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Are Your Customers Scared, Scarred Or Skeptical?
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I took some down time this past Labor Day weekend with my family in Cape Cod, a beautiful part of the country in coastal Massachusetts. There are two beautiful, virtually unknown islands sitting just off the shore of Cape Cod called Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. If you've never been, consider going. These islands are the best kept secret in the US in my opinion.
Anyways, when I travel I typically catch up on my reading and I came across a super article I wanted to share with you in regards to a very dramatic shift that is taking place in the advertising market place these days; A shift that may have a very positive effect on your business, IF you use it properly.
Here's the low down…
Whether you are marketing on-line or off-line, your potential customers are scared, scarred, and skeptical these days; meaning they are overwhelmed. Consumers are becoming resistant to sales messages.
In the mid 80's, a store could run a "20% off" sale and people would flock in. Then the big stores got into the discounting mentality. Now it is common to see "70% off" sales - especially in jewelry. The consumer is not too long a fool. These promotions do not produce the wanted response anymore.
Repeated, high powered sales events create a downward spiral. Eventually you cannot offer a big enough deal to get the public excited. Case in point: The 'big three' car makers played this game for three years. By January 2006 they found themselves in deep financial trouble. They had borrowed customers from the future by offering a bigger, better sale every couple months. They are all in trouble now financially as a result.
Successful businesses, now and in the future, will be practicing "soft marketing." To make sales today, marketing efforts have to come in under the consumer's sales-pitch radar. Many of the big companies have known this for some time because of their on-going marketing analysis. YOU can take advantage of their research for free.
So here's how soft marketing works…
Let's take Coca-Cola for example: Coke, for decades was famous for their flashy, high-powered TV ads. You've seen them. Today you seldom see such ads. Have they cut back on their marketing expenditure? No. In fact, they are now spending more using soft marketing techniques. Most people do not even realize they are being advertised to.
This is the beauty and power of soft marketing.
Here are two ways Coke is using a soft marketing approach to build profits and market share...
1. You may have seen Coke products displayed on TV shows and movies. "American Idol" is a popular TV show, with about 35 million viewers. The three judges are a big part of the success of the show. In front of each judge is a tall Coke cup conveniently showing the label.
The American Idol judges are, in effect, recommending Coke to their viewers without actually saying so. Coke pays A LOT of money for this and sells A LOT of product based on this type of "soft" endorsement.
2. Coke brings new loyal customers in the "back door" using nostalgia products. Coke collectibles are a huge market today. And once caught up in the hobby of Coke collectibles, a person and the whole family become avid Coke drinkers. And Coke is being advertised to everyone who enters that home.
Get it?
Coke's soft marketing techniques have made them almost bullet-proof in the soft drink market. They have built an image of being the most popular soda. Since it is human nature to want to be on the winning team, swarms of new customers are joining the group every day.
3 powerful soft marketing tactics you can start
using right away to explode your home business empire…
1. Become known as an expert. Credibility and trust are the two most important ways to succeed in any business. Write and submit articles and press releases. If you cannot write, hire someone to do it for you. There are several good writing service web sites on the internet. They are very inexpensive as well.
Example: This very newsletter issue you are reading right now will be converted to an article and distributed to over 100 top article directories across the internet next week.
Also, you may want to join a "Private Label Rights" content site. They provide already written articles that you can put your name on as your own and customize to your liking. This is pure gold for on-line or off-line marketing.
2. Give away a FREE report or a FREE course on the topic of your product or service. This is a BIG favorite in the direct marketing and internet marketing world these days. As a matter of fact, Perry Marshall, the Google Adwords master of our time calls this "education based marketing." I love that term - educate the customer first, market to them second...
I'm a huge fan of this approach and I almost never market without it. I'm also a huge Perry Marshall fan and you should be too. Perry wrote the best selling book: "The Definitive Guide To Google Adwords." If you don't own it, you need to you. You must understand Google today to be competitive.
In fact, you can grab Perry's FREE 5-Day eCourse by clicking on the image below and watch his soft marketing approach in action by one of the best in the business. And one of the first.
Your local newspaper may even give you some free editorial space if your report is of interest and free to their subscribers.
A real life example is a well known realtor that offers a free report called: "10 Ways To Get Top Dollar For Your Home." It reveals what is valuable, and what is not when getting your home ready for sale. With this report, he becomes the expert in the consumer's mind and a person who cares about their needs. Who do you think the consumer will turn to next for their home buying needs?
This realtor has been using the same report for over ten years now. It is estimated this report has generated about $1.6 million in profits. Sweet.
3. Partner with related, non-competing businesses. Here's an example from the 'Brick and Mortar' world that may get you thinking…
A dry cleaning operation partnered with clothing stores in the community. The store, when selling a garment, would give a gift certificate to the customer. The gift certificate was good for a free first-time cleaning and pressing of that new garment. See the strategy?
The customer thought the store was paying for the dry cleaning. The fact is, the dry cleaner was giving the service for free. The customer saw the store as being a "hero" and the store saw the dry cleaner as being a "hero". Both stores gained a load of new and repeat customers.
This can easily be applied in your home business by creating joint ventures with others in a similar but non-competing field as yours.
Use these soft marketing strategies and apply them to your product or service. Be creative. The resulting ideas will amaze you, and your lead generation results will go to a whole new level.
Take action. See you next week...
Your partner on the inside,
Andrew J. Cass
Home Business Development Expert
(212) 969-9930
www.TheHomeBusinessInsider.com
About Andrew J. Cass:
Andrew J. Cass is a Home Business Development Expert, Marketing Consultant and Certified Dan Kennedy No B.S. Business Advisor. He is in the top 1% of income earners in the Direct Marketing and Home Business industry.
Andrew coaches and mentors Home Business Owners and Entrepreneurs from all over North America who want to be their own boss, control their own destiny and earn unlimited income from home.
www.AndrewJCass.com
Copyright 2007 - One LifeStyle Marketing, LLC
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