Stupid Marketing Tricks - Part V

Thus far, in our quest to build a realistic marketing plan that produces results, we have done some homework and some legwork and have answered the first two questions:

1. IS THERE a market for my product? (do people need this product or service) AND
2. HOW MANY people feel they want or need my product or service?

These are but 2 of the most important questions you must ask before beginning to develop the plan. The next question is equally, if not more important. It is:

3. WHO ARE these people?

Now anytime we discuss marketing on the Internet, the subject of getting traffic comes up. Everybody wants traffic to their site. Everyone wants lots of traffic to their site. This is foolishness.

I have 2nd page placement on Google for my very generic search terms. First page on Yahoo. Does this get me traffic? Yes. Is it the traffic I want? In most cases, no.

What I get is the tire-kickers. I don't want tire-kickers. I want people who are

a. sincerely interested in marketing their product
b. are willing to do the work necessary to be successful
c. are willing to invest the time, money and effort to be successful
d. are willing to step back and do it the right way
e. have set specific goals by which they will measure success
f. are realistic in their approach and in their expectations
g. will not give up easily
h. understand that marketing is a numbers game and will play the game by the numbers
i. are willing to allow the real numbers to drive the plan, resulting in success
j. are willing to change the plan when market factors change

Unfortunately, what I often get is that person who is looking for the easy, get rich quick method of selling a product or service. These are the wannabe marketing rock stars (read 'failures'). Or I get the person who wants to pick my brain for hours for free. I turn down nine of these people for every one I accept. In short, I rely on the traffic to create leads, not sales.

Internet marketing works exactly the same as marketing in the real world. The game is simply bigger. Bigger offers much more opportunity, but also much more competition. The process of selling on the Internet, therefore, requires that you create a much tighter, more restrictive definition of your niche.

Here is a silly example. Imagine that you have a store in a mall. You sell skateboards. Now, who would you rather have in your store:

100 people age 65 and above OR
5 people age 14?

Certainly, the 5 people age 14. These are your real potential customers. They buy skateboards. Hardly anyone over 65 will buy a skateboard, unless they are buying it for someone age 14. 'Nuff said.

In the world of Internet marketing, you must imagine, however, that your store is located in a mall that contains several MILLION other stores. That changes the game in a major way. How will you set your storefront apart from the millions of other stores in that mall?

By defining your niche.

You must now define very clearly WHO that potential customer might be. Let's draw a picture of your first niche customer or client. Who is that person?

Gender?

Income Level?

Age?

Occupation?

Education?

Geographic region?

Lifestyle?

Purchasing characteristics?

What is the hot button for the person who fits this profile?

Why does this person feel they need or want what you have to offer?

What benefit (not feature) does your product offer to satisfy that need or want?

CAUTION - Don't feel that you must draw just one profile. You can draw as many as you like. For instance, if your answer to gender is both 'male' and 'female', continue through the rest of the questions for just 'male', and then repeat all the questions for female. You now have two profiles. You will want to do this because you will create one message for 'male, age 25-35' and another for 'female, age 25-35'. You will create a different message for each profile and will most likely want to create a different landing page for each profile on your site.

What will motivate the female age 25 is not necessarily what will motivate the male age 25.

When defining your niche, don't use an ax - use a scalpel.

Creating a single 'one size fits all' message for ALL your potential customers or clients could be said to be a VERY stupid marketing trick.

More at http://www.freepublicitygroup.com

Leia Mais…

Stupid Marketing Tricks Part IV

In the last few posts I have made the point that, before taking any product to market, you first must determine whether or not people need or want your product or service. If they NEED it, you will use one approach. If they merely WANT it, then you will use another approach.

So let's assume that people actually WANT or NEED your product. Now we must look at how MANY need or want that product.

Again, don't laugh. Not looking at this subject realistically will cause you to fail faster than many of the other failure factors that might come into play here.

Let us suppose that you have developed a small computer chip that solves a system error in the XYZ232 computer system. Every user of the XYZ232 Computer Operating System in the world really NEEDS this chip. Without this chip, users of the XYZ232 Computer System will experience never-ending and ongoing frustration. In all the chat rooms, on all the discussion groups, in the IT forums, everyone talks about the need to solve this inherent problem. You have the answer. In your mind, you have determined that this is a NEEDS based marketing scenario. And so you spend 10 grand to develop your chip. You then announce that you have developed the chip in an ever so perfect marketing campaign. You do everything exactly right.

Sales, however, end up being 50 chips. Just 50. What happened?

What happened is that you failed to do the research. Surprisingly, there are only 200 XYZ232 Computer Systems users on the entire planet.

Knowing there is a market is one thing. You KNEW there was a market. Knowing the potential size of the market is another.

You see, a really stupid marketing trick is to believe that everyone is just like ourselves. We assume this is the case. It is not. The fact that you are interested in a subject does not necessarily lead to the correct conclusion that there are many others interested in that subject.

Yes, it is important to you. However, it may be important to just a few other people. If this is the case, you will fail.

As marketers, we believe it is all about us. This is human nature. However, in successful marketing, it has absolutely nothing to do with you. It is all about the potential buyer. Your OPINION frankly does not matter at all. YOUR likes, YOUR preferences, YOUR dislikes are not going to cause another to willingly part with their hard earned money. THEIR likes, dislikes, preferences and perceived needs or wants will.

All of marketing comes down to the ability to get into the head of another person or large groups of people. You will only be successful if you solve THEIR perceived problems in the way THEY want them to be solved. Very basic, but often overlooked.

