What comes between your idea and selling your first $10,000 program?

Before I tell you, I want you to understand an important truth in the Recommendation Age: not only do your ideal clients NOT know who you are, but they do NOT care who you are!

It sounds quite blunt doesn’t it? Sometimes the truth hurts! I am going to take the liberty and mentor you right now to fully understand the reality of what the Information Age has done to you as an entrepreneur.

Let me summarize this reality so that you understand the playing field fully before you attempt to engage your target market again. Your idea clients are jaded, cynical and listen to what you can do for them through the negative perception of what your competitors are NOT doing.

Yet it is almost ironic, but your ideal clients also want a tested, proven, authenticated person to believe in. And here is the good news, you can easily leverage a little understood law operating in the Recommendation Age—Zipf’s Law—to become the trusted resource for your ideal clients. Zipf’s Law says this: if you build this trust easily, your customers will become clients of yours for life.

So how do you build this kind of trust? In case you were wondering, it’s trust that comes between an idea and easily selling a $10,000 program. But it is not any kind of trust—it must be trust build inside of Zipf’s Law.)

But first let me show you what savvy marketers do today to try and manipulate trust with you. They launch a free CD/DVD with hype. They get you to buy it, just for shipping and handling. Then they follow up with a sales’ team that is really a hired boiler house to do whatever it takes to sell you into a high end program. These people do NOT worry about you. All they care about is making the sale with this only thought: if I don’t make the sale, someone else will sucker you into your hard earned money.

The problem with this paradigm is that there is no real trust built into the process so potential clients are not educated first about what they need to be aware of before going with any high level mentoring program.

This kind of manipulative marketing is built on hype pure and simple.

Here are three simple steps to build the kind of trust to leverage the Recommendation Age so you can create and sell the most expensive programs in your niche:

1. Your target audience must see you as a Thought Leader. You can easily become the standard of your industry by moving the free line where potential clients have the opportunity to educate themselves properly about what they really should be asking any of your competitors.

2. Use software to automate this education so that you can deliver customized education. Currently, the Expert Positioner Software is the only software that I am aware of that will allow you to leverage Zipf’s Law 24/7. The software is strategically designed to teach your ideal clients the questions that they should be asking of you competitors by delivering a customized free report that ensures a perfect market-to-message match.

When you become the one who does this, you are automatically seen as the credible expert. This software is also designed to eliminate your competitors by positioning them in light of the lowest ranking using a rating scale system (rubric). As your ideal clients self select where they stand in accordance to each question, they are also seeing your competitors from their inability to help them properly.

3. Use the Expert Positioner Software to easily repurpose your content with video case studies. These should quickly summarize a short story that reflects how you have uniquely helped others is a powerful way to exert the kind of emotional connection to your would-be clients who want to trust someone, but are unsure with whom to let their guard down.

Recommendation Age trust is build first on bypassing the negative resistance that your target market has pertaining to your competition. If you do this properly, you can leverage Zipf’s Law to have your ideal clients interested in your highest end programs.

There are many benefits to Search Engine Optimization. Increased website rankings offer financial rewards and increased value for your business. This is something many business owners do not realize. They know that ranking on page one of Google can increase their website revenues. They do not realize that increased website rankings are also a significant asset to their business. Increased search engine visibility has tremendous value in a variety of ways. Like anything of value, there is always an investment involved.

SEO is usually a service provided by a professional SEO company or agency. The cost of these services can run from $50.00 to $300.00 an hour for hundreds of hours a month depending on the size of the business. This can total several thousand dollars a month for very large online operations, $500.00 to $2,000.00 a month for many “small businesses” doing business online. The service is expensive but the results are worth the cost.
However, there is a much more affordable option.

A growing trend with many businesses and small business owners is to learn SEO. Attending a live SEO training class can provide a tremendous return in the long run. The very high cost of outsourcing your website’s search engine rankings makes learning SEO a very smart option.

