I often talk about the importance of choosing the right advertising match for your business; In fact I mentioned it can be up to 40% of the success of your campaign. The thing is - all advertising reps will tell you their form of advertising works. Here’s how I work it out.

What is advertising?
It is TV, Radio, Newspaper, On-line Advertising, Direct Mail Advertising, Telephone Selling, SMS texting, Faxing, Yellow Pages, Networking, Letterbox Drop advertising, etc.

Think about these points:-

What is your budget?

There is no use having grand advertising plans and no money. There are many cost-effective ways to grow your business that don’t involve loads of money. As Robert Kyosaki of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” fame says “do the small deals first”, you can make money on them and grow into the bigger deals. That’s how successful people do it. Don’t get tricked into “spending big” as opposed to “thinking big”. One of the fastest ways to go broke is to go crazy on advertising when you are not sure if it will work or not. Test it first, within your budget and then measure the results.

What works for YOUR business?

Many years ago I had great success with one style of advertising (Yellow Pages) for one of my businesses. In my mind this style of advertising worked perfectly – every time. Couldn’t get enough of it. My problem was the same style of advertising didn’t work for my next business.

In the new business, the customers just didn’t use the Yellow Pages to look up my style of business. I made the assumption my new business and new customers would “think” and “act” the same way, and so therefore the same advertising would work. It cost me thousands of dollars.

You see the other important ingredient in getting your advertising to work is to be clear of your “Target Market”. In fact it is also 40% of the success of the advertising.

For example, there’s no use selling teenage pimple cream in the seniors bowling magazine. See what I mean? Don’t get me wrong, it may be a really effective magazine, just wrong market.

Where do your Target Customers hang out?

What do they read? Listen to? How do they spend their day?

If you know how to find them, you are onto a winner. I must stress, don’t try and be ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE. You have to have a TARGET. TARGETS are where the MONEY IS. It’s an easier way to advertise and measure.

Shop Around.

Advertising is negotiable - at every level. If not by price, perhaps by payment terms. Be creative and sometimes a little cheeky. Especially closer to deadlines. If you have an ad ready, or are willing to pay upfront, you may get a better deal.

Where the real money is

There is a saying amongst MARKETERS……the MARKETING MONEY is in THE LIST! Once you find an ideal way to grow your own target lists through effective advertising, then your own marketing will become really cost effective. (See my article on 5 times more effective marketing). You see it’s 5 times more effective to sell to the customers you already have, or who are already “warm” to what you do. If you can’t get a “SALE” from the advertising you are doing - get a “NAME”. Then use this list to be more specific with your marketing. Either through Direct Mail or email marketing.

Until next time I wish you “easier sales through better marketing”

Sharon Tieman.
aka Madame Marketing.

MARKETING IS EASIER THAN SELLING

While I write this to you this week it’s School Holidays here in New South Wales.

It reminds me how important leverage is in my life, and how getting really good at Marketing has given me more choices in my Lifestyle.

Yesterday I had a business meeting at home in my jeans while my kids played dress up, and the other watched a movie. Ok, it was a friend who is also a mother in business, but it didn’t take away from some serious strategies we discussed and planned while drinking warm pots of tea in a comfortable environment. Who says it has to be a formal boardroom!

Actually I even had my ugg boots on, but it was cold, and they are cute ones!

You see, I use to be exhausted with being good at Sales. Knowing where to find leads, knowing the “triggers” when they are interested to buy, how to “close” the deal! Always being “on” and “happy and healthy” to get the sale. It was constant treadmill. In an old job I had, the better I got, the higher the bar got. It didn’t get any easier to reach, it just meant more work!

I didn’t want to work harder to get more sales. I was exhausted as it was. How can I pull any more sales out of a day when I was exhausted and doing a full day as it was?

That’s when I decided to get good at Marketing. You see, Marketing gives you an easier sale. Let me explain:-

Good Marketing means the customers come to you ready to buy.

Your staff become customer focused order takers (this is a good thing)

Good Marketing is systemised. Spend $1 make $5. everytime.

Good Marketing is a formula. That is:- Who my customers are, where my leads are, what is it they want, how I reach them, how I get the sale.

Good Marketing gives you a Return on your Investment. It is not flag waiving and feel good “branding”. It puts money in your register.

