8 Secrets to Marketing Success
8 Secrets to Marketing Success
Marketing is doing what it takes to convince enough customers to pay the necessary price for your products and/or services to produce the desired profits for the business.
Let's discuss the 8 Secrets business owners can use to greatly improve their marketing success.
Secret #1: Give marketing top priority. The primary reason any customer chooses to buy your products or services is because of effective marketing. The marketing process starts at the very beginning and continues forever! Marketing consists of four separate functions, known as the four P's:
1. Product - Develop your products and/or services to ensure they fill the needs of your potential customers, so they will want to buy from your business. You have full control over this marketing function.
2. Pricing - Set your price structure to ensure that the business will achieve the desired profits and that customers will perceive the value of the benefits they receive to be greater than the prices they pay. You have full control over this marketing function.
3. Positioning - Position your products and/or services to allow potential customers easy interaction with the business to evaluate and purchase your products or services. You have full control over this marketing function.
4. Promotion - The final step is promotion, where you communicate with your potential customers (normally through a communications medium) about the existence and benefits of your products or services to attract them to contact your business to learn more. You will have only partial control over this marketing function.
Marketing is culminated in sales when your customers’ perception of the value of their benefits exceeds the price they pay for products or services. You generate successful sales only when you complete positive Product Development, Price, Positioning, and Promotion. In fact, you will want your business to be a marketing machine.
The sales process is frequently part of the promotions function, however it can incorporate all four of the marketing functions, depending upon the type of products or services offered and the make-up of your targeted customers.
Secret #2: Do not confuse advertising with marketing. Advertising is only part of the last marketing step (Promotion) and it occurs late in the game. Many people think advertising is all there is to marketing, and they overlook the other three very important earlier marketing steps. Yet, they have total control over the other three marketing steps, which are far more important than advertising. Consequently, you will want to develop the other three functions that you control first, to allow advertising to succeed.
Secret #3: Base your marketing on customer perspectives. Owners believe their power and freedom of choice, as the boss, means that they don't have to deal with the opinions of others. "I am now my own boss" is only partly true. You are in virtual control of either succeeding or failing to convince - The Customer- to buy your products or services. You want to avoid IMPOSING your opinion on your potential customers. Focus on fulfilling the perceived wants and needs of your customers, from Their Perspective.
Secret #4: Research your potential customers. When you have determined who your target customers are, learn everything about:
- What your target customers THINK they want to buy
- Why your target customers THINK they buy
- How your target customers THINK they buy
- When your target customers THINK they buy
Secret #5: Screen out undesirable customers. You have the right and obligation to determine which potential customers you will agree to serve. You should screen out undesirable customers early so you can focus more attention on customers you want to serve. Sadly, owners often may not know how to select desirable customers from the pool of potential customers they encounter. As a result, they often spend too much time, money and energy trying to deal with a handful of hard-to-please customers who frequently demand lower prices at the expense of better customers, who go elsewhere because they were ignored.
Determine the key criteria to decide which potential customers are desirable. You will want to encourage undesirable customers to visit your competitors, so they will expend their time, money and energy instead of you.
Secret #6: Give existing customers full attention. Owners frequently become so focused on getting new customers that they ignore their existing repeat customers. Your business will probably not survive without repeat business. Repeat customers present a wealth of opportunities to you.
- They frequently provide you excellent feedback
- They provide an excellent reference and referral service (read free advertising)
- They are the least expensive to service
- They provide the most likely source of additional business
- Their unnecessary departure causes substantial damage (upset customers will
complain to 5 to 9 other people)
Stay close to your existing customers and learn as much as you can from them.
Secret #7: Create a positive identity that is distinct from your competitors. Most customers compare. They need good reasons to choose your product or service over others. You complete more sales when you understand your competitors extremely well and position your products or services for positive customer comparison.
Secret #8: Consider the overwhelming power Emotion has on the buying process. Human emotions govern the buying process (some say over 80% of the entire process is emotional). Yet owners frequently focus their energies on price and avoid the real emotional reasons customers will buy. You will want to know and feel the emotional connection your potential customers will connect to your business, your products and/or services, and the way customers interact with your business. Design your marketing program to address the emotional issues to attract and keep the right customers.
The normal human thinking process of deciding to buy almost always starts with an emotional need. The emotional need causes the customer to consider buying something to fill it. The search and evaluation of the possible choices of products and or services is also frequently emotional, and additional emotional forces are often added. The price issue usually comes in near the end. Normally, customers ask about prices to help justify the emotional decisions they have already made. In fact, the request for the price from normal customers is a very strong buying signal (does the cost allow them to buy what they want and is it fair for what they decided to get?).
Encourage customers to enjoy their emotional buying choices
Once the purchase is made, far too many businesses can't wait to shuffle the customers off and almost treat the customers like they have some disease. This frequently causes customers to experience buyer’s remorse. Yet, this is the time to finalize the sale once and for all and begin the process of future sales. Congratulate your customers on their buying choices and encourage them to enjoy the emotional benefits they sought from the purchase.
Business owners succeed when they know how to deal with this emotional process and permit the customer to complete this process through final payment.
What a wonderful opportunity! You can take charge of your entire marketing effort and attract the customers you desire with much less effort and less cost.
Provided as an educational service by Bill Dueease of The Coach Connection, where "connecting great people with great coaches" is their goal. You may contact Bill at 800-887-7214, 239-415-1777, coaches@findyourcoach.com, or http://www.findyourcoach.com/0o-business-coach.htm
8 Secrets to Marketing Success - To learn more about this author, visit Bill Dueease's Website.
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The profits of a business are totally dependent on marketing. Otherwise few, if any, sales will be generated. But what is marketing anyway?
