Whether as a business person or as a career professional your level of success is directly proportional to the number of people you deal with in your sphere of influence. For instance, there are perhaps thousands of good footballers around the world but big firms mostly pay to get the endorsements of the those who play for European premierships because they have about the largest viewership and impact in the world of soccer. Endorsement of a sports star on any product almost always makes the brand widely acceptable because of exposure to fans via simple recognition. This principle (of numbers) applies in the same way to every business, trade or profession. If you have excellent product or service and large enough people do not get to see or use it then your chances of success are below average. Enhancing the numbers through exposure is the aim of any marketing campaign. The greater your exposure the better your chances of converting prospects into paid customers. In today’s highly competitive arena where people are bombarded almost every minute with just about every kind of sales pitches, most potential buyers prefer not to be bothered. This vindicates the old sales cliche that people want to buy but they do not want to be sold. Hence, getting your products to your clients without undue influence is key to successful selling. There are different ways this can be attained and one of the best ways is through the internet. Email is key in today’s marketing campaign. I’ve been involved in commercial marketing and selling for about a decade and know what it means to hit the streets under hot sun and work 10 hours a day, over 50 hours a week facing rejection and achieving little compared to the effort input. Although successful in corporate selling, it was not without hard knocks of applying all known forms closing techniques. When marketing is properly targeted and then automated, it makes you accomplish much result faster than going it the manual way. Moreover, the internet leverages on the global market place with an increasing 1.5billion users. Learning to sell through direct mail doesn’t mean you have to be super salesman. The following simple steps could help you get started.
1. Know the rules and not encroach into people’s privacy without their permission. This could be done using opt-in forms to collect emails of those who visit your blog.
2. Get the services of a professional autoresponder. Many web hosts provide some form of autoresponder and there some free ones out there in the market. However, it is best to use a paid autoresponder service such as AWeber or other to help manage spam and ensure the effectiveness of your message delivery.
3. You need to decide the niche market you want to reach. This is because you cannot effectively serve or meet the demands of all market sectors except you have the finance to do so like Microsoft, Yahoo and Google. Your resources such as time and money are limited hence, needs to be effectively targeted in providing excellent service to your chosen niche. Another reason you need a niche is because of the search engines. We shall talk more about this later.
4. Next step is to create a blog or website. There are both free and paid blogs and most of them will give you about the same result at least at the start. To get a blog set up in minutes just visit bloger.com. (To learn more about designing and using blogs sign up for our ecommerce trainin or send mail to p-archibong@piracle.net)
4. Next step is to create a blog or website. There are both free and paid blogs and most of them will give you about the same result at least at the start. To get a blog set up in minutes just visit bloger.com. (To learn more about designing and using blogs sign up for our ecommerce trainin or send mail to p-archibong@piracle.net)
5. Now there is need to publish quality content to your blog regularly. Millions of people surf the net on a daily basis looking for every kind of information imaginable. Most people may never return to your site anymore after their first visit. However, if your content is qualitative some may subscribe to your blog to be updated and then subsequently could become your customer. Do not just try to sell something which is what every salesperson does. Educate your readers on how to make good decisions in getting their needs solved and then proffer solution.
6. Publish free reports and testimonials of those who have used the product. This showcases credibility and informs your prospects that they are taking the right decision using by your products. Getting testimonials are easy. You may design a simple testimonial form and ask your customer to fill out or ask them to comment on their opinion about your product or service
7. Freebies and free trials are other ways to boost your marketing. Find a way of putting up part or all, of your best product for free. People ask me why I recommend this since this is what they actually want to use in making money. The reason is simple: you do not have a second chance to make a first impression. Putting up your best stuff for free gives a stranger opportunity to evaluate your offering and a good quality product creates a good first impression that builds confidence and makes the prospect return to buy and even recommend to his friends. You need recommendations and referrals to grow your business.
8. Offer guarantee. Nothing sells you fast than 100% money-back guarantee. Buyers are afraid of making wrong decisions. This phobia is built over the years with similar experiences of buying the wrong or inferior product or with unfair price. It comes up unconsciously when they are to make any buying decision. The easiest counter to this fear is money-back guarantee included in the offer. The guarantee period may range from three to thirty days depending on your kind of product or service.
9. Follow-up. Fully 80% of sales are made after the fifth contact with prospects. Follow-up can be the most ineffective part of your marketing and weakness in this area is detrimental to your business success in general. With autoresponder service you can build in an automatic follow-up series of messages that helps you achieve your goals
10. Get feedback from your readers in order to determine what they actually want. Customer is king and you must listen to what they want and provide it in order to succeed in sales.
This book on email basics can give you a foundation on the basics. Follow the link to get your copy.
If you have any questions about how we can help in your business and marketing send it to p-archibong@piracle.net
Sign up and receive free e-book on project management
