A-Z of Marketing Ideas 3rd and Final Part!

A-Z of Marketing Ideas Part 3

R - Recognition

'No one ever made themselves great by making someone else look small'. I can't actually remember who said that but I read it recently and it fits nicely with this subject of 'recognition'. It is really important to make others great at the same time as making yourself great. Don't be afraid of someone who is doing the same thing as you - celebrate them and people will assume that you are doing so great that you can afford to uplift someone else in the same sector as you, this is a good thing! Of course the truth is that you really can afford to help promote other people or market their services alongside yours because there are horses for courses and not everyone will be uniquely suited to your style of working. Refer on those customers who need the services or products that you offer but that don't quite fit your style or concept, they will be grateful that you still took the time to look after their best interests and the person you refer them onto will be grateful too. At the end of the day you can also be grateful because a customer that doesn't fit with your business will become a disgruntled customer and none of us love those.


S - Self Worth

When it comes to thinking about what sort of prices you will want to charge (not strictly marketing but your price point will definitely affect your image and the way you choose to market yourself), take a look first at how much you value yourself. If you don't value yourself then no one else will either. If you find yourself giving away lots of things for free (that includes your time as well), then you are not valuing yourself or your business enough. If you are selling a service or a brand, think about how much that is worth, then double it. Yes, this may seem money grabbing but actually it's not, you are giving the person buying into your service or brand more self-worth in return. Say someone has been thinking about getting a diamond ring, they are expensive and its very tempting to find the cheapest one that you like and be grateful. However, if you are out to get a diamond ring then you are looking for something special, you want to treat yourself or a loved one with this ring. If you buy the cheap one (it might be just as good as a more expensive one), you will never feel that the ring is that special, 'it was just a cheap one' you will say. If you had bought the expensive ring you would have valued it far more and you would have been giving yourself or your loved one more value too by purchasing it. The same goes for services, you want to have a counselling session to feel better - you see one advertised very cheaply and you go for it because that is what you can afford. You will feel like they are not likely to be a very good counsellor (why else would they be cheap) but you go along anyway and hope for the best. Is this valuing yourself? Is the counsellor valuing themselves by being cheap for everyone (there is nothing wrong with having concessionary rates), what do you think of the counsellor who is cheap to go and see? Perhaps their advice is going to be inferior - are you prepared to pay for an inferior service? Aren't you worth more than that???? Yes, you are. You are worth more than that as a customer and as a service or product provider. Up your prices now...you are fantastic and it's about time you and everyone else realised it!

T - Trust

Does what you are doing feel right? Does it feel good? Does it make a difference? Do you believe in what you are selling? Can people trust you? Building a trusted brand means that you have to trust yourself and trust in the journey you are on before you can market yourself to other people as being trustworthy. If it doesn't feel good, if you don't feel that it is something worthwhile then sooner or later you are going to give up on it. Find a marketing strategy that feels good right from the start. If you are currently carrying out a marketing strategy that is not working maybe it's because people don't get a sense of integrity from it and integrity is essential to trust. Search your creative nature for a strategy that feels in line with who you are and what the business stands for, find an emotional attachment to what you are selling and people will begin to understand what you are about. Don't sell novels, sell escapism. Don't sell fruit, sell wholesome living - you get the idea. Trust and integrity are no longer things that you can get away with ignoring, consumers won't stand for it and neither should you.

U - Understanding your customers

This is a wide and varied task...but understanding the psychology of how people buy is key to marketing success. A friend of mine remarked today that he was overjoyed at finding a coffee shop that offered simply 'small' and 'large' as options for coffee size. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by choice, paralyzed by it even. Make things easy for your customers, don't give them too many options, keep it simple and keep it smart. Don't offer endless ways of accessing your service or endless ways of putting together your products to create their own packages. Offer them something concrete that they can click and buy with the minimum amount of fuss and they will come back for more. Don't make people jump through hoops to get to information, just put it there for them. Don't call them up and offer them a million different things, no one call recall that much information. You have 7 seconds to impress people, 7 seconds to get them interested...just 7!! What can you convey in 7 seconds that will have people begging to know more? What can you leave out? Cut down your options and you will increase your customers.

V - Vanish

Sometimes you might need to vanish for a while. This is not always the case (it needs to be right for your type of business) but sometimes over exposure leads to apathy from the customer who assumes that you will always be there so they can come to you whenever they want (generally this ends up being never). So sometimes it can pay to let them know that there is a limited time on your availability, that there is a waiting list, that your offer will not be around for long, that you might not be here forever. Be warned, this doesn't work with existing customers, vanish on them and they will quite rightly be annoyed and probably never be a customer again. When it comes to attracting new customers however, sometimes you need to call them to action by telling them it is something they need to take advantage of NOW!! Give them a reason to DO something, to take the bull by the horns and make a decision quickly. Don't necessarily be toooooo available.


W - Wishing won't make it happen

So most of us have heard of positive thinking (no? Where have you been??!). This does not mean that you religiously follow the words of the 'Secret' and hope that a million pounds will land on your doorstep. Wishing does not make it so. There is something in the idea of manifesting however, it works for me and it works for so many people I know that you really ought to give it a try when you are coming up with your marketing plan. Have a clear idea of what you want, by that I mean really feel that it is something you desire and believe you can have. Then get into the way of feeling that happening - imagine it is already so, feel like it is already so. If you want people to be wowed with your marketing start by feeling the way that you want them to feel, feel excited, inspired, joyful or determined, then imagine what it would take for something you see or hear to make you feel this way. Would it need to be an incredible visual, an amazing soundbite, a combination of the two? Whatever allows you to feel the way you want your customers to feel is a good start along the road of successful marketing efforts. If you want to read more about manifesting then see my list of recommended books and pick out something that appeals to you, read it and then try it for yourself.

