Do you re-use your print advertising and positive publicity?

Have you run newspapers and magazines ads? How about blog posts? Are there any articles that have been written about you, about your business, or about your products and services? People may be impressed when these articles and ads run the first time, but how many of them are ever seen again by the public?

Running an ad can be very expensive, so you may not be able to run an ad for an extended period of time. Articles written about your business that get printed in the media have a short shelf life. When the current issue of a publication that contains the article about you or your business is taken off the shelf, people won’t be reading your positive press anymore.  But you can re-use these items in other marketing efforts of your own.

When ads for your business (or positive articles about your business) are printed in a newspaper, Website, blog or magazine, have them copied or reprinted at a local “quick print” shop. You now have the ability to use these reprints in a lot of marketing projects.  Here are some inexpensive ways to distribute your reprints:

• Scan or save as a pdf and e-mail your ads to clients and prospects.
• Post your ads on your web site and blog or Facebook
• Mail reprinted materials along with statements and invoices.
• Include reprints with your next direct mail effort.
• Have some high school students put reprints on parked cars or on the “community posting boards” at the local library or college.

As you are making your reprints, be sure to add the caption, “as seen in (Publication Name),” under the actual ad or article. This caption will give your new marketing effort added credibility.

I ran a small ad for my book “97 Marketing Secrets to Make More Money” in the Wall Street Journal and you can bet I captioned all of my reprints and other marketing efforts with the phrase “as seen in the Wall Street Journal.”

Your advertisements can also be enlarged and displayed at your place of business. This will remind patrons about the offers in your print ads. Your advertisements may only run once in print, but they can live forever. You can reuse them for years.

The same technique can be used to extend the life of any positive articles that are written about your business in newspapers, journals, and magazines. Another great idea is to take these reprinted articles and distribute them to any of your clients and/or prospects who you feel might have missed seeing them in the original publication.

If you want to re-use or re-print an article, you may have to get permission from the author or original publisher and pay a small fee. Remember that it’s priceless when someone who isn’t connected with your business, writes positive comments about you or your business in the media. You can use these comments forever.

“This is like deja vu all over again.”
- Yogi Berra

It is wise to collect and save all the advertisements that you run, all the positive articles that are written, and all the testimonials that you receive from satisfied customers. Put these materials into a binder, and use it as a brag book. Use the material regularly in your marketing efforts, to build credibility and help people feel more confident about making a decision to do business with you.

How many old advertisements or positive press articles do you have lying around that could be reprinted and used in your future marketing efforts?

“No Battle Plan Survives First Contact with the Enemy”

Many of us view our businesses and their plans as ongoing wars with competitors. We tend to see every facet of our plans and actions as battle-like comparisons with those of our adversaries.

After all, things like our marketing plans, advertising efforts, marketing calendars, logos and branding – even our products, services and ideas, themselves – are our weapons. And, collectively, we are always trying our best to make sure that our weapons and stratagem are bigger, better and stronger than those of our ‘enemies’.

The title of this article was actually a quote of the infamous Napoleon the Great. And, while you may be saying to yourself, “But, Napoleon lost”, your statement is missing one ever-important word – ‘eventually‘.

Napoleon had plenty of victorious battles – many of which he was predicted to lose – and, regardless of what you think of the “Pint-Sized General”, the quote -and philosophy behind it – are a great start, as far as the way one should look at their business’s plan and, how it relates to that ongoing war with the competition.

In regard to business, no marketing plan should be set in concrete! No matter how effective your plan may be, chances are, it will have to be altered at a given time; due to what your competitor(s) is doing.

We have all been in a situation in which, we feel heavy frustration from the fact that we have to change the plan - that we once considered our ‘baby’ – in order to counter what it was that another company was coming to battle with.

Even the actions of your clients, future clients or suppliers can take you by surprise – to the point of startling you – and force you to change the way in which you had set out to do things. In other words, you must be ready for anything. You must have flexibility. You must expect the unexpected!

Now, don’t feel as if you have to be a psychic. Don’t feel overwhelmed at the thought of needing a business and marketing plan so flexible that it takes away from the overall aim and goals that made you ‘hungry‘ to run your particular business in the first place!

