Client Magnets Official Blog

Posts Tagged ‘targeting clients’

The registration process is a key aspect of planning an event. The more registrations you get, and the earlier you can get them, the better you can plan for your event. With enough registrations or pre-registrations, you can pay deposits and completely fund your event without a penny of your own money. If you don’t get enough registrations up front, you may worry about filling the event or managing the costs of the event.

“Early Bird” Pros and Cons
Many people utilize an “early bird” strategy to get people to pre-register for events early. With the “early bird” marketing technique, you give people a discount for pre-registering far in advance of the event. Having the cash early offsets the discount, somewhat, and you can also price events slightly high so that the discount is the price you really hope to achieve, and so it looks even more attractive to prospects.

Unfortunately, the “early bird” marketing strategy has one major downside: once the deadline passes, people have no particular incentive to register. The deadline creates a false sense of urgency, and once that deadline is gone, the urgency is passed. You can use the early bird strategy effectively with other marketing techniques, but don’t count on it to carry your pre-registration efforts.

Plan a SERIES of Deadlines Leading up to the Event
One useful strategy for successfully marketing an event is to plan a series of deadlines leading up to an event. You might have price increases, or you might provide ‘bonuses’ or ‘extras’ for people who register before a certain date. For example, participants who register before a certain date might also get bonus materials, such as a handout, manual or guide.

Alternately, you could give people who register before a certain date an opportunity to participate in a one-on-one session with a lecturer or industry professional at the event, or other value-added session. By having a series of deadlines, you can continue to create urgency to register without simply extending your pre-registration deadline.

Provide Payment Plan Options
Another effective strategy for boosting pre-registration is to provide payment plan options. Break it down to payments that sound simple and relatively low, instead of demanding the entire registration amount up front. For example, if you’re planning a training course for four months away, you can offer pre-registration for $400, or four easy payments of $100 each.

Set deadlines for each payment to ensure your registrants don’t simply wait until the last minute to pay. The downside with this option is that it may require more administration from you, in that you’ll have to track each payment and may have to track multiple payments for each registrant. However, if this boosts your overall registration, you may decide that the extra administration is worthwhile.

Be Creative and Flexible with Pre-Registration
Above all, be creative and flexible with the pre-registration process. Utilize multiple techniques to boost your pre-registration numbers as much as possible, both to get an accurate idea of the number of attendees at your event, and to help finance your event deposits. With the right pre-registration techniques, you can plan a fantastic and successful event!

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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Getting your target audience interested in your product or event, and interested in the price you want them to pay, requires a few basic steps. You must establish yourself as an expert. You must build confidence with your audience. You must convince your audience that your solution is the answer to their problems. Building empathy with your target audience is a fast way to accomplish all of these things …

What is Empathy?
For the purposes of creating marketing materials, developing empathy is the act of building a rapport with your audience. Show them that you understand their problem. Convince them that you, too, have the same problem, questions or needs that they have. Create a group for your audience, and then insert yourself into this group. By developing empathy with your audience, you’re making yourself ‘one of them.’ This is an extremely valuable step in creating a successful marketing campaign.

Build Trust Through Empathy
In many cases, your target audience may be embarrassed about their problem, or they may feel like they’re alone in needing a special solution to manage their issue. By establishing empathy with your audience, you show them that they’re not alone. You, too, have benefited from a special tool or event to handle the same problem they have. By building empathy with your target audience, you immediately go from becoming an untouchable expert to someone who has experienced the same problems and issues as your audience; someone much more accessible and less intimidating.

As someone who speaks the language of the target group, you build trust; they’re more likely to believe your pitch if they feel you’ve been through the same things they encounter. All of these things go a long way toward establishing yourself as a trusted source, which makes people much more inclined to buy your product or attend your event.

Solve Problems Through Empathy
One of the most effective ways to market a product or event is to establish that it solves a problem that your target audience experiences. If you can build empathy with your audience, and then establish that your product or event solves their problems, you’ve instantly crossed a boundary toward getting them to take action. An audience is much more likely to believe that the solution offered to them is legitimate if they believe the creator of the product has used it to solve the same problems they have.

For example, if someone who has always been thin tries to sell a weight-loss product to an overweight demographic, the overweight demographic may be disinclined to trust the thin creator. However, if someone who has successfully lost weight tries to sell a weight-loss product, he or she gains instant credibility by having successfully solved the problem that the target demographic experiences.

