|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Flesh Eating Spiders And Other Marketing Horrors
After a friend was bitten by a spider, I decided to do some research to find out more about the spider. I came across a website that decided to create a marketing message that focused on fear based selling and over the top lies. To emphasize the fear based factor, the website was illustrated with pictures of spider bite 'victims' that had huge holes in their skin from where the small spider bite supposedly turned into a flesh eating monster. One photograph caption went way over the top by stating that the victim of a horrific spider bite on the leg resulted in the victim having their leg amputated. The business owners then went on to state that if the victim would have bought their product, this never would have happened.And if you purchase their product it will not happen to you. This business chose to base their marketing on deceit and lies to sell their product. Even worse, they valued profit more than people. They chose to paint a horrific picture with their marketing message in an attempt to scare up customers. What picture does your marketing message paint for prospects? Does it scream: "BUY MY SERVICES OR YOUR BUSINESS WILL DIE!!!" Or does it say: "Here is how I can help you solve your problems" Long after they have forgotten your marketing message or what your business is about, your prospects will rememberhow you made them feel. How do you want to be remembered? As a business willing to make a profit at any cost, including sacrificing the best interest of your clients? Or as a business that always operates from integrity, with a focus on providing the best solutions for your clients? Whatever method you choose, remember that the picture you paint for your clients will remain in their memory long after all of the other memories of your business fades. Copyright 2004 Black Unicorn Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Black Unicorn Communications helpsIndependent Service Professionalsattract more clients in less time.Visit http://www.blackunicorninc.comfor a FREE Business Success Toolkit,including the 7 day e-course:7 Steps To More Clients
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
What to Include in Your Marketing Plan Write-Up For those new to marketing planning, the thought of completing a plan from start to finish may feel daunting. It need not. The level of detail you choose to include in your marketing plan will depend on your resources and situation. If you have extremely limited manpower or other resources, you may be constrained to a "broad brush" approach. If your plan must support your Website's validity to others in the company, a lot of back-up detail may be appropriate. Why Smart People Dont Know How to Market As an educated professional, your success is based on what you know, your education, your intelligence, and your creativity. Even if you're just starting out, you've achieved success just to get your many degrees and pass those licensing exams! Your clients return and refer because you apply your expertise and insight to guide them to appropriate answers for their unique situations. Laws of Marketing ? The 10 Immutable Most marketers believe that anything is achievable if you are energetic, creative or determined enough. But laws of marketing follow laws of business, and if you violate them, you risk your marketing dollars. The conventional answer to all marketing questions is money, which is not true. Getting Your Marketing Message Across with CD Business Cards CD Business cards allows any type of business that dynamic look. Hand out your business card on disc and see the expression on your clients faces. CD Business cards are aimed to provide your prospect with as much information as possible. 5 Ways to Give Your Web Site a Big-Company Look and Feel We all DO judge a book by its cover, and the same saying goes for Web sites. I've seen many entrepreneurs offer great information on their Web pages, but compromise their image dramatically with a few amateur mistakes that can be VERY unforgiving. Fair Measures Corporation A case study in online "thinking outside the box" Real Estate Investing - Writing Killer Postcards to Attract Motivated Sellers! So many of you have been telling us that you're ready to get started investing, but "you can't find any deals! and what are the steps and secrets to finding great deals?" Some of you have even written asking us if there still ARE any deals left? OF COURSE there are! We find them all the time. But you ain't gonna find them looking at for-sale ads in the paper, for-sale signs in the yard, or by concentrating solely on short sales, foreclosures, REOs and agent-listed properties. Test Marketing--How to Increase Your Direct Mail Marketing Response by Using the Internet to Test I've discovered a really fantastic way to discover what works best in direct marketing, BEFORE doing traditional direct marketing. Use these internet tools to find what works best, then apply what you've learned to your traditional direct marketing, direct mail, etc. It's fast and less expensive. Why Cutting Prices Is Like Cutting Your Own Throat Why cutting your prices is like cutting your own throat. It's the oldest sales tactic in the world? And one of the worst? Price cutting. Before you make your next price cut in the face of sales resistance, the question you have to ask yourself is not, "Does it work?," but rather, "Can you live with the bargain?" Here's a pop quiz: you ? in your role as salesperson ? go for the close. You ask the prospect to make a commitment and they don't. What's your first response? Well, if you are like most people in a selling situation ? whether you are the hired sales guy or the CEO-your first response to people not buying-for whatever the reason-is to say, "Would you buy if? ?," and the "if" is always some variant of, "...if the price was lower?" And you ask it almost before you ask them WHY they won't buy. And it's not only when they tell you they won't buy. Many people in sales mentally calculate the discount into their profit calculations, and start discounting even before they try to close the deal. In almost every sales job that I've worked in, people faced with an end-of-quarter crunch to "make the numbers" start playing the discount game. In many industries, it's become common practice to give away all the profits, and many customers are trained to expect it. Trouble is, people are not usually 'not buying' because your price is too high. If you've taken the trouble to establish the real of your