PromoPower Tips by Larry Mersereau

11:25 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Reach vs Repetition

If you're marketing on a finite budget... and aren't we all these days... it's important to be aware of the constant balancing act between reach and repetition.

Reach is how many people you are trying to put your message in front of. Repetition is how many times they'll see it.

A lot of my clients use direct mail, so the illustration is pretty simple for them. We're talking about how many pieces they mail out, and how often they do it. They have a specific amount of money in the budget, and they have a specific cost per piece for mailing.

For a simple example, let's say you're mailing post cards that cost $1 each including printing, postage and list costs. You are running a six month promotion, and you have budgeted $3,000.

With those budget figures, you may be tempted to mail one time to 3,000 people. After all, it's good to get your name in front of a lot of people, right? Well, yes. But with just one exposure, it's unlikely you're going to make much of an impact.

If people see you just one or two times, they don't know you. People don't generally buy from people they don't know, or at least recognize. Here's where repetition becomes important: You'll be much better off reaching 500 people six times over the six month promotion period. And I mean the same 500.

If 500 people get a post card from you every month, those 500 will at least recognize you. And depending on what you're saying on the post cards, they may well feel like they know you well enough to at least give you a shot at their business.

One important tip about repetion: Make sure you look the same every time they see you. Design a post card layout that will always look the same. Colors, type faces, graphic design... always the same look. You can promote different products or make different offers month to month, but maintain the same look.

If you don't look the same every time they see you, the repetitions don't accrue. You're starting over as someone they've never seen before every month.

10:27 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

More Leads = More Business

Leads are the fuel that makes your financial machine run. You must constantly add new names of prospective customers to your pipeline, then work on taking as many of them as you can to the next step in the dance: customer.

Don’t just sit back and wait for leads to show up. Institutional advertising gets your name out, maybe even makes you "well known" in your market. But it does nothing to generate real live leads.

Lead generation advertising entices people to respond, to raise their hand and let you know that they’re at least somewhat interested in what you sell. To get people to do that, you have to offer something of value and make it free of cost and free of risk for them to get it. By the way, be sure to offer something that would only be of interest to the kind of people that you want to reply so you don’t spend a lot of time and money sending free stuff to people who will never buy from you.

Don’t confuse lead generation offers with buyer incentive offers. A buyer incentive offer gives them something extra if they buy. If someone who has never heard of you sees a buyer incentive offer, you are asking them to make the leap from "total stranger"to "ready to hand you their hard-earned money." If you sell pizza, that may be possible. If you sell kitchen remodeling services, it’s a big leap.

Do what do you offer to generate leads?

I love information products. It can be as simple as a checklist: "Ten easy, inexpensive things you can do yourself to save 20% on your winter heating bill." How about a book? If there is a title in the book store that would only be of interest to your prime prospects... and it has something to do with your business, it may make a great offer. An example would be a free book about kitchen design from that kitchen remodeling service.

I send you a free ezine every week. You are a lead for me. The information in my ezine is only of interest to people who are responsible for their organization’s sales and marketing - the kind of people who buy what I sell. I’d like you to buy one (or all!) of my books some day if you haven’t already. I’d like you to recommend me to speak at your suppliers’ annual meeting or your association’s convention. I’d like you to hire me to help with your advertising and promotion.

If you don’t hire me, recommend me or buy from me, I really don’t lose anything. This ezine goes out to hundreds of people. Some will never do business with me. Enough will to make it worth my while.

But if you send something physical, like a book, it’s different. Say I’m a financial advisor, and I offer a free copy of a book that I’ve written on trading options. After I mail that book, I am going to go after that lead aggressively. I’ve spent some money to get the lead, I’m going to go after it. Most people realize that you aren’t in the business of giving away books, so it should come as no shock to them when you come calling later.

Start taking the first step in the dance with your public. Offer something that motivates them to contact you. Then follow up with buyer incentives and you’ll build your business fast.

02:53 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

A Better 2009

There's no doubt in my mind that 2009 will be a better year for business.

