The Importance of Sticking to Your Area of Expertise

Quite a few years ago I worked in the Retail Division of Mobil Oil in Brisbane. I travelled around the state; stayed in luxury hotels; quizzed site owners about their operations; wielded power in allocating funds and appointing franchisees.

The Retail Division was seen as the flashy cousin to the dull and boring refinery operations. Everyone in Retail worked hard (more like we were driven hard!) and occasionally also got some play time as a group.

It was the '90's and the idea of combining petrol sales with convenience stores was still a novel idea in Australia. I was also heavily involved in the fast food sites located on major highways - another new concept.

Time moves on...

Over a few years the Retail Division was wound down, and slowly but surely became inactive.

Why?

Because it wasn't a good fit with the overall operation of Mobil. Essentially Mobil couldn't compete in the retail market place against the faster moving compettors of BP and Shell. It is a high investment, high risk industry.

And today it is reported that 7-Eleven buys Mobil petrol stations.

Behind the scenes it can be assumed that Mobil has struggled for many years to 'keep up with the Jones'. It is obvious that BP and Shell secured lucrative retail sites on major roads, and invested heavily in upgrading their sites.

Mobil stood still because they weren't committed to retail operations. They couldn't see a return.

The lesson here is that you need to define your market place, and your area of expertise, and make sure you stick to it. Mobil wandered into retail operations for decades without making a success of it.

Don't make the same mistake.

Marketing is about being real, not about being glossy

I’ve been working as a marketing practitioner for 20 years. Over that time I’ve heard heaps of people say (or imply) that marketing is fake. That it is about tricking people into buying or doing something they don’t really want or need. That marketing is insincere.

Have you ever thought that?

The scary thing is I meet plenty of business owners – from small operators to partners in large firms – that are still thinking that way. Even though the only way they can grow their business is to undertake some form of marketing, promotion, or selling.

They look down their nose at ‘marketing’ seeing it as something they would rather not do.

And this recent article from website usability guru Gerry McGovern includes this statement…

“This is a really difficult message for marketers and communicators to hear, but we need to hear it and really, really listen. Those of us who think the essence of our jobs is to make our websites exciting don't have much of a future in the web industry.”

Gerry is implying that marketing people focus on the fluffy stuff. The glossy side. Looking to change things just for the sake of it.

OK… I admit some marketers do do that. They are shallow. They look for the excitement in doing something new. Not necessarily something that is needed.

And old-style marketers often focus on telling prospects what they should do – the pushy advertising model – rather than attracting clients by helping them make a decision.

However, if you want to be successful in your business – no matter what your industry or how many customers you have – you must look at marketing as an integral cog in your business machine (wow, it just struck me how 19th century that common cog-in-the-wheel analogy sounds).

Your marketing program should be driven by a sound strategic approach based on achieving your business objectives. It should consist of a series of related events that are:

* Timed for maximum impact on your prospects.
* Add value for your clients-to-be.
* Easily managed within the constraints of your resources (time and money).

Your marketing must address issues important for your prospects - from their perspective.

Get over your feelings of marketing – and use it as the business development tool it really is. Make it work for you.

How to Give a Guarantee That Attracts New Clients... and Doesn't Put You at Risk.

I was working with my client David (not his real name) - the principal of a sports psychology business - to review their marketing program. I asked David "Do you offer a guarantee?"

David thought for a moment and then replied, "No... We can't really give a guarantee."

Do you think the same thing about your business?

When I asked why they didn't offer a guarantee, David explained that in their business it was up to their clients to achieve results.

For example, David and his team couldn't go out and play on tour for their clients.All David's competitors felt the same. No one offered a guarantee.

You see, David's clients are high performance athletes and sports stars, as well as up-and-coming junior players. David and his team felt they couldn't guarantee what they did. They felt they were at the mercy of each clients performance.

But wait... I suggested to David that they were focused on the wrong outcomes - that is, that their clients would win more games, or win more prize money.

Sure, winning is important. I agree that David and his staff can't play the game for their clients. Of course they can't.