X - X-Rated

No, I don't mean include lots of sex in your marketing (times have moved on...). I mean, how is your own sex life? 'What the hell has that got to do with marketing you nosy cow?' I hear you cry! Well, actually, more than you think. Your fire, your passion, your creativity can all be awakened and sustained by getting in touch with that area of your life (and your body). Your body is all interconnected with your mind and if you are not fired up with passion then your business won't be either. One way (not the only way of course) is to improve your sex life and let this area of your life come alive again (even if it's just a matter of giving it more thought or time in your head), for that energy to be reawakened and for you to be able to see how this can be transferred into your business. So have a think about whether you are paying this area of your life enough attention and when the last time was that you felt that passion....

YZ - Why Z? Why have an ending?

Did you get what I did there, did ya, did ya??! Sometimes we forget that we don't need to finish everything off in polished style, sometimes things have to be led in the direction they want to go regardless of where we think they should end up. Your marketing should be customer led after your first efforts, you need to start it off and spark the imagination but once you have done that try to respond to your customers instead of following a plan that actually no longer fits. Education is a good example of how this works - learning is meant to be child led (in some schools). The teacher sparks them by giving them the ground work for how this topic or subject could be interesting and useful and then the children ask questions that tell the teacher where they want to go, what they want to learn - the idea being that if you respond to what they are asking to learn they will be more engaged as a result. It is the same in business, if your customers are talking to you and telling you what they want (the importance of engaging is obvious here) then respond to that, go where they need you to go, listen to them and they will be more interested in what you have to say. Don't have endings, only have beginnings and let the rest take care of itself....

I hope you have enjoyed this mini series of Marketing Ideas posts?! What else would you like to see in future blogs? Coming up...My experiences with Ex Dragons Den star Rachel Elnaugh!

Love Nova xxx

Find your Business Buddies!

I have a new big booking for my 'coaching briefs' and it has come about by linking with another business. It is money in the bank for me and money in the bank for them, new clients all round and everyone is happy.

Linking with business buddies is a great way to grow your business and theirs at the same time, what's not to like?

So what is a Business Buddy?

Business Buddies are businesses that are complementary to yours and offer services or products that are along similar lines but are different enough that they aren't going to be competing with you.

Can you give me an example? 

There are lots of working examples of how businesses have joined together to help one another, co-operatives, village markets, craft fairs etc. Sometimes these can still have lots of competition involved though,   nothing wrong with that in principle, a little competition gives you information, drive and helpful hints to improve your own business. Business Buddies however are businesses that create referrals for each other just by going about their daily business. Its the graphic design company that links with a printer and gets their clients a good deal.

Good for the graphic designer - they have a reliable service that they can count on and might be able to ask them favours like a last minute job that needs to be done. As a regular customer they are likely to give you credit and the best deals meaning that you can pass on some or all of the discounted rates to your customers.

Good for the customer - they will be able to get a better deal from you on design and printing than they would be able to get on their own.

Good for the printer - they get business from you that they don't have to pay marketing and advertising costs to go out and get. This is likely to make them work hard to ensure you stay with them.

Everyone wins!

So how can I find a business buddy?

Start to think about the types of businesses that might complement yours. If you run a florists can you link up with wedding services? If you sell food can you link up with someone that sells drink and offer the two together at a really good deal and sell more through joint efforts? If you run a cafe can you link with a delivery service, a healthy eating campaign project, offer a meeting space to business people in the area, sell some books for people to read whilst they are there and link with a bookshop?

There are a million ideas to go through so take some time to look around at your market place and think about what would really benefit your customers or someone else's customers and start approaching people with your ideas!

What are the other benefits?

Having someone else to refer you is a huge help to any business, customers like to find people to work with that have been recommended to them or that they already have a relationship with - be that person by having genuine and meaningful links with people you trust and feel happy to promote.

New links can lead to new opportunities. Who knows where that new link could lead you? Your Business Buddy might have new ideas for you, directions you had never even thought of that they suggest because they know that their client base would like it. Take the example of the cake decorator: the cake decorator links with a wedding planning service and  makes wonderful wedding cakes for their client base that people love. One day the wedding planners have a wedding where the bride is gluten intolerant, the wedding services ask if you might consider putting some gluten free options into your current range and you jump at the idea. Now the bride is super happy and whenever her friends get married she recommends you because you helped her out, she also tells people wherever she goes that if they want a really great gluten free cake they should come to you. You (the cake maker) end up with a best selling range of high end gluten free cakes for special occasions. It's a simple example of things that happen all the time when you link up with new people.

You're spreading the word about your business far quicker. We all know how this works, you tell one person, they tell two, those two tell another two people each and it all grows at the rate of compound interest but in a far more positive direction! This can happen anyway through your customers (you hope its all good of course!), but the important difference about the way this happens with Business Buddies is that you are more than likely spreading the word through your target markets. The printer telling people about your design service is potentially more value than the fruit and veg shop telling them (although all good publicity is fantastic, always be nice to people you meet, you never know if that fruit and veg shop are about to rebrand...). People who use printing services are more likely to want graphic design services at some point in the future or to know others who might.

Business Buddies have been a great way for me to help expand my business and in turn I can help others to expand too, it always goes both ways and it always should  - beware the 'Buddy' who takes but never gives...do you really want to refer your customers to someone like that?? They won't thank you for it!

Buddy up today! Do you have a good Business Buddy? Who are they and how does it work?

Love Nova xxx