Absurd? Or Brilliant Marketing?

‘There’s a sucker born every minute.’

‘Give the people what they want.’

These two clichés are part of marketing lore. But as I flipped through my local Sunday paper, I wonder which one applies to an ad that caught my attention. I can’t figure it out: has my highly esteemed, pillar of journalism excellence (note the sarcasm) become “snake oil salesmen” or have they had an epiphany of brilliant marketing?

You decide…

The ad was featured in the “Milestones” section of the paper which features weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and achievements. They recently began printing this in color and placing it as the insert cover for all of the coupon ads, flyers and comics…you know the stuff that makes lifting the paper your workout for the day due to it's 20 pound weight.

As you can see, this ad featured a photo of a happy looking dog with the caption of “Happy Birthday Bella!” Under that was the headline – “Give a pet a greeting!” Hmm, a birthday greeting to a dog in the Sunday paper…either we have some smart dogs in Ann Arbor or this is just plain stupid – weird – funny – brilliant – absurd.

I guess, deciding on which adjective that best describes it depends on your perspective.

So being a student of marketing I began analyzing it in terms of the motivation and needs of both the buyer and the seller. The paper of course is a commercial enterprise on a quest to turn a profit (nah, they are in business to provide a vital public service… yeah right). They are basically selling space on a page to individuals that have a need to inform others or experience having their picture in the paper. For many, seeing ones photo or name in the paper is the 15 minutes of fame that they were promised.

The pet owner’s motivations are a little more personal and passionate. To some, a pet is their main companion in life; it’s their spouse, child and best friend rolled into one hairy four legged creature. As such, they project their emotional needs onto the pet. And sending a personal birthday greeting to Fido or Fluffy makes perfect sense.

Forget about the fact that ANIMALS CAN’T READ, that’s irrelevant.

The newspaper is merely filling a fundamental need that pet owners have to make their pets more “human.” Your could get into a lot of deep psychological gunk here, but the fact remains that some pet owners will spring for the $35 to wish their dog happy birthday. Now, it's brilliant marketing if you’re the newspaper selling ink on paper and might find it stupid if you don’t have a pet.

So, I believe the marketing lesson here is that a combination of the two at work – some people tend to be suckers and you must give them what they want. It is the emotional connection with their pet which will drive the sale and the newspaper understands this. I'm sure that this has concept has been done before in other media with great success.

But rest assured - if this pet message thing gets out of hand your local news reporter will inform us that people are getting ripped off by unscrupulous marketers! Or, will they, if they’re the dastardly culprits taking grandma’s money?

Three Steps To Gaining Your Prospect’s Trust

Gaining your prospect’s trust is the ultimate objective of playing the small business marketing game. A sale has little chance of happening without trust being created during the marketing process. Once firmly established, trust provides the ability to score a sale and to accomplish it more often with less resistance. This is where real small business success can be found.

Creating trust is not as difficult as you might think, but it does require the right marketing attitude, a bit of research and a sound strategy. In this article, we will explore practical strategies to help you create a foundation of trust on which you can execute all your marketing plays.

When you analyze it, the marketplace is so saturated with “copycat” marketing. This occurs when similar, competitive businesses in an industry copy each other’s marketing approach. This situation is usually caused by the belief that ‘if our competitors are doing it that way, it must work.” This can be a costly assumption!

You’ve seen it many times before in fast food commercials, car dealership ads, lawn maintenance companies, and many other industries. Nearly every ad and sales proposition you see attempts to communicate the same message so it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between companies.

The result is there is no differentiation or competitive advantage gained. Worse yet, prospects have no way to tell who is competent, who offers the best solution, or who to trust. When everyone looks the same it’s impossible for the buyer to tell who the best choice is.

Because of all the copycats, the need for positioning your business as the most trustworthy, lowest risk solution is more needed more than ever. The opportunity is ripe for you to become the “go-to guy” in your industry.

A copycat environment provides you with an enormous opportunity to dominate your market and make significantly more sales. It’s much easier for your message to stand out from the crowd in these conditions. The differences in your marketing and the competition don’t have to be huge. However, they must be distinct and memorable.

The most effective difference you can leverage to claim your market position as the go-to guy is one powerful attitude: caring more about your prospects. When you show how much you care, your message will stand apart from your competitors. By creating an emotional connection you can communicate that you understand their needs and challenges and are not just trying to sell something.

This attitude lays the foundation for trust because you are perceived as a welcome friend rather than an annoying pest. As a trusted friend, they look to you first for advice and the solutions to their problems. Just imagine how much business you could be doing if people automatically came to you first to purchase what they need.

So how do you create the conditions to gain their trust?

