Business & Investing

How does learning how to fish better your marketing? Well, for a start they both share similar concepts, such as:

• Deciding on exactly what type of fish you are after
• You will require the right tools/equipment(targeted lists, research,marketing materials)
• You will do better if you know where they are located(geography or venues they attend)
• You need to understand what bait will attract your game (lead offer)
• You should study the best ways to handle them when they are hooked (handling objections)

Right at the beginning of your marketing journey you must identify what your target market is. The same approach is valid whether your business model is B2C (Business To Consumer) or B2B (Business To Business).Many businesses struggle due to ill defined markets – how can you craft a message to an audience if you do not know who you are addressing? This lack of focus can lead to expensive and ineffective marketing results.

Ensure you have a complete marketing kit which includes testimonials, case studies and FAQs to give to your prospects . The better these material are in answering any questions you prospect may have, the more they handle the “heavy lifting” in the marketing/sales process. If done properly these material can presell for you prior to a face to face presentation or follow up call.

Know the venues you are most likely to encounter your target audience, such as trade shows, conferences,seminars,business chambers. What magazines,newspapers and newsletters do they read? What social websites do they frequent?

Have you identified the information or solutions (bait ) they are hungry for? It is not good enough to take the approach of thinking that they need your services, therefore they are open to your message. Most people need certain things, but we tend to buy based on our wants. Our wants are deep emotional drivers that will dictate our buying actions. Having your finger on the pulse of your market – what drives their buying – is critical.What is the “pain” that your offering or solution will ease or remove?

Handling objections is part and parcel of the sales process and if you want the least painful approach to this challenge, here are some tips:

• Sit down and write out all the objections you can think of or that you have heard of in your experience (regarding your product/service). Some of these may be – “Too expensive”, “Not Interested”, “It May Not Work”, “How Do I Know It Is Good?”, “I Don’t Know You”…….
• Draft a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) sheet that presents the objection in question form – then goes on to answer and resolve each objection. This will go a long way to reducing the amount of questions and resistance encountered during any follow up or presentation activity. Then you can spend time discussing  your prospects issues and your solution rather than fielding objections.
• Include this FAQ sheet in you marketing kit along with testimonials from satisfied clients, and your service offerings.

Concentrate on a crafted message to the right audience with an irresistible offer to build your business. Learn  how to fish and you will always beat your competition!

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• Internet Marketing Methods Revealed: The Complete Guide to | Computer Online Training
• Handling objections your prospects « Business advisor

Many people believe that starting an online business today is not recommended due to the current economic state of the world. It is the wrong perception however. People experienced in business however, know that every crisis creates a good opportunity to earn profits. Taking advantage of the financial software forex trading, even an inexperienced person can achieve great economic success in any online business.

Using a solid and proven financial software, any businessman will be able to generate the kind of profits that he ever dreamed of. You will most likely to come across many “experts” who will be claiming that the forex market is unstable. This is a fact. However, wise investors will always foresee how to make money in the forex business this is why this industry is extremely popular the world today. The secret is using the kind of software that assures easy operations in the business. The first step is that you need find a good financial software forex trading to manage the online trading business.

One of the reasons why most of the entrepreneurs are using this automated forex trading software because it can perform trading tasks even without any supervision. It works 24 hours a day generating profit and will never gets tired or will complain. All you need to do is to configure the settings of the software to make everything very convenient for the entrepreneur.

Anyone who has been in the forex trading you must know how expensive the cost of any downtime is. So it is utmost important to understand, that you need to get the financial software that never sleeps. Entrepreneurs will also find it very easy to use the financial software forex trading because most of the programs available in the market today are designed for being user-friendly. A 24-hour customer support is also available to those who will be getting any problems using the software.

The forex trade robot can also place your trading results on-line if you like. This is another way on how the forex trader can earn more money. As your trading published online, other people would want to use it and you can earn money through referrals.

forex trading robots has reached the level of sophistication and low price today that most businessmen can now access to financial software forex trading

The fully automated software or forex robots can do the trading for the business making online trading very easy and convenient. It saves them time to other important money-making tasks. Trading using forex robot will also save money from hiring people perform tasks for trading or marketing, accounting, and other operational tasks because the software can do most of these.