There is an easy way to be sure that you can continue to have success in the future – if you just start off with flexibility in mind! The best way to do so is to have a marketing plan that is flexible and built to adjust itself when the time comes to do so.

At Fast Marketing Plan, our goal is to provide our clients with marketing plans that are easy-to- create, easy-to- follow, success-driven and (perhaps, most importantly) flexible. Because without flexibility, a business owner may find himself trapped and on the verge of giving up on everything that he had set out to do. Well, no person or business entity should have the power to put you into that mindset and, with a flexible marketing tool as a weapon; they won’t be able to!

When going to war, you must be sure that you have a pre-planned counter-attack for anything that may take you by surprise. Just having that knowledge may put you ahead of a good percentage of those that you are competing with.

More importantly, however, is being sure that your counter-weapon is more powerful than that of your enemies’ and, that you have another weapon or plan of attack to follow-up with; allowing you continue your march to success without any interference.

In any case, don’t be trapped by a stationary, unchangeable plan of attack. Do not allow yourself to be left with your shields down, while busy doing other things; allowing your empire to be taken down. Have the proper fortifications in place to protect what you worked so hard to build.

And, know that the first (and likely the most crucial) defense for the upcoming battles that you will face is a flexible, defensive-to-offensive marketing plan!

For more info on creating you marketing plans, check outhttp://www.FastMarketingPlan.com

To your success
Sandy Barris

Can you name anything in life that has no limits?

I didn’t think so.

That’s exactly why all your marketing efforts should have some type of expiration date.

A limited offer will “out-pull” and “out-sell” an open-ended offer almost every time.

When you do test  a “limited offer,” you will need to explain to your client/prospect why you are making your offer “limited.” For example: “Quantities are limited. We only have 132 units in stock and the man¬ufacture is back ordered.” Or “Call today. We have sold 3 in the last two days, and we only have 7 units left.” Or “We made a special purchase and can’t offer this price again.”

People will want to know why what you are offering is limited, or they will not believe that there truly is a limitation. You need to give them this information.

“Givers have to set limits because takers rarely do.”
- Irma Kurtz

It is also very important to keep in mind that if you are mailing a limited offer you have to allow time for it to arrive. Bulk rate mailings can be delayed by bad weather. They also travel primarily by railroad and there are many factors that can cause a delay in delivery.

Sometimes it just makes more sense to mail an offer via First Class Mail – especially if the offer is time sensitive.

Keep in mind that nothing is forever, everything has a limit and you can use those limits to your selling advantage.

When your offer is known to be limited, it will force people to respond or lose the opportunity. Limits force a decision and that is the ultimate goal of any marketing effort.
What kind of limit will you set for your next offer?

Who Will Buy Your Professional Services?
By: Sandy Barris

Are you an engineer, IT consultant or a dentist? How about a business coach, facilities manager, project manager or any of the thousands of professional services wanted by millions of businesses?

Have you recently been downsized or layed off? Or, have you retired and are climbing the walls wanting to get back in the game.

If so, stop and pull out your magic wand, wave it around a few times and imagine creating the perfect professional services business —without fear of failing—what would it look like?

Got it pictured. Now, take your magic wand and break it in half because whatever professional service business you choose to create, you’ll always be in sales and marketing business.

Why, because if you won’t market and close business deals, you’ll have a rough time staying in business.

Of course, one of the keys to your success in a professional service business is knowing, without a doubt, who will want and can afford to buy whatever it is you are offering.

One of the ways to get started is to figure out what and who the perfect client may look like to you:

• What business niche are they in?
• What markets do they serve?
• Who supplies that business niche with goods & services
• Where is that niche located?
• Are there enough businesses in that niche to be profitable?
• Can they afford your services?
• Who would recommend their products or services

Answer these questions and you’ll be well on your way to discovering exactly who’ll want your services.

Next, market to your perfect client using many different marketing approaches. Some will work better than others. Some will start out like gang busters then fad off. Others will crash and burn with no ROI. It’s all good because every success and failure is a lesson and brings you closer to succeeding in your business.

The key here is to create an overall marketing strategy that includes 15 or more marketing tactics. The more marketing tactic you try, the greater your chance of getting in front of the perfect future client.