Build Empathy for Successful Marketing
Bottom line: build empathy with your target audience to create a successful marketing campaign. Become one of the crowd. Show them that you understand their problems, and that you can help them. If you’re able to establish empathy with your audience, you’re much more likely to sell your product or event to them.

Bernadette Doyle has attracted a loyal following who rave about her down to earth yet inspiring approach. If you liked today’s issue, you’ll love Bernadette’s marketing and success training products and programmes to help you develop a business that suits YOUR preferred lifestyle. http://www.clientmagnets.com

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You know the bullet point – in fact, a few of them are included in this article.  But there’s a noted difference between the bullet points included here and the ones that you’ll find on a registration page or sales letter.  When your intention is to entice readers to buy, a simple listing of information will never do.  Instead, you must entice and provoke curiosity with bullet points that shoot right to the heart of the matter.

Expert copywriters know how to pack a real punch with their bullet points, and here are a few of their industry secrets:

• Each bullet point should be a solo act and encase its very own mini-topic. It should not rely on the points before it, or the points after it.  When bullet points are well-written, it’s not uncommon for someone to sign up as a result of reading one, topic-targeted bullet point.

• Bullet points should be enticing. Each bullet point, when read alone, should evoke an, “Oooh, that looks good,” from its reader.

• If you’re selling something (like a paid teleseminar space, for example), you’ll need about 12 to 15 bullet points. You want prospects to feel confident that you have a significant amount of information to exchange for their money; that there’s so much juicy stuff included, they simply can’t afford to miss out.

• Be specific. Let readers know exactly what you’re offering, how many steps are included in your plan, how long it will take, and what they will learn.

• Be bold. Make promises that make prospects say, “Really?  Can they really do that?”  Of course, you must ensure that you can, without a doubt, deliver on that promise.

• Provoke curiosity. An example of a bullet point that provokes curiosity is, “This 3-step plan to jumpstart your business growth can increase your lead from 50% to 300% in less than 30 days.”  Readers will stop, wonder how in the world that’s possible, and at the very least, read on to satisfy their curiosity.

• Keep your agenda out of it. Sales letter bullet points should be all about getting prospects to consider the benefits available to them.  The points should focus on satisfying readers’ desires, and should mention nothing about your needs.

• No tables of content. That’s  boring!   You’ve got to entice, provoke, and make it nearly impossible to stop reading.  When’s the last time you were captivated by a table of contents?

• Address the problems that you’ll solve. People want to know that you “feel” them.  They want to know that you’re prepared to solve their problems, because you have a good grasp on what their issues and problems are.

• Read the work of the copywriting greats. Don’t plagiarize, of course, but become familiar enough with their work that you can effectively imitate their work.

Generic, strictly informational, bullet points will never gather the effect that you’re looking for from your registration page or sales letter.  Each one of your bullet points has to reach out of the computer monitor, grab your prospect by the throat, and make it utterly impossible for that person to click away (without first signing up).

Bullet points have the potential to be powerful selling tools…as long as they’re brazen, enticing, curiosity-evoking, and shoot right to the heart of the matter.  You have the power to create powerful bullet points…by simply keeping your target in mind, taking careful aim, and shooting.

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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The most effective marketing materials speak directly to your audience. Effective marketing materials are developed with your audience in mind, and they answer your audience’s questions, solve their problems and overcome their reservations about attending an event. In order to create the best targeted messages designed to speak directly to your audience, you must know your audience, and you may need to develop multiple marketing materials.

Identify Your Target Audience
When you begin planning any marketing campaign, you must identify your target audience. Many people find when they begin this process that they don’t have a clear idea of who their target audience is, in which case they must begin to identify a target audience. If you don’t know your audience, your event may not be as well-attended as it could be, or you may find that there’s not a high demand for the product.

If you don’t have a target audience, make one. You may need to tweak your product or event to appeal to this audience, but you’ll always have more success with a targeted marketing campaign than a campaign that isn’t addressed to anyone. If you don’t have a target audience, your product or event may need more refining, which gives you a good opportunity to define your scope or re-evaluate your product to make it more effective.

