The 7 Commandments of Marketing

Marketing is the key to success with any business, online or traditional. You can have a website or business location. You can have a great product. However, if no one has heard about your business or your product, you have NOTHING!

Marketing is everything you do to promote yourself and your business. Without an aggressive marketing effort, your website is just one of EIGHT BILLION listed on Google. Without an aggressive marketing effort, your store better have a location next to Walmart and hope for their overflow. How do you stand out from the crowd?

There are seven (let's call them) commandments for your marketing efforts. Keep these in mind and you are well on your way to creating an effective marketing machine. Remember, there is only one way to score the effectiveness of your marketing efforts ? SALES!

Commandment #1. Use a Rifle NOT a Shotgun

Rifles leave a neat, clean hole where you point them. Shotguns scatter shot in the general direction you point them. Most failed marketing efforts are born in a scattered marketing message aimed at the world.

Let's say you were trying to sell a snowboard. To effectively sell a snowboard to a fifteen year old requires an entirely different conversation than selling the same item to his mother. Therefore, commandment #1 directs us to segment our possible customers into different groups who share common concerns. If your product could be sold to a fifteen year old or a 40 year old, you'd better decide who you are going to focus your marketing efforts upon for the greatest success.

Commandment #2. KNOW Thy Customer Like Thyself

Following commandment #1, we selected a targeted group of people for our marketing message. Now, we MUST understand that targeted market as well as we know ourselves. We must crawl within their mindset. We must understand what they think about our product, what they want from our product, and the alternatives they have to our product.

Customers buy for their reasons, not yours. If you want to sell them your product, you MUST sell to their concerns, not your own. Every piece of marketing copy must FOCUS upon them. If you don't speak their language, you don't get their money.

Commandment #3. Be PASSIONATE About Your Company & Your Product

Attitude is infectious. If we are around upset people, we begin to take on that attitude ourselves. If we are with positive people, the same phenomenon occurs. Most people like to associate with enthusiastic people. And, most of us like passionate people. If you aren't passionate about your company and your product, why should anyone else be? Commandment #3 means to show passion for your product by speaking and writing about it with enthusiasm. Talk about what your product can help people accomplish in their lives. If you can't work up enthusiasm for your own product or business, find another business or product.

Commandment #4. Accept the fact that "NO" won't kill you

In the process of running a business and selling a product, you will hear "no" more frequently than you hear "yes" (if you're doing it right). What? By "doing it right", we mean you are TRYING things. Some work. Some don't.

Whenever you think of a new marketing approach, remember, the worst that can happen is they say "no". So, try it! This is not a matter of life or death. This is a great experiment!

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Charles Darwin

Commandment #5. Wear a CLOWN SUIT! It's hard to ignore!

The cheapest and easiest marketing in the world is free advertising. How do you get free advertising? Wear a clown suit! Do something OUTRAGEOUS! Become news worthy. How?

When Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream first tried to expand to a nation-wide operation, it had trouble finding distributors. They determined the problem was that Pillsbury put out the word to all distributors not to work with Ben & Jerry's. Pillsbury's edict effectively blocked Ben & Jerry's from the services of the national distributors. What to do? Put on a clown suit!

Ben & Jerry's set up a one-man picket line outside Pillsbury headquarters. The picket sign read "Who's the Doughboy afraid of?" The result? National-wide FREE publicity on television and newspapers. Publicity they couldn't afford to buy.

In order to differentiate yourself from the crowd of competitors, you MUST be DIFFERENT! Design your own clown suit and wear it proudly!

Commandment #6. NEVER Give Up!

Albert Einstein said, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up".

In marketing, everything you do moves you forward. If one campaign fails, you are that much closer to the one destined to succeed. Watch others. Learn from others. Learn from your own mistakes. BUT KEEP GOING!

Commandment #7. Always Be Closing

"Always be closing" is often referred to as the "ABCs of sales". However, it also applies to marketing. The objective of marketing is to increase sales. Not to "inform", "educate", or "entertain". I repeat: The objective of marketing is to increase sales.

