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Many business owners simply set up shop and instantly start running ads. They never invest any time in designing their marketing or sales strategy. The result is that they lose thousands of dollars and usually don’t get the sales results that they’re after. We’re going to share with you a simple marketing strategy that’s time tested and business proven. It will empower you to get the maximum leverage from your marketing efforts.

Think of the overall market in your city. Your ‘potential market’ is comprised of all the potential buyers of your product or service in your city. To simplify the process, we overlay a ‘Spectrum’, called ‘The Buyer’s Spectrum’, over top of the potential market. Realize that on one end of the spectrum, 3-5% of the market have a preferred vendor (a family member, a business that they’ve been with for years, etc.) and will never buy from you.

On the other end of the spectrum, 3-5% of the market are NOW buyers and respond quickly to virtually any type of marketing. This leaves roughly 90% of the market that doesn’t want to buy what you’re selling right now yet WILL BUY at some future date.

Amazingly enough, the majority of companies focus their marketing efforts exclusively on the 3-5% of the market that are NOW buyers. They leave the remaining 90% of potential customers on the table. Their philosophy is that if a prospect doesn’t buy from them right now, then they discard them and focus on the ones that do want to buy from them. If you share this philosophy, you’re making A BIG MISTAKE!

‘Why’ do you ask? Well, think about a grove of orange trees. If you wanted to pick the ripe oranges, do you think that all of the oranges ripen at the same time? Of course not. The oranges ripen all at different times (we call this ‘The Customer Buying Cycle’). So what do you do, simply pick the few oranges that are ripe and then burn the rest of the field? Once again the answer is no. Yet this is what many companies do.

If you want to get more of the ripe oranges, then what you must do is water, fertilize and nurture the orange tree grove consistently. Bit by bit, the other oranges WILL RIPEN. And when they do, you’re there pick them. Now you may not get them all yet you’ll certainly get the lion’s share.

In the same way, you ‘water, fertilize and nurture’ the 90% of your potential market that doesn’t buy right away. And like the grove of orange trees, bit by bit, they too will ‘ripen’ or buy what you’re offering. If your marketing strategy addresses this, then you will get the lion’s share of the customers.

For you to get most out of your marketing and sales, your marketing strategy must address the phenomenon of both ‘The Buyer’s Spectrum’ and “The Customer Buying Cycle’ to be effective. Make sure to read our article “How To Increase Your Sales By 300% Or More By Effectively Leveraging Follow Up Systems”.

Many people are daunted by effective custom web design, site optimization, internet marketing, seo, etc. How can you blame them? There are so many so called “experts” out there spouting off the latest internet tripe. With just a little research, you soon discover that these experts are usually hawking some business opportunity or selling software. So, we’re going to divest the entire process of it’s mysticism and make it as plain as possible.

Here’s what you’ll need to market your business effectively on the internet. The first thing you’ll need is a great website. This is not the area where you want to play it cheap. Do not design your own website! Unless you’re a graphic designer, you’re probably not as artistic as you think that you are. Hire a good web design company. Think about it. The first contact that many prospective customers may have with your business are you marketing materials such as your web site. A well designed web site should educate, instill confidence and trust in potential customers and above all is A SALES OR CLOSING TOOL. This can not be emphasized enough. It should not merely be a pretty online brochure. It’s purpose to either directly or indirectly close business for you. Period.

 Make sure you check around on the internet and observe your competitors websites before deciding on the design of your site. A good design company will help you with this. Study the design elements and features of the most successful companies in your industry. Do searches to determine which of their sites get top rankings in the search engines. Also, look for opportunities to innovate to make your website even better than theirs. Make it clear what you want from your website to your web design company.

After your site is constructed, the next thing that you need is for your site to be optimized. Site optimization consists of selecting the right keywords and then imbedding those meta keywords and phrases in the pages and links of your site, installing site maps, doing link exchanges, installing robots and analytics, tying in blogs and article directories, posting articles, and more. This makes your website search engine friendly and helps to get you higher rankings in the search results. Make sure your design company is experienced at this. Some designers are just so eager to get the business that they’ll claim to know more than what they actually do. Do not bypass the site optimization step and just try to submit your site to the search engines. All that will happen is that no one will ever be able to find it.

The last component is actually internet marketing or promoting your site. One popular way is submitting your optimized website to the search engines. There are literally thousands to choose from. However, the majority of searches are done through: Google, Yahoo, AOL and MSN. A study conducted by Berrier Associates shows that of people who spend five or more hours a week online, they average an astounding 71% of their time searching for information. Other research shows that the most common method of finding a website is through search engines. Google powers over 70% of all searches and is the trendsetter for algorithm creation. Therefore, search engine marketing is of paramount importance.

Some search engines are free and others you pay for. A good SEO company can advise on which search engines work best for you. 

By applying just these simple strategies, you will be well on your way to getting good results from your internet marketing.

The United States Postal Service sent out a document on “Ways Your Business Can Use Direct Mail.” It contains valuable tips that should be taken seriously by businesses throughout the United States, including businesses based locally in Miami FL. Postal services are very valuable indeed for bulk mail advertising and marketing and other business mailing services such as catalog mailing.

According to the USPS document, more than $31 billion dollars are spent every year in the United States for direct mail marketing. That in itself is proof of how effective direct mail advertising and marketing is as a way of reaching customers. If it has not been proven effective, cost-conscious businesses would not use it. After all, the bottom line of every business is profitablility.

Unlike mass media campaigns which are more expensive and reach out to a very wide audience, direct mail advertising and marketing can be very economical and can target specific individuals meeting certain criteria based on the company’s campaign objectives. This way, the direct mail advertising and marketing campaign becomes more cost-effective. Since these individuals have been chosen based on their need for the product or service being sold, the possibility of a sale per cost of marketing is higher.

Direct mail advertising and marketing can be scaled according to a company’s budget. Even if a firm can afford a large scale direct mail advertising and marketing campaign, a small scale version could first be launched to test, track and measure responses and, based on that, to predict the revenue from the more massive campaign. This further ensures profitability. A company can very efficiently measure its return on investment on each campaign.

If a business still does not have a clear idea of the demographics that it should target, it could, perhaps, base its initial mailing on more general criteria such as location. The direct mail advertising and marketing campaign itself could then generate qualified sales leads if it includes a reply function that encourages immediate response.

Through direct mail advertising and marketing, a company can introduce its products or services to prospective customers, establishing better brand recognition and recall. The printed material can give more extensive information that the prospective customer can use as basis for making a purchase decision. The direct mail advertising and marketing campaign can also give the customer several options to purchase the products or services conveniently. An order form could be included in the mailing. The customer can mail back the form immediately. Alternatively, the mail could also include instructions on buying the product or service online or through a phone call. This could lead to an instant sale.

Direct mail advertising and marketing is used not only for prospective customers but also for existing customers, as well. Companies can introduce new products or other existing product lines to current customers. The direct mail advertising and marketing campaign can also be used to provide a venue for feedback and dialogue so as to maintain and further strengthen customer relations. Loyal customers can be rewarded by being informed of new products or sale items ahead of others and, perhaps, by including some discount coupons in the direct mail.

Of course, a direct mail advertising and marketing campaign can be used to complement and even enhance all other advertising and marketing efforts of a company.

Even the smallest business can make the most of bulk direct mail advertising. If you need assistance in fulfillment services such as pre-folding, addressing and presort services, you might want to consider using the services of a mail house. There are mail houses offering full business mailing services in Miami FL.