Are you ready to earn your passive income every day with Financial Software Forex Trading?

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Targeted Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive, rather, it is the focused and personalised nature of inexpensive Targeted Marketing which makes it worth considering.  If your marketing isn’t targeted then your ROI is probably low and you are overlooking way too many marketing dollars per client acquisition. Is it time to vamp your Marketing Plan to make it more targeted and cost efficient (i.e. a lot more profitable)?

So what is targeted Marketing? Here are some examples:

• Email:  Opt In
• Online Boards and Groups
• Free Offline & Online Ads
• Increase response rates with Toll Free Numbers
• Newsletters
• 900 Numbers
• Inexpensive Regional Magazine Editions:  great credibility builder!
• Newspapers offer low-cost targeted geographic zones and vicinitys.
• TV Ads are much cheaper and targeted now.
• Home Shopping Networks can be highly targeted and great to publicise around.
• Cell phone text messaging:  Opt In only!
• Video pamphlet:  the paper brochure is a harder sell now days.  stimulate your Business, Products and Services alive with Video and/or Audio.
• Look at targeted media like airplanes, airports, taxis, buses, checkout counters, restrooms, banks, etc.
• Marketing subjects on a phone “Hold” Session. 
• Use low cost special effects to appear to have a bigger look on TV advertising.

Targeted Marketing Methods

Canvassing / Cold Calling:  I am not a huge fan of Canvassing or Cold Calling but it can be effective / required in the early stages of your business, especially when money is tight.  You can enhance your method by: 

• Putting out flyers / mailings prior to initiating contact 
• Go to Networking Events (i.e. Chamber of Commerce or a Professional Network Group) as a Guest of a member for free and make it count.
• Be direct; look people in the eye; and most importantly, offer value.  Never waver to respectfully ask for the sale.
• Free Demonstration, a Sample or leaving a Product behind for free use can be very effective, if your product is highly effective and can sell itself.
• Try to quickly qualify the prospect and always ask for a Referral regardless if a sale was made.
• Look for ways to reference another mutual relationship to warm up a cold prospect
• Make the prospective customer feel important
• Educate your prospects; empower them and they will buy from you
• Identify your unique benefits and advantages, giving the prospect a great grounds to buy
• Do your homework prior to contact and tailor your presentation for a particular prospect
• bring up your current customers, show testimonials and talk all but your past successes.
• Show pride in your product / service offering
• Know the prospect will buy from you and always try to close at different points in your presentation
• If the sale isn’t consummated, ask why.  Use the answers to tailor your presentation, rework your product / service offering or alter your pricing / credit structure
• The presentation should be brief and engage the prospect along the way

If you follow the above pointers, Canvassing can be very effective and inexpensive.  However, it demands a lot of time, discipline and consistence.

Business Cards:  Use both sides of your card, and it should sell something, offer something and point to your website for a special offer.  It is a Sales Tool – use it as such!

Letters:  Personalized letters are a thing of the past, but an art form which is worth using today.  Why?  Simple:  no one else is and you will appear unique.  The letter should solve a prospective customer’s problem or point to a website presentation that does.  Use online or offline questionnaires to capture valuable information which you can use to sell the prospect – it sets up your sale.  Some tips:

• Follow up the first letter with a second letter and then a phone call.  All this should be done in 10 days time.  Follow up letters and calls should offer new information.
• Always ask for the sale!  oftentimes, the third time is the appeal.
• Include personal references, people you know in common and testimonials in your letters.
• Combine a letter with a Questionnaire, which asks a prospect to provide an Opt In Email address.  Send all further communications via email for cost effectiveness and immediate yet convenient to the prospect contact.  Remember, an email can be a Newsletter, Audio or Video Recording, a Power Point Presentation – the sky is the limit!
• Remember:  Confidence, Quality, Selection and Price.  Address all four in your contact; a sale is eminent, provided the prospect is qualified.
• Letters are an easy, cost-efficient way to stay in contact with customers whether you make a sale or not.
• Personalize it:  Address to a particular person, hand sign it and write a personal P.S. by hand.  You can even follow a sales letter with a hand written note in a second mailing before or afterwards a follow up phone call.  This can be very effective!
• Your letters should not ask the prospect to respond.  Rather, it will tell the prospect when you will call to set up an appointment and/or answer questions leading to a sale.  Either way, on the phone call, Always ask for the sale.
• Stick with just a short letter.  No other enclosures.  You have a better chance to be read.  You can always email (save postage) a brochure once you have retained the interest.
• If the prospect cannot wait for your follow up phone call, have a website address with an exclusive offer that points to a well crafted Sales Web Page.
• Sign your name in Blue color, along with the P.S.  The Reader will read the P.S. first so put some thought into it.
• State your offering’s benefits to the specific prospect without really saying what it is.  This will drive the prospect to check out your Sales web page.
• Include a short Customer Testimonial with the Customer’s contact info.  Let your current Customers do the selling for you!
• The numbers:  Mass Mailings are deemed successful with a 1-2% Response Rate.  If a personal letter is done right, a 10-20% sales rate (not Response Rate!) can be achieved!
  • If you do Mass Mailings, a Personal Letter as stage 2 to your responses can be highly effective as well!
• On your Online Sales Page always give the prospect the opportunity to Opt In their email address so you can automatically send them Newsletters, Articles, Special Offers, Bona fides and the such.
• How to get a sale?  Simple:  Eliminate all risks of doing business with you and make sure the prospect understands the benefits and value of your offering.  Pair that with passion and straight forward ethics and you will close again and again.  You will have to ask for the sale at a minimum of three times on average; so ask!
• Partner up with other ethically sound business people to pair your offering and make a truly unique offering and/or tap the partner’s customer base.  An experienced partner can add a lot of credibility to your offering.
• Ask for Referrals from the beginning, whether or not the prospect buys from you.  If they don’t, make sure you offer them an Opt In so you can continue to stay in front of them with Specials, Newsletter, Company News and Events, Articles and the such.
• If targeting businesses, ALWAYS send you letter to the President and then follow up with a phone call after you sent a hand written note two days later.  Two things will happen, you have his/her attention, and your initial call will be routed to the right decision maker in the company.
• Remember, letters are all about psychology so keep the emotional sale in mind when preparing the letter.

Note:  A lot of these methods and strategies described under “Letters” can be applied to many different marketing tools – use them!

Telemarketing:  I am not a huge fan of cold calls (and this coming from someone who built initial sales and companies on cold calling).  Now, a professional telephone campaign linked to a mailing of some sort (letter, brochure, marketing piece) can be rather effective.  In-bound telemarketing can be profitable if done properly.  The bottom line:  51% listen to telemarketers when called, so it can be a worthwhile strategy.  Here are some keys toward running a successful telemarketing campaign:

• Research the prospect:  know the important things about your prospect and how they appertain to your business.
• Link your telemarketing with a personalized letter so your call is a follow up from an potential source, verses a pure cold call.
• I hate scripts.  Your telemarketing should come naturally and lead to pre-planned destinations and decisions (i.e. more info, website link, a free analysis, newsletter or article, or a sale).
• Know your hot-button words, such as, “profitability, increase profits, take down costs and expenses, increase cash flow, money and time savings, competitive advantage and edge, market share” and so forth.
• Remember, an Objection is a quicker way to a yes.  Address an Objection adequately; you are one objection closer to the sale (typically 3 objection average per sale).
• Keep it simple:  Contact, Warm Up, Present, Answer Questions / Address Objections and Close (try to close twice before your final close).
• Ask the prospect questions and clearly understand his or her issues / problems so you can provide a solution.
• When you close and ask for the sale, always state the benefits prior.
• A close doesn’t have to be a sale.  It could be you ask for the sale and the prospect isn’t convinced.  Do not destroy your sales opportunity by trying over and over for a final close.  Rather, set up an Appointment and send follow up information and a Sales Webpage link.  Stay in front of the prospect (I am assuming this is a well qualified prospect).
• Keep a Special Offer in your back pocket and only use it if you think the prospect is more motivated by price than your value added benefits.
• The hard numbers:
  • 100 calls to close a sale
  • 5 minutes average per call = @ 8 hours for a sale
  • 5 sales = @ 40 hours of time
  • The average call dealing when one business telemarkets to another is @ $550, which means telemarketing can be quite profitable
• You can Surely increase the before mentioned odds / percentages to the better by developing and implementing a warm-up campaign that involves a personal letter, other type of mailing, email, etc.  Warming up the prospect really pays off for the follow on Telemarketing.

