Taking advantage of a marketing opportunity...

This blog entry will pick up where the last blog entry in the white paper series left off, and give you one more example analysis to get your 'creative marketing juices' flowing.

Example 4#: A white paper that was created in a matter of days to capture a 'window of opportunity'

I was visiting our UK office just when the Global Financial Crisis was beginning to gather momentum in the media.  Businesses were going into panic mode and yet I knew I could give them very simple, basic ‘survival’ guidelines that would help insulate them from the downward spiral.

So on the flight home, I wrote a special report called the '10 Proven Strategies to Boost Your Sales and Profits (& Recession-Proof Your Business)’.

Essentially the white paper was a temperature check for the prospect's business, with strategies, statistics and case studies that clearly articulated how not only to 'weather' the GFC storm, but to grow and profit despite it.

In reality, this white paper would have probably been a great tool for our prospects at any time, but because of the media attention around the GFC, it really struck a nerve.  We were being inundated with online requests – consistently up to three or four every day in the early days.

After the initial flurry, we stopped actively promoting the white paper. Yet we still get requests coming in, and have over 370 new prospects on our database since we have made the report available. And while I was involved in creating a new venture and not looking for ‘consulting projects’ per se, I think you’ll agree it would have been a very fertile field had I been seeking them.

Here's a sample of the white paper:

This is the final blog entry in the white paper series. If you'd like help with crafting your own red hot lead-generating white paper, call me on (+617) 3300 6909, or simply use our Results Corporation contact form to drop us an email.

You also might want to request our own new white paper - '21 Tips on Creating an Effective White Paper'.

Marketing and the Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 Rule is not new.  In 1941, Joseph Juran named it after Italian, Vilfredo Pareto, who’d observed that 80% of the country’s income went to 20% of the population.

In 1979, American Airlines identified that just 80,000 of their 25 MILLION travellers (3.2%) were generating 65% of their business!  This revelation saved them millions on wasted advertising.  

In fact, that revelation changed the face of marketing for airlines and many other industries with “frequent buyer” clubs.  

Savvy businesses reap huge profits by focusing on their ‘A’ clients who spend the most.  Hard to believe with this knowledge, the vast majority of businesses still don’t even segment their clients into A/B/Cs, let alone tailor communications to the ‘goldmine’ 20%.

A new take for small businesses on following up your leads...

A quick entry for today...

Mark Hartley of The Tree Doctor of Rooty Hill in Sydney (yes, Rooty Hill!) really took upon himself to follow up every lead, even 'dead' leads, until they told him not to.  He simply DIDN'T give up.  

Result? He converted 32% of the old leads on the first follow up! And a further 10% in subsequent approaches. He estimated that one idea was worth around $80,000 in additional sales to him. An idea worth following up on, don't you think?