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Jun
08

Who to target in turbulent times

By | Affluent buyers, Copywriting, Success

Tales from the road… and ramblings of a marketing geek…

I just returned from a 3 day event in Calgary hosted by a friend and associate, Greg Habstritt (www.thewealthsummit.com).

The reason I bring this up is that he broke one of the ‘rules’ I have seen present in the seminar scene over the past 7 years.

He had a number of speakers talking on success, wealth creation, economic trends, and passion.

The difference? No pitching allowed. One of the speakers (a very well known one I will not mention here) actually broke the rule while on stage and paid the price from the audience reaction and comments.

What made this even more significant to me… the quality of the attendees. Not only was the content top notch… the attendees were of the highest caliber I had ever seen.

They were doers.

They were successful.

The majority were very wealthy.

And the main reason they were there was that they knew Greg would deliver on his promises and make their time well invested.

The quality of the attendees (paid clients at a high ticket seminar) was higher because nothing was sold. The big events I used to go to regularly, that are now pitch-a-thons, have a much lower quality of person attending now.

So the lesson for you and I is… what type of people do we want to attract?

Obvious.

We want higher quality buyers… and they (the buyers) want higher quality content without feeling slimy.

A simple model… sadly under used.

Jun
04

Marketing in a recession: fast results on a budget

By | advertising, Copywriting, Direct Mail, Entrepreneur, Neighborhood Marketing

Yes, times are tough.

The economy is in turmoil.

Historic giants like GM as ceasing to exist.

People are losing their jobs.

But life and business goes on… just in a different state.

This can be a challenge for you… or an opportunity.

Media is getting desperate for your advertising dollars… so now is the time to get serious about growing your business.

You’ve probably heard the McGraw-Hill Research results by now.

If not, here is a recap:

600 companies in 16 different industries were studied.  It lasted over a 5 year span, and included one recession during the study.

The conclusion?  Companies that maintained or increased their marketing budgets during the 5 year span grew by 256% more than those who didn’t. Those who cut back on their marketing and advertising during the same period of time only grew by 19%.

I know which growth number you and I would prefer… but how and what can we do to get those numbers?

Let’s talk about inexpensive ways to get to your buyers:

Are you leveraging community newspapers?

And yes, this does apply if you are in a business to business market. You just have to look at what papers and newsletters (print ones) are going out to your ideal target market.

But, if you are targeting consumers, have a look at these numbers:

Community newspapers reach:

77% of affluent Canadians

75% of women

76% of parents

75% of homeowners*

(Community Media Special Report 2008)

(This is from a study in Canada, but the numbers would be the same anywhere else who uses quality community newsletters).

Who reads them?

The most recent survey showed that 74 percent of Canadian adults read the last issue of their community paper. That figure was even higher in some provinces; in Saskatchewan it was a record 83 percent. The study also revealed that 76 percent of adults with household incomes over $75K are regular readers, as are most adults with a university education. 50 percent of the surveyed readers do not read any daily newspaper at all.

Think about this now.

If you target a higher income family that you cannot reach via email or newspapers, this is a potential goldmine. 74% of your ideal buyers read the community paper regularly. They earn more money, they are better educated, and they are looking for appropriate products and services (see the survey below for more details).

The best part?

The price of community newspapers! To get a quarter page ad – $50. Full page (with color) – $150. That gets you in front of thousands of targeted prospects (you can choose which community you advertise in by the average income in the community, choose communities that have a higher percentage of golfers, have more than average numbers of school aged children, or have a significant number of boomers and seniors.

All it takes is a little research on your part and you can tap into a very powerful source of potential buyers.

To add to that… community newspapers are filled with crappy advertising! Yours done right, using the information you pick up for free through the Total Package, and you can get some exceptional results.

Definitely worthy of some testing.

Right now, with the economy as it is, people are travelling less and spending more time at home, and in their yards. What better way to reach them than through a paper that 74% of them open every chance they get.

Try and get that through email!

One other inexpensive marketing tool at your disposal

The lowly flyer

What amazes me with these little unsung heroes of direct marketing is the sheer impact you can get with minimal dollars invested.

Here in Canada, we can send “unaddressed admail” to as many homes or businesses as we want for $0.11/per piece. So we can go to 1,000 businesses for $111.

Where else can you get that breadth of distribution? For that price?

Especially now that you can do geographic and demographic targeting of those businesses and individuals?

Thompson Rivers University received a 1.43% response rate to its latest flyer campaign! Higher than the industry average for addressed direct mail… at a fraction of the price.

