Tag Lines – Yes or No? November 24, 2008

The King of Beers

I’m often asked by clients whether or not they should have a tag line.  I used to think of it as a personal comfort factor and now I see it differently.  Tag lines have their place.  If you attend a regular networking meeting where you get to introduce yourself, it might be the only thing people remember about you.  And like any other marketing tool, you need to use it all the time on all your marketing materials.  If you only use it when introduced or in person networking, your ideal customer could see an ad in the paper for your business and not make the connection.  It needs to be everywhere, so you need to really like it!

Commodity and Complex Businesses – If you have a business that has tons of people doing essentially the same thing you do (Realtors, bankers, massage therapists, housekeepers, etc.) this becomes essential to differentiating yourself from the throngs of peers.  Also, if you do something very specialized or complex in your field that people wouldn’t know about you can use this memory trick to educate.  E.g.  Generally speaking, I’m a marketing consultant.  To someone who doesn’t know me and my business, they could expect me to do branding, brochures, design, etc.  (I actually offer to bring in partners for those things for my consultation clients.)  What I specialize in is online pull marketing and automated client attraction for small to medium businesses. 

Focus on benefits – Your client doesn’t buy “products”, they buy the benefit the product gives them.  Incorporate that into your tag and you will resonate with your ideal clients.  You are not trying to resonate with everyone, as they may waste your time and money.  Back to my example:  The benefits to my client are new, ideal clients coming to them – overfilling their funnel – without them feeling pushy; and, gaining complete control over their marketing. 

Perhaps my tag line could be, “Helping turn your magnetic client machine to autopilot”.  Hmm, probably needs some work.  Comment below with good ones for me, or one of for your business.

Call To Action the #1 Conversion Tool November 12, 2008

So, you’ve written great website copy, a brochure or even a business card.  Bravo.  Did you remember the call-to-action?  This is by far the biggest omission in even some marketing pro’s work.  I have an entire swipe file with national ads that didn’t have this important component.  Sometimes it’s there, but so vague you would miss it.  Do you want to be spending advertising dollars for something that won’t work? 

I’m going to pick on Realtors for a minute.  I know them well as I have them as clients.  They often fight me on this point.  “I don’t want to be one of those pushy Realtors,” they say.  My retort is you won’t be any kind of Realtor pretty soon if you don’t have a goal for each ad or vehicle you use.  You’ll be broke and those “pushy Realtors” will have converted all your prospects to clients.  Most business owners have a personal mission and want to stay the course.  I completely respect that.  It is not being suggested that they force clients to commit contractually in the first meeting.  I coach them to look at each piece separately and ask themselves, “what do I want this person to do now?”

That’s it…it’s really that simple.  Of course, if the tone of your piece is offputting or misses the target audience that is another problem entirely.  However, if the piece is written to the target audience’s needs and wants then you must ask them to take an action.  A clue: it’s probably not to buy right away unless you offer a low cost, low risk product.  Our Realtor should get them to “Call today to schedule an evaluation,” or “sign up for my newsletter.” 

Still need help?  The very best free call-to-action lessons can be found on QVC or any other major home shopping network.  These folks get it.  First, they dedicate an hour to one target group i.e. sports fans.  Next, they block a few products that are shown up close, demonstrated and in use while one or two pros entrance the audience with all the fantastic features and benefits of this product.  Sometimes they tease us with a special offer that they have later to the first 50 callers.  Then, they bring it on home by telling you exactly what to do, “Pick up the phone now and dial the number on the screen.  Have your credit card ready.”  If you listened that long you are probably digging out your wallet for sure.

In real world scenarios, you should have laser focus on your target audience and know the process it takes them to get started down the path to buying from you.  If you are at a networking event, you know you will meet and greet people.  Make sure you have a closing call-to-action in advance.  “Check out my website portfolio.”  “You seem interested.  Can I add you to my newsletter?”

Check your current pieces that are out there.  If they don’t have a call-to-action, get one and reprint or rewrite.  They are a complete waste of marketing budget without one.

Grow Your Business By Helping Others – Partner! November 6, 2008

Every Handshake Represents a Potential Partnership

It always surprises me that small and medium businesses don’t make partnering a priority in their marketing plans.  It can be one of the most beneficial and inexpensive ways for two businesses to help each other grow.  In my corporate life, I spent my years forming and nurturing partnership arrangements for large telecommunications companies.  Those tended to take a long time to contract, even longer to gain traction with only a small percentage returning the investment.

In our Internet world there are so many fast, easy and productive ways to partner you really need to let your imagination flow.  I was tweaking my own marketing plan last week and noticed that my partnering had fallen to a lower priority, too.  I scheduled an hour to think of ways to partner with different businesses I knew already.  The key was not to think what they could do for me, but what I could offer  of value for free to their clients.  Ironically, two people I spoke with since that brainstorming session had ideas just like this and now I’m creating special reports on my website for their clients specifically. 

So, how does this make money?  It’s all about the referral.  My partners are trusted by their clients and value their opinions and guidance.  When my partner leads them to me and I provide them tremendous value for free, that trust spreads to me and my business.  These people may never have found me in particular.  They may have needed marketing help and found my competitors on their own, but now they have been referred by someone they trust.  I will continue to follow up with these people as long as they want and continue to offer them tips and information.  One day, they may need my services and voila – conversion.

How does this help my partner?  Clients want information and if your business is based on relationships (not mere transactions) you know that providing increasing value keeps them coming back.  Content is king and after a while it’s difficult to keep it fresh.  When someone else adds value for them in the form of complimentary information that helps sell their product, the client is being touched regularly, effortlessly and getting new content.  Their client will consider their site a source of information and return for more.

This is merely one example.  Think of ways to partner with people you already work with regularly.  Remember, it doesn’t need to be a commission relationship but it does need to be in the spirit of giving.