Direct Marketing Prescription

Top 18 Marketing Elements 5 & 6

2010-01-21T15:59:00.002-07:00

Top 18 Marketing Elements 5 & 6 continued

I've been off line for a time and I realized I never finished this series. So I committing over the next few weeks to get this complete.

When I talk to business owners about their marketing and explain about our outside-the-box, non-traditional marketing and advertising, the first question I get goes something like this.

'Do you use magazine ads or that direct mail stuff for that?'

My answer is always....YES!

We do use all different types of media. But the method we use to deliver the message is always the last thing we consider.

I DO use newspaper, magazines, yellow pages, Val-Pak, direct mail, email, websites and many more MEDIA when I am working with a client. But that is chosen only after we choose who we are going to target and what message we want to deliver.

When most people start thinking about marketing or advertising for their business, all they consider is the media they will use. One of the biggest leaps in my own businesses came 5 or 6 years ago when, my top small business marketing mentor, Dan Kennedy (The Doctor of Harsh Reality) drilled this into my head with his Marketing Triangle that must be in balance before launching any advertising campaign.

We first start with either our specifically defined market and choose a message that will get us the most traction or with the message we want to deliver then choose the target market. Only after that do we even start to consider how we want to deliver that message (media).

But on to our 5th & 6th marketing step to create more compelling, higher response sales material.

#5: Choose and Urgency Method.

I know you find this extremely hard to believe, but your prospects DO NOT have you products, your company, your services at the top of their mind. They ARE NOT burning up to buy from you. And 2nd, they will procrastinate if given the chance.

You must give them a burning reason to buy from you now and not wait until they get around to it. Because .... they almost never do!

So make sure you give them a reason to do it now.

#6: Conversation in their Head.

Again, I know you will find it hard to believe, but you and your company are not the most important thing going on in your prospect's life. They aren't thinking about you.

But they probably are thinking about Paris Hilton, Michael Jackson, the earthquake in Haiti, the NFL playoffs, the government health care debate, new year's resolutions, Valentine's Day coming up, their birthday coming up next week or something besides you.

If you will design your message to enter that conversation you can get their attention and get them to read your message.

If they have some opinion about your industry...about a problem they have in their life...about something going on with problems in their business, you have a chance to get their attention. When your message speaks in words and phrases they have going on in their head, they are far more likely to respond to your message.

So in summary, no urgency...no sale. Enter the conversation in their head guarantee's you a reading of your message.

Wayne Story
www.MarketingResultsRx.com

Top 18 Marketing Elements

2009-07-31T06:44:00.007-06:00

Here's the next chapter in my continuing series on 18 key elements that should be in any marketing sales letter or website selling a product or service. If your media is a display ad, it is difficult to have enough room to cover all of these. However even in a display ad, you should try to determine the most critical ones and use them.

Remember: Now's the time to get your marketing copy right - so it will sell!

Top 18 Marketing Elements - 3 & 4

3. Choose The Right Media: Once you know the WHO and the MESSAGE you are going to deliver to the WHO, (see my last post) you can now choose the media.

Here’s another big mistake I see all the time. Most business owners first choose the media and then try to decide what MESSAGE they want to convey. When starting with media, they almost never consider the WHO that particular media is best targeted to reach.

A great example of this was the owner of a home flooring sales and installation company that attended one of my marketing seminars. The Val-Pak advertising salesperson had been to his office and convinced him this was a great advertising media for him to use. The salesperson helped him put some ads together to run in their monthly mailings.

You see by choosing the media first, he hadn’t considered WHO was opening, reading and responding to the ads. 87% of Val-Pak ad envelopes are opened by women. But, his ads were using words, phrases, terms and offers that were targeted to getting men to respond. 87% of all of his ads were falling on deaf ears.

You always want to choose the media based on the MESSAGE you have chosen and the WHO you want and expect to respond.

4. Identify What Your OFFER Will Be: You next need to determine what you want to use to grab your prospect’s attention that will cause them to want to take action. Your OFFER might be for some product that is brand new and solves some specific problem that exists in the industry. It might be to OFFER something special that they just can’t do without. It might be some special sale, or special quantity, or a special design, or special product combination for a specific improved price.

Your OFFER might be to request some type of free information to get the prospect to give you their name, email and address. For many companies this is a much better OFFER because it can often take several steps to convince a new client/customer/patient to do business with you. If you have their contact information, you can start dribbling information and OFFERs to get them to begin to Know, Like & Trust you . . . and then do business with you.

Top 18 Marketing Copy Elements - 1 & 2

2009-07-20T10:19:00.005-06:00

Now's the time to Get Your Marketing Copy RIGHT!

I am frequently asked to review copy written by my clients; and I often find that many essential elements are missing. I have worked up a simple list of these elements you should include when you write copy that is designed to get your prospect to buy something or request something you offer as a reason to get them to give you a name, email address and/or address.

I will share my "Must Have" list with you over the next few weeks of posts.

1. Identify the WHO You Are Speaking To: Most all advertising that I see is extremely generic and doesn't call out any specific WHO that company wants to respond. I often find that people give little or no thought to the WHO of marketing. This is the group of businesses, consumers, etc that are most likely to respond and that we want our message to target.

When I bring this up to people the response I often get is: "I don't want to miss anyone that might respond." The truth is that the less targeted you copy the less response you will get. We have proved this over and over again. But, people are still afraid they might miss someone. The broader your message . . . you'll find you receive a smaller percentage of response.

So you must start by specifically deciding who you want this message to target. I am working with a pest control company that wants to sell environmentally friendly bug and varmint control services. We first decided we would target people who are specifically worried about the environment and doing business with green companies that have a certain high level of income.

