Client Magnets Official Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’

Why spend unnecessary time and energy marketing your product or event? A strategically designed marketing system can do most of the work for you. Got a killer product or event? Have a genius sales letter guaranteed to convert? It doesn’t matter. Without a good marketing system in place, you’ll have a hard time selling, period. Don’t automatically blame your sales letter if your product or event isn’t selling. Instead, spend some time evaluating your marketing system and make sure you’re reaching your prospects.

Map Out Your Marketing System
At one time, my clients asked me a lot of questions that signaled they needed help creating a marketing system. Mapping out your marketing system is a quick tool to help you evaluate and supplement it, and it’s a step that absolutely warrants attention. Visually mapping out your marketing system can help you understand its flow and determine its effectiveness.

Your marketing system should start with a squeeze page, which then directs people to your online sales page and marketing materials. On either side of that, map out your online and offline marketing avenues. Did you list plenty of avenues, or is one area deficient in marketing opportunities? You may need to add marketing channels to better reach your target audience.

Use a Squeeze Page to Capture Information
One of the most important components of your marketing system is your squeeze page. Your squeeze page is where you capture your prospects’ information before you send them along to your online sales information. By capturing information, you have an avenue to reach out and follow up with your prospects. You can also use a squeeze page to evaluate how many people have viewed your sales letter, and to calculate the conversion rate of your marketing materials.

Create Well-Crafted Materials
A good marketing system is useless without the right marketing materials. You need a comprehensive online sales letter so people can find all of the information they want about your product or event. If people are unable to find information and are forced to call you, they’re less likely to buy your product or register for your event. By making it all available online, you’re removing a barrier to sales and making it even easier for people to take action.

Follow Up with Your Prospects
Once you have everything in place, it’s vital to follow up with your prospects. You can triple your conversion rate – or even improve it by 10 times as many conversions – by following up appropriately with your prospects. People almost never make a decision about something the first time they read a sales letter. They might wait for days or weeks before they’re ready to make a decision, based on things that are going on in their lives or how much commitment your product or event requires.

The best way to ensure they take action is by following up periodically. Remind people that they need to take action. Don’t contact them too frequently, but a gentle nudge every few days can make a huge difference in your conversion rates.

Evaluate Your Marketing System
Once you’ve mapped out your marketing system, evaluate it. Are any areas of your marketing system lacking? Do you need to add a squeeze page, improve your sales letter or follow up with your prospects more frequently? The best products and events in the world won’t sell themselves. With the right marketing system in place, though, you’re a huge step closer to realizing your success!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

If you’d like to know more about making money with your events, register for her free Event Money Machine Telesummit.

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You know that creating products is a superb way for you to earn more revenue from your business. You may even have a good idea of what your product will offer and how you will present it.

But, you may have one particular problem that’s holding you back from getting that product to your clients. Maybe you feel that you just don’t have the time to create it.

You can’t magically create more time for yourself. Like the rest of the world, you have 24 hours in your day. You really don’t need more hours so much as you need a solid plan for getting your product done.   Let me share my formula for creating quality products the quickest way possible …

1.  Set a Date

The very first thing you need to do is set a date. Have a date that your products are going to be launched. There is nothing like giving yourself a deadline to get you moving.

2.  Get Paid To Create Your Products

Think about ways that you could get paid to create your products. If you did a live event, such as a workshop for example, you could record it, and use that recording to sell as your product. In that sense, you are getting paid to create your product.

I get paid to create my products when people pay to attend my workshops, and afterwards, the sales come in from the DVD recordings of that product.

If you don’t want to have a workshop, consider doing a teleseminar instead. A client in my mentoring group has just put together her own teleseminar series which she did once live, and is now selling as a boxed product. She has done the work once. She got paid to do the work, to create the product. And now, she’s going to be selling it over and over and over and over.

