Are Your Customers Scared, Scarred Or Skeptical?
Topics: Home Business, Soft Marketing, Marketing
Whether you are marketing on-line or off-line, your potential customers are scared, scarred, and skeptical these days; meaning they are overwhelmed. Consumers are becoming resistant to sales messages.
In the mid 80′s, a store could run a “20% off” sale and people would flock in. Then the big stores got into the discounting mentality. Now it is common to see “70% off” sales – especially in jewelry. The consumer is not too long a fool. These promotions do not produce the wanted response anymore.
Repeated, high powered sales events create a downward spiral. Eventually you cannot offer a big enough deal to get the public excited. Case in point: The ‘big three’ car makers played this game for three years. By January 2006 they found themselves in deep financial trouble. They had borrowed customers from the future by offering a bigger, better sale every couple months. They are all in trouble now financially as a result.
Successful businesses, now and in the future, will be practicing “soft marketing.” To make sales today, marketing efforts have to come in under the consumer’s sales-pitch radar. Many of the big companies have known this for some time because of their on-going marketing analysis. You can take advantage of their research for free.
So here’s how soft marketing works:
Let’s take Coca-Cola for example: Coke, for decades was famous for their flashy, high-powered TV ads. You’ve seen them. Today you seldom see such ads. Have they cut back on their marketing expenditure? No. In fact, they are now spending more using soft marketing techniques. Most people do not even realize they are being advertised to.
This is the beauty and power of soft marketing. Here are two ways Coke is using a soft marketing approach to build profits and market share:
1. You may have seen Coke products displayed on TV shows and movies. “American Idol” is a popular TV show, with about 35 million viewers. The three judges are a big part of the success of the show. In front of each judge is a tall Coke cup conveniently showing the label.
The American Idol judges are, in effect, recommending Coke to their viewers without actually saying so. Coke pays A LOT of money for this and sells A LOT of product based on this type of “soft” endorsement.
2. Coke brings new loyal customers in the “back door” using nostalgia products. Coke collectibles are a huge market today. And once caught up in the hobby of Coke collectibles, a person and the whole family become avid Coke drinkers. And Coke is being advertised to everyone who enters that home.
Get it?
Coke’s soft marketing techniques have made them almost bullet-proof in the soft drink market. They have built an image of being the most popular soda. Since it is human nature to want to be on the winning team, swarms of new customers are joining the group every day.
Here are three powerful soft marketing tactics you can start using right away to explode your home business empire:
1. Become known as an expert. Credibility and trust are the two most important ways to succeed in any business. Write and submit articles and press releases. If you cannot write, hire someone to do it for you. There are several good writing service web sites on the internet. They are very inexpensive as well.
Example: This very newsletter issue you are reading right now will be converted to an article and distributed to over 100 top article directories across the internet next week.
Also, you may want to join a “Private Label Rights” content site. They provide already written articles that you can put your name on as your own and customize to your liking. This is pure gold for on-line or off-line marketing.
2. Give away a free report or a free course on the topic of your product or service. This is a huge favorite in the direct marketing and internet marketing world these days because it simply works. I’m a huge fan of this approach and I almost never market without it.
Your local newspaper may even give you some free editorial space if your report is of interest and free to their subscribers.
A real life example is a well known realtor that offers a free report to prospective home buyers. It reveals what is valuable, and what is not when getting your home ready for sale. With this report, he becomes the expert in the consumer’s mind and a person who cares about their needs. Who do you think the consumer will turn to next for their home buying needs?
This realtor has been using the same report for over ten years now. It is estimated this report has generated about $1.6 million in profits.
3. Partner with related, non-competing businesses. Here’s an example from the ‘Brick and Mortar’ world that may get you thinking:
A dry cleaning operation partnered with clothing stores in the community. The store, when selling a garment, would give a gift certificate to the customer. The gift certificate was good for a free first-time cleaning and pressing of that new garment. See the strategy?
The customer thought the store was paying for the dry cleaning. The fact is, the dry cleaner was giving the service for free. The customer saw the store as being a “hero” and the store saw the dry cleaner as being a “hero”. Both stores gained a load of new and repeat customers.
This can easily be applied in your home business by creating joint ventures with others in a similar but non-competing field as yours.
Use these soft marketing strategies and apply them to your product or service. Be creative. The resulting ideas will amaze you, and your lead generation results will go to a whole new level.
Andrew J. Cass is a Home Business Development Expert and Professional Marketing Consultant. To learn insider secrets and powerful marketing strategies from the pros to help you explode your home business empire, sign up for Andrew’s FREE Ezine at: www.TheHomeBusinessInsider.net
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Is Your Home Business A Hobby Or A Real Business? (1)
Here's what justifies a profit motive? First and foremost, you must never take the approach in questions 1 - 3 above at anytime or you are clearly not serious and will most likely spend more money than you ever earn.
