marketing strategy

Aug

2018

Email Marketing: How Many Content vs Sales Messages?

Email Marketing: 3 Content Messages to 1 Sales Message

Email Marketing Messages: 3 Content to 1 Sales Message

You want your emails to your customers and prospects to be opened and read. After all, that’s why you send them — right?

So, it’s important to offer them what they want. How do you know what they want? One way is to watch which emails they open. If there’s a link in the email, does it get clicked?

Another way to determine what they want is with the promise that you made when they signed up. Did you give them a special report or ebook about a topic that relates to your offerings? Did you promise coupons or special offers?

When customers or prospects give you their email addresses it’s important to deliver the value you promised. If you assured them they would get coupons or special offers, they may open your emails at first, But if your offers are not relevant things they want to buy from you, they’ll start ignoring or deleting your messages. To avoid that you can segment your list and send only relevant offers of the products they want to buy.

If your customer or prospect traded their valuable contact info for an educational piece, more than likely, they’ll want more of the same type of content. Does this mean you should never sell to them or make them an offer? Of course not, today’s consumers are not so naive as to believe you will never sell to them.

It is important, though, to give them more of what they signed up for. You can do this by sending interesting articles and blog posts that will help them make healthy decisions. You can add a ‘soft offer’ at the end of the information with a “click to see how easy getting your daily dose of herb/vitamin/mineral can be” link.

When you see that your emails are getting a good open rate and links are being followed, you’ll know you’re hitting the sweet spot for your audience. If sales are being generated with the ‘soft offers’ you don’t have to worry about sending a ‘sales’ email unless you’re having a sale or other special offer.

New product emails are definitely an occasion to combine the rollout with an educational article — or series of articles if the product warrants such.

Experts abound in the email marketing arena. Some say to send three content emails for every one sales message. Others say one to one. Let your audience decide what they want from you and your company and fulfill their wishes to create a lasting and mutually beneficial relationship.

Email comes right into your list members’ homes or is carried with them on phones 24/7, so it’s a very personal medium. Use that intimacy to create a trusting relationship, and you’ll create customers for life.

Would you like to have a no cost, no obligation, discussion about your email campaigns? We can analyze your copy and timing to see if there are possible improvements. Just schedule a meeting here.

Jul

2018

In Search of Natural Health: What It Means to Your Customer

You have products that help people feel better, live more productive and fulfilling lives. Have you thought about the affects your products have on your customers’ lives? Can you guide them to live better naturally?

Your customers seek more than just living pain free. They seek natural health — the ability to create all the things they want to accomplish in their relationships, material wealth, spirituality, skills and recreation.

When marketing your product, it’s important to know why your customers want what you offer. Sure, they want to move without joint pain. But what are they moving for? A better tennis game, to keep up with the kids, walk the dog, swim to stay lean, feel more vibrant/younger? Why do they want to do those things? To strengthen ongoing relationships or perhaps attract a new companion into their lives? Maybe playing competitive games is a stress release that they want to pursue.

Your marketing messaging should tap into several levels of reasons why your customer buys your product. They might buy from you because of your sustainable/green business practices. Perhaps you donate a percentage of your sales to charity. Maybe you have a rewards or discount program that makes buying from you attractive.

There are so many choices people have to make when buying natural health products. Why should they choose you and your product? What makes you stand out from your competition? Is it the source or processing of your raw goods? Your guarantee of potency, purity?

How can you possibly know why your customers buy from you? Well, you can ask them. You can ask them to rate your products with an easy to use format or use an open-ended question survey. Multiple choice surveys are not usually the best way to find out what people really think because the provided answers are often not accurate, so they force people to make a choice when the truth lies somewhere between the answers.

People have different natural health goals. You can start to think about some of those goals by asking like minded friends what they want to accomplish with naturally healthy living. Think of your own goals for health.

Some natural health aspirations your customers may have:

Living prescription drug free
Living pain free
Using only sustainably/green sourced products
Be emotionally balanced so life’s pitfalls don’t send you into a tailspin
Be physically fit
Be able to think clearly
Improve your physical skills such as running, swimming, hiking, climbing, or favorite recreational sport
Improve your mental skills for career advancement or competition
Stay emotionally aware of others in order to have good relationships
Stay at a healthy weight without hunger

The physical segment of natural health is the one most people focus on, but emotional and mental health are necessary for a healthy body. A healthy body is necessary for emotional and mental health.

When people focus on their physical health, they get the positive side effects of positive mood and clear thinking.

Go deep into your customer’s untold desires for natural health — that is where your marketing message hides.

If you would like to explore the deeper reaches of successful marketing messages, I would be happy to be your guide. Set up a short, free call here.

