Success Secret: Sell Your Value, Not Your Service or Product

March 11, 2011 1 Comment

The clients are out there, you just need to reach them.  And the best way to get them to take notice, is to sell your value not your product or service.   But, before you can present your value, you have to understand exactly what it is.  Your product or service is what is most apparent, that’s what people see, but your value is generally a bit more hidden.  If you own a beauty salon, your service is pretty straightforward, you cut, style and color hair.  But what is the value you’re offering?  You help people feel younger, more attractive, happier, or more successful.  Your value depends on your client, but your value is more the emotion than the actual hair you cut or style.

What is it you’re selling? And I don’t mean what product or service.  Are you selling health, wealth, beauty, success, fun?  What is the value or effect that your product or service offers your customer?  Focus on that.  Sell your value not your product.  This can be trickier than it seems.  I’ve worked with several companies that understood the product they were selling, but not the value.  Take some time and figure out who your target market is and what your product or service truly offers.  What is the core value?  When you’ve figured that out, the next step is to find the best avenue(s) to reach them.

Once you know exactly what value you’re offering your clients, find the unique marketing mix specific to your needs.  Then you’re set to reach and land more clients – now!

Most businesses are looking for clients or customers. The trick is to reach them and then to effectively communicate with them.  Even in a shifting economy, people still spend money, buy products, and use services.  The economy may take a downturn but it will eventually start to go up again.  You not only want to be prepared for the upswing, you want to use strategic marketing and promotional tools now to find your clients and build your business, even during the most challenging times.

Consider all of the possibilities including advertising, direct marketing, public relations, Internet marketing, networking, etc.  Make a list of them as well as a list of how your business can benefit from each.  Pick two promotional avenues to start with.  My favorite approach is a mix of PR and specific forms of Internet marketing, since each helps reinforce the other.  You can create a buzz on the Internet and then launch a PR campaign around the phenomena you created, or you can post your media coverage on the Internet and multiply the amount of potential customers who see it by thousands, potentially millions.

Once you understand what you’re really offering your customer and can effectively articulate it, you’ll be able to define your most effective marketing venues.  Then, you’re set to move forward.  You’re ready to reach and land new customers- now!

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

 

Filed under business, internet marketing, sales, Sell YOur Product, selling Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Successfully Marketing via the Internet

October 12, 2010 Leave a Comment

The entertainment and the information industries have never encountered times like these.  The internet changed all the rules without bothering to inform anyone.  Even the sex industry, which initially saw the net as its cash cow is hemorrhaging money at record rates.  The two most obvious victims are the newspaper and the music industries.  As a generation came of age believing that content and intellectual property was free – everything changed.

According to the Economist, since 2000, 72 American newspapers have folded and circulation has fallen by a quarter since 2007.  But that pales compared to the thrashing the music industry has taken.  According to some accounts 95% of all music downloads are illegal.  95%!   What industry can survive that?  The book industry is following suit and the film industry is playing with new models in hopes of hanging onto as many dollars as possible.

So does this spell the end of these industries?  No, that’s not happening, but these are trying, difficult times as everyone from CEO’s to new artists are trying to figure out models that work.  And those models are there.

In India, the number of daily newspapers has surged by an amazing 44% according to the World Association of Newspapers.  The Times of India with a circulation of 4m is the world’s biggest English-language newspaper.  As publishers shift from English language and focus more on regional and local language publications, there will be an even greater growth.  The situation in India is a very different one compared to that in the U.S.  The internet has yet to take hold there as it has here.  But there is still a lesson to be learned.  For example, the newspaper industry in India is slowly moving from the English-language monolithic model to a more segmented, niche approach.  Therein lies one of the main secrets to success in this brave new world.

This is no longer a time to throw out as wide a net as possible; this is a time of specialization and niche marketing.  Find your market, focus on your target, and define who your viewers, readers, listeners or buyers are.  Now market to them specifically; use the internet which has created these challenging times as your ally.  The net offers you some amazing opportunities and avenues to communicate with your consumers and clients.

Develop a marketing strategy based on traditional public relations and social media.  Create free content that visitors want to read that will then lead them to content or products you can sell.  Have them join with you, become part of your tribe (so to speak).

A targeted media relations campaign can help establish you via magazines, newspapers and TV, you can then utilize that press coverage by amplifying it online.  Have your PR work for you.  It can separate you from your competition and establish you in your field Post your media hits on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and YouTube.  Post them on your site and your blog.  Create a targeted offline/online media relations approach.  You’ll soon discover that the internet (the culprit that caused all these problems in the first place) can become your most effective marketing tool and your number one ally.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

 

Filed under Entertainment, information, Internet, internet marketing, Media, Media Relations Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Create A Niche Market For Your Business

September 8, 2010 1 Comment

It’s tempting to think that your product is perfect for… everyone.  Now, there is a broad market sector.  Generally when a company markets to everyone it’s listened to by no one.

Not only that, if you want to market to everyone, that means your marketing has to be everywhere, which generally means you need to invest millions in your campaign.

There are times where your product or service will define your market for you.  For example, if you produce golf clubs you have a pretty good idea of who to market to, although even within such a defined market you can generally drill down quite a bit and define a variety of different markets within the overall target audience.  Let’s get a little more general, let’s say you develop a line of lipstick.  You’re primary market is female, that is somewhat safe to say, but that still leaves you a rather large terrain.  Is your primary market teenage girls, women in their 20s to early 30s, women over 40?  Are you focusing on women who shop at Wal-Mart, Nordstrom’s, or trendy boutiques? These are just a few of the questions that you’d need to answer before you launched your line of lipstick.

Let’s broaden the scope even more.  Let’s say you’re selling a new brand of bottled water. Everyone drinks water.  Your market is infinite, right?  Wrong.  What you need to discover is who drinks your brand of bottled water.  Are you targeting men, women, teens, seniors, athletes, moms, who are your customers?

Finding a niche market does not mean that you will only focus in that arena, it means you will create a following a loyal group of buyers who know and trust your product or service.  Once you establish yourself in a niche market, you can then branch out and develop customers in other arenas.  By targeting your approach, your odds of success are also much greater and your risks are reduced.

But how do you know what your market is?  First and foremost know your product or service.  What does it offer? What problems does it solve? Whose life does it make easier?  If you truly know and understand your business it will lead you to your customers.  Be honest with yourself. Don’t develop a product that is perfect for college students that are on a budget and then market it to private jet owners.  That is an exaggeration, but I’ve seen companies who refuse to see their true customer base because they had a preconceived idea of the market they wanted to capture.

To start, you need to be sold on and passionate about your product or service.  If you don’t believe in it, don’t expect anyone else to.  Know your business.  As I mentioned, if you truly know your product or service it will help define your market for you.  Take some time to research that there is a need for your product.  Don’t create a business solely because it interests you.  A hobby is not always a business.  In some cases it can be, but make sure you have researched the need and demand for your business.

Now if the demand is there, you’re onto something.  Create the best product or service that you can and go forward.  Figure out exactly who your potential customers are.  Where do they buy?  What magazines or newspapers do they read?  What TV shows do they watch? What sites would they visit on the internet? Once you have that information, you have your direction.

If you’re working on a limited budget start with a targeted PR campaign combined with a social media/blogging campaign.  If you have the funds hire a public relations firm, otherwise, do some homework, learn the basics and start by launching your own targeted niche marketing campaign.  You can broaden your scope and target other markets as you grow, but to start, find a niche, develop your marketing and media relations campaign and grow your business.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

Filed under business, internet marketing, Marketing, Media, PR, PR Campaign Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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