The reason I say that is because the industrial revolution was a time when ‘work’ and ‘business’ changed dramatically and forever. Things could never return to the way they were before.  Just as today, we’re seeing massive job losses, cut backs and re-thinking of business best practices, so then too the world saw an unprecedented shift in the way things were being done.

The industrial revolution was hated and feared by the working class - the main reason being that many saw it as the death of their livelihood.  Manual labor replaced by machines.  Slow, expensive production replaced by machines that could churn out widgets without lunch breaks and demands for better pay and benefits.

Today, we’re seeing something very similar occurring. Work is no longer the way it was.  Job security has long been not so secure, but of late, jobs are more scarce and less assured than they’ve been for decades.

Businesses across the board, both B2B and B2C are seeing a shift in the way sales are made. Sales cycles are longer and there’s a reluctance to part with money for even critical items.  There has been a significant change in the collective psyche. It is taking a lot more effort to persuade buyers and a lot more added value has be demonstrated.

So, how does one deal with this from a marketing perspective? We’re seeing that many of the traditional marketing practices are just not working as well as they used to.  Does this mean that we should drop them in favor of alternate methods?

As far as I can see from the broad range of clients with whom I work, it’s not so much a matter of traditional ways not working, as a matter of being able to have a clear plan and focus and sticking to this, understanding that there really are no silver bullets.

The basic psychology of sales is pretty simple and the fundamentals haven’t really changed – just the application and the ‘story’ need to be altered in order to gain maximum effect.

The fundamentals are:

• identifying what your market wants
• matching what you’re offering to what your market wants
• communicating this offer to your market frequently and consistently
• prompting your market to respond and giving them an easy way to do so
• delivering what you promise
• exceeding your market’s expectations in terms of customer service, value and quality

The most notable changes are:

• it’s more necessary now than ever before to get reliable market intelligence regarding how your market’s needs have changed in the light of this economy.  In some industries, we’re seeing a shift from buying, or manufacturing and storing inventory for resale  to just-in-time production and ordering.  This means that you, as a vendor, need to be able to deliver in this fashion, quickly, reliably and most of all, cost-effectively.
• there may be more opportunity for new entrepreneurs to provide services to companies that have laid off full time staff – and in this instance, knowledge of the specific company will stand you in very good stead
• regular and frequent communication with your market  is still crucial – management and business owners today have less time, less patience and less inclination to wade through rhetoric to uncover your fabulous, but understated offer – so your offers need to be laser focused, clearly articulated and opportune.
• relationships are of even greater importance.  Higher levels of risk in terms of the economy and general world conditions mean that buyers will instinctively move closer to the few suppliers they feel they can trust – up to a point.  This does not give you, as a trusted supplier, carte blanche in pricing or other currently very sensitive areas.

It’s more crucial now than it has been in living memory to be able to articulate powerfully, so this is something on which those responsible for marketing really have to focus.  Once again, powerful articulation can only be made when you have a good, in-depth understanding of the mind of your market.

By the same token, it’s even more critical to work with a professional to ensure that your articulation is the best it can be.  You don’t want to waste time, money or effort on sending out regular communications that fall flat because they are worded so badly that your market responds with apathy and indifference to your offer.

There are 20 and 30 year olds that barely know their way around a computer, while there are 60 year olds tweeting by the dozen.  And visa-versa.

The one thing that is for certain is that social media is definitely not an optional strategy in business today.  ALL the companies who are aggressively marketing are using it.  And why not?  It’s pretty mush low – or no cost and it is relatively easy to set up.

All the basic social media platforms are free. They make money from hosting advertisers who are targeting their users.  WordPress for blogging: free.  Facebook: free.  Twitter: free.  YouTube: free. MySpace: free.  Social bookmarking such as Deliscious: free.   Photo sites such as Flickr: free.

They’re all relatively simple to operate as well, albeit time consuming until you get the hang of it.

The thing that surprises me is when people dismiss it as a fad or a ‘waste of time’. Hmmm.  I guess there were plenty who felt that way about the fax machine too.  Still are many who feel that way about email.  The fact is, all these tools have their uses and it’s up the users to control how and when they’re used.  Big businesses such as Best Buy, Dell, Intel, SAP, Thompson Reuters and the like seem to think it worth while enough to subscribe to social media in a big way.

