Achieve Dramatic Growth With Niche Marketing

One of the most difficult concepts for many business owners to grasp is niche marketing. This is the strategy of identifying a few narrowly-defined groups of ideal potential buyers and adjusting your marketing to address each group separately.

It’s difficult because many business owners mistakenly believe that everyone is a good prospect for them. Unless you sell an essential, every-day commodity like soap, your ideal target market is NOT everyone. Even within the soap category there are niche markets: designer soaps; facial soaps; bargain soaps, etc.

How do you identify your niches? First, look at your current customers. Who buys from you regularly? Who buys your most profitable items? Who do you like working with?

Next, attempt to classify your best customers demographically, geographically and psycho-graphically. Who are they? Where are they? What made them buy from you in the first place?

Next, analyze where they came from. Print ads? Broadcast ads? Internet? Referrals?

Next, create mini-marketing campaigns that speak directly to each niche group by addressing the important issues that each group has that your product or service solves.

Now, launch each campaign using the medium that worked the best to bring you those good customers and monitor the results. Test and tweak your campaigns. Adapt your success to other niche markets.

Most highly successful small businesses today have utilized the strategy outlined above to grow their businesses dramatically. They are meeting a need or solving a problem of a very specific type of business or consumer, and they are reaping the rewards.

What is preventing YOU from following in their footsteps?

To gain more knowledge about niche marketing and ways to position and grow your business faster and with less effort and expense, download our free report The Three Secrets of Intelligent Direct Marketing. It's also available in MP3 audio. For further assistance, contact marketing strategist Ben Edwards at 617-670-1888.

Turn Your Business Card Into a Top-Producer

If you’re like most business people who are active networkers, you probably have a business card collection that’s been built up over the years. If so, take this challenge:

Go through those cards and pick the ones that jump out at you with a compelling reason to call that person immediately.

Having trouble finding any cards that pass this test? It’s probably because most of the cards use the standard formula of presenting just the basic contact information, perhaps with a logo and a cute but ineffective tag line.

Now take a look at your business card. What about it, if anything, would motivate a qualified prospect to call you now? If it’s just your name and contact information, you may be missing an easy opportunity to turn your business card into a top producing sales rep for your business.

Many people may not realize that a business card is, or should be, an advertisement for your business. As such, it should contain the basic elements of a good ad.

Attract attention with a headline.

Yes, your business card should have a headline that addresses a key problem your target market has that you solve. Because you don’t have a lot of space, your business card headline should be short and to the point. It should be compelling, bold and could be controversial or outrageous. The more your headline stands out, the more people will pay attention to it.

Create interest with a targeted benefit.

Who is your target market? The most effective ads are designed for as narrow a market as possible while still having enough viable prospects to make a profit. You should consider naming your target market on your business card. What is the most valuable benefit you provide? Ideally, you should address a single benefit that appeals to your target market.

Motivate action with a desirable offer.

The most effective ads make an offer that stimulates people to take some kind of positive action on your behalf. Your business card should make such an offer, ideally for something that’s free. This could be an introductory special; a free consultation; a free special report; a free CD or DVD — something to get people to call you, visit your website or go directly to your place of business.

Create a card that’s professional.

Many business people—especially those who are just starting out—use desktop publishing software and sheets of business card stock to create and print their business cards. If you do this, you may leave the wrong impression—that you don’t believe enough in yourself and your business concept to make the small investment necessary to have your cards at least printed professionally. Your business card should reinforce your image. A self-printed card may give the wrong impression.

After all this, I would imagine you're wondering if I follow any of my own advice! I'll take this opportunity to give you my card so you can be the judge.

If you’d like assistance with any element of your print marketing, including that 2"x3.5" sales rep you keep in your wallet, Ben Edwards can help. Call Ben today at 617-670-1888, ext. 1 for an evaluation of your present card or to discuss a current marketing challenge.

Testimonials: An Important Part of Growing Your Business

If you've ever watched an infomercial, you've probably noticed how they use testimonials to support their claims.

There's a reason for this: testimonials make an offer much more believable.

You've probably also noticed that the most believable testimonials seem to come from ordinary-looking and real-sounding people.

Perhaps you've seen those business opportunity commercials where they use people who appear to be actors. Do those testimonials seem staged to you? They probably seem staged to other people, too.

Staged or contrived testimonials can do more harm than good because today's consumers are more observant than ever. They can smell a phony a mile away.

