MarketingMoment

I can teach you all the marketing strategies in the world, but if you’re not making time for marketing, then you may as well close shop. Harsh words, perhaps, but most definitely sound advice in the business world of today.

More so than ever before, your main job in business is to tell the world what you have to offer. You simply HAVE to make time to market it . . . again and again . . . despite what is going on around you. Unless you want to end up ‘broke’, that is.  

By doing some marketing every day — no matter how seemingly negligible   — I am able to keep in front of my current and potential clients. If you think you don’t need to do any marketing (what? In this economy?!), or you can’t find the time for it, then think again.

Marketing is something that ALL businesses — no matter how big or small — absolutely MUST invest in. Without a doubt. Especially in today’s overcrowded trading environment. 

And particularly if you need WANT to ride the wave of the current economic wave, and come out plain sailing at the other end… 

Rather stick a pencil in your eye than tackle that HUGE marketing task? 

Split it into smaller, more achievable chunks.

For example, rather than thinking of having to build an entire website, complete with 30 pages or more, start by working out exactly *what* you want visitors to do once they land on your website. Or spend a few hours searching for websites that you like the look and feel of for ideas and inspiration. 

  

To read more tips to help you get your marketing machine revved up and raring to go, and gain *hidden links* to recent CfS newsletter editions, become a CfS subscriber. As well as being FREE, you’ll receive a business-building report and audio CD that can dramatically improve sales simply for signing up and trying it out.   

Subscribe here.  

Recent CfS newsletter issues cover:

• 5 Ways to Get ANY Business Out of a Slump
• How to Get People to Buy From You
• Create a Buzz for Your Business With Twitter
• Can the X Factor Help Your Business?
• Be a Client Magnet
• Recession-Proof Your Business
• Stand Apart from ‘Me-Too’ Competitors
• Stop! Don’t Post that Letter!
• Common Mistakes that Can Kill Business

 

 Subscribe here.

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The trick to writing flyers that sell is to keep it simple. But not too simple. Many people think (wrongly) that they can get away with printing up just a workshop title, venue, date and maybe the main tutor, say. I’m sorry to say that, unless you are the workshop equivalent to Pink Floyd or Prince, the orders ain’t gonna come flooding in. 

What you need to do is engage in a dialogue with your readers, understand where they’re coming from and what their needs are, explain why you’re writing to them, recommend a solution… And all in under 150 words or less.  

So be sure to choose every word carefully.  Adapted from “How to Create Flyers that Stop Prospects in their Tracks“, first published in the 30th of April edition of MediaMinister’s newsletter, CfS. 

To read the full article and gain *hidden links* to recent CfS newsletter editions, you’ll have to become a subscriber. (That’s a good thing, by the way, or so CfS readers tell me!) As well as being FREE, you’ll receive a business-building report and audio CD that can dramatically improve sales simply for signing up and trying it out.  

Subscribe here. 

Recent CfS newsletter issues cover:

• 5 Ways to Get ANY Business Out of a Slump
• How to Get People to Buy From You
• Create a Buzz for Your Business With Twitter
• Can the X Factor Help Your Business?
• Be a Client Magnet
• Recession-Proof Your Business
• Stand Apart from ‘Me-Too’ Competitors
• Stop! Don’t Post that Letter!
• Common Mistakes that Can Kill Business
• The Most Important Action You Can Take For Your Business This Year 

Subscribe here.   

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Add my RSS feed to your reader now so you never have to miss a post.
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Want to use this in your ezine, blog or website? No problem! Just let me know. I’ll send you a short resource box/bio to include. 

 

In keeping with the current global economic meltdown, I have decided NOT to raise my copywriting, marketing, PR and editing/proofreading fees.

Instead, MediaMinister.co.uk will deliver the same valued-added service at 2008 prices to help clients continue to generate within budget the desired response from professionally crafted communications.   

So whether it’s business writing, staff communications, tenders and proposals, marketing material or publicity you’re after, you can now make your budget go further without diluting your results.

For the time being, all prices for my revenue-boosting tools and laser-focused “do-it-yourself” kits will be frozen, too. 

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Whether your company is feeling the pinch of these brutal economical conditions, or there are personal factors that are affecting your bottom line, one thing is certain: to succeed in business you have to keep on marketing, especially in the current climate. 

Don’t market your products or services . . . and your business will fail. And that goes for ANY business in ANY economy.

