Make Your Marketing Work

Marketing that Misses is Minus a USP

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Want to set yourself up for lack of results, low sales, and reduced profits?

Interested in mindlessly blowing your marketing and advertising budget?

Simple.

Ignore your unique value. Don't incorporate a Unique Selling Proposition into your marketing thinking.

clipped from torontomarketing.blogspot.com

Every Successful Marketing Campaign Has One

Since I started my Toronto marketing firm several clients have asked me to help them revisit a marketing project that had previously gone awry.

I found a pattern.

Every one of these marketing projects was missing one single thing: a genuine and compelling difference that is not only unique but is valued for its uniqueness.

This difference has a name. It is called the Unique Selling Proposition.

Understanding and communicating your Unique Selling Proposition is the secret to delivering a customized marketing message that is meaningful to your clients.

A marketing campaign that influences people is not just about great graphics or clever copy. It is about great graphics and clever copy that are driven by your Unique Selling Proposition.

Why is it so challenging to create such a marketing campaign? Here are a few reasons from The Marketing Caddy:

Does the USP Still Work?

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:51:00 +0000

As a small business, does it make sense to determine one Unique Selling Proposition?

Or...

Have Multiple Selling Propositions?

clipped from www.burkhardagency.com

Multiple Selling
Propositions
may work better for you than USP.

In the mid 1950's, Rosser Reeves, then the top account man at Ted Bates, NYC, coined
the phrase "Unique Selling Proposition."

The idea was that promoting one key
feature and benefit of any brand for years and years and years
would cut through the clutter of advertising and build an
unassailable position in the consumer's mind.

Those were the days when major advertisers such as
Anacin, Colgate, M&M's, Mobil, and Wonder Bread relied on massive network advertising to carve out unassailable Shares
of Market for their products.

USP did help Ted
Bates hold on to their clients for years and years and years. Today,
it's somewhat of a mantra among brand managers. But USP doesn't
really make much sense logically or empirically.

LOGICAL
DEBUNKMENT:

If a Unique Selling Proposition works then it
must lead to a Unique Buying Reason.

Do You USP?

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:01:00 +0000

Without a Unique Selling Proposition, your business is dead in the water in today's competitive business world.

clipped from www.toolkit.com

Your Unique Selling Proposition

In order to successfully market itself, every business owner needs to focus on what's special and different about his or her business. The best way to do this is to try to express this uniqueness in a single statement.

Rosser Reeves was the author of the phrase, "unique selling proposition," or USP, which is a unique message about itself versus the competition that each business or brand should develop and use consistently in its advertising and promotion. By USP we don't necessarily mean a slogan or a phrase that will appear in your advertising, although that's one possible use for it. However, at this point we're focusing on its usefulness as a tool to help you focus on what your business is all about.

If you cannot concisely describe the uniqueness of your idea (and create some excitement in potential users), you may not have the basis for a successful business.

4 Steps to Your Unique Selling Proposition

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:08:00 +0000

Here's a 4 step approach to determine your USP that's sure to jump start your small business marketing

clipped from www.mindtools.com

USP Analysis

The Unique Selling Proposition:
Crafting Your "Competitive
Edge"

For years, business
trainers have stressed the importance of "USPs" (Unique
Selling Propositions). Your USP is the unique thing that you
can offer that your competitors can't. It's your "Competitive
Edge". It’s the reason that customers buy from you
and you alone.

However,
USPs are often extremely difficult to find. And as soon as one
company establishes a successful USP in a market, competitors
rush to copy it.

This
tool helps you find your USP. And it then helps you think about how
you’ll defend it.

Download our free
worksheet to record your analysis, and then follow these
four steps:

1. Understand the Characteristics that Customers Value:

2.
Rank Yourself and Your Competitors By These Criteria:

3.
Identify Where You Rank Well:

4.
Preserve Your USP (and Use It!):

Create a Killer USP

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:38:00 +0000

The first step in positioning your small business for growth and boost your marketing is to create a Unique Selling Proposition

clipped from www.interactivemarketinginc.com

How to Create Your "Unique Selling Proposition" (USP)
That Makes Your Marketing Generate More Results

Boost Your Sales And Profits By Positioning Your
Company As The Best Choice In The Market

What makes you more unique, more
valuable, and more visible in the market? You've heard
the old saying "Differentiate or Die" right? In our highly
competitive world, you have to be unique and fill a
special niche to be successful in the marketplace. Yet one of
the most harmful mistakes small businesses make is not being unique
and positioning themselves as the best choice in the market. How do
you show that your product or service is the best?