Hiring a SEO company can get you the results you want, as long as the company can deliver those results. Learning Search Engine Optimization can provide many years of website optimization with just one affordable payment. For most businesses, this is really the only option that makes sense. Most small business owners know a great value when they see one. Many big business owners also understand the benefits of having a well trained and search savvy staff onboard to provide and bring continuous search engine rankings to the bottom line of their operations.

Learning SEO makes that a reality. Learning Search Engine Optimization can be a reality for you and those who rely on your businesses revenue. Don’t wait any longer, learn SEO today.

In the world of competitive business, you have to do as much as you can in order to keep up with others.

If you are not making enough moves to aggressively promote your business, the business that you have established with your blood and sweat may just be eliminated in business competition. Having the suited marketing strategy is must to attract customers to your business.

What does a successful business consist of?  Aren’t they the businesses that are seen on business cards and freebies such as pens, umbrellas, etc.?  But these are real materials, what about internet promotion?

Well, of course, you can give free business promotional materials online.

Let us start with giving free ebooks.  Ebooks would go well if you are selling electronic gadgets such as computers and mobile phones.  Selling an electronic gadget would be hard because of the number of your competitions but by adding in these ebooks.

These ebooks may be something that your customers can use to compare the products.  For instance, the ebook would describe the advantages and disadvantages of the electronic gadgets. This business promotional material will give a plus factor to the customers and also it will testify that you really know your product line that can help attract customers to do business transaction with you.

Another way is by sending a free online newsletter.  This would attract a number of customers by sending updates and articles about your products.

Once they found out that your business is beneficial, there is a tendency that they will refer your business to their other friends.  Your newsletter’s main goal is to attract a number of customers and to tell them about your business.

Brochures can also do trick in promoting your business.  You can place an online brochure on your site so your visitors can easily download it.  A professional graphic designer can do the brochure or if you are familiar with photo-editing software then you can do this on your own.

You can put a nice-lokking logo of your business and maybe some freebies on your online brochure.  For example, your business is connected with food then adding a sample recipe would attract the customers to try out your business.  This again has a subliminal effect on the customers and thus will make them be reminded of your business every time they see the brochure.

The key here is doing the proper strategy.  You can spend money to invest on properly promoting your product.  But because of this good business promotional material, your customers will always remember you.

Article by Van T and read more about him here

What will conducting effective market research teach you?

Know your customers – Market research will help you better understand your customers in a number of ways including demographic information such as their age, gender and geographic spread. The better you know your customer the easier it is to target your marketing and fine tune your product or service.

Know your target market – Who exactly are your existing customers and where do they live? What age group does your service or product appeal to? Who are your potential customers and where do they live?

Know your competition – Market Research will help you measure your service compared to others. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your business and are you improving in the areas that customers demand?

Products and services – Do you have the products or services that people want? Are your products and services value for money? How do your organization’s products and services compare to those of your competitors? If you have a product can you, do you, should you deliver directly to your customer?

Ease of doing business – Do your customers find it easy to deal with you and when they visit your store and/or website do they find what they want? Is there sufficient advice and assistance on hand be it in the form of notices, leaflets or human assistance? Do people find it easy to buy from you? Are your staff properly trained, helpful, knowledgeable and available?

Marketing – Is your marketing reaching the right people and is the marketing message clear and effective. What marketing channels are available to you, which ones should you focus on and which, if any, should you drop?

Is your marketing message understood? Does your marketing properly embody your brand? Do you use the right advertising and promotion channels? Are you reaching your target audience?

With the power of the Internet it is now very easy to conduct market research using one of the many online survey software sites that make conducting surveys and collating good market research intelligence quick, easy and extremely cost effective.

I have worked in the marketing profession for more than 30 years, and I’ve seen basically every set of ups and downs you can imagine. During that time, I have worked in a variety of positions in both New York and Florida, and at one time or another have found myself doing just about anything you can imagine in this profession. Please check out my bio page for some more information about me.