Target Your Message to Your Audience
Once you’ve identified an audience, target your marketing message to your audience. Dan Kennedy calls this “message to market match.” Answer your audience’s questions, and develop a call to action that speaks directly to your target audience. You can use a general marketing campaign, but a general campaign won’t give you the same success as a targeted campaign. It’s perfectly acceptable to use the same techniques in multiple campaigns; particularly techniques that have brought you success; but tailor those techniques to each marketing campaign that you run.

Consider Creating Multiple Marketing Materials
If you find that you have multiple target audiences, consider creating multiple marketing materials to more effectively reach those audiences. For example, if you’re conducting a dating event that may appeal to both men and women, you might want to create targeted marketing materials for both groups; one for the men, and one for the women. If you’re creating a business event for people in different industries, you might want to create a set of marketing materials for each industry.

By targeting your specific market, you can ensure you create a clear, compelling message. If you use a general marketing message, you may find that your message becomes diluted, or lacks the clear call to action you can create in targeted marketing materials.

Remember that developing a clear call to action is your key to great success with a product or event. You can create a highly successful event! You have the tools at your disposal, so all you have to do is create a targeted marketing campaign to reach the right audience, and you can realize success beyond your wildest dreams!

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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Many people go out of business because they have failed to align their product with what the market demands – and with what their inner selves demand.

Many times, businesses need to endure a breakdown before a breakthrough can be felt.   Sometimes, the bad times are the only times that spur the need for positive change.  In other words, even if you’re struggling with simply “making it,” there’s plenty of hope.

I know you want an endless supply of customers – a flow that’s as intense as you’re willing to handle.  But there’s an important element to consider before moving forward.  You must ensure that any success you’ve experienced to this point isn’t just a symptom of luck. I like to say that even a broken clock shows the right time twice a day.  If you glance at the clock randomly, there’s a chance you might get the right time.  And if you do, you might be fooled into thinking the clock is working.  But it’s not.

You have to make sure that people are coming to you because of the one-of-a-kind value you’ve offered them, not because they’ve stumbled upon you.

There’s no denying that you have a treasure trove of valuables to offer.  You have gifts, talents, and abilities that are guiding you toward your perfect mission.  You know there are people out there that would greatly benefit from what you have to offer.  But when you can’t find those people, or they can’t find you, it can be a painful disappointment.  Because your venture really is your calling, right?  Or isn’t it?

Every business owner has a calling, and to truly find success in that calling, that business owner needs to be assured that their distinctive abilities are made apparent by that business.

Often, your attempts at furthering your business aren’t the problem.  Instead, it might be that you have missed something that’s fundamental to attracting clients:  finding that one thing that only you can offer, and that consumers are looking for.

If you are passionate about something, and it happens to also be a God-given gift, then somewhere in the world, there is a demand for that service.  God isn’t wasteful.  He wouldn’t give you something and not create an equal and opposite need for it.

Your challenge is to find the channel through which you can deliver your true value to those who need it.  Frederick Buechner defines vocation as the place where passion meets the world’s greatest hunger.  This is a beautiful statement.  It reinforces the idea that we’re all here to do something or be someone.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell us how to make the connection, or how to keep ourselves in business.

To get a better grasp on this channel, take the time to reflect on you.  You are a vehicle for delivering the gifts that the world is waiting for.  Put your gifts in writing, and assess them.  Then ask yourself these questions:

• How do my gifts complement one another?

• How can my talents be combined to create something unlike anything the world has ever seen?

• Does that combination meet a need?

• If not, can I find a legitimate need?

• Or do I need to find a new and different recipe for those gifts, based on a need I know I can satisfy?

Carving out your vocation using the talent and need factors will go miles to pull your business through adversity.  In times of adversity, luck is nowhere to be found…but true value never dwindles.

If, after true introspection, you still believe that you are where you need to be, and the consumers just aren’t coming, stay with me.  There are secrets yet to be revealed that might affect your view, and your success, in a manner that you haven’t yet considered.

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 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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Do you think your database of customers isn’t large enough for you to reach your sales goals? If you think that the only way you can make big money is with a bigger list, don’t believe that for a second longer.

Even if you have only a very small database, you can extract very large incomes from it.

Plenty of successful people started with no database and were able to meet their goals, including me and many of my mentors. I did not have a database when I began. I created one as I went along.