For those who feel that social media is simply a 20 or 30 something domain, take a look at the market and the statistics. The fastest growing group of active users on the internet – including social media venues – are baby boomers.  Who said an old dog can’t learn new tricks.  No, a lazy old dog won’t learn new tricks, but then, neither will a lazy young dog.

Techcrunch published a study citing the fact that the top 100 companies using social media increased profits by 18% over the first 12 months.  Business Week recently published a guide ‘How executives should be using social media‘.  Note:  How executives should be using;… not ‘How executives could be using…’

According to Neilsen Online:

“Not Just For The Young

While social networks started out among the younger audience, they’ve become more mainstream
with the passage of time. Not surprisingly the audience has become broader and older. This shift has primarily been driven by Facebook whose greatest growth has come from people aged 35-49 years of age (+24.1 million). From December 2007 through December 2008, Facebook added almost twice as many 50-64 year old visitors (+13.6 million) than it has added under 18 year old visitors (+7.3 million).”

Another Neilson report shows that

670,000,000 out of 1 billion people online use social media.  It shows that the use of social media is growing at three times the rate of general internet growth.

Some studies even suggest that the use of social media outranks email use and is the venue where 38% of people spend their time communicating online.

Other insights include:

• The biggest increase in use of social media sites in 2009 comes from those in between 35-49 years old .
• The  increase  in this group is 11.3 million people.

• There has been an increase of 7% of those  65 and older using social media

• Correspondingly, usage usage of social media by those aged 17-and-under dropped by 9 per cent

Like it or not, it seems that the statistics prove my point.  Age is no excuse to opt out of social media as a viable business marketing strategy.

For those who’ve considered themselves ‘too old’ to take a natural interest, let me encourage you with the thought that learning new things as you grow older helps prevent alzheimers….

Here’s how to apply it:

1. Evaluate everything that demands your attention – never simply do something because it seems it needs to be done.
2. Ask yourself: “Does this activity take me closer to my goal?“  If it doesn’t, ditch it.
3. If it passes that test, then ask  yourself: “Can anyone else in this business take care of this matter with less impact on their productivity?”  If the answer is ‘yest’ then delegate it.  If the answer is ‘no’ then
4. Ask yourself: “Does this have to be done now or can I schedule it for a better time freeing myself to take care of more important things now?“  If the answer is ‘yes’ then schedule it for a more appropriate time.  If the answer is ‘no’ then do it now.

This simple process will help you more easily prioritize your time and be more productive during your working hours.  It’s simple, it’s effective and it’s eye-opening when you realize just how much of your day is taken up with activities that really do not move you forward – they just keep you busy.

And for good reason.  A customer that has done business with you once is likely to want to do business with you again – if they’ve been happy with their first experience. This tendency can considerably shorten the sales cycle, closings can cost a lot less and ancillary benefits such as good quality referrals are certain to follow – if….

the customer is nurtured through a process of remaining engaged with you.

This may seem obvious, but it’s amazing how often this just doesn’t happen.  Most of the time this important tactic is neglected simply because of lack of foresight on the part of the business.

It requires some planning to devise and implement a consistent ‘cradle to grave’ strategy. One that takes the customer seamlessly through each stage of the life cycle from prospect to repeat customer.

Too often, serious effort and time is invested in developing new prospects. As soon as they become customers, they’re quickly left to their own devices.  An analogy that springs to mind is that of the birth of a child.  Who would eagerly plan for a new child, go through nine months of nurturing it in the womb then, once it was born, leave it to fend for itself?  As ridiculous as that may sound, that’s exactly what many businesses do with their customers.

Staying engaged is well worth the planning and effort involved. Most of this can be handled upfront.  Implementation is more a matter of discipline and systems than effort at this stage.

The rise of internet marketing should be of great interest to all marketers, no matter what their business. As a whole, most internet marketing guru’s advocate a well thought out system for engagement.  With the advent of automated email systems, auto responders and so on, engagement has never been easier, or more cost effective to achieve.  Study some of the techniques constantly being touted by these gurus and you’ll quickly discover how simple it really can be.

Never assume that just because someone has become a customer that you will automatically win their next purchase. Unless you stay engaged, there’s a high likelihood that you won’t.  There will always be someone else out there who is prepared to make the effort to engage and convert your customer.

