Marketing basics for promoting your business
Are you having a rough time marketing your products and services? If so, then know that you don’t have to struggle with marketing anymore. You see, marketing can be boiled down to a handful of principles that helps to get your name out to the masses. I don’t mean anything like brand advertising – I’m talking about awareness about your product or service.
Now there’s a difference between marketing your products and marketing your name. When you market your products, you’re focusing on the wants and needs of your market. This is the reason why they chose you to do business with. You focused on the needs of your ideal prospect, and they became a member of your business.
Now brand advertising is incredibly different. Branding is all about getting your name out there with little to no attention of generating a response. People who do brand advertising are mostly working for huge corporations that have millions to invest in advertising. Unless you have this type of money, maybe you can use brand advertising – but I don’t advise it. Instead, I would hire a world-renowned marketing consultant for $15,000 to help me build a business from scratch.
So always attempt to generate a response instead of advertising your business name. Once that ad is done, the next thing that you will want to do is get prepared for a follow-up marketing campaign. Whenever someone responds to your ad, you should be prepared to do capture this lead. The best way to do this is with a 24-hour recording message.
People will call the number and hear a recorded voice that speaks a little more about the ad and will ask your prospect to leave their contact details to receive your complete mail package. Also, be sure to have the option of them leaving their information on your website.
Okay, so once they give you their contact information, you will want to follow up on them with your mail package. If they don’t buy your product or service on the first mailing, prepare to send a second package ten days later.
If after the second attempt they don’t respond, send them a third mail package ten days after you mailed out the second package. And if they don’t respond to this attempt, continue to mail them your package once a month until 12 months have passed. This allows you to stay in their mind when they’re ready to make a buying decision.
Once they buy from you, continue to mail them once a month but for a different product. Consider offering a paid monthly newsletter, and let it go for $10 a month. This is a great way to build relationships with your customers and educate them on the issues circulated in your niche.
This quick marketing guide is what I use to earn money in my business. Hopefully, you will use these tips to have success in your business also.
How to advertise your products and services?
There is a wrong way and a right way of advertising your products and services. The wrong way involves traditional means of marketing, and the right way involves doing things that are a bit unconventional. When I say unconventional, I don’t mean anything illegal or bad. When I say unconventional, all I’m suggesting is that you try a new form of advertising your products and services.
For example, if you’re currently running ads in the newspapers, yellow pages, magazines, or another medium… more than likely, you’re trying to sell your product directly through the ad. This is extremely ineffective. The bottom line is that there’s not enough space in a display ad to pitch your products.
The only way that I could see you having success with selling your products through an ad is if you ran a full-page ad and you were writing a 3rd person referral ad designed to bring you new clients, into your service business. Or, I could see it working if you ran a full-page ad and were selling a $10 book or so to build up your mailing list. But, other than that, you should stick with
generating a lead.
The best way to acquire a new customer is by getting their name and contact info and following up on them with your sales letter. This method has been proven to work time and time again, and I think it’s something that all offline business owners should incorporate into their marketing funnel.
The trick to making this technique work is to offer something that is of immense value for free. For example, you could advertise a free seminar, a free report, or even a free consultation. When you do send out your free offer, make sure that the information is stellar. Nobody wants to do business with someone whose information isn’t up to par, so it’s up to you to deliver high-quality information so that you can get them all roused up about doing business with you.
I am fond of the free offer technique because it works so well. On the one hand, you’re showing your prospect that you know what you’re talking about. And on the other hand, you’re demonstrating the value that will make you seem like an expert in your niche. This can do a lot for your reputation, and it will make them think that you’re the “go-to” guy in your field.
When following up on your prospects, know that it takes at least three contacts before they will make a sale. Obviously, a prospect may buy on the first attempt, but on average, the number of contacts that it takes is 3. So be persistent in your marketing efforts and watch the Benjamin’s stack up.
To sum up this marketing strategy, here’s what you should do:
- Offer a free report (or some other free offer).