Don’t use what you perceive to be a lack of potential clients on your list as an excuse for not making the money you want. You don’t need a large database to make a lot of money. You can still reach your sales goals. You just have to want it badly enough.

What you need, more than a larger list, is to believe in yourself. If you present your product or service with a positive belief system, the customer list you have will pay the type of prices you’re asking.

One of my mentors, has a mastermind group with only 12 people. A very small list, but they pay $100,000 a piece. If only 3 of them sign on for a product, that’s significant earnings.

Of course, you can change the amount to a figure that more closely represents your product or service, but the message is clear. My mentor, believes his program is worth the price, and he believes his database will pay it. You should believe the same about yours.

As you go along, you will obviously learn how to grow your database, but your ability to make money is more about your self-worth.

Not only do you need to believe that you would spend the money on the product you’re offering, you have to believe that the clients on your list would spend that much money, as well.

Believe that, and it won’t matter what size database you have. Self-worth controls your income. Not the size of the database. Not where you live. Not the clothing that you wear or the people that you know.

If you increase your self-worth, everything can be taken away from you and you will instantly have it back overnight. You will always make money because your income is definitely directly tied to your own self-worth.

It doesn’t matter what your product is or how many potential clients are on your list. If you believe you’re worth a million, you will go out and generate a million.

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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You could be missing these few KEY strategies

Do you have a BIG VISION for your business – but feel stuck and confused and wondering what specific activity you need to focus on right NOW to get results? Ever feel that there just aren’t enough hours in the day? Are you brimming with good ideas that you never actually get the time to IMPLEMENT? Have you ever wished you could clone yourself so you could simultaneously focus on bringing in much needed cash while also pursing the bigger opportunities and projects that take longer to bear fruit?

For all the answers join me for my upcoming LIVE event …

More Leads, More Clients And More Sales

7th-9th May, 2010

Heathrow London

http://bit.ly/SteppingUP

I put this program together because I’m tired of watching talented people, who have a big contribution to make, and who SHOULD be heading up thriving, profitable businesses that allow them total freedom, suffer and struggle simply because they’re missing a few key strategies.

At ‘More Leads, More Clients, More Sales’ we make the path from where you are right now to ‘$$$ in the bank’ as short and direct as possible. This is fluff free, high content, proven strategies that you can apply right away to get results.

This event is all about putting  key strategies into YOUR hands, then helping you to IMPLEMENT them so you get results.

“Stepping Up!” Members Are Invited To Attend As My Guest.
Not a Stepping UP Member?

Find out more here: http://bit.ly/SteppingUP

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Want to charge thousands of dollars for your information?

You’re invited to join me and my special guest, Kevin Nations for this special call. Together we will show you step-by-step how you can EASILY integrate Big Ticket Offers into your Business – leaving you with more clients and more money!

Kevin will share strategies that will help you to move from charging hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars for your information (and have your clients THANK you for it!)

Don’t miss this call!

MARKETING MASTERMIND Call

Tuesday, 27th April, 2010

8:00pm UK Time (3pm EASTERN, 12 noon PACIFIC)

TOPIC:  *How To Create Big Ticket Offers*

http://bit.ly/SellingSuccess

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. http://bit.ly/SellingSuccess

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Wouldn’t your clients just love for you to be ready and available to them?  To always be there to provide the solution to their problems?

By productizing your services, you can give more of your customers more of what they want.   In addition to that, creating products will create a significant increase in your revenue.

When creating your product, one question you need to ask is what format you will create your product in?  What delivery method will best be suited to your customers?  Would a digital e-book or hard copy book be best? What about downloadable recordings or a physically delivered DVD? What’s the difference? Which is better?

Both offer benefits, both have some downsides. For either one, the pros far outweigh the cons.  Use the following pros and cons analysis to determine which format is best for your product.

Digital Products
Examples: ebooks, downloadable recordings

The Pros:

A digital product can be created relatively quickly and inexpensively. Rapid product creation is how you will make money quickly.

Digital products offer instant gratification.  Customers looking to alleviate pain. Customers who want to lose weight. Customers who want to make a good business presentation. What do they all have in common?  They all want instant results. You can provide your services when your customers want.