Now we can acquire a list of those specific people and use this information for the next key element in your marketing copy.

2. Identify the MESSAGE For That Specific WHO: The next big mistake I often see is the MESSAGE is so generic that no one responds. Now that you've identified specifically WHO is most likely to respond, and WHO you want to respond (this is even more critical), you must speak to them in language that hits home with them.

Depending on age, social status, area of the country, psychological influences (psychograpic), stage of life, type of business, industry affiliations, social affiliations, level of education, religious belief status, heritage, etc., you'll need to use different words, illustrations and abbreviations to gain their interest in your product or service.

The words, illustrations, examples, photos, testimonials, proof statements that you use should be predicated on the WHO and what is most likely to cause them to respond.

That's the first two of the eighteen. I'll post the next two in a couple of days.

If you are interested in learning how to use these strategies in more detail, review our website and check out our Small Business Marketing PowerCircle meeting in Albuquerque.
http://www.MarketingStrategiesRx.com

Great Big Quivering Gelatinous Invertebrate Jelly of Indecision

2009-02-21T11:02:00.004-07:00

I just finished reading an article posted by a friend of mine on his Blog. (Chris Hurn, Mercantile Commercial Capital, Orlando, FL). Also to be totally transparent, his company has done a fantastic job providing financing for our new building. Anyway, back to the story. They had made an application to create a National Bank that would be the holding company for their firm and give them greater lending power for people like us who would like to own their own building. But they were turned down even though they were an INC 500 fastest growing company in a failing economy. The governing agency decided they weren't going to approve any more banks for the foreseeable future. He was upset at the government agency for stringing him along, when they are a highly profitable company and showed proven quality lending skills.

You can read his Blog post on this issue at the following link:
The "Great Big Quivering Gelatinous Invertebrate Jelly of Indecision"

What struck me was several people that commented decided Chris' issue was with Obama and that the problem was Bush bad Obama good. I'm not quite sure why it is when we discuss the administration of Career Government agencies and employees; it has to turn into a referendum on one Presidential administration over another. Chis was comparing this experience with his partner's former bank start-up experience. The earlier bank application was approved with people that had less experience and with less proven capital. Several saw this as a Bush/Obama issue when his partners first experience was actually under a totally different administration than Bush or Obama.

So the Presidential comparison was irrelevant to this conversation. Everyone immediately gets defensive and assumes you are badmouthing their candidate. Instead, the issue really is the broken bureaucracy we must wade through to fulfill Government legal requirements and the shroud of hypocrisy that happens when they encourage you to invest your time even though they've decided in advance they aren't going to approve the application.

The Government in general in the Clinton, Bush and now Barrack Obama administrations have in the past and continue to undermined the private sector's ability to excel. The issue is not what President is in office and whether you like that choice. The issue is the bureaucracy our legislature has created over the last 30 years. They find it necessary to create laws to prevent stupidity and greed. When those two are present in a business, and they fail, our government should get the heck out of the way and let them fail. Our economy will survive. It has in the past. Our government should not be in the role of deciding who should fail and who should survive. The truth is, when government takes that path, you almost always just prolong the inevitable. A fine example: do a Google search for "Chrysler Bail-Out 1979."

The Government gave Chrysler $1.2 Billion to keep it from going into bankruptcy. But under the table they did anyway. Creditors only received 30 cents on the dollar. They still laid off 63,000 employees. That sounds a whole lot like bankruptcy to me, without formally calling it "Chapter 11."

Now 30 years later we're back in the same boat with that industry. When does the government stop and get out of our way? Presidential politics should have nothing to do with it. Most all problems are created by large bulbous government agencies and congressional officeholders who must payoff constituents to get re-elected and don't have the fortitude to do the right thing for the country regardless of the election outcome. (All legislators need to be required to read the writings of our founding fathers before they are allowed to take office.) We are repeating the same historic mistakes over and over again except the numbers are getting gigantic.
I welcome your comments on the subject below.

"Show Me The Money - V"

2009-01-22T08:19:00.008-07:00

Final Edition: Show Me The Money, 12/24 Marketing Plan - Part V

Remember, I've been discussing the 12 to 24 months we have to ramp-up our businesses to prepare for a changing economy that will probably last for at least 3-5 years after 2010, maybe longer according to top economy strategists.

You can decide to be ready or you can ignore it and be scrambling to find customers when the real problems hit. Nothing our government can do at this time will have a lasting effect on the weakening economy.

The positive impact from government fiddling will only be short lived. We must be prepared and creating our own bail-out, because they ain't going to give us one. We tend not to learn from history, and history has show the direction we are going right now, will actually extend the recession.

As a continuation of our study of the Affluent market place that has the potential to be a lifesaver for us, I want to complete my review for you today. Dan Kennedy has given us some great strategies in his book No BS Marketing to the Affluent. Here's some more of his 'Keys to the Vault' and a report from his book.

Kennedy Key to Vault #2: "Who you bring through the door matters a lot. Why not deliberately get higher value customers?"

Boomers represent more than 70% of U.S. households with incomes exceeding $75,000 and assets $200,000 and above. Over the next 30 years they will be inheriting an enormous transfer of wealth from parents because their parents believed in leaving a financial legacy to the kids.

If you believe this is just the rest of the country not New Mexico, I just did a mailing list search of only three counties in New Mexico (Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe). The list gave me 55,652 households with income over $100,000 and Investable Assets over $200,000. Is that a big enough marketplace for you?