Here is one low-cost ‘no-brainer’ marketing tool you can use right now to help break out of a sales slump and boost your revenue — and therefore your staying power. In fact, it’s a strategy that has been proven to work irrespective of which direction the economy is heading.

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Reactivate ‘Stale’ Clients

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It’s a well-known fact that it is 5-7 times more expensive to acquire a new client (or customer) than it is to get a repeat sale from an existing or even ex client. Yet still, business-owners are all too often so busy chasing new clients that they completely overlook what they already have: a gold mine of neglected sales. And even if they don’t ignore their former clients, most companies never properly implement or even consider a follow-up strategy. 

There are numerous ways to  ’mine’ lapsed clients. Here is one of the quickest and perhaps easiest methods:

Simply pick up the phone (or write to them, if you prefer) and ask how thing are going. Apologise for it being a while since you last were in contact. Check how they’re doing, and what’s going on with their business, etc. 

The purpose of the call is NOT to sell your new product or ask for more work, but rather to remind them that you exist. You’ll be surprised how many ’stagnant’ clients will say, “Hey, while you’re here, I’ve got a need for…”

Don’t feel like contacting them? No problem! But you can be sure that when you are not talking to your former clients on a regular basis, your competition will be.

(To discover more, read the latest issue of Communiqué for Success.) 

NB:

If you want to learn how to systematically implement a simple-yet-powerful reactivation strategy that adds 10-30% to your business profits with little time, money or effort, and at absolutely no risk to you, then please get in touch for your no-obligation complimentary consultation.

Please be aware that I am offering this service to just three companies at this time. These few will learn just how easy it is to implement — and execute — this sustainable 2-step profit technique … and they WILL gain an incomparable competitive advantage. All places are on a first-come, first-served basis.

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The lead article in the latest issue of MediaMinister’s Communiqué for Success offers plenty of ways to prospect more effectively — whether you are ready to mix it with the champions’ league of business, or simply want to have a leg up on the competition.

To read the full article and gain *hidden links* to recent CfS newsletter editions, you’ll have to become a subscriber. (That’s a good thing, by the way, or so CfS readers tell me!) As well as being FREE, you’ll receive a business-building report and audio CD that can dramatically improve sales simply for signing up and trying it out.

Subscribe here.

Recent CfS newsletter issues cover:

• Create a Buzz for Your Business With Twitter
• Can the X Factor Help Your Business?
• My Five (Business) Mistakes from 2008 — and How You Can Profit From Them
• Be a Client Magnet
• Recession-Proof Your Business
• Stand Apart from ‘Me-Too’ Competitors
• Stop! Don’t Post that Letter!
• Common Mistakes that Can Kill Business
• How to Bolster Trust on Your Website
• Just How Believable Are You?
• …and much, much more that you really can’t afford to miss out on if you are serious about making it in business.

Subscribe here.

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Want to use this in your ezine, blog or website? No problem! Just let me know. I’ll send you a short resource box/bio to include.

The return on investment (ROI) from email has always surpassed other channels. And, despite the best efforts of saboteurs such as spammers, it seems set to do so for the foreseeable future, according to a new report from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

Email’s ROI in 2008 was $45.06 (currently £31.94) for every dollar spent on it, according to the DMA’s annual ”Power of Direct” economic impact study. This compares to $48.34 in 2007, and a projected $43.52 in 2009.

Yet despite these encouraging figures, a new survey by Emailvision reveals that far too many email marketers continue to make simple — and costly mistakes.

“In today’s economy, return on investment has never been more important as marketing spend is now analysed and questioned by senior stakeholders,” said Nick Gold, UK managing director at Emailvision, an email marketing software-on-demand provider.  

“Companies can’t afford to be making such simple mistakes and missing potential sales. The fundamental aims of any campaign should be high deliverability, targeted mailing, maximum click-through rates and basic personalisation — don’t let the email be the reason customers go elsewhere.”

What’s more, as competition for the all-important inbox increases more quickly than consumer spending, email relevance and targeting is more important than ever before. So be sure to offer your email recipients products and information they would be interested to hear about. And be selective with your email timings. Don’t just send straight promotional messages every other day. Rather, cut back on the mail-out frequency and give your readers a little bit extra — news they can use, tips and tricks, etc.

In short, get to know and then delight your subscriber list for the best ROI. For now is an ideal time to improve your overall email marketing strategy.