When I decided to start my own firm in 2001, I did so with the intention of building my business unlike 95% of the advertising, public relations and/or marketing firms you run across. By that I of course mean that the main focus of my business is specializing in a new type of marketing that I like to call “out-of-the-box marketing”.

Most business people don’t realize it, but there are numerous ways companies can market their business besides just doing traditional advertising – whether it be advertising on TV or the radio; or in a newspaper, magazine or trade publication. And when you do advertising in these and other traditional mediums there are numerous things you can do to make your ad stand above the crowd. Actually the best thing to do is find a venue where your competition is not advertising and put your money into that particular medium rather than joining the crowd, and we have the experience to help you do just that. With experience in everything from Public Relations Consulting to History Writing we know how to get your business off the ground.

That tip is part of what I do in consulting services to businesses, large and small, to help them create greater public awareness, build an even stronger, positive image than they may already have with the community and/or in their industry, and provide (and help them implement) strategies to enhance their bottom lines. But don’t take my word for it. Take a gander at what some of our satisfied customers have to say about our service. Read the free articles that are available, written by me, that will give you free, experienced, tried and true strategies to build your business. Then figure out for yourself if this is something that can benefit your business.

While a good portion of my business involves copywriting or consulting, be sure to check out the list of services. You’ll find more than 20 types of advertising, PR, and marketing initiatives that will help your business expand its catalogue of clients.

Please check the website often, it’s always changing. In the next few months, we’ll be adding additional features to our website, which will be designed to help you improve your business through out-of-the-box- marketing strategies that will give your business the competitive edge you need. To reach me, please see my contact information on any page of the Website. Your best shot is to reach me via e-mail. But you’re welcome to choose any of the options I have given you.

Thanks for visiting Dale W. Hutchings, APR, PR, MARKETING & ADVERTISING…a business built on creative copywriting, outstanding marketing consulting services…and more. Be sure to give me a call, or shoot me an email if you have any questions about Publicity Writing in the Tampa Bay Area.

Customers are tough and demanding. They are extremely media aware and increasingly cynical and it is a clever marketeer who can get under their skin. Online surveys breath new life into the traditional survey format and offer a unique way of interaction – providing you with all the benefits of the Internet without the programming. Here are ten reasons why they may be the silver bullet marketeers’ need, complete with examples supplied by Martin Day, managing director of Survey Galaxy – one of a new breed of websites making online surveys quicker and cheaper

1. It’s cheap
Select the right survey website and creating surveys can be free of any charge and the cost to publish very reasonable.
Information harvested from surveys can be reused and repackaged in other marketing and PR for use in press outlets making it a very efficient form of information gathering.

2. It’s easy peasy
Anyone can create and publish an online survey. Online surveys are quick and simple to create and design, no programming skills are required and when publishing completing the surveys is straight forward.

3. Multiple deployment options
Once the survey is online it is a simple step to promote it the most popular methods being either through email (with a link enclosed) or via a link from a website. Anyone who has the URL can be connected instantly to the survey, at a time that’s convenient to them, 24×7.

4. We have an opinion – and we like to give it
The majority of customers do not view surveys as spam and will in fact welcome the opportunity to voice their opinion and have the chance to make an impact on a brand. They provide a good method for broaching sensitive subjects with concerned employees; a survey asking a workforce on their opinion of change allows the key issues to be raised in a positive manner and encourages employee participation. Online surveys allow the message to reach each individual and invite feedback in a manageable form.

5. Get inside your respondent’s head
You can lead a customer to an advertisement but you can’t make them read it. Surveys engage the respondent, who think about the question before giving their response.

6. Beautiful relationships start here
It needn’t all end at the end of the survey – while you have their attention and are in the mood you can ask if they want to sign up for more information or a regular newsletter – making the most of the window when you have their interest.

7. Have you also seen….
Take the opportunity to maximise the interest of those responding to your survey by referencing related information. By including links within the survey you are able to reinforce the marketing message.

