Today, I wanted to give you an update on our book project. Book sales have been brisk. To date we have sold about 1,000 books. Half of those through Amazon.com and the other half through our direct efforts. Our direct efforts have included speaking engagements, workshops, networking and general business activities. To give you some idea of how 1,000 ranks to other sales efforts, if a business book like ours sells 3,500 copies, it is considered a business best seller.
In 2009, we have set up a book signing series of events.
The first will be Friday, January 9th at Borders in Warrington, PA from 6PM to 8PM.
The second event will be at a Barnes and Noble, location and times to be determined.
The third event will be Friday, March 6th at The Doylestown Book Store in Doylestown, PA from 6PM to 8PM.
Both authors, Eric and I will be at the event. Its a great opportunity to chat with us about marketing for your business. To set up a book signed at your location, event or store, contact Jessica Cooper at jcooper@square2marketing.com.
How could I not blog about voting? This morning I woke up extra early and arrived at the voting place at 6:45AM, it didn't open until 7:00AM. Unfortunately, a couple of other people had the same idea. So I stood inline for about 40 minutes until I was finally able to execute my birthright as an American. Not too bad, but can't we do better.
So, of course, I started thinking....why can't we all use the internet to vote?
People with access would log on and provide their social security number for identification. We do it now for banking, credit card transactions, even electronic tax refunds for tax refunds and funds transfer. You might need a couple of security questions to validate identity, but we already do that.
For those without computers, they can still go to voting booths, but now all we need are a bank of laptop computers not these antiquated voting booths that never seem to work right.
Another advantage is we could track the results real-time, with active poll results right there on the website. It would be the world's greatest horse race all day long. Anyway, it got me thinking, maybe you will think about it a bit too.
How does this related to business? Well, this process might be one of the most unremarkable in our modern day. To make it more remarkable would also mean its more efficient, more effective, more accessible, and more reliable. I think that would be interesting to most Americans.
Am I crazy or has the ad agency running Toyota's campaign lost their mind? If you haven't seen it...consider yourself lucky. The problem is if you have watched any NCAA College Football, Major League Baseball, or NFL Football over the past two weeks you have been attacked by this ad. In fact, my son and I counted the number of times the ad ran in just 45 minutes, it ran 5 times. If you want to see the ad, click here.
I took a little solace this morning when I Googled the ad and found a long list of links to other blogs and sites also commenting on the ad campaign. I even found a site that is offering an electronic petition to get ad taken off the air. To sign the petition, click here. Who in their right mind would have supported this type of advertising approach? Is this getting me to feel good about Toyota? Is it motivating it to drive me into the dealership to by a car? Can I even get a loan to purchase the car? Don't even start with the...everyone is talking about the ad stuff, because the only thing people are saying is how dumb the campaign is and how annoyed they are by the ad. If you want to read another blog, with a similar sentiment, click here. I am not alone.
Advertising has to tweak a pain...it has to touch on an issue that the potential customer is feeling right now. The last thing I want to see or hear is a lame jingle that tortures me for hours on end. If Toyota wants to learn how to really make advertising pay off, I would be happy to speak with their marketing team. If anyone knows any of them...feel free to have them email me.
I have been asked a couple of times...how do you know Reality Marketing works? I know because I see the performance with our clients who embrace our approach. But every know and then, you get a real example to illustrate how it works.
Since we have such a perfect example, I thought I would share it with you. About 2 months ago, we were approached by the organizers of the Philly 100 event. This event honors the fastest growing private businesses in the Philadelphia metro area. When we met with them, we told them we would want to market the event differently. Once the organizers agreed, we were in.
Here are the results. They had a goal of 700 registrants this year and Thursday, October 16, they had 725 registrants. Last year, they had 33 total tables purchased and they already have 47 tables sold this year. In addition, sponsor revenue is up slightly in a year when businesses are cutting back significantly.