“The sheer volume and ability to geo-target by postal code keeps my cost per inquiry low and, in general, helps to build brand awareness.” Thompson Rivers University

Something I am testing… and I highly recommend you do too!

Troy

Jun
02

Twitter: The Surprising Recession-Busting Tool

By | Social Networking, Success, Twitter

As you may have seen in my newsletter, Twitter has been a tool I’ve been testing out, starting out as a major disbeliever.

It has been a month or so, and I now have almost 1,700 people following me.  Much of that is thanks to our guest writer today, Kenneth Yu.

He was very helpful in getting me going on Twitter, and has been generous with success secrets and techniques to get Twitter working for your business.

Kenneth has put together the following article to help you understand where Twitter is a fit, and how it may be able to help. Thanks, Troy

Here’s Ken….

There may be a lot of hype surrounding Twitter as a marketing tool, some founded, some not. However, I believe I have stumbled across a remarkable method of using Twitter for marketing. You see…

Twitter is the single most powerful way to combat the recession!

Sound preposterous?

Before you discount anything, let me explain.

The recession is ruled by fear. It may seem like a common notion, but did you know the influence of negative emotions is a lot more wide-ranging than you think?

The great economist John Maynard Keynes said people’s economic decisions, in both good times and bad times, are driven by “animal spirits”. Primitive psychological tendencies that we all possess.

For example, when times are good, you become bold and then you get comfortable. On the other hand, when times are bad, you become fearful. Driven into fight-and-flight mode.

Even as recently as March 13 2009, President Obama’s National Economic Council head Lawrence Summers noted in his speech that the economic crisis has led to an “excess of fear” that must be reversed.

That’s the main reason why your prospect is grabbing on to their wallets for dear life. Why businesses are tumbling right, left and center like a sack of potatoes. Why retail outlets are on perpetual sales mode and slashing prices just to get by.

Why everyone–including you perhaps–seem to be suffering.

As you gathered by now, what do you think is the promised solution? That’s right, you have to…

Remove Their Fear!

In other words, if the problem is a psychological one, than the answer should be a psychological one as well.

And what better psychological marketing weapon than Twitter? Here’s 3 ways to harness Twitter to melt away fear.

1) Twitter Lets Prospects Know You’re the Real Deal

Online persuasion expert J.P.Micek says this, “People buy who you are before they buy what you sell.”

The more someone knows you, the more someone trusts you, the more someone will give you money.

You see, it’s not that your prospects have no money. It’s just that they’re not going to spend any of what they do have on unknown products from unknown people. Twitter gets around that problem, because it gives them good reasons to NOT be scared.

Through conversations where you are generous with your expertise, people can see your heart is in the right place. A strategic placement of a link to a family photo, and they get drawn into your humanity. Heck, even giving a inspirational quote or funny video goes a long way in building your credibility.

2) Twitter Gives Social Proof to Cut Through the Clutter

This world is filled with information overload. In a world of clutter, people stop listening to promises and start looking for proof that expertise (be it in product or service form) will work for them.

Twitter gives you viral traffic to your pre-selling devices—your blogs, emails and articles. In fact, if you do it right, you can get pre-sold followers really quick because of the power of ReTweeting.

I get an average of 2000 hits per article in space of 2 days without even spending a cent. Never in history has a medium being able to deliver oodles of social proof at so minimum a price.

And of course, I realize people regard me as an expert even thought I’m an unknown, due to all this rapid exposure using the Twitter channel.

3) Twitter Gives Top Dogs Reason to Invite You In

Even when it comes to Joint Venture Partners, they have to be convinced you’re the real deal before they start accepting you into their inner circle and promote you. After all, they’ve probably been burned countless times by broken promises and dishonest cheats.

When you start providing massive value to your Twitter following. They will come knocking and wanting to connect with you.

Every tweet is a way to prove your worth over and over again, both to your prospect and to your potential strategic alliances. Opportunities always come in the form of people, and the more people you can connect with, the more doors will open to you.

I mean, look at this article writing opportunity for Troy. If it weren’t for Twitter connecting me someone who knows someone else working in the Total Package, I will not be here and you will not know me.

This is it from me. Hope you enjoy it. Now start using Twitter to tame those pesky animal spirits.

And if you’re looking for a sound strategy in creating a business that will not only survive, but thrive in the recession, may I recommend the Twitter Salvation System? It’s my highly-regarded patented system on monetizing Twitter as a cost-effective marketing channel that can accelerate your business at the same time.

You can find it at http://www.TwitterTestPilot.com

Thanks, Kenneth Yu

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