Never assume that your customer wants to know about your product or service. Chances are high that they don’t.  What they want is to know how you can solve their specific problem quickly and cost-effectively.  In fact, in my experience, the ability to solve a customer’s problem quickly and efficiently – taking that issue of their plate – will often override much price resistance.  After all, time and effort is valuable.  Many customers would far rather spend your time and effort than their own, allowing them to focus on the core areas of their own businesses or life.

If you’d like to find out more about how to plan and implement a comprehensive and effective engagement strategy – and thus ensure more repeat business, a shorter sales cycle and a higher customer retention, please email me at jackie@jackiecooperwriter.com.

A year or so ago, my answer would’ve been that it was for the same reason as you had to have a fax machine 20 years ago… or a web site today. Because it was expected.  Because if you didn’t, you’d look out of date and – horror of horrors – not up to speed with today’s fast paced technology.

Today my answer is different.  I still believe the statements above are true – but they’re not the whole truth.

In a study done recently of the top 100 companies, it was discovered that of those that implemented an aggressive Social Media strategy, revenues increased, on average, by 18% over the 12 month period following s Social Media Marketing strategy implementation.

Although, on the surface, Social Media Marketing may not appear to be directly sales related, it does have an impact on the bottom line.  Having been focused on direct marketing and direct response strategies over the past several years, I realized that I’d developed a disdain for purely ‘decorative’ marketing initiatives.  Social Media Marketing appeared, at first, to fall into that category.

However, on closer acquaintance and with some experience of this marketing medium, I’m now a convert.  I believe wholeheartedly in the validity – no, the necessity - for Social Media Marketing for all businesses.

The current mantra of ‘do more with less’ should be enough to make the most skeptical consider S.M.M.  Never before has there been such opportunity to create huge market presence with so little cost.  No matter whether you’re a single person business such as a consultant, or a huge multi-national – Social Media Marketing can propel you quickly to the forefront of your target audience’s consciousness.

And it’s not just prospects who can be reached using Social Media venues. Now, some organizations, such as Best Buy, are taking advantage of the immediacy and flexibility of venues like Twitter to deliver fast, comprehensive and consumer responsive customer service.

While Best Buy is a consumer focused organization, the same principal can easily be used by B2B organizations to deliver updates, event announcements, FAQ development, training, inter-company communication, partner motivation and on and on.

The possibilities are endless.  In addition to this advantage, Social Media Marketing offers another ‘by-product’.  Setting up a network of Social Media venues helps increase an organizations visibility on the internet simply by virtue of them owning ever increasing internet ‘real-estate’.

Think of it in the same way as an organization beginning with a single office or branch. They are visible only in their immediate area.  As they open more offices in more locations, their visibility increases.  Social Media Marketing essentially achieves the same thing – only exponentially.  The organization that sets up a comprehensive and active Social Media network increases visibility globally – if they so desire.  If they don’t, no problem.  Their visibility in their desired area is achieved and they’ve not had to pay a cent extra for the ‘wasted’ visibility.  This fact alone is one that makes traditional print media develop chills of fear.

All in all, when clients ask me about whether Social Media Marketing is really necessary in their situation, I have absolutely no hesitation in answering with an unequivocal ‘yes’.

To find out more about how Social Media Marketing can positively impact your business, please email me at jackie@jackiecooperwriter.com

Spending some time upfront getting this taken care of will save you countless hours and lots of frustration later.

The first thing you need to do is to ensure that your ‘brand’ identity is the same across all platforms i.e. email, web site, social media pages, printed materials etc.  It’s basic branding 101.  Although you can get up and running very quickly by using generic templates, it may not give you the best bang for your buck.

If you don’t have ability at all to customize a template, either yourself or by hiring someone to do it, then at least choose a template that uses your corporate colors and make sure that your standardized logo is featured in this.  It will help ‘transition’ your visual and connect it with your other corporate communications.

The second thing you should do is select a template that will work for  a variety of different purposes e.g. email newsletter, email promotion, general emails as well as  press releases.

This will help speed up the process as once you have the template tweaked to your satisfaction, it’s a simple matter of going in and changing content and images for each communication.

Make sure that you always use the same fonts for headings and body copy.  This helps reinforce the corporate image and maintains consistency.

Use a similar ‘voice’ to the ‘voice’ you use on your web site and / or blog in order to ensure, once again, that consistency is maintained.

Keep your message consistent and wherever possible provide a click through link that takes readers to the web site or blog or brings up an email to encourage them to contact you.  Your links to the web site or blog should bring up the page with the relevant information relating to the email so that the reader can find out more and respond.

