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More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: You'll get a whole lot better marketing
results with some common sense than by spending a lot of money.
Common Sense Marketing
If you're reading this eZine, there's a good chance you think that
marketing is difficult and that, if you're going to be good at it,
you're going to need to be privy to some secret inside information.But I'm here to tell you that 80% of the success of marketing
comes from good old common sense. It's not rocket science.Let me take you back about 50 years to New York City. Two Italian
brothers saved up some money and, with the help of several
relatives, opened up a delicatessen.These brothers, let's call them Alberto and Tomas, don't know a
lot about marketing, but they have an extraordinary amount of
common sense. So they keep doing the right things, and their
business grows by leaps and bounds.Here are a few of the common sense things they do:
Targeting - They know who their customers are, so they rent a
store where there's a lot of foot traffic in a neighborhood where
their ideal customers work and live. They are part of the
community, and they are known and respected.Appearance - They pay special attention to how the store is
organized and laid out. It's a nice place to shop. Almost a little
work of art. The front of the store is attractively painted and the
sidewalk is kept clean.Information - The store doesn't just stock goods; everything they
sell comes with a story. The olive oil comes from a special region
of Italy, and their smoked meats are done to order by the
brothers' uncle, Guido.Service - Alberto and Tomas and all of their employees really
take care of you. They know you by name. They let you sample the
most recent cheese, and they'll even get a local boy to deliver
your groceries if you need help.Pricing and Value - They know price is important, but not the
most important thing. Alberto has developed a knack for creating
specials that get people inside the store where they'll buy more,
and then they'll keep returning because of the great value.All of these examples are fairly common sense, wouldn't you say?
Sadly, many Independent Professionals don't seem to have
developed this common sense when it comes to business and
marketing. Is it any wonder that marketing is hard and that
success doesn't come easy?Are you a common sense marketer?
Targeting - Do you have a good sense of who your clients are
and why they should be interested in your services? Have you
developed a solid network of those who could be clients or lead
you to clients? Are you known or unknown in your business
community?Appearance - Hopefully you present yourself well in person, but
when it comes to your marketing materials and web site, are
things a bit of a mess? Can your potential clients find their way
around your site? Does it answer their questions? It is a pleasant
place or a confusing place to visit?Information - Does everything you do have a reason and a story
behind it? Have you created business models that explain the
benefits of your services? When prospects want to know more, do
you have articles, reports and an eZine they can subscribe to?Service - Do you take care of your clients at a very high level?
Are they always delighted when they do business with you? Do
you go the extra mile and do the little things that matter so
much, like returning email and calls in a timely manner?Price and Value - Do your clients get more than their money's
worth? Do you know how to package and price your various
services so that they are attractive to prospects? Do you add
extra value as part of the package?It seems these should all be common sense as well.
I'm not kidding that 80% of marketing is simply attending to
these common sense things. If you owned a deli, and you neglected
to target your clients and find a good location, you had a messy
store, you couldn't talk about your merchandise, you gave poor
service and you priced your products without attention to value,
do you think you'd be in business for long?You don't need to spend a lot of money on marketing, you don't
need a marketing "silver bullet," and you don't need to be a great
"marketing mind." But you definitely need to trust your own
common sense. If you don't, there's not much hope that your
marketing will ever attract many clients.By the way, Alberto and Tomas are the product of my imagination.
But there are thousands of businesses much like theirs that
practice common sense marketing every day and thrive as a
result. Will you be one of them?More on the principles behind "Common Sense Marketing" in
Marketing Flashes below.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beyond Common Sense Marketing
I've found that the people most interested in my products and
services already have some common sense about their marketing.
They realize it takes work and attention to detail in order to gain
recognition, respect and clients that will spread the word.If you're one of these people, you're probably also looking for the
edge that can make you even more successful. You're looking for
ideas to help you with that other 20% that only comes with real-
world experience.You want to know how to communicate faster and more
effectively with your target market. You want to learn exactly
what kind of web site works for an Independent Professional.
You want to master the art of developing an eZine. You want to
understand the subtleties of great service. And you want to know
how to price your services most profitably.All of this you can find in the InfoGuru Marketing Manual.
Check it out today:
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html"TELL PEOPLE TO STOP PROCRASTINATING AND INVEST IN THIS
MANUAL! I could kick myself for not ordering your system sooner!
I just wanted to let you know that my investment in the InfoGuru
Marketing Manual has already paid off. Today I closed a $12,000
deal on a series of sales training workshops. This is clearly a
program that would not have been sold a week ago. Now I have
12,000 reasons to call myself an InfoGuru!" - Steve Johns, Steve
Johns InternationalAnd if you want to really transform your marketing, you'll be
interested in our audio programs that get into even more of the
nitty-gritty of how to make your marketing work.http://www.actionplan.com/transformmktg.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Flashes on the principles behind "Common Sense Marketing"
* Targeting - Prospects want to know that your services are for
them. They must feel you understand them, know them, care about
them and want to help them. You'll succeed at connecting with
potential clients if you get inside their minds and hearts.* Appearance - You don't think appearance is important? It's the
first impression that you don't get a second chance to make. Your
printed and online materials need to impress immediately, or
you'll get written off as an amateur.* Information - Prospects want more information. They might
feel comfortable with you, but they won't feel they trust you
until you build a solid case for why your services can help them.
Answer all of their questions and prove you're what they are
looking for.* Service - Nobody likes to be ignored. And that's the essence of
poor service. If you don't attend to prospects and clients, they'll
feel you don't care about them and don't want their business. This
is very hard to recover from.* Pricing and Value - People want a good deal. But more than that,
they want great value. People don't always buy the cheapest
product or service. They buy what they feel gives them the best
value. Discover what your prospects value and give it to them.Until next week, all the best,
Robert Middleton
ACTION PLAN MARKETING
Helping Independent Professionals Attract More Clients~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790© 2004 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You are free
to use material from the More Clients eZine in whole or in part,
as long as you include complete attribution, including live web
site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:"By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit
Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com for additional
marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional
service businesses."* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
