Posts tagged with way

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March 1, 2010

Think online, go offline

You’ve bought a couple of training courses, read some articles here and there and are subscriber of one or two email lists? Well, I have good news for you. I hereby declare you an local marketing expert.

Expert… me…? Yes, and this is why: Expertise is a relative measure, and you know a ton more about online marketing than 97% of the small business owners in your town. So here are some ideas to start with:

1. Offer local business to list them in Google local for let’s say $50 a piece. That will take you 30 minutes the first couple of times you do it, but by third or so, less than 15 minutes.

2. Set a squeeze page and autoresponder for them… let’s say, $100 a piece. The traffic whould come from their current advertising. They just need to forward a url to you and that will provide them a new way to measure the response rate of their current marketing budget.

3. Setup a Facebook fan page for $100 a piece. This is great for the hospitality and services industry. You can combine this with other discounts, freebies or current promotions, or make something special for the Facebook fans.

4. Make some video content (you know, the flip cam you bought “for business” and haven’t used) and charge them $75 per video uploaded to the “very own” Youtube channel. Video testimonials are great for a Youtube channel, viewers care for what the product or service can do for them, not how many years your customer has been in business.

Any route you choose to take will require the same basic elements:

1. Professional looking forms to collect the customers information.

2. Business cards. Include the words online (or internet), marketing and consultant, advisor. Something along those lines.

3. A small 3 to 5 minutes presentation of the service you are offering. Don’t overuse techincal jargon. Just outline the features and explain the benefits.

Getting customers

The best source is the either the local newspaper or the phone book. Look for businesses that have a website listed and visit the website before contacting the customer. Write down a few improvement tips to share during the conversation.

You can also start with people you already know and ask them for referals. This is the best way to go if the idea of “cold calling” freezes you.

Here is a good rule of thumb when it comes to contacting potential customers: The first contact should be always over the phone. If you try to contact them via email, you will just be “another” marketer, not the local expert.

If face to face deals are not your thing -and many people go to online marketing for this exact same reason-, you can always partner with someone to close the sale for you… you know, the social butterfly type. Remeber, the more people make money on the process, the bigger your business will get.

You get the idea… you are way ahead of the local business owner. Set goals, make a plan and… Take action!

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February 14, 2010

How to Quickly Increase Conversions and Sales

Creating a winning proposition for an online business is accomplished by establishing and executing goals, strategy, and proven marketing tactics. Equipped with these three (3) major components of business planning, an online marketer can expect to see business growth resulting from increased conversions and higher sales.

So, exactly how do you pull these three major elements together?

Start with goals

First, creating goals is the most important place to start. Maybe your goal is to become the largest online seller of products or services in your particular niche. That’s an awesome and commendable goal. Maybe your goal is to launch a brand new product concept to the world –which is also admirable. Perhaps your goal is to increase conversions by 200% within 6 months or something more lofty and aggressive.

But now that you know your goal, how do you achieve success?

A winning combination

You must have a strategy that includes marketing tactics if you want to succeed. Think of it this way.

There are three components of a successful and powerful marketing plan.

  1. Goals are the big picture. A goal tells you where you want to go and it is the vision of success that you have for your future. It’s the inspiration and motivation that keeps you focused and it’s what makes you want to jump out of bed to hit the keys and enter cyberspace every chance you get. It’s what keeps you from straying in your business endeavors.

    2. Becoming the #1 seller of Product X is a goal.

  2. Strategy is an idea about how you can achieve your goals. It’s a more general idea of how to get where you want to go and it is a conceptual plan for success. Maybe your goal is to become the #1 marketing expert in a particular niche. You plan to do that by offering a unique service that accompanies your product or by offering an alternative way to utilize your product.

    3. Or perhaps you plan to do it by including value-added products or services with every sale. Maybe you want to be the “go to price” guy. You may want to make 100% money-back guarantees with no questions asked. Regardless of the “how”, you are now thinking about strategy and ways to increase your exposure, conversions, and sales. There may be multiple strategies to support your goals and that’s fine. It’s even expected.

    Creating a new way to optimize Product X is a strategy.

  3. Tactics are those individual actions, activities, and plans that help you achieve your goals and are based on your strategy. Now we’re down to business.

A tactic is a real action that helps you implement your strategy. Tactics are when you really get down to work. They are derived from a clear understanding of your potential customer, the target audience needs and desires, and a thorough analysis of your product’s strengths, benefits, and value.

But they are also created with knowledge of the competition, what makes your product unique, how you separate yourself from the competition, and what the market is looking for not only today, but tomorrow! Just like strategies, there may be more than once marketing tactic to accomplish the strategy and once again, that is the expectation.

Tactics allow you to demonstrate how your product can be diversified or how it can be leveraged in multiple ways for others to receive value or benefits in some way. Tactics may include creation of videos, blogging, promoting your business in one more than one language, creating content that optimizes keywords, re-engineering a website to make it faster or more user-friendly, or other specific actions that help you accomplish your strategy and achieve goals.

Execution is critical

Online marketing tactics should be simple and expertly executed. Knowing how to create the three components of a winning online business will drive conversions and sales to new heights. Use an engaging combination of basic marketing tactics and augment them with advanced marketing tactics that have proven successful time and time again for the fastest road to success.

Before you approach your business with a “we’ll wait and see” approach, evaluate your goals and create marketing strategies and tactics that ensure success for the long-term. Increased conversions and sales will follow.

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February 9, 2010

Reality check on information technology

Fantastic video on the progression of information technology, researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman, remixed
By the way, I did not create this video! Search on the names above if you want more info – they are responsible.

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November 19, 2009

Never Hear “No” Again?

Is “NO” good or bad? I’ve heard many times that every “NO” brings you closer to a “YES”. Although this idea is true, a few “NO” are enough to discourage 98% of your downline. What if you could teach them how to handle rejection, what if YOU could learn it? Do you find it hard to talk to prospects on the phone, getting hung up on, or handling objections?

I used to be like that, constantly taking the prospects that I would generate on the internet and vomit my business opportunity to them.

Time after time, I would basically get laughed at followed by am immediate “Click”.

I just couldn’t figure it out. What was I doing wrong? There were so many people out there that were effortlessly sponsoring people on the phone.

I did this for what seemed like a lifetime. I wasn’t getting anywhere with my business, basically sponsoring one or two every now and then.

But then I found something that changed the way I talked to prospects forever. It was a video interview with Mike Dillard, and master recruiter Mark Wieser.

In this video Mark get grilled by Mike on how he is able to personally sponsor over 254 reps in one year and how he is able to do it with such ease.

I figured out that I needed to change the way that I was talking to the prospects. I needed to qualify them to see if they are right for my business, not if they would be interested in joining.

I also figured out that I am the boss, I need to control the situation, I am interviewing my prospects to see if they would be good enough to be part of my business.

Basically think of it as if you were the manager interviewing to hire a new employee.

By changing the way that I approach the conversation and the attitude that I have in the conversation, I am now not getting hung up on. I am sponsoring more than ever. Prospects are actually thanking me for the conversations that we have.

Sponsoring and talking to prospects doesn’t have to be hard, frustrating, or filled with rejection.

All you need to know is how to do it the right way, the fun way, from someone that knows how to do it and do it well.

So if you would like to learn how I overcame my fear of talking to prospects on the phone, now sponsor more than ever, and how I never hear the word no again, then you need to get your hands on this free 1 hour video interview.

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