The fulfillment of the order is easy for you.. Money can literally go into your account overnight, while you’re sleeping, and your client or customer has already received their product. There is software available that makes this process automatic.

You can always create a physical version of your digital product later.

The Cons:

There is a possibility that your client may read the information, store it somewhere on their computer and never go back to it again. This could lower your product consumption.  If customers aren’t fully utilizing your product, you will receive fewer testimonials and satisfied customers.

Without a visible product to remind them of you, customers may not come back.

It is obviously much easier for people to return a digital product. They don’t have to pack anything up and put it in the post. It takes just a couple of minutes online to send back a product, maybe without even giving it a fair try.

Physical Products
Examples: hard copy books, DVDs

The Pros:

Some markets will only buy a physical product – they want something to have and to hold.

A physical product gives customers something tangible, therefore the perceived value of a physical product is higher.  In turn you can charge more!

Your physical product offers built-in follow-up for you. When your product is sitting out on your client’s desk or shelf, they are subconsciously reminded of you. This is a good way to continue your relationship without any extra effort.

A physical product increases your potential for exposure.

A physical product is more difficult for a customer to return. They have to physically take action.

The Cons:

Developing a physical product is much more complex than a digital one. It can take a longer period of time to create a physical product.

Because developing a physical product can take a long time, you’re not making any revenue while it is in the developmental stage.

Often, physical products are created in multiple formats. You might offer a combination of audio, video, and written material. This may require you to consult with experts in these areas, requiring additional time and money.

The cost to actually create a physical product is higher. You have to factor in design work, printing costs and shipping.

When making your decision to create physical or digital products, weigh all of these pros and cons. One option may work better for your individual business or for your personality, than the other. Over time, you may decide to incorporate both digital and physical products in your offering.

You can be certain of one thing. Either is bound to create additional revenue for your business.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal 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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If your aim is to develop products that your clients will buy without hesitation, you need to know the secrets behind what makes a product successful.

There are several key factors you need to take into consideration in order to come up with a great product. Following these steps will give you the tools you need to get started on creating your product.

Step One

Find out what your market wants.
There are a number of things that you can do to make sure there’s a market who wants to buy your product before you invest any time in creation. People buy what they want, not what you think they need. Use both your head and your heart to find out what that want is. Set aside your own preconceptions. Don’t predetermine. Listen and pay attention to what your target market is saying or complaining about. Put yourself in their shoes. Do surveys. Make phone calls.

Step Two

Once you’ve figured out what your clients want, give it to them.
Focus on finding the “hook”. Understand what miracle cure your clients are wishing for and make it the top line headline about your particular product. The closer you can present your solution to that miracle cure, the better. You really need to spend some time on this. Write it down as a question to help prompt your subconscious mind to come up with the answer.

Step Three

Organize your content.
Brainstorm all of the things that your end user is going to need to get the results that you are promising to deliver. When mapping out the components of what your product will deliver, think first about what you’re going to cover rather than how you’re going to cover it.

Make an outline with all of the things that this particular product will cover. You do not need to include everything you know about a topic. This will just delay your product creation. Include content to help your clients get the results they want.

Tip:  You don’t need to create your product in the order that you’re going to deliver it. Create it in a way that you can get it done quickly. Starting with the areas that are easiest for you will greatly aid you in creating your product rapidly.

Step Four

Decide on the format you need to follow.
There should be a logical congruency between the “hook” and the format your product takes. For example, if your hook says “instant,” but your product is a 6-month-long course, that’s not consistent.

You also need to decide whether your product format will be physical or digital, or both. Base this on what makes the most sense for your market. Answer the questions: What is most appealing to this market? What fits in best with the product? What fits in best with the solution?

Step Five

Figure out what you are going to charge.
Set your price based on the value your product delivers to the end user, not the cost of creating the product. Don’t determine your expenses and then markup the product from there. Price according to the problem you’re solving. The question you need to ask is “What is it worth to clients to solve this problem?”

Step Six

Think about the design of your product.
Be careful how much time you spend in this. Yes, design is important. People do judge books by their covers. But there’s a point where the amount of time you spend on it is diminishing your return. Ultimately, ask yourself “How much more am I really going to sell by spending this extra time on design?”

Following these steps in this order will ensure that you develop a product that is effective and efficient, for your market and for your business.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal 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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