What Will We Do With All Those Sales Leads?

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Many marketing campaigns, activities, and events are aimed at generating lists of names and contact information of those who have some level of interest in a given product or service. To make the most of such situations, we need a big picture strategy and specific tasks we're going to accomplish before, during, and after the core episode.

I just attended a business expo last week and saw all the fish bowls stuffed with business cards of those who, in most cases, were likely more interested in [...]

Take Time for Sales Training

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0100

In my article, "An 80/20 Rule That Boosts Sales Fast," I talked about making time to get to the meat of your sales efforts-to actually go out and sell. That's extremely important. Just as important is taking time to train for your sales efforts.

Think for a moment about an athlete who has impressed you with his or her abilities. It goes without saying that the athlete wouldn't be able to perform in such a manner without extensive training. That training includes study, practice, rece [...]

An 80/20 Rule That Boosts Sales Fast

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Here's one more 80/20 rule that can significantly improve your revenues:

If you are a multiple-hat-wearing business owner and one of your duties is to play the role of salesperson, allocate 80% of your time that is not being spent on production (billable hours, paid gigs with clients, etc.) and spend it in focused sales mode. The other available 20% of your non-production time can be used for administrative tasks. Most people in this situation have this ratio backwards, or worse. If abiding by [...]

Even a Hospital Billboard Can Be Engaging

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0100

I was driving just north of Miami last week when I saw something interesting--a billboard for a hospital with a live, digital readout of the current wait time in their ER. While I can't imagine anyone making a decision to go to an ER in a moment of need based on a billboard they happen to see, I do see great value in this approach.

As long as the billboard is truly working in real time and doesn't always say there is a 15 minute wait, as it did that morning (and assu [...]

Even a Hospital Billboard Can Be Engaging

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Dramatically Increase Response Rates With This One Change

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Gone are the days when "everyone is my audience" even hopes to work in the marketing world. The more targeted your efforts, the more effective they will be. Beyond referring to the medium, venue, or list used along with a broad-audience-specific message, "targeted" now means getting right down to the level of each individual in the audience with your message.

I was on Facebook recently when, on the right column of the page, appeared an ad with the headline: &q [...]

Stick to Your Guns...Flexibly

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Here's a quandary every business owner will find himself in at some point: Do I stick to what I do, the way I do it, or do I bend to meet my clients' desires?

The answer: Both!

No one can be everything to everyone. People who try to do this in their businesses typically go out of business. At the same time, pushing what you want to offer on an unwilling audience is also a recipe for failure. But there is a compromise in this age-old dilemma. Here's the two-step solution:

Why Didn't My Ad Work?

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 07:00:00 +0100

Here's a question I get often: "Why didn't my ad work?" My response is always the same: "What did you want it to do?" Not surprisingly, the ad that "didn't work" never seems to match the intent stated in answer to my question.

Most people in my audience are looking for one thing when placing an ad: response. Most of my clients don't engage in image advertising. They don't have the budget for it. Yet far too many of their ads--whether in print, [...]

A Fresh Perspective That May Change Everything

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:00:00 +0100

I had an amazing experience last week. I was facilitating a group of business decision-makers as they were polishing off their marketing jumpstart plans and one of the participants shared a concept that that may well fundamentally change my business. It is well worth the exercise of looking into it for your business as well.

He pointed out that we all start our businesses, then carry on adding products, services, and other elements along the way, being careful to do everything by the book. He [...]

Making Holiday Sales BOOM

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

The holidays must be coming up quickly because I've started hearing the same question that comes up every year right before Thanksgiving: "What is the #1 thing I can do to boost my sales this holiday season?"

Before I go on, let me state that what I'm going to say here applies to ALL businesses regardless of whether holiday revenues are of particular interest. Don't tune out just because you're not a retail store owner.

MY ANSWER? "Start gathering client data long b [...]

Answer to the question: What is marketing? (...and a $47 gift FREE!)

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

I read a blog the other day from someone who bills himself as a marketer (and, in his defense, I'll say he actually has some great ideas) who totally missed the mark on his definitions of advertising and marketing. He, in essence, said this:

Advertising is radio and TV spots, direct mail, billboards, and all those other things that don't work anymore.

Marketing is email marketing, internet marketing, social media marketing, and all those things that have replaced advertising.

WRONG [...]

It Takes a Village (or a Team)

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

You've heard the old adage, "It takes a village to raise a child." In this same way, it takes a team to build a business.

Whether you're a one-person operation or you have hundreds of employees, having formalized teams (marketing and otherwise) will make all the difference for your company.

