Category: Promotion

Your Business Doesn’t Stand Out The Way You Think It Does

Posted on by Jason Vilon

Introduction

You’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into your business. You’re proud of it and you have a lot of great things to say about it. That’s why you tell people about it when they ask what you do for a living. But over time, you’ve realized that no one really responds to what you have to say. They nod politely, maybe ask a few questions about your industry or company, but ultimately move on with their lives without ever taking any action based on what you said.

Why does this happen? Because everyone thinks their business is unique, even though most aren’t. So how can you stand out from the crowd of businesses that are just like yours? I’m going to show you some techniques that will help make sure people remember who you are and what makes your business special!

The Hot Button Issue

A hot button issue is a topic that is of particular interest to your audience. It’s an idea or theme that they care about, and will be motivated to act on if you can help them solve their problem.

For example, let’s say you have a cleaning business. Your ideal customer for this type of service is someone who feels overwhelmed by the amount of work keeping their house clean requires. They might not be aware that there are great tools available to make cleaning easier, but if you can show them how much time it could save them (and how much less stressful it would feel), then they’ll probably want to try it out!

So what makes a hot button issue? Anytime someone cares about something so deeply that they’re willing to support people who share those beliefs—whether through buying products made by companies promoting those things or donating money directly toward causes—that’s considered a hot button issue for them at the moment; however long it lasts depends on whether there’s anything new happening with regard to those ideas/beliefs/practices etc.. Examples include: health care reform (now), animal rights activism (then), social justice movements like Black Lives Matter (now).

Benefits, Not Features

What is a benefit?

A benefit is the positive result that a customer receives from using your product or service. For example, if you sell high-end furniture, one of your benefits may be that it’s affordable for most middle class families. Another could be that it lasts longer than other brands on the market. A third might be that it looks great in any room of the house.

Benefits are often intangible (like peace of mind or better health) or hard to measure (like income growth). They’re also sometimes broader than features: although they do include elements related to what makes your business unique, such as specialized training or high-tech equipment, they don’t have much to do with what other businesses are doing at all—which makes them perfect ways to set yourself apart from the competition!

Unique Sales Position

A unique sales position is a compelling, distinctive way to tell your story. It’s what will compel people to buy from you, because they can’t get that same thing anywhere else. You’ve probably heard of the marketing concept of “unique selling proposition” (USP), and this is similar: the idea is to find your USP and use it as your primary marketing message.

But what does that actually mean? How do you define an USP for yourself? And how do you make sure people hear about it in the first place? Here are some tips for creating a unique sales position that sets you apart from the competition:

Market-Dominating Position

As you know, a market-dominating position is one that has the most value for customers and stakeholders. It offers more value than any competitor, so much so that people would rather buy from you than anyone else.

However, many businesses are unaware of their true market-dominating position because they don’t fully understand how to evaluate it. Instead of focusing on what makes their product or service unique and valuable to customers, they focus on what sets them apart from other companies in their industry.

This can be problematic if you aren’t actually different from competitors in meaningful ways—if your products or services aren’t inherently better than those offered by other businesses in your field (or if they’re not perceived as better). In this case, focusing solely on differentiation won’t help you create an advantage over the competition; instead it will just make them look like bad copies of you!

Stop thinking that your business is unique, and actually make it unique.

In the last post, we talked about how to overcome the belief that your business is unique when in reality it’s not. But even if you’ve come to terms with this idea, you may still find yourself wondering what it means for your marketing strategy.

The answer? Finding a unique sales position—a way of differentiating yourself from the competition in an authentic way.

Why? Because there are two main ways that brands can stand out: having better products or being more innovative than everyone else. The former is easier said than done; few companies ever achieve excellence across every aspect of their business (and some don’t even want to). That leaves innovation as our primary route forward.

Conclusion

If your company is going to stand out in a crowded market, you have to do more than just offer a product or service. You need to offer something that no one else can offer. That’s why it’s so important for businesses to make sure they have a unique sales position and market-dominating position in mind when they start working on their marketing strategy.

Direct Response or Bust!