The event, on Wednesday, October 22nd will be one of the best in years. Come join us and the other fastest growing private business in the area on Wednesday. Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs
Our book, Reality Marketing Revolution has been on the market for about 60 days. To date, we have sold over 600 books and I was thrilled to see the book on the shelves of our local Barnes and Noble.
Take a look at the picture attached to the blog post. If you look closely, you will see the book, displayed prominently on the second shelf in the middle. Not bad, huh?
In addition, to the success found at local retail outlets, we are also in conversations with a number of large partners who are considering using out book as giveaways for their clients and prospects.
The book has already received national attention from a number of organizations like Start Up Nation, Executive Leaders Radio, and we are working on an interview segment on the Donnie Deutch show, The Big Idea.
Beyond the book, our company is going through a major hiring exercise right now. The key learnings from that are extensive and I thought I would share some of them with our readers over the next few days.
Every time you communicate with your prospects, its marketing. If you think differently, not only are you wrong, but you are missing opportunities to differentiate your business, close the sale, and grow your company.
Here is a case study.
We currently work with a roofing, siding, fencing, and gutter replacement company. After each initial contact with a prospect, they were sending out a package of printed materials that cost about $5 per piece. They were sending these to everyone who called them.
Our recommendation to them, cut it out. Send an email with attached PDFs instead. BUT, don't send any old email, send a remarkable email.
This is the email we suggested they send.
Mr. Shelly,
Thank you so much for your interest Advance! We are excited to show you what we can do. Our team is already preparing for your project. Our installers have started to study the design of your home to optimize our work and keep the cost of materials in line with your expectations. Our product team has started to look into how long it would take to order the specific products for your project. We want to make sure the materials come into our building in enough time for us to completely QA them, so that they are ready for your home. Our schedulers are looking ahead so that when you give us the go-ahead, we expeditiously work you into our plans for the upcoming month. In short, everyone here at Advance is planning on making your project our best yet.
I have attached two important documents to help you with your decision. The first is a list of what makes Advance special in the eyes of our customers and the second is a partial list of testimonials from some of our customers. But if you are interested in learning more about the region’s best home solutions company, our website is filled with tips and techniques for people considering home projects like yours and there is even more information on our products and services for you to review at your leisure. Click here to visit our site.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me ANYTIME. My office and cell number are included below. I know this is a big investment on your part and I want to help you make the right choice.
Thanks in Advance!
Ever get an email like that from a contractor? Nope, I haven't either and that's the point. This email gets forwarded, this email gets attention, this email is remarkable, and this email gets the business. Create your own remarkable email for your company today and post it here. I will review and comment. Good luck!
I have talked to a variety of business owners who think NOW is the perfect time to focus on marketing. This might be the BEST decision any business owner could make. Now, more than ever marketing plays a critical role in communicating with your customers, clients and prospects.
If you want to keep your business growing, you have to double your efforts to deliver effective messages to engage your prospects and get these people interested in doing business with you.
The critical key to success is doing it efficiently by using new tools that make marketing extremely affordable and results oriented. While these tools aren't new, let's review the Top 5 most efficient and economical marketing tactics at your disposal.
Email Marketing - its at the top of the list because for 1 to 2 cents you communicate with every customer or prospect. Even a list of 10,000 can be done monthly for only $100.
Your Website - if you are doing email marketing, you need a website. But more importantly, your website, if designed properly, actually sells for you and it does it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Google reports that 88% of the people check your website before they pick up the phone to call you, its critical that your website be highly effective.
Search Engine Optimization - driving people to your remarkable website is key. These types of programs (the left side of Google) work over time and with the number of people doing searches for both b2b and b2c searches in the millions daily, if your business isn't coming up in searches people will think it might not even exist.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising - these work in tandem with Search Engine Optimization (the right side of Google) and offer you instant access to millions of prospective customers. These programs allow you to ONLY pay for people who click on your ad and you set your own budget, allowing you to control expenses and track results daily.
Public Relations - if you create interesting stories about your business that appeal to your target market the newspapers and magazines will want to write about it. The trick is to tell editors and writers about all the wonderful things you are doing and tell them about it in a way that makes it easy for them to write about it. Plus, these stories can be distributed online to improve rankings in search engines.