Good Marketing is predictable. Imagine knowing roughly how much revenue you will have next week, next month?

Good Marketing can increase average dollar spend, close a sale, work on “sales triggers”, it can be a silent sales person.

So if you are thinking you need more sales. Brush up on your marketing skills. Learn all you can about marketing and develop a bullet proof formula that works for you and your business.

to comment on this SEE BELOW.

In fact if you want to purchase “Secret’s of Marketing Experts Exposed” this week, I’ll throw in a copy of my own book “If I’m So Successful How Come I Never Get To Be On Top”

SEE BELOW TO LEARN MORE

http://www.madamemarketing.com/shop/books

Sharon Tieman
Madame Marketing
Phone 1800 247 835
www.madamemarketing.com

insanity

They say the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing and expecting a different result”
Well one of the breakthroughs in business SANITY for me was realising:-

REVENUE is Vanity.

PROFIT is Sanity.

I’m embarrassed to say it took a while to get it. You see it’s far more exciting to focus on the revenue of your business. It’s BRAGABLE!

You can see the headlines now…..

A six figure income!
A seven figure income!
Doubled the turnover in 1 year.
Made $40,000 revenue in 6 weeks.

Sound’s impressive….doesn’t it. But where was the profit? It’s great having all of the above, and I’ve had businesses that have done ALL of the above, but what was the profit? How much money was actually made?

Without profit, it’s just Vanity. It’’s something to brag about. Hey, they’ll even put you on stage for that type of bragging, But please……don’t get hooked.

When you run your business on vanity,
it’s easy to get dazzled by “bright shiny objects”
and “magic solutions, that over promise & under deliver.

Realising that Profit is just as important as Revenue was a turning point for me.

And I’ll tell you it’s a whole heap more fun running a profitable growing business….believe me.

Focusing on Profit in all business transactions can mean:-

Focus on increasing profitable sales. Which ones are they?
Focus on increasing your number of targeted profitable new customers
Focus on increasing your gross margin of the goods or service you provide.
Focus on targeting marketing that gives you a return on your investment.
Focus on increasing your average sale price.
Focus on quote conversion on your profitable quotes.

All of these things can affect the profit of your business. If one of them doesn’t seem to be working for you, or if business is slow, look at what indicator you CAN INFLUENCE to improve your PROFIT now.

By doing something, however small ,every month to influence your profit, will give you a stronger foundation for your business . Growing a business to big revenue is alot more fun when it’s profitable.

Now that’s something BRAGABLE!

I often find the answer to life’s riddles and challenges can be found in…

Music
Movies
Books

These things can take on a whole new meaning when life is challenging you.

You see I got an iphone late last year (yes, I loooooveee it), and started to load up some of the classic’s I’ve always liked…..of course, “The Gambler”, by Kenny Roger’s was one of them.

I haven’t listened to that song for a long time, and at the moment it seemed to have particular meaning. Let me quote Kenny….

“The secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away, and knowing what to keep…

Because….

every hands a winner and every hands a loser”

I can really see the similarities between Poker and Business, can’t you?

In Poker, the thing that can get you through is your knowledge on how to play the game.

There is a different strategy for different circumstances.

Just like in business.

Your know they say the definition of stupidity, is doing the same thing and expecting a different result?

What would happen if you did that in poker?

There is one preditable thing about business….it will change. What changes have you made to deal with the hand you have?

You can still WIN with a dud hand. You can still LOSE with a good one.

You see we all have the same 3 main resources to get us through:-

1. Time

3. Knowledge.

What resource do you need help with? Is it more TIME? Is it more MONEY? is it the KNOWLEDGE to make better choices?

If you can focus on:

Time:- focus on income producing activities at strategic times of your day.

Money:- Trim the fat, always be testing, measuring & watching what is coming & going.

Knowledge:- Often the answers are already within you. Take time to reflect, or ask your support network. Or (shamless plug coming - subscribe to Madame Marketing, to increase your knowledge on business and “how to play the game”)

So I’ll leave you with one final thought. What hand are you holding right now? How are you going to play it?

Last week I spoke about the “lies advertising reps tell” and the importance of choosing the right Media!

Infact I mentioned it is 40% of your success!
So how do you choose the right Media?

What is Media? It is TV, Radio, Newspaper, On-line Advertising, Direct Mail Advertising, Telephone Selling, SMS texting, Faxing, Networking, Letterbox Drop advertising, etc etc.