Disney is going after this demographic in a big way. A few months ago we reviewed the Harley Davidson ad targeting this age group. It was titled "Screw It, Let's Ride." The "Screw It" referred to the bad economy news from the press.

1/3 of all boomers are from financially secure to financially independent. About half of that 1/3 qualifies as wealthy. "Within the boomer population, there is a historically unprecedented percentage of affluent and ultra-affluent consumers coupled with a historically unprecedented willingness on their part to spend their money on themselves. This is a terrific dynamic for us marketers!" Dan Kennedy

Because of their expected inheretance, the boomer generation is expected to have a wealth transfer of $7.2 Trillion over the next 30 years.

Boomers are Re-Inventing Their Lives - And You Could Profit

Dr Mary Furlong, in her book "Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace writes: "Today, boomers are RE-INVENTING their lives. They are finding NEW places to work, NEW places to travel to (and NEW ways of traveling), NEW ways to spend their days, NEW ways to spend time with their children and grandchildren, and NEW ways to stay vital and connected as they age. Each choice represents enormous business opportunity."

Leslie M Harris, in " After Fifty: How the Baby Boom Will Redefine the Mature Market, said: "Boomers see age as a lifestyle choice rather than a chronological imperative." They are very different from their parent's generation.

So what do they want?
In his book, "Common Census: Counterintuitive Guide to Generational Marketing," Ken Gronbach reports that they know what they want. They've been buying the same oil for their cars for years and they wear tan pants. At this point in their lives, they want only three things:
1. Life made easy. 2. Time Saved. 3. Not to be ripped off.

How are you targeting your message to these wants? Note: Affluent boomers already own a lot of stuff. Consequently, boomers are SERVICE CONSUMERS more than product buyers. We want nothing as a thing; we want a thing that gives us time, convenience, freedom, or ease.

The third on the list is missed more than any other. How much do I harp on you about using guarantees? Many times in our lives we have been disappointed by our purchases and even felt ripped-off at times.

Kennedy Key to Vault #3: "Your desired customer's attitudes about things related to your product or service matter much more than any facts about your product or service."

What do you think Dan means by that?

Attitudes Governing Boomer's Spending
Age: Studies show early boomers (my age group) placed old age at 83. That's 3 years after average life expectancy. Boomers now expect to be cured of all sorts of things our grandparents accepted as incurable: breast cancer, and other cancers, heart disease and heart attacks, and other serious ailments. Optimistic faith in medical research producing cures.
Truth?

There hasn't been a new, complete cure for anything since polio. But boomers still inherently believe it will happen. That makes them not very interested in self-help, self-discipline, and so on regarding disease. Many diabetics ignore creating a healthy environment for themselves. They believe there will be a cure or maybe advancements in organ transplants to take care of the problem. So they ignore healthy eating and exercising as a solution.

Patrick Swayze Does!

Patrick Swayze, the actor from "Dirty Dancing" is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer. They say smoking is one of the contributing factors. But he refuses to stop smoking. You see how many in our generation think?

The boomer is fueling the alternative health industry, the magic treatment with nutritional and dietary supplements, herbal supplements, treatments in foreign clinics etc.

The Wellness Industry has emerged as a major business sector. Spas, organic foods, nutrition, exercise and fitness, cosmetic surgeries and procedures, beauty products and services, chiropractic, message therapy, and cosmetic dentistry. This is all because of demands from the boomer. Business week says this is a $400 Billion industry today, growing to $1 Trillion by 2020.

Boomers & Nostalgia
Emotional Nostalgia will go a long way to connecting with the Affluent Baby Boomer. Many times you'll see advertisers using very popular, well-remembered songs of boomer youth.

Dan says, "Roy Rogers is an (nostalgia) anchor for male boomers of a certain age, but...sitting on the floor in front of the B&W TV, still in pajamas, with a bowl of cereal, to watch Roy Rogers, his super horse, Trigger, and Dale Evans . . . that's a better anchor."

These types of Nostalgia Anchors are extremely useful in marketing to Boomers. That's the lure of the country store, for instance the allure of Cracker Barrel restaurants.

How to Lose a Boomer in 60 Seconds
Here's some sure fire way to turn off the boomer in your business or with your advertising. If you subject them to perceived or real DISRESPECT. (Don't call them Pops, Ma'am, Old Man, etc.) If your employees dress in ways considered disrespectful, for instance, having employees with piercing earrings in every part of the body, whole arms or necks, etc full of tattoos. Using language that is perceived as disrespect.

There was a young Irish lady on American Idol this last season. She had an amazing voice, probably the best on the show. But her whole arm and parts of her body (that showed on camera) were covered with tattoos. She didn't last very long on the show. She didn't get votes. I think one of the big reasons is the Boomer regular viewers that refused to vote for her because of her appearance.

The language your employees use can be very disrespectful. "I realize at your age you don't know much about the internet, but...." If they engage in impolite, disrespectful behavior such as talking on a cell phone while ringing up a sale the boomer will buy less and most likely walk out of the business. The boomer just isn't very thrilled with having to deal with very young disinterested employees.

Selling to the Self Employed Affluent
Self employed business owners are a significant portion of the population - statistics show that it's 20% of the U.S. Population but will account for over 70% of the affluence. Many self-employed affluents came from poor backgrounds and seldom disconnect emotionally from this past. Some even romanticize their past struggles according to Dan.

Dan gives the example of Jay Leno's star on Hollywood Walk of Fame. It's located at the corner where he was arrested twice for vagrancy. Or, that he has a massive collection of classic cars may have its roots in the fact that he slept in his car while he was homeless.
Ron Legrand is a highly successful educator and information marketer in the RE business. He travels in his two private jets, lives in a palatial estate in Florida, once worked as an auto mechanic and Dan says Ron remembers having to tell his wife they couldn't afford to get the dryer repaired. And . . . he talks about it frequently in his workshops and seminars.

