Have you ever wondered how to find demand for your product and services?

To know the answer to this question, all you need to do is to follow some methods and you will realise that finding demand for your product is not that difficult after all.

The first and foremost method is to look for the products or services in the market that are similar to what you have to offer. Find out how many people buy those products and what complaints and problems they have with that product. Once you are through with this survey you should design your product in such a way that it can eliminate as many complaints as possible that people have with similar products in the market.

At the same time, try to know what people like about those products and what other things they want those products to have. The idea behind this survey is to know the exact demands of the people and try to deliver them what they want. Needless to say, this will help you a great deal in finding the demand for your product or services.

You can also try to customise your product in such a manner that it can serve the demands of a specific group of people in the society. For example, you can launch a product that it is specifically designed for teens, women, senior citizens, men, doctors and so on. Apart from targeting a group of people, you can also target people of a particular geographical region.

What a lot of marketers do is that they highlight all good things about their product. We should not forget that we live in a highly competitive world and targeting the weakness of the leading products that are similar to your product and service can work wonders for your product. What you need to keep in mind is that you have to do this in very subtle manner and without mentioning the name of your competitor’s product.

In addition to focusing on the good points of your product and targeting the weaknesses of your competitor’s product, it is highly important that you focus on the brighter side of your product. You need to tell your customers what is unique about your product that other similar products available in the market do not have. Make sure you highlight the brighter side of your products in all forms of advertisements. 

Once you know people’s needs you will not only find demand for your product but you will also see that there is an increased exposure and interest among the people for your product or services. Portray yourself in such a way that people get to know you as an expert in your particular product or service

Almost everybody in sales has suffered price objections at some point of time or the other.

However, many sales people follow the wrong path and try to grab potential customers by asking questions like “If I can offer solution to your such and such problem, will you buy that one today”? or “Holding back is the only thing that you can do”? Or “What can I do to earn you business”?

But these should not be the ultimate questions, there are a lot more that sales people may find more useful.

Hang on!

Such manipulative sales tactics are the real reasons that make prospective customers feel uncomfortable and find themselves in a state of pressure to buy that product or services.

But the ultimate answer to this is to eliminate the objections altogether. You can achieve this by spending more time finding ways which will help you meet the requirement of your prospective customers.

It is also a fact that sales people that ask more and more questions face lesser objections at the time of sale. The reason is quite simple; that means that they reveal many potential objections during the early stages of sales cycle.  Moreover, there are plenty of questions that are taken up by sales staff that will help you reveal potential objections.

They are:

“What is the time frame that you are working with”?
This question leaves a good effect when asked, which means that “When do you think you will buy”.  This will help people by putting them on a self-protective side.

“Who else is involved in the decision process”?
This is the most important question that is usually asked by sales people. The main purpose of this question is to find out the other person who is involved in the decision making process. So, if the final decision is influenced by other person, then you can end your search, and try to close the sale even without his or her presence.

“Who else are you talking to?”
This is the most frequently asked question. This will enable you to understand what other companies or vendors are making their bids on a particular project. This will provide an assistance that will help you in differentiating yourself from your respective competitors.

“How was the experience?”
You can answer this question based upon your previous experience with your prospective customer. You can now position your service or product to excel their experience at your competitors.

So, these are a few questions that will help you extract more and more information from your potential customers, which will ultimately allow you to position your service and product in a way that suit best your customers’ needs and demands.

As you know, customers are the lifeblood of your business. Without them, your business doesn’t stand a chance at success – and will crash and burn along with the many other small businesses that don’t survive their first five years.

No matter how much time and money you spend on your marketing efforts, you will only succeed if you target your advertising to the right audience and pay attention to the results.

Broadening the scope of your efforts will enable you to reach unlimited numbers of potential clients.

The key to successfully promoting your business is simple:
1.  Establish your target market
2.  Learn your client’s most intimate desires in order to find customers, bring them in to your business, and deliver exactly what they need (and keep them coming back for more!)
3.  Stock your marketing arsenal with a variety of powerful advertising tools
4.  Track your progress to determine what works for your business – and don’t be afraid to change your strategy as necessary

Once you’ve developed your marketing strategy, you need to ensure that your message cuts through the clutter and speaks to your customer. This is where your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) comes in.