3.  Promote a Pre-Launch Offer

You might also consider doing a pre-launch offer. This is a tip I got from Michael Port.   He knew the only way he was going to get his first product done was to do a pre-launch offer. He emailed his list with a special offer for the audio he was putting together. “It will sell for $79, but if you order it now, you can have it for $59.”

He received a whole bunch of orders which lit a fire under him. He now had people who had paid him money and were waiting for this product to be released. He knew he had to get it done!

That knowledge made it easier for him to block out other things that might have generated revenue and focus on one single produce, since he knew the money was there. He had already been paid to create that product.

One of the challenges in getting a product finished – particularly your first product – is that it’s so easy to keep tweaking, refining and improving. You’re not earning any money whatsoever by doing that.

4.  Get Past Perfectionism

Remember that good is good enough. Just make sure that you’ve included all the elements that someone is going to need in your product. If they use it, and follow the advice that you’re telling them to follow in your product, they will get the results that you promised. Get past perfectionism. Good is good enough.

You are never going to have that two-week window that you think you need to get your products done. You’ve actually got to decide to get your product created in spite of your lack of time.

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Let’s imagine for a moment that you’ve found a lead source that produces an abundance of interested, and paying, clients.  That’s marvelous, right?

For now.

But what might happen when that one lead source tanks, evaporates, or otherwise disappears?  You’ve got it:  you’re leadless.

Metaphorically, eating the same food, over and over, day after day, can lead to nutritional imbalance.  Plus, if that food source dies or is plundered, you will starve.

The same principle applies to your business ’ lead sources:  if you rely on one source for sustenance, your business will be left in a vulnerable state.

For instance, if you rely solely on email for getting the word out, you’re putting your business in a disadvantageous position.  Sure, email is a terrific method:  it’s automated, it’s easy to implement, it’s inexpensive, and it can be easier to obtain email addresses than physical addresses and phone numbers.  But, email is only a valuable resource when it’s one of many.

Consider this:

• Email isn’t the only contact method that can be automated.  Post mailings, phone calls, article and report writing, advertising, and marketing can all be automated by delegating these responsibilities to outside sources.

• When delegating lead generation responsibilities, don’t tie yourself down to thinking you must pay for these services.  Contract with interns (who will often work for little or no cost in exchange for the experience), enlist the services of a neighbor with whom you can trade services, bribe nieces and nephews with fun outings in exchange for their envelope-stuffing talents…the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

• Don’t think in terms of increasing the burden on your already-busy schedule.  Every lead source that you come up with should hold the potential of being automated in the future.  In other words, good fortune isn’t good if it equals more work for you.  Just because something works in small quantities, doesn’t mean that it will work, in the same fashion, in large quantities.

• If you’re just starting out, and have no house contact list, you might want to consider renting a contact list.  But, engage in this method only as a springboard.  Remember that the rental cost will add up quickly, increasing your cost-of-sale significantly.  Soon, you’ll need to explore other options (maybe those opened up through the use of the rental list) to build your own, unique sources.

• Because so much of the world communicates through email, “spam” has come to be viewed as this generation’s junk mail.  A postcard or a handwritten note in a mailbox is not only a 21st Century novelty, it is appreciated and likely to be opened and read.

• Challenge yourself to find more lead sources, instead of finding more leads through existing sources.  Your business will enjoy a steadier flow of leads if you have 100 sources, with 2 leads each, than if you have 2 sources, with 100 leads each.  Think wingspan, not feathers.

• Diversify.  Be creative.  Be willing to explore lead paths that you may have never before considered.  Chances are that your competition hasn’t considered them either.

When thinking about lead generation, it’s important that you remember to think in terms of a buffet.  A single course method can be compared to a one-food diet:  it’s unbalanced and the likelihood of eating it all, quickly, is high.

Diversity in your lead generation will deliver more security, more growth potential, and ultimately, more profit for your business.  So mix it up:  your discriminating taste, and the ultimate health of your business, will give some rave reviews.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

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Two business owners compete against one another in the same field.