Fliers / Circulars / Brochures:  Fliers and Circulars are a short, concentrated, single message, specialization piece while a brochure is more detailed and longer.  I am not a big fan of any of these business promotion mediums, unless they are used in a well thought out, targeted system.  Here are some tips to draw clarity on what I mean:

• Fliers and Circulars: 
  • If you need to distribute a large volume, in conjunction (as a follow on) with a Mass Mailing, use Circulars.
  • Gets Instant action if implemented correctly.
  • Clear Offer
  • Urgency
  • Straight to the Point
  • Instruct Prospect what to do Next
  • Clearly Ties in to a Previously Established Identity
  • Content is very important, as well as, Process.
  • Factual / Explain
  • Inform
  • Sell
  • Help a Prospect visualize your Content with a Picture
  • Use Headlines & Bullet Points
  • List the greatest benefits for the particular audience
  • Test out your Brochure with a Circular / Flier for cost effective Test Marketing
  • Use Action Words
  • Learn Desktop publishing and produce your own materials at a fraction of the price.  Get a Graphic Design Student intern to create your Artwork for a small fee.
  • Color and Gloss are expensive.  If you aren’t selling a luxury, premium product, consider colored ink and colored stock to bring your piece to life.  However, if you self produce, I prefer Gloss and Colored Pictures – it is worth the added cost but mitigated when self produced.
  • ROI:  One Sale / one job should handily pay for your entire creation and distribution costs, otherwise, reconsider your campaign.

• Brochures:  More expensive, more detailed, larger pieces which instill confidence and credibility.  Moreover, it provides a more finesse, elaborate sales process.  As a mailing, I prefer a Circular.  For customer location placement, I like a Flier.  Brochures are great for in-house advertising; give to existing clients with a referral section; perfect to use online in combination with Website Marketing.  I like all my referral sources to have a replenishable stack of brochures that contain a referral section.  Also if you don’t make a sale, send a few brochures and ask the prospect to give out for a referral fee (and to stay in front of the prospect). 
  • The best use of brochures in my opinion is online and as a PDF product, as well as, a Video and/or Power Point product.
  • Color is good.  It increases your retention rate by over 50% and affects the buying attitude by 40%.
  • A brochure that costs a $1 to produce can have 8 pages, so use them sagely.  Tell a story, build credibility, make it personal and keep a professional, clean look.
  • If you have products that change rapidly, consider using a pocket brochure for product update inserts.  Great for price lists too!
  • Customer testimonials are a must.
  • Have the brochure point to specific web sales pages for more information.
  • Call for Action in your brochure.  Direct the prospect.
  • A low cost way of producing a brochure is having a magazine, which you advertise in or publish in, produce the ads / story as a brochure for you.
  • A great combination if money is a premium (it always is with a small business, isn’t it?) is to run small print ads in many publications which point to a FREE Brochure, which could be an Online Brochure.  Give people a reason to request the FREE Brochure.
  • You can personalize a Brochure Request by including a handwritten sticky note on it (this can be done digitally as well).
  • Be sure to follow up with the Brochure Requester within five days.
  • Brochures should only go to interested prospects.  Circulars can be more mass market.  Brochures should bring you a closing rate of about 30%.
  • An Online Brochure can have links to Video, Power Point and Audio Presentations.  These really increase your chances to make a sale.

Classified Ads: These types of ads can be low cost, cover a specific region or even neighborhood or take you national and international.  For a targeted audience, concentrate on Magazines.  An important stat:  60% of Americans read a magazine entirely but from back to front.  So, your ad has a good chance of being read.

