Why you should consistently seek PR...

You may be amazed at how receptive the media is to your story. If you have been performing ‘awesome’ feats for clients, and your clients love you for it, TELL your story to the business magazines and the daily press. Of course, they won't be interested in something that is a straight plug for you. But if it is tied to a theme ... like small business making a success ... winning against the odds ... helping others to succeed ... adding value to others in creative ways ... then that IS news.

When you DO succeed in getting a write-up, you'll get a boost to your profile and to your credibility. ‘If it’s editorial, it must be true!’ But the potential doesn't stop there. With the publisher’s permission and acknowledgement, reproduce the article and use it in every way you can... mail it to your clients, to your prospects, or add it to your testimonial sheet. In short, one simple article can work for you for YEARS.

If you'd like more strategies to bring your business success in these unstable times go to: www.resultscorporation.com.au ... for a free report.

Podcast: A ‘Magical Formula’ for making your business more PROFIT

Tim Stokes is a ‘where-the-rubber-hits-the-road’ expert in helping business owners to gain FREEDOM through focusing on the numbers that matter in their business. Download the Podcast here:

http://www.marketinghelponline.com.au/pod2.mp3

Want some more explanation of the ‘magical formula’? Tim’s worksheet is at:

http://www.marketinghelponline.com.au/timstokesworksheet.pdf

Let me offer you an idea that multiplies your success up to 300%

What idea can I offer you that’ll do that? In a word, it’s your OFFER. Tests have proven time and time again that a compelling offer can generate MORE responses by up to 300%. What constitutes an offer?

Take ‘Buy one, get one free’ and another, ‘50% discount’. Same intrinsic value, but human nature being what it is, the buy-one-get-one-free offer almost consistently outpulls the 50% discount offer by 300%.

Of course, an offer can be a myriad of things… a price reduction, a free sample, a discount coupon, a free information kit, an extra strong guarantee, a free survey or consultation, free seminar, easy payment, free trial, small gift. One swimming pool company offered ‘An extra 5ft of pool FREE if you buy in the off season’. It reportedly worked gangbusters for them.

Just finally, what separates a ‘good’ offer from a poor one is often in the PERCEIVED VALUE built around it. ‘Dimensionalising’ the value. Telling its ‘magic story’.

In some instances, I advocate devoting almost as much space to describing the benefits of the OFFER – (say a free information kit or special report) - as I devote to selling the product itself.

If you'd like more great ideas for maximising your marketing, download our free "Recession Proofing" white paper at ResultsCorporation.com.au

How to mix a 20 TIMES multiplier ingredient into your ads

It’d be fair to say many businesses don’t advertise (especially in tough economic times) because they believe it ‘doesn’t work’. But here’s the rub. In one of our surveys of businesses, almost NO ONE had done any testing of the elements that make an ad WORK. Most especially, they hadn’t tested their headlines or offers.

It’s disconcerting, not only when you consider that running ads is expensive, but because there’s a massive ‘opportunity cost’ of having ads under perform. Especially when testing these elements can MULTIPLY response by 2, 5 or 20 times.

So what’s a ‘great’ headline?

Great headlines are those that GRAB attention, FLAG down a prospect, and COMPEL them to read on. In stark contrast, most ads just say, ‘Here we are, here’s our contact details’. Boring and useless!

DON’T advertise unless you are committed to creating an ad that performs like an ‘engine room for enquiries’. That’s why we spend a LOT of time in Marketing Help Online teaching how to write great headlines.

A quick idea on how to write a good headline

Try studying the ‘mail order’ ads that appear over and over again in the media. (The Sunday supplements are full of them.) If these ads appear often, and they’re genuine ‘direct response ads’, you can be sure they will have been tested to get the most effective headlines, offers and wording.

You’ll quickly see how these advertisers are harnessing the power of a headline, tapping into human nature, and hitting the right ‘nerve’. You’ll get ideas on how your own headline can be improved. And even if your effort doubles your response, or gets 20% more, how bad could that be?

Hit upon the RIGHT headline and your profits go through the roof.