These affluent boomers have sacrificed much in their life for everything they've gotten. They feel they have to put up with anything unnecessary off of anyone. They view themselves as fiercely independent. They hate rules and tend to run quickly away from a business if they start hearing any rules based language in the businesses advertising.

Who's Paying Attention To The Boomer Affluent?

How many business do you know that will set themselves up to meet every need of a boomer affluent? Disney hotel resorts at Disney World are trained this way. That's why you see them advertising for them to bring their kids and grandkids for a family reunion at Disney World. And guess what, it's working.

They admire the qualities that got them where they are now when they see it in other people and businesses. They're looking for people with stories like their own to do business with.
These people reward ingenuity, drive, persistence, and salesmanship.

Jo Media, MasterMind member

Jo Medina, Medina Insurance agency, often talks about how her clients respond to her and refer their family and friends because she goes out of her way to share stories about her family and where she came from and how hard she has worked to make her agency a success. She has clients with several businesses, several homes and many cars. She's moving her business to targeting affluent households and business owners.

They Are Searching for Value as THEY Define It.
The affluent consumers and businesses are smart about money and getting good deals and bargains. Donald Trump brags about buying a bankrupt billionaire's oceanfront mansion our of a foreclosure. He loves to tell the story of how he then got his whole investment back by replacing all of the antiques and antique furniture with reproductions and then selling the originals. As a result, he basically got the mansion for free, a big bargain.

If given no other reason to judge your product's or service's value, the affluent will choose the best price. I'm sure you've done this yourself. We're buying a new refrigerator. Once we've decided which one we want, Linda is searching the internet and the stores for the best price. That's because no store has given us a compelling reason not to pick price as the only differentiator.

The affluent is hungry to learn as much about a subject of interest in a buying decision as possible. Linda has gone to every website she can find and to every opinion site to get info she needs on a refrigerator.

Affluents Are Information Magnets
Affluent consumers reward those businesses that teach them the key things they need to know to make a right decision. They also reward those who seem to know insider information and are willing to share it in language the affluent understands. That's one of the reasons I push you so hard to implement a printed newsletter. You will be considered an author, and authors have a higher perceived valuel in business by affluent consumers.

This is especially so in B2B. Rick Gee, (Imaging Concepts of NM) (also a MasterMind member) is a very successful salesman of high dollar document management systems (high end, high volume color office printers and storage systems). He gets higher profit margins than competing salespeople because he simply provides written proof of his expertise.

Another advantage you can bring is to take the hassle and trouble out of any transaction by doing things for your client that relieves them of mundane tasks. In the auto repair industry, the Affluent would rather you just come pick-up the car in their driveway so they don't have to mess with bringing it in and then arranging transportation back home or to work for themselves. Or, better yet, provide them a loaner car of equal or better quality to their own.

If you connect with the affluent in a way that speaks directly to them, their needs and prejudices, and offer unusual services, price becomes virtually irrelevant.

Kennedy Key to Vault #4: "Be a good news merchant. Sell optimism along with whatever else you sell."

Why would this be important to the affluent buyer, especially the boomer affluent? It's important because they have been through many downturns in the economy over their life and come out ahead. The Boomer Affluent especially is tired of hearing bad news. That's one of the reasons why you see much of the newspaper industry failing and losing readership.

We're just downright tired of it and will refuse to read it any more. Be upbeat when you write. Be upbeat when you present to your potential customer. Show them you have a great optimism for the future and they will reward you for it.

Conclusion:
Affluent and Mass Affluent consumers, business owners and company executives will continue to spend even in a down economy. They will get what they want. Travel is up; spending on natural healing products and services is up. This is why so many fortunes were built during the depression of the 1930's.

Linda and I owned 2 snowmobiles that we bought a couple of years ago to try out to see if we would enjoy it. We weren't getting time to go out on them, so we decided to sell them this year to get them out of the yard.

We put two ads up on Craig's List, on the web, one in Albuquerque and one in Colorado Springs. We had 18 calls of people ready to buy them for cash right away. They would drive to Albuquerque to get them and for full price. But, we have a sinking economy, right? People will continue to spend on what they really want. You just have to find what that is and provide it.

That makes the affluent marketplace a better target for your products and services. We just need to learn how to market and speak to them in a marketing language they respond to. We need to learn to package our products and services that meet a perceived need or desire. There is much opportunity here.

And, you need to study this group much more. Get and read Dan Kennedy's book, "No BS Marketing to the Affluent" and subscribe to his monthly affluent newsletter to keep up on the latest developments. We can help you with that subscription. Just call us at 505-260-4663.

J. Wayne Story
Small Business Marketing Strategist
http://www.marketingstrategiesrx.com/

Your Keys To The Affluent Vault

2009-01-08T15:21:00.007-07:00

"Show Me The Money" 12 / 24 Marketing Plan Part 4

In my last three newsletters, I have defined what's coming, outlined the significant opportunity to grow your business and defined who are the affluent in our the U.S. marketplace. Then in the next couple of newsletters / blog posts I will discuss the outstanding opportunity.

If you missed the earlier posts, you can get to them on the right under the December posts.

You should plan to re-orient your business to appeal to the group in the U.S. that will still have an ability to spend on your product or service during a potentially lengthy recession. To do that we need to research and understand what this new or additional target market is for us.