Keep in mind people absorb information in different modes. Some people like information presented verbally. Talk to them face-to-face; send them a CD/DVD or an Mp3 they can listen to in their car.  Others want info visually; they like to see videos, graphs, charts and pictures to fully understand what you offer.

You should test many different marketing tactics.

• Build an optimized website and use the Internet to describe the benefits of your service using video, audio and the written word.
• Go to networking events.
• Approach your suppliers for referrals.
• Host webinars and pod casts because they are the 21 Century brochure.
• Grow your database
• Email market your growing database
• Create a local Pay-per-click internet marketing campaign
• Develop a social media marketing plan
• Join LinkedIn, Facebook and 3-4 of the other top SMM sites.
• And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Whatever marketing you do, provide a compelling reason to try out your services. If a future client has a choice between many similar services or does not have a compelling need to buy your service, your company will not grow fast.

Targeting big business? Your ideal future client may be hidden deep within the corporate structure. Professional service providers have sometimes found it was easier to sell at a department level rather than target the CFO.

But, it can pay to go to the top first, so you can name drop to the rungs down under. Granted, it’s a lot harder to get to the CXO’s. Is it worth the effort, you’ll have to be the judge. Now, keep in mind that when you do get in front of the CXO, birds of a feather flock together and it could be your ticket into many more C-level opportunities.

Discover what your perfect future client looks like, and how to get in front of him/her and you’ll be well on your way to growing a successful professional service business.

5 Simple Secrets To Social Media Marketing Success To Grow Business
By Sandy Barris

Let’s face it, you can’t go a day without hearing about, seeing the effects of or feeling your gut telling you learn more social media marketing techniques to help your grow your business.

Social media marketing (SMM) is everywhere.

You watch a news report and the newscaster gives you their Twitter name and asks you to Tweet them. Your best friend puts up a Facebook page and asks you why you don’t have one yet? Your boss asks you to create a Linked In page for him and to get him connected with as many of your clients, suppliers and prospects as possible.

And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Here are a few mind-boggling social media stats to ponder.
•    200,000,000 – active Facebook users
•    10,000,000  – average daily Tweets
•    900,000 – average number of blog posts in a 24 hour period

Nielsen Online shows that: Social networks and blogs are now the 4th most popular online activity ahead of personal email. Member communities are visited by 67% of the global online population; time spent is growing at 3 times the overall Internet rate, accounting for almost 10% of all Internet time. Wow. And to think it’s exponential. Today, this. Tomorrow?

So, how can your use social media marketing to help grow your business?

1. Social media marketing is a great way to generate traffic to your website. Every time you post anything anywhere, complete your post with your contact information, a call to action and a link back to your Website, landing page or your Blog.
2. ost to your blog every 2-3 days. Post tips, tactics and techniques. Reveal secrets, “how-to’s” and ideas. Keep your content fresh and it will be picked up by the searched engines and served up as valuable information when someone hits on one of the keywords in your blog posts. If you don’t have a blog, see tip No. 3 below.
3. Post comments on other people’s blogs, on message boards, on forums and Facebook posts. Answer peoples questions, Help solve their problems and ask for there help solving your problems too. Post book reviews on Amazon and other book seller sites. Every post will help to build your credibility in that community. Let’s face it, he more credibility you build, the more likely people will click on your signature link to see what else you have to say and offer.
4. Create Pod cast and videos of your content and distribute using the many free and paid distribution services on the Internet. One of my favorites Websites for video distribution is Tube Mogul, a free service that sends your videos in the correct format to 26 different website for video distribution, saving you time. Plus they have great tracking tools to see how far and wide your videos are distributed.
5. Use your public profiles as an integral part of your Social Media Marketing plans and search engine marketing strategy. Everyone searches online, including your prospects and customers. Having strong, keyword ladden, public pages helps people find you fast.  Every time you put up a new public page, or update an existing one, it calls the search engines and let’s them know to come and see the new information. As you create your profiles you are actually build up your name recognition, and making it easier for people to find you, and you want to be found, don’t you?

The benefits of Social Media Marketing are hugely important in their role as a search engine marketing strategy.  The more traffic to your website and blogs, the more connections you make, equals more awareness, leading to sales and higher profits for you and your business.

When will you start your social media marketing plan and kick it into high gear?

