Web Sites that Sell and use your web site marketing to be more successful.- Charlie Cook

Finding the Best Small Business Marketing Opportunities

By Charlie Cook | March 31, 2005

Finding marketing opportunities is like finding the best places to ski for me. Let me explain.

Five years ago we had the good fortune to buy a ski condo at Sugarbush in VT, a mountain we had only occasionally visited. The first couple of years I headed for the trails, skiing where everybody else was. I found lots of great terrain, but also lots of others competing with me for the same runs and the same snow. With lots of people covering the same ground, the condition of the trails often became less than ideal fairly quickly.

Once I knew the mountain and had found the ski trails I liked best, I started exploring the spaces between the trails, in the woods. With the help of friends and family and my increasing abliity I found hidden paths through the trees where fresh snow lingered untouched just waiting to be skiied.

With new confidence in my ability to navigate the unmarked and unexplored parts of the mountain, I spent much of this year skiing the outback. Starting from the top of the lift, with friends I explored headed out beyound the area limits to enjoy the fresh snow and the solitude of skiing the backside of the mountain. So how does this relate to marketing your small business?

The most obvious place to look for marketing opportunities is where everybody else goes. The problem is you’ll find yourself competing with lots of other people for the same space, just as I was on the ski trails.

Instead of focusing all your time on marketing in the same places as all your competitors, look for marketing opportunities in between the common areas others sell their products and services and you’ll be pleasantly suprised to find many untapped sources of revenue, often untouched by your competitors. Learn how to discover all the small business marketing opportunities you’ve been missing.- Charlie Cook

I Just Want To Make Money So I Can Leave My Job

By Charlie Cook | March 10, 2005

“I don’t enjoy my job and just want to make enough money so I can quit it, what do I do.” – Allison

You’ll be far more successful if you focus on finding a job you love. There is an almost infinite array of options for those people who seek out work they enjoy. People make a living at everything from teaching skiing or piano to running corporations. In each case, those that are successful are the people who really love what they do.

Your work should be a way to do one of they things you love, not just a way to put food on the table. Find a job, a way to make money doing one of things you truly enjoy. I have one client who loves to fly. She pays for passion by doing the traffic report from her plane over Anchorage Alaska. I have a friend who loves math and tracking the markets. He works for a reinsurance company. The possibilities are infinite for anyone with almost any interest.

Learn how to leverage your interests and passions to make a living and enjoy your life with the 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing. – Charlie Cook

How Do I Evaluate An Internet Business Opportunity?

By Charlie Cook | February 22, 2005

“What are some of the questions that someone should use to evaluate an online business opportunity? Or should one start with the idea of marketing one’s own expertise, and develop additional services based on what people who want and need one’s expertise, also want and need in addtion?” – Chuck Hartman, Iowa

If you are looking for a way to make money online, and who isn’t, the best place to start is with what you know. Yes, there are too many online businesses that you can sign up for that will are billed as instant profit centers. These run the gamut from selling vitamins, to gifts, to selling phone services. Can you make money by tagging along with someone elses online business?

I’ve been marketing online and helping small business owners with their online marketing strategy for almost a decade and I have yet to hear of a single person who has actually made a profit by signing up for one of these online businesses. Questions to ask in evaluating an online business might include:

– How will I market the business?
– How wil l differentiate my online business from all the other people doing the same thing?
– Do I know enough about marketing this business to make my e-store more frequently visited than all the others combined?
– Given my responses to these questions, what is the true profit or loss potential associated with this business venture?

As a rule, I suggest most people who are looking for an online business idea avoid joining the typical dubious business ventures commonly marketed online. Instead, learn how to market your knowledge or passion and turn it into a profitable small business. I show you how to do this in The 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing manual. Order your copy to get your small business marketing plan in gear. – Charlie Cook

Should I Develop Products Based On Themes?

By Charlie Cook | February 2, 2005

“I have a growing gift basket business and I’m trying to focus on serving the small business and service professional market. Give me a theme and I can develop a great gift basket. I did one recently for a car dealership. Should I focus on developing theme baskets to grow my business?” – Barbara in Virginia

Theme baskets are a great idea but remember the only reason your clients buy them is to solve a problem or achieve an objective. Small to mid-sized businesses like car dealerships have two concerns you can help them with. They want to build customer loyalty and motivate employees to top levels of performance. A gift such as your gift baskets is a great way to do this.

Just remember, don’t lead with how great your theme baskets are. Market to your prospects concerns about improving customer loyalty and employee performance and you’ll sell many more theme baskets. While you are at it, instead of selling individual baskets, give companies a discounted rate on a hundred when they pay in advance. Help your auto dealership give a gift to each new customer when they buy a car. They’ll build customer loyalty and you’ll both grow your businesses. – Charlie Cook

My Goal Is To Join A Program That Will Make Me A Buck

By Charlie Cook | January 20, 2005

“I’ve been reading your articles for the past year and they’re great. Do you have a marketing system I can use to make a living?” – Bob

To be successful you need two things. You need a specific talent or product that people want and need. You need to know how to market your products and services. Marketing systems by themselves are worthless without your services or products. Similarly you won’t attract clients or make as much money as you want if you don’t know how to market your products and services.

I frequently get requests from people looking for a get rich quick scheme. They want a marketing system that will help them go from the poorhouse to being rich in a few months. Don’t get suckered by this type of thinking. Unless you win the lottery, its not possible.

A. Products and services people want and need – these are the starting point.

B. Knowing how to attract clients – This is the key to leveraging your expertise to make money.

Have a product or service and at least a small list of statisfied customers? If so, then the marketing manuals on this site can help you become more successful. – Charlie Cook

Want Qualified Leads for $6 per Lead?

By Charlie Cook | December 15, 2004

“We are strictly performance based and charge $6.00 per qualified lead we deliver. There are no set-up fees or other costs to you.” – (requested name be removed)

Ouch, $6 per lead is a lot . Now figure what it would cost to generate 10,000 or 100,000 leads. I do spend some money on google and ezine advertising which pays for itself in sales. In addition the majority of my leads come from free lead generation strategies I use and have documented in Creating Web Sites that Sell bringing my costs per lead down to pennies not dollars. – Charlie

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