Every customer is just a stranger at first. The first link in the chain of marketing is creating interest; you cannot sell - anything, to anyone, ever - without interest.
You usually create the interest with advertising, but it's not by any means the only marketing method for pulling customers to you. For example referrals create much more interest than any advertising.
Effective marketing does NOT aim at interesting as many people as possible. The goal is to interest the "right" people.
Well-planned marketing is aimed carefully to the right people. The way you create interest greatly affects the rest of the chain of marketing and how each link works.
When the bystander is interested, you can create a personal connection. You don't necessarily have to talk with them personally. You can create the connection with the properties of the product, placement of you marketing, packaging, etc. The point is to tell the customer that your product is a good choice for them.
Your primary goal in this link is to get the customer to trust you and your product. "Insecurity and doubt kill the sale"; you won't even take a look at a product you don't believe to fit your needs.
If you chose the people you interested well, creating the connection isn't all that difficult.
You should never make the offer (or the call to action) before you've created the connection to the listener and built trust. A strong trust that you built earlier leads to easier sales. In the base case the customer trusts your judgement even more than their own.
The call to action tells the person what to do next. The action may not be buying, but instead signing up for an email newsletter etc.
The greater the trust you've built, the greater the action you can ask for.
A poor offer is a sure way to lose sales, but the more common problem is poor trust building. How much and how you need to build trust varies a lot. The necessary trust is directly proportionate to the action you're asking for.
Customers who have purchased from you previously, are always easier to sell to more. But getting return customers isn't obvious.
Conditions for getting return customers:
- You need to have something more to sell. Not just any other product, but something that's valuable for them specifically.
- You need to know how to make a re-call to action. Upselling is both profitable and effective, you cannot shy away from it.
- You need to leave the idea of coming back. It doesn't matter if you did upsell or didn't; your customers always have to leave with a positive feeling.
The goal of escalating your relationship is upselling, but the condition for it is increased trust. The trustworthyness of your customer service is usually the biggest incentive or the biggest obstacle for upselling.
All people avoid risks in most situations. The most usual risk we face is something new.
There's always a risk involved when you try something new, so you tend to stick to what you already is good enough. New products, services, people, and companies always need to convince you of their harmlessness first.
A trusted referral often gives you more trust towards a company than your own experience.
You can and you should encourage your customers to give referrals. Referral marketing is a great way to get a steady flow of customers, but most companies completely forget to think about it.
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The White House landing page is the page you see when you visit their site (for the first time). They use a so-called welcome gate to direct new visitors to the landing page.
The goal is to get people to join their emailing list.
And to be honest, the page is quite okay. But it could be better and here are some ways they could increase their conversion.
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Nokia jumped into a well. But you can avoid the mistake. photo by Kashif Mardani
A couple of weeks ago Nokia announced they’ll cut 10 000 jobs.
Nokia used to be the market leader. It used to be the innovation leader. It used to be the quality leader.
Now their marketing strategy is a prime example of poor marketing and leadership.
Your company most likely won’t fire 10 000 employees. Or lose $1 billion annually.
But you can make the mistake that got Nokia into trouble. You’re even likely to make the same mistake, and think it’s the best decision for your company.
Here’s what they did wrong and what they should do now to rise again…
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Dov Gordon helps businesses attract a steady and predictable flow of new customers.
This is a part of the Secrets of The Marketing Experts interview series.
The chain of marketing starts with attracting customers. And that’s exactly what Dov Gordon helps businesses do.
Dov Gordon is a respected marketing consultant whom even other marketing experts go to for advice. If you don’t know him already, you will remember him after this interview.
In the interview Dov shares his approach that he uses with all his clients; three steps that are sure to help every business.
So, if you want a steady and predictable flow of new customers, check this 25 minute video interview…
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Your business doesn’t mind if you believe in Santa.
Not even if you wait for his flying sleight every Christmas with a cup of milk and cookies ready for him.
Your business doesn’t mind if you’re Christian, Jewish, Zen Buddhist, Muslim, or Hindu.
But there are common beliefs your business doesn’t tolerate. They will make it crumble and you may not have any idea why it’s happening.
I learned them the hard way – maybe I can spare you the trouble.
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This is a part of the Secrets of The Marketing Experts interview series.
Have you attended a webinar that didn’t impress you? Or have you always bought whatever they sold?
Most people don’t know how to use webinars effectively to create leads and sales. Well, “most” people don’t even know what a webinar is.
How to pick the right topic?
How to get people to attend?
How to keep the attendees engaged?
How to sell during a webinar?
If you’ve ever considered creating a webinar, or you just want better results from them, check out this 22 minute video interview with Tom Treanor.
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Danny Iny definitely knows the answer to “How marketing works?”
This is a part of the Secrets of The Marketing Experts interview series.
How would you describe marketing?
Do you know all the steps of effective marketing?
How do you create a relationships with potential customers?
What turns engaged listeners into buyers?
How to get referrals and when to upsell?
…and much more.
Get the answers in this half-hour video interview with Danny Iny, which gives a good bird’s-eye view of effective marketing.
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The three strategies to email marketing can all work well, if your copy is good. photo: Glen Edelson
Email marketing has the highest response rate out of any marketing method.
Does that mean spamming works? Well, someone has to buy something from spammers, otherwise they’d become extinct.
But there’s spamming, and then there’s quality direct email marketing.
The latter is one of the best strategies to market B-2-B products and services, but B-2-C businesses can learn a lot from it too.
It might not be right for you. Maybe content email marketing works better for your business, but understanding the principles behind the other two email strategies will make a huge difference to your success.
So, here are the three strategies to email marketing, how to figure out which is best for your business, and how to succeed with each.
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People have the attention span of a goldfish. And that affects your marketing.
Have you ever knocked on the side of a fish tank and felt betrayed by the goldfishes that ignored you?
You push your face against the side, yell at them—loudly enough to wake up a fossil—or serve their favorite purple treats that smell like chicken poo, and they’re still more fascinated by the water around them than you.
Does your website or marketing efforts remind you of that fish tank? No matter what you do, no one notices.
It could be that people have the attention span of a goldfish.
Depending on the goldfish, it’s somewhere between three and 10 seconds.
That’s how long you have to turn apathy into solid interest or risk losing your visitors and prospects to other sites and businesses.
Understanding what makes people excited about your message is the key to effective writing and marketing.
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Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation by Sally HogsheadEver wondered how to capture people’s attention completely? Or why you sometimes lose track of time?
The answer to both is fascination.
What is it? Fascination is powerful attraction that captures your attention and focus.
Why should you care?
Fascination is the best tool you have to get your message heard.
If you want to be good at copywriting, you need to understand how to fascinate people.
If you want to write captivating headlines, you need to make them fascinating.
If you want to be fascinating in your personal life or at work, you need to understand the seven triggers.
But the one question remains: What is fascinating and how do you write/become more fascinating?
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Breaking the rules of effective marketing isn’t illegal, you just lose your customers. photo: kelsey e.
Every game has its rules and you can’t succeed if you don’t understand them. So, what are the rules of marketing?
The rules of marketing include the laws and regulations, but you’ll never win a game if you only avoid breaking its rules. When it comes to effective marketing, the referee is the consumer and they get to choose the winner.
Marketing is a game where you get points for style and the consumers decide who wins.
How do they choose the winner? How do you style points? And which rules shouldn’t you ever break?
In other words: How do you create effective marketing messages?