7 Questions To Ask Before Writing Your Marketing Plan

Have you ever wondered how to streamline creating a marketing plan?

Can I show you 7 simple things to ask to help speed up creating your next marketing plan?

The first question to ask is, “Do I really need a marketing plan.”
You may not. If everything you are doing to bring in all the business you want, don’t change a thing. Even if you or your staff are bored with it. Let it keep profiting until it stops profiting.

Next ask, “What do I want a marketing plan to do for me and my business.”
Many marketing plans are written as part of a business plan. Also, marketing plans are written when looking for new or more funding. Most marketing plans are created as a road map, a guide to the next 12-18 months of marketing campaigns

Now, “What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?” Answer in a compelling way, why anyone would choose your products, services or ideas over all the other choices they have, including doing nothing.

Of course, you are making and “Irresistible Offer” every time you are in front of someone. Business and marketing are all about offers.  You give me this and I’ll give you that. Keep in mind that without an offer, no business transpires. Think of the many times you have seen an advertisment or marketing message and couldn’t figure out what was being offered. Don’t make this critical mistake. State exactly what you will be offering in your marketing plan.

OK, “Where is your ideal future client or customer?” Not just anyone, but who is the ideal fit for your products, services or ideas. Where can you find enough of your ideal future clients to be profitable? When you do find them, how much do you know about their hopes, aspirations, desires, fears, problems, etc? Take off your shoes and walk in your future clients shoes for a week and see, hear and feel what they see hear and feel. Then and only then, will you know their real problems.

I’m sure you’ve decided on which, if any, of the many of the different “marketing media options you’ll want to test.” Options like direct respons mailing campaigns, yellow page ads or email marketing. How about tele-marketing, newspaper display ads or Webinars? Networking, Social media marketing or pay-per-click marketing? We could go on and on and on, but you get the idea. Where are you going to spend your marketing budget?

Finally, as long as you are going after new clients, “How are you capturing their personal information?” I don’t mean their shoe size, waist size or height (but you may need them depending on what you are selling). Are you asking for their name, email address and snail mail address? If not, how will you communicate with them in the future?

Now grab a piece of paper and start answering these questions. Doing so will focus your marketing plan and anyone reading it will know exactly the what, where, when, who and how you are planning to market your business.

Ok, I admit it; there are more then 7 questions to answer.
You should have seen the ones I edited out.
I’ve saved them for another article in the near future, so keep checking back.

What to speed up the creation of your advertsing and marketing plan?

Coming in August http://www.FastMarketingPlan.com

How many of your clients Love You?

How many people send you a complimentary letter or email?

Your love letter may arrive by way of the U.S. Postal Service, via a fax or e-mail, or through a voice-mail message.

There are two great reasons why you should save a copy of every love letter or “white mail” (positive messages) that you receive.

Here’s the first:

When clients tell you what they like about your product or your service, you’ll discover you may have the ability to improve the things that they like.

If they approve of a product, then you can make or acquire more of it.

If they like your service, then you can make sure that you maintain its quality.

Odds are good that if one customer takes the time to send a message to you, then the way that they feel would apply in a similar way to many other customers.

Negative comments can also be turned positive.

How? They show your honesty.
They show you are not perfect.
They show you are human.
People know mistakes happen and that nothing is perfect.

The second reason for hanging on to your “Love Letters” is to use its comments as positive testimonials about your product/service.

Unsolicited remarks tend to be more open and honest than testimonials for which you have to ask.

If you want to use a customer’s comments in your promotional material, you should ask for his/her permission.

Oh. By the way. It’s okay to paraphrase and/or edit a testimonial so long as you do not change the meaning of the message.

Or you could pull out a short phrase. Even a word or two and use as a testimonial.

Give him/her credit in your marketing by including name, city, and state.

Phone numbers, e-mail addresses and photos also are extremely beneficial.
However, only use them when your client gives you specific written approval.

Sometimes, I’ll use a stock photo of a different person that fits the same age range if I can’t get permission.

Some people are overly concerned about their privacy, but most people probably will grant you the permission that you seek.

I can’t stress it enough:
Testimonials are a great tool. Use them to your advantage.

When you talk about how great your product/service is, people assume that it is part of your marketing and salesmanship—and rightly so.