Jun

2018

Should You Create a Customer Avatar?

It can take quite a bit of time to create a customer avatar. You may have to create more than one. The project can take on a life of its own and never be complete as it can change.

Let’s quickly go through the process and see if it’s worth your time and effort.

Why Should You Create a Customer Avatar?

Since you just want sales and don’t really care who buys, why is it important to narrow your thinking to just one person? The truth in business is the same as in life: You can’t be all things to all people. Your business, your products also will not appeal to all people.

That’s why it important to create products and services that will be the answer for your perfect customer. When you create your customer avatar, your creativity and your marketing will be clear. Your choices will become simple because you are not creating for the masses, but to a specific person.

What is a Customer Avatar?

Your customer avatar is the compilation of your perfect customer’s demographics, psychographics, interests and habits. Depending on what you’re selling, you may have more than one customer avatar for your different product lines or services.

Your customer avatar focuses on your most desired customer. If as many men as women are your customers, you may want to create two customer avatars. But if you prefer to work with one gender over the other, just focus on your preference

This doesn’t mean your marketing will be sexist (genderist?) but you use colors, words and images that attract your customer.

Your customer avatar is the person you want to connect with. She is interested in your type of products and buys them regularly. You want her to know she can trust your company’s integrity to give her the highest quality and best value for her money. When you let her get to know that you will stand behind your product, she will become your customer for life — as long as you keep up your end of the relationship.

What Will You Do with Your Customer Avatar?

When you specifically define your perfect customer it can help you create consistent content and marketing materials. If a team member thinks of a great new marketing idea, you can test it against your avatar to see if it will appeal to him. If it’s close, you can tweak it to get it in line. If not, you’ll know to file it away for a different product line or service.

This audience message consistency will influence:

The stories you tell
The voice you use
The products you develop
The places where you advertise
The social platforms you target
The language you use on your website and in your emails

Is it Worth the Time and Effort?

This is one of those things that you really don’t need to do. You can market like you’re throwing spaghetti at a wall as an art form. Some will fall right off. Some slide down the wall. Some will stick creating a masterpiece.

But if you want to know which of your efforts are getting you the result you want, a good place to start is WHO you are marketing to. Business is not about you or your product. It’s about your audience — the people who want to buy from you because you solve their problem or add something fun, beautiful or tasty to their lives.

They trust you will make good on your promises and make their lives just a little bit better.

So instead of asking, “Is it worth the time and effort to create a customer avatar?” perhaps you should ask if you can afford NOT to define your customers and prospects?

Mar

2018

What’s Your Marketing Strategy Like: Dominoes Falling or Pinball Games?

We’ve all enjoyed the falling domino spirals and Rube Goldberg machines — things crashing into one another to create complicated effects until the end when a cup of tea is poured, the dog food is served or some other simple task is met.

Same is true for pinball games where we carefully launch the ball so we can paddle it into the points target. It’s fun to try to maneuver and control gravity with the force and timing we apply to the paddles to get the most play and most points.

The first is done with planning and precision: testing the distance the object or domino will fall, so it hits the next object at the right speed, weight and spot to get the next thing moving.

Although, “that deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball” most pinball playing is done with less precise planning. We launch the ball, paddle furiously and hope for the best.

Your marketing probably resembles one of these scenarios

You construct an email sequence that takes your prospects from knowing little or nothing about your product or service, step by step, until they beg you to take their money. This strategy is created with planning and precision like the domino spiral or a Rube Goldberg device.

Or you follow the pinball strategy and launch the shiny ball into the ether — paddling at it maniacally — hoping to hit the bonus points and the jackpot. You may start with a brochure that you hand out at shows or events. Then you have a better idea and start an affiliate program that never seems to get off the ground. You have a website that give prospects the opportunity to sign up for coupons, a newsletter or more information, but rarely send them anything.

There’s just so much to do and not enough time in a day, a week, a month to get it all done.

Sometimes You Just Need a Little Extra Help

An experienced marketing copywriter, like me, can help you plan your marketing so it resembles the lovely domino spiral instead of whacking the pinball paddles until the table goes TILT.

I have a few openings for a no cost phone consultation. Don’t delay, sign up today

Dec

2017

The Treasure at the End of the Question Mark

When you’re looking for someone to help with your marketing tasks, you have questions to ask of them. Those questions reflect what you need from the marketing professional.

As important as those answers are, consider the questions your prospective hire asks you. Do they know that every piece of the marketing puzzle must fit within the big picture? Or are they just interested in the piece that they can provide?

When discussing your wants and needs, it’s vital that your copywriter, SEM or SEO specialist, or web designer understands what you’re trying to accomplish with your marketing. If they are willing to take your money without looking at the big picture, they will probably miss the mark.

