Charlie Cook's MArketing for Success Insider's Club

 

The Top Experts Reveal Small Business Marketing Strategies
That Get Results In This Economy

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

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How Much Do You Charge An Hour?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 21, 2005

“Charlie, I’m not at a point where I would like to talk on the phone with you but can you tell me what you charge per hour for advising me? – Jim

I never quote rates without first having a conversation with a prospect. In order to determine my fees I need to know what’s involved and the results you want to generate. I need to know a bit about your business, what you do, how you are currently marketing your business and what your objectives are. I look forward to working with you to grow your business when you’re ready.

– Charlie Cook

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How Can I Get My Blog To Be Noticed?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 21, 2005

“Hi Charlie! First off your info is great! By taking your suggestions I stumbled upon blogging as a marketing idea. I use blogger.com also. My blog is named Nashville Real Estate. Blogging is an excellent chance to establish yourself as an authority to create public confidence. How can I get my blog to be noticed more? Again thanks for all the great info!” – uminor

Here are a handful of tips for getting your blog noticed.

1. Include links to your blog on every page of your web site.

2. Mention a couple of your most recent blog posts in your ezine and a link.

3. Submit your blog to all the relevant blog directories.

4. Include your blog url on your business card.

5. Write articles in your area of expertise and include your blog link.

(Hey I should start doing that too.) – Charlie Cook

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What Program Did You Use to Install Your Blog?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 20, 2005

“Charlie, I’ve been getting your articles and just now seen your blog. I want to install one myself, and wonder what program you use? Did you go to www.blogger.com or?”

– Judy Cullins BookCoaching

I used the free blog software available at Blogger.com . I then had my programmer integrate it with my page template and I’ve been using my VA to submit the site to my list of blog directories. – Charlie Cook

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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

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Should I Get Your Networking Guide?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 19, 2005

“Charlie, I already purchased 15 second message and 5 principles and am very satisfied with both. I was looking at the Next Step Networking ebook and noticed that the 15 second book was included. Is there sufficient additional content to make it worth the full cost to me? Thanks for really useful products.” – Bill Benitez

You’re right Creating Opportunity with Next Step Networking includes some of the same content that’s in 15 Second Marketing in addition to the next generation nextworking strategy. If you already purchased “15 Second Marketing” you can send me your order number and I’ll send you a link to upgrade it to the “Creating Opportunity with Next Step Networking” manual for the difference, or just $20. – Charlie Cook

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Do You Have Strategies for Direct Mail?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 18, 2005

“Do you have strategies for direct mail for the mortgage industry?” – Jamie Gould

Direct mail isn’t a marketing strategy but rather one marketing tactic that can help you implement your marketing strategy. Do you have a written marketing plan that details your marketing strategy?

When you send out your mailing you want people to open it and read it. You want people to quickly decide they’re interested and you want them to contact you, by the hundreds. Does this happen when you send out mailings? Do you want to improve your response to your mailings?

The first step is to make sure you have a brilliant marketing message, one that gets your prospects’ attention. I’ve detailed how to write your maketing messages in 15 Second Marketing

and in Creating Opportunity with Next Step Networking.

Getting attention is the first step. The next is prompting your prospects to contact you. One of the best ways to do this is to offer a free guide relevant to your products and services that they can’t live without. It might be “10 Secrets of Saving Money on Mortgages.” I’ve detailed this strategy in The 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing.

Direct mail can be a great marketing tool and can help you attract many more qualified prospects, if you know how to use it to get attention, position your firm and sell your services.

– Charlie Cook

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Why Don’t You Discount Your Manuals? or Why You Should Sell Value?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 12, 2005

Its true that you can find others who regularly offer large discounts on their manuals, especially when business is slow. I don’t do this for a number of reasons.

1. The manuals are worth full price, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Past customers certainly thought so and after they’ve paid full price I doubt they’d be happy to discover the item they paid $129 for is now selling for much less. Each year I update the manuals and rather than discounting them I usually raise the price while providing past customers with free upgrades. Overtime they become worth more not less.

2. You’ll find some marketers offering thousands of dollars of bonuses to motivate people to buy their products, in some cases the manuals they are trying to sell only cost $20-50 dollars. I don”t do this either.

You have to wonder too, if the bonuses are really worth hundreds or thousands of dollars why they are giving them away free. Usually the answer is that no one would pay full price for them. If a product isn’t worth buying on its own merit, its rarely worth buying. My suggestion is approach these offers with caution.

3. You are better off providing and marketing high value products and services. If you have a top notch product or service it should generate results that vastly outweigh the cost. Help prospects understand the value inherent in your products and services and you won’t have to resort to essentially begging people to buy your product by bribing them with additional offers.

– Charlie Cook

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Do Auto Dealerships Outsource Their Marketing?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 12, 2005

“Do you know if any car dealerships outsource their marketing, promotions, and advertising? I am writing a business plan for my Marketing Management class and have chosen to research if a marketing/Promo agency that targets dealerships would be successful.” – Jared Brandon

Great question. Pick up the phone and call 20 dealerships, ask for the VP responsible for marketing, explain that you are a student doing a research project, promise to share the results with them. Then ask them a couple of questions about outsourcing. Tabulate the results, write your report and send it to everyone you want to impress in the auto industry. You’ll help them and in the process position yourself as an expert. – Charlie Cook

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How Much to Spend On Marketing?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 3, 2005

“What percent of my budget should I spend in advertising and marketing my business?”
John
CallFinalPick

The percent of your budget you spend on marketing will vary depend on a number of variables. If you’ve just started your business, plan on spending 20-30% of your net revenues on marketing. Some new firms spend even more, 50-70% in an effort to build up their customer base. If your revenue target for your first or second year in business is $200,000 you should plan on spending between $40,000 to $60,000 on marketing.

If you’ve been in business for a number of years and already have an existing client base and want to keep growing you’ll need to spend 1-15% of your net revenues on marketing. Let’s say you’ve been in business for ten years and want to earn $300,000 in 2005, depending on your business you should plan on spending from $3,000 to $45,000 dollars on marketing. – Charlie Cook

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