However, when someone else praises your product/service, it sends a much more powerful message.

Now, what are you going to do with the Love Letters that you receive?

How Much Money And Time Do You Spend To Bring In A New Client?

An even more important question to ask is, “Do you know the ‘Life Time Value (LV)’ of that client?”

Very few business owners take the time to learn this important secret. They don’t understand what a “life time value” is!

In addition, they don’t realize how viewing customers with this approach can change the way that you do everything in your business.

What does “lifetime value” really mean? It’s pretty simple. Lifetime value is the average amount of money that a customer spends (and the profits that you make) from the first time that the person buys something until his/her last purchase.

For example, if your average sale is $50.00 and the profit on that sale is $15.00, and your average clients buys from you 10 times per year for five years, then your sales to them are $2,500.00 with a LTV of $750.00 in profit. You should be able to determine how many “average” customers you need to have to make the profit that you desire.

If the actual figures on this are not available or are hard to calculate, use your “best guess.” Attempt to figure out what amount your average client will spend during the time that s/he is doing business with your company.

It is even more important to try to determine how much of that total amount is profit. Study the results in detail. You should be able to determine the average number of “repeat” or “backend” purchases that each customer makes after the initial sale.

When you know the average amount of LTV profit that your business will make on each customer, then you will be able to calculate how much you are willing to invest to get a new client.

From our example above, we know that we will make $750.00 of profit on the average client. Knowing this, we also know that even if we spend $250.00 to get that client to buy our products/services, there still will be $500.00 of total profit from that client.

If the majority of the profits that you make on your average customer come from sales made after the initial sale, then it might make sense for you to sell at cost, or even a little below cost, on your first sale. You can do this knowing that you have landed a customer who then will give you the opportunity for additional “repeat” sales.

Knowing your client LTV allows you to focus your marketing efforts. You can target new customers with special “sales” or with other offers designed to bring them in the door.

In addition, you can market to your current and prior customers with campaigns that are designed specifically to generate the repeat business that produces most of your profit. When you can answer the crucial question of “Lifetime Value,” you will be ready to determine how much you are willing to invest to bring in a new client.

Do you know what the lifetime value of your customers is?
If not, what can you do to find out?

Here are the fatal seven “selling mistakes” that many people make.

They are not in any particular order.

You will know which ones are costing you money and need improvement.

“While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.”
-Henry C. Link

Fatal Mistake 1:
Failing to become a welcomed guest.

Bonding and rapport is critically important part of every sales call. It does not matter if it’s a first call, fifth call or a milk run call.

Look around, find something that you have in common with your prospect/client. Find a way, anyway, to link with him/her. It could be a mutual friend, a business associate, or a leisure activity.

Try talk about your connection long enough to become comfortable with each other before talking about business. It’s far better than wasting time talking about the weather. People like to do business with people with whom they feel comfortable with.

Fatal Mistake 2:
Thinking that the prospect doesn’t have enough money.

A prospect almost always can find the money to purchase what you are selling if they need it badly enough. Explain all of the benefits that your buyer can begin to get from what you have to offer. Ask questions to create or expose needs. Find things that are so important that solving them overrides the cost.

If you can show someone that s/he can’t live without what you are selling, then that person will find the funds to purchase your solution.

The bottom line is that it’s up to your prospect to come up with the funds. It may be wise to offer them some creative payment options if that will help you close the deal, but your main job should be to create, expose and have the perfect fit solution to their needs.

Fatal Mistake 3:
Failing to ask the right questions.

Ask prospects specific questions to find out if you actually can solve their problems with your products and services. Ask questions to qualify them as decision-makers. Ask “Who else besides yourself will be involved in the decision-making process?”

Ask questions about financial matters, such as “How will you pay for these services?” Ask questions that separate you from your competition. Try beginning most of your questions with the words: When, What, Where, Who, and How.

As an experienced sales person, you’ve heard it all before. You here common problems and objections from everyone. Use that common information and ask questions to get the real problems out on the table.

If you are just getting started in sales, ask a successful sales associate for help. Ask your mentor what questions have been successful for him/her, it will shorten on your learning curve and lead to faster sales growth.