This information can then also be sent via feeds to your social media pages – which in effect will feature headlines and excerpts that will traffic from these venues to your site or blog.

Keeping these simple steps in mind when doing email marketing will help you manage it better and increase your profit potential.

Yes, there’s no mystery to it at all.  Anyone with half a grain of common sense knows the answer:  all you need is a product they want at a price they’re willing to pay.

Okay, I told you that you knew that…

But here’s the rub:  you think you have a product they want and you’re pretty sure it’s at a good price – after all, you’ve done the market research and you just can’t bring it to market any cheaper..  And still, they’re not buying.  How come?

Let’s assume you do have a product they want and that it’s well priced.  How can you be sure that they will buy?  How can you guarantee sales success?

There’s a key ingredient you have to add to the mix in order to get your prospect to take action.  It’s ‘feelings’.  No matter how much they ‘need’ or can afford the product, they will not buy unless they ‘feel’ they have to have it.

Now you can’t possibly know all the nuances of feeling that might be necessary to make the right connection. But you can identify the main contenders.  The easiest way to do this is to poll a section of your target market.  If you can talk to your ideal prospect and get to know their core fears, hopes and desires, it’s a lot easier to evoke and address the specific feelings that will motivate them to buy.

You’ve no doubt heard the old adage:  Sell the sizzle not the steak.  And that still holds true. Unfortunately, most businesses do not carry that philosophy through their communications with their market – and so, neve rreach their full sales potential.  You HAVE to speak to the prospect’s emotions.  Not to manipulate, but to match.  Because, as I’ve so often stated previously, people do not buy in an emotional vacuum.  Emotion is ALWAYS involved in the purchasing decision – even when it masquerades as the satisfaction of using logic.  You have to match your product with the kind of emotion they will experience from owning it.

Here are some example of how to use feelings to guarantee sales success:

• Business to business sales:  talk about things that are important to the purchaser.  These will usually revolve around a need to know that the product / service will not let them down and if they’re an employee, land them in hot water with their boss.  Therefore a pitch that focuses on the peace of mind aspect i.e. their security which is ensured by various guarantees and warranties  and the recognition they will receive for having made such a savvy purchase, will be a lot more powerful and likely to succeed than one that focuses solely on features and benefits.  Once the primary  emotional connection has been made, then  information relating to how this purchase will improve productivity and profitability will further appeal to very specific secondary emotions and will cement the connection.
• Business to consumer: most people’s purchasing decisions are activated by fear (and the need for security) or desire for advancement, whether that advancement is peer recognition, social standing or financial gain.  Showing how the purchase can achieve any or all of these states is key.  For instance, ‘feel thin, fit and attractive’ is more powerful than ‘look thin, fit and attractive’ although they’re essentially the same thing.  ‘Go to sleep at night without worrying about your future’ is more powerful than ‘Secure your future’.  ‘Your neighbors will be impressed…’ is more powerful than ‘Own this luxury vehicle’…

Making these kinds of emotional connections really does guarantee sales success.  You’ve already proved it in your own life.  Think back:  have you ever purchased something you really wanted after having found all the good reasons why you ‘needed’ it?  And have you ever justified a purchase to someone else using logic a little different to the emotion you felt when contemplating and making the purchase?   I thought so…

Selling again to someone who has already bought from you is easier, cheaper and quicker than selling to someone who doesn’t know you. Hence the popularity of list building – a phrase which has become common place in internet marketing though it’s been the foundation of off line sales for decades.

The two main keys  to ongoing profit generation through repeat sales are:

• staying in touch regularly and consistently
• creating a level of interactivity with your past customers

By adding an element of interactivity to your communications, you’ll find that your repeat sales will increase.  The logic is simple:  people who already know and trust you will be likely to want to engage in further interaction with you.  That’s the basis of all human interaction.  And seeing as you’re selling to humans, it makes sense to use already established mechanisms.

How do you create interactivity:

Depending on whether your business is a bricks and mortar or internet based, you may need to use different approaches:

Bricks and mortar approaches:

• events and promotions which require the customer to come in to the store in order to participate.  This can be as simple as a coupon or as complex as a full out social / sales event such as a pre-launch or ‘sneak peek’ at your new season’s inventory.  In a clothing store this could be a pre-season fashion show.  In an electronics store it could be a pre-view of upcoming technology.  The basic process would be an invitation delivered by email or snail mail giving the details and a call to action.

