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| Local Marketing Like Spaghetti Sauce? |
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A little off the wall post today, but hey those are the best kind… Watch this video as Malcolm Gladwell discusses differentiation. This has many applications for your small business. Enjoy, Matt |
Posted in | Ride The Elephant To More Revenue For Your Business |
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This single strategy (if executed correctly) has put $100,000’s of dollars in my clients pockets. So pay attention here… Most all businesses I work with have what I like to call “power partners” that they are either working with now or can identify very quickly with a 30-60 minute exercise. The key here is to get real clear about who your “power partners” are in your local or online markets. After you are clear, it will be much easier to identify the “Elephants” to target directly for joint venture opportunities or referrals. Let’s walk through three (3) steps to identify your the “Elephants” you can ride all of the way to more revenue and profits for your business. Step 1 – Get Clear, Identify your Power Partners. Set aside 30-60 minutes and go through this exercise. It is important that you get clear on potential partners, and also industries that align well with your business. Start writing down Industries that can potentially refer you business, then make another list of businesses that you can refer business TO. Remember, the whole goal here is to create VALUE for the Elephant first. In order to find that one “Elephant” you need to be clear on what industry they exist in first. Ok good, we have our list and we can move on to step number 2… Step 2 – Create The List This step takes a little more research. But hey, we are talking about growing your business here. This might take you 3-4 hours initially but well worth the effort. Take your list, pull open your web browser and start searching for businesses in your city, state, or region that are potential partners in the key industries that you identified in step 1. Try to focus on the top 3-5 largest in your area. Dig deep here and try to find key contact information for each organization. You may have to call to ask for the person responsible for referrals. One strategy I have used is call a business and say, “If I wanted to refer business to your company, who would I need to call?”. See what we are doing here…? We are creating value first, then building a relationship.. An example would be a house painter. I might build a list of contractors, plumbers, electricians, and basically any other trade that might reach my potential prospect. Step 3 – The “Magic” Bullet Ok, so here’s where the real magic happens… For each contact, you want to write a quick letter and email to introduce yourself, then follow-up with a few key questions to open the conversation. This is very powerful! 1) I am looking for a partner to refer business to in the <Profession> industry in my area. Who is your ideal client? 2) What is the best way to refer you business? If you want a sample email I use, click here to email me and I will send it over to you. Just like any marketing system, it may take several contacts to get in touch with the right person. With a little sweat and persistence you will find the Elephant in your market. All you need is one, that’s it! Now get out there and take some action. The tip I gave you today is enough to grow many small businesses by 10%+ if you do something with it…That is always the key, you have to take the action. Go Target, Attack, and Profit! ~Matt |
Tags: | Referral Engine Is Live! |
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The Referral Engine is live! As an authorized Duct Tape Marketing coach, I couldn’t be more thrilled with John Jantsch’s new book “The Referral Engine”. This is a must read for all small business owners that want creative ideas for generating business from your current customers, and creating an automated referral system that feeds your business for life. Stay tuned for more information on upcoming workshops and content on how to build your business with a proven referral system. Check out this video: The Referral Engine from John Jantsch on Vimeo. I encourage you to pick the book up at your local bookstore or visit Amazon. Click here to grow your referral network. |
| The Social Media “Time Vampires” |
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More than likely you are experiencing them every single day. As Social Media proliferates as a social marketing tool, I see more and more business owners getting frustrated. Is this you? Many business owners jump into the Social Media fray then stop their efforts because they aren’t seeing results. Worse yet, Social Media and Social Marketing become a “time vampire” for them. Sometimes taking time away from marketing efforts that were working well for them. Here are a couple things you need to do now to prevent the social media time vampires from affecting you: 1) Your Objective - Before you start Tweeting and Blogging, start with an objective. What do you want your prospects to do? Are you trying to build your list? Or, are you trying to use a one step sales process and sell your prospect immediately. If it is the latter, I would suggest a two step process if you are moving them from Social Media to your website or blog. Bottom line, get clear on what you want to accomplish. 2) Work In Blocks – Carve time out each day and use automation tools like HootSuite.com and Word Press to create and pre-schedule content. Working in blocks of time with an objective will allow you to leverage your time and not get sucked into real time chats and the infamous Facebook wall. Focus on creating relevant content based on your objective, but have a purpose. 3) Be Consistent – Remember in any marketing effort, it is a marathon not a sprint. Don’t blog twice then quit. It will take a time to build a following, but you need to consistently take action and post relevant content and build a layer at a time. Speak to your prospects about solutions, and get them on your list to build more trust. Go Target, Attack, and Profit!
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| What Is vs. What Should Be |
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Not to mention balancing family life. I know you can relate… We often times get stuck in the “What Should Be” vs. “What Is” mode. We start looking at things through rose colored glasses, especially when it comes to our marketing efforts. Many small businesses stop measuring and just sit back and assume that leads will pour in. Sound familiar? You launch a one off promotional effort, then wonder why the heck you aren’t getting any leads. The copy was killer, the graphics were spectacular, and still little or nothing in return. When you start looking at “What Is” you start doing things like measuring your results. You look at how each marketing dollar is returning value to your bottom line. You stop “wishing” that leads would come in, and you start actively getting on with testing, tweaking, and seeing results. You stop doing one time promotional efforts, and you build a marketing plan and marketing system. Marketing is a contact sport. You have prospects that you have to move into motion and take action from a dead stop most times. You need to capture their interest, create desire, and then get them off their a@@ to take the next step with your product our service. I’m gonna bet that you are spending time or money in areas that are promotional that you aren’t getting any results from. You keep “wishing” (there’s that word again) that some day that ad will yield results. Again, What Should be vs. What Is. I am as optimistic as you, and quite honestly don’t enjoy what is all the time. But quite frankly there really isn’t a choice. “Should” isn’t going to help you reach your dreams and your goals in your business. Now… Go Target, Attack, and Profit.
