Tips for Marketing

Customer discounts/incentives
When people fall upon hard times it is important we justify the cost of any purchase, offering special incentives or discounts can really help customers choose to purchase.
If a customer is undecided between two different products it might just be the discount you give them which could swing them one way or another.
Ensure you use the SG ‘credit crunch’ discount code on your site and look out for the Proactol one coming this week.

Push the price benefits over other options
One of the biggest concerns will be the price of the product, it is important that you show why choosing your recommendation will be a cost effective solution.
Compare against other products in the market place or other options. For example: by taking Proactol you will eat less saving you thousands from your shopping bills.

Increasing perceived value
It is even more important than ever that you push the extra value services; ideally you really want to promoted time based bonuses, order today and get $50 off. You should also really market the bonuses like “free shipping”. These could make a real difference when people come to order.

Selling everyday items
It is very important that your surfers do not look at the item as a luxury, often in difficult times people will stop purchasing more luxury items and stick to the necessities.
It is very important that you pass the message across that this is an everyday item which they cannot do without; this is not the purchase of a lifetime but just something else to add to their basket.

It’s quality and will not need replacing / Will last the test of time
Finally it is important that customers feel they are purchasing something of quality, after all this needs to last longer than before as we all have less disposable income. It is important you portray the message that this product is better value for money as it will last twice as long as other products in the market.

Come in under the radar
Building a brand is a roll-out process, not a drop everywhere in the world at one time.
Do you know what the best selling imported beer is in the United States? It's Corona. Who would expect a beer from Mexico to be popular? The fact is it's a terrific beer.
But they didn't just come to the U.S. and put it everywhere. They went to the cities with a Mexican population -- Los Angeles, Chicago, New York -- and then they put it in restaurants and stores there. The key to brand-building is to have something good that you roll-out in a very intelligent way. Maybe even invisibly for a while because you want to be under the radar screen of competitors.

Know your customer
There are still too many CEOs who identify marketing with selling and advertising. But marketing has evolved to be not only product centered but customer centered. We are saying you've got to understand and choose the customers you want to serve. Don't just go after everyone. Define the target market carefully through segmentation and then really position yourself as different and as superior to that target market. Don't go into that target market if you're not superior.
We are trying to make the case that it's much more important for a company to be customer-centric than product-centric. The same customer you have for product X, may be available for product Y and Z and so on. And you won't know that if you have separate product managers, each only concerned with selling his or her product.

Own your branding
We are not in a state of competition anymore; we're in a state of hyper-competition. So people are desperately looking for handles -- functional features, emotional appeals -- that will draw people to their product. We should think of owning a word or a phrase that helps to build customer retention and loyalty.
Look at how we buy the Mercedes because it's the best engineered car. We buy a BMW because it's the best driving performance. We buy the Volvo because it's the safest automobile. A lot of these companies lose that edge too, but they don't lose the impression.

Stay ahead of the competition
The worst thing is that if something works, your competitors are going to clone it and before you know it anything that you had as a differentiator is imitated by the others. So you're in the business of constant innovation. Constantly asking yourself, 'Three years from now, what will our differentiator be?'
Markets change, so marketing has to change.

Make it an experience
Once in a while we find someone having a whole new approach to a mature market.
Starbucks is a very good example where coffee is coffee but they decided to sell it differently, put a higher price, make it good-tasting and make it an experience rather than just some coffee. In fact, I've heard that if Starbucks closed its shops, a lot of people would go crazy. They are in such a habit of going to the Starbucks before work, taking the coffee, and they'd become desperate otherwise.
There's a big movement to say, 'we're not just adding services to our business and our product, we're actually trying to design an experience.'
You'll see that language being used. We're in the experience design business.

Make your advantages easy to understand
For instance, Computer Resources International AS originally sold consulting, for which they used proprietary software. Only when they started selling the software first, and then customization and consulting as extras did their business take off. Buying software was easier to understand than the more intangible consulting.
LifeUSA insurance, and many other businesses, focus on speed in every aspect of their business. They make fun of the slower industry standards and provide a simple advantage clients understand. Other ways to set yourself apart are through great service or association with worthy causes.