Use a Unique Selling Proposition or "USP". Having
a USP will dramatically improve the positioning and marketability of
your company and products by accomplishing 3 things for you:

Small Business Marketing: Advertising

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:17:00 +0000

The next time some ad sales rep, gives you the old "get your name out there" and you gotta build your brand... Remember this reminder from Jonathan Fields in the clipped article below:

99% of your ads are ignored.

Stop wasting money on ads that don't work. Start leveraging your business assets and relationships and build a community of raving fans.

How?

Innovative products and services that zero in on exactly what your clients want.

clipped from jonathanfields.com

Why 99.9% of your ads will never be seen

5,000.

That’s the number of ads the average citygoer is exposed to on any given day, according to a study by Yankelovich.

So, before this day ends, I will have been asked to buy something, in some way shape or form, 5,000 times. And, of those, I’ll buy about five, including food.

I don’t have 30% of each day to give up to noticing and refusing ads and offers, so, instead, I learn to do what everyone does…

I simply tune them out.

Branding, oh please!

If it’s really that important to build a big brand, the vast majority of businesses would be far better served turning all their branding energy and expenditures to making their products and services a serious notch more kick-ass and giving their clients a reason to evangelize the hell out of them to everyone they know.

Spend your money blowing the minds of a small number of people who are on my brain’s whitelist…

Mixing Money and Social Marketing

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:47:00 +0000

Sometimes cold, hard, cash puts a damper on social relationships.

clipped from www.spring.org.uk

Social Versus Financial Thinking - When Money Makes People Lazy and Selfish

Studies show that people inhabit two separate worlds - the social and the financial - and depending on which one is activated, their thoughts and behaviour can change dramatically.

This chasm between our social and financial worlds has been explored in two recent studies that uncover fascinating ways in which money affects our thoughts and behaviour. In the first, participants were subjected to one of social scientists' favourite ruses: the apparently pointless task. They were simply asked to drag a circle across a computer screen as many times as they could in five minutes (Heyman & Ariely, 2004).

Keep Tabs on Your Social Marketing

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:21:00 +0000

Interesting interface with Yahoo Pipes and Salesforce.com.

Like Google Alerts for buzz about you, or keyword buzz in Social marketing networks where you play.

clipped from www.churchofthecustomer.com

Keeping up with the social media fire hose

A few days ago I marveled how Salesforce.com rapidly responded to my tweet on Twitter about one of the company's products.

I asked Kingsley Joseph of Salesforce how he saw my tweet so quickly. He sent me a link to his Yahoo Pipes setup that tracks Salesforce's online word of mouth.

Yahoo Pipes allows you to build a single feed that is made up of other
feeds and data). Kingsley's pipe tracks online mentions of Salesforce and other
company products across social media sites like Flickr, Technorati,
Bloglines, Digg, Techmeme, YouTube, Friendfeed and Quotably Tweetscan (for
Twitter.)

Small Business Marketing Tool: BLIF

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Blogging, LinkIn, Facebook...

3 No-Cost ways for the local and small business to market online and build a following.

Need help launching your BLIF for your small business?

clipped from business-blog-marketing.blogspot.com

BLIF Marketing for Small Businesses

Small businesses and hobby businesses that have little or no marketing budgets can now promote their businesses online. Blif marketing (Blogging + Linked In + Facebook) is a free way to promote and expand your business.

BLIF marketing is also known as zero cost marketing. It utilizes social media, which is free for businesses to access and use. Each of the three components of BLIF Marketing has a distinct purpose.

Blogging

LinkedIn

Facebook

Small Business Marketing Tool: Advertising

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:29:00 +0000

Lots of small businesses miss the mark on their marketing, and especially get it wrong when it comes to advertising.

Ads a meant to Attract prospects that you then systematically communicate with and tell your story.

Don't sell. Get attention and tell. Get permission to tell your story in your ads.

clipped from www.marketingforsuccess.com

3
Steps to Small Business Marketing and Advertising That Works

Are you spending money on advertising that
doesn’t get results? Your marketing and advertising should be helping
you build your business, not cutting into your profits. Many small
business owners barely make a dime for each dollar spent.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re
saying to yourself, “aren’t ads supposed to sell?”

The answer is no!

Combining meaningful content with ads improves
the response to ads dramatically. Put two ads in a magazine,
one in the body and one in an editorial-style advertorial, and you’ll
generate more sales with the latter.