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| Marketing To Your Irrational Prospect |
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Hahahahaha…That’s pretty funny. That’s laughable isn’t it. Everything you purchase is certainly based on the logical need. The totally rational decision about need vs. want. The well thought out, well executed purchase. Yeah right. Me neither. There’s always an irrational element to our decision as a consumer. Whether you are marketing to B2C or B2B, this is pretty much universal and human nature. The truth is we like to THINK that we are these totally rational and logical buyers that think through every purchase with exacting detail. The truth is that our irrational and emotional brain calls the shots, then our logical left brain kicks in to ONLY THEN explain the logic and justify the purchase. So what does that mean to you as the small business owner and marketer of your product or service? Everything… I want you to go through your current marketing and sales messages. Are you speaking to the emotional and irrational brain? Or, are you speaking to the logical brain? Your marketing message needs to address the wants, needs, desires, hurts, frustration, and pain that you are solving for your prospect. Then leverage the emotions attached to those needs, and make a solid case logically how your product or service addresses those. Here’s an example: If you are in the market for drill, what are you in the market for? The fastest, best looking, and most powerful drill out there? Nope! You are in the market to create a hole. Sounds simple I know, but many marketers and business owners forget about the desired outcome. Marketing Tip: Sit down and look at your marketing materials and write down or highlight how many times the word “I” appears in your marketing and replace it with “You”. You will notice a difference right away. Then start defining the real reasons prospects need your product, and create a message that addresses the need not the logic… Remember, we aren’t all that rational after all. Go Target, Attack, and Profit! ~Matt |
| 3 Quick Referral Marketing Tips |
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What if you were to make a conscious effort to add a complete referral marketing system as a part of your overall marketing strategy. The key here is “system”… That means it is a reproducible process that you can use to over and over to get the desired results you want. More referrals! Here are a few tactics to add to your referral marketing system, and efforts: 1) Give more referrals – Pretty simple right? Sure is. Leveraging the laws of reciprocity will surprise you. Be on the look out for leads for other businesses, even if they aren’t currently a customer of yours. By giving first, you will be surprised at your results. 2) Give testimonials – If you work with local businesses, and you haven’t given them a testimonial by all means give them one. Proactively at that. By delivering your customer, partner, or prospect a testimonial for their business you create top of mind awareness of yourself and your company. 3) Send An “Ideal Client” letter to partners – Identify a group of 10-20 ideal referral partners for you. Then, create a letter that states you are interested in referring them business. In the letter, create a form that outlines what a perfect referral might be for them. Included in the letter, add your list with all the answers for your ideal client and referral as an example. This technique works! The key here is that you make this part of your system. Not a one time event, but something you do on a regular schedule. That could be weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Just do something! Best,
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| Twitter As A Lasso? |
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What’s a Lasso for anyways? You got it, rounding up your herd. Or in marketing terms, turning “suspects” into prospects that tune into your channel and start getting to know you as you gain their trust. Ok, so what’s the relationship with Twitter? Here you go… Twitter as a Social Media tool is an effective means to find “suspects” across the globe that are interested in what you have to say. You can go to search.twitter.com and in seconds find people that might have an interest or are currently looking for advice in your area of expertise. Or, you can find thought leaders in your market and start a conversation with their followers. Here’s where the Lasso comes in… It isn’t enough to just find them and start a communication on Twitter. Or add them to your list of followers for that matter… You need to bring them into your “herd”. Get them on your newsletter list and bring them into the private conversations you are having with your customers and prospects. Twitter is an excellent and efficient tool for list building. Start building the trust, then move them into your herd. Throw a free offer out there, listen to their needs, and respond with something valuable they can’t ignore. So next time you get on Twitter. Start thinking more strategically how you can move your followers from your followers list to your email list. Then from your email list to your customer list… Now Go Target, Attack, and Profit!
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| Marketing Is Hard Until It Is Easy |
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If you think about it, many business owners go into their marketing looking for the “quick fix” many times on the one hit campaign that is going to bring in a flood of leads. Reality check… It just doesn’t happen like that without some hard work, and elbow grease as my grandpa likes to call it. What does that mean from a marketing perspective? It means you need a marketing strategy and a system to execute it. If you don’t have that, marketing and lead generation will be hard, maybe forever. It gets easy when you know each day what you must do to execute your system. You will no longer be frustrated about what to do next. And, you will quit chasing the latest shiniest object out there that promises thousands of leads with one email blast, or page 1 Google rankings for $59… Here are two things you should do right now to get started: 1) Create a marketing strategy – Sit down, and spend the time to create a marketing plan. One of the best solutions I have found that we use in Duct Tape Marketing is Marketing Plan Pro by Palo Alto Software. It is based around the Duct Tape Marketing principles I use to coach small businesses like yours. 2) Just In Time vs. Just In Case Learning – Are you an info junkie? Do you spend time learning “just in case” you need it? Or, do you look at your strategy and focus on learning skills just in time to execute your strategy? Just remember, strategy before tactics is always a winner… Cheers,
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