11 Powerful Marketing Tips

Each of these 11 marketing tips is based on a marketing strategy or tactic proven to boost sales. How many are you using?

Tip 1: Your customers buy your product or service to feel a certain way after their purchase. Keep this in mind as you develop your ads, web pages and other sales tools. Use vivid word pictures to dramatize the pleasant feelings your customers experience when they use what you are selling. It intensifies their desire to have it and motivates them to buy now.

Tip 2: Continually test new advertising and marketing methods ...and old methods you never tried before. A good guideline to follow is to allocate 80 percent of your budget to proven promotions and 20 percent to testing new things. Most businesses using this formula keep growing regardless of changing market conditions and intense competition.

Tip 3: Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads for the same cost. Don't be surprised if your short ads generate a higher response than long ads - giving you a bigger return for your expense. One of the most effective ads I ever used was only 11 words.

Tip 4: Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. People read postcards when the message is brief. A small ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your web site and generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.

Tip 5: Active, stimulating words and phrases keep prospects interested in reading your sales copy. Look for dull passive words and phrases and replace them with active ones. For example, change a phrase like "...it's practical and inexpensive" to "...it's fast, easy and you save $99".

Tip 6: After telling prospects what they gain when they buy your product or service, tell them what they lose if they do not buy it. Most people fear loss more than they desire gain. Customers want your product or service so they can enjoy the benefits it provides. But they will want it even more if you remind them of what they lose by not buying it.

Tip 7: You can eliminate any last minute hesitation prospective customers may have by announcing a pleasant surprise near the end of every selling procedure. For example, add an unexpected bonus to each transaction immediately before the final action that completes the sale.

Tip 8: You can boost your total sales volume and your average size sale at the same time by combining 2 or more related products or services into a Special Combination Package. Set the price lower than the cost of buying each item separately. This "special deal" will motivate both procrastinators and bargain hunters to buy now.

Tip 9: You always need to find new customers. But don't overlook the sales you can easily get from your existing customers. It's easier to get more business from them than it is to get any business from new prospects. Follow up with your existing customers to get more sales of the same product or to offer them additional products and services.

Tip 10: How would you react if you got a personal "thank you" from a business several days after you spent money with them? You'd feel good and probably want to do more business with them. Give that same feeling to your customers. They will reward you with more business - and a flood of referrals.

Tip 11: Convert your customers into publicity agents. Develop an incentive for them to tell associates and friends about the value of your products or services. An endorsement from them can produce sales you would never get with any amount of advertising.

How many of these 11 marketing tactics are you using? How many have you overlooked? You are losing sales if you don't use all of them.

Copyright 2004 Bob Leduc

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards ...and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You'll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

---

3 Simple Selling Tactics

The following 3 simple selling tactics produce sales by responding... Read More

Growing Your Brand Assets

Okay. Raise your hand if you think brand management is... Read More

Creative Online Marketing For Salespeople and Business Professionals

New to a sales career? Want to market yourself but... Read More

Business Cards That do the Business

A business card makes a statement about who you are... Read More

Ten Tips for Creating a Winning Proposal ? Part 2

Part 1 of this series described five critical components for... Read More

Sum of Its Parts

I just spent a week at the beach with my... Read More

The Mighty Marketing Brochure

"Brochure" is French, and it comes from brocher, meaning to... Read More

How To Use The Og In All Of Us To Make More Money

5000 B.C. -- somewhere near a cave in MontanaOg the... Read More

Promotional Marketing Products ? Selecting the Perfect Item

People are known to shop on impulse- buying an item... Read More

What Does Marketing Mean?

You can have the best little business ever with wonderful... Read More

Quick Postcard Design Tips

TIP #1: Avoid the "Too Much Information" Syndrome... Read More

The Secret to Good Writing

Skilful business writing involves getting your message across simply and... Read More

Peddling Your Own Wagon Through Local Exposure

In my e-book "Articles That Sell", I've shared the secret... Read More

The 4 P s of Marketing: Effective Marketing Programs Depend On Them

There is no shortage of marketing programs, many with great... Read More

5 Steps to Success: A Surefire Way to Achieve Your Goals

No doubt you started this year with some big ideas... Read More

Explode Your Sales With Free & Exclusive Content

Offering free and exclusive content to ezine publishers and webmasters... Read More

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing involves the use of surf-exchanges, and if you... Read More

Top Five Tips For Designing Marketing Strategies That Get Results

"But this won't work" said Steve. "I've tried it in... Read More

Can Message Board Marketing Work For You?

One of the things that makes the Internet fun is... Read More

Marketing on the Cheap: Write? Right!!

We all know the value of writing articles for promoting... Read More

The YOU Factor

I don't mean you, I mean the YOU that is... Read More

Ready, Aim, Fire...Oops...Wheres The Target?

Everywhere you go on the Internet you find the words,... Read More

Consistent Marketing Provides Big Rewards

Being inconsistent when it comes to marketing your business can... Read More

Do Not Consider Running the Same Yellow Page Ad until You Read This

Grant Businesses have a love-hate relationship with the Yellow Page... Read More

11 Powerful Marketing Tips

Each of these 11 marketing tips is based on a... Read More

Why Your Business Need a Website

Web Presence gives your business a distince edge over your... Read More

Mission Position

Ahh, the mission statement. For some companies it simply describes... Read More

Your Marketing Message - Could You Wring More CASH Out Of It With This Ancient Japanese Discipline?

When it comes to your marketing message, the little things... Read More

Mortgage Marketing - What Your Client Wants

Your business depends on the success of your marketing efforts.... Read More

Standards for Dry Washing and Pressure Washing in Mobile Car Care

The industry standard for mobile washing is completing the car... Read More

The Fine Art of Relationship Marketing

The buzzword these days is "relationship" marketing. Just what is... Read More

Why Target the Matures

The "Matures" are the generations that came along between 1909... Read More

The Real Marketing Genius

I spend a lot of my time reading books and... Read More