Marketing is doing what it takes to convince enough customers to pay the necessary price for your products and/or services to produce the desired profits for the business.
Let's discuss the 8 Secrets business owners can use to greatly improve their marketing success.
Secret #1: Give marketing top priority. The primary reason any customer chooses to buy your products or services is because of effective marketing. The marketing process starts at the very beginning and continues forever! Marketing consists of four separate functions, known as the four P's:
1. Product - Develop your products and/or services to ensure they fill the needs of your potential customers, so they will want to buy from your business. You have full control over this marketing function.
2. Pricing - Set your price structure to ensure that the business will achieve the desired profits and that customers will perceive the value of the benefits they receive to be greater than the prices they pay. You have full control over this marketing function.
3. Positioning - Position your products and/or services to allow potential customers easy interaction with the business to evaluate and purchase your products or services. You have full control over this marketing function.
4. Promotion - The final step is promotion, where you communicate with your potential customers (normally through a communications medium) about the existence and benefits of your products or services to attract them to contact your business to learn more. You will have only partial control over this marketing function.
Marketing is culminated in sales when your customers’ perception of the value of their benefits exceeds the price they pay for products or services. You generate successful sales only when you complete positive Product Development, Price, Positioning, and Promotion. In fact, you will want your business to be a marketing machine.
The sales process is frequently part of the promotions function, however it can incorporate all four of the marketing functions, depending upon the type of products or services offered and the make-up of your targeted customers.
Secret #2: Do not confuse advertising with marketing. Advertising is only part of the last marketing step (Promotion) and it occurs late in the game. Many people think advertising is all there is to marketing, and they overlook the other three very important earlier marketing steps. Yet, they have total control over the other three marketing steps, which are far more important than advertising. Consequently, you will want to develop the other three functions that you control first, to allow advertising to succeed.
Secret #3: Base your marketing on customer perspectives. Owners believe their power and freedom of choice, as the boss, means that they don't have to deal with the opinions of others. "I am now my own boss" is only partly true. You are in virtual control of either succeeding or failing to convince - The Customer- to buy your products or services. You want to avoid IMPOSING your opinion on your potential customers. Focus on fulfilling the perceived wants and needs of your customers, from Their Perspective.
Secret #4: Research your potential customers. When you have determined who your target customers are, learn everything about:
- What your target customers THINK they want to buy
- Why your target customers THINK they buy
- How your target customers THINK they buy
- When your target customers THINK they buy
Secret #5: Screen out undesirable customers. You have the right and obligation to determine which potential customers you will agree to serve. You should screen out undesirable customers early so you can focus more attention on customers you want to serve. Sadly, owners often may not know how to select desirable customers from the pool of potential customers they encounter. As a result, they often spend too much time, money and energy trying to deal with a handful of hard-to-please customers who frequently demand lower prices at the expense of better customers, who go elsewhere because they were ignored.
Determine the key criteria to decide which potential customers are desirable. You will want to encourage undesirable customers to visit your competitors, so they will expend their time, money and energy instead of you.
Secret #6: Give existing customers full attention. Owners frequently become so focused on getting new customers that they ignore their existing repeat customers. Your business will probably not survive without repeat business. Repeat customers present a wealth of opportunities to you.
- They frequently provide you excellent feedback
- They provide an excellent reference and referral service (read free advertising)
- They are the least expensive to service
- They provide the most likely source of additional business
- Their unnecessary departure causes substantial damage (upset customers will
complain to 5 to 9 other people)
Stay close to your existing customers and learn as much as you can from them.
Secret #7: Create a positive identity that is distinct from your competitors. Most customers compare. They need good reasons to choose your product or service over others. You complete more sales when you understand your competitors extremely well and position your products or services for positive customer comparison.
Secret #8: Consider the overwhelming power Emotion has on the buying process. Human emotions govern the buying process (some say over 80% of the entire process is emotional). Yet owners frequently focus their energies on price and avoid the real emotional reasons customers will buy. You will want to know and feel the emotional connection your potential customers will connect to your business, your products and/or services, and the way customers interact with your business. Design your marketing program to address the emotional issues to attract and keep the right customers.
The normal human thinking process of deciding to buy almost always starts with an emotional need. The emotional need causes the customer to consider buying something to fill it. The search and evaluation of the possible choices of products and or services is also frequently emotional, and additional emotional forces are often added. The price issue usually comes in near the end. Normally, customers ask about prices to help justify the emotional decisions they have already made. In fact, the request for the price from normal customers is a very strong buying signal (does the cost allow them to buy what they want and is it fair for what they decided to get?).
Encourage customers to enjoy their emotional buying choices
Once the purchase is made, far too many businesses can't wait to shuffle the customers off and almost treat the customers like they have some disease. This frequently causes customers to experience buyer’s remorse. Yet, this is the time to finalize the sale once and for all and begin the process of future sales. Congratulate your customers on their buying choices and encourage them to enjoy the emotional benefits they sought from the purchase.
Business owners succeed when they know how to deal with this emotional process and permit the customer to complete this process through final payment.
What a wonderful opportunity! You can take charge of your entire marketing effort and attract the customers you desire with much less effort and less cost.
Provided as an educational service by Bill Dueease of The Coach Connection, where "connecting great people with great coaches" is their goal. You may contact Bill at 800-887-7214, 239-415-1777, coaches@findyourcoach.com, or http://www.findyourcoach.com/0o-business-coach.htm
8 Secrets to Marketing Success - To learn more about this author, visit Bill Dueease's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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