Think about these points:-

What is your budget?
There is no use having grand advertising plans and no money. There are many cost-effective ways to grow your business that don’t involve loads of money. As Robert Kyosaki says “do the small deals first”, you can make money on them and grow into the bigger deals. That’s how successful people do it. Don’t get tricked into “spending big” as apposed to “thinking big”

Where do your Target Customers Hang out?
what do they read?, Listen to? How do they spend their day?

If you know how to find them, you are onto a winner. I must stress, don’t try and be ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE. You have to have a TARGET. TARGETS are where the MONEY IS. It’s an easier way to advertise and measure.

Shop Around.
If you have established your target market are local business people, your next step is to try and get the BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK. Is there a publication that targets “local business people”? Often by being a member of some groups you get access to the “list” of other members, or get to advertise for FREE in their publications. I am a member of several organisations, and have access to great lists of my target customers. Along with great friendships, I also have an affordable targeted list.

There is a saying amongst MARKETERS……the MARKETING MONEY is in THE LIST!

remember I want to find you easier sales through better marketing.

Sharon Tieman.
Madame Marketing.

You know how it is…..a good looking charming rep walks into your business, and the next thing you know you’ve just signed up for thousands of dollars in advertising. You are pumped. This deal is going to make you thousands, even millions.

Here are my 3 tips to know the difference between just “sales talk” and the real truth with advertising.

1. “You ad didn’t work, because you have to keep repeating it to make it work - it’s all about REPETITION”
RUBBISH. What’s the use of repeating something and loosing money - that doesn’t make sense. I’ll let you in on a secret

40% of your success in advertising is the MEDIA you choose. That is Newspaper, TV, Direct Mail, Radio, etc. You have to choose the right media to get your message across. If you choose the wrong media for your target audience, it doesn’t matter how many times you REPEAT it, it still won’t work.

40% of your success in advertising is the MARKET you choose. You have to have your ad targeted to who you want to purchase. If you are advertising Tampons in a Lawn Bowling Magazine, I can tell you now, you can advertising until the cows come home and you won’t make a sale.

2. “This is the last one/spot I have” - This may be true (most of the time it is not), but if it is, and it does appeal to you - make a counter offer. “Look I’m really not looking to advertise at the moment, but I’ll take it for $300, if you are trying to get rid of it”. Selling Scarcity, is one of the oldest selling tactic’s in the book.

3. “Everyone else is doing it, so it must work”. This is the same story as when we use to all tell our mother - “everyone else is doing it”. She didn’t fall for it, why do we as business people?

The truth is, just because your competitors are doing it, does not mean it is working. You still have to know your costings, target market and have a great offer. Most businesses throw money at advertising and marketing and never measure it. We don’t want to be like most businesses.

Remember these rules:

40% of your advertising success is media.
40% of your advertising success is your target market.
10% of your advertising success is the offer you make (you MUST have an offer)
10% of your advertising success is the sales copy/display ad.

until then,
I wish you easier sales through better marketing.

Sharon Tieman.
Madame Marketing

Dear Friends in Business,
The first question I ask people when they tell me their marketing has not worked is….

“What was the OFFER?”

and this is where everything falls apart.

The offer is boring! zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Remember we have to “cut through the clutter” and get their attention.

The only way to do that is with a great offer!

The three things I have had most success with are:

1) FREE.
2) A Percentage OFF Campaign.
3) Dollar Package or Dollar Discount.

Today I will focus on FREE.

There are 3 things you can give away for FREE:

FREE Time
FREE Product.
FREE Information.

FREE TIME, I’m not so fussed on. You have to be pretty confident in your sales ability if you plan to up-sell your clients. My other issue with time is it is limited. FREE TIME, can work, when staff are not busy, or are cheap (like apprentices) For example, free head massage with a cut & colour!

FREE PRODUCT is great. Here is the rule. It has to have PERCEIVED VALUE. This is where the negotiations kick in. Go to your supplier and negotiate on a better deal for a POPULAR ITEM. The other alternative is to use a PRODUCT that has a high mark up and low cost.

FREE INFORMATION is my favourite. Giving away information that can save your clients time or money. Giving away information is a great way to collect a database, and build repore that you can sell to later. Informaton can take the form of a FREE REPORT, a CD interview, or even a “must do” checklist.

