Missing Guarantees that could hurt Sales Conversions is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

When you are involved with any business the first thing you must do is overcome objections. Buyers will look for reasons NOT to buy from you. Any good sales person will tell you this. However to help improve sales conversion you need to overcome these objections. If you are a newly formed company you may experience trepidation from your potential buyers. Mainly because you will not have many customers, testimonials or even much of a track record. Even if you are an established business there are still a few simple things you can do to improve sales conversions.

Guarantees
Do you offer money back guarantees? Exchange or Credit polices around returns? Perhaps you have a “risk free” guarantee that is common in infomercials to put potential buyers at ease that if they want to return the product they can. If you have a new product that no one has ever heard of, this may be the route to go to establish early sales and absorb any risks your customers have of buying from you.

Low Price Guarantees are also popular to compete against other retailers. Meaning that if you find a similar item that is offered for less a retailer will usually price match or give you an extra 10-20% off the listed price.

Try before you buy (aka the Free Trial)
Services including online services are a great product to offer free trials before customers sign any contracts or agree to subscribe for a monthly or annual contract. Netflix comes to mind with a no risk, free trial of their video service. If you don’t cancel before your trial expires you will automatically be enrolled in their monthly subscription.

Extras
So assuming your buyer has found something they want to buy, but is not happy about the process. Perhaps they believe the shipping cost is too high, which is why Amazon has had free shipping over a certain order amount for many years. You will notice that smaller retailers have started copying this tactic albeit at higher order totals. If you are a jeweler you may offer a free ring resize if you are not satisfied with the way your ring fits on your finger.

Extras could also include throwing in something extra such as a free product, which is one tactic infomercials use. For example “if you call right now” we will also include a free item.

Image Credit: vectorportal (via Flickr)

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How to get your Coupons to spread is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Using coupons can be very effective in a down economy. Remember an earlier post titled,  Coupons can be used to accelerate sales in down economy and in fact it is one of our most popular posts too.

But how often have you printed a bunch of coupons for your promotion and been left with extras when the promotion was about to start? Or worse when the promotion has ended?
Did you print too many? More likely you did not have a way to distribute the coupons for maximum effectiveness.

In today’s post I wanted to describe a few ideas around how to get your coupons to go viral.

• Display coupon offers in other Locations
  If you have multiple locations is the promotion you are running going to be for all stores, or only specific stores on certain days.
• Talk to local merchants on your street or block about promoting you
  Another way to get word of mouth marketing is to distribute coupons to other vendors. This week I was buying take out Chinese food at our local restaurant, and while I was waiting I noticed a coupon sitting on the counter for free bowling. The coupon was certainly inviting since I was just waiting around for the food order to be ready. And two I had not hear of the new bowling location in my area.
• Re-purpose the same offer on your website, or in your email newsletter
  Get the word out online or by email, with a forward to a friend option could help. Make it easy to forward the email version of the coupon to others, meaning that you may not want to personalize each coupon code for instance.
• Twitter or Facebook
  A lot of companies are encouraging sign ups by promoting incentives. For example, this offer is only available to our fans or followers.
  
• Encourage sharing to get the word out
  Bring a friend with you when you redeem this coupon and you eat free. That type of thing. Or require a certain level of participants such as a group or 3 or more.
• When giving out the coupons give out several to the same people
  Having extra coupons people will try to share the discount or offer with their friends. On several occasions this has happened to me while waiting in line and the person in front of me used up the maximum coupons they could. And gave the extras to the guy standing behind him.
• Send an SMS to mobile phones of your customers
  Perhaps this strategy is newer and not everyone is trying it yet. But hey there is opportunity there then right.

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Scarcity Selling Works is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

The best way to to sell is to create demand. Creating scarcity helps your business to create just such a demand. What we are talking about is creating a demand for a product or service, with familiar examples such as a sales promotion that says “sorry, no rain checks”. If the offer is big enough you can also generate some buzz and good public relations exposure. Which will lead to even more word of mouth marketing.

Typical Examples:

Why does this technique Work?

By creating a short or limited supply you are forcing consumers to make a decision. If they wait they will lose out it is as simple as that.
Think about this for a moment, what would you do? If you received a flyer in the mail about an invitation only event, or an offer that was only available to the first 30 shoppers. Would you be the first person in line to take advantage of that offer?