I am going to review some key strategies that I have learned from Dan Kennedy, in his book, "No BS Marketing to the Affluent," his "Marketing to the Affluent" monthly newsletter, and in conversations with him.

Most of us wish we owned a bank where we could just walk into the vault and give ourselves a loan. That bank vault does exist for us, but we have to go out and get it. Our vault over the next few years will be providing products and services to the Affluent.

It's the one fewer businesses will know how to open, thus providing the biggest opportunity. Let's start with what Dan Kennedy calls the "Keys to the Vault."

Kennedy Key to Vault #1:
"Make all your marketing to the affluent mirror the way they see and think about themselves."

In the 1960's husbands picked out the family car. In the 1980's couples picked it out. Today in mass-affluent household the woman has her own car and picked it out for herself. Most likely even made the final decision without much if any input from a man in her life.

Linda Picked Out Our Last Car, B-u-t . . .

A couple of years ago, Linda, my wife, decided that we needed a larger SUV because when our kids and their families came to town, we had to take two cars everywhere. One big 8-9 seat SUV would make that much easier.

Linda got on the internet and researched all the cars the size she wanted. She narrowed her choice down to two make/models. Then she started calling around to see where she could get the best deal.

After about a month of research and decision process she chose the one she wanted, and negotiated through email and telephone with the dealer where she would get the right selection and the best price.

She asked me to go with her to the dealer in Santa Fe so that they wouldn't try to intimidate her. She wouldn't have let them intimidate her but she just didn't want to go through the hassle. We got there and she did most of the talking to the salesman and we signed all the papers, arranged for the financing and picked out the accessories.

A few weeks later we picked up the car. Now, ever since that time, who do you think the dealer has been marketing to? Me, the man of the house. I wasn't that involved in making the decision. I didn't do the telephone and fax negotiation. I sat behind the scene as she asked all the key questions.

But they still send all their follow-up marketing materials addressed to me. They should have picked up on the fact that she was the decision maker for this transaction, not me. But they didn't. You may be doing the same. Or, you may not be targeting women individually for your product or service.

Start Target Marketing for Greater Success

There again you are making the big mistake I see often. "I want to try to get everyone." When you do that you will get fewer everyone than you would if you targeted your message. This is extremely important with the Affluent.

Marketing to affluent households will have to include, if not target, women. 2007 marked the first time there were as many single women as married women in U.S. Why do you think that would be important to note?

2005, Single women were the 2nd largest group of home buyers (1.5 million homes). When have you seen any Real Estate advertising aimed at single women?

Why do you think we have this trend of mass affluent women?

There is also a large group of willfully unmarried affluent women - especially in Boomer age. And, they are controlling a significant buying power. They're buying homes, doing their own investing, planning and funding retirements, planning their own vacations and so on for life.
But hardly anyone is marketing specifically to this group.

They are permanent heads of households. Do you know anyone like this?

You can't design a business to be exclusively for men anymore. That would be sexist. But you can design one exclusively for women. (That's not sexist) Discrimination is one of the most powerful of all marketing strategies.
What do you think I mean by that?

Men tend to buy for status as a matter of competition or comparison. For women status may be a matter of association rather than competition. But both often buy for status.

The affluent guy will often purchase a 60 foot yacht because everyone else at the club has a 48 foot yacht. Many yacht owners freely admit their size choice was based on the sizes of their peers. An expensive 'My blank is bigger than your blank.' A throw back from the high school locker room, maybe.

Next week I'll discuss Kennedy's the next two Key's to the Vault of the Affluent pocketbook.

Wayne Story
http://www.marketingstrategiesrx.com/

"Show Me The Money" 12 / 24 Marketing Plan Part 3

2008-12-31T11:31:00.010-07:00

Biggest Opportunity To Grow Your Business In Your Lifetime

As you can see from my previous Marketing Prescription Newsletter posts, we are most definitely headed for a recession or possibly worse a full-fledged depression. If you haven't read the earlier installments, look in the right column of this blog. You can find the link to read the first two installments.

You have a 12 - 24 month window to prepare and put your business in a position to thrive and grow during the extended recession that could last 3-5 years . . . or more if congress succeeds in getting their grubby hands on it.

Now that we've resigned ourselves to the coming recession or worse, we can start preparing our business. We should immediately refine and target our marketing to those in the economy who will still have money to spend.

Affluent households and affluent and emerging industry businesses in the United States are the smart target markets for us going into 2010 and on. If you aren't already targeting this prospect market, you should start moving your company or sales territory that direction as fast as you can possibly move.

I'm going to invest the next couple of posts defining this group and explaining how to market to them and how to connect your business to the households and businesses that will still be spending money.

First, lets lay down some definitions for you to put your arms around and understand where we're going. Let's start out with the consumer market. By the way, this also applies to businesses because the people who make the buying decisions in businesses are also affluent consumers.

I will primarily discuss three groups, Ultra-Affluent, Affluent, Mass Affluent. Later I will use the term affluent to refer to all three groups unless I specifically designate one of the groups individually.

There are also Specialty groups within the affluent such as Affluent Boomers, Mass Affluent Boomers, Affluent Entrepreneurs & Business Owners. The reference for the following definitions come from Dan Kennedy's new book, "No BS Marketing To The Affluent."

First the Mass-Affluent group has a household Income range between $85,000 - $150,000 and/or net worth above $250,000 not including their primary residence. They are generally younger and more diverse than previous affluent populations in history. They shop at WalMart as well as upscale stores like Saks 5th Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

The next group up the ladder is the Affluent group with household incomes $150K - $250K and net worth above $1 Million not including primary residence.

Then there is the Ultra-Affluent group with annual incomes in excess of $250,000, Net worth $3-$10 Million.