Therefore, this last commandment directs us to write all marketing copy with the sale in mind. Only information that moves a potential customer toward a sale is allowed in our marketing copy. How do we know what should stay and what should go in our marketing materials? Read through it asking yourself one question ? "So what?"

Another way of stating "so what?" is asking "why should the customer care?" You've been in business since 1972. So what? Your product folds flat. So what? You're a family owned business. So what? The alternative?

"We have been in business since 1972 so you'll always know where to find us. Since we are a family-owned business, you're always talking to an owner who can answer your questions and solve your problems. Our product folds flat to save you valuable office space when not in use." See the difference? Now you're talking about the customer's issues, not yours.

There you have my seven commandments of marketing based upon 33 years of business experience. "Commandment" is defined as "A formal pronouncement or rule". Keep in mind and put into practice these seven commandments of marketing. When you do, your marketing efforts will result in the only true value of marketing ? increased sales!

Michele Schermerhorn has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com) and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to "Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time".

---

Marketing vs Selling - Why Theres A Difference

Marketing is something that we do to let people know... Read More

The 30 Incredible Ways To Sell Your Products Now and Sell More

How to sell more and sell quickly online for your... Read More

Viral Marketing

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

Connect to Your Customers with Superb Sales Letters

In the age of e-newsletters and e-mail, you may not... Read More

The Six-Step Process That Grows Your Business

1. Examine your clientele and define your ideal client. Of... Read More

Top 3 Reasons Why Your Headlines Fail

Many professional copywriters estimate that the headline contributes to 80%... Read More

Why Most Marketing Videos Dont Work

Every now and then I will meet someone who has... Read More

Growing Your Brand Assets

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

Competitive Research and Google

It all started out with an email message: "I am... Read More

The A-Z of Exhibiting Overseas

Exhibiting overseas is one of the fastest and most cost... Read More

Forward Thinkers Stay Ahead of the Curve

What is it like from a marketing perspective to be... Read More

Resistances To Marketing a Practice-Part 1

If you are a therapist, counselor, or an alternative or... Read More

Using Demographic Data For Your Direct Mail Marketing Campaign

Targeting high potential markets with a direct mail marketing campaign... Read More

Uncover Your Hidden Markets

Want a simple, low-cost way to boost your sales? Just... Read More

Provacative Research Works

If you want to double your business, then you need... Read More

Trade Show Promotional Products ? Boosting Booth Traffic

I was about seven or eight years old when I... Read More

Mailing Lists ? Keeping it Simple

The right direct mailing list targets people who want your... Read More

The Art of the Business Card

Use a business card as a note pad for recording... Read More

Direct Mail Offers: Eight Steps to Making them Effective

Every direct mail package you drop in the mail should... Read More

The Exiler

THE EXILER (your search for true brand attributes ends here!)With... Read More

7 Tips for Successful Postcard Marketing

Simple low-cost postcards have become a valuable business tool for... Read More

Is Your Marketing Working...

That is the question, you should be asking yourself. Many... Read More

Build Relationships

Personal marketing makes it easier to sell, by building relationships... Read More

Pre-Cleaning and Updating Addresses in Your Database

When you send a direct mail piece using the Addressed... Read More

The Marshall Plan -- Or, Customer Aftercare: How To Spend Less & Sell More

My wife likes to shop at the local Safeway. Is... Read More

Loan Officer Marketing ? How Branding Shapes Your Prospects Perceptions

Social scientists have proven that people experience what they come... Read More

Writing Business Newsletters: Avoid the ?Me, Me, Me? Mistake

Effective customer newsletters find the right mix of promotional and... Read More

Marketing Strategies: What Choices Do You Have?

Most business people want to see improvements in sales and... Read More

How to Pick a Winning Business Name

What's in a name?Think of your business name as an... Read More

Tradeshow Booth Cures - Living Color

Feng Shui is the Ancient Chinese practice of configuring home... Read More

Boost Your Business With Testimonials

When used correctly, testimonials can boost your response dramatically. They... Read More

Standing Above The Crowd

In today's highly competitive business environment it is critical to... Read More

Neuromarketing: Smart Marketing Or Jedi Mind Control Trick?

In the international bestseller "Blink," Malcolm Gladwell explains why our... Read More