Then we discussed that many of David's clients also had objectives about personal satisfaction, and improving performance when under pressure. It wasn't always simply about 'winning'.

Then I probed further. I asked David 'if' his clients followed the advice given, and 'if' they put in the required effort, would he be happy to guarantee that his clients would be more likely to achieve their goals.

Think about your business... If your clients give you honest and
accurate information, follow your advice, and put in enough effort, (and other
factors remain the same) can you guarantee they will increase their chances of
achieving better results?

After a short pause, David said... "Yes, I suppose I can guarantee that".

They key point here is that David can guarantee his 'process' works to help clients achieve results. Of course he can't guarantee clients will always reach their goals. In his case, that is up to every client to work on.

Example of wording for David's guarantee:

If you follow our guidance, put in the work required, and be honest with us about your commitment, we guarantee you will have better prospects of reaching your goals. We'll do everything we can to help you realise your potential.

Important Note:

The guarantee includes specific information about what the client has to do for the guarantee to be applicable. You don't want to make a general guarantee that requires no contribution or effort from your client, if that is in fact a critical partof a successful outcome.

The main point of a guarantee is that you demonstrate faith and confidence in the process, services, or products you are offering.The objective is to remove, or minimise, the perceived risk in buying from you.

Especially if you offer services where clients won't really know if what you do works for them until they have received it. Prospects get worried about making the commitment. They think it is risky.

You need to encourage prospects to become clients by giving a guarantee.Studies have shown that only a very small, tiny percentage of buyers ever call on the guarantee. From my own experience offering guarantees for my sales training programs - after hundreds of delegates I've never had one call on the guarantee.

(Of course you need a quality service, process, or product.)

What can you guarantee for your clients?

Free Online Seminar - Marketing Tips for the Credit Crunch

Have you heard? Times are tough.

Just yesterday Reuters ran a news article headline:
"Cutting costs but still want a fancy phone?"

The article went on to say..

"Now that cell phones are more of a necessity than a luxury for most, the questions are: Which one to buy? How many fancy features do you want? And which service provider fees can you afford?"

Customers are changing their buying habits as a result of the economic circumstances.

"How many fancy features do you want?" As if to say, you cant afford them all, so which ones are most important for you.

How can you adapt to that?

Don't be drawn into negative thinking. See my new online seminar presentation...

Marketing in the Credit Crunch

It's complimentary. My gift to you.

Check it out now at this link >>

Note: You are welcome to share this presentation or blog post with your friends and business colleagues.

I recently gave this presentation as part of a private Australian road show organised by the global firm Expense Reduction Analysts.

Get ready to take some notes! There's plenty to learn in the seminar.

All the best,

Stuart Ayling
Marketing Nous

Office: +61 7 3806 2238
www.marketingnous.com.au

Lost in the Marketing Black Hole

I was working with a client this week. They have been busy. Busy. Too busy to make any progress on the new marketing initiatives we had agreed on at our last meeting. They were getting lost in the black hole of marketing. Where nothing happens, and you cant see out.

They needed to take action. To get focused on what they could do. Because their busy-ness was not going to diminish.

[See the 2-minute Marketing Plan Workshop in Sydney and Brisbane for how you can get out of the black hole of marketing.]

So we made a decision to get their office coordinator on the phone making some introductory calls (also known as cold calls). Part of this strategy requires my clients to work on preparing a few new marketing/promotional documents.

That is what they can focus on. Specific activities that are simple and have immediate impact.

You can do the same. Get focused on marketing activity that produces results.

Making Your First Million-dollar Sale

If you dream of making your first million-dollar sale then read these success stories from Inc.com of how four entrepreneurs made it into the big time.

It's interesting to note the main elements of success, and how they are common across many success stories.

* Being prepared for something BIG. Knowing what might happen and making contingency plans.

* Having patience. Big deals, with big companies, can take many months to mature after the initial presentation.

* Talking to the right people in the client organization. Sometimes you need to work around existing channels to get your message across.