Artists (painters, poets, authors and musicians, etc) are especially guilty of assuming everyone will be interested in their grand works of art. Not so. Yet artists are SO INTO their works of art that they never stop to consider the fact that frankly, nobody cares, except extremely limited and narrowly targeted groups of people. This is how the phrase 'starving artist' came to be. (Selling artistic works is very difficult in the general marketplace, but EXTREMELY easy if one can precisely define that specific group of potential buyers).

And so, the second step is to determine the size of the market. This is done through research. There is no single research tool that will provide the answer for all products.

The Internet can provide much of the information you need. Start with a search on 'XYZ232 Computer sales' as your search term. Look specifically for studies, articles, etc on the number of buyers out there. Also use Google Adwords Keyword tool. This tool now tells us the NUMBER of searches done on a particular phrase for a specific period of time. Look at the number of searches done on 'XYZ232', for instance. If the number of searches done on 'XYZ232' was 100, while the number of searches done on 'ABC456' was 10 million, you can guess that your potential market is relatively small.

Ask for help. Get into the chat rooms of XYZ232 computer users and ask about where you might get information on these numbers. Everyone in these rooms is really trying to be helpful, so get some input from others. Don't forget about that old, dusty library down the street. Explore magazines devoted to the XYZ232. Go to the bookstore. As your local computer technician. Ask XYZ232 Inc. What you are looking for here is the NUMBER of users of this brand of computer.

But be careful. If you ask XYZ232 users IF they will buy the product, nearly all will say yes. You are not attempting to find out IF they will buy (they certainly will), you are trying to determine HOW MANY THERE MIGHT BE. Don't be fooled into thinking there MIGHT BE a large number of potential buyers.

You must KNOW there are a VERY LARGE NUMBER of potential buyers for your product or service. Establishing THE PROOF that this is so is the first step any potential manufacturer of any product would take in the real world. Again, this is so basic that it perhaps need not be verbalized. Marketing 101. Failure to know the size of the potential market before even considering taking that product or service to market would be a majorly stupid marketing trick.

More at http://www.freepublicitygroup.com

Leia Mais…

Stupid Marketing Tricks Part III - The Unrealistic Marketing Plan

As promised I am going to discuss how an effective marketing plan is developed. We must start the discussion by asking what might at first glance appear to be a silly question.

This question is so basic to one's ultimate success that most people never stop to ask this question when attempting to take a product or service to market. This is why most people fail.

This question is so basic that it is easily pushed out of consciousness and is frankly often never asked.

Yet it is hands down the most important question one could ever ask.

Are you ready for the question? Get a pencil and some paper.

This question will be developed in three distinct steps. Ready? Ok, here goes.

Step One: Write down the name of your product or service

Step Two: Put a question mark AFTER the name of your product or service

Step Three: Before the name of your product or service, write the words 'DO PEOPLE NEED'

Now you have a question. It should look like this:

DO PEOPLE NEED (NAME)?

Now answer the question. And don't laugh. This is not the time for laughing - this is the time for brutal honesty.

I spend all day talking to people who are having a difficult time marketing their product or service. They have gone to all the trouble to set up a website, print up brochures, put together mailing lists, sent out direct mail, posted ads, sent press releases, done blog tours, developed newsletters, joined associations, put together affiliate programs, blah, blah, blah, blah on and on and on and guess what? No or low sales.

They then ask me why, after doing all of this, there are no sales. There are no sales because they forgot to ask the most important question:

DO PEOPLE NEED (NAME)?

This is not funny. You see, we get so excited about developing and marketing our product or service that we forget to ask if anyone actually needs the thing.

When I say 'need', I mean need. Not want. Want is different. The entire approach will change when one needs something versus wants something. The entire game, the whole approach, is different.

Need means the prospect will die without it. It means they will suffer terrible consequences if they do not have it. Need items are items such as food, clothing, shelter, air, water etc. Some needs are legislated (auto insurance) etc. Need means need. Must have. No way out of it.

If people NEED this product or service, the potential market is a given. The approach then is to advertise, market or publicize the fact that your product or service meets the NEED better than the product or service of the competition. People recognize the NEED for your product or service; you do not have to 'talk them' into it. It is a given.

Once you have determined that people NEED this product or service, then you must simply take the steps to define WHO needs the product or service. This is the second step. Let's not go there yet.

WANT

If people do not NEED your product or service, but rather simply WANT it, then you must attempt to elevate their WANT to the status of a NEED.

One of the primary mistakes those new to marketing make is that they assume everyone NEEDS their product or service when in fact they do not.

You may believe people NEED your item. This will not cause them to buy your item. What will cause them to buy your item is when THEY RECOGNIZE they NEED that item. This is accomplished by elevating their WANT to the status of a NEED in their mind.

See how this works? It's basic. So basic, in fact, that we forget to do it.

Do not fool yourself. Be brutally honest. Look at this from an outside perspective and ask yourself if people actually NEED this product or service. The answer to this question will form the basis of the entire approach of a successful marketing plan.

People do not NEED toys. They do not NEED gadgets. They do not NEED books. What they WANT is the enjoyment the toy might bring. What they WANT is the reduction in stress a gadget might provide. What they WANT is the information in the book.

Selling to satisfy a NEED is not easier than selling to satisfy a WANT. It is simply a completely different approach. Do NOT fool yourself into thinking that people need your item when, in fact, they do not. If you fool yourself, you will end up wasting a great deal of time and money.

Trying to sell your product or service without asking 'DO PEOPLE NEED (NAME)?' is a really stupid marketing trick . . .

More at http://www.freepublicitygroup.com

Leia Mais…