Golden Questions Reveal the True Nature of Your Prospective Marketer

There are questions your potential copywriter or marketer should ask you. The answers to these questions will define the project and the direction of your marketing.

When a copywriter asks these questions, you’ll know you have someone who truly cares about your business and has your best outcomes as their goal.

What do you want?
- What is this project?
- What are the elements of this package/project?
- What will this finished project look like?
- What do you need done right now?
- What is the most pressing marketing challenge you’re facing now?
- What other projects are facing close deadlines?
- What else do you want to achieve?

What will having that do for you?
- How does this project fit into the growth/development plan of your company?
- What are the goals of this project?
- How will the successful outcome of this project affect the company?
- What caused you to head in this direction?
- Why is this important now?

How will you know when you’ve accomplished it?
- What is a perfect outcome for this project?
- How will we know it’s a success?
- Are there key signs to determine success?
  - If so, what are they?
- What expectations do you have for this project/campaign?
- What would show this project failed?

We’re all looking for answers. Good questions open the door to answers that can make or break a marketing project.

Please feel free to take advantage of my free 20 minute consultation call here.

Nov

2017

How to Create a Marketing Position that Works

It seems like a lot of work to create a position in the marketplace. If you just start advertising, you can hit the ground running. But without a strong positioning strategy, will your marketing messages attract the right people? Can you continue to fine-tune your advertising to speak to your customers and prospects without endlessly repeating yourself?

Here are 6 questions to develop your product or service position:

What does your prospect want? People don’t want products or services. They want solutions to their problems. Just as people don’t want a drill or even a hole – they want to hang a shelf. They really don’t even want a shelf. They want to put things out of the way or to decorate their home. What problem does your product or service solve? What is different about your solution that makes you stand above the crowd?
What position can you own? If the spot at the peak is taken, how can you differentiate your product or message? Some will say that if you can’t be in first position, don’t bother. Markets are fickle, so there’s probably a place for your unique offering. What can your product do that no other does as well? Save the whales? Delicious taste and low calories? Find a hole in their position and fill it.
Who are your competitors? Don’t go head to head with the giants in your market. You can’t win. Even if you make headway into their space, they can beat you with their deep pockets. Your position needs to fill a gap that they don’t bother with.
You decide the competition is worth battling. Can you afford to compete in that space and still make a profit? You may have created a healthy cola drink. Is it wise to go against the behemoths in the soft drink industry? Instead, target the people who concentrate on what they drink to keep themselves satisfied and healthy.
Can you persevere? It’s important to own your position in the market as a strategy. Use the position when crafting every marketing message, advertisement, email or social media post. You can fine-tune the tactics when you stay true to your marketing position.
Is your position evergreen? When you claim your place on a trail less travelled, be sure to have enough room to make a comfortable camp. Can you develop messages that support your product’s position throughout its lifetime?

Determining your product, service or company position in the market can take time. Once you have a firm grasp on your position, you use it to create a strong, consistent marketing strategy. You can stay on the path to success without fear of slipping over the precipice of slow or no sales.

For a free, no obligation look at your marketing position and strategy, schedule a call here.

Nov

2017

Are Questions the Answer to Your Marketing Strategy?

Good Questions are the Answer to Crafting Your Marketing Strategies

Your marketing helps your prospects realize that your product will solve their problems or fulfill their desires. Knowing what they want (or want to change) can make your sales message hit their sweet spot.

There are several ways to find those questions. Your customer service team answers questions by email, chat or phone. Discover the questions that come up repeatedly.

Use a fill-in-the-blank survey. The answers can help your sales and marketing team as well as quality control and even product development. How else would you know that your market is clamoring for a purple widget with blue dots?

If your customers are retailers, what do they really want from your company? Is a lower wholesale price key to more sales? More frequent deliveries? Lower minimums? Higher discounts with larger orders? What are they trying to accomplish? How can you help them be successful? What terms or shipping methods are negotiable?

When you know your customers’ pain points, you can reduce their buying resistance. Questions show you where your messages are lacking. If people have to stop and think, they’ll probably move on to something else.

Answer These 4 Questions when Creating Your Offer

What are your trying to sell me? How will this solve MY problem? The answer gives a tangible result the customer will experience.
How much does it cost? Value is greater than price. Be sure to have a strong positive answer about your product’s value.
Why should I trust you? Credibility is key to effective messages. Your spokesman or company has the background and experience to create trust. Be sure to use it.
What’s in it for me? Spell out the benefits of using your product or service. How will it solve their problem, change their lives?

Time is marching on. Is your marketing strategy as effective as it can be? All things can be improved and refreshed – or at least tested.

Ask questions to improve your marketing.

What questions are your customers asking?