• Consider Classified Network for targeted, multimedia ads at a great price.
• Use a short Headline in all CAPS.
• Only use abbreviations people will understand.
• Personalize it
• Direct the reader to a Web Sales Page
• Consider putting your phone number
• Read the other ads in your advertising section and write an ad that contrasts
• A great way to sell a Book, offer a FREE E-book or Article
• Use Facts in the AD
• Create momentum and call the reader to Act
• focus benefits
• Classified Ads are short and sweet but you need quality of message.  Start with a bigger AD and cut it down to the lines you need for the small Ad.  You need very tight copy.  Study competitors Ads to spark ideas and angles.
• I am not a fan of online classifieds.  I think they get lost on the websites which they are displayed.  For this reason, I recommend Print.  If you find a Classified Online Forum or Service or Directory you like, the downside is you have to resubmit the Ad daily to keep visibility.
• Offer something FREE!

Gift Certificates:  This can be an overlooked area for many businesses.  Promote your Gift Certificates on the Home Page of your website.  Do not have an expiration date.  Specialize for Holidays.  Put a link in your email address highlighting your certificate offerings.  It is a great way to Brand your name.

Signs:  Signage can be quite expensive so pick a business location which requires minimum outdoor signage exposure.  Indoor or Sidewalk Signage is much less expensive and can be quite effective.  Be sure to keep your signs consistent with your logo, meme, advertising message and branding.  Consistency in identity and image across the board in all the media types you are employing is paramount to converting a Prospect to a Customer.

• Keep the sign short, concise and use persuasive, action words.  Have a visible, identifiable logo.
• Sidewalk signs should be configured to stop the pedestrian, for that person to pause.  Then a sign and/or merchandise in the window has a chance of pulling that prospect in to your business.  Better yet, put your best priced merchandise outside your door.  It can cause an impulse buy and/or create an invitation to visit your business.
• Promote Cross Selling Opportunities
• Use Brochures, Biz Cards, Gift Certificate and Coupon Displays with your signage.  At the very least, a non-buying prospect can leave with something, if not a Gift Certificate.  This creates great viral based, inexpensive advertising.
• Remember, Ads can become a sign – just blow it up!
• Use point of purchase signs to get the instant gratification sale.
• Check out your competition and see what they successfully use.

Free Bulletin Boards:  Depends on your type of business.  For instance, if you deliver pizza pie to a college, then Bulletin Boards can be your best advertising.  Bulletin Boards are very time consuming as you need to check the board and refresh your offering at least twice per week.  Hire a part time student to manage your Bulletin Boards so you can spend your time more wisely.

• Everywhere has a Bulletin Board.  Try to choose those that are well maintained (so you remain visible) and have the right prospect traffic.
• You can use your Circulars to post on the Bulletin Boards.  Always have precut strips or peel offs for prospects to take your information with them.

Yellow Pages:  One question:  Why?  Print Yellow Pages are expensive, and in the Internet world, hold much less influence and utility.  If you feel that you must advertise in the Yellow Pages, put tracking devices on the Ad so you can measure its effectiveness.  Moreover, one Ad may not do it as people may search in more than one category to find you.

• Is the answer online Yellow Pages?  No!  Consider Google Local with Google Maps verses using the online Yellow Pages.
• The largest Ad wins in Print Advertising.  So, instead of paying the extra bucks for one large Ad on a page put two smaller ones to prevent being overshadowed by a large ad
• Color pays.  Spend the extra bucks for it.
• Offer something for FREE
• Make your AD personal – address that person looking at your Ad

Use the Power of Desktop Publishing:  Learn to use graphic design software and design your own logo, brochures, circulars, ads, business cards for a fraction of the cost.  Take a class on the software you will be using so you can create professional looking materials.  Then you can always hire a pro to clean up your designs.  There is no need to spend thousands of dollars on your designs using a graphic designer – you can use a pro when you are successful and the cash flow is there.

About the Writer

Frank Goley is a Business Consultant and Business Planner for ABC Business Consulting and has been helping companies to succeed for many years. He is an expert in developing business plans, marketing plans, funding plans, strategic plans, turnaround plans, web marketing strategies, and project specific business plans. Frank is also a business coach, business turnaround consultant, and a web development, web marketing and web seo consultant. Frank is author of the business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business Planning, and he has over 40 published articles on business success strategies. He also writes the Business Success Strategies blog.