- Gather the prospect’s contact information
- Mail out your sales piece to the prospect
- Mail out a minimum of 3 times, spaced ten days apart.
This simple strategy has built millions and millions of dollars for business owners all around the globe, and I think that you can experience the same results also.
How to drive traffic to your business?
As an entrepreneur, you always want to create a profitable enterprise. You have ideas for products and services that you want to sell to your audience, but how can you guarantee that you will make money?
Creating an online store will allow you to save money on renting a space, and convenience is at the forefront of consumer’s buying habits. So why not learn how to drive traffic to your online store, and increase people’s interest in your brand? Here are some tips that will help you achieve this.
Have a website where you drive traffic
It’s important that you create a website that is user-friendly and high quality, to pique people’s interest in your products.
Most of your marketing efforts should lead people back to your URL, where they can purchase your goods. One example of this includes email-marketing efforts that link to your web store.
A website will also allow your company to start a blog, where you can post relevant content that will establish you as an industry expert. Quality online content will always improve your company’s exposure!
Don’t underestimate just how much work and promotion will go into building your brand. If you aren’t noticing any traffic or sales, then it’s time for you to rethink your strategy, as opposed to continuing with the same one, hoping to garner different results.
Create a great ad
Are you hoping that the next ad you run will bring in the profits you want it to? Well, there’s only one way to go about this happening, and the way to do it is with an effective ad.
So what constitutes a great ad? Well, for the most part, there are three areas of your ad that need to be on point if you want to start generating more response. Let’s take a look at the first component that your ad must have:
1) A solid headline
The headline is what it’s all about. With a solid headline, you can get a scanning prospect’s attention by focusing on a point that hits them in the heart. If your headline isn’t compelling or that doesn’t have “stop ability,” your prospect will more than likely turn the page on you – and we don’t want this to happen.
You can think of your headline as a television pitch for a product. However, if your headline was a 30-second video ad, do you think your prospects would want to click on another link or read and hear your ad in its entirety? You have to think about this because you face that same kind of pressure in print advertising.
If your headline can bring your reader to a complete stop, then you know your headlines are doing the job of getting your reader to read more. So here’s another aspect of your advertising that has to be effective.
2) The body
In the body, you’re reinforcing your headline and telling your readers everything they need to know before taking action. Your body should contain a lot of benefits of picking up the phone and calling for more information. Now writing body copy is an art and science in and of itself. So you will want to study copywriting techniques that will help you to become a good ad writer. Let’s move on to the last part of a successful ad:
3) The close
The close should be short and to the point. Don’t beat around the bush here – directly tell your prospect the action that they need to take. Because if you don’t tell them, they simply won’t do it. So you must tell your reader the action that they need to take next.
You could say something like, “visit yourdomain.com now to get your free report and information mailed out to you now!” This close tells them what to do, what they will be receiving, and how soon they will receive it. Your ad needs to do the same thing if you want them to respond.
Use social media to further market yourself
So much of the general public relies on social media on an everyday basis. As a business, you need to take advantage of this and curate an online presence that will resonate with your audience.
Statistics have shown that YouTube for business(es) will allow you to dramatically increase your exposure in the market. It is the most popular video platform that has 1.9 billion users around the world. Why not invest some of your company’s marketing money into posting videos about your products? This can also improve people’s understanding of how your products or services work.
Other social media platforms that you should use include:
Run promotions
Running promotions for your online products can help drum up interest over a short period of time. Whether you offer discounts or run contests on social media, these endeavors will increase your website traffic.
When you are curating your monthly content calendars, consider including at least one promotion every single month, especially when you are still building up your follower base.
Join relevant industry communities
Social media also gives you an opportunity to join online communities that operate in your marketplace. Why not join some of these as a networking opportunity and to spread the word about your products?
Creating your online presence is only the first step in promoting your business products. When you finally have everything up and running, you will need to invest in marketing efforts that will drive traffic to your site. If you don’t do this, how will people know to buy your products or use your services in the first place?