Believe it or not, those that have a net worth of $1 Million or more represent 10% of all U.S. households - 11 Million, and hold 36% of all income, 70% of all net worth, and 89% of value of all publicly traded stocks and mutual funds in U.S.

Being a millionaire isn't quite the exclusive club it used to be 30 years ago.

There is also an Ultra-Ultra-Affluent group: Incomes above $1 Million, Net worth starting at $10 million. If you can find a product or service to successfully market to this group, you will be joining this exclusive club very quickly.

In my next newsletter post, I'll review some of the keys to marketing to the whole affluent population. And, how to set up your business to prosper during a down economy.

If you would like to learn more about marketing strategies that will carry your business through this new economy, then you need to be studying the guy I study, Dan Kennedy. He's the top small business marketing consultant and thinker in the country. If you aren't a member,

click here and go to this website and register for your 2 months of free newsletters and a whole lot more. Then start implementing what Dan teaches. It will be the best action step you've ever taken for your business. It was for mine.

Then to study more on the Affluent Marketplace, Dan has an add-on newsletter dedicated to strategies for marketing your products and services to this lucrative market. It's his "NoBS Marketing To The Affluent Letter." You have to be a member of his regular marketing letter to subscribe.

Email me at info@MarketingStrategiesRx.com and I'll send you a special invitation with a free report and one free month to test it out.

Show Me The Money - 12/24 Marketing Plan - Part 2

2008-12-17T09:10:00.009-07:00

As I posted last week (December 12), there's a perfect storm coming in our economy. What I'm discussing here is not a DOOM AND GLOOM report. It is a reality, that when we prepare and take action, gives us as business owner marketers a significant opportunity to create new wealth. Understanding is the first step to opportunity. Action is the one that "Shows Me The Money."

One key premise I manage my life and business by is this: Things are never as good .... or bad as the Media makes it out to be. I probably ought to make that into a banner to display at our meetings.

The media is about creating extremes. Extremes sell stories. So you can almost always discount what you hear. Or, better yet, stop listening. Turn it off. You and I don't make decisions in extremes.

The history of the US economy goes through approximately 40-year low-to-peak cycles. At the end of a 40-year cycle our economy drops off significantly. These cycles are usually created by population growth and generational cycles. The start of this last cycle was 1969-1970, just about 40 years ago (as the baby boom generation started entering adulthood).

We also have (approximately) 30-year low to peak Commodity Cycles. The most prominent one we see today is energy prices and the recent peaking technology cycle of computers. Both of these have peaked or are peaking in the next two years. Almost all of life is driven by cycles. These are just two that affect the economy.

Both the 40 year and the 30 year cycles are peaking right now or over the next 12 to 24 months. This hasn't happened in over 100 years. A perfect economic storm is coming.

I don't believe we are quite there yet like the media is saying. I think we are going to get another small run up in the economy in 2009 and another possibly big run up in the oil commodity prices.

After that, the bottom is probably going to drop out of our economy. But, there is great hope for business owners with a marketing mindset like yours and mine. My clients are growing their businesses even when everyone else says the economy is terrible. Why is that? Outside the Box Direct Response Marketing.

Even in a down economy there will still be areas of the economy that are growing. All we have to do is identify where that is and target our business to those parts of the economy. Sounds simple right? But maybe not. YOU have about 12 to 24 months to work long hours and work creatively to put your business in a position to not just survive a downturn but to prosper during a recession.

If we experience a recession during the next 2-3 years, where are we going to find customers/clients that will still be spending money? Did you know that during the 1930's recession we got a whole new generation of wealth created during one of the most difficult times in our history? These were people that identified where there was still going to be a market spending their money, where there would be people still having desires and wants. The Auto industry boomed out of the depression years. The movie industry boomed in the 30's. The oil industry started taking off and did very well during the depression years.

Places like California and Texas weren't affected nearly as much as the rest of the nation because of these new industries, movies and oil. Factories in Michigan and what is now called the rust belt were building and expanding for the auto industry.

People had to buy cars because they needed to trek across the country to find work. They had to move to the city and drive to work because public transportation couldn't keep up with demand.

My dad moved to Houston, Texas during the depression because there were jobs in Houston supporting the build-up in the oil industry.

We have about 1-3 years to prepare our businesses for what's coming. That means we have to work very smart and very fast over this next year if we want our businesses to survive.

So who is affected the least in a down economy? Affluent households and businesses that are in, cater to, and supply key growing industries. People that have disposable incomes and are not on the edge of bankruptcy when things go south.

People in lower income brackets will not be able to weather the storm because they have no cushion. We have to reorient our businesses away from the masses to target people with higher incomes. We need to understand what they want and need.

If we market B2B, the people we will be selling is the business executive, the business owner who will make decisions and react the same way the affluent do because they are the affluent. We will also want to niche market to key industries that will be starting a new technology and commodity cycle for the next 30 years.

In my next post I'll discuss the outstanding opportunities offered by affluent households and affluent new-growth businesses.

Recession and The 12/24 Marketing Plan-Part 1

2008-12-12T13:23:00.007-07:00

Our 12 - 24 Month Marketing Window
To Make Your Business Bullet Proof and
Create Your Own ATM Cash Machine

Those of you who were at our monthly No BS Marketing PowerCircle last Tuesday will remember that I gave a presentation on the coming economic challenges, what to expect, and secret strategies to grow your business in challenging economy.

I made this challenge to the group: "You've got about 12 - 24 months." That's all the time you have to turn your business into the bright shinning castle on the hill rather than the scrambling beggar on the corner of a downwardly correcting economy.

