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Ever since the birth of the internet, it is widely used for all types of reasons. Among those advantages is doing business, shopping, etc, from the comfort of your own home. According to a resent research study, a quarter of all Internet users shop online. It has also helped grow electronic commerce and online marketing is a big part of electronic commerce.
Direct marketing methods like tv and radio commercials, mail, and newsletters are the inspiration for online marketing, which consists of direct response marketing techniques and is quickly growing.
Business-to-business, also referred to as B2B, and business-to-consumer, often known as B2C, are the two business models to which online marketing can be linked. B2C companies were the first to start when online marketing originated. These are companies that sell directly to the consumers. B2B companies are designed to do business with each other.
Websites built for online marketing are slightly different than others. There tend to be peer-to-peer modeled websites that are used to exchange products and services between each other.
There is also the name-your-price model, where the customers specify the price range that they can spend and select products that fall in that price range. Priceline.com is a good example of such a website. While sites like Amazon.com are based on find the best price model, where customers can search products to find the lowest prices. Last are online auctions sites, where items are bid on. Ebay.com is a great example of this model.
Companies that use online marketing have a distinct advantage. They don’t need to devote a large amount of energy and time in online marketing like other traditional methods. With the aid of only few resources national and international markets can be attained. Because of surprisingly low expense, even small businesses are turning to online marketing.
Websites and blogs are developed just for this purpose. Online marketing is beneficial in the sense that the data is readily available on the Internet. Newsletters can be instantly sent to customers and if it doesn’t contain the information they are seeking, they can search for information about the product or service online, come to a decision and purchase it online.
One of the few factors that may make an online marketing campaign unsuccessful is building a site with slow loading webpages. Including complex designs with excessive graphics and animations will slow down the speed even more. Pages take a lot of time to download test the patience of the consumer and often dive visitors away.
Another minus point of online marketing is that the customers cannot feel, taste, smell or try products in order to make a good decision. To overcome this, some of the online stores have created liberal return policy along with a strong customer satisfaction guarantee.
Yet another threat of online shopping is identity theft. However safety measures can be incorporated by adding good security on the website. One of the best methods is encryption. You see, when the data is being transferred between two computers; there is a possibility of a hacker intercepting it. So the data is changed by applying some encryption algorithm and is sent through the network and upon receiving, the decryption algorithm is applied to bring back the data to its original form.
Online selling is impacting all kinds of businesses like banking, advertising, music, etc. Rather than going to a store and buying CDs, music can be bought and immediately downloaded online. Bank transactions like depositing, withdrawing, transferring funds, and paying bills are all performed online. Billions of dollars are invested every year in online advertising alone.
The Difference Between Marketing And Sales
Marketing and sales are one of the most essential components of the survival of any business in today’s marketplace, whether it is done online or offline. While both are dependent on each other many people confuse marketing with sales and vice- versa which can be a big mistake.
Marketing involves designing a product according to the needs of the market and customers, promoting the product through advertising etc. as well as establishing a competitive price point for the product.
Marketing is the platform that drives product sales. While on the other hand the sales process is what you do in order to successfully sell a product and acquire a new customer. Sales and marketing work together as an integral part of selling and one cannot be done without the other. The success of any business is crucial to the success of these two important activities.
Marketing is the backbone of a company’s future and the launching pad for product sales. While the marketing process involves the research and design of the product, advertising etc. the sales process is the execution of all the efforts which involves direct interaction with consumers either by in-person meetings, cold calls or by networking.
However, there is always an ongoing rivalry between the two, one claiming dominancy over other. Marketing people say they have the upper hand because it is they who design the products, lay down the strategy and develop the tools essential for sales. They say sales are the outcome of marketing and thus sales should follow their directions.
The sales experts on the other hand, might not agree to this view and are often completely opposite in their opinion. They think that it is the sales people who actually sells a product and bring money to the business.
But many experts believe that marketing should play a pivotal role among the two. A successful marketing campaign makes sales easy and makes people believe that it is actually the sales people who are the dominant leaders.
The most important role of marketing department is to create opportunities for the sales department. Marketing drives sales and sales drives companies’ success. Marketing is like a life support for sales, one who is constantly backing up the sales department and enabling them to successfully deliver the end product.
There shouldn’t be a race to gain supremacy over another department but a race to win the market and customers working together. Many businesses combine sales and marketing together but in reality they have different targets. While the sales department is interested in fulfilling the requirements of what the customer asked for, the marketing department is actually busy studying what the market demands.
The goal of the marketing department is to foresee how the market will shape up in future. They should envision their product catering to the needs of the market for next few years and be ready to make design changes in their product accordingly.
It is very important that a company integrates their sales and marketing department in a well fashioned manner. It is the proper integration of these two important entities that fuels the growth of a business. Just keep in mind as you move forward with your online efforts that marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade potential prospects.
The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and bring in revenue for your business. Both are vital to the success of your business and as I mentioned earlier, you cannot do one without the other.
The Different Types Of Market Research
If you really want to know if a potential product is going to be profitable or not, there are methods of market research that will help determine the success and profitability of any business or product.
Online marketing research is important if you want to fully grasp the pattern of marketing for your business. This is done by searching recent information related to business marketing. It is a procedure consisting of business research, business-to-business marketing research and business marketing research.
Online marketing research is done in many forms and all of these forms are known as problem identification research. For instance, advertising research is carried out to ascertain the testing of marketing campaigns. It is also used to understand the efficiency of ads placed in any medium, the consumer attention it gets, the message it delivers and how it motivates the customers to purchase the product.
Commercial eye tracking research is done to understand the visual behavior of the consumer. Ads, websites, etc., are analyzed for this. Before an advertising campaign is released in to the marketplace, its overall performance can be forecasted with the help of copy testing which again takes consumer’s level of attention, motivation, brand liking, and entertainment into consideration.
Whenever a consumer purchases something online he analyses it in order to make his decision, this is one of the criteria on which consumer decision research is done. Interviews and surveys can be performed to understand the consumer’s level of satisfaction, which is known as a customer satisfaction study.
The demographic and psychology of the consumer of any specific geographical region can be studied with segmentation research. When research and analyzing is done about brand recognition, brand performance, brand preference and awareness, ad tracking is conducted. A potentially profitable brand can be identified with the aid of brand equity research.
For this tests are conducted in order to determine exactly what the consumer thinks about a brand or a product and it is specifically known as brand name testing. Then the demand of a product can be determined by demand estimation. After the demand of the product is taken care of, the quality should be checked every so often.
Market research firm’s often employ mystery shoppers. They go to the retail outlet, buy goods through a salesperson and take note of the entire experience. This procedure is often used to do research about a rival companies’ products. Before basic application of a new product concept, concept testing can be carried out. This usually tells whether the targeted audience will like the product idea or not.
Next test marketing is done by introducing the new product in small numbers in the market and observing the sales, after which it is decided whether or not the product will be launched on a large-scale. After the initial release phase, the company may consider increasing the price of the product, to make this decision price elasticity testing is carried out. This shows customer reaction to price fluctuations.
Distribution channel audits are often conducted to understand the attitudes of retailers and distributors towards specific products and brands. The more tech savvy form of marketing research is Internet strategic intelligence. The likes and dislikes of the customers can be directly known with the help of customer service chats, blogs and forums.
Online panels can be employed to do your marketing research. These panels are a group of experts who conduct the marketing research in your specified areas. All the researched that is carried out can be classified as primary research, which gathers original research, and secondary research, which is based on a primary research and information published by other resources. Secondary research costs less as research is done on already researched data, but the result isn’t efficient.
The research designs used by marketing research are either based on questioning or are based on observations. Quantitative marketing research and qualitative marketing research are based on questioning. Quantitative marketing research is done to derive conclusions like questionnaires forms and survey. The number of respondents involved is high. Qualitative marketing research is done to understand something like in-depth interviews and projective techniques.
Marketing research based on observations is called experimental technique and ethnographic studies. Test markets and purchase laboratories are examples of experimental techniques. The quantity measured is determined by understanding the factors that are responsible for the success of a product and then one or some of the factors are changed and the result is observed.
Marketing research is comparable to exit polling in politics. The marketplace is analyzed from different perspectives, at different times, and under different circumstances to determine the success and profitability of and business or product.
The Difference Between Selling To A Woman Compared To Selling To A Man
When it comes to selling a different approach should be taken when selling products or services to a man in comparison with a woman. Simply because both of them think very differently and for this reason, their decisions should be influenced by different approaches.
For instance, when a man decides to purchase a car he looks for the newest model, speed, mileage, etc. However when a woman goes out to purchase a car she will often select a car depending on color. She will be interested in whether there is enough space to store her necessities and if it makes her look good. Because their psychologies differ a great deal, they should be persuaded to purchase a product using different methods.
Presentation is also extremely important. The salesperson talking to a male customer doesn’t have to focus much on looks and cleanliness. It’s okay if he doesn’t have necessary documents available and that his sleeves are rolled up.
But when the same salesperson is talking to a female client, he should be spotless from head to toe. He should comb his hair appropriately, have manicured nails and even his shoes should be well-polished. The salesperson should be prepared with all the necessary documents before hand and shouldn’t go rushing towards the customer.
Words should be spoken with extra care in front of a female customer. Women are better listeners and they will evaluate every spoken word. A lot of emotion should be involved when talking because women tend to be drawn to emotions immediately.
For instance when selling clothes to a lady, tell her that the garment enhances her looks and will easily go from day to evening if need be. Pick a garment for her and ask her to give it a try. The customer will be appreciative and in turn will take less time to buy the product. Seventy-five percent of the sale is made for you if she is quickly won over emotionally.
The next important point is to never stop talking in front of a female customer. The moment the salesperson stops talking, she will start thinking seriously about the product and will start evaluating every detail of it. This gives her time to reconsider purchasing it. Keep in mind that women are capable of multi-tasking. They will be able to listen as well as read the product details at the same time. So keep her involved in several things at a time.
Men on the other hand do not naturally have the talent of multi-tasking. If a male client gets involved with something else, stop speaking right away because he will be most likely unable to focus on both things and it will lead him into a confused state, which will keep him form making a purchase.
Another thing to consider is, it’s not always a good idea to have a woman salesperson work with a male client. Women tend to talk a lot and men are usually commonly known to be bad listeners. The female salesperson will go on and on about the merchandise and the man will just nod his head without getting any message. They will not appropriately express whether they are getting the point or not.
On the other hand, a woman client can easily express how much she has followed and won’t be afraid to ask appropriate questions. Even if she doesn’t speak it out, her facial expressions will tell it all. So when a salesperson is interacting with a female customer, he or she should watch out for the client’s expressions. If she shows any state of confusion or dislike, try taking a different approach.
Well as you can see there is definitely a difference between selling to a man verses selling to a woman. Take the time to learn them and you will be sure to close more sales for your business.
Characteristics Of An Effective Online Selling Strategy
The first attribute of a successful online selling strategy is a website that provides information about the products and the service they are offering. The advantage of this is you can sell those products and services online. Selling is a skill to be honed. It takes a lot of understanding to discover what the customer is searching for and then fulfilling their needs. It is extremely important to get the full attention of reader. The content of the marketing message should make the reader think.
This can be accomplished by using power words, along with color and pictures. Once the attention is gained, it should be retained until the end of the message. The customer should be compelled to take some action and their involvement should be encouraged. Then they can be enticed to sign up for newsletters or can be encouraged to take a survey by visiting another website.
The potential customer should be persuaded to purchase the product. All the features of the product must be specified, with the more relevant ones on the top. They should be described logically through these points; how the products will fulfill their needs or solve their problems. Convincing the customer about this will motivate them to purchase the product. They should be made to understand what amazing things the product can do to them.
Powerful emotional words should be included. The consumer should either fear the loss of the product if he or she doesn’t buy it in time or they should be convinced of the advantages the product can offer. These reasons will create an emotional impulse and will make them think that they have no other option to buy it. They will have a logical reason to make the purchase. The emotions of the buyer must be manipulated with words.
Something like ‘limited edition’ or ‘limited period offer’ will create a sense of urgency. The customer thinks that he should get this product somehow. It’s nice to have sales often, especially to clear out old inventory in the name of some offer. The products which have an obvious damage should be sold out at a special price. But the damage should be mentioned to the customer. If it’s not mentioned, the first time the customer will be tricked into buying something, but he will lose trust and won’t come back again.
Always hold seasonal sales and offers. Since all the competitors will be giving out different offers to attract customers, it’s a good point to have one, too. But it should be remembered to not to imitate anyone. Only a unique offer will make the customers not go to the competitors’. Once in a while offer free shipping offer also works, like if a customer spends particular amount of money, all items will be shipped for free. This is another attractive deal which will surely tempt the customer.
Thanks to search engines and online stores anything can be purchased from the comfort of the home. Give away free sample to the customers or keep a pre-sale price for introductory products. The customers won’t think twice to spend a little money to try something new.
The ending of the sales message is where most people mess it up. The whole efforts will be wasted if the customer gets a second thought. He should be convinced, by nice words, to buy the product till the very end. The content should be arranged with care. The key is to tell the customer what to do exactly after he finishes reading the matter, like ‘Grab the golden opportunity now’ or ‘pick up the phone and dial the number right now’, etc.
Do not include links or short advertisement of other products or services. This will shift the focus of the reader and he might have a second thought. A list of the existing customers should be maintained and from time to time special offers should be mailed to them. So basically the whole idea is to influence the mind of the customer until he buys a product.
Increasing Your Profits By Using Promotional Gifts
Let’s face it, gifts are loved by everyone. Gifts are a good way of expressing appreciation and marketing gifts are given to consumer’s to say thanks to them and most of the customers are more than happy to receive gifts from businesses they patronage.
These thank you gifts cannot only be presented to existing customers and also to potential customers when they try out a new product. This will entice them to purchase other products, which will increase sales. This practice can be made more effective by using it as marketing and branding strategy, which helps in expanding business along with earning customer loyalty. To make it marketing focused, a large amount of planning should be put it in an attempt to not to loose its essence.
Sending promotional gifts is a means of rewarding clients to appreciate their kind cooperation throughout the years; they will make customers feel that they are highly valued. Flyers are discarded the moment they are received, and are seldom read. But when a person is presented with something that they can use, there is a probability that they will not only appreciate it, but they will also keep it for some time, possibly for several years and during the time they have it, they will remember your business.
This will work whether you are marketing online or off. For instance when you are marketing online you can offer free downloads like ebooks, reports, templates, software as well as printable gifts like calendars, checklists or worksheets. One of the tried and true methods is to print the name of the company on the gift. This doesn’t involve any strategy and can be implemented even if there is lack of imagination.
Name and brand recognition can be established by getting the logo of the company or information of the company printed on the gift. This also helps build recognition among potential customers.
Also give the customers the gifts that last. The longer the gift lasts the longer the customer will remember your company. Gifts like pen, key chain, coffee mug, calendar, refrigerator magnets, etc. which not only lasts forever but are something that is observed and used many times a day. There are certain gifts, which can fit the budget, promote marketing and at the same time serve the purpose of gift.
Calendars are one of the most opted gifts by small companies as promotional products. They aren’t expensive and are used year round. Following them are office supplies. Stationary tub, embedded pens, sticky pads and diaries containing the logo of the company are very good gift ideas too. Desktop accessories are the next best things. Things like pen stands, paperweight’s are hot giveaways.
For home gifts like fridge magnets, coffee mugs and thermo-flask make ideal gifts. They, too, get noticed many times a day. The good thing about them is they can be modeled in different colors, shapes and styles and can be unique when compared to other’s promotional products. And hence, they are more like collectible items. Innovation can increase the interest of the user in this regard.
Key chains are also something which is carried everywhere and they don’t even cost too much. Usually people use the promotional ones to store spare keys. T-shirts and cap are a bit expensive, but are worth the investment. They are usually worn outside and people around can easily sight the company’s name and logo and they function like a walking billboard.
Creativity is the key to selecting a right gift to market your and so is the money. The more the money invested, the better the gift, but the gift should be selected such that it earns maximum returns.
Ultra Effective Relationship Marketing
Relationship Marketing is targeted at building stronger and long lasting relationships with clients and other companies. The business is done with a strategic orientation, where the relationship is improved with existing customers rather than finding new customers. It is meant to cater to the needs of individual customers. Its major part involves studying the need of the customer and how it changes in different circumstances.
Relationship marketing applies techniques like marketing, sales, customer care and communication. The relationship is not only enhanced but its life period is increased by these strategies. And as the customer realizes the value of relationship, they are drawn closer. This marketing not only focuses on building relationship and attracting customers to their products and services but also how to retain them.
A raw form of Marketing came into existence in the 1960s. But, organizations were still facing difficulty in selling products, so a system was developed to sell low cost goods to larger group of customer. Leonard Berry and Jag Sheth originated this marketing, in 1982. It was started in B2B markets and industries, which involved long term contracts for many years. Over the period of time, various marketing strategies were improved and relationship marketing was one of them.
Relationship marketing is applicable where the customers have many options in the market for the same product or service and the customer is entitled to make a selection decision. In such a kind of market, businesses try to maintain their clients by providing comparatively better products and good service and hence, achieving customer loyalty. And once it is achieved it becomes difficult for competitors to do well in the market. The customer turnover wasn’t paid attention on as the main attention was on customer satisfaction. This kind of marketing was initially named as defensive marketing. Offensive marketing is the marketing strategy where not only new customers are attracted, but also the sales are stepped up by increasing the purchase frequency. This kind of marketing concentrates on freeing dissatisfied customers and acquiring new customers.
According to a research, the cost of retaining an old customer is only ten percent of the cost of getting a new customer, which makes sense to not to run around to get new customers in relationship marketing. And according to another research done by cross-sectional analysis, says that, a five percent improvement in customer retention is responsible for twenty-five to eighty-five percent of the profit. Usually high cost is incurred when getting new customers, so if sufficient number of existing customers is retained, there will be no need of acquiring new customers.
Once the customer trust is gained his chances of switching to other company becomes relatively less, he buys goods in bulk, he buys other supplementary goods and he starts neglecting average price variation. This maintains the unit sales volume and there is an increase in dollar-sales volume. The existing customers will be like a living advertisement. If he is satisfied with the company he will recommend it to his friends and acquaintances.
Since the existing customers are familiar with the process, it will take less time and money to educate them about the procedures putting fewer burdens on employees also and making them feel more satisfied with their jobs. The customers are divided into groups based on their loyalty. This procedure is known as relationship ladder of customer loyalty. The groups in ascending order are prospects, customer, client, supporter, advocate and partner.
Due to the advancement in computers and Internet, software has been developed to facilitate customer relationship management. With the help of this software the tastes, activities, preferences, and complaints of customers are tracked. Almost all the companies have this software in their marketing strategy, which benefits the customer as well as the company.
Thus the main aim of relationship marketing is to construct and maintain relationship with committed clients who are meant to bring profit to the company. The other benefits achieved are confidence building and social benefits.
Various Ways That You Can Identify Your Target Market
Achieving good sales is the ultimate target of any business. Many criteria, such as competitive pricing, quality products, reaching out to the correct audience and motivational advertising, are responsible for this and should be dealt with in your marketing campaign.
First things first, all the efforts will be futile if the correct audience isn’t recognized. This is a major factor in getting sales, because the right customers aren’t targeted, they won’t buy the product. The right customers are known as targeted customers or niche market, those who will be happy to buy products that fulfill their needs and is also less pricey.
Small businesses shouldn’t fear competition with large companies as they produce products on a bigger spectrum, which sometimes won’t be customer specific as the products are more generalized and they don’t much care about the competition they might get from others. This gives an opportunity to the smaller business to produce products, which can cater to the need of a section of people whose needs aren’t met specifically by the large companies.
Firstly, a business should understand who are the people they want to target. The success lies behind understanding this, which requires thorough research and analysis. Various factors must be considered. The age group is the first factor, whether the product will be useful to babies or children or teenagers or youngsters or middle aged or old.
Sometimes there is a possibility that the product will cater to the needs of all age groups. Next thing to consider is gender. Marital status, occupation, ethnic background, health status, income status, education, hobbies, etc., are some of the factors that should also be pondered upon.
After deciding on the customer group to be targeted, the benefits that can be provided by the product to this group should be jotted down. A thorough examination of the service or product should be done for this purpose. If there is sufficient time, a survey can be conducted on the current customers and pose them with questions like what they liked in the products they are using, anything discomfort they are facing, do they want anything to be changed to make the product better, etc.
After making a list of all the benefits, thought should be applied to which of these benefits will actually help the targeted audience. Make a short list of the benefits that will be advantageous and send it to the marketing department. It can surely help in their marketing plan and can boost up sales.
The internet has made reaching out to the targeted customers can be very easy. Search engines can be utilized to the maximum extent for this purpose. Prospects can find exactly what they are searching for by typing a keyword or search phrase in the search engines and the results will be brought back to them. Most of the time they will only look on the first three pages, so being listed there will be of great value.
But lots of time and investment is involved in this process, as different keywords will fetch different search results.
Next best thing is reaching out by newsletters and ezines. Many ezines are related to marketing, finance, shopping, Internet, etc. A number of ezines websites can be found in an ezines directory, which even contains the contact information, advertising price, etc. The list of ezines website sites should be cut down to which are relating to the target market and ad should be placed in the ones selected which should include all the product advantages if the ad allows that many words.
Identifying your target market is crucial to the success of any of your advertising and sales campaign. Once it is recognized, they can be reached through different channels like websites, newspapers, magazines, etc. This makes the customer think that he is being directly addressed to. And since the whole approach will interest them, the amount of traffic received in return will be simply overwhelming and the whole effort will be worth it.
Anonymous Visitor Marketing
Anonymous visitor marketing or anonymous user marketing is nothing more than changing the content of the website according to the taste of the visitor and thus making the information more relevant. Some kind of data is attached with each user known as metadata or supplemental data that is similar to human sensory nerves and gives an idea about how to react to the approaching person.
Metadata or supplemental data consists of information like the geographic location, IP address, browser languages like English, Chinese, German, etc., and also information about domain extension like .edu, .gov, .mil, etc., internet connection speed, operating system, search keyword or sentence, referring URL and screen resolution.
Graphical location tells about the approximate address of the visitor. By this information, the server can search and display information which is specific for the people of that location. Information like climate, temperature, local happening, and time can be displayed accurately.
IP address or Internet protocol address gives idea of the specific Internet service, company the person is related to. If belonging to an Internet provider the web page displays the speed of the connection and if related to a specific company the website displays the name and logo of the company.
A web page can be formatted in different languages. By analyzing the browser language, the visitor can be can be served with a web page which is easy for him to understand and the visitor is made to feel that the website is centered on his mother tongue which will make him more comfortable.
Different organizations and different sectors have different domain extensions. A website with a .gov extension means that it’s a government website and a website with .edu extension refers to an educational organization. So the content of the webpage can be changed according to the organization the visitor is related to.
Depending on the Internet connection speed if there are any multimedia downloads the size of downloads can also be managed. There will be different resolution versions of a particular download and if the speed is low, multimedia with the lowest resolution will be downloaded to the visitor’s temporary Internet files. This will not interrupt the normal working of the computer.
Different operating systems have different requirements and their functionality also varies. Some websites provide downloadable software and updates which will not be compatible with all kinds of operating systems. These limitations can be determined without interrupting the user.
Search keyword or sentence can be utilized to apply search engine optimization techniques or SEO techniques to the website to make the matter more relevant. Linking data to a specific keyword, which is displayed automatically making the visitor feel that his query was dealt with effectively, does this.
Referring URL helps the sponsor to compare data with that of the previous page and bring it on the present page. This increase’s the competition between the websites, the present website will try to prove to be better than the previous website.
If the visitor is surfing the Internet with his hand held device or mobile, the content of the website is trimmed to fit the screen resolution of the device. If the amount of data that is viewed on a normal monitor is displayed over the hand held device, the data will overlap with each other and the content won’t be readable.
Writing An Effective Sales Letter
Writing a sales letter is tough and writing a winning sales letter is even tougher. Many sales managers break their heads thinking why they can’t get it right. Well, to answer this question they should put them in people’s shoes and ask what “benefit “would I get by reading this sales letter? Remember that word “benefit” which is the crux of this discussion.
Many sales people take bits and pieces of information from here and there and create mess out of a sales letter. They literally throw everything on people and then get what they deserve, instant rejection. One should always remember that a sales letter works only when you have a product to sell and an offer to make. A sales letter should not be an introduction of your product or company. Remember every word is important in the sales letter and do not waste a single one which would distract your potential customer’s attention.
They are not interested in the features of you product but an offer or a benefit to them. Think from the customer’s point of view and ask yourselves why should I read the letter? Is there any benefit or offer to me which cannot be refused? Can you convince me that it is really a good offer?
After keeping in mind these things, sales managers should apply thought in presenting their letter. The header or the headline is very crucial to any sales letter. It should target directly to the customers of your product. One also needs to be little tactful in use of words. But if you are not good at the trade do not attempt to do it and rather be simple in writing it. The headline should not be more a line, so try to be as specific as possible but with maximum affect.
Nobody has time to read each and every letter in this fast paced era of instant satisfaction. If you are not able to convey your message to the audience in stipulated time, then you have lost those customers. The headline should start with a benefit being offered to the customer. This ensures that the customer goes to the body of the letter at least.
Now, having made a good effort with the heading, it’s the time to work on the body of the letter. How to maintain the level of enthusiasm that you created in the customer’s mind with the heading? Once again it is important to remember to not to focus on features of the product you are trying to sell but on the benefits and offers you are making to them. Things like how much money it is going to save them and how it would affect their lives should be mentioned in the body of the letter. Make them realize a need for it and compare it competitor’s product.
Remember, a person reading your sales letter will constantly get questions in mind as to how this will benefit me, after each and every sentence. So be ready to clear those doubts and answer the questions. Being little informal in the approach won’t do any harm and try to grab the attention by relating things to real life things.
You can add a little bit of humor but unless you are sure that it won’t be in the bad taste of the reader. Bring in few previous clients to give testimony of your products. But keep the testimonials believable and something that people can relate to.
Once you’ve made clear about the product, do not forget to prompt your audience to take action. If it is an email, prompt your reader to click on a link to act now or provide a contact number if it is a direct mail. Also remind them again that if you don’t act now you will forfeit the offer as the offer is for limited time only.
Once you are done with the letter, one of the important parts of the sales letter is P. S. Many people simply read the beginning and end of the letter. So, try to convey something that will prompt them to go back to the letter and read it. It will be a perfect end to the sales letter.
A Few Tricks That You Can Use To Market Your Product More Effectively
The whole idea of the marketing and sales is to play with the psychology of the consumers. In any campaign, efforts should be made it make it so influential that the decision making of the customer is totally in the favor of the company. There are some tricks to manipulate the mind of the consumers, which can be utilized by not only ordinary sales person, but can be used by larger firms. Although they are used unknowingly, there is no set list.
Mutual exchanging is the first and powerful trick. The company can start with giving something for free to the customer. He will take it for the first time, but from next time he will feel obliged and will try to return the favor. Offering the product for free initially can do this. And if the customer is satisfied with the product, he will buy it for himself from next time. Some salespersons get confused with this principle.
For example, it is ineffective and wrong according to this principle, to quote ‘Spend over $25 and get a free t-shirt’. The offer is not free; the customer has to spend something to get the free product. The product being given should be totally free without any condition to be fulfilled. For instance, the line ‘Get the latest lipstick shade absolutely free’ will do the trick. If the shade is really good, they will buy it the next time and might even think of buying other shades of lipstick.
The next trick is to present something as of high value, but the company should incur only small or no amount in producing it, like information. It can tempt the customer by saying that the information provided to them is a big time secret and is not known to anyone at all. But some mess it up, by saying that they are providing very valuable information, but it turns out to be another advertisement.
Another example is giving out free sample to the targeted customers. Again the mistake made here is that companies distribute samples of poor quality or rejected products. This certainly lowers the customers liking towards the product and he will assume that’s the way the product is actually and won’t go ahead to buy it.
Use words, which initiate immediate action, like ‘Limited time offer’, ‘Offer ending soon’, and ‘Offer till stocks lasts’ are really motivating. The customer gets the impression that the offer will end really soon as the products are limited edition and he should go out and buy it at the very first chance. This works well specially with customers who have an interest in collecting antiques, collectibles and anything which are not easily available.
Tricking the customer in making a commitment is another next good method to increase sales. The trick is to make the customer to take small steps toward the goal, without realizing about it. Like when the customer requests for some information, provide them with the relevant information for free and make them fill a form and take contact information from them.
This is like committing to get offers and information about products in future. Do not advertise in this step. In the next step advertisements about products and services can be sent to the customer to the address provided by them. Conducting surveys is another example.
Lottery is another good method. When a person buys a lottery ticket, he fills his address on the ticket. This information can be used to contact the customer in future. In the above practices it’s very vital to not to advertise in the first step. Only after getting the customer contact information, should promotional mails be mailed to him.
Long advertisements that are featured in the newspaper are a small twist to this trick. If the customer invests time to read the whole advertisement, he has committed and will surely respond to the ad.
Winning Customers With Promotional Marketing
Fact: If a business firm is capable of controlling the minds of millions of customers, it will earn billions as profit.
Did you know that it is very possible to do that simply by using some promotional strategies. Whether you have a small home business or a huge company. The mind of the consumer can be tamed by influencing their decision making power. They can be presented with material, which can be motivating and persuading.
There is no magic involved in this; only the psychology of the human mind is to be studied and played with. Human mind reacts to different situations in different ways. Some key psychological aspects can be studied in promotional marketing to get overwhelming customer response.
Curiosity is the want to explore the unknown. Humans are always in pursuit of knowledge. They want to know more than what others know. Secrets are simply hard to be kept. This desire can act as an attractive force in marketing. Like customer won’t be that interested if they are told that they can be provided with successful diets. Instead they want to hear the secret of the diet plan which is being provided.
The information shouldn’t be let out easily. Obviously it is important to catch the attention of the customer by interesting heading, but the content, too, should be as interesting so as to retain the interest of the reader till the end. In case of cross-titles or sub-titles, the initial ones will always have the advantage of developing more curiosity than the following sub-titles.
If the content speaks about why the customer should select so and so company or product, it will be easier for them to relate to it. Let the matter speak out and give the explanation by itself. Like supposing a company wants to sell some product before the expiry date and it’s the slowest time of the season, plain advertising won’t do the trick.
Customers are smart enough to think that the company wants to get rid of the old stuff. Instead if the customers are provided with a discount or a limited time offer, a believable reason, they will be more attracted. Every action should have a solid reason.
Customers are greedy from a marketing point of view. By understanding the need of the customer, a basis can be prepared for the content. Their greed should be taken into consideration while preparing the content. They should be shown how the product or company would benefit them. They want to buy benefits in the form of products. Suppose when advertising for a camcorder, say that it displays all the colors that can be seen with naked eye, instead of saying it supports 16-bit color.
Just specifying that the memory card have a memory of 2 GB isn’t catchy. Instead it should be quoted that the memory card can store over 500 pictures, 100 audio songs and 50 videos. This surely will increase the customer enthusiasm. The benefits should be clearly mentioned to the customer and later other information about the product can be discussed, in case if they are looking for more. This is called listing the product features.
Features reveal what the product has and benefits describe the advantages that can be derived from those features. Each feature can have more than one benefit, depending on different situations and customer needs. Lots of benefits and fewer features should always be the way to go.
Make it a great day!
P.S. What am I thankful for today? I’m thankful for the Knights. I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for a hot breakfast!
What are you thankful for today?
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