Business Owner #1 has worked in his niche for 30 years; he has a massive list of contacts; his reputation is impeccable; his clients are among some of the most satisfied in the industry.  His expertise is unmatched.  Word of mouth has been a friend to his business, but his niche is very specialized, which means that his name doesn’t come up at many dinner parties.

Business Owner #2 is relatively new to the industry, also working in the same specialty niche.  She’s still in the process of building her contact list; her clients are largely satisfied, but the verbal buzz hasn’t elevated yet…she’s simply too new.

Which business owner do you think has realized the largest profit in the last 12 months?

Would you be surprised to learn that it’s Business Owner #2?

How could that be?

One word:  Marketing

Business Owner #2 invests whatever she can afford to lose in marketing campaigns, while Business Owner #1 simply can’t seem to get past the initial dollar amount of the marketing expenses, and so, simply doesn’t “get the word out”.

As a result, the first business remains steady, but stagnant.  The second soars.

Business Owner #2 possesses a Millionaire Mindset.  Here’s what’s going on inside her head:

• Marketing is an investment.  Even if one campaign costs $4,000 (which is a significant amount of money for her fledging business), she anticipates that just one resulting sale will pay for the ad.

• She views the campaign as an investment in her most valuable commodity – herself.  Because she has completed the research and knows that there’s a noted demand for her product, she purchases each new ad with a faith that can only come from believing in herself and her business.  She thinks, I’m the best investment I’m ever going to make.

• She never invests more than she can afford to lose.  Financially, she only invests what her business can survive without.  Emotionally, she only invests what she can lose and still hold on to a sense of hindsight without depression.

• She doesn’t ruminate over the dollar amount of each marketing endeavor.  Rather, she concentrates on its potential return.  She understands that she’ll realize direct returns, as well as future, residual ones.

• She knows that she’ll never reach millionaire status by pinching pennies.

• She understands that by pulling out her cash and throwing it against the wall of cash that has become frozen in this, a stagnant, economy, she’s multiplying her chances of getting a return.  Unless she spends money, the wall of cash will remain rigid, eliminating a large portion of potential profit.

• Though it was difficult for her to accept the idea of investment versus cost in the beginning, she becomes more willing to spend money with each profitable marketing campaign.  Because of this realization, she has committed to educate her clients about the benefits of marketing, which will contribute to the stimulation of the economy.

Investment and return will never be a chicken and egg debate.  Without investment, there can be no return.  The return will never come first…in fact, it simply won’t come at all.

If you want to find your own millionaire mindset, you must separate yourself from the competition’s aversion to marketing and getting your name out there.

You could spend your disposable income on a new car, or a summer home, or a vacation.  Or…you could invest that cash in a marketing campaign…so you can afford all three.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

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Creating a high-end coaching program doesn’t require special training. It’s something that anyone can do, with enough expertise and the right approach. How do you know what a high-end coaching program should look like? Consider joining a similar group to get an idea of how it operates from the inside, and take away valuable information about how you can structure and format your offering.

Find a Similar Group and Join It
Once you’ve really decided to expand your offerings and create bigger programs where you’ll get more actively involved with clients, it’s time to think about what to offer and how you can offer it. What is a top-level coaching program supposed to include? One of the best techniques for starting a high-end coaching program is to find a similar group – and join it.

The idea is not to join a group and steal all of its techniques and resources. You might want a group that relates to a totally different industry than you’ll be covering, or even a group that works with how to create and market high-end coaching programs. The point is to find a group and join it so you’ll experience how a group like this operates, and get take-away points for your own planning.

Get an Insider View of What You’re Offering
Joining a high-end coaching program gives you an insider view of what you’re offering. This provides an opportunity for you to watch an expert in action, and look at how someone established is offering their programs to participants. This gives you an insider perspective of the types of things that need to be included in a program like this. It might also give you tips and techniques that improve your business overall, or as related to the program you intend to create.

