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A Forgotten Marketing Tool – The Postcard
The postcard can be a very powerful marketing tool. Many of our customers and/or students use them in their business. The key is to set up the card to market effectively for you. Concentrate on a specific item or niche. When used correctly a post...
Building Affiliate Marketing Websites The Easy Way
There are some myths in affiliate marketing, which attract a lot
of people to it believing they are true. First is they think
managing an online business is easy and second, they think that
one can make a fortune through online marketing in an...
Emerging Marketing Trends
Emerging Marketing Trends Copyright [C] 2003 Shahnaz Rauf www.snzeport.com Net Marketers Beware! Change is in the air. As you all know, on the net change is the golden rule. The all supreme law that spells success of all shapes and sizes. If you...
Five Tips for Internet Marketing Success
Do you view your website as an expense or as an investment? Surprisingly, many companies seem to view their website as a necessary cost of doing business, not an opportunity to attract an audience and gain new customers. The following five tips can...
Planing Your Marketing
Planning your marketing is an essential part of your efforts to attract clients or customers to your business.Everyday, you will be presented with various marketing communication opportunities. Many organizations will be just too happy to work with...
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The 7 Sins of MarketingDuring my years in marketing and sales, I have studied the pros and cons of
During my years in marketing and sales, I have studied the pros and cons of many-a-marketing program.
What I would like to do today is give you a check list of the 7 most common sins in marketing.
What about you? How many of the following sins in marketing apply to you?
#1 No, I didn't test the product market before I picked my product.
This is by far the biggest mistake I see in marketing today. One I've made myself many times over. It's down right amazing how many companies decide on the product they will sell before ever checking to see if the potential customer would be interested. The most prominent reason for this is infatuation. The seller falls in love with his or her own product and assumes the public will too. This infatuation clouds the marketing professional's ability to objectively, rather than subjectively determine the true potential of the product market. Just because you love it, doesn't mean that they will. Test the waters, ask your customers and clients what they think. Survey a portion of your current clients and the general public. You owe it to yourself to see if this product will in fact meet the needs and wants of your customers.
#2 You neglect to explain why you can sell it cheaper.
Whenever I see a lower price, the first question that pops into my mind is....How? How can they sell it at a lower cost than their competitors. If they fail to answer that question in their marketing strategy, I immediately become suspicious of the quality of the product. If they had only explained how they could sell it cheaper. If one of your selling points is a lower price you better explain to me how you can do it.
#3 You didn't make it easy for me to do business with you.
How many times have you found an interesting product, but they make it so difficult and undesirable to business with them that you go elsewhere. Why would anybody want to make it hard to do business with them? I have certain subconsence requirements to do business with companies. The most important being convenience. The way I see it, I'm the consumer and if I'm willing to spend my hard earned cash with them, I expect them to make it easy for me to do so. The worst is "time consumption". If you want to lose me as a customer, go ahead waste my time. Time is a valuable commodity to me and I don't want to spend it waiting. I'd rather pay the extra dollar or whatever with the competition if they can get me out the door faster. Consumers expect their shopping experience to be an enjoyable one. If you can make it fun and entertaining to do business with you, chances are they'll be back.
#4 Don't be a Clone. If you do not have a unique proposition, why would we be interested in you? I'm sure if you have been in marketing for even the smallest amount of
time, you know what a Niche is. Find and develop your own unique selling strategy. To have an advantage over your competitors you better know your Niche, know who your customers are, where your market lies and how you will exploit it.
#5 I loved your product, what else do you have to offer. Here's a big sales loss. You didn't develop your "back-end" sales strategy. It's extremely important before you sell your first product to already have your follow-up product at the door and waiting. If your customer has purchased from you once, there's a good chance they will again. You have already established a certain kind of trust with your customer. Don't let them down and never rely on one primary product to carry your business. Product development is an integral part of any business. If you want to stay in business keep your present customers coming back for more.
#6 Use the truth to sell your way out of trouble. Every business will run into this problem sooner or later. No matter how good you are, you are bound to promote a poor marketing campaign or product. When you need a fast way to stimulate sales for a product that is not selling, try the truth. But know how to use the truth to your advantage. Tell your customers that you have an overstock of the product. Tell them you selling the product at cost or below cost. There is a viable market of bargain hunters out there. Two common approaches are the "Reward" and "Introduction" techniques.