Recent Example

Probably the most recognizable example is the Apple iPhone. There was a huge demand for people wanting to buy them, but until a year after it’s launch the iPhone was not available in countries outside of the United States. Further you had to sign a contract with AT&T to activate one because of an exclusive contract. Then when the next generation was released only certain quantities were sent out to specific Apple stores. Again because of limited quantities they sold out in the first few hours of availability. And of course there were lines of people waiting to be first to buy them.

Share your Stories

What has worked in your business? Please leave a comment sharing your story.

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Using Customer Testimonials to Add Credibility to your Business is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Freshbooks Example

Customer Testimonials are great at establishing credibility and authority, which are two key elements in a customer’s buying behavior. As long as the testimonial is genuine and can relate to the prospective buyer. As an example, if you see a local small business owner giving praise for your customer service or product support and you yourself are a small business owner looking for better customer service from your supplier this will resonate with your prospect. Even better yet if the testimonial is from a business in the same industry as your buyer, because that will help to tip the sale in your favor.

Testimonials are also perceived to be unbiased because they are from a third party, and can motivate your buyer to act.

Key points to remember when providing Testimonials:

1) Website Coverage
When adding testimonials to your website many companies place these on their homepage beside head shots of people to represent the customer.  If you have a bunch of testimonials you could place them in a sidebar or even in a dedicated section on your website for testimonials.

2) Great for Sales Copy
Testimonials help to cut their the clutter of your sales brochure and help to show how your business helps your customers. From the voice of the customer directly. This is almost as good as a customer reference speaking to a prospective buyer directly.

3) Newsletters
You can add testimonials section to your newsletter  for “what customers have to say”, to further convey what sets your business apart.

4) Email and Confirmation Messages
Adding testimonials in your order confirmation email, or shipping notice emails you could provide additional testimonials to remind customers why they are buying from you. Which will add that extra perceived satisfaction.  Perhaps your testimonials talked about your return policy or fast shipping, the testimonials inserted in these communications will drive home that your business is easy to work with and stands by their claims.

5) Endorsements
Endorsements are actually the best kind of testimonial because they add credibility to your business. Industry leaders, public figures, writers or even bloggers if they are known in your industry and have an established following. You better use an endorsement to your advantage as they can be hard to get.

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Should a New Business start Marketing? is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Depending on how new your business is, your time may be better spent on sales instead. What we are talking about is a new start-up company, who have very few clients/customers if any.

If this is the case you are in, then you should start pounding the pavement and trying your hand at sales. This is definitely the fastest way to gain new customers. Marketing is intended to keep your sales pipeline full of potential leads and new contacts. However the process can take longer to generate the right leads. And you as the business owner will probably have to do the in person sales yourself, at least in the beginning.

There are some interesting discussions on selling start-up ideas and products to early adopters. Even before the products or business exists, the real storytellers are the sales people that can get people excited about new ideas. Only you have the vision of what your new business is about and can satisfy the naysayers who are apprehensive of working with a new and unproven company or vendor.

You can read more at “Selling the Startup” for ideas on how to sell your new business to potential buyers.

The key take away is you need to create “Believers”, people who believe in what you are doing and want to help you succeed. Whether they are early investors, or existing contacts, colleagues or family and friends. In the beginning you need someone who will help you refine your sales pitch or provided early feedback on your product. And where they might use such a product or service.

Once you have your first couple of clients you will have material to start your marketing program. Including case studies, referrals, testimonials and the like.

After you sign your new client, or sell your first product. You will be ready to start marketing, and you will find a lot of marketing ideas on this site for marketing your newly opened business.

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How to Create an Ad your Customers will actually Notice is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Developing your ads is no walk in the park. You need to ensure  your newly created advertisement will  attract your target market.

How many ad’s have you seen on TV that were designed to appeal to a demographic other than the market group/segment that took notice of the advertisement’s content? Part of the reason this happens is advertisers are trying to stand out from other TV commercials by being edgy or innovative.  Sometimes they will even have a great ad that people enjoy watching but can not remember what company or product the commercial was promoting. According to Ipsos Research, only half of the consumers who can recall an ad can also correctly name the advertising sponsor.

You know the ones I am talking about the Ads we can’t get out of our head. Those Super Bowl ads that are entertaining to watch but don’t cause us to open up our wallets and run out and buy the product being advertised after the football game.