Joining a high-end coaching program can give you valuable take-away points to implement in your own program. You may find that you really like something the mentor offers, or you may decide that something lacked information or you’d rather see something presented in a different way. Look at both the good things and the things you didn’t like about the program, and find ways to integrate that knowledge into the program you’re developing for your own clients. This can help you evaluate your potential offering with an insider’s perspective, and better gauge what clients might like or want and what might not provide value to your clients.

Think of a High-End Coaching Program as an Investment
If you join a high-end coaching program to get a better idea of what to offer in your own program, think of it as an investment. Having this inside knowledge can help you better craft your own program to appeal to your clients, which can create better testimonials and generate interest and buzz among your potential prospects. By having your own experience with a top-level program, you know what clients expect and you can create a program that provides real value for your clients. This benefits everyone involved, and you might just find other aspects of your business improving as a result of the program!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

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Loving your job?  Loving your business?  OR does it feel like you’re still having to suffer through the more undesirable aspects of your work?  I once believed as long as you generally enjoyed your profession, and was rewarded for it, you would still need to take care of those elements and some tasks that you dislike doing.  Well, things have changed and this no longer has to be true.

In order to create the type of magnetism that attracts prospective clients to you, you must find that one thing that you’re inherently intended to do and eliminate the rest.  With so many resources available to every one of us, there really is no excuse to continue to do OR continue procrastinate on those things we hate to do. But, you might ask, “How can I find that one thing I’m meant to do?”  You can start with your current business.  Here’s how:

•    Make a list of all of the tasks that you’re responsible for in your business.  Often, it can be hard to call up every duty, so it can be helpful to keep a daily log.

•    Assign a love factor to each task.  Is it your favorite?  Do you want to do it first every day because it makes you feel fulfilled?  Or is it the one you detest?  The one you try to avoid?

•    Isolate the tasks that you detest and ask yourself if those tasks can be eliminated.  Can you redesign your business’ purpose to cut them from your routine?

•    If the detested duties are necessary duties, start, right away, to find another way to get them done.  Hire someone.  Automate them.  Anything that will eliminate the negative energy from your daily repertoire.

If this process has been completed efficiently, you will be left with one main task…the one that you’re absolutely wild about.

The laws of positive energy dictate that you’ll be paid more for those tasks which you enjoy the most. Once you can figure out what you’re good at, and do that thing exclusively, you’ll realize more success than you had when you were bogged down doing all of the other false necessities.

Another point to remember is though many of us would like to believe that our business lives and our personal lives can be maintained separately, with a definitive line dividing the two, it’s nearly impossible to isolate them.  If there are things in your personal life that drag you down (laundry, cooking, cleaning), then do what you can to justify hiring someone to do them for you.  The positive energy that you’ll create in your personal life will spill over into your professional life, multiplying the magnetism that you create.

Just loving your general profession or business is never enough to warrant truthfulness from the statement, “I love my work.”   In order for your magnetism to be IRRESISTIBLE to potential clients, you must love every aspect of your business, even if that means whittling it down to one, exclusive task.

Do what you love, and only what you love…and others will love the idea of becoming part of your magnetic field of success.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

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Have you ever hosted a free teleseminar (one in which you charge no participation fees), with the intent to sell a product, and you’ve gotten feedback like, “Great content,” or “I learned a lot,” or “You’re really knowledgeable in your field”?

Despite your blush at the flattery, were your sales numbers from the teleseminar lackluster?  Was your conversion rate uninspiring?

It’s not difficult to figure out what may have happened in this situation.  You’ve offered too much valuable information, and didn’t start your teleseminar with the end in mind:  the sale.

When conducting a free teleseminar your main concern should be with the quality of the content…the value of the information that you’re passing on.  But how do you balance sharing great content without giving too much away and losing the sale?

• No one who has registered for your free teleseminar has paid a dime (other than maybe the dial-in fee).  If you give them too much, they will walk away with your valuables, free of charge.  If you give them less information, but offer them an opportunity to learn more and to walk away with something that they’ve deemed valuable, even if there is a cost involved, you will have succeeded in your tele-endeavor.