Let me know if you have any questions on any of the Top 5 most efficient marketing tools. I would be happy to answer any of your specific questions.
Why is being remarkable SO important? Something remarkable gets people talking. It's worth sharing. It's extraordinary, new, interesting. You can't be almost remarkable. It is either remarkable, or it's NOT. There is no almost! Being remarkable means there are interesting aspects of your product or service built right into it. Not slick advertising, fancy jingles, or worse...mind numbing repetition of the same ad over and over again. If what you do isn't remarkable, it's invisible.
This is what we tell our business owner clients, you have heard me talk about being remarkable many times. But...does this sound like I am describing the ridiculousness associated with the campaign advertising for both Democratic and Republican candidates. Both campaigns are spending millions of dollars to say the same exact thing...which in essence is NOTHING! Nothing productive anyway.
Our country is in a very challenging time and the person who really wants to lead this country could take the reigns by simply stepping up and breaking the paradigm associated with safe, say nothing campaign advertising.
Barack Obama! John McCain! Tell us what you would do to get us moving in the right direction! Do it now! Do it remarkably! The election is yours to win, if you just speak up--be remarkable!
Ok, if you have the basics of the plan down...the next most important aspect of the marketing planning process is to think through the details of the marketing tactics required to hit your goals. Look at the year on a monthly basis and plan out a regular rhythm of marketing activities that match your desired sales goals. In short, if you want to grow more quickly, you need more marketing, if you have modest goals, you can afford to do less.
Make sure you do something that touches your clients and prospects every single month. The more touches the better. Email marketing, monthly press releases, educational workshops or webinars done quarterly, regular updates to your website, proactive sales outreach, and similar programs make up the content of a strong marketing program. The collection of these programs is your Marketing Machine.
The more tactics...the more leads you should expect. The more tactics...the bigger your Marketing Machine. It really is a situation where one plus one doesnt equal two, but three.
In the next entry, we can talk about how the marketing tactics and the messaging strategy work together to engage people in a dialogue with your clients.
With the book moving out to shelves at book stores in a neighborhood near you shortly, I thought I would transition the blog back to tips and techniques to help entrepreneurs stay current with some important marketing concepts. Since so many people found the book project interesting, I will continue to keep you updated on our progress over the next few months.
Since the summer is over and its back to school, lets start from the beginning and see if we can't review some marketing fundamentals too. This should get all of you thinking along the right lines and hopefully will motivate you to take a look at your marketing programs now for a strong finish to 2008.
The fall is a great time to start thinking about planning for 2009. Having a marketing plan is critical to ensure your marketing tactics drive to your overall strategic objectives. If you start working on both strategic goals and marketing to support those goals, its likely that you will be done in time to get a head start on 2009 and hit the ground running in January, instead of trying to catch up after the holidays.
We will talk about the plan for a couple of days, but here are the components to consider when working on a marketing plan.
Who do you want to sell to? Is that different than who you are selling to now?
What do those people look like? Yes, I said people and not companies, because people do business with people. You have to understand what the people who make the purchase decisions look like. If you have a consumer sale, then it is actually people. So, how old are they, were do they live, where do they work, are they male or female, what titles do they have? Actually create a profile of what these people look like.
What problems, challenges or "pains" do these people have?
How do you satisfy those pains?
What do you do that is different than you competition? Be hard on yourself. If your competition says the same thing, you have to work harder to find something that's different. Make sure you have at least 5 things that make you special.
These are the building blocks for what you will "say" to your prospects when you market. This is the essence of your messaging and differentiation strategy, two very important aspects of a good marketing plan. Make sure you actually write these down, putting pen to paper is critical.
Next steps in tomorrow's blog. If you want to learn more and work on your own, our book has much more detail. Visit www.realitymarketingrevolution.com to buy the book! Square 2 Marketing - We Help Entrepreneurs!
