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".

---

The Beginners Mail Order Business Guide

No claim is made that the steps outlined would be... Read More

Why Most Marketing Videos Dont Work

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

8 Proven Ways to Get Referrals

Do you find it hard to ask for referrals? I... Read More

One-A-Day Marketing Vitamins

Is your business growing, or are you on a plateau... Read More

Using Purchased Leads

A little advice about using leads that you purchase from... Read More

You Must Get Going If You Want To Get Growing

For many of service-based businesses out there, it's not that... Read More

How to Manage Your Marketing Mix

Here's the deal: advertisement is not marketing. It's like saying... Read More

Small Business Pricing Strategies

Think the best way to get more customers is to... Read More

7 Great Ways to Market Yourself and Your Business to Help Increase Sales

Do you own a business and need ideas on how... Read More

Discover the Winning Marketing Strategy Secrets of Donald Trump Apprentice Wanna-bes

The highly entertaining Donald Trump's search for an apprentice turned... Read More

Sell Your Name, Not Your Product

Do you know what the majority of people sell? I... Read More

Tackle a Newsletter and Come Out On Top

Unlike any other marketing vehicle, newsletters give you the opportunity... Read More

Build a Dynamic Business - 10 Steps to Start You Off

It's where your employees are in a 'special place' when... Read More

Utilizing Your Best Hidden Asset To Increase Sales

You probably already have in your possession one of the... Read More

Promotional Freebies

What's a promotional freebie? A promotional freebie is something you... Read More

Dramatically Improve Your Marketing Results With These 6 Simple Steps

What if there were things you could start doing now... Read More

A Quick Guide To Finding Reciprocal Links

Trading reciprocal links is one of the best ways to... Read More

When, Why, and How to Use Mailing Lists

Mailing lists may be the cause of more heartbreaks than... Read More

Sell More Online By Offering a Big Fat BONUS!

I don't know about you, but I secretly love watching... Read More

More Scams! Do you Really Believe It?

Quit spreading those chain letters, nothing is going to happen... Read More

2 Little Words That Work Marketing Magic

In his classic best-seller, "How To Win Friends And Influence... Read More

10 Steps to a Great Newsletter

A newsletter can be a wonderful, economical way to communicate... Read More

Six Ways to Boost Response on Your Surveys and Gain More Useful Information

So... you spend time and effort putting together a survey,... Read More

How to Get the Right Clients and Avoid the Wrong Ones

If you are like most service professionals and small business... Read More

Adapting Blog Technologies To Corporate E-Newsletters

Every January, trade publications put out a list... Read More

Take the Test: Do Your Marketing Materials Really Grab Attention?

Today's constant bombardment of marketing messages means your materials must... Read More

2 Step Marketing

Do it Right.I receive postcards all the time. The other... Read More

Promotional Marketing Products ? Selecting the Perfect Item

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

Fertilizer For Your Grassroots Marketing

Looking for a great way to drive traffic to your... Read More

The 5 Minute Marketing Plan

If I were to ask you right now, what marketing... Read More

Voice Mail Can Be Your Buddy

Voice Mail is a classy name for "answer Machine". Problem... Read More

Teaming Up Marketing and Sales

The Pitchers: SalesLet's say you have a new baseball team... Read More

Tie-In With Others To Maximize Your Business Leverage

One of the most rewarding, inexpensive, under-used, and effective methods... Read More