Step 3 – Don’t expect
your ads to do all the work by themselves. They won’t. You need
a marketing and advertising system, where your ads, other marketing materials and
follow-up strategies all work together to give your prospects the
information they need to become your clients.

New in the Neighborhood?

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:42:00 +0000

If you run a local business that provides services that a new person in the neighborhood seeks, here are some ideas of marketing tactics to help your thinking.

clipped from wendy.kinesisinc.com

Are You Marketing to People Who Are New in the Neighborhood?

I received a lot of “Welcome to the Neighborhood” mail. And I thought this was a great way for many types of companies to get new business. And, it was also a great thing for me as a new person in the neighborhood since I had no idea about my local area services. You can purchase mailing lists each month with the names and addresses of the new people in a 3-mile radius from your office. This can be a useful strategy for plumbers, dentists, electricians, carpet cleaners, landscapers, and many other types of industries.

Do you have a business that can profit from marketing to people who are new in the neighborhood? Then develop your own package and start getting it out there!

How to Identify Your Ideal Client

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:49:00 +0000

Your small business marketing strategy begins in identifying who you want to attract to your business. Identify your Ideal Clients and learn how to communicate with them.

clipped from blog.onecoach.com

How to identify your ideal client and generate more revenue

Let’s begin with the end in mind. As a small-business owner, you want more clients, which translates to more revenue.

However, the only way to attract more clients is through effective and compelling marketing. Unfortunately, marketing is expensive these days. So when you do it, you want to make sure you’re getting the right message out to the prospects who are most likely to buy what you sell. And if you get the right message to the “right” prospects, they’ll not only buy from you, they’ll keep coming back and buying from you forever. They’ll tell their family and friends to buy from you as well. And they’ll spend more money with you than your typical client.

Squidoo Lens and Link Exchange

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Can Direct Response Marketing and Social Media Work Together?

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:25:00 +0000

Currently, all the buzz is social marketing. As a direct response marketing guy, how to you establish these social marketing relationships and use direct response techniques to drive leads and sales?

Here're a few ideas...

clipped from emersondirect.wordpress.com

Direct response marketing and social media have not evolved yet.

So my thoughts were, can there be a business model that ties in social media to direct marketing? I immediately went and Googled, “direct response marketing and social media”, and the results look like this:

1) Why can’t Youtube, Flickr, and any type of VOD(video on demand) be a vehicle for a DRTV type of marketing? There are already a ton of advertisers taking advantage of viral videos. What do you see in the first 10-20 seconds of a lot of the video you see? A quick spot. What about URL’s watermarked on the bottom of videos? Why or what is stopping a DR marketer from tryinig to piggyback or create a DR spot that is used only in a Youtube type format? has it been done? I’m not sure. But I’m going to venture to say yes it has. Perhaps because of the fear of a low ROI or the time it takes for some of these social media sites to evolve it has driven marketers into a position of paralysis by analysis?

Setting the Stage for an Ideal Client Relationship

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:22:00 +0000

As a small business owner, when you position your marketing to attract ideal clients on purpose, your profits...and joy... in your business increase.

clipped from incublogger.com

Let Your Prospects KNOW You

Every experience is an energy exchange. If you are focused on only what you can get from a prospect, your fear of not signing on the prospect or being withholding about the amount of time you’re spending with this person, your energy will be resonating at a very low level. This makes all the difference in the world when you are interacting with someone (actually, even more than the words you say!).

You want to create a different energy when connecting with a prospect. You want it to be a co-creative experience. You and your prospect are coming to this meeting on equal ground. You don’t need to prove anything. You just need to meet together to connect.

Now also think about this…do YOU want to rush into a relationship with a new client or customer without getting a sense of if they are your ideal client or not. (Think about any not-so-great client or customer relationships you’ve had in the past…want tons of those? I didn’t think so.)

Social Marketing... Online and Offline

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:14:00 +0000

Use both online and offline social marketing tools.

clipped from www.webdesignseo.com

Business Networking to get Results

Business networking is important to grow your business. Networking can range from virtual online networking using tools like LinkedIn or Facebook to face-to-face meetings. Which forms work the best? Actually, I find that a mix of real and virtual networking is best.

The age of your targeted customer should be an important determiner of which way is best. Match the preferences of your targeted customer with the networking strategies that you are comfortable with. Let’s look at generational preferences.

Virtual Networking: the best networking tools are those that get you in front of your targeted customer. LinkedIn seems to be the most accepted business networking tool. Other popular tools include Facebook, Plaxo, and Fastpitch.