When It Comes To Effectively Marketing Your Business Its All About The Words (2)
In other words, don't take the word copywriting literally here. Use your swipe file as an aid only, to sharpen your copy writing skills and make you better at marketing because remember, at the end of the day, everything is marketing.
Are You In The Big Leagues Or Little League In Your Email Marketing Efforts? (3)
Your follow up contact will come shortly thereafter with an e-mail and a series of follow up e-mails, hopefully. (That's a whole separate conversation within itself if you're running a business today without an automatic e-mail follow system or auto responder).
Do You Know About This (FREE) Unsung Marketing Hero? (4)
What a great way to leverage the power of relationships all over the world. 2. Traffic Building: This is a biggie: Along with the referrals you may get when you've developed a trusted online presence with other members of the forum, you are also likely to attract targeted visitors to your website.
Setting Goals Is Only Half The Battle To Achieving Your Dreams In Your Home Business (5)
You do not want to become a statistic; you want to become a success. So how do you become successful at setting goals? The first step, obviously, is to write down your intentions or exactly what you want to achieve.
MLM: The Painful, New Reality In The Information Age (6)
You don't know their long-term plans. You don't know about their family problems, and you don't know what they'll do next, yet your check is dependent upon them and thousands of others just like them because you simply cannot earn a full-time living on your own personal efforts with a MLM compensation plan.
The Perfect Home Business Model For The 21st Century (7)
He says: "Its not money that makes you rich, its business skills" and this is the industry where those skills are taught from the ground up, without the big price tag.
So Why Do You Do What You Do In Your Home Business? (8)
This is a technique called "clarity through contrast" and it basically states that when you observe what it is that you don't want in life it then delivers clarity which makes it clear what you do want.
A Simple Way To Do Water Damage Restoration (9)
Try to save the remaining items you think you can still salvage and throw away items that cannot. Clean the remaining items using soap and water and a disinfectant.
Flood Damage Cleanup Made Painless (10)
The basic thing that you need to remember about flood damage cleanup is that you need to have some reasonable expectations. While it is possible to bring back a lot of your things to their former condition, it will take some time.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
The Characteristics Of The 'NEW Rich In America' Revealed (1)
This is one of the oldest strategies in existence. So what networks, organizations, mastermind groups or memberships are you currently associated with? If you can't ring off at least one or two, its time to get in the game.
The 5 Key Areas Of Business And Why You Must Focus On Them And Develop Each One Of Them At Once (2)
The size of your box is only limited by you. You must constantly be developing yourself and your skills. "To become a person who attracts, keeps, and develops great people, you must first develop yourself in many ways." Right to the point and right on.
The Four Critical Components To Writing Attention Grabbing Headlines (3)
Cass is a Home Business Development Expert and Professional Marketing Consultant. To learn how you can achieve more in the next 12 months than the previous 12 years and explode your Home Business empire, sign up for Andrew's FREE Ezine at: www.TheHomeBusinessInsider.com
The "Big 5" Breakthroughs In Business Life (4)
Do you know? Believe it or not, most don't. Being real specific and targeted about who your customer or prospect is opens up huge doors and allows you to become a specialist in our area.
Why Is Life Insurance Important To Us? (5)
Also, with such policies being as low as $20 per month for a $10,000 amount coverage it is a little unbelievable. This ten thousand will be paid out for a whole host of reasons, and most definitely on your death.
The Benefits Of Adding A New Bathroom Tub (6)
Bathroom tubs set the atmosphere of the room. Bathroom tubs are available in a variety of sizes, colors, and designs. If you are taking on the project of remodeling the bathroom, consider making a change from the ordinary tub, to a tub with features such as extra depth for soaking and jets.
7 Considerations Of A Pay Per Click Campaign (7)
5. A successful pay per click campaign needs the right keywords. To start you should find about twenty or so keywords that you can test the effectiveness of.
GI Joe Action Figures--The History Of A Phenomenon (8)
Topics: GI Joe, toys for sale, action figures, action figures for sale, Hasbro, Barbie, barbie doll, collecting It all began in 1963 when Stan Weston, who was a toy inventor, saw how the Barbie doll for girls had become such a huge success.
Collecting Teddy Bears--A Profitable Hobby (9)
Bears are certainly no exception to this rule. Most people are surprised to learn the history of teddy bears. The first teddy bears were produced in the year 1902.
Home Business Owners: Learn Your Way To Financial Freedom (10)
However, there are also plenty of general internet marketing and home business forums on the web, such as Conquer Your Niche, or the Warrior Forum. Most of the people in these forums are very ready to give advice and encouragement to new members.
Permalink to Are Your Customers Scared, Scarred Or Skeptical?