FREE Marketing!!
Does it exist? Can it work?I received an email today offering me the chance to receive information on effective marketing strategies that will cost me nothing. Was I interested - Of course! We all like something for nothing. But of course its a fallacy. It's like offering you a free house. I don't doubt it - You can have a free house if you scrounge up the materials from skips and build it yourself - But there's the rub. It's only free if you don't value your own time and unless you are a skilled bricklayer, carpenter, plumber, electrician, plasterer, roofer, tiler etc etc , it won't be a very good house!It's the same with marketing. Yes anyone can do it - but without guidance how well? And is this the best use of your time and skills? Some years ago I joined a start-up business. A sort of franchise - but it was new to the UK and there was no central marketing activity. Each franchisee had to do their own. Well I battled away going to networking meetings, phoning contacts, writing emails, sending mailshots burning the midnight oil to get appointments. I was working so many hours my wife suspected me of having an affair! Especially as there was no income coming in for all this work. I was spending all my time on sales and marketing and none on delivering. So what had it cost me? More than ten thousand in lost income over a few months! How much marketing could I buy for that? So I teamed up with another franchisee and we paid a professional telemarketer £1000 per month (thats £500 each). He generated enough appointments to keep us both busy and within a few weeks we both had a healthy book of clients. Incidentally we found out he was ripping us off. - He only needed to work one day per week to keep us busy! Did we care? Not a bit, he generated over a £100K worth of business in few months. Now that's what I call leverage! To get some expert guidance and support with YOUR marketing visit
www.getclientsnow.co.uk
Is the Media YOUR Message?Many clients I meet think that they
have to do certain marketing activities. One client told me "We
have to be in Yellow Pages". They had a special Freephone number that was only published in Yellow Pages so it was easy to track the calls that came in. I asked the receptionist to log all of the calls for a month. There were plently of calls that month - All of them from people trying to sell them something! Not only were they receiving these unsoilicited calls - they were paying through the nose for the call charges as well! I advised him that he could use the £15000 per annum he was spending on Yellow Pages more effectively...
There are no rules in marketing. it's like war: every campaign is different.So choose your media carefully and spend your money wisely. How do you prefer to receive enquiries? By phone - or are you never in? Or would you prefer them to go to your website for information first? And then what - do you want them to purchase on-line or visit you? Do you prefer to sell on the phone?
Plan the "commitment chain" and the buying process carefully to get the best results. If your enquiries come from your website, structure your site so that they will stay on the site until the final "click to purchase". If you are 'phone based business, grab their attention and then push them to a 'phone call to get more information - Use a "Call Me" button on your website. If you need them to come to your premises make sure they can find you easliy!Work out the best route for your clients from enquiry to purchase and continually direct them allong that route. This will make your marketing more successful and could save you money too!I
f you need help with your marketing Call Me on 07789 434184
Making Time to Make Time by
Michael Smith on 11-Aug-06 5:04pm
Too Busy to Develop your Business?I was
so busy yesterday. I only stepped out to buy some lunch, otherwise I was at my desk all day. My wife arrived home from work "Busy Day?" she said "Yes" said I "Get much done?". Then I realised I didn't feel like I had achieved
anything at all? Do you have days like that? It is normally because we are trying to make progress on several fronts at the same time.
Then I remembered Paul. Years ago, I used to be a director of a small business of about 30 people. We were always busy, but things never seemed to get done. Except for Paul. He was a part-time director, older and more experienced, who came in to help us one or 2 days a week. When Paul came in things always moved on. Paul's formula was simple "One day, one topic". That was it. A whole day on Marketing a whole day on Production etc. No distractions. It works.
Take one day a week or fortnight to work on your Marketing. Do nothing else on that day. Then you'll see things
happen. Give me a call. I'll be your Paul.
email me mike@motivationamarketing.co.uk
FTI - What's that?I was talking to the Mayor of Bournemouth a while back and on learning my profession, he said "Getting advice is all very well but the biggest problem I see is the dreaded FTI!". I gave him a blank look "Failure To Implement" he said. "Ah yes" said I, "You need a coach!". Well I didn't end up coaching the Mayor, but he had a point, which was brought home to me last week, when a client was bemoaning the fact that the advice he had received from various quarters hadn't really shown up in improved results. I went through all of his plans for the business "Very impressive" I said "Why do you think it's not working?" It turned out that he hadn't actually implemented
any of the great ideas that had come out of the work he had done with his professional advisors. Of course he had good reasons, - Not quite finished, Just need to do this, Waiting for that, Not the right time and so on. The fact is that
doing something would have made a difference, just one thing,
any of the ideas would have improved his business.. You don't have to wait until you have the perfect brochure to start sending information out. Improve it by all means but don't use it as an excuse for prevarication. Send out what you have. Coaching helps of course, but even as a coach, I am only in the business one or two days a month. You are there 20 days -
SO ACT NOW! A good start would be to join my Autumn Get Clients Now! programme. Check out
www.getclientsnow.co.uk .
The best leads are
"pre-sold". What does that mean? I means people that have already decided to buy from you before they contact you. Who could argue with that? So how do you get them? - It's easy for established businesses - Just deliver a great product and fantastic service and your clients will recommend you all over town! But what if you've just started or don't have a large customer base? I can show you how to kick-start your business with pre-sold leads. Come along to my
FREE presentation this
Friday 4th August at Springfield Meetings (1/2 mile from the M4/M5 junction) and learn how. Phone Olivia on
01454 610088 or email
breakfast@springfield.co.uk