Because of time constraints, I wasn't able to give the complete presentation. So I am taking the next couple of weeks on my BLOG to present an economic reality check and significant growth strategy. Every couple of days I'll post another continuation of the article on this BLOG.

If you'd like to keep up and read the entire research and strategy, in the right column there's a "Subscribe Now" section. From here, you can create a link to any of the following: iGoogle page, MyYahoo page or MyAOL page on your web browser that will tell you when each new article is posted.

If you don't have an iGoogle, MyYahoo or MyAOL on your web browser, click one of the choices in the "Subscribe Now" section and it will create one for you. I use iGoogle, mainly because I also use the Google browser tool bar.

I also have an article here on my BLOG explaining what these browser windows are and why you might use one. http://www.directmarketingstrategiesrx.com/2008/12/subscribing-to-blog.html

Preparation trumps skill in most all cases and especially right now. I want you to be prepared, so I'll explain what's happening and go over the key strategies to make your business the shining light of optimism and success in your industry even in troubling economic times.

Okay, let's start.
Many in the press, capital hill, wall street, economists are predicting an immediate recession. What do you think?

I read a lot of information from economists and so called experts. One of the people that I have found to be the most thorough and most accurate is Howard S. Dent. He has had uncanny success at predicting economic trends over the last 30 years. He's the author of "The Next Great Bubble Boom: How to Profit from the Greatest Boom in History: 2006-2010" and a new book coming out in January: "The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History."

I would definitely recommend reading these.

His writing and predictions hit home with me because I've lived through 4 minor and major recessions in my life. Here's what he's researched and I believe. Our economy goes through 39-40 year peak cycles, 1929, 1968, and now somewhere in 2008 - 2009. These are driven mostly by generational (population) peaks in spending. The Baby boomer spending peak is coming to an end over the next one to two years.

Commodity Cycles - 29-30 Years Long
Commodity cycles/technology cycles and now Oil price cycles peak every 29 - 30 years. 1920, 1951, 1980 and now many expect oil commodity prices to peak in late 2009 - 2010. These are also driven by demographic changes. The one affecting this cycle is the massive baby boom population moving through the economy. That amounts to 1/3rd of the population yet only takes up 18 years of the normal 79 year life span. The baby boom population is at the end of its peak spending years.

Their spending for durable goods which drives economy booms is tailing off drastically. They aren't buying as many cars, refrigerators, washing machines, bread makers and toasters, any more, because they've got what they need already.

The government is going to step in and try to apply financial stimulus but it's probably going to have an effect much like what happened in the early 1980s when we had a similar down turn. In 1980-81, the government stepped in and applied financial stimulus to the economy. Things got better for a couple of years then we lapsed into a significantly deeper down turn in 1983. At about the same time oil prices went in the tank. They plummeted to $5 a barrel. Of course that's unheard of now.

Personal Story of Experiencing Cycle Caused Recession
We experienced this deep recession personally. Linda bought a house for her and her kids (Aaron and Stephanie) in Houston, TX, in 1983 the year before we got married. She thought the government stimulus was really going to work. It was a nice little 1,500 sq. ft., 3 bedroom 2 bath house. She paid $69,000 for the house but the best mortgage interest rate available was 11 1/2%, and . . . she had a great credit rating. Can you imagine paying 11.5% for a mortgage.

Two years later the house appraised for $43,000 after the oil industry drop and the government intervention in the economy dropped house values significantly. The economy in Houston was almost totally dependent on the oil industry. Over half of our oil equipment manufacturing plants closed. Our Texas bank holding companies started losing money and were eventually bought out by large east coast bank conglomerates.

PC Computer Technology Cycle Peaking
In the early 1980s, as one technology cycle peaked, we had a new technology cycle start-up in the personal computer industry. But with the 30 year cycle, it has now reached it's peak and demand for computers and the introduction of new better technologies is peaking and starting to slow down. The Oil commodities are about to do the same thing again.

Are you beginning to see that this is a historical cycle that by definition just keeps happening?

The United States now has two key cycles that are peaking around the same time. That hasn't happened in a long time. You can expect this to cause a deeper drop in our economy than the normal recessionary period. But there is great hope for people who are studying and implementing marketing and advertising strategies with us.

I'll post Part 2 of this multi-part series early next week:
"So Where Are We Going To Find Clients/Customers/Patients"

Subscribing to a BLOG

2008-12-12T12:34:00.006-07:00

How To Subscirbe on Your Computer to a BLOG

Many businesses and people are now creating BLOGs. If you aren't familiar, a BLOG is nothing more than an information website that someone posts articles they write or information about key issues in their industry. Or they are sometimes personal BLOGs just posting info about what's going on in their life.

Jeremy and Jenny, our son and daughter-in-law just moved to Manhattan, New York City with our 5 grandboys (oldest 9). As you can imagine they create quite a site walking down the street. We always had a hard time keeping up with what they were doing and pictures of the boys. She now has a BLOG page that I subscribe to in iGoogle that tells me when she posts a new article and photos of the boys. That's how you would use it for the personal world.

So, when you subscribe to a BLOG you have a reminder when something new has been posted and you can choose or not choose to go check out the new information.

When your web browser opens it is usually programmed to go to a website immediately or to go to another start page. Google, Yahoo and AOL have created these wonderful start pages for you to collect what are called "gadgets' of information that you can review quickly in one place. You can see your facebook info, Blogs you are following, the weather, stock market, lowest gasoline prices around town and all kinds of other gadgets summarized on one screen.