You've probably noticed how the most convincing infomercial testimonials state specific benefits derived and results achieved from using the product. There's a reason for this, too. The more specific a testimonial is, the more believable it will be.

Most good testimonials describe the problems the person was having and go on to state how the product solved those problems. This is done for a reason: credibility.

The infomercial producers want viewers to relate easily to the plight of the people giving the testimonials. They want us to feel their pain and agony. Then they want us to understand how quickly and easily their solution solved the problems. They want us to share in the feeling of relief the product brought to the people giving the testimonials.

Another aspect of most good infomercials is showing real people - perhaps from a studio audience or right off the street - using the product and getting results on the spot. This can be very powerful when skeptical consumers are won over right in front of us. And when they confirm the positive results, we are ready to get out our credit cards and order.

How you can apply these methods to your business

First, use real people in your testimonials, never actors. Get them to give you permission to use their full names, city and state. NEVER use just initials - unless the nature of your product or service requires confidentiality.

Note: You CAN use an actor for an endorsement, which is different from a testimonial.

Second, try your best to get people to state the specific results they got from using what you offer. This is more than just saying how great your product or service is. Get them to say exactly how it helped them.

Third, whenever possible, use photos or video that captures people in the act of using your product; or before and after shots; or sound bites that describe specific results.

And finally, NEVER make up testimonials - EVER. This can be fatal to your business if the media ever finds out.

Three Ways to Make Your Company Brochure More Effective

Happy New Year to my friends and clients in Greater Boston and beyond! If you plan to produce a company brochure in 2006, this blog post is sure to help you.

First, let me pose a simple question:

When you get a typical brochure, what do you usually do with it? If you’re like many people, you tuck it away someplace where you’ll never see it again or you throw it away immediately. Rarely do you keep it front and center. Why? It’s because most brochures are boring, self-serving to the company they try to promote and contain useless information that doesn’t support a buying decision.

Most brochures are ineffective because the people that create them don’t understand the true purpose of a brochure, which is to support a sales presentation rather than to make a sale directly. A good brochure serves as an adjunct to your other sales materials and bolsters your credibility and your brand.

Front panel

The biggest mistake people make when designing a brochure is not having a compelling front panel. The front panel is like a headline in other marketing materials. It’s the ad for your brochure. It’s what makes a reader open the brochure.

Most brochures I’ve seen use the company name and logo on the front panel, perhaps with the company’s tagline. Please understand that your company name is NOT a headline! If you want people to open your brochure and read it you MUST give them a good reason. Many company taglines try to be cute or humorous, or are so vague you don’t really know what the benefits of working with the company are. Relying strictly on your company name, logo and tagline to get people to read further is the brochure kiss of death.

What works much better is to use a compelling headline in much the same way you would in any other ad. For example, “Inside… 7 Reasons Why You Should Call the XYZ Company Before Your Competitors Do.” Or you could ask a question: “Which of these 7 costly mistakes do you make when selecting an X company? Find out inside!” The main purpose of the front panel is to get people to open the brochure and read it. A good headline will do that.

Initial Inside View

Depending on how your brochure is laid out, people may see two inside panels or the back panel and one inside panel when they open your brochure. It’s absolutely critical that you address the issues you talked about on the front panel in the initial inside view. In other words, if you promised “7 Reasons Why…” you MUST have a panel header that says, “7 Reasons Why…”

You should avoid using long paragraphs. Instead, use short paragraphs with sub-headlines and bullets whenever possible. This is because people usually skim sales copy first and then focus on items that get their attention. If your benefits are buried in a long paragraph, they will likely be missed.

Whatever you do, avoid stating biographical details about your company and its personnel unless you can tie those details to specific benefits that are important to your target market. For example, the fact that you have a PhD in sociology is meaningless unless it relates to what you’re doing now. If you belong to an industry association, make sure you state why that’s relevant to your audience.

Back Panel

The third component of your brochure is the back panel. This is what people see when your brochure is placed face down. Your back panel should contain some kind of call to action, meaning a valid reason why people should contact you immediately. This could be an offer of a free report, consultation or trial of your product or service. Your phone number, address and a map to your location if appropriate should be easy to see and read.

Remember, a brochure is like a silent sales assistant. It should reinforce your more personalized sales messages and provide useful, relevant information that gives more reasons to buy from you.

If you want a constructive review of your current brochure or would would like assistance developing a new one, call Ben Edwards today at (617) 670-1888, ext. 1 to arrange for a complimentary 30-minute phone consultation.