If you'd like more strategies to help you battle the recession, go to www.resultscorporation.com.au

Your Business' Website...

I don’t normally post Marketing Mentor articles onto the internet. But I think business people need to see this one...

Based on the feedback from the few people who’ve seen this article pre-release, it has hit a nerve!

(In fact, creating a good website is one of the 10 strategies you need to recession proof your business. If you'd like to know how to recession proof your business, go to www.marketinghelponline.com and use the enquiry form to request a copy of my new white paper. It'll tell you the exact steps to take.)

There’s clearly a LOT of frustration and discontent out there with websites. One client told me he paid a ‘web company’ $7,000 months ago to do his website, and still it isn’t finished. Other clients admit they’re embarrassed to even give out their web address.

It seems a lot of people are being taken advantage of, and sold on the fact that web design is some mysterious area they’ll never understand.

Now, we’re NOT web developers. But we do understand what good communication is. Especially in the online world where, as one web expert quipped, people have the attention span of a fruit fly!

In short, we decided this article would be too valuable for you to miss out on. Especially as it reveals what we did, step by step, to redesign and re-write a client's website. The aim is to maximise his online sales. He’s excited about these ideas and already has his web company re-doing his site.

Click here to download the article.

It’s totally free to you and without obligation.

Chris

P.S. Naturally, I look forward to the day you come on board for a full membership of Marketing Help Online. You can join Marketing Help Online level one for free at www.marketinghelponline.com

“Please don't hesitate to throw me in the bin”

So you've written an awesome sales letter. Spent hours sweating over every sentence. But does it go out to the prospect with a closing line that says, “Please don't hesitate to throw me in the bin”?

Of course you won't have used those words, but if it says “Please don't hesitate to call me if you have any further questions, or for more information” ... or words to that effect, you may as well have said “throw me in the bin”!

Wherever possible, say something PRO-active like: “Because this is so important for your business and I know you’ll have some questions, I’ll call you in the next four days ...” Then call. Will this make you more sales? You bet!

For more great small business strategies, ideas and tips go to MarketingHelpOnline.com

Don’t do “Quotes” … Win MORE jobs

When you give a prospect a QUOTE, you are inviting them to “shop around”.

A vastly better approach is to have a winning mindset, and assume that they are not going to go elsewhere, because you ARE delivering the best value package. Then give them an ‘action plan’ full of benefits (to them), reinforcing throughout why you are the best solution for them.

Now, this does NOT mean you should be naïve and think that just because you believe you’ll get the business, you will. No, what I’m saying here is that you need to get out of the ‘quote mentality’ of price/item, and do everything you can to build a case around WHY the prospect should deal with you. And that means knowing as much as possible about what they want out of the transaction. The more you probe to find out what THEY want, the more they’ll be psychologically involved in helping you get the solution.

Importantly too, when you submit your proposal, you should put your price UP FRONT so that the prospect doesn't spend the rest of the document wondering “what's all this going to cost?”. Rather, they’ll see it spelt out proudly up front, which means the rest of your plan can build more and more VALUE into that price.

Record your gems!

If we had a dollar for every time a client has called me, or come up to me at a seminar saying, “I can't write a good ad or a sales letter. I just go blank” ... and then, when I ask them what it is they do, they proceed to articulate beautifully a string of powerful selling points about what they do! My usual advice is, go write that down now! There’s your sales presentation right there.

Here’s an even better tip. Grab a friend and a voice recorder. Your friend must be someone who's prepared to listen to your ramblings. Then, with the voice recorder set, proceed to tell them why they should buy from YOU, why your product is better, more efficient, longer lasting, more durable... whatever ... and mention all the extra special things you do that customers love you for.

The point is, you KNOW what sells. It’s just that often we get a mind melt when we try to write it down. Also, record yourself actually selling your product or service, perhaps on the phone. Having done that, you'll have the seeds of brilliant copy!

Sign up to my free strategy briefs for more small business tips.

Check out my sample articles.

Bouncing back to even greater profits.

