Marketing 101

Welcome to Marketing Basics 101!!

 
Over the next seven issues I'm going to give you my very best ideas about how to make your business Ultra Successful! These ideas are broken down to the basics and have been PROVEN to work for people in many fields of business. They work for me in my four companies. They work for my clients. They can work for you too!

 
Each lesson is straightforward and very effective if used on it’s own. However, I suggest you implement each and every one. If you do, you will develop a simple, yet highly effective, marketing plan that works to create consistent sales plus build your customer base quickly.

 
Here’s what you will learn in this and the next 6 issues:

1. Five Steps To Building Your Explosive Marketing Machine
2. Make Prospects BEG To Be Your Clients!
3. Get Prospects To Call You
4. FREE And Low Cost Marketing Strategies
5. Create Your Next Super Client
6. Keep Your Customers Forever
7. Four Steps to Unlimited Success

Thousands of people have profited from this “mini marketing course”. I hope you enjoy, and profit from, it as well.

 
Lesson 1

 
FIVE STEPS TO BUILDING YOUR EXPLOSIVE MARKETING MACHINE

 
Where do you stand now?

 
Imagine for a moment that it’s 6 months from today. Ask yourself these vital questions.

1. How much money are you making? (Be honest with yourself.)
2. How much money do you WANT to be making?
3. Do you KNOW how you’re going to make that much money?
4. Do you have a plan?
5. Do you have a system?

If you have a plan, pat yourself on the back, you’re leaps and bounds ahead of most people in the game.

 
If you don’t have a plan, don’t panic. By the end of this course you will.

 
Let’s Make A Plan!!

 
We’re going to take apart the 5 major pieces of your primary marketing message, polish them up, and put them back together to add more selling power to them.

 
Your prospects won’t know what hit ’em!

 
The 5 basic parts of your Marketing Message are:

Who Is Your Target Market?

 
Think of your DREAM client

• How old are they?
• How much money do they make?
• What do they do for a living?
• What does their company do?
• How much money does their company make?
• How much free time do they have?
• Where do they spend it?
• Do they have families?
• Where do they live and work?
• What is the economy like in that area?

Once you’ve answered these questions you know who you’re looking for – people who fit the profile ARE your perfect client. If a person or company doesn’t meet at least 3/4 of your criteria, don’t waste your time pursuing them.

 
What’s Their Problem?

 
Your role as a sales person or entrepreneur is “Problem Solver Extraordinaire.” You get to have fun, be creative, and make a good profit solving other people’s problems. But what are those problems?

• Are they strapped for time?
• Do they need more clients?
• Do they want to keep their employees?
• Do they want to make sure their clients are happy after the sale?
• Do they need to increase the bottom line at their company?
• Do they need to look good in front of the boss?

Once you determine what your prospects’ problems are, you are well on your way to making a sale. Now they need to see YOU as the logical solution to their problem. Once they do that, they will beat a path to your door!

 
What Is Your Solution?

 
How do YOU help them solve the problems you identified?

 
You must POSITION yourself as the solution to their problem. These solutions often come down to things like saving them time, saving them money, making them look good and more.

 
Here are a few examples that would work for a gift company or a florist…

 
If they have to buy a gift but absolutely hate shopping you TAKE THE HASSLE OUT of gift giving and still make them look great.

 
If they want to keep their employees happy WITHOUT SPENDING A LOT OF TIME on a program you develop and manage an employee reward program for them.

 
If they want to make sure their clients are happy after the sale you MAKE THEM LOOK GREAT by setting up and managing a client appreciation program for them.

 
See what I mean? Clients aren’t really interested in products or services, THEY ARE INTERESTED IN HOW YOU CAN SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS. This is true for any and every industry!

 
They’re tuned into WIIFM (what’s in it for me). The more you tell them what THEY GET for working with you; the easier your sales job becomes. There is no need to convince them or overcome objection after objection because they will WANT YOU TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM.

 
Power Stories

 
Power stories are your success stories told in a very direct and to the point manner. You use these to illustrate how you solved somebody else’s problem, which gives you more credibility in the eyes of your prospect.

 
They think, “Wow, if they could do that for XYZ Company, they should certainly be able to help us out!”

 
In our seminars we go into the concept of Power Stories and how to write them with tons of examples, but here we don’t have that much time.

 
For now, think of all the times you’ve bailed somebody out of a problem, had a product that people absolutely raved about, or helped out a charity.

 
If you’re just starting out and don’t have any actual BUSINESS stories, you can still do this.

 
You don’t have to have gotten a “client” out of a jam; family and friends are fine as long as you don’t refer to them as such. The point is to let your clients and prospects get to know what kind of person you are. People do business with people. Show them they're dealing with a person they can like and respect.

 
Have you worked on any community projects? Volunteered at your child's school? Have you ever gone out of your way for a charity? All of these things count.

 
Get writing and keep it short and sweet!

 
(For a FREE special report on how to write Power Stories send an email to PowerStories@healthywealthynwise.com.)

 
Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

 
Your USP tells prospects why they should do business with YOU. What makes YOU better, special, or different from all of the other people in the world trying to sell them products and services?

 
Why are YOU better than your competition?

 
What makes you different from the next company that came up in the search engine?

 
Why is your service the only one they should consider?

 
As you’re doing this, remember that prospects don’t care about how great your products and services are. They care about what’s in it for them.

 
The USP is what makes them feel like they would be absolutely NUTS to think of going to any company other than yours!

 
(For a FREE special report on creating your USP send an email to USP@healthywealthynwise.com.)

 
Wow, you just did A LOT of work!

 
You hammered out the core parts of your marketing message and got down into the nitty gritty of what your business is all about.

 
Feels good, doesn’t it!

 
In Your Next Lesson

 
In the next lesson, we’re going to look in detail at both HOW and WHERE to use your Unique Selling Proposition. Lesson 2 contains some very powerful ideas that you can use immediately to make more sales!

 

Liz Thompson is the co-founder and CEO of HealthyWealthynWise.com. She is also the founder of Guide2GiftBiz.com, the premier educational site for the gift industry. She is the author of 5 books and is working on her sixth, on step-by-step web-site development, due out next summer. She can be reached through her web sites: HealthyWealthynWise.com and Guide2GiftBiz.com , by e-mail at lthompson@healthywealthynwise.com, or by calling (304) 725-2502.