What? You say you don't have the money to pay people to be on your marketing team? No problem.

Here are 5 places to find team members TODAY who won't cost you a cent, but whose [...]

Are marketers really that stupid, or do they just think we are?

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0100

I just got the millionth "Oops...we screwed up" email I've received this week and I have to vent.

It's obvious to me (and I'm sure everyone else in the world who has an education level higher than first grade) that when a marketing-type sends an email, then sends another one hot on its tail with a subject line proclaiming that something went horribly wrong with the last one, or a name was misspelled (sp?), or some other lame attempt at looking genuinely surprised that he/she h [...]

Who Are You?

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0100

I just got done spending a very productive morning with a great friend. As we talked about his business, our conversation moved toward the topic of people, communication, interaction, and effective networking.

He shared with me a recent experience he had with helping a group develop their elevator pitches. He made a good point that kept resonating in my head. His point: there is no one way for everyone to effectively engage the use of an elevator pitch. The reason for this is that we're all so [...]

12 Steps to Running a Successful Promotion (Steps 9-12)

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Over the past couple of weeks, I've shared the first eight of the 12 steps to running a successful promotion with you. Here are the final four. This is where you get the message out to your intended audience and see results!

Step 9: Decide on a vehicle for the message

This is usually some form of advertising. Common vehicles that carry the message of your promotion to your audience include direct mail, email, print advertising, radio, and web-based vehicles. Although these are common, th [...]

12 Steps to Running a Successful Promotion (Steps 5-8)

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0100

A week ago I shared the first four steps of the 12-step promotion creation process with you. Now that you've found the holes in your revenue net, decided what to fill them with, identified your audience, and created an offer, you're ready to move forward. Here are the next four steps:

5. Make a call to action

This is where many would-be promotions fall down. There isn't a specific enough call to action. Simply including your phone number at the end of an ad doesn't constitute a call to a [...]

12 Steps to Running a Successful Promotion (Steps 1-4)

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0100

In my last installment, I talked about making sure you can deliver on the promises made in your promotions. Now let's look at how to run a successful promotion. I've broken the 12 steps into thirds so you can digest them slowly over the next couple of weeks.

Step 1: Find the holes in your revenue net

Every business has areas in which it could be capturing more business if a little focus was placed on those areas. Maybe it's a time of day, week, or month that revenues could be increased. [...]

The Promotion That Bombed

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Has one of your promotions ever bombed? Sure! It has happened to all of us. Somehow we did something wrong and our dreams of huge sales numbers, grand publicity, and a truckload of new clients all went out the window.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to share the steps you can take to make sure you never launch a stinker promotion again; but to preface those steps I want to share something that warrants some serious consideration: our ability to deliver on our promotions.

The onl [...]

Those Who "Get It"

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0100

There are those who get it. And there are those who don't.

The people who get it are the most successful people I know. And not just in their marketing, but in all areas of their lives. ‘It' is the thing that makes them get up in the morning. ‘It' drives them to be the best at what they do. ‘It' is what attracts others to them and makes them better people.

So what is ‘it'?

‘It' is the abundance mentality. The abundance mentality says, "I will make [...]

Accelerating Ad Response

bryan@mktgsuccess.com — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Last week I shared a few elements that need to be in your ads to improve response. Now I'd like to share a quick and easy way to accelerate your response. It's called split testing.

As you know, I believe in testing EVERYTHING. None of us should be so smug as to believe we've nailed a campaign or other marketing activity squarely on the head until the marketplace has spoken.

We can either complete a test, tweak as necessary, then test again (a serial approach), or we can test multiple ve [...]

Blog Entries

What Will We Do With All Those Sales Leads?

Take Time for Sales Training

An 80/20 Rule That Boosts Sales Fast

Even a Hospital Billboard Can Be Engaging

Even a Hospital Billboard Can Be Engaging

Dramatically Increase Response Rates With This One Change

Stick to Your Guns...Flexibly

Why Didn't My Ad Work?

A Fresh Perspective That May Change Everything

Making Holiday Sales BOOM

Answer to the question: What is marketing? (...and a $47 gift FREE!)

It Takes a Village (or a Team)

Are marketers really that stupid, or do they just think we are?

Who Are You?

12 Steps to Running a Successful Promotion (Steps 9-12)

12 Steps to Running a Successful Promotion (Steps 5-8)

12 Steps to Running a Successful Promotion (Steps 1-4)

The Promotion That Bombed

Those Who "Get It"

Accelerating Ad Response