On the right column of this page are some icons for: iGoogle, MyYahoo and MyAOL. Depending on which one you are using, if you click on one of them it will immediately link this blog as a gadget on your web browser start screen. That way you will know when I post a new article. You can immediately go check it out or wait till another time that you open your browser.

I use iGoogle, for several reasons. One I am tracking a lot of what is going on at Google because they are responsible for 64% of all of the searches on the Internet. I want to know what's going on that affects my websites. We also believe they apply some additional value in the search engine rankings to what is posted on your iGoogle start page. So of course I have a link to my BLOG on my iGoogle page.

If you aren't already using one, click on the iGoogle icon at the right, and it will automatically set up your iGoogle start page for you. You can choose some options as you start it up and you can go back later and add gadgets from the "Add Stuff" link at the top of the page. I have several Blogs I track, FoxNews.com, Wall Street Journal, weather, GasBuddy that tells me where the cheapest prices are, weather, and stock market reports on mine.

If you currently have a MyYahoo or MyAOL start page on your browser you can click the related icons for those and it will post it on your browser window.

It's just that easy. If something goes wrong or you have trouble, post a comment below or email me at wayne@MarketingStrategiesRx.com

Newsletters-The 10-Ton Customer Magnet

2008-10-31T10:45:00.000-06:00

Marketing Prescriptions Bi-Weekly Newsletter - 10/31/08

It's Halloween and it's really SCARY what we miss in our businesses that could keep us from SCREAMING at the end of the month.

One of my Power Circle members, April Lund, owns a business in Northeast Albuquerque, Sweet Blessings Cafe & Bakery. She was telling me earlier this year that one of the most profitable areas of her business was catering to businesses. They need food for parties, celebrations, and business meetings, etc.

She was looking for a way to get more of this type business. There were a number of clients she had done events for before, but taking the time to keep in contact with them was tough. I think she'd rather have blood sucked out of her neck by Count Dracula than make all those cold calls every month to get business.

I recommended she add a newsletter to her marketing. After much labor she published her first E-zine. That's an email newsletter about her business vs. a hard copy, mailed newsletter.

After a couple of months, she started having old clients call her to book catering jobs. Several of them volunteered the following paraphrased conversation that should drive a stake into your entrepreneur heart.

"I forgot that we used you in the past and we've been using someone else. They aren't half as good as you, but we had just forgotten to call you."

Does that give you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach? It did April. She was really excited about the new business she didn't have to make phone calls or premise sales calls to get.

However, she also had this knot in her stomach thinking about all the income she missed when they had called someone else. And if that wasn't bad enough, the customers thought she had the better service and product.

They were being catered by the "wicked witch of the west" catering company and would rather have used her.

Everyone makes this mistake when they are first in business. 'If as a small business owner, I give great service and a superior product, my customers/clients will love me and come back over and over again.'

Here's the truth. THEY DON'T. Some do, but many float away down the fast flowing creek of life on to the next bright glowing object that attracts their attention.

One of the BEST Solutions? The business communication newsletter! If you don't publish one at least every month, you are missing a big growth opportunity in your business.

I know it takes time, right? But I guarantee, it will be the best investment of time that you ever make in your business. Communicating with customers through your newsletter is a fertile way to engage your customers/clients/patients in every day communications and remind them that you are still here willing to help them.

There are some short cuts that you can use to make this process faster and easier. I will share some of them with you in the next bi-weekly issue. Here are a several resources that I like that help you understand how to do newsletters.

Jim Palmer is the author of a great book on writing newsletters. It can help you make amazing strides in your newsletters. Go Check it out at this link:

Awesome Newsletter Strategies Book.

Jim is also a GKIC - Dan Kennedy student like we are and does a great job providing you Kennedy style content for your newsletters. At one time, I used his Done-For-You newsletter for our monthly mailed Power Circle newsletter. I'm doing my own now, but he helped get me started when I didn't have enough time.

Jim also offers several Done-For-You newsletters or a subscription to monthly content that you can use as you want in your own newsletter. If you decide to use any of these after you read Jim's book, be sure to come back here to find the link so he knows I referred your business.

Jim's Done For Your Newsletter System

Jim's Monthly Newsletter Content and Coaching System

The best thing you can do for your business is add a newsletter to your marketing mix.

I will continue talking about newsletter publication and some secrets to publishing your own each month in my next Bi-Weekly Edition of the Direct Marketing Strategies Prescription Newsletter.

Wayne Story
505-260-4663
http://www.marketingstrategiesrx.com/

USPS Says Mail Volume Dropping Like a Rock

2008-10-16T13:13:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, you think mailing offers and sales material to your clients and customers is a waste of time, right? According to an article in DMNews Magazine, "The US Postal Service expects to end the current fiscal year with a volume decline of 9 billion pieces and with at least a $2 Billion loss."

I know you've said to yourself, self, 'direct mail doesn't work and this proves it.' The truth is that when the economy goes south, large corporations cut their advertising budgets. One of the first to go is direct mail. But this is a big opportunity for us.

Why do you think they stop filling your customers mailboxes? Because, they are driven by advertising agencies. Ad Agencies hate direct mail and love TV, radio, billboards, newspapers, and yellow pages. That's because they make more money when their clients use these medias.

So what's our opportunity? If the mail box is becoming less cluttered, our message is more likely to stand out. We won't be competing with as many others for our client's attention.

So now's the time to start creating clever, interesting direct mail pieces that get their attention and cause them to respond. Help keep the US Postal Service afloat and your business growing. In my next few issues of the "Marketing Prescription News," I'll be covering the key elements of a successful mail piece.

Wayne Story
Direct Marketing Strategies Rx