Is Your Marketing Stuck in the "80s?

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:11:00 +0000

clipped from larealestate.typepad.com

Seth Godin's new book, Meatball Sundae, should be required reading throughout the real estate industry. But first, some definitions. Meatballs are the average products and services that have been created to appeal to the largest number of people. Meatballs are not exceptional. Meatballs are not extraordinary. Meatballs will never offend. They can't because they are trying to offer some value to the greatest number of people.

As an industry, it's premature for real estate to consider tools and methods like social media unless we're prepared to alter the DNA of our companies. It will mean that broker-owners become uncomfortable as they trust the future direction of their business to methods and strategies that they never used as agents themselves. It will mean that we embrace permission-driven marketing initiatives and re-build the notion of respect for our clients. It will mean change at a fundamental level.

Viral Marketing Tactics for Small Business

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:01:00 +0000

The days of cold calls and telemarketing are over. Use the power of the Internet and blogs to create a viral message that attracts prospects to your business.

clipped from www.workoninternet.com

Viral Marketing - The One Virus You Want Your Marketing to Get!
Published Date: 2008-03-15 18:07:05 WorkOnInternet.com

There are two questions that this will answer: What does viral marketing mean? How do you catch this virus?

First, let's discuss the concept of viral marketing. This is the process of creating a presence on the web in a number of different methods and in a number of different venues designed to create a significant number of places on the web for you to be found. When done consistently and properly you and your brand will spread like a virus.

So,how do you catch this bug? It is the system of constructing an internet presence with many strategies and tactics that dovetail together to create a sizeable amount of publicity. When these strategies are linked together properly potential prospects will begin to find you and resulting in a drive of traffic to your website that can be beyond your wildest dreams.

Small Business Marketing Tool: Viral Videos

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:46:00 +0000

Maybe you don't sell(or...Rent???) high-end purses...

Perhaps you're not French...

You might be a guy and not really "get" the appeal of this clip...

But this is one "Killer" vid.

P.S.--- It does lack one thing... find out the one crucial element all your viral marketing must include

Marketing Lessons from Barack

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:03:00 +0000

Take a look at how Barack Obama's Presidential campaign is tapping into social marketing and viral marketing.

It's not necessarily about "branding". It's good old word-of-mouth gone viral with communication tools on streroids.

clipped from www.marketingprofs.com

Web 2.0 Politics: What Brands Can Learn From the 2008 Presidential Campaigns

If the Internet community didn't know what its place in the world of politics was back in 2004, it most certainly does today.

Its "place" is to actively engage politicians and fellow citizens in conversations, promote candidates, help with campaign fundraising and educate other voters about particular candidates and issues—all through the use of new social-media tools that are vital to a candidate's overall marketing strategy.

Today, by contrast, campaigns don't just have a Web presence—they have a Web 2.0 presence. Campaign managers are taking advantage of the Web's recent evolution to a more social and participatory medium (dubbed "Web 2.0") and leveraging new social-media tools such as social networks, blogs, social video sites, embeddable widgets, and more to reach millions of voters and engage them in the political process.

Time to Get Social

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:16:00 +0000

Find more videos like this on Social Marketing Central

The Law of Client Attraction

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:17:00 +0000

Entrepreneurs understand the basic Law of Client Attraction.

It's not a marketing tactic or tool.

It's not some marketing or advertising gimmick.

Ideal Client Attraction is a marketing mindset that all top entrepreneurs adopt.

This article explains The Secret of client Attraction.

How are you thinking about attracting clients to your business?

I Wish I Could Share This Client Attraction Secret With You Personally

Many adults would love to quit their jobs and work for
themselves: to be our own boss, to set our own schedule, to
succeed on our own terms.

Keep in mind that anything you need from a practical
standpoint in order to start a business and consistently
attract local and global clients is available out there
somewhere. You can pick up all the guidance, and the wisdom
you need from the internet, from millionaire mentors, or a
library.

So, if money isn't necessary to attract clients, and
knowledge isn't necessary, then what is? What's absolutely
necessary is to develop the thinking pattern of the
entrepreneur, which is the individual who looks at life and
asks how he or she can improve things for others. Even in a
down economy, there are major cash-flow increases being
made using technology as the backbone of our systems, and
also in the world of providing services to people. In fact,
as the world becomes increasingly dependent on technology,
the human is becoming lonelier. The attention you give your
client is even more important, and even more highly prized.