The economy will turn around, if it has not already done so before the end of 2008. Many businesses will disappear in the mean time, some closing their doors, some just dropping out of sight. It's those "dropping out of sight" businesses I want to talk to you about...and I want to  make sure that you're not one of them.

When business gets slow, when money gets tight, the mistake many businesses make is to cut back on marketing. When they look at the profit and loss statement, marketing looks like one of the easiest "expenses" to cut. Hey, nobody gets hurt, right? It's easier to stop advertising than it is to let an employee go, or worse yet, start taking home a little less money yourself.

Here's what happens when you stop marketing: You disappear. You don't just drop out of sight, you drop out of your customers' recallable database. When people are ready to buy, the businesses that pop up from memory first get the first shot at the business. The business that stops promoting themselves, even if temporarily, falls off of that list. They've been replaced by the businesses that are still actively advertising and promoting themselves, keeping their name in front of prospective customers.

If you absolutely must cut back, cut back on the number of people you contact. Don't cut back on how often you contact them. In stead of buying space in the whole metropolitan newspaper, pick your best neighborhoods and buy space in their editions...just as frequently as you've always advertised. If you use direct mail, mail to fewer people (the best names on your list) just as frequently as you've always contacted them.

Don't think you can make it up with email marketing. I notice that many of the businesses I have given permission to email me are upping their frequency lately. I have unsubscribed to more ezines in the last two weeks than I can ever remember. If you get so frequent that people are asking to be taken off your list, you've over saturated them. Unfortunately, you may not even know it. You may just be getting added to blocked sender lists, which means your message will never be seen again.

Businesses that promote themselves consistently in tough times show their prospects that they are serious, solid businesses. When the economy comes back, they'll be the names that are at top-of-mind when the money starts to flow. Isn't that where you want to be?

08:28 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Branding the Presidential Candidates

Wouldn’t you love to be able to describe your company’s brand in a few words? What if you could say it in just one word? I believe that our presidential candidates can.

I usually avoid political comment. But this election is too important. First, I want to say this: VOTE. If it’s not convenient for you to go stand in line on election day, get yourself an absentee ballot NOW. I’ve already voted. There’s no excuse for any U.S. Citizen to not vote. It’s really important this time, so please do it.

Now, back to branding. I’m going to throw out two words. You decide which candidate could easily use which word to describe their brand. If you can see which is which without me saying names, then it’s clearly the case.

Socialist

Capitalist

Those are the words. Can you associate the candidates with their words?

Socialists believe the government should be in charge. The government can manage everyone’s lives, from health care to finances. And if there are people who just aren’t making it... even if it’s just because they’re lazy... the socialist will take more money from the ones who are making it and redistribute the wealth. Everyone can be comfortable. As a socialist system evolves, more people will choose to be lazy, leaving fewer ambitious people to support them (at a higher and higher cost).

Capitalists believe that if you give people the opportunity to accomplish great things, they will. If you create an atmosphere where accomplishment is rewarded, people will strive for the rewards. The down side of this system (in the socialist’s eyes) is that there will be winners... and there will be losers. Ambitious people tend to win. Lazy people tend to lose. As the capitalist system evolves, more people will be motivated to succeed when they see that it is possible.

So who will the lazy people vote for this year? They’ll vote for the socialist. In fact, the socialist will help them with the difficult task of voter registration, even provide transportation to the polls for those who aren’t otherwise ambitious enough or bright enough to do it for themselves.

Heaven forbid that we let the lazy people choose our leadership for us. Yeah, we’re busy trying to make money right now. It’s hard to make time to vote. It will be harder to give up an even larger portion of that hard-earned money to a government that will redistribute it to the lazy people later on.

Get an absentee ballot now, or plan your November 4 around voting. (Unless you’re voting socialist. Your day to vote is November 5.)

03:17 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Personality

I want you to give some serious thought to a specific part of your branding: your personality. Not your own, that of your business.

Yes, your business has a personality. If you don’t know what it is, ask your customers. What’s it like to do business with us? Is it fun? Boring? Do we come across as overly eager? Not eager enough? Are we grumpy? Slow? Fast? Easy to work with? I bet you’ve bought from someone in your lifetime who was very difficult to work with. Do you ever want to buy from them again?