Don't try to be everything to everyone
Just as customers screen you, you should decide who you want to serve.
Printing Resources originally took any printing business that walked in the door. When they realized which kinds of customers they worked with best, they were able to cut down their marketing costs and make more money.
Some computer consulting firms only work with one customer per industry so they will have no conflicts of interest. You can bet they select customers carefully, and that customers are flattered by the partnership approach.
Consider creating a checklist of who shouldn't hire you! It will help you focus, and may impress the right customers if you share it with them.

Work for referrals
Word of mouth is the least expensive, most effective way to get new business.
Barry Farber has new customers write on the back of their business cards why they bought. These become mini-testimonials.
Bob Brassard calls at least one client a day just to keep in touch. This builds the relationship by showing he doesn't just care about them when he wants something, allows him to update files, and generates referrals.
One upscale dentist put up a Web page. He got about six extra referrals a month because his clients thought it was "cool" that their dentist had a Web page.

Use online marketing
You don't have to have a Web site like Eastern Mortgage Services to do business online.
You can send personalized e-mail like Michael Swartz of DNA Software.
You can pay only for the leads generated for you by advertising on many sites.
You can research potential clients for better presentations.
You can gather customer input inexpensively as Ritchey Design does. Or you can post free ads in discussion groups.

Don't sell, help people buy
When you truly put the client's interests above your own, you will become a consultant, a team member, and a partner for your client. When you've earned trusted advisor status, doing business is no problem.
For instance, computer consultant, Amadaeus Consulting Group, helps its customers make more money by using computers to help their clients sell more. Of course, the extra business comes around as the client grows.
A small accountant's client felt they needed a "Big 5" firm to handle their audit because they wanted to go public. Instead of resisting, the accountant helped the client select a Big 5 firm, thus maintaining and extending the relationship with the client.
Conrad International added warehousing services near overseas clients so they could afford to buy in bulk for a lower price.
When you put the customer first, you earn long-term loyalty that is more profitable than a larger quick sale.

Partner with other companies reaching your market
This might be neighborhood merchants cooperating on a sidewalk sale, or Digital Equipment partnering with Infinite Technologies to better serve the Bank of New York. Or it could be you partnering with a charity to create a fund raising event that brings attention to both of you, like Service Merchandise and Goodwill did.

Shift the risk to yourself and you will profit
A believable guarantee makes it safe for prospects to give you a try. Very few people will exploit a generous guarantee compared to the extra business it generates.
YoyoDine is one of many companies that guarantee you results from their online advertising. Even Kaiser, the big HMO, found a money-back guarantee to be successful.

Be personal
To build relationships you have to build a personal connection.
A handwritten invitation pulled great for Frank Candy, president of the American Speakers Bureau and for restaurateur Murray Raphael.
Internet consultant Dan Janal gives clients links from his page.
One nursing home created a waiting list through great referrals by greeting visiting relatives by name and filling them in on their loved ones at the start of each visit.

Create free publicity
Construction Computer Applications Newsletter had a hard time finding reviewers for computer programs of interest to readers. The reviewers not only got publicity from their reviews, but the firm gave them referrals.
A large CPA firm specializes in citrus growers. Every year they do a survey of their clients' costs of operations. The survey data helps their clients benchmark their operations, positions the CPAs as the experts, and gets the CPA firm publicized in trade articles.
Inquiry Handling Services gets regular publicity from newsletters and articles, as well as a book they wrote for their industry.
And Luxury Limo received major coverage about a special rate created to allow three "regular" women to share the commute in a limo at about the cost of carpooling.

Integrate your marketing
This means that everything you do should convey the same message and represent what you stand for. Putnam Investments manages $150 billion in assets.
All their literature, and even their office, conveys the same message.
Viva Knight, a script consultant, rents mailing lists from the same magazine he advertises in. If he also wrote articles for the same magazine, it would add to the integrated approach.

Original Source:
MoreNiche.com
PoolOnline.com
Cnn.com