Online approaches:

• Online businesses have less logistics to worry about in creating interactive elements in their marketing.  They are able to quickly and cost effectively broadcast an invitation to existing customers that can be acted upon either instantly or at a pre-determined time.  An ‘instant’ invitation may be as simple as an offer to download a free e-book or a discount on an immediate purchase, while a ‘pre-determined’ invitation may be a series of anticipation building emails leading up to the launch of a new product or service.

What the interactive element looks like is not as important as it is to make sure that there is a good reason for your customer to take some kind of action.  It’s easier to move one action into another action and on to a purchasing action  than it is to move from complete inaction into purchasing action.

It’s a process of building momentum.  Momentum requires constant and consistent movement.  Like a snowball, it starts of very small but quite quickly grows in size and impact.  By adding interactivity to your regular communication, you’ll soon see the same effect taking place in your sales volume and bottom line.

Often, we like to go with the flow and let the inspiration carry us from the first word until the last. It feels really good.  The writing is easy, the words flow and we feel that we’ve really expressed the heart of what we want to say.  The reader will definitely see things our way…

Not so fast.  Before you hit the send key to fire off your message or to send your item to your client or publisher – here are a few steps that can save you some major embarrassment – not to mention lost opportunity.

1. Leave your piece to settle. Go away for half an hour or a day or so. Do something different.  Then come back and slowly read what you’ve written aloud.  You’ll be amazed at how many changes you’ll want to make to improve grammar, readability and clarification.
2. Once you’ve done that – leave it again for a while.  Then read it aloud again. If it sounds as good as you think it should, then take the final step before releasing it:
3. Send it to a few people who fit your target demographic and ask them to read it and tell you what it meant to them. You’ll be amazed at how many times they’ll understand something quite different to what you intended. Make the necessary changes and now, you’re finally ready to go public.

By default, this means that you should never try to write and release something in a rush.  Invariably you’ll regret it. Often because there obvious mistakes – and sometimes these can be very costly.  For instance, if you’re writing to customers about a promotion, a common oversight is forgetting to put in any disclaimers such as “Limit one per customer” or “Offer valid until …” or “exludes…”  all of which can cause many problems at the point of sale – including unhappy customers, lost profits and, if you’ve done the promotion for a client, an unhappy client.

People are people and they do certain things predictably. They will either read every word or they’ll scan distracted by each new item that catches their attention.  If they’re reading a multi-page communication such as a magalog or a prospectus, if they’re left handed they will probably flip through it from front to back.  But, if they’re right handed – as the majority of people are – they will probably flip through it from the back to the front.  Know why?  You use your ‘clumsier’ hand to hold it, while your more dexterous hand turns the pages.

This presents you with a challenge. Where is the most important part?  Where should you put your main points?  What will capture their attention most?

The answer is easy in theory, but becomes pretty complex in the execution.  Fortunately, experts in the direct response industry have been there, done that and have created ways of handling that tricky issue.

First of all, you have to write the ‘story’ from beginning to end, building the involvement and interest level and eventually drawing to a conclusion with a call to action in all it’s variables.  This means a good , strong headline that hooks the reader as well as easy flowing copy with plenty of proof and persuasion.

So far, so good. We’ve now catered to the person who reads every word and is left handed.  What about the rest of the bunch?  Well, for those, we have back pages and sidebars.

Typically, the back page should have a response device as well as a summary of major benefits, bonuses and calls to action.  The sidebars should contain any information that needs to be highlighted in order to add credibility, value, urgency and desirability to the offer being made.

For instance, sidebars can contain many types of information from testimonials, expert opinions, statistics, summaries, additional resources, behind the scenes revelations… anything that can logically and emotionally add to impact of the offering.

I view sidebars in the same way that I view sub headlines. A reader should be able to glean the gist of your message from the headline and sub headlines.  The same thing applies to sidebars when taken in total.  A reader should glean enough information from the sidebars that they are motivated to respond irrespective of whether they’ve read the rest of the copy.

Does that make the rest of the copy redundant? No.  The rest of the copy INCREASES the likelihood that scanners will read the sidebars.  An analogy would be a retail store selling clothing: the more choice and inventory in the store, the more likely the customer is to find something they like enough to buy.

Next time you’re faced with that dilemma: short or long copy, remember the back page and the sidebars….