Your USP should stand out from the crowd – and capture the essence of why your product or service is superior to the competitions’. If you have already developed a USP for your company, take a moment today to review it.

Is your USP powerful enough to have customers queuing up at your door?

This is another important concept. If you currently run one radio commercial or use only your business cards to market your business, you’ll have limited the number of customers you can reach.

By broadening your marketing efforts in several directions, you’ll be able to reach more potential customers – and be able to convince them that they should be purchasing your product or service.

Mix your marketing efforts up. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck in a rut of simply sending out direct mail or advertising through an e-mail marketing campaign. Try something new.

Maybe you could send out a promotional item such as a pen once a month, and then follow up with a direct mailing that advertises a discount on your product or service the following week.

Keep things fresh.

People will see you as innovative – after all you’re always doing something new and they’ll never know what to expect next. This will give your business a reputation for professionalism and creativity, two important traits to customers.

Your clients don’t want to work with stuffy businessmen, but rather creative entrepreneurs who put thought into their customer’s needs and wants.

Marketing can take time to pay off.

However, you will notice that some efforts are more effective than others. Don’t waste your time and, more importantly your money, on marketing tools that clearly aren’t working. If your television commercial hasn’t brought in a single customer or made the phone ring, cancel the ad and book a radio spot instead.

Remember…You will have to experiment to find the best combination of marketing strategies and tools for your business.

Before you begin, you must understand one thing. No matter how much money you spend on your marketing strategy, your attempts will be fruitless if you are marketing to the wrong audience.

Before you implement any marketing strategy, first identify your target client.

Determine who wants and needs your product or service. This will ensure that your marketing efforts have a greater chance of success.

You may have already defined your target market. You may have identified your clientele as middle class, 35-55 year olds. This isn’t enough information. You need to know your client intimately.

Learn their education level, their location, and their hobbies. Find out how your clients spend their money. The more you know about your target market, the better able you will be to tailor your marketing efforts.

Your marketing should speak directly to the audience and move them to use your service or purchase your product.

A survey of your target market will help you gain a better understanding of your clientele. You can make your product or service better, and improve communication with your customers by understanding their needs and desires.

Moreover, by listening to your potential customers and acting on their suggestions, you give the client a chance to put their personal mark on your business. What better way to motivate them to give your product or service a try?

What’s the most important part of any ad or sales letter?

The headline, of course.

What’s the hardest part to get right?

The headline.

That’s correct. The headline will make – or break – your ad and it’s the toughest part to write. Until now, that is.

Instead of struggling to create a headline that will get you the action you need, what if you could simply answer 4 simple questions and press 1 button to get 100 killer headlines? And… wait… what if it only took 17 seconds?

That’s okay. I didn’t believe it either until I saw this amazing software in action. Check out this online video to see Shawn Casey actually create 100 superb headlines:

We’ve all struggled to create great headlines. Some work. Most don’t. What an exercise in futility. You can waste so much time and energy. And who can afford to hire a copywriter. Forget it.

That’s why I was so excited to discover this software. Anyone can create killer headlines – no experience necessary.

You’ll experience new feelings of calmness and control as open the software. You’ll enjoy the simplicity of entering short answers to 4 easy questions. You’ll be astonished as you push 1 button and create 100 killer headlines.

And the best part is… you’ll love the results you get when these new headlines get your ads the response you deserve.

So…

Stop struggling with headlines.

Stop settling for mediocre results.

Stop doing things the hard way.

Grab your copy of this software now and enjoy new success.

Too much “Hard Sell” can mean “No Sale”.  With the proliferation of advertising both online and off-line, customers have grown wary of products or services marketed through traditional sales methods. 

Entrepreneurs of today must therefore learn how to invest more time and money in soft-sell methods.  Here are some real secrets to making your customers want to give you their money.

Share Information
Take a look at the web, and you will notice that most corporate sites invest considerable resources on disseminating information to their target market.  The information that these companies provide is geared not only to give customers a better idea about the products and services offered; they also help these companies build their brand as well as their credibility in their particular industry.