The marketing secret to giving away INFORMATION, is the solution to their problems has to be YOU. I go into more detail on my site with other ideas.

You know one of the frustrating things about being a marketer is seeing what some people try and sell at the wrong time.

They waste their money and wonder why.

Let me explain. Icecream is lovely. I really enjoy it. It’s very very popular in Summer on a hot day. But not in Winter. It’s not what you feel like in winter. If you sell icecream, I can guarantee you, no matter how much money you spend on promoting it, you are really throwing good money after bad.

In tough times, we cannot afford to throw advertising dollars away.

We want alot more bang for our buck! If there are no customers around, for dinner, don’t promote dinner. If no ones buying thongs, don’t promote thongs! If there are no customers buying wiggets, don’t advertise a widget sale.

Well, what are you suppose to do?

Let me ask you this?

What is selling at the moment?

Even if it’s small numbers, it’s at least a sale? It’s at least popular.

Who is buying at the moment?

Even if the average dollar is not as good as normal, who has money and is buying?

You see with Recession Proof Marketing, you are actually better off using your marketing dollar to promote and sell more of what they want, to who has the money. Not the other way around. A hungry, cashed up market is the one you want.

Make no mistake. People are still spending. You job as a Recession Proof Marketer is to find out what they are spending their money on and who they are.

In my next Recession Proof Marketing tip, I will let you know is how to get them to buy more from you and more frequently.

Until next time,
This is Madame Marketing
Wishing you abundance and good fortune.

BRANDING ADVERTISING IS A WASTE OF MONEY

This concept was discussed at our recent event - recessionproofmarketing and it was one of the biggest “Ah ha!” moment for the people there.

You see Branding Advertising is about cutting through the clutter. It’s about getting your brand recognised first before everyone else. It’s about being first in peoples mind when they decide to choose your style of product. It’s about claiming a position in the market place. All great attributes, and well worth the investment.

Seriously though, most people get 40,000 messages a day pumped at them. Yes at least 40,000 advertising messages!…… so you are going to have to have an awefully big budget to stand out from the CLUTTER in that crowd. Let’s face it- you are competing with the big boys with big budgets.

And that’s what most big business has - big budgets. But us in small business, we don’t have that sort of muscle to hit people with a sledge hammer and get our message across……so what are we suppose to do?

5 times more effective than anything else…
You will get 5 times better response marketing to the customers you have than trying to do big mass media to people that don’t know you. Yes, 5 times better.

The money is in your LIST.

You are better off keeping a great database of every customer you have. Their address, email, mobile, even fax and keep in touch at least every 4-6 weeks.

Will you be first in your customers mind when they decide to buy?- YES!

Will your company brand stand out from your competitors? - YES!

Has it cost you as much as “branding advertising” or just the cost of a stamp, or a text message or the cost of an email - NO!

TASK FOR THIS WEEK……………

u

Before you start sending me emails argueing with me, hear me out!

This concept was discussed at our recent event - recessionproofmarketing and it was one of the biggest “Ah ha!” moment for the people there.

You see Branding Advertising is about cutting through the clutter. It’s about getting your brand recognised first before everyone else. It’s about being first in peoples mind when they decide to choose your style of product. It’s about claiming a position in the market place. All great attributes, and well worth the investment.

Seriously though, most people get 40,000 messages a day pumped at them. Yes at least 40,000 advertising messages!…… so you are going to have to have an awefully big budget to stand out from the CLUTTER in that crowd. Let’s face it- you are competing with the big boys with big budgets.

And that’s what most big business has - big budgets. But us in small business, we don’t have that sort of muscle to hit people with a sledge hammer and get our message across……so what are we suppose to do?

5 times more effective than anything else…

You will get 5 times better response marketing to the customers you have than trying to do big mass media to people that don’t know you. Yes, 5 times better.

The money is in your LIST.

You are better off keeping a great database of every customer you have. Their address, email, mobile, even fax and keep in touch at least every 4-6 weeks.

Will you be first in your customers mind when they decide to buy?- YES!

Will your company brand stand out from your competitors? - YES!

Has it cost you as much as “branding advertising” or just the cost of a stamp, or a text message or the cost of an email! - NO!

TASK FOR THIS WEEK - UPDATE YOUR DATABASE!