This is not a small issue. But it’s one that every growing business has to wrestle with.

When you started your business, every customer dealt with you. Your personality was your business’ personality. Then you hired some help. Odds are, the help became the first person the customer or prospect came into contact with when they called or stopped by. Did you tell them what personality your customers were used to dealing with? If you met each customer with a big smile, and the new help greets them with a terse "may I help you?" you may be in trouble without even knowing it. And the more help you hire, the more your personality can spin out of control.

Done right, personality pervades every aspect of your business. What you say to people and how you say it. How you decorate your facilities. Colors, voices, design and language in your marketing materials reflect your personality. Even the type of vehicles you drive - would your company name look more appropriate on the side of a Prius or a Hummer? Did you give it any thought when you bought company vehicles?

People prefer to buy from human beings they like, and who seem to appreciate their business. They’ll go out of their way to get there, buy unfamiliar brands on their recommendation... even pay more. That’s how important this is.

You need to decide what your personality is going to be, and everyone who works for you has to understand how important it is. You have a personality now, whether it’s intentional or not. It can turn prospects and customers on, or it can turn them off. It’s up to you to take control.

08:54 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Should you try Mobile Advertising?

If you sell to anyone under about 30 years old (and that number gets bigger every year) you must start looking at mobile advertising.

Mobile advertising is placing your message on mobile phones. It can be as simple as sending text messages to a list of people who have asked you to keep them up to date on specials (How about a weekly special text message?), to as complicated as sending a widget that lets them play a game that features your brand.

Most people who read my stuff will lean towards the lower budget version. And that’s okay as long as you’re doing something to communicate with these people at the street level. Why do I say that? Increasingly, younger people are getting all of their contact with the world through their handheld device. Mobile marketing firm m:metrics says there are 92.5 million mobile phone users who text regularly. Whether you embrace it yourself or not, text messaging is how millions of people communicate. And it’s not just young people. The average age of active texters goes up daily as more people see the convenience and expedience of text messaging.

News, sports, entertainment, communications with their friends, online searches... even online social networking is now enjoyed regularly on what marketers call “the third screen” ( 1=TV, 2=Computer). For many people, their cell phone is their first screen. In fact, it may be the only place to reach them. They don’t watch that much TV. When they do, it’s probably recorded on their DVR so they can skip commercials. They don’t read newspapers. I don’t have to tell you that they don’t look at the yellow pages (they don’t even keep the phone book - it goes straight to the recycle bin).

So what’s your first step? Get educated. This sounds really scary, especially to some of us older folks who don’t even text message yet. Subscribe now to the free ezine at Mobile Marketer. You’ll see what other people are doing, plus see ads from companies that can help you create your mobile strategy and advertising. Start clicking on the ads to learn about all of the options.

As I said, your strategy can be as simple as asking your customer for permission to text them when there’s a special sale or offer. You can also send text messages or banner-type ads through networks that have already obtained the permission from millions of cell phone users. As with email marketing, you can include a link that takes them to your mobile site. I said “mobile site” because you must have a different type of web site if they’re going to be able to see it on their third screen. Your current web site isn't likely to be legible on that smaller screen. You can email coupons. They simply show it on their screen at your business to redeem.

You can target specific groups and even geographically. As things grow, you’ll be able to target people who are walking or driving within a few blocks of your business and offer something special if they stop in "right now" and show you their cell phone.

It all sounds pretty overwhelming right now, I know. But don’t sit back and wait on this technology. It’s already here. And for millions of people, it’s the only way to reach them so you’d better be looking into it. Start small. Start a list of people and their phone numbers so you can text message them with special offers. Like any new technology, you’ll have to walk before you can run. The sooner you start walking, the sooner you’ll be up to a full run. And as you grow in the technology, the number of subscribers who get more and more of their information from the third screen will be growing too. Who doesn't want to grab a piece of the fastest growing medium? Grab a small piece now and you'll be able to grab bigger pieces later.