The Most Important Factors in Writing Copy

If you want to make sure your sales copy will work, consider these benchmarks to insure your message is persuasive and to the point. These are an important part of the process I and other professional copywriters use and you might want to do the same.

Attention-getting headline and supporting lead-in

Studies have shown that 80% of the impact and success of just about any type of ad is contingent on the effectiveness of 20% of the wording. And that 20% consists of the headline and lead-in or opening equivalent. When you think about it, doesn’t this make perfect sense? The headline is the “ad for the ad” and the lead-in is the confirmation that whatever you promised in the headline will be delivered.

Therefore, it’s imperative that you spend enough time on developing a good headline and lead-in. Give yourself (or your copywriter) two deadlines: One for the headline and lead-in, and one for the rest of the piece.

When you or your copywriter has crafted the best headline and lead-in, it’s time for a little subjective testing. Separately show your headline and lead-in to at least four unrelated people and ask them to grade your work on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the best. Here’s what you want to know:

1. If you had the problem addressed by the headline, would it get your attention and cause you to read the lead-in?

2. After you read the lead-in, would you want to know more?

If you don’t get at least a 3 from everyone on both questions, get some constructive suggestions. Ask what they thought they’d read after the headline (as opposed to what they did read). Ask them why they would read further after the lead-in.

This exercise is important because copywriters are only human and as such they have their own life experiences to guide them. Sometimes a copywriter will write from his own perspective rather than from the point of view of a qualified prospect. It’s always a good idea to get a subjective read from third parties to validate the direction of a promotion before you invest a lot of time and money in it.

Reasons To Believe

Once you’ve decided on the headline and lead-in, it’s time to credentialize the benefit claims you made. This is known as “proof.” In other words, you or your copywriter must now prove to the audience that you will deliver on your promises.

Ideally, it’s best to make one strong promise and then support it with as much substance as you can, However, this is not always possible because often you can’t know for sure what benefit is the most important until you do a little testing. Studies have shown that people will get confused if you discuss more than three benefits up front. So keep your benefits to one to three.

Now make sure that each benefit is supported by at least three types of proof. These could be based on research, testing, personal or customer experience, etc. The more specific and quantifiable your proof statements are, the better they will be believed.

Call to Action

The final portion of your promotion should be to ask people to do something. This is your call to action. Many top copywriters create their call to action first, and then they write their headline, lead-in and the rest of the ad. Think of the call to action as a destination and the rest of the copy as the journey. You must know where you’re going if you want to plan the best route to get there. It’s the same with advertising.

Your call to action should be specific: “Call Now!” “Visit our Website Now!” “Come in Today!” And if all possible you should create a sense of urgency by adding a “kicker.” “Call in the next 24 hours and get a free bonus of X, a $Y value.”

Take a look at the last advertising piece you or your copywriter created, and then use the three benchmarks above to help you get the most from your efforts.

For assistance with copywriting and marketing strategy that can help you reach your goals contact Ben Edwards today at 617-670-1888, ext. 1. Ben uses a proven system that guarantees more effective advertising copy.

Why Good Copy is Essential to the Success of Your Marketing

Picture this… The President of the United States walks up to the lectern for the State of the Union Address. Instead of speaking, he holds up pictures that he hopes will represent the concepts he wants to convey to the audience. Some of the pictures have a few words on them, like “Just do it,” “We’re with you,” or “That was easy.” There is a noticeable discomfort in the audience as people start to wonder what’s going on. They don’t understand what the President is trying to communicate. Would you want a president who couldn’t communicate his positions?

Most people would answer no. But when it comes to communicating the benefits of buying their products or services, many business people use the same kind of image-based communications. They couldn’t understand what the President was trying to say, yet they use the same method to talk to their customers.

When communicating your message to the world, please realize that it’s the WORDS that sell, NOT the graphics. Yes, it’s important to use relevant images where appropriate to make your message multi-dimensional. But it’s the headline, lead-in, support statements and call to action that motivate people to buy, NOT the pictures (unless, of course, you SELL pictures).

It’s important to choose the right words, especially if you have a limited budget. If you’re like most business people, you can’t afford to use image-based words, either. It’s possible that Nike has ingrained the words, “Just do it” into our psyches. But do these words really motivate people to choose Nike shoes over Adidas or New Balance when they’re walking next to a wall full of athletic shoes? Sure it’s possible that they might look at Nike shoes first, but ultimately it’s the look and feel of the shoe, along with the price, that will be the deciding factors.