The reward technique might look like this: Because you are one of our VIP Customers, we want to offer you this special price..... or As a special Limited Time Introductory Price we......
#7 If It's Not Broken....Don't Fix It! Why do marketers feel the need to change a marketing strategy that works. The fact is, they become bored with seeing it, and by that token they wrongfully assume the consumer is also tried of seeing it, even though the sales are the same. Seems incredible, but happens every day. They fool themselves into thinking that they can foresee the end of a successful marketing campaign. If it's making the sales it should leave it alone. Now that's not to say that you shouldn't test new marketing ideas, but never drop a winner because you are tired of seeing it or you believe it's nearing it's end. Major corporations and small companies alike have successfully used the same marketing campaigns for decades.
I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.
About the Author
"Wild Bill" Montgomery http://www.MakingProfit.com We've Featured Over 110 Articles in only one issue of our newsletter. How many do you get in yours? Why Play With Puppies, When The Big Dog Rules! Get The Best In Marketing & Business Information! To Subscribe go to or Email to
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KnowThis: For Marketing, Market Research, Internet Marketing ... |
KnowThis.com offers a wealth of information, forums, and resources for professionals, academics and students in traditional and internet marketing, ... |
www.knowthis.com |
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Marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Marketers depend on marketing research, both formal and informal, ... The next big thing is a concept in marketing that refers to a product or idea that ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Marketing - Marketing Strategy - Marketing Plan - Marketing ... |
Learn about marketing careers, the stages of developing a marketing plan, how to begin marketing research, create a marketing strategy, and how to market ... |
marketing.about.com |
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Marketing.org - Home of the Business Marketing Association |
Serves the professional, educational and career development needs of business-to-business marketers. |
www.marketing.org |
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Welcome - American Marketing Association - www.marketingpower.com |
Dedicated to serving the educational and professional needs of marketing executives. |
www.marketingpower.com |
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Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR News - Brand Republic |
Find the latest Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR news from Brand Republic, the online resource for up to the minute advertising and marketing news and ... |
www.brandrepublic.com |
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Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic |
Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic. |
www.brandrepublic.com |
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Marketing (Canada) |
Offers a Canadian source of news and articles on marketing, advertising and media. |
www.marketingmag.ca |
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BidVertiser - Pay Per Click Advertising On Sites Of Your Choice. |
Pay per click advertising - online advertising directly on sites of your choice, internet marketing solution for online advertisers. |
www.bidvertiser.com |
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Online Behavioral Contextual Advertising and Marketing. |
Promote your business with today's most effective online advertising technology, contextual advertising at a cost effective metric of CPC, PPC, CPM or CPV. |
www.clicksor.com |
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Sales Jobs / Marketing Jobs / Advertising Jobs - MarketingJobs.com |
Employment site for marketing and sales professionals. |
www.marketingjobs.com |
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The Chartered Institute of Marketing |
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the world's largest international marketing professional body and helps with career support and information ... |
www.cim.co.uk |
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Marketing: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
See all blog posts tagged with marketing on Technorati. |
www.technorati.com |
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Marketing Profs - Marketing Concepts and Strategies: Expert ... |
Marketing knowhow from professionals. Newsletter, articles and how-to's. |
www.marketingprofs.com |
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Guerrilla Marketing Online - The Official Site |
Guerrilla Marketing Online is anonline magazine for small business, entrepreneurs, sales people and marketers of all kinds. |
www.gmarketing.com |
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Business Marketing - Small Business Marketing |
Business marketing - Read everything your need to know about small business marketing. |
www.entrepreneur.com |
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All About Marketing |
Adapted from Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation ... Inbound Marketing Includes Market Research to Find Out: ... |
www.managementhelp.org |
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Pages tagged with "marketing" on del.icio.us |
USA Network Announces a NASHVILLE STAR Marketing Partnership With ... - Yahoo! ... Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing ... |
del.icio.us |
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ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers |
Includes columns with commentary and analysis on a wide variety of internet marketing subjects ranging from B2B marketing to search engine marketing. |
www.clickz.com |
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Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing |
Trade association for users and suppliers in the direct, database and interactive marketing fields, offering seminars and resources, and lobbying for ... |
www.the-dma.org |
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