Notice, too, that one of the growing trends in television commercials is the use of controversial, funny or shocking information to grab viewers’ attention.  Statements like “9 out of 10 women suffer from…” or “the most common defect of…” give information about a topic of interest to the market being targeted.  Use this strategy to educate consumers and position yourself as a credible (and thus quality) supplier of relevant products or services.

The Human Touch
You must also improve your relationship with your customers.  Most businesses –especially those which are hard to differentiate from their competitors – lose a lot of customers because they lack the will or the means to maintain contact with their customers.  Invest some of your time and money to set up a system which will let you readily and regularly communicate with prospective and past customers.  This will help you capture a larger share of your market, and this will motivate your customers to spend more money on your business.

Lower Perceived Risks
For the regular customer, every purchase decision involves a delicate balance between risks and benefits.  What happens if the product doesn’t work?  Will they replace the defective product with a new one?  Will the product work as advertised?  These are just some of the questions that are usually raised whenever a customer contemplates making a purchase (especially a big one).

You should strive to lower your customers’ perceived risks.  Offer money-back guarantees or product warranties; showcase testimonials from satisfied customers or industry awards for product quality.  These and other similar methods will assure your customers that you will always stand by your promise or your unique selling point.  When customers are less wary, there’ll be less resistance to your products and services.

These are just some of the things that you can do to become irresistible to your customers.  Learn more by subscribing to our marketing newsletter.

Writing is one of the most important skills that a business owner can possess. Whether you are looking to write business letters, emails, blog postings, forum posts, articles, newsletters, eBooks, eZine, autoresponders or sales copy; your ability to be both clear and effective will determine your levels of impact on you readers.

Here are 5 tips for clear and effective writing:

Catch the Reader’s Attention

When you are writing you should start with a short sentence that is designed to captivate your reader’s attention. The goal of the introduction is to make your reader interested in what you have to say.

You will want to identify the bigger picture of your writing by explaining why your topic is important and how it applies to your reader’s personal or business life.

You will also be able to catch your reader’s attention by knowing the audience; who they are, what their needs are and what would they be hoping to learn or gain by reading your text.

Use Strong Verbs

Verbs describe action and readers pay attention to action. Use active verbs instead of static verbs, avoid turning verbs into nouns and beware of using technical terms that you reader may not understand.

Clear descriptions are powerful when communicating a message in a way that is interesting and easy to follow for your reader.

Keep Your Writing Simple

If your writing is not simple, you may lose your reader’s attention. Be sure to construct simple messages, avoid parentheses, strive for simple paragraphs and have a clear and organised path for your reader to follow.

An organised writing structure with well organised thoughts is crucial to use when planning your business writing.

Keep Your Readers Involved

There are several ways to keep your readers involved while they are reading your writing such as providing specific examples, using stories to paint pictures in the minds of the reader and using effective quotations when appropriate.

Use an Effective Closing

When you are concluding your written content, it is important to summarise your thoughts and to include a clear call to action for the reader to follow.

Be brief in your conclusion and be sure to end by emphasising your thoughts and what the reader’s learnings or calls to action should be.

You will need to learn how to be effective in all forms of written communication in business.

To learn about how to use clear and effective writing when drafting an email, read my article called “3 Incredibly Simple But Outrageously Powerful Keys to Guaranteeing your Email Messages are read”.

Emails can be used for business communication, general communication and sales messages as an autoresponder.
 

Discounting is a short term fix with long term consequences! While there is some disparity among experts, most say that even in the current marketplace, discounting can cause long term damage to your overall business success. According to www.sm.com.au, discounting is a costly strategy for retailers. While the book called, You Can Compete, suggests that discounting will double retail sales, most data points towards a business disaster. There are several successful alternatives to discounting that are available for your business.

Retailers who have been indulging in discounting by dropping prices and holding pre-sales before major holidays risk losing customers over the long term. Discounting can cause a business’ customers to become conditioned to sales or discounts. If a change in the economy of your infrastructure were to require a price increase, you will likely lose a large portion of the client base that you worked so diligently to build.