Posted on by Jason Vilon

Direct response marketing is a marketing that demands a direct response from your potential customers. This marketing is used to answer questions, present your branding, products and the reason you do what you do. Customers love this, as it offers them the opportunity for response, whether that be in the way of signing up for a newsletter, posting a comment on your site or blog, or purchasing a product from you.

So, what does direct response marketing look like? Well, it comes in many forms, including:

  • Direct mail
  • Print ads
  • Radio and TV ads
  • Coupons or other incentives
  • Telemarketing

Some advantages of direct marketing are:

  • A great way to use free time during lulls in business
  • Productive way to communicate and empower you to create more relationships
  • Great way to up- and cross-sell to current customers
  • Low-cost way to rustle up new business
  • Used as leverage to turn small sales into large sales
  • Supplement your current marketing program
  • Cost-effective way to reach target markets
  • Offers measurable results
  • Reach outside your local area for new business
  • Increase the effectiveness of your sales force

These are all great things that can come from just taking a few simple steps to putting
together a direct response marketing plan and executing it.

“I honestly don’t think you’ll ever find a safer, lower-risk, higher-profit method of increasing your business or profession than direct-response marketing.” Jay Abraham

Direct response marketing is one of the best ways to launch your business on a large scale and reach out to everyone in your target market whether or not they are in your local area. Our GUIDED TOUR can help you put together a great direct response marketing plan and get you on your way to heightened success.

Lessons I Learned from Paris Hilton

Posted on by Jason Vilon

Today we’ll talk about shameless self-promotion. That’s right, I said it! Shameless! After all, we are learning from Paris Hilton here.

It’s all about self-promotion! Self-promotion comes in many forms and you can use different tactics to get your name out there. Look at politicians! Talk about self-promotion and in some not so discreet ways, at that. But, seriously, consider some of the major superstars we all know. Madonna, Donald Trump, Howard Stern and Bill Clinton, just to name a few.

We all self promote. Did you raise your hand in class to show the teacher you knew the answer? Of course! That’s self-promotion. This is the kind of self-promotion we are talking about. With dignity, class and the knowledge to back it up. If you self-promote only to prove you don’t really know what you’re talking about, you’re going to lose business.

Natural self-promoters are the former and I want to tell you about the three major traits they have and use to build themselves and their businesses.

  1. The first is position. You need to position yourself around people who can make a difference in your life. You need to do this frequently. You need to wake up every morning and ask yourself “Who can I meet today who will make a difference in my success?” In fact, go a step further, write it in big, bold letters and tape it on your bathroom mirror.

Also consider:

Who can help me meet my goals?

Is it a prospective customer/client? A colleague with contacts? An association with key members who may become prospects?

Don’t settle into interacting with the people who are the easiest to access. You need to reach outside your comfort zone and there you will find a wealth of new connections that will bring you great success.

  1. Now, let’s talk about Style. No, this doesn’t mean you need an Armani suit to bring in more business (though, let’s be honest-it wouldn’t hurt)  What this really means is how are you different from your competitors and others in your industry. What makes you memorable with customers?

If you are meeting a lot of people and they don’t remember you once you leave the room, you have a serious problem! This means you have an opportunity to present yourself in a more memorable way.

There are lots of little subtle changes you can make. Reassess your:

  • Business cards
  • Company message
  • Your picture
  • Your wording

Maybe even, your hairstyle (of course, now we’re back to the expensive suit, but it really works!)

You get the idea. There are lots of little ways you can work on making your image and business more successful. Also, consider how you sound on the phone and how you great people at meetings or other events. Think about your 30-sec elevator speech.

  1. The third trait of natural promoters is repetition. You can’t say it once and leave it at that. Successful self-promoters say it as many times as they need until they get a response. Would you remember a commercial for Coca-Cola if you only saw it once, no! You see it over and over and eventually you head out to the store.

You, also, have to make multiple impressions on those you are networking with in order to build brand awareness. Repetition is in direct connection with positioning. Once you find people to network with, reach out and find hundreds more who can help in your success as well.