BRILLIANT MARKETING... sounds great, but what is it?
Is it the marketing idea that results in the mailman ringing your doorbell, signaling in a caravan of postal workers with mounds of letters - all in response to your latest advertisement? Is it the idea that brings a 35% response rate on a direct mail campaign... or the one that sends gigabytes of good news in the form of PayPal payment receipt notifications?
Surely all of these ideas would be considered brilliant marketing ideas...right?
Well, maybe... it depends on the cost of generating the response. If the cost of marketing is greater than the income generated, it doesn't matter how great the response, it's not the result of brilliant marketing idea!
So what is a brilliant marketing idea? Simple: a brilliant marketing idea is one that brings in profits far greater than the marketing costs associated with generating those profits. Simple in concept, but not so simple in application... unless your marketing focuses on those key elements that make the difference between disappointing marketing results and brilliant marketing results.
Marketing brilliantly means:
Creating Rapport - All of your messages, materials, and tactics must be based on creating rapport with your prospects and customers. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of all business transactions take place because of sense of rapport - a statistic that just can't be ignored. For example, use phrases like "For Your Convenience" or "Questions Welcome".
Using the Principals of Psychology - There is a lot of information readily available that tells us what makes prospects buy... incorporating this knowledge in your marketing is critical. For example, did you know that the majority of response from a direct mail campaign comes after the seventh mailing? Why? Because the repetitive exposure finally gets through that part of your prospect's brain that tries to ignore all of the "noise" coming at it every day.
Affordability - Marketing brilliantly is all about developing materials and tactics to be as inexpensive as possible. This is vital for most small businesses (most of which have a nearly non-existent marketing budget). As simple as this sounds, most businesses focus on designing materials that focus on ego-gratification... after all, it's more impressive to see a four color ad in print than it is to see one in black and white. BUT... did you know it costs less to print the black and white ad and it actually generates greater response rates than a larger ad (or a four color ad) if it is designed using design tricks like a THICK black border. Marketing brilliantly means knowing these tricks of the trade - and using them to decrease costs while increasing response rates.
Maximizing Everything -- Maximizing everything you do as a part of your daily business operations activity - so that it becomes a marketing activity also - is critical to marketing brilliantly. It also means maximizing every element of your marketing materials and activities to bring maximum response. For example, if you are sending our invoices (or any other customer communication for that matter), be sure to include marketing messages or materials in that routine mailing.
Creating Enthusiasm -- Every one of your marketing materials must focus on the benefits (and supporting features) of your products and services; this is the most inexpensive and highly effective way to create the energy, enthusiasm, and emotion your prospect must feel in order to buy. People rarely buy because they need something... they buy because they WANT it. For example, just using exclamation points can create enthusiasm and energy in your prospect's mind!
Being Totally Comprehensive -- There are many different ways to market your business and you need to take advantage of every applicable avenue. This includes using business communications to market your business as well as advertising, direct mail, internet marketing, networking, public relations, and customer development tactics. (Customer development includes the more familiar category of customer service but it goes beyond that... incorporating strategies specifically for developing customers into better, repeat customers.)
Using Self-Sustaining Strategies -- Operations are the life-blood of every small business; marketing brilliantly means your marketing almost operates on auto-pilot and takes minimal time away from operations. For example, every marketing material you create should be used as many times, as many ways, as possible. Forget the prominent mentality that says every time you need to market something that you need to create from scratch. Not only is it more expensive, but it takes valuable time away from business operations.
Okay, so there you have it: simple, logical, and amazingly powerful techniques for marketing brilliantly.