There are several reasons why a business should avoid using discounting as a technique to increase sales, including:

Volume
Too many companies fail to account for the effects of price on sales volume. While reducing prices could yield additional customer purchases; can the purchases match and exceed the necessary volume levels for profitability when taking into consideration the deep discount?

Impact on Customer Relationships
Dropping and then raising a price back up can create ill will within your customer base. Some companies use this pricing strategy to engage a customer or to make a sale, hoping that this sale will result in a residual long term customer. Once the loyalty has been established, some companies then participate in price gauging, losing those initial customers to their competition who has a more consistent pricing model. Deep discounting can also tarnish your brand, unless you are looking to be considered over the long term as a deep discount retailer.

Impact on the Industry
Price cuts that are not backed up by the manufacturing company’s production cost reductions can lead to competitive counter attacks, potentially eroding your company’s profits. Competition can also be created among similar retailers unexpectedly, forcing you to take a lower than expected profit per item sold.

Margins are an essential component for a business’ bottom line. To read more about the importance of business margins, click here to read another one of my articles. There are several available strategies to avoid discounting your products for sale. Your business can give away gifts with purchases that have a high perceived value to its customers.

Businesses with outstanding client service are not concerned with discounting. Evaluate your current customer satisfaction levels and your current business practices to determine how you and your business can provide outstanding customer service. In addition to great customer service, a company with outstanding products & services does not have to concern itself with discounting. Ensure that your business is offering the best products available in its field or industry so that you can demand the appropriate pricing for the product’s value.

While discounting may be implemented and appropriate for some retailers and businesses, the concept should be carefully considered for its effects on your business. The use of alternatives to discounting will be more beneficial for your business growth over the long term. Consider which strategies will be the most effective for your business and business niche.

If you want to write ads and letters that fill your order book, you must study the classic ads of Claude Hopkins in his book Scientific Advertising.  He still ranks as the greatest ad writer of all time.

>>>  I have 20 13 6 copies of Scientific Advertising available for the next 20 13 6 subscribers who sign up for my complimentary “Successful Marketing Strategies” eZine.  Just pop your details in the box in the top left hand corner of this page and I’ll send you a copy  <<<

Claude Hopkins’ marketing secrets generated fortunes.  Palmolive soap, Quaker oats, Pepsodent toothpaste and countless other famous brands owe much of their success to him.  But, what really makes Claude Hopkins remarkable is in 1923, he concluded inside Scientific Advertising, “The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science.”

He goes on to say, “Advertising, once a gamble, has thus become, under able directions, one of the safest ventures.  Certainly no other enterprise with comparable possibilities need involve so little risk.”

In other words, close to a century ago he had advertising figured out.  If you followed his guidance, you were certain to gain a strong return on your advertising investment.

In 1923, Hopkins was earning well over $100,000 a year as an advertising copywriter, which would be in excess of $2,000,000 today!  Many of the marketing lessons you hear from direct-response marketing teachers or copywriters are swiped directly from this report.  Yet, in recent years, most mainstream advertisers have forgotten all of this wisdom. 

They’ve replaced measurable results with branding.  An ad campaign may show zero improvement in sales, but still be called successful by the advertising agency.  “It will help the long-term sales of the product,” they may say.  And, by the time, you find-out if this is true… you’re out a small fortune.  Small businesses must close the doors forever and it may result in layoffs for big businesses.  Hopes and dreams are lost.

On the other end of the spectrum, Claude Hopkins learned from the trenches of “make or break” direct mail advertising.  As he put it, “The severest test of an advertising man is in selling goods by mail… Their cost and result are immediate apparent.”

In other words, if his promotions didn’t produce results, all would be revealed.  Sales either came in from the promotion nearly immediately… or it failed.  I highly encourage you to read Scientific Advertising if you’re involved in any business or marketing activity.  You will NOT regret it.

>>>  Grab your FREE copy by being one of the first 20 subscribers who sign up for my complimentary “Successful Marketing Strategies” eZine.  Just pop your details in the box in the top left hand corner of this page and I’ll send you a copy  <<<

David Ogilvy (one of the most famous advertising men) is quoted as saying, “Nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times.  It changed the course of my life.”