Test and track what questions work and what questions fail. Once you have discovered the perfect questions, keep using them, hone them razor sharp and keep using them until they stop working.

Fatal Mistake 4:
Talking too much.

Ask questions. Then shut-up and listen to the answers. Talk no more than 37% of the time (even that may be too much). Get your prospect to do most of the talking. Ask pointed questions, and keep your prospect answering.

Keep full control of the conversation, but let the buyer think that s/he is controlling it. The more that you let your prospect talk about himself or herself, the more that s/he will like and trust you. This may lead him or her to close the sale for you—all you have to do is listen.

Fatal Mistake 5:
Putting down the competition.

Sell for yourself and not against someone else. Substitute the words “industry standard” for “competition.”

NEVER say one bad word about your opposition. If you have to talk about them at all, praise their work and position in the industry or community.

Then point out how you do things “differently.” What makes you, your products and services unique or unusual. Slamming the competition only comes off as sour grapes and will never help you close a sale.

Fatal Mistake 6:
Failing to follow up.

If you say you will call back at 2 p.m. on Thursday, then do it, no matter what. People WILL remember when you DON’T keep your word. Always let your customer know when you will get back to them, and make sure that you do.

Also, consistently follow up all your marketing efforts. It’s proven that one-shot marketing rarely works. It’s also proven that it takes seven or more contacts to finalize many deals. Be patient, be persistent and be profitable.

Fatal Mistake 7:
Failing to use your time wisely.

Know the difference between “pay time” and “no pay time.” “Pay time” is the time that you spend talking to or meeting with prospects and clients.

“No pay time” is when you stop at the car wash, eat lunch alone, fill out paperwork, or do anything else that does not contribute directly to the creation of income.

Beware of email and the Internet.

They are sneaky time wasters. How many times have you open a email and follow a link to a Website… the next thing you know, you’ve waste a half-hour that you can never ever get back.

Spend 100% of your time doing those things that lead you to making money. This will separate you from the pack and increase your year-end bottom line. Schedule a given amount of time every week to spend prospecting for new business. “ABC”—Always Be Prospecting. Always have prospects in your “pipeline.”

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Fatal Bonus Mistake 8:
Placing blame on everyone and everything but yourself.

Take a look in a mirror. Most of the shortfalls of selling start from the six inches between our ears. We must commit to working smart.

Many of us are afraid of failing and forget that we learn from failure as well as success. Blame ourselves, but don’t be afraid of failing. Everything is on the other side of FEAR.

How many of these selling mistakes are you making?
How will you correct them and prosper this year?

How Many Eggs Are In Your Basket?

It is much too risky for a wise business owner to rely on only one type of market­ing.

What would happen if it failed? A business owner could lose his or her shirt and be driven out of business!

Even a very successful single marketing campaign can have pitfalls.

If a business owner clings too tightly to a single campaign (no matter how successful), then s/he might never find out what other methods of promotion could prove to work as well—or even better—than the one upon whom s/he is relying.

It’s far safer and wiser to devote a portion of your precious resources (money and time) to each of several different marketing projects. Channeling your resources to various promotional efforts allows you to have multi­ple points of marketing “impact” at the same time.

If any one effort fails, the remaining projects can continue working to keep the flow of new prospects and ongoing business coming through your door.

“When an archer misses the mark
he turns and looks for the fault within himself.
Failure to hit the bulls­ eye is never the fault of the target.” ­
Gilbert Arland

Too many businesses use only one or maybe two ways to attract new clients.

How many times have you see this. A business first opens its doors, the owner will place a few mediocre advertisements in the local paper and then expect that they will generate a lot of traffic. This rarely is the result.

People don’t go out of their way to shop somewhere unfamiliar unless the business offers something so unique or valuable that it would succeed regardless of the marketing effort used.

Believe me, this doesn’t hap­pen very often!

Here’s what will work together to produce greatly increased profits for your business:

Four or five pro­grams designed to bring in new customers; six or more marketing efforts designed to sell to existing clients; and the use of “up­sell” and “back­end” product offerings.

The Seven Musts of marketing include personal contacts, direct mail, Internet marketing, company brochures, advertising, public relations, and the education of clients.

Don’t rely on just one single program.

Diversify and grow!

How many different ways is your business reaching its market?