Reminder: Don't lose sight of what is possible. If you want those big deals worth big bucks, then put in the homework and be prepared to work hard to make it happen. It's rarely an 'overnight' success!

Being 'Standard' Can Win You More Business

A recent article from MarketingProfs highlights how rectangular product packaging has a 'golden ratio' that makes the size most appealing to consumers. Key point: The higher the fun factor, the less important it is to stick to the golden ratio.

My reading of this is that the more serious the purchase decision, the more buyers will want your service/business to appear to be 'standard'.

In other words, being standard can make the buying decision easier (and safer) for customers.

Think about it - if you are about to have serious surgery you don't want a doctor joking around. You want them to be like the 'standard' doctor - serious and deliberate. However for treatment a minor ailment a bit of unexpected humour may be appreciated.

YOUR ACTION...
* Consider how seriously your customers treat the decision to buy from you.
* The more serious it is, you need to pay attention to creating trust by being familiar to them.

In other words, just like the golden ratio for rectangular product packaging, be aware of what your customers prefer to see in their service provider. And make sure your service looks familiar (and reliable).

Although being standard may sound boring... it could win you more business.

SME Marketing Success = Consistency

It's a fact that smaller businesses are stretched for resources. And to be successful at marketing you need a consistent schedule of suitable marketing activities. Today I was reading this article that lists '20 ways to attract traffic to your website'.

Guess what... none of the strategies are really expensive. But they do require time and knowledge. And knowledge often takes time to acquire (and that can make it expensive!).

Many of the strategies listed are the same as what I recommend to clients, like:
* Having an email newsletter.
* Presenting seminars and speaking to groups of people.
* Attract quality inbound links to your website.

(Read the article if you want to know all 20)

Whilst the tactics aren't really expensive in dollars, they do require dedication and commitment to fully implement.

The challenge for SME's (small-medium enterprises) is to focus on the marketing tactics that work.... and KEEP doing them.

It's easy to get bored or distracted and not follow through with investing in the future of your business. But if you want a consistent stream of business you must market in a consistent manner.

Who Uses the Internet? And why you should care.

Although I talk a lot about using online marketing tactics... not everyone uses the Internet. Latest data from Pew Internet and eMarketer shows that overall 24% of people do not have any internet connection. Who are they? See chart below.

Generally speaking the people with no Internet connection are quite old (over 70 years of age) and those at the low end of the socio-economic spectrum.

This may come as no surprise to many of you. And admittedly, there aren't many businesses who are focused on the over 70's market.

But other data that is worth closer scrutiny includes that 21% of Baby Boomers (people now aged 43-61 years) don't have Internet access. That's 1 in 5 Boomers!

If your market is Baby Boomers then this is important.

* How do you target and market to the 1 in 5 that don't go online?
* Which offline/traditional marketing tactics offer best ROI for this audience?
* Is the offline group worth pursuing if the marketing costs are significantly higher?

It's important to investigate all opportunities to communicate with your target audience. Only then can you make educated decisions about what to do, and what NOT to do.

Retail and technology main sources of new wealth.

Here in Australia the BRW magazine publishes an annual 'Young Rich' list. It's fascinating reading. One of the most interesting comments from a BRW writer says:

Retail and technology are still the principal sources of Young Rich fortunes. While these sectors are extremely crowded, they also have relatively low barriers to entry - anyone with a computer can start a web-based business, and budding fashion moguls can start building their empires by designing T-shirts in their bedroom. That said, the businesses that survive and prosper need robust processes and systems plus good marketing and distribution.

This goes to show that a good idea is only the start. Businesses grow from hard work and the right strategy and systems.

Data from the report shows that the Retail and Technology sectors account for 20% each of the Young Rich list. Services (other) makes up only 4%, and just 1% of the rich list comes from the Transport sector.

Geographically, New South Wales has 35% of the Young Rich, with Victoria claiming 29%. Queensland has 18%... with a surprising 11% residing overseas.

And it's good to see that 'marketing' gets mentioned as a key success factor. Need help with your marketing?