DEVELOPING A MARKETING STRATEGY

The key to a building a great Marketing Strategy is knowing how to
find and filter your prospects to finely selected customers and
clients. This is not to say you can't and won't accept customers
that come by any other means, but your business won't survive by
relying on walk-in customers.

You want to ask yourself, "Where do I find prospects"? You find them
where they normally go. I know, what a lame answer. But, it happens
to be the right answer. Many entrepreneurs don't give this simple
fact enough consideration. A few ways to reach these prospects could
be Publishing a Newsletter, Writing Articles, Discussions Lists,
Direct Mailing, Chat Rooms, Newsgroups, Calling them on the Phone,
Sending letters or brochures, Free & Paid Advertising, Joining
Online Clubs and Organizations, Attending Conferences and Conventions,
Ad and Banner Swaps, Link trades, Search Engines and Directories,
and make yourself available to help others as much as time allows.
These are just a few ideas. You have to know where to look and who
you are looking for. Remember your target group. I mean you wouldn't
join a technical list if you wanted to interact with prospects that
were getting married.

You must qualify the prospect by making them realize that you are
talking about them. You can find more about this in a recent article
I wrote: HEY! You're Talking About Me!

http://216.147.104.180/articles/data/20000501054507.shtml

This article will offer an example of getting the prospect to
realize that they should be listening to what you have to say.

Once you have their attention then what? You have to get them to see
the benefit of your product or services. Here are 3 crucial questions
you must answer to make your prospect see your benefits.

1) What exactly is the benefit of your product or service
2) How will you go about making this benefit work for them.
3) Why they will be more successful with your product or service.

As soon as you have the prospect's attention, tell them the benefit
(your product or service) that you provide. Keep it clear, easy to
understand, short and to the point. Describe your service or product
in such a way that there is no mistaking yours will make the
difference. Offer proof of competence, experience and testimonials.
Don't over do it. Just a little invites interest, too much invites
suspicion.

To turn a prospect into a customer you must make them an offer and
show them how to respond to the offer. There are two ways to get
the response. The hard and soft response request. The difference
between them is the commitment you require from them. A hard request
might mean that they must commit to speaking with a representative
or even committing to the product or service at that time. A Soft
Response on the other hand could mean getting a free brochure. The
value of each response differs as well. The CPP (Client Per Prospect)
Rate is much lower from a Soft Response Request than a Hard Response
Request. The way you decide to go will depend on your circumstances.
Direct sales should always close with a Hard Request. Whereas a
department store would work better with a soft response. You must
decide on your best Response Requests.

Gaining the response is what we call activating your prospect.

Important rules to calling a prospect to action:
1) Be Prepared and know the answers.
2) You must show, tell and/or demonstrate to the prospect what
he/she/they are buying.
3) You must make an offer that is too good to be ignored.

A few techniques used in activating a prospect:
1) The "Free Sample"
2) The "Great Introductory Deal"
3) The "No-Risk Offer"

In Closing: My goal here is to open your eyes to a process in action.
These are just a few ideas to help you along in the process of gaining
response. As always I invite you to read more of my articles on
marketing tips to help you succeed in business. Find more of my
articles at "The InfoZone", the largest Business & Marketing Article
Archive on the Internet. http://www.MakingProfit.com/articles

Basic Marketing Principles: Don't Put Up Your Website Without Them

So you think you've created the perfect website. It looks great,
loads fast, and you perform marketing and promotional duties on a
regular schedule online and off. There seems to be only one problem
....no one is buying your products. Did you rely on the essential
rules in marketing when you created your site? If not, you're in
real trouble.

1) Great Customer Service?

One thing that will drive your customers away faster than anything
else is poor customer service. This ranges from taking an eternity
to answer your email, to shipping delays. You need to respond
quickly, especially when it comes to email. In our "hurry-hurry"
society people will not wait to hear from you for very long before
moving on to the next guy.

Do you have your email address on every page of your website? Nothing
irks me more then having to dig through a site just to find an
address to ask a question. Do you offer a toll free number so they
can contact you? Easy to do and free with http://www.ureach.com How
about real time communication on your website? Take a look at
http://www.humanclick.com, which allows you to answer
questions from your website guests as they browse your site.

The more ways you give people to communicate with you, the better.
Many companies fail online due to shoddy customer service. Don't be
one of them. By offering excellent service you'll stand out from the
crowd and build better relationships with your clients. Remember
it's easier to re-sell to an existing customer than it is to find a
new one.

2) Who Are You and What Do You Do?

Identify your company and your products on the home page. Don't make
people "dig" down into your site for the answer. They won't; they'll
just leave.

Also, make sure you describe the benefits of your service or product
right away. For example, will it save time or money? Make you thinner?
Is it easy-to-use? People don't care about you, they want to know
"what's in it for me?" Tell them and tell them fast, or risk losing
them. Sales are generally made on emotions. If you don't trigger any
by giving them a good reason to buy from you, they won't.

3) Are you Charging the Right Price?

If you charge too much, no one will buy. If you charge too little,
people will think there's no value or that there's something wrong
with your product or service. (And they still won't buy.) Before you
set your pricing, make sure you do a little research into your
competitor's backyard. That way, you'll have a better idea of where
to set your pricing.

Don't forget about "perceived value." Anything you can add on in the
way of free bonuses or free shipping will go a long way in convincing
folks to buy. With the enormous amount of freebies floating around
online, it shouldn't be too hard collecting a few that relate to
what you're selling that you can give away with every purchase.
4) Does your Copy Sell?

Make sure your text helps motivate your customers to make a purchase.
Sprinkle "powerful headlines," "calls to action," and plenty of
testimonials from happy customers throughout your pages. Remember
that people read differently online; they skim. Make it easy for them
to catch the main points and
benefits quickly.

Also, offer a few different payment options and make it easy to place
an order. If they have to jump through hoops, you'll lose the sale.
Simple and Easy is the way to go.

5) Is your Site Designed with your Target Market in Mind?

Does the look of your website cater to your target market? You need
to know demographics of your intended audience before you even begin
the construction process. Know your market's demographics such as age
bracket, income, education, and whether they are mostly male or
female. If your site is geared towards teenagers, it needs to look
fun and hip (save the sophisticated look for their parents). If your
audience is middle aged businessmen you'll need a more corporate look.
Make sure you keep your core audience in mind when choosing your
fonts, site colors, and any graphics.

If you remember to incorporate these basic marketing principles into
your website you'll not only have a site that looks good, but
actually does what you intended it to do all along: Sell!

info@pactrends.com