The purest form of marketing…

The purest form of marketing is your service: http://budurl.com/cxpq

“It’s a mistake…to cut the advertising budget.”

Everybody’s cutting, that’s for sure. but the one thing you don’t want to cut is your promotion. That’s your lifeline to the world.

“You want to stay in contact, maybe three or four times a year, let them know when you’ve got sales going…you can’t be afraid to reach out to those clients,” says Craig Burress, retail specialist with brokerage CB Richard Ellis. “This is standard stuff, but for some reason, not everybody is doing it.”

This is standard stuff, but for some reason, not everybody is doing it.”

“It’s a mistake for a retailer to cut the advertising budget. That is not a smart move,”says George Whalin, president and chief executive officer of Retail Management Consultants, of Carlsbad, California.

Hear hear, Mr. Whalin. Remember Marketing Mistake #1? They don’t know you exist.

How to Lose Customers #1

From my mechanic, who just made 1200 bucks off me: Don’t call me when my car is ready, even though you said you would.

3 Little Words…

So goes the apocryphal story, a manufacturer needed to improve sales of their product. Apparently, people were not buying it often enough. A marketing genius came up with a way for buyers to use up, and therefore buy more of, the product, at double the current rate.

This was accomplished by adding three words to the label on the package.

“Lather, Rinse, Repeat“

Innovation

It sounds like a big word, but it’s a very simple concept.

I wish there was a/an (X) so I wouldn’t have to (Y).

Scott Ginsberg calls it The Ultimate Dream Statement™.

Read more about it here

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Rob Wallis is an author, speaker and trainer specializing in success training and personal development. He is founder and CEO of The Wallis Group, a productivity firm located in California. Contact him at rob@thewallisgroup.com.

What’s Your Story?

Much is made in marketing about your target market, demographics, which media to use, et cetera. The simple fact is, these are the least of your worries. When you begin to design a marketing campaign, you need to think about what stories you will tell.

The research, and yes, the results, show that the ads that bring in the most dollars always tell a story. Whether it’s Tom Bodett telling of the simplicity of Motel 6, to any number of “on the road” ads, storytelling is the way to get people’s attention and keep it. “They all laughed when I sat down at the piano.” Well, they may have, but that campaign from many years ago brought in many thousands.

What stories do your ads tell?
How can you use your product to tell a story?

Tig Wallis helps business owners increase their profitability by improving their marketing, technology, and customer service processes. He is founder of The Wallis Group, a business and marketing consulting firm located in California.

Contact Tig at tigwallis@thewallisgroup.com

It’s Your Responsibility

Of course, it’s your responsibility. It’s your business, isn’t it? So if things aren’t working out or sales aren’t what you want them to be,

• It’s not the big box stores.
• It’s not the economy.
• It’s not the housing market.

It’s you.
Your business.
Your responsibility to make it work.

Otherwise, why stay in business?

Of course, I see the people who give up, because they just can’t make it work, and Here’s what I say to them:
Have you tried everything?
have you tried…something?

Creating the Experience

Recently the love of my life asked me which of my two favorite restaurants I would pick, if I had to:

1. Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
2. Yank Sing (San Francisco)

Now, there’s not much similarity in these two places, except that I like the food there a lot, and they are both considered pretty pricey. But the difference in experience is what sets them apart in my mind.

At Yank Sing, it’s dim sum. Not downtown so-so dim sum, the REAL DEAL. Steamed buns and fried this and that and the occasional chicken feet. It’s all tasty, and they are constantly rolling up carts to your table, offering you more tasty morsels, when your table and your stomach are already so full you could burst. It’s fast-paced and hectic. There’s nothing wrong with that, you just need to be in the right mood.

Ruth’s, on the other hand, is clubby steakhouse, where the waiters know the menu backwards and are always there to attend to your needs. The food is beyond fabulous.

Out of the two, if I had to choose, I’d pick Ruth’s. They have gone out of their way to make it more than just about the food;it’s about the EXPERIENCE. This should be in every business owner’s mind: creating an experience for your customer. Frankly, there are plenty of places I can go and get hustle and bustle, but very few places where I can go and be served in quiet enjoyment.

Are you creating an experience for your customers?

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Rob Wallis, with the Wallis Group, works with organizations that want to become known in their community and in the world. Contact him at rob(at)thewallisgroup.com

Customer Service is the New Marketing, Indeed.

Check out Customer Service is the New Marketing, by Brad Burnham. This is exactly where we at Visibility stand. If you have to convince someone you rock, you have already lost.
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Rob Wallis, with the Wallis Group, works with organizations that want to become known in their community and in the world. Contact him at rob(at)thewallisgroup.com

Visibility Marketing Tip #1: The Law of Scarcity

Robert Cialdini, in his book “The Power of Persuasion,” speaks of the Law of Scarcity as one of the most powerful principles of getting people to buy that you can use. Quite simply, if people think that there is a limited number of something, they want it that much more. How many times have you heard on the late night infomercials, “call now, this is a limited time offer?”

Is it really? Of course not! These ads have probably been running since we were all kids, and I’ll bet if you waited three months to call, they’d give you the same deal they are offering tonight. But it’s the perception that you’re going to miss out on something big that makes you want to buy NOW.

Pay special attention to that word perception, because we will be using it a lot in the articles to come. Marketing in general, and Visibility Marketing especially, makes use of perception and the manipulation of perception. By the way, if you have trouble with the word “manipulation,” you’re in the wrong business. Marketing, promotion, whatever you want to call it, is all about manipulation, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Your job is to let people know you exist, that’s Visibility. Nothing wrong with that.

Now, back to Scarcity. You have a product or service. You need to let the prospect know that there is a very limited quantity of what you are offering, whether it’s a special offer or limited time discount. This offer is only good through July 31, There are only 6 more copies of this e-book (!) available, that sort of thing. They will be beating down your door with money in their fists.

But what if you do have more copies? That’s OK, you’re reserving those for a future “gold package” offer.

Your assignment for this week: Figure out what you can offer for a limited time or a limited quantity. And do it!

Get Known!

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Rob Wallis, with the Wallis Group, works with organizations that want to become known in their community and in the world. Contact him at rob(at)thewallisgroup.com