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We’ve all heard plenty on what to do amid the current global economic slowdown. But what about what NOT to do? Here are a few ideas:

• Don’t reduce your marketing spend. Successful businesses realise they need to do more, not less, when times are tough.
• Don’t cut your career development/training/ further-education budgets. Learning new ideas and brushing up skills can be the key to riding the storm of a recession.
• Don’t put all your eggs into the ‘need to get new clients’ basket.
• And certainly, don’t disregard your core customers. 
• Above all, don’t panic. History has shown that economic downturns ALWAYS come to an end. 

And always DO remember what comes after a downturn: an upturn — hurrah!

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As the year gets into full swing, and I tweak my marketing plan  (you ARE making time to hone your own marketing plan, aren’t you?! It’s what ALL successful entrepreneurs do, and so should you!) for the next 6 months of 2009, I can’t help but look back at 2008 — specifically, what I learned from the mistakes I made. It’s healthy to make mistakes, as long as they don’t hurt anyone and they serve a purpose . . . such as helping one to improve oneself in some way.

So here goes - my ‘business 2008 confession time’:

1. Failing to make the best use of ‘mentoring’ opportunities. I’ve had my fair share of mentors, and of course I run my own form of mentoring programmes such as my ‘Powerfully Effective Marketing‘ programme. But there is soooooo much that I overlooked; I cringe when I think of all that specific practical information and insight from solid experience that I, well, didn’t do anything with. What a huge waste!

Expand your universe: Be sure to continually cultivate . . . and IMPLEMENT . . . the real-life success and know-how of suitable mentors. It WILL make the biggest difference to your chance of success — both personally and professionally. Just DO it — I certainly will from now on!

2. Failing to set firmer boundaries. I absolutely LOVE it when people tell me they have learnt a lot from me. Which is why I’ve always been one for offering a helping hand (or recommendations) to anyone who asks. But, the downside to this is spending way too much of my time working on unpaid project or dishing out F.R.E.E. advice. Precious time that eats into my client, creative and writing time. Heck, even my ‘me time’.

Sure, offering f.r.e.e. information in the form of this newsletter or an ebook or some special project is one thing — and I see that as a valuable part of running my business — but 2008 taught me that being too f.r.e.e. with my advice has always been my biggest challenge.

So this year will see big changes in that area, including learning to say no when necessary.

3. Failing to listen to my own advice. What’s one of my favourite business chants? “You’ve got to keep marketing to be in business!” Did I pay attention to this over the past year? Not really. (Gulp!)

You see, I was enjoying a VERY BUSY spell during early summer and I quickly became complacent with my marketing. Result: When the economy started to slow down, so did my workload.

It’s hard to wear all the many hats necessary to running a successful business when you’re a solopreneur.  But one thing is for sure: Marketing should never, ever, ever be last on your ‘to do’ list. It’s something that you should do habitually - every day, if possible. Don’t and you will quickly learn that your business isn’t going anywhere fast.

By creating a series of ’systems’, I can now spend less time on marketing because I have an efficient, EFFORTLESS AUTOMATED PROCESS for doing things. Which will let me spend more time IN my business and ultimately making more money.

4. Failing to schedule in ‘me time’ and have fun! Like anyone, I like to have fun. But I somehow forgot that over the past year. Not many of you know that I suffer from an incurable illness. Still, rather than making time to relax or do my ‘healing’ meditation, I actually upped my workload! (Hey, don’t you ever feel there just aren’t enough hours in the day?!) Not so in 2008. I will stop this ‘hunched over the computer, working all hours’ nonsense and schedule in ‘me-time’. Heck, I might even start taking piano lessons!

5. Failing to appreciate the power of offline marketing. This is another of those ‘not taking my own medicine’ mistakes. I’ve been happily and successfully relying primarily on online marketing for the past umpteen years. After all, why bother with old-fashioned snail mail when email is quicker, easier and, best of all, f.r.e.e.? Well, I’ve changed my tune based on several mailings I’ve done over the past year.

Also, I’ll be making more use of offline marketing to supplement my online efforts. One of the favoured techniques of the ‘masters’ of marketing is to use an offline method to drive website traffic and build an online list. It’s quickly becoming mine, too. I won’t start using carrier pigeons just yet, though!

The bottom line is that any marketing strategy that relies on just one medium WILL HIT TROUBLE sooner or later.

So there you have ‘em: The top five areas I wish to change in my professional (and, consequently, personal) life this year for the better.

What about you? Please do share your thoughts.

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