Marketing Mistake – Stealing Customers

Does this happen to you too?

I was amazed again this weekend by the lack of
common sense of a small business owner.

My wife found a buy one get one free coupon for
a local coffee shop, that set the plan in motion.
We Were going out for a treat.

We went in and placed our order for the most expensive
drinks they had, even with the coupon we were spending
almost five bucks for a coffee drink.

My wife handed the employee the coupon and without even
looking at it she said, “I am sorry that’s for the XXXX
store. Same name different location.

It turns out that this is a franchise and this coupon wasn’t
for this store.

So now are you thinking well that makes sense. What are you
complaining about Blase?

This is amazing to me.

How hard is it to get a new customer?
How much does it cost you to get a new customer?
Isn’t it easier to sell to someone that knows, likes,
and trusts you?

My wife and I were new customers, bought and paid for by
someone else’s advertising and I was basically told, I
am sorry we don’t want your business.

Obviously I wasn’t the first person to try and use this coupon
at the wrong location. If I owned this business I would put a plan in
place to capitalized on that coupon and steal that new customer
that was paid for by someone else.

Big box stores do it all of the time. How many times have you
been told we will honor all of our competitor’s coupons?

There are all kinds of marketing principles that apply to this
example, I could write a short report on what this owner is missing.

If you want to learn more about marketing a good start is a free
90 minute audio course at www.gssam.com.

Now go sell something,
Blase

Marketing Tip – Your Brand

Please note: This is not a political commentary.

This is all my opinion and has been written for the
lesson in marketing that can be learned.

Hillary For President…that’s what the header on her web site
says. I just happen to notice that it didn’t say Hillary
Clinton for president and I thought that was rather curious.

As a business owner I am sure you’ve heard you need to brand
your business. You’ve heard how important your brand is.
You’ve heard that you need to protect your brand.

If you were running for election and there was already a
president that had the same last name as you wouldn’t you
use that brand?

Elections have been won just because a name was the same even
though it was a different person.

This is  true of course if your brand has a good reputation.
If somehow your brand got some bad publicity or it was
tarnished in some way you would have to re-brand some how.

Let’s face it you wouldn’t start a new business and name it
“Enron” now would you?

So this begs the question, what’s wrong with “Hillary Clinton”
for president?

Somebody must think it’s a problem because they are not using
the “Clinton” brand. I did go through her web site and there
are only two small pictures of Bill.   gain not using the brand
as a springboard.

Yes I know her web site URL is HillaryClinton.com, but I checked
and Hillary.com is taken, it’s a software company.

Branding is a huge subject most things said about branding
don’t apply to small businesses. However no mater how big you
are you need to protect your good name and if it some how gets
tarnished you need to figure out how to make lemonade out of
lemons.

For more info about branding you can go to
www.GSSAM.com  send me an email or call me.
My contact info is at that web site also.

Now go sell something,
Blase

Marketing Tip – Business Success

If you are in business or if you are thinking about
getting into business this could define success for
you.

I was just reading my recent issue of “Wired” and I
came across a tid bit that you have to consider.
They had an article about bad patent ideas. One of the
ideas was just applied for in 2006. Some nut job
thought it would be a great idea to have “airbag under
shorts”.

For all I know there could be some kind of application
that I am not aware of, but for the average person I
don’t see this as a big seller.

You wear these shorts deflated then if you are falling
down they have sensors that figure that out and they
inflate to protect you from the fall.

Here is the lesson.

Everybody has ideas, most of them will never sell. If
you want to be successful don’t do what most business
owners do. They start with the idea first and try to build
a business around it.

What you need to do is find a market and build a
product for it. You need to find a problem that is not
being solved and solve it. You need to take a great
product that is selling figure out
what it’s weaknesses are and improve it.

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Sound familiar?

Then why are people inventing air bag under shorts!

Why do most business still go out of business?

Find the hungry market first then go into business.

If you are already in business you need to figure out
how you can find niches and applications for your
product or service that have the problems that you can
solve.

I hate to say this, but for some of you it may be time
to cut your loses and move on. No matter what you do
you may not have a target market that wants or needs
what you have.

I had a client that I told to move on when he first
showed me his idea. He wouldn’t listen. 18 months
later he had spent almost $50,000 chasing his dream.

He is now out of money and his idea is in the trash
can.

If you would like more marketing ideas go to
www.GSSAM.com

Now go sell something, Blase

Press Release – 5 Brilliant Tips

Press Releases can help your business gain publicity
through the media. Having media attention gives your
business credibility.Here are some tips to boost your press
release’s appeal.

Use The Correct Format-

There is a format that press releases need to follow.
Make sure your yours is written in the correct format,
as you will want it to look as professional as
possible. It is also a good idea to double-check the
grammar, punctuation and spelling before you send it
in for submission. Keep it Clear and Concise-

Your press release should be no longer than two pages.
Media outlets receive lots of press releases and don’t
have time to read a ten page report. Keeping your
writing clear and concise allow you to fit in the
important facts without going over the two page limit.
As you decide what information to include, answer the
following questions: who, what, why, where, when, and
how.

What Is The Reader Going To Gain?

Give your press releases a call to action. Include
something that is going to inspire readers to go to
your event, visit your website, attend your grand
opening, etc. Writing a blatant ad will be obvious.
Incorporate the features and benefits of what you are
promoting, and give information on what it will do for
your target market. If you are promoting a new food
processor, simply stating that it is smaller and takes
up less space than previous models isn’t enough.
However, writing the information as “the new model is
smaller and takes up less space, allowing our
customers to have the full chopping power of our
larger model, but also save precious counter space”
lets the reader know how the new model will help them.

Make It Interesting-

If your writing is boring, no one is going to want to
read it. Try to find a balance between straight facts
and excitement. Using the example of the food
processor above, announcing that “our new food
processor will be available this spring” isn’t as
catchy as “our new space-saving food processor will be
available this spring, just in time to help you chop
fresh vegetables for your summer salads”.

Remember Your Target Market-

As you write and submit your press releases, keep your
target market in mind at all times. By keeping your
audience in mind, you will be able to focus on what
information to include and where to submit your press
releases. For instance, if you are promoting an event
related to children’s health, submitting a press
release to the travel editor of your local paper isn’t
going to help you.

The media cannot run a story on every press release
they receive, but implementing these tips will help
you write press releases that grab, and keep, the
media’s attention. The old saying “practice makes
perfect” rings true for press releases; the more you
write them, the better you will get.

For 90 minutes of free audio about marketing
your business go to www.GSSAM.com

Now go sell something,
Blase