Quick: Who uses the following slogans? “We’re with you.” “That was easy.” (Circuit City and Staples) If you didn’t know you’re not alone. A national survey found that NO ONE could identify or remember these two slogans.

So when contemplating your next ad campaign, remember that it’s the words, not the graphics that sell. And be sure to choose words that convey a specific benefit that is meaningful to your target audience. This is where a good copywriter can help you avoid wasting your money on ads that won’t work.

Podcasting - The 21st Century Way to Tell Your Story

Unless you've been stranded on a desert island for the past four years, you've probably heard of the Apple iPod®. It's a hand-held device that stores MP3s and other files for playback or retrieval.

The iPod® has become Apple's main profit center with more than 28 million units sold since the product was first introduced in 2001. As a result, many competing companies have created their own versions of the iPod®.

The popularity of these devices led to what's known as "podcasting." Pod, for iPod®, and casting for broadcasting. Podcasting was coined by former MTV personality Adam Curry, who has now become known as the "father" of podcasting.

Podcasting grew in popularity as a way for young people to play downloaded MP3 music.

Podcasting has now become a way for anyone to play any kind of MP3 file, whether it is music or a voice-only production.

This is important to you because you can record information about your company and its products and services and make that information available online for people to download and listen to.

You can create your own podcasts and cash in on the growing trend to assimilate information audibly instead of or in addition to reading it.

Podcasting can serve to brand you as an expert in your field who is on the cutting edge of technology.

Podcasting opens up the opportunity for you to create information products you can sell for real money.

Podcasting can take several forms:

• Web page messages
• Online seminars, workshops and clinics
• CD and MP3 "how-to" programs
• Internet radio programs
• Downloadable MP3s
  
• Teleseminars
• Professional interviews

Podcasting is relatively new as a business building tool and most of your competitors are probably not taking advantage of this form of communication.

You can get the jump on them by creating podcasts for your business.

Basic podcasting can be done by simply recording into an iPod-type device, transferring the recording to your computer, and then uploading it to your web server for access by visitors to your website.

You can also buy inexpensive software to record directly into your computer using a microphone plugged into your computer's microphone input.

You can buy additional software to process the file to make it louder or softer; remove any mistakes you made; and to add special effects, like music.

You can have someone interview you about your business and record that interview. You can use the recording as a sales tool or, if it's good enough, you can even sell it.

The possibilities are endless.

Like any new technology, podcasting has a learning curve. Once you master the basics, a whole new way of promoting your business will unfold before you.

Experience this exciting new marketing tool right now by listening to the Write Marketing Group Podcast!

For assistance with the latest marketing strategies that can help you grow your business faster and leave your competition in the dust, contact Ben Edwards today at 617-670-1888, ext. 1.

How to Boost the Chances Your Ad Will Be Successful

Recently I was reviewing competitors' websites in preparation for meeting with a client and I made an interesting discovery.

Of the ten websites I reviewed, not one made any kind of compelling offer to get visitors to take a most desired action.

By that I mean, not one of the websites gave people any meaningful incentive to call, complete a web form, or visit the place of business.

These companies had invested money in having a website built and maintained but had missed a great opportunity to capitalize fully on their investments.

They were spending money to drive traffic to their websites but were letting the ball drop there because they hadn't provided a good reason for visitors to take the next step.

Unfortunately, the lack of a compelling offer is an all-too-common marketing mistake made by the vast majority of advertisers both online and offline.

To prove my point, just pick up most any magazine or newspaper and take a look at the display ads.

I'll wager that nine out of ten of them have no compelling offer of any kind.

What's a compelling offer?

A compelling offer is a meaningful incentive for a reader, listener or viewer to take the next logical step, called a most desired action, or MDA.

Your MDA could be to call, complete a web form, or visit your place of business.

In today's highly cluttered world, competing for and holding attention has become more difficult than ever before. Once that has been accomplished, if you aren't able to get people to take your MDA, your ad dollars will be wasted.

It's not enough that your product or service does great things. Many products and services do that. If you want to motivate people to choose you, you must give them additional reasons to do so. That's where a compelling offer can help.

Compelling offers can take many forms, the most common of which is a price offer. However, when your main drawing card is price, people may come to expect price concessions from you and delay purchasing until your next price promotion.

Another form of offer is a free trial or free sample. Another is a free bonus with purchase.

One of the most cost-effective offers to make is for free information that solves a problem your target market has. This can be accomplished via a special report, tips sheet, booklet, ebook, CD, MP3 download, or DVD.