08:46 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Should you try Mobile Advertising?

If you sell to anyone under about 30 years old (and that number gets bigger every year) you must start looking at mobile advertising.

Mobile advertising is placing your message on mobile phones. It can be as simple as sending text messages to a list of people who have asked you to keep them up to date on specials (How about a weekly special text message?), to as complicated as sending a widget that lets them play a game that features your brand.

Most people who read my stuff will lean towards the lower budget version. And that’s okay as long as you’re doing something to communicate with these people at the street level. Why do I say that? Increasingly, younger people are getting all of their contact with the world through their handheld device. Mobile marketing firm m:metrics says there are 92.5 million mobile phone users who text regularly. Whether you embrace it yourself or not, text messaging is how millions of people communicate. And it’s not just young people. The average age of active texters goes up daily as more people see the convenience and expedience of text messaging.

News, sports, entertainment, communications with their friends, online searches... even online social networking is now enjoyed regularly on what marketers call “the third screen” ( 1=TV, 2=Computer). For many people, their cell phone is their first screen. In fact, it may be the only place to reach them. They don’t watch that much TV. When they do, it’s probably recorded on their DVR so they can skip commercials. They don’t read newspapers. I don’t have to tell you that they don’t look at the yellow pages (they don’t even keep the phone book - it goes straight to the recycle bin).

So what’s your first step? Get educated. This sounds really scary, especially to some of us older folks who don’t even text message yet. Subscribe now to the free ezine at Mobile Marketer. You’ll see what other people are doing, plus see ads from companies that can help you create your mobile strategy and advertising. Start clicking on the ads to learn about all of the options.

As I said, your strategy can be as simple as asking your customer for permission to text them when there’s a special sale or offer. You can also send text messages or banner-type ads through networks that have already obtained the permission from millions of cell phone users. As with email marketing, you can include a link that takes them to your mobile site. I said “mobile site” because you must have a different type of web site if they’re going to be able to see it on their third screen. Your current web site isn't likely to be legible on that smaller screen. You can email coupons. They simply show it on their screen at your business to redeem.

You can target specific groups and even geographically. As things grow, you’ll be able to target people who are walking or driving within a few blocks of your business and offer something special if they stop in "right now" and show you their cell phone.

It all sounds pretty overwhelming right now, I know. But don’t sit back and wait on this technology. It’s already here. And for millions of people, it’s the only way to reach them so you’d better be looking into it. Start small. Start a list of people and their phone numbers so you can text message them with special offers. Like any new technology, you’ll have to walk before you can run. The sooner you start walking, the sooner you’ll be up to a full run. And as you grow in the technology, the number of subscribers who get more and more of their information from the third screen will be growing too. Who doesn't want to grab a piece of the fastest growing medium? Grab a small piece now and you'll be able to grab bigger pieces later.

07:26 am | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Stubborn vs Consistent

I've always preached continuity in your marketing and advertising. By that I mean that you establish a certain look and fee (and sound if applicable). You establish a color theme, general layout, borders, type faces, colors... and you stick with them accross all media. Your mobile site looks just like your web site. Your print ad looks like your direct mail piece. Your TV ad uses the same voice over and background music as your radio spots.

But there comes a time to change. When is that time? When the old stuff stops working. It's amazing to me to see businesses that are getting good resonse to their marketing suddenly change everything. They got bored with it, so they decided to move on to a new, fun challenge. Well your prospects didn't get bored with it. They don't see it every day like you do. If it's still bringing in money, stick with it.

On the other side of that coin is the business that just refuses to change. They're not getting the kind of response they'd like, but they're married to their idea and they're too stubborn to change. I recently talked with a landscaper who wanted to do a post card promotion. They had been mailing post cards regularly for several years, and felt pretty good about the response. When I asked what the "response" was, they told me that people recoginize their building now. The front side of the post card is a picture of their building.