So how do you craft an advertising message that will speak and relate to your target audience, if creating an ad is so darn hard. When building your ad you need to consciously de-emphasize how your business is better than everyone else in your industry. And instead speak to your customers about their own needs. However this is rather counter intuitive because as a business owner, you probably spend every waking hour talking about how your business is providing the best service and at the best price, and is superior to your competitors. But thinking from a consumer perspective this is not what speaks to them. They want to know how your product is going to solve one of their immediate problems.

Real example of a consumer brand that focuses on their product benefits:

So for example if you are looking to change your shaving razor and that night you happen to see a Gillette commercial. Would you change razors if you saw an advertisement for a  new one that has new features and benefits? Selling more razors with more blades is big business. The key point is the Gillette commercials we see are more about their product which may be the Mach 3 or the Fusion razors, and less about the company advertising the product. Sure they may use celebrity endorsement to grab your attention and build credibility but they always focus on the product first.

How to focus and create an ad that will lift sales for your Small Business

You are on a fixed budget and are trying to reach just a small portion of your potential market with your ads. I am talking about local advertising and and ads you may insert in the weekly local newspaper for example. Don’t spend money trying to get your name out there; that is what big advertising budgets are designed to do. Instead focus on how you can get the best reach and speak to your ideal new customer. What would you say to close the sale if they were standing in your store now? Likely not how great your store is because they have already taken an interest. This is precisely what you need to accomplish when designing your next advertisement.

1. Determine who you are trying to send the message to (also called target audience)
   Maybe you are advertising to a local community or even a union association trying to send offers to their members. The more targeted you can make your message the more effective it will be at speaking to that new customer. Perhaps you could highlight a recent community sponsorship and how your business gave back to the community through holding an event or donating to a local cause. These tactics will help get your business noticed first, and then you can sell your offer.
2. Always provide value in your offer
   There must be a what is in it for me. If I act now, within a limited time I receive more value which will increase the perceived value by your customer. Think about the last paid advertising spot you saw, “but wait” if you call within the next 30 minutes we will throw in something extra.
3. Build a relationship and credibility
   Sometimes it is important to establish trust and familiarity before just trying to close a sale. For example you could use an ad to promote a customer’s recent success using your services to get the attention of similar business owners. In some sales situations the purchase price is high and it may take some time to build rapport before a customer will entertain signing a check. It is always important to understand how much a new customer means to your business’ bottom line. Consider if you were selling a monthly subscription with a one year term. One single new customer could result in new revenue for the next year and thereafter.

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How do you entice your audience? is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

You have probably developed a great 30 seconds or less introduction pitch for your business. Also known as the elevator pitch for your product or service offering.
If you met someone in person could you voice your value proposition in as short of time as possible? The answer is probably yes because as a business owner you are the sales person.

Even if your business is in a very technical industry you still need to communicate in a concise manner how you help your customers to achieve their goals.

If you can not be there in person to communicate your service offering in a punchy way to new prospects. What are some alternatives?
Well how about using video or a narration on your website. This technique has been known to provide that personal touch to an otherwise impersonal website experience.

Perhaps you need an example to visualize how this might help.  In a post on the StartCooking.com website, Guy Kawasaki successfully conveys how to prepare his favorite recipe for chicken teryaki.

On the OPEN Forum blog by American Express you can see Guy’s blog posting about “The Art of the Tutorial”

In less than a minute you can see through the use of a video how to prepare his recipe through the use of time-lapsed video and some added humor. “[The site's] method of showing how to prepare food blew me away in terms of effectiveness, speed, and simplicity” he notes.

The key is you don’t just need to add video but to think of ways to communicate in short bursts so people take notice. “The explanation has to be fast, interesting, and compelling,” notes Kawasaki. “I don’t know of a better way to do this than this type of video.”

Watch the video here:

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Have you considered selling your by-products? is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Petroleum By-Product

Have you ever considered selling some of your by-products that you no longer need?

Think about this for a minute. Industries like oil companies, lumber yards, and corn farmers have been doing this for years. Why? Because they take waste and turn it into profits! It is true that in some industries the waste product is actually staring you in the face.

Examples of turning by-products into Sales

As the old saying goes, “one man’s trash is another’s treasure”. So in an economic time where you need to squeeze out efficiencies and new revenue streams why not think of what you are doing that someone else could want to buy from you.

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