To begin, it’s critical that you show empathy with their situation. You must articulate that you understand their problems better than anyone else. Explain to them that you, or one of your customers, has faced the same situation and tell a story of what solution you provided and back it up with results.

Do you know your prospect’s pain, problems, challenges, needs and fears? Do you know what keeps them up at night with worry? What really irritates them to the point of needing to take action? Everybody has these irritants – real or imagined.

Your target market niche shares common irritants that provoke them to search for a solution. You need to identify these irritants and create a list of the most important ones that you can solve. To uncover these irritants you must do some research. Here are three steps to get you started:

1. Do a keyword search in several search engines and analyze the content theme of sites it returns. Look at the top ten sites then dig a little deeper down the list for problems and irritants that various sites are addressing. You are searching for patterns and trends within your subject so a broad cross section is necessary.

2. Find the most popular blogs about the subject and read the comments people post on them. This will reveal some of the key issues they face and usually include what really irritates and challenges them. You can do the same in forums and chat rooms where they congregate. Both of these provide a raw, unfiltered look at the issues and reveal many hot button triggers you can use in our marketing.

3. Read the magazines and books that are specifically written about the subject. These give you a sense of what kind of information they are now receiving about their issue and show you where the best positioning opportunities can be found.

After you have researched the issues and created an irritant list, you need to develop a personal story that communicates that you empathize and understand their irritants. This story must be true and show that you have stood in their shoes and were able to overcome the problem. Remember, in their mind they are looking for solutions not products or services to buy.

A word of warning; be careful not to give off the appearance of “selling” at this stage of the marketing game. Prospects are very wise to sales techniques that set them up for the close. There is no quicker way to ruin your credibility and destroy the empathy you have created than pitching them a sale before trust has been firmly established.

For more ideas on how to establish trust within your marketing efforts, visit TD-Marketing-System.com and get your copy of the “Six Fundamentals For Winning The Marketing Game” from marketing coach Ron Abbott. Don’t just compete in your market…dominate it!

Small Business Marketing Success: It’s All About Your Attitude

Small business marketing success can only be achieved when you are mentally prepared to be persistent and tenacious. Having a winning marketing attitude is the first step in creating a business that dominates your market and defeats all of your competitors.

What's your marketing attitude? Do you see yourself as confident winner or a cynical loser?

Most small businesses fail because of lack of sales brought on by a neglect of marketing. Typically, the business owner is wearing so many hats and battling endless problems that they push marketing aside until it is too late and they are hemorrhaging money. Marketing usually takes a back seat to employee problems, meeting payroll, dealing with vendors, satisfying customers, and fighting off competitors.

Unsuccessful business owners perceive marketing as an obstacle to be avoided rather the engine that drives the cash producing machine. Conversely, businesses that thrive for many years understand that marketing is the key to their success and that nothing else they do is more important. It's all about marketing attitude.

Here are six marketing attitudes that generate sales and lead to success:

1. A Belief in the Power of Marketing: Nothing else you will do in your daily activities will create sales and profits more than your marketing activities. Marketing is an investment that generates positive results, everything else creates costs.
2. Persistence and Tenacity: You must never give up and constantly market your business no matter what the market conditions or who the competition. Most small businesses owners quit because of a few of their marketing plays fail to produce. A never-give-up marketing attitude is a must.
3. A Systematic Approach: Successful marketing is a methodical process that requires strategic planning with defined goals and consistent execution with results that can be measured. Most businesses plan by tossing a coin to decide where and execute a single, one time marketing play. This approach never works.
4. Resiliency and Immunity to Failure: When you play the marketing game you will face failure. Not every sales letter, advertisement, or post card you send will get people to act in your favor. You must accept the failures and use them to adjust your approach until you win. Your favorite marketing phrase should always be - 'What's next?'
5. Relationships Matter: Successful small business marketing is the result of creating relationships with clients and customers built on trust. When they know you and like you they will buy from you without hesitation and not consider your competitor's offer.
6. A Winner's Mindset: Marketing is a game that is played on a tough battlefield with many worthy adversaries. Being shy and timid about letting your prospects know how you can solve their problems and improve their lives can be disastrous. A confident message with an aggressive approach is the only way to take on your competition and come out victorious with the sale.

Having the right attitude toward your small business marketing is the surest way to achieve the level of success you desire. It can mean the difference between you enjoying the thrill of victory or the bitter taste of defeat.

To learn more on how to create a winning marketing program with the right attitude, download a complimentary report "Six Fundamentals For Winning the Marketing Game." You can claim your free copy at www.TD-Marketing-System.com

To all your marketing victories,

Coach Ron