• Your offer needs to be developed from your opening. Even though the attempt at sales will come at the end of the free teleseminar, you must keep your goal in mind when you utter your first sentence.

• Your sales pitch must seamlessly tie into the rest of the teleseminar.  Delivering a wealth of information and then tacking on a sales pitch at the end rarely works.  Your sales pitch should be less like a birthday surprise and more like the end result of a lengthy birthday celebration preparation.

• Don’t squeeze every bit of valuable information you can think of into your teleseminar.  Instead, work to weave education with sales presentation.  When this is done correctly, you’ll be priming your prospects to buy, but they will view it as free information.  In short, create a monologue that will make purchase seem like the next logical step to your listeners.

• Use your sense of responsibility to your participants to offer them something of value.  Whether your teleseminar is 30 or 60 minutes in length, there’s a good chance that you’ll never be able to cram everything they need to know about your topic into that timeframe.  In fact, if you do try to cram it in, you’ll likely be delivering an incomprehensible mess.  When you offer a chance for them to learn about the rest of the story at the end, you’re delivering value and offering a service.  Often, you can only make the biggest difference in the lives of your customers by offering more than you can give away for free.

The no-fee teleseminar can be a great selling tool.  When people invest 30 or 60 minutes of their time, they’ll naturally want to know about their next step.  When you give them that step, in the form of your product or service, after priming them to want more, they’ll be apt to buy.

So don’t view the free teleseminar as “the cost of doing business.”  Rather, view it as a valuable tool for garnishing your conversion rates, realizing your unique success, and balancing the teleseminar ledger.

Want to learn more about how to make money with your own events? Visit our Event Money Machine Blog. You’ll learn about an amazing Telesummit being held later this month. Tickets to this event are FREE – so join our priority notification list to be the first to know when they become available.

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In most circumstances, your squeeze page (or opt-in page) should be a standalone page. When a visitor clicks on your site, they should have no option other than to sign up for your offer. That is the single, primary purpose of a squeeze page.

This rule applies well to individual clients. But, if you want to capture the attention and the sale of corporate clients, the rules of online pages vary slightly.

While the objective of your page remains the same – getting the opt-in – the approach to that goal is a bit different because your target market is different.

Businesses want more details about the company they are considering giving their business to.  They want to know about you, your methods and your track record when reviewing your proposal and referring colleagues to your page.

Corporations require all the information you can provide to assure them they have done their homework and that you are the best choice to fulfill their need. If you give them nothing but a squeeze page to base their decision on, they will look for someone who tells them more.

To attract corporate clients, your page should include a link to an informational brochure that provides supporting information, lends credibility and gives your business a bit of branding.

These informational pages that you use for selling to businesses may be sites that you don’t publicize to the general public. But, complex sales that involve multiple decision makers require these supporting pages.

The information on these pages should include your testimonials, case studies, and lots and lots of reassurance. Many corporate decisions are based on making improvement to their company while maintaining the status quo. Since that is one of the most important things to your potential clients, your connecting pages should address how your services can work in conjunction with them while enhancing the company’s overall performance.

The wording on these brochure pages is very important. In my Attract Corporate Clients program, I include a special bonus called Inside the Mind of the Corporate Buyer. It’s a resource designed to assist you with finding the best words and language for your web pages.  Presenting your information with well-researched, impacting vocabulary will get you the results you want when selling to corporate.

If corporate clients are your market, make sure you’re giving them more – more information about you, more details about what you can do for them and more assurance that you are the right choice.

Give them all they need to click submit and select your services.

Want to learn more about attracting Corporate Clients? Read about Bernadette’s new Attract Corporate Clients program: http://www.clientmagnets.com/corporate/

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How To Set Up Your Business So the Media Contacts YOU

Recent studies show that 79% of all major media find their resources and story ideas from blogs and the Internet. So, yes, the major media really will call you… but only if your web presence has instant credibility and the ability to stand out from the crowded pack.

