Picture these two distinctive scenarios to get an idea of the difference between real, sound marketing strategies, and the lack of any real marketing strategy at all…
* Scenario 1: You're walking from house to house. At each house, you knock on the door, wondering if the homeowners inside just might have any interest in buying what you're selling. Today's a good day, because after 9 houses, someone gives you the time of day, and actually expresses an interest. After 9 rejections, you finally end up in a house where the owner displays some interest in your product, lets you in for a demo, and after a 20 minute conversation, the homeowner finally decides that today's not the day, and that maybe they'll buy what you're selling another time.
* Scenario 2: A potential customer who clearly has an interest in the product or service you provide comes to you for help. They are already looking for exactly what you have to offer, and have actually been searching for someone just like you. They've come to the conclusion that what you have to offer they can't find anywhere else, and they chose you deliberately. Your entire sales process is based on limiting who you accept as a client, because you have more business than you can possibly handle.
These two scenarios encompass two very common marketing techniques. Scenario 1 presents the cold approach to selling, where you go out looking for the clients. Scenario 2 is called lead generation, and it requires a strategic approach to presenting your message to prospective clients in a way that will motivate them to come to you. While the cold approach has been proven historically, it has been exhausted by over-use, and has been diminishing in effectiveness for more at least the last 50 years. Lead generation, however, is fairly new in terms of systematic application, and not many business owners have yet become aware of this powerful tool to create more sales. Lead generation starts with attracting people to you for your unique expertise and offers, and when I refer to marketing strategies to get more clients, this is what I mean.
It's never too late to invest in lead generation strategies now. Here are a few starting points:
1. Throw out the fluff in your marketing tools. Emotional appeals are effective, but sensational ads are not. The new and more preferred way of advertising products is news advertising, where you rule out the hype and stick to the facts. This is a busy world and customers have no time to sift through propaganda to get to the juicy part. You need to stand out from the clutter by delivering powerful, succinct, and highly targeted messages designed to do one thing: elicit a response. Whenever you invest in a marketing or advertising campaign, think of the campaign as needing to "go for the jugular" - evolve a requirement that your marketing material set a highly targeted and specific mark, and carefully test, review, and optimize your results.
2. Write a business blog and/or a company newsletter. Not only does this establish you as a credible resource, it also attracts people who are interested in your products and services and allows you to interact on a personal level with them. Include a squeeze page on your website where people can opt in to receive your free newsletter and you can build a database of the e-mail addresses of people who might want to receive product updates in the future.
3. Harvest customer testimonials and reviews. One free way of generating leads is to let your customers do it for you. The happy customers, that is. Every sales process does not end with closing the sale. It is an open-ended relationship that continues for the life-time of that client. Weeks after your customer bought your product, contact them and ask if they have any problems or questions about it. Go above and beyond with your service, and you will be certain that your clients are happy. And when they thank you for providing such a wonderful product, it's time to ask for a little something in exchange—a testimonial. Any satisfied customer would be glad to give it to you, and in some senses, they owe it to you for you providing the exceptional service. Don't be afraid to go beyond your competition and to be uniquely valuable to your clients.
Author Resource:-
If you want to get an expert opinion on how you can put these and other lucrative marketing strategies to work for your business, visit the author's marketing services website: Moonlit Ventures.The author of this article, Marshall Hatfield, is an entrepreneur, author, teacher, and marketing consultant. He's known for his guaranteed profit marketing - if his services don't pay for themselves, he works for free. To get in touch with Marshall about any marketing questions, contact him at http://moonlitventures.com
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