If You Say You’re Gonna Do It, Do It!

On January 19, 2010, in Blogging, Email marketing, Marketing, Offline promotion, Online marketing, Web copywriting, Website promotion, by Melody Brooks

Do you lie in your marketing materials?
Have you ever thought about that?

How many times have you seen a sales letter that made a big promise but the product didn’t deliver? Or how about a blog post whose title said one thing but the post itself said another?

How did you feel when you were done reading? Like you just wasted 5 minutes you’ll never get back.

Make sure you don’t do that. If necessary, have someone else read your marketing materials.

Always test your emails. Send them to yourself and click on the links, reread for clarity, and check the formatting. If your emails look sloppy, you’re going to lose subscribers.

And above all – if you say you’re going to tell your readers how to do something, follow through! And don’t take 50 paragraphs to do it.

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7 Ways to Help New Clients Get Off to a Great Start with Their Marketing

On December 21, 2009, in Email marketing, Marketing, Offline promotion, Online marketing, by Melody Brooks

Clients need your help in getting more customers, especially online. Most of them have no idea where to start – and not only will they pay you handsomely, but they will love you for taking this chore off their hands. These are just a few ideas meant to inspire you to come up with plans personalized for your clients.  

1. ASK your clients what they need . . . just because your other beauty shop clients needed help with Craigslist ads, that doesn’t mean this one will too.  

2. Closely related to #1 is Don’t assume anything. Your client may have a solid marketing background and just needs to know how to start a WordPress blog. To waltz in and assume he needs your services from A-Z is not only condescending and rude, but you’re going to lose business . . . to people who ASK.  

3. What kind of list does the client have now? It may be mailing addresses only, in which case you can start a postcard campaign. It takes time to get this together and see results, so the process should be started right away and running in the background along with #4.  

4. Gather contact information consistently, especially email addresses. You can use Aweber or Constant Contact to create a monthly newsletter with coupons and specials. Make sure that newsletter delivers quality content.   

5. Create a blog or website. If nothing else, a Blogger site will do. The client may want to update the blog or website in-house but want you to train the staff who will be doing it. Or he may want you to take it over.   

6. Don’t forget old clients. You may need to send them a “sorry we haven’t touched base” letter or postcard, but reactivating old clients can pay great dividends.

7. JV, JV, JV. Joint ventures are a big piece of the corporate money pie, but most small businesses have never heard of them. In a joint venture, two or more businesses leverage each other’s resources. 

For example, a jewelry store that specializes in high-end diamond jewelry might work with a boutique in an upscale part of town. The boutique could send out a letter to its clients recommending the jewelry store, with an introductory special of 20% off for anyone who brings in the letter. The boutique gets 35% of the profit from the campaign.  

All it cost the boutique was a little time mailing the letters, and the actual costs to put together the campaign could be taken off the top of the proceeds. The jewelry store has new customers they wouldn’t have had otherwise, and the customers got a great deal on jewelry.  

A win-win-win situation for everyone.   

Most business owners are so busy running their businesses (especially in this economy) that they don’t have time to learn how to market, much less to do it. Anything you can help them with will be much appreciated . . . remember, they are already used to paying for marketing and advertising.

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Is This Passion a Good Fit for Niche Marketing?

On March 13, 2009, in Marketing, Niche marketing, Offline promotion, Quit smoking, by Melody Brooks

I’m at a crossroads.

I have a passion for helping people quit smoking. I used to be a tobacco quitline coach and am a former smoker myself (8 years quit as of January 8).

I believe that nicotine replacement therapy and Chantix have been oversold and overhyped as *the* answers. In reality, everyone has the ability within themselves to quit cigarettes or chew if they have the desire, education, and confidence to tap that inner strength.

I know that I can help them find that inner strength. I also know I could marry internet marketing with quitting smoking and help more people than I ever could one-on-one. At the same time, I could make enough money to have even more time to devote to helping more people quit.

But there’s one issue that makes me pause…

In my time with the quitline, one persistent theme came up with smokers and chewers. They didn’t want to pay for help. They didn’t want to pay for a few days’ worth of patches while waiting for the supply from us. They were unhappy that Chantix wasn’t free. Interesting, considering what they willingly paid for cigarettes.

To be fair, they’ve been trained to expect this by their state governments with the free programs many of them provide. Understandable, since these programs are paid for with their cigarette taxes. Some of the pharmaceutical companies help out with free stuff as well. And frankly, some are stubborn enough that they won’t even think of quitting unless someone gives something to them.

But then I see the Allen Carr Easyway to Stop Smoking seminars being given in three US cities for $350-425 a pop. Perhaps this is a niche within a niche? The more committed of the quitters?

So my research continues. Has anyone tried to work in this niche and do you have any advice for me? Thank you in advance for any help.

–Melody

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