product or service, you ? and your prospect ? already know that the value far exceeds the price you are asking. (If not, you better go back and rethink the math.) So if they are saying "no," or simply not saying "yes," it either means they are experienced buyers waiting for you to spontaneously cut your price, or it means they just do not see a sufficiently compelling value?yet. Cutting your prices will almost never lead to new sales if they didn't plan on buying in the first place, and the effect on your profits can be devastating. Follow these numbers: Let's say you sell a product for $100. Your cost is $70. That means it carries a thirty percent margin-your profit is $30. Now, to make a sale, you are "forced" to cut your price by twenty percent. Your new selling price is $80. All things being equal, your profit is now $10-instead of $30. That means a 20% price reduction cost you 66% of your profits. TWO-THIRDS OF YOUR PROFITS for a 20% price reduction! Cut your price much more and your profit quickly goes to zero. Or lower. And that's not even the worst of it. Once you lower prices, they tend to stay low. That $100 widget you just sold for $80? Well, sorry to say, but it's now an $80 widget. Even more damaging, your like-minded competitors will almost definitely lower their prices, and you, my friend, are in a price war. To win in this scenario, you need deep pockets to sustain a losing position for the duration. So for these three reasons-depressed profit margins, permanently lowered prices, and the devastation of a price war-it's a bad idea to lower your prices to buy business-regardless of the economic climate. What can you do instead? The two main strategies are clarifying and quantifying the value, and packaging products or services to maintain higher prices. Here's an interesting example. One of my clients-a software company-had a hot prospect who didn't want to buy the typical contract for software maintenance. They felt that 18% per year was just too expensive, and wanted to pay ad hoc instead. My client knew this was a bad idea. Customers without maintenance contracts typically become your worst. Why? Because they know it's going to cost them each time they pick up the phone for support, so they try not to. Thus, they don't get the right level of service, they don't know how to use the product and they don't get the results they paid for in the first place. And even though it's their fault for skimping, they point the finger at you and badmouth your company. On my advice, my client offered the prospect a four year non-cancelable maintenance contract, and gave them the first year for free. And although it was a 25 percent reduction in total purchase price, it never lowered the per year pricing, and it actually guaranteed more than the prospect's original commitment. Plus, my client locked in that customer for four full years, during which time they rightly expect to sell them additional products and services. Price cutting is the "lazy man's" response when it's hard to make sales. Unfortunately, it may not boost total revenues, and results in drastically lowered profits on the sales that do get made. Often the outcome includes permanently reduced prices and margins, and even a price war, which has disastrous consequences for all players, except very deep-pocketed ones. Sell the value instead. Spend the time to discover what your prospect is trying to accomplish, and make sure your product or service helps them do that. Then establish the quantifiable financial impact, and sell them that. Or package, bundle or go for the long-term, multi-year commitment. There are other approaches that not only maintain price levels, but even support higher ones. To get an overview of those approaches, visit http://www.lemberg.com/tipsandtools.html and download "5 tactics to avoid price cutting." --PL © Paul Lemberg. All rights reserved Reprint rights freely given. Please click here for details. Marketing 101: The Power of Marketing When you hear the word "marketing" what comes to mind? More business or wasted money? If your experience with marketing or advertising has been less than positive your cynicism may be well founded. Yet, have you ever noticed a competitor with a mediocre product and a healthy business? The difference is often marketing. Stretching Your Marketing Dollars--7 Cheap and Easy Ways to Market on a Budget Just because you have to stretch your marketing dollars doesn't mean their effectiveness will decrease. The easiest marketing solution is often to simply throw money at a problem. But that is rarely the most effective. When Businesses are forced to use creativity and ingenuity to market on a budget, that is when some of the best results happen. Integrity and Marketing - Finding the Right Balance When marketing themselves to leads and prospects there are five common mistakes people make, all which can be easily avoided by finding the right balance to maintain your personal and professional integrity in all pursuits. Six Ways To Attract New Customers To Your Restaurant Without new business, your restaurant won't be able to grow. You need a constant stream of new customers to replace those you lose as a result of customers relocating, switching jobs, or changing dining habits. Here are six strategies for getting more customers through your doors. Is Your Marketing Working... That is the question, you should be asking yourself. Many feel that it is I'm sure. But is it really! 10 Simple Ways to Boost Your Sales IMMIDIATELY! Alright you've got yourself a nice website with a greatdesign and a good steady traffic coming in... How Do I Define My Market? Your market is who you want to reach. Your customer. Who is your average customer? What is your estimate of total market size? What territory do you intend to serve? Will you offer a variety of products or services? Marketing Strategies to Put Yourself Out of Business Want to learn how to lose a billion dollars? How to Earn the Right "How to Earn the Right..." Marketing Miracles - Do They Just Happen? A simple answer to that is: Yes, Marketing Miracles happen! But, these marketing miracles do not just happen. The process is not instant. It is sequential. It takes planning and the planning requires decision and focus. The decisions must be well thought out and the focus must be spot on. Tie-In With Others To Maximize Your Business Leverage One of the most rewarding, inexpensive, under-used, and effective methods of marketing is to tie in your marketing efforts with the efforts of others.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