When properly positioned, free information can have a high perceived value to the recipient, but a low cost to you to deliver, making it the ideal form of compelling offer.

It's easy to determine what kind of information might be appropriate for your target market. Just ask them. This not only can provide the basis for creating your free information, it can also tell you more about what your customers, clients or patients really want.

Remember, if you don't give people a good reason to take action, they probably won't.

For assistance with advertising copy and marketing strategy that can help you reach your goals contact Ben Edwards today at 617-670-1888, ext. 1. Visit our website now.

For the Online Marketer Who Wants More Sales

Would you like to know how to make your website more productive? If so, you might want to pay close attention to the 10 Performance Points below. You may discover some ways to improve your website using this checklist of the key components necessary for maximum profitability.

1. Curb Appeal—Does your home page make the right first impression? Is it appropriate for your industry? Is it blatantly obvious to your visitors why they should stay and learn more? Is the look and feel consistent with the image you want to project? Is your text readable? Does the immediately viewable area contain unproductive dead space?

You only have a few seconds to get and keep viewers' attention. These points are critical if you want people to understand what you do and how it will benefit them.

2. Design Components—Do your graphic elements look professional and load quickly? Are they relevant to the message you want to convey? Are elements such as Flash, JavaScript navigation buttons and other interactive components creating barriers to your site's effectiveness?

Usability studies consistently show that most people dislike Flash intro pages, popup windows and music that starts automatically. Why annoy people needlessly?

3. Home Page Text—Does your home page copy instantly convey the key reasons for doing business with you? Does it contain customer-focused, benefit-laden words, or does it ramble on with meaningless "name, rank and serial number" information?

Does your content build trust? Does it describe how you are different from your competition?

4. Home Page Navigation—Are your links action-oriented? Will they motivate people to click? Is it obvious why someone should click on each link? Is there a logical flow to your navigation structure? Are your navigation arrays confusing? Are they consistent?

You can't make it too convenient for people to learn about you.

5. Site Content—Do you make it easy for visitors to contact you? Do you provide complete details about your company's location, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.? Do you have a privacy policy?

It's surprising how many companies bury their contact information within a website. Why make it difficult for prospects, customers and the media to contact you?

6. Sales Copy—Is your sales copy targeted, relevant and meaningful to a potential customer? Does your copy focus on the reader, rather than on your company? How often do you use the words "you" and "your?" Is your copy filled with confusing industry jargon? For more on effective advertising copy that focuses on the reader, view my July 12 blog post entitled, "Is Being Inner-Focused Hurting Your Business?"

Before they get to know you, most people are only interested in what's in it for them if they stay at your site. Give them good reasons to stay and they will.

7. Compelling Offer—Does your home page make an irresistible offer that will motivate qualified prospects to eagerly hand over multiple contact details? Do you have an automated response system in place to follow up with prospects? How are you keeping track of your prospects? For an example of this, view the free reports and mp3 audio available at the Write Marketing Group home page in exchange for contact information.

A website is only as good as its ability to compile contact information for follow-up, or make sales directly. The more complex your offering is, the more critical it is to have a method of gathering contact details along with permission to re-contact.

8. Call(s)-to-Action—Do your pages each have at least one call to action? What is the most desired result you want from each of your pages? Do you have a newsletter or ezine strategy that delivers relevant, targeted content that is interesting enough that people will actually read it? How do you know if people are reading your messages?

Just like in the offline world, many websites fail to ask the reader to take action. Since you may not get a second chance, it's imperative that you tell people very clearly what you want them to do.

9. Ordering Process—Is your order process easy to understand and easy to use? Is it secure? Do you explain what happens after someone places an order? Have you addressed every question a potential customer might ask? Do your customers get an immediate confirmation when they order?

Confidence and trust are the keys to online ordering success. Make it easy and safe for people to order from you and they will.

10. Search Engine Readiness—Are your home page meta tags in place? Do you have relevant keywords appropriately placed to maximize your chances of getting listed? Are you listed with the major search engines? What is your link popularity? Are your keywords too broad to generate targeted traffic?

Many websites look good on the surface, but underneath—where the code is—they are poorly designed for search engine robots. At a minimum, make sure your title and description tags are optimized to the keywords you want to emphasize.

How did you do? Did your answers convince you that you need help? If so, contact Ben Edwards today at 617-670-1888, ext. 1 for a complimentary 30-minute evaluation.