8. The soft sell
Surveys can associate a product with a number of positive attributes. By listing the features of a product and asking the respondent to say how important they are to them, regardless of their response, the respondent will associate the product with the features.

9. Market, educate and gather market research
A survey is an effective, easy and quick method to promote and gain acceptance for a difficult proposal; for example a public body trying to gain acceptance and support for a particular scheme.
Take the example of a city trying to gain support from the general public for their bid to host a future Olympic Games. With a survey you have the opportunity to explain each benefit putting the respondent in a much better frame of mind to appreciate an argument and be more positive in their response. Your primary goal may be to promote a cause but you will automatically receive useful feedback that can then be used to fine tune the overall marketing strategy.

10. Fresh topics engage interest
Thinking laterally a lively and imaginative approach to surveys can provide the ‘hook’ to engage respondents. The survey subject can be targeted towards a particular group on a subject close to theirs hearts. The survey’s marketing message can take the form of a simple brand awareness message by stating that ‘the survey is being sponsored by brand name’, or by finding a link from the subject matter to the product – something that is surprisingly easy to do and that is highly effective.

Attract more people to your website by providing a Public Survey section as many people who enjoy completing crosswords and doing word puzzles enjoy completing surveys. A public survey notice board is a low cost and automated method that will help increase traffic and establish a loyal and returning following. Unlike forums there is no opportunity for people to disrupt the site by inappropriate remarks as survey results can be displayed in summary form enabling them to dispense with moderators and maintenance.

Customers do not often view surveys as spam and the majority welcome the opportunity to make their voice heard and a chance to have an impact on a brand.

Many of the techniques and a few more are contained in the following Sample Marketing Survey.

Why bother?

Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although you should try and attract new customers good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and encourage repeat business. With each satisfied customer your business is likely to win many more customers through recommendations and remember, if you are not taking care of your customers, your competition will.

A customer satisfaction survey will help by not only identifying problem areas but will also demonstrate to your customers that you care and are proactive in looking for ways to improve the service that you provide.

Where to start?

Objective – Before you start compiling your survey consider what the objectives of the survey are, in that way you will remain focused and find it easier to decide what questions to ask.

Analysis – Consider how you will analyze the answers having completed the survey.

Keep in mind that ‘closed’ questions (where a respondent is asked to choose from a limited number of responses) are much easier to analyze than ‘open’ questions (where the respondent can reply in anyway they want).

A great deal will depend on the expected volume of respondents, the higher the volume the more important it is to have an easy method of analysing the results.

Opportunity – As well as obtaining valuable market research data keep in mind that customer surveys are also a good way to publicise aspects of your service that your customers may not be aware of.

Before you publish the survey confirm that the questions you have asked will provide you with market research data that when analysed will help you make informed decisions.

Then, read through the survey from a marketing view point, check that you have phrased each question so that every opportunity has been taken to promote your business?

The ideal question will perform the following three functions:-

• Market research – provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels and in turn your business
• Marketing – promote aspects of your business
• Information/Education – advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of

For example:- Do you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?

By asking this question not only will the store receive good market research feedback on the facility they provide but they will also promote their facilities and advertise themselves as a family friendly store, even beyond those customers who have a specific need for the baby changing facility that has been provided.

Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to avoid the temptation, in any way, of attempting to sugar coat the survey.

A customer satisfaction survey should be designed to identify any problem areas so that they can be fixed; conducting regular customer satisfaction will help prevent complacency and will also give early warning on where you may be losing business to your competitors initiatives.

What questions should you ask?

Although each business is likely to have specific and unique factors that are important in providing good customer services there are common areas that are relevant to all businesses be they a physical store, online internet store or a service industry. The following are key areas to providing good customer service.

Communication – Do you make it easy for the customer to communicate with you?

