The John Anghelache Blog

Odds are 2012 will not be a stellar year for the economy.

I won’t go into the doom and gloom partly created by an administration that refuses to help business owners. What I will do is outline a few proven ways to attract more customers, make more sales and increase profits.

Let’s get to it…

Marketing Strategy #1: Zero In On Better Prospects

Nothing will make a more dramatic impact on your bottom line than focusing ALL your marketing efforts on the best, most-likely-to-respond prospects in your market place. Wasteful advertising can no longer be tolerated in an economy where consumers are spending less.

Direct mail pros know the old but true formula: 60-30-10!

Which means: 60% of the success of your marketing is the LIST. The list is made up of prospects. Therefore, the higher quality list the more sales you’ll make at a lower cost. 30% of the success of your marketing is due to the offer. If you make offers consumers can’t resist then you’ll get more of them to contact your business. Finally 10% of marketing success comes down to the sales copy.

So your #1 most important task is to hone in on the very best prospects.

Here’s one way to figure out WHO you should be marketing to more aggressively…

Look at your past customer list and profile it closely. What zip codes are most of your customers coming from? What are their ages? What products are they buying? (You’ll find roughly 80% of your sales are coming from 20% of your customers and products. You need to know who and what that 20% is.) How much are they spending? Who are your multi-buyers? (Those customers who buy multiple times from you during the year.) Who are your hyper-responders? (Those customers who buy everything.)

Answers to those questions allow you to figure out WHO your best prospects are right now. Then you can focus your advertising to those people.

Marketing Strategy #2: Craft More Compelling Offers

For lead generation purposes, make a point to give away free informative reports online or offline. The topics of those reports depends on your market. Generally, what works well for consumer markets are reports focused on helping consumers avoid costly mistakes.

Example: Say you’re a car salesperson. What are consumers AFRAID of when it comes to buying a car in the current economy? That is the question to answer to create one or more simple to read reports  that people will respond to.

Keep in mind, almost no one will request such a report if they are not interested in buying a car.

An example of such an ad could be:

Free Report Reveals 10 Little-Known Ways To
Buy A Car With Bad Credit. For a free
24-hour message call 1-800-000-0000

What you do is record a brief one or two minute message in a voice mail box that talks about why this report is must-read. Then ask the caller to leave their name and address so you can snail mail it. You can also run an ad like this sending people to a website where they give you their info. You’re better off getting their snail mail so you can follow up by mail and by phone if their number is listed.

You can easily build a list of real prospects with this approach. Then, of course, send the report and follow up with these people. Some will buy quickly. Most will buy over time… so… continued follow up is crucial. A small number are tirekickers.

For sales messages, make your offer as compelling as possible by: giving them more of what they want… bundling products and services… offering a lower priced impulse item and then upselling to a higher priced item… and as a last resort… lowering prices if and only if you can make the cuts up by adding sales volume.

Marketing Strategy #3: Matching Your Marketing Message Better To The Market’s Needs

Sales copy is all about entering the conversation in a prospect’s mind. In other words, knowing what to say to get a response. So you have to be on top of the issues and concerns your market is thinking about concerning your products and services.

That’s why you have to keep your finger on the pulse of the market. Then transfer the emotions of the market to the marketing materials you’re using. Nonsense like: “We provide great service”… We’re The #1 (insert your business type) in the area”… “Honesty, Integrity And Service Is Our Trademark” does not make an impression.

Focus your sales copy (advertising) on the problems your prospects are facing and how your product/service can solve those problems in an easier, better, faster way than competitors.

Finally, be sure to apply the…

Marketing Success Formula

The formula says you can only grow a business one of three ways… or… in combination of those three ways.

1. Get more customers.

2. Boost the average size of sale per customer.

3. Increase the number of sales to existing customers.

That’s your ticket to marketing success in 2012.

Good luck.