On this call Bernadette is joined by Suzanne Falter-Barns. You’ll learn how to attract calls from some of the biggest media available today, as well as major publisher book deals.

Join us for this call!!

MARKETING* MASTERMIND Call

Tuesday, 31st August, 2010, 8:00pm UK Time (3pm EASTERN, 12 noon PACIFIC)

TOPIC:  *How To Set Up Your Business So the Media Contacts YOU*

This call is FREE for my hundreds of Marketing Mastermind and Stepping UP! members. They also get the CD and transcript of this call at no extra charge, plus a tonne of other member benefits – such as access to our online members forum.

Not a member?  Then join the Marketing Mastermind Group today so you can take advantage of this call and all the other member goodies each and every month.

I look forward to “meeting” you on our call.

Best Wishes

Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

PS – Even if you can’t make the call, all Mastermind members receive a FREE CD of the call as well as a digital version of the audio and transcript! Take advantage now.

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I’m absolutely certain, that as a business owner you are emotionally invested in your business.  Perhaps starting and operating your business was a realization of a lifelong dream.   This amazing dream will certainly inspire and motivate you.  But, did you realize, if you are not prepared, then that same dream can also set you up for emotional injury that can cripple you and drain the life from your vocation.

There’s a good chance that you’ve already felt the downtrodden lows and the exuberant highs that come with being a business owner – but have you polished your ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and push forward after you stumble?  It’s the key to your business success.

I want to share the story of Ken, as a way to illustrate my point:

Ken is highly enthusiastic about his new business.  He’s dreamt of this since he was a boy, and he’s anxious to make his first significant paycheck, doing what he loves.

He rushes into a dynamic marketing campaign, following the leads of some other local businesses that he views as successful.  He sinks a boatload of money into it and waits.

But the marketing campaign is largely ineffective.  It turns out that his target audience isn’t looking where he’s advertising.  He immediately falls into a plummeting, emotional spiral as he dwells on the thousands of dollars that he’s lost.  His emotional low lasts for months.

The failed campaign didn’t hurt Ken financially (he still had plenty of capital with which to operate), but the taste of failure tainted his daily businesses dealings as he fell lower and lower into the emotional dump.

The campaign didn’t have to have the affect Ken assigned to it.  Business people everywhere have tried and failed, but the differences among them lie in their attitudes toward those setbacks. Did they allow the setbacks to attack their emotional wells, draining them of motivation?  Or did they consider the setbacks to be forms of inverted commerce…paid-for experiences in what-not-to-do?

Any failed attempt can be viewed in either of these two ways.  The right way, and the emotionally, financially, and successfully lucrative way to view setbacks is with a positive attitude.  Know that each one teaches you about something that isn’t right for you, or right for the situation in which you used it.  In retrospect, you’ll find that this kind of knowledge is, in fact, priceless (making the money you may have lost seem insignificant).

So, in summary, keep these points in mind when casting off on a new business adventure:

• Study your target audience, their needs, and your offering to make sure your product or service is in line with a definitive need.

• If possible, test your theory or idea first.  You’ll feel better about your effort, even if it fails, if you’ve prepared well.

• Don’t invest more money than your business can afford to lose.

• When you make your move, keep your expectations high, but don’t allow them to be so grandiose that a simple setback can bring your dream crashing down.

• Understand that great business people everywhere have tried and failed in the process of elimination.  You, too, can be great if you understand that not every attempt will be a stellar success.

• If you do experience a setback, get your heart out of it and insert some brainpower:  “How can I use this experience to increase my chances for success next time?”

Ken’s money wasn’t lost.  It was simply invested in a learning experience that would come back to him from a different direction.  But, unfortunately, because he couldn’t view his setback in this light, that money (and the experience) was lost forever.

Remember to set goals for yourself, but never give those goals the responsibility of holding up your entire business (or your emotional state).  Know that you will experience setbacks, but with emotional resilience, you’ll be able to view them for what they really are:  set-ups for success!

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