I suggested some photos of their work, possibly some customers enjoying their beautiful patios. After all, the prospect is more interested in what you can do for them than where you live. And I recommended that we put in a dynamite offer... give people an irresistable reason to "respond." To me, "respond" means they pick up the phone and say "I want that." They are too stubborn to change. They love the picture of their building. They're afraid that making offers will make them look like hucksters. So they'll keep mailing the here's-what-our-building-looks-like - we're-really-good-at-what-we-do - hope-you-think-of-us-if-you-ever-decide-to-do-some-landscaping post cards. Stubborn.

Consistent is good. Stubborn is expensive. Adveritising, direct mail, broadcast, mobile, online... no matter where you place your marketing message, it's important to establish a look and feel and stick with it. It's not stale until it stops bringing in sales. Then it's time to change.

My book: How to create your own POWERFUL Ads and Promo Pieces shows you step by step how to create marketing communications that will make you money. Check it out at http://promopower.com/

02:37 pm | 1 recommendation | 1 comment

Live networking

Lots of people are talking about social networking. They're generally talking about the online version of what people have done for hundreds of years: interact with numerous people, realizing that some will become valuable relationships (personal or business) and some will not.

Online you simply log into a site as the personna you have assumed (maybe what you really are, maybe not so much), and make yourself available to multitudes of others who are there as the personnae they have assumed (maybe what they really are, maybe not). You may be reading this blog as part of your online networking activities. (I'm glad you found me if that's the case. Welcome.)

The version of networking that we older folks have practiced for centuries is face-to-face networking. We participate in the chamber of commerce, sales andmarketing organizations, service organizations, religious groups...whatever. We show up in hopes of meeting like-minded people and people whose relationships may be valuable to us in the future. That may mean personal relationships or business relationships. Either way, it's classic networking. 

Online networking is easier for many of us than face to face networking. Face to face networking presents the possibility of rejection. "What if I get there and never talk to anyone?" "What if I talk to someone and they have no interest in me whatsoever?" Being a wallflower makes for difficult networking! Fear that people might spit in your face must make it even harder!

When you meet people face to face as opposed to online, you are seeing the whole person. How they present themselves, how they dress, speak, their table manners, grooming... you get a pretty good feel for what a person really is in pretty short order. Phonies are usually easy to spot. Sincere people are too.

I'm old school. I do some online networking, but I don't spend a lot of time or put a lot of hope into it. Give me the chamber of commerce meeting. Shaking hands with a total stranger tells you more about them in a couple of seconds than you'll learn in days about an online acquaintence.

Need more global reach? Whatever business you're in,there is a state, national, and probably an international association whose members are in the same industry. The suppliers you need and a network of supportive people who do the same thing you do are both there.

Want a global reach that includes potential customers? There are state/national/international associations of people who do what your targe customer does. Go there. Get on committees. Rent a boot at their trade show. Sponsor a meal or coffee break. Speak there yourself.

Face to face human contact is still the best way to meet and evaluate people. But you have to shut down the computer for a while to do it. Get online now and look for the groups of people who meet your criteria for good networking potential. Then make plans to go to their next meeting. You can probably go as a guest. When you get there, find out who the president is. Walk right up to him/her and say you're there for the first time. They'll be happy to see you, and if you ask...they'll even introduce you to enough people to get your started.

Go ahead. Do it. It will be a great, inexpensive investment in your business and personal futures. 

03:34 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Cutting back part II

OK, you HAVE to cut back on advertising and promotion. You have no choice, the money isn't there.

At least do it intelligently. There's a constant balancing act in marketing: Reach vs Repetition. Reach is how many people you want to put your message in front of. Repetition is how often you want to contact them.

A key to successful marketing is to keep holy the repetition. People have to see you regularly to keep you name close to the surface in their memory banks. If you cut back on repetition, you fall down the list of names they can recall from memory. You want to stay at the top of the list.

So the solution, if you just MUST cut back, is to contact fewer people.

   * Mail to a smaller list.

   * Stop advertising in publications that talk to a lot of non-prospects.  

   * Stop mailing to customers who aren't profitable.

Narrow your reach to just prime prospects, then maintain the frequency so you stay "top-of-mind" with that group.

When the market comes back...and it will...you'll be the first name your prime prospects think of when they're ready for that buying frenzy.