The failure to create a consistent stream of cash-flow and
client attractive business while holding a corporate job
comes, therefore, not in terms of the time or money
resources necessary to start a business, but the mindset
necessary in order to make it succeed. So, here are the
secrets to building a entrepreneur mindset:

Look at everything and ask, "Where's the opportunity in
this?" You must constantly look for hidden assets and
opportunities, both tangible and intangible, in every area
of your life. Ask yourself, your friends, your family, "How
will this product/service solve a problem?"

Flexibility is the foundation of an entrepreneur's mindset.
It means you realize there are always many ways to get
where you're going, so you remain to discovering the ones
that fit you best, that you'll enjoy the most, and the ones
you don't mind handing off to a team member to take over.

The entrepreneur's concept is "Ready, fire, aim, FIRE,
FIRE, FIRE!" Once you understand your ideal client and how
only you can solve their problems in a unique way, go out
and apply it. Too many adults, who work a corporate job,
are just sitting there on top of a gold-mine of ideas to
increase their revenue. Why don't they implement their
ideas you ask? Because I have found that the corporate
adult mindset is "Ready, ready, aim, ready, ready, aim,
ready, ready, and so on." Many adults contemplate action,
but never actually do anything for fear of making a mistake
and losing money.

Entrepreneurs realize that Client Attraction Marketing is
the life force of all business achievement. You must make
attracting clients a priority. Stop wasting time on picking
out graphics for your business cards. Stop creating a
website that your friends like, but doesn't generate
consistent revenue. Your focus should be to continually
demonstrate the benefits people get from working with you.

Now, the final element of becoming a client attractive
entrepreneur without quitting your job is that there's a
logical order to things. Attracting a full practice of
clients is not coincidence. Making $10,000 a month is not
random. There's an immutable order in nature, and in
business. All you have to do is find the system that brings
you the most high-paying clients. Once that's done in
sequence, it becomes relatively simple to achieve what you
want in your small business. Remember, you don't want to
recreate the wheel. You want to ride a turbo charged Jet
Ski that someone else built.

----------------------------------------------------

Kim Schott, your Global Client Communication Expert, is the
author of the Keys to Client Communication System ,
the step-by-step, paint by numbers client attraction
program to attract more clients in less time. To receive
your weekly how-to articles on consistantly attracting more
local and global clients in less time, visit
http://www.SchottCulturalConsulting.com

Does Your Small Business Need a Marketing Coach?

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:06:00 +0000

As a small business owner, in today's ever changing on-line marketing landscape, you need to clearly sort out marketing strategies from all the marketing tactics.

On-line marketing tactics and tools from blogs, to social media sites, to video present the local small business owner with a mind-numbing array of options.

Perhaps you need a marketing Coach to guide your decisions and keep you focused?

clipped from www.entrepreneur.com

Marketing Coach
One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is choosing the right marketing strategies and tactics to win sales. It can be difficult to go directly to a copy and design team unless you know exactly what you want produced and the types of messages that will resonate best with your target audience. That's where a marketing coach comes in. After 17 years in the coaching business (and nearly 30 in marketing, including 10 in agencies) I strongly advise finding a coach who can look at the big picture, beginning with your marketing budget and goals, then work with you to create a one-of-a-kind marketing program you can manage with the daily operations of your business. Avoid coaches that work strictly within a single profession, as they're more likely to propose a cookie-cutter approach. Beware of long-term commitments, and look for a coach with expertise in using a variety of tactics to reach target audiences similar to yours.

Viral Video Secrets

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:51:00 +0000

Viral marketing videos aren't an accident.

clipped from www.techcrunch.com

The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos

Have you ever watched a video with 100,000 views on YouTube and thought to yourself: “How the hell did that video get so many views?” Chances are pretty good that this didn’t happen naturally, but rather that some company worked hard to make it happen – some company like mine.

Over the past year, I have run clandestine marketing campaigns meant to ensure that promotional videos become truly viral, as these examples have become in the extreme. In this post, I will share some of the techniques I use to do my job: to get at least 100,000 people to watch my clients’ “viral” videos.

Secret #1: Not all viral videos are what they seem

2. Content is NOT King

3. Core Strategy: Getting onto the “Most Viewed” page

4. Title Optimization

5. Thumbnail Optimization

6. Commenting: Having a conversation with yourself

7. Releasing all videos simultaneously

8. Strategic Tagging: Leading viewers down the rabbit hole

9. Metrics/Tracking: How we measure effectiveness

The Cart Whisperer: Viral Marketing?

waltghert@gmail.com (Walt Goshert) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:44:00 +0000

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping