|
|
| Marketing Information |
|
This Information Brought to you by TopWebProducts, knowledge is power. |
|
|
Top Four Marketing Secrets of Building a Professional Practice
Building a coaching or consulting practice can be rewarding and lucrative. Sadly, many who get started on this path simply can't make it. Almost daily I talk to people who give up on their dream of "solopreneurship" and, resentfully, join the ranks of job seekers. What disturbs me the most is that many of them are talented and skilled professionals; real experts in their field. With just a bit of marketing know-how they may have been able to generate healthy six-figure incomes doing the work they love. Instead, they spend tons of money getting more certifications. They are becoming "master technicians" mistakenly thinking that alone will get them clients. But that's not how it works at all! Let's take the coaching profession for example. You see, prospective clients don't even know the difference between ICF, CTI, Hudson, Adler, CoachVille or any other certification. They have no clue what CPC, MCC or other letters you might be putting behind your last name mean ? nor do they care! What they care about is results ? what benefits they'll receive. There's a lot of talk in the coaching community right now about certifications, and while I agree it is important, it doesn't matter one bit if you don't have clients! Plus, you can be the most educated, certified, qualified, and professional coach out there and still struggle to stay busy. You might think that's common sense, right? WRONG! I see coaches drop thousands of dollars in a blink of an eye to get another certification and agonize for months over a hundred dollars investment in a marketing course! The good news, unlike getting certified, learning a few simple marketing strategies doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars. And it can make all the difference in the world. As a matter of fact, here are my top four "practice marketing secrets" absolutely free. Marketing Secret #1 ? Know Your "Ideal" Client It's critical that you know who they are, what their biggest problems are, how they make decisions, what they like to spend money on, where they hang out, etc. The "narrower" you describe your ideal clients and the more you know about them the easier it becomes to get your marketing message across. Marketing Secret #2 ? Become An Expert And I don't just mean be good at what you do. Heck, you should do that anyway! I mean position yourself as an expert in a specific area. For example, you might be work with C-level executives in the insurance industry, or teach sales skills to realtors, or do turn-around consulting in manufacturing, or help working young mothers achieve life balance, or become a dating guru. Whatever makes you tick ? just focus on one thing! Marketing Secret #3 ? Use Multi-Step Marketing This is where I see so many professionals completely blow it. If a potential client doesn't sign up for your services what do you do? Forget about them? I hope not! You work hard to get new leads and meet potential prospects so why give up on them? Many people simply feel uncomfortable doing business with someone they don't know too well. You should have a systematic way of keeping up with them ? for years, if that's what it takes. Let them get to know you, your company, and your services. You never know when their situation might change and they might be ready to sign up. Marketing Secret #4 ? Get Help Just like your clients need your help, don't be afraid to get help in the area of business and marketing. One of the most idiotic things I hear from professionals is "I should be able to do this myself." Have you ever seen a brain surgeon operate on his own brain tumor. After all ? he should be able to do it himself, right? About 4 years ago I was struggling with closing sales and was really frustrated to see my potential clients hire other experts even though I was a lot more qualified to help them. I got the help of a successful sales coach. His advice not only quickly produced results to pay his fee but it also allowed me to make trips to my bank a lot more often. There you have it ? those are my top four secret marketing tips. OK, so maybe they are not so secret after all. In that case ? I'm sure you are already happily working with all the clients you can possibly handle ;-) (c) 2004 Adam M. Urbanski The Author, Adam Urbanski, a Marketing Mentor, helps Service Professionals and Small Business Owners attract more clients. For more free tutorial articles, hot how-to tips and a FREE 32-page marketing guide go to http://www.themarketingmentors.com
Check out the many ways to use this and learn about all the
aspects of each form of this that is available. Explore and learn
from all that is given here. There are many uses for this
in all of it's forms. For your use from TopWebProducts. |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Why Insight and Flexibility is More Important than Perseverance in Marketing Marketing successfully requires not only insight into how a product or service can be successfully marketed but also flexibility into the marketing of a product or service. Translation and Your International E-Commerce Strategy Most businesses realize that they are simply a click away from any corner of the globe. Well, actually two if you include the Yahoo! search a potential customer does to access your shopping cart. What most businesses, unfortunately, do not realize though, is that their shopping cart is struggling to make it to the checkout counter. Bill Dunlap, managing director of Global Reach, Inc. notes that "for every $2 million a site is doing in domestic sales, they're leaving another $1 million on the table in international sales if they're not making themselves easily available." To paraphrase the above, let me draw on a quote from Willy Brandt. The former West German chancellor is reported to have once said: "If I'm selling to you, I speak your language. If I'm buying, dann muessen Sie Deutsch sprechen (then you must speak German)." In economics this is referred to as opportunity cost -the cost of something in terms of an opportunity foregone. The opportunity cost of not speaking "German" is a whopping 50%! This simple truth is supported by statistics. Donald A. DePalma reported in a study conducted for Forrester Research that "Visitors linger twice as long as they do at English-only URLs; business buyers are three times more likely to buy if addressed in their own language; and customer service costs drop when instructions are displayed in the user's language." (Donald A. DePalma, Strategies for Global Sites, 1998). Another Forrester Research report, quoted in an article titled "Reasons for Success in International E-Commerce" (webpronews.com) provides statistics that indicate "over 55% of the online world accesses the Internet from countries where English is not the native language." The message is loud and clear: Do not assume that there is no reason to translate your marketing materials or that English is used in other countries! To be sure, English is the lingua franca of the world, and many people do have the ability to read English. But, faced with a choice, would you pull out your wallet for a company that caters to your needs in your non-native language, or your native language? If translation is not part of your international e-commerce strategy, then you may be leaving money on the table! And, if you see the truth in this message, you have a couple of options available: you can develop an in-house translation capability, or you can commission a professional translation service to translate your marketing materials. Developing an in-house translation capability is prohibitively expensive, not to mention that it is a long term effort. An appropriate analogy to illustrate this point is that of an IT department. Buying translation, however, can be overwhelming with all the technical jargon, and frustrating with all the endless marketing hype and "mission statements" that are thrown at you. Fact is, the basics of purchasing translation are easy. Read on. Your starting point should be the clarification of your translation project requirements. Consider: Whether your marketing materials are for internal consumption (including partners) or external consumption? Whether cost is more important or quality is more important? What is the time frame for your project? What are your ongoing (long-term) professional translation service needs? By clarifying project requirements, you are establishing the framework to answer the 2 most important questions that will determine the success of your translation project. Namely, what is the right type of translation, and what is the right professional translation service for your translation project? There are two types of translation: Machine translation (MT) Human translation In machine translation, a human translator supports the machine. In other words, a computer program translates the source text (i.e. the "from" language), with the resultant target text (i.e. the "to" language) then being edited by a qualified human translator, if it is edited at all. Machine translation (MT) is employed for "gisting" or, to get the general meaning (gist) of a document which can be useful when marketing material is only for internal consumption. Is machine translation right for your marketing materials? "Free online translations, is, well...free-the cost is right, but can you live with the quality?" is a short, informative works on machine translation (MT). Read it before continuing. Consider this recent headline from the Yahoo! Odd News section (2005-07-05)-"The Wurst museum in the world?" You guessed it-it is not a bad museum but one dedicated to...German sausages! If your marketing materials are rich and descriptive, and for external consumption, then machine translation (MT) is not an option. Commission a professional translation service, and put human translators to work on your marketing materials. Selecting the right professional translation service can be just as frustrating as selecting the right type of translation for your project. Do you go with a professional translation service provided by a translation company, a translation agency or a free-lance translator? Review the requirements of your translation project. Now ask yourself "What is the right professional translation service?" "Free Online Translations Guide-Professional Translation Service" provides a check list that is helpful in determining what translation service should be entrusted with your marketing materials. While the list is not exhaustive, it will guarantee that you get the most value for your investment in translation in terms of cost and quality. Establishing a criteria list provided the basis for determining what the right type of translation, and what the right professional translation service, is for your translation project. Now, before you hit the search engines, guarantee the success of your translation project by taking a few more minutes to truly prepare (peace of mind; priceless!). Read "Buying Online Translations Tips and Techniques." And that is it-it is that simple! Translating marketing materials will ensure that your international e-commerce strategy speaks "German," will ensure that your shopping cart makes it to the checkout counter, and will ensure that no money is left on the table. Resume Writing Service Marketing Marketing A Resume Business Direct Mail Personalization A colleague who does work for a nonprofit organization contacted me asking if I could do research on the success rate of personalized direct mail letters (Dear Joe) versus generically addressed letters (Dear Friend). Surprisingly, I didn't find as many statistics as expected, but I found information stating that personalized letters outperform generic letters. Are You Losing Business? As a small business owner, you are grateful for all of your clients or customers. But did you know that small business lose over 62% of sales because they don't follow up? You are caught up in the business of running your business you don't take the time to follow up with your clients. Using Flyers In Your Business If you are not using flyers in your business you are missing out. Flyers can be used to sell your product, promote your product, promote your services, and in a number of other areas. 7 Ways to Evaluate Your Marketing Plan Business owners often find it difficult to know whether their marketing tactics are working. This can be especially tricky when you use a combination of marketing activities simultaneously, or if using personal-contact tactics such as networking. Hold Onto What Youve Got You probably spend a great deal of your time looking for new customers or clients. However, are you sure your doing enough to hold onto the ones you've got. One of the least costly ways to grow your business is to get customers to come back and buy more of your product or service. Unique Gift Items ? 3 Creative Ideas With promotional items there are standards: t-shirts, mugs, note cubes, calendars, magnets and keychains. Then, there is the really creative. Sometimes with a specific campaign, you may want to go above and beyond and really start a buzz about your company. What Are Focus Groups & How Do They Work? Businesses and other organizations use focus groups to research consumer and public opinion concerning a variety of issues. Corporations look to focus groups for general help in selling their products to the world at large instead of any type of direct marketing efforts. B2B Marketing Tips - Create an Interactive Online Experience for Clients Business to business communications on the web are as stale as a piece of week old toast. Receiving a Brochure Printing Quote Brochures are a great way to get your message across. While having a brochure can be extremely useful, it is sometimes hard to know whether it is affordable. The price for brochures can vary widely, with many variables contributing to the final quote. Has the Free Report Had Its Day? For years now we have been inundated with offers of Free Reports. Most promise to tell you how, in a few hours per week, you can make incredibly huge sums of money or achieve some other benefit. And it's not only on the web you find these offers. I subscribe to an informative, inexpensive Packaging Made Frozen TV Dinners Possible I was saddened to hear of the passing of one of the food industry pioneers Gerry Thomas, One of our unsung heroes credited with invented a "package" the frozen TV dinner that literally changed the way we eat. Never mind that it was considered by nutritionists as a step backwards, his invention still made a major shift in the food and food services industries. In fact foodservice was in the early stages of product development when the TV dinner was first introduced in the. (turkey with corn bread dressing and gravy, sweet potatoes and buttered peas - sold for about $1 apiece and could be cooked in 25 minutes at 425 degrees.) Creating Your Own Lead Capture Pages Having a downline can be golden. A downline is a group of folks who have either signed-up or have already agreed to at least look at what you send them. How to Really Get Your Customers What Really Makes Your Postcard Mailing Successful? The biggest single factor in the success of your postcard mailings is who you send your postcards to. Like Brushing Your Teeth What do the following things have in common: brushing your teeth, regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, paying your bills on time, cleaning your gutters, spending quality time with your spouse and kids?? Direct Mail Strategy - Brand Identity Guru 1. Know your purpose: What do you want your direct mailer to accomplish? Do you want to be remembered? Do you want to educate prospects about benefits? Recently, Brand Identity Guru was hired to expand a clients direct mail efforts, so we created a direct mail piece to showcase our clients related capabilities. Now direct mail accounts for nearly 30% of our clients new business. Nurture Sales Leads with Direct Mail Marketing Direct mail is a cost-effective way to make sales and generate leads. But it's also an excellent way to keep your brand name in front of customers, and to nurture leads until they become customers. Ready, Aim, Fire...Oops...Wheres The Target? Everywhere you go on the Internet you find the words, "target market." What do they mean? What does it have to do with you? Well it has everything to do with your success in sales.
|
| home | main | site map |
| TopWebProducts © 2006 |