When you have just delivered a product or service to a client, this is the best time to invite them to buy again. For example, someone who has just had a great time at a resort is hot to re-book. Someone who has just bought landscaping supplies is hot to build a barbecue or a pergola.

People are BEGGING to be led, to have someone show they CARE. And inviting them to again enjoy a purchase is a great way to show you care. It can be as simple as a brochure for your next product inserted with the purchase they’ve just made, or a follow up letter or courtesy phone call.

Hard as it is to accept, the most RECENT purchaser is the most likely to buy again.

Sign up to free Marketing Strategy Briefs like this one, or check out my sample Marketing Articles.

The hidden profits in a Multiple Contact Strategy

At one of our ‘boot camp’ workshops, presenter US marketing guru Jay Abraham had the entire audience stand up. Then he said, “Please sit down if you responded to Results Corporation’s FIRST letter inviting you to be here”. Some 15% of the audience sat down. “If you responded to the SECOND communication, please sit”. Another 10% or so sat.

After he’d repeated this several more times, there was still some 35% of the people standing! What he had so graphically demonstrated was that unless you have a MULTIPLE CONTACT STRATEGY, you are going to MISS OUT on a massive amount of sales. Especially if yours is a high ticket item purchase. (Our boot camps were $4,500+)

Also, vary your communications. One might be a letter … another a letter and CD, another an email … You might include a series of testimonials, samples of your product or special report, an ‘act now’ offer … and so on. You can have a lot of fun with this and you’ll boost your campaign results!

For more great gems like this one, sign up to my free bi-monthly strategy briefs at: http://www.marketinghelponline.com.au/enterprise/3-membership-sign-up-options.html

You can also find some great 'sample' articles on my website: www.marketinghelponline.com.au

Improve your business' conversion rates

This riveting interview reveals how one business owner improved his company’s sales conversion rate from 1 in 19 … to 1 in 4 …

The interview is just over 12 mins in duration, and chock full of profit making insights to have you challenging YOUR sales processes.

Click here to hear it now: www.marketinghelponline.com.au/1.mp3 (12 mins 18 secs)

For more great ideas, sign up to my free small business marketing strategy brief emails.

Also check out the great sample articles at my website: www.marketinghelponline.com

What ONE element in your marketing has the potential to multiply your results 300%?

What ONE element in your marketing has the potential to multiply your results 300%? In a word, your OFFER. But what constitutes an offer?

It can be a myriad of things… a price reduction, a free trial, a discount coupon, a free information kit, an extra strong guarantee, a free survey or consultation, free seminar, easy payment, small gift, creative ‘value add’ …

One swimming pool company once offered ‘An extra 5ft of pool if you buy in the off season’ …

You need to test different offers for different markets. But they are an easy and simple way to get up to 300% more of your prospects to ACT NOW.

Compare ‘50% discount’ with ‘Buy one, get one free’. Same intrinsic value, but the ‘Buy one get one free’ proposition has performed better time after time. Yes, by up to 300%.

But there’s a catch. Even with a seemingly good offer, all too often the initiative underperforms. Why might that be?

Typically, it’s because the value of the offer is not developed correctly. Or more accurately, the perception of value isn’t fully ‘dimensionalised’. If the promotion simply states: ‘Send now for a free information kit’ … there’s no perceived value. However, if the promotion explains that this free information kit has 14 little known ‘trade secrets’ revealed by leading experts, or that it reveals the 8 most vital questions you must to ask before making a buying decision … or whatever … THEN it becomes more desirable.

By painting the picture of its usefulness and value, it’ll have highly qualified prospects beating the door down… eagerly giving their name and a whole lot of other vital information to get hold of the offer. Which means you’ve now got a database to nurture into customers.

In summary, what separates a ‘good’ offer from a poor offer has a great deal to do with PERCEIVED VALUE you build around it. In some instances, I advocate devoting almost as much space to describing the benefits of the free information kit as to the product or service itself. One ad we ran for a client was all about the information kit offer, and boosted responses 3,000%.

You can check out my website for some great sample articles at: www.marketinghelponline.com

For more great ideas, sign up to my free small business marketing strategy brief.