Are you attracting a large number
of prospective customers
at the lowest possible cost
...and converting the maximum
number of them into paying customers?
It's not very
difficult if you follow these
3 simple steps.
Step 1: Control Your Advertising
Expense
Look for ways to keep your sales
volume growing without
increasing your advertising
expense. For example:
* Negotiate Price
With Advertisers
Many advertisers
are willing to negotiate a special
discount to keep
your business - or to get it away from
their competitors.
Take the initiative when you're placing
an ad. Ask for
a discount ...or a bigger discount than the
one already offered.
* Trim Your Ads
Reduce the size
of your ads so you can run more ads without
increasing your
total cost. Don't be surprised if some of
your short ads
generate a bigger response than your long
ads. The most effective
ad I ever used had only 11 words.
Step 2: Generate
Some Unpaid Publicity
Publicity is what
you get when someone else promotes (or
you get them to
promote) your business. It establishes more
credibility with
prospective customers than advertising
...and it generates
sales at a much lower cost.
Start a publicity
program for your business - or expand the
one you already
have. Here are 3 simple ways you can use
publicity to generate
business:
(1) Find something
newsworthy about your business. Write
about it in a news
release and distribute it to publishers.
(2) Contact non-competing
businesses serving customers in
your market. Offer
to publicize their products or services
to your customers
in exchange for their publicizing your
services to their
customers.
(3) Write a short
"how to" article to help customers in
your targeted market.
Promote a product or service related
to the topic of
the article in a short byline at the end.
Distribute your
article to ezine publishers, web sites and
trade magazines
serving your targeted market. Give them
permission to publish
it at no cost.
Caution: Don't expect
unpaid publicity to replace the
results you get
with advertising. Use it to supplement your
advertising. You
control where and when your advertising
appears. You cannot
control where or when you get publicity
...or if you get
any at all.
Step 3: Improve
Your Selling Propositions
Most prospects who
take the time to consider your product
or service would
like to buy from you. But they decided
that other things
they want are either more important or
more urgent.
You can capture
many of these sales by dramatically
improving your
offer. Create a "good deal" that's so
enticing it becomes
their first choice.
You don't have to
reduce your price to improve your offer.
Instead, simply
load your offer with bonuses. Make sure
your bonuses have
a high perceived value to your customers
...even if they
cost you little or nothing.
Always include an
expiration date for your offer. Give
prospects the choice
to either accept your proposition
within a short
time or forfeit it. This will motivate many
prospects to delay
some other purchase so they can buy
your product or
service now.
Tip: To create an
absolutely irresistible offer - include a
special discount
price AND a set of valuable bonuses in
your offer.
Controlling your
advertising expense and getting unpaid
publicity will
attract potential customers at the lowest
cost. Improving
your selling propositions will convert the
maximum number
of those prospects into paying customers.
Together, these
3 steps are what I call "smart marketing".