When a customer telephones is the phone answered promptly; are enquiries about products or services properly handled? Good businesses will make every effort to ensure that whatever the customers query it is resolved by the right person, politely, quickly and fairly.

If customers reported problems that cannot be resolvable immediately do you promise to respond in a given time period and do you deliver on your promise?

Use a customer satisfaction survey to ensure that all your staff are considered by your customers to be helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.

Location – Do your customers find it easy to visit you, if a physical store, is it conveniently located with good access?

Making it pleasant, making it easy – For an internet business it is important to ensure that your website is easy to use and aesthetically pleasing.

Physical store or online website, is the store properly laid out, can your customers find what they need and is there sufficient information and help on hand to explain how a particular product works?

The right quality products – In addition to measuring the quality of the service that you provide you should ensure that the products and services that you provide do in fact match your customers’ requirements.

Value for money – Cheap or expensive is hardly ever a good measure, value for money is.

Do your customers consider your business synonymous with value for money, if not, why not?

Speed and attention – No matter what the business, the majority of customers will want to be dealt with quickly but attentively.

Are you doing everything you can to avoid any delay?

Good businesses will try to treat each customer as an individual, does yours? Attention is appreciated but it needs to be followed up with a quick and satisfactory resolution to the query.

Demographics and Specific issues – Take the opportunity to profile your customers, for example where do they live and what is their age group?

The more knowledge you have of your customers the better you will be able to target your business.

As part of the survey allow your customers the opportunity to highlight any problems that they may have and provide you with contact details so that their problems might be later addressed and their concerns followed up.

What next?

Having completed the survey analyse the results.

Trends – Look for specific and common areas where the service needs improving.

Ask yourself if any criticism is valid and is there anything that can be done to resolve or minimise the problem?

Training – Are the staff properly trained and do they have sufficient knowledge?

Where employee training programmes have been implemented have they made a positive contribution to the business and improved the customer service?

Follow-up – If a customer has raised a specific issue through completing a survey ensure that they are contacted and that their complaint is properly addressed.

Don’t lose a customer by squandering an opportunity to resolve a problem.

Continuously Monitor – Make changes based on the survey results and then re-measure by issuing follow up surveys.

If you are concerned about customer satisfaction and what to view a sample survey for a store that will demonstrate some of the above advice please visit:- Sample Customer Survey

It is a big challenge to choose the right marketing agency. These three important points will help you in making your choice. In this article, we have tried to address concerns of newly emerging businesses. Go to the end of this article for the contact details of the best marketing agency.

1. Getting people to recognize your brand
Will the marketing agency you choose be successful in promoting your brand identity? Your brand identity heralds your business. The branding of your business, projects not only your business but also gives an idea about the way the company works.

A strong brand identity gives a business an edge over others. An experienced company will integrate branding, i.e. the name, logo and tagline of your business into the marketing strategy. Brand guidelines for proper brand promotion in marketing strategies will be developed. While choosing a branding agency, go by case studies, past records and client testimonials.

2. Do not underestimate the importance of an effective marketing strategy
It is important to inquire that your marketing agency knows how to develop a great marketing strategy. You need to consider the given points:

a. The goals and the past of your company

b. How have you positioned your company already? How do you want your company positioned vis-à-vis competition?

c. What marketing materials has your company managed to create?

How do they blend in with the brand position that you are interested in?

A structured and vivid layout of your goals should be the ending results of your research.

3. Your strategy implemented
The formulation of a marketing strategy alone does not complete your task. Are you up to date with your knowledge about the market information for the successful establishment of your strategy? If not, it is essential that your marketing consultant is well versed and experienced in these matters. Your selection in choosing the right marketing agency can be based on this. You can outdo established giants in your field by hiring for your work a very effective and low cost solution.

Orange Line marketing agency in Sydney is the best you can find customizable to your specific needs. To gain maximum benefit, you need to have practical and economical marketing plans. Call 1300 851 164 or check out the official website to get in touch with the premier marketing company in Sydney.

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