Marketing To The Affluent
Today I received Direct magazine for August. The cover article is titled “Mad Money… The wealthy are still spending on luxury goods and services”. Does Dan Kennedy have his finger on the pulse of the economy, or what? (see yesterday’s post for more info on Dan’s take).
Click on the link to Direct magazine, then click on the August issue cover and you’ll be taken straight to the article. In the online issue there’s even a link in a sidebar to a related article: “Luxury Lists, How to Find High-End Buyers.”
According to Dan, the affluent class is expanding rapidly. He predicts that soon we’ll see demographics of the wealthy making up 1/3 of the population. The middle class will start to shift into the two categories. It doesn’t end there. Ultimately, 2/3 of the population will be affluent, there will be no middle class, 1/3 of the population will be poor.
I’m not an economist. Dan’s not an economist either. But, he’s a helluva marketer and when it comes to buying trends I’d put my money on a seasoned marketer any day of the week.
Thanks for taking time to read my blog today. I appreciate you spending some of your valuable time with me.
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Dan Kennedy - Fix Your Follow-Up, part 4
Dan Kennedy’s most recent book is titled No B.S. Marketing to the Affluent: The No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners Guide to Getting Really Rich
1. Buying decisions are rarely made by price. Only 10% of people make buying decisions based on price. In a ‘real’ recession, that increases to 30%. However, at all times 40% of people NEVER buy based on price.
2. The affluent are the least and the last affected by a sluggish economy.
3. The greatest population growth is in the affluent. More people are becoming affluent than are becoming poor.
4. Because the affluent population is the greatest growth sector, their buying capacity is growing exponentially.
When selling to the affluent, Read more
Dan Kennedy’s Fix Your Follow-Up, 2
Buckle up and get ready for more of Dan’s wisdom…
Dan’s 3-step formula for finding highly qualified prospects:
1) Run an ad or do a mailer that asks the reader to call you.
2) When they call, do not set an appointment. Get their name and physical address to send them more information. Read more
Ten Essential Questions to Ask Your Market, cont’d.
Now for the conclusion of an article by guest author, Donna Gunter, which gives
insight on how to identify your target market.
6. Location. Where do they hang out in real time — at church, the local
coffee shop, the hardware store, civic groups or professional association
meetings? What about online in discussion groups, blogs, forums, online
networking sites? Do they attend conferences or trade shows regularly? Can you
open the yellow pages of your phone book and find several listings that would
encompass your target market?
7. Information Gathering. What magazines, newspapers, email newsletters,
blogs, and professional trade publications do they read? What television
programs do they regularly watch? What kind of movies do they see? What kind of
online videos do they view?
8. Connections. With whom do they do business on a regular basis? Where
do they network online and offline? Who are their “natural referral partners”,
or other businesses who cater to the same target market but offer a different
service? Whom do they trust and respect?
9. Communication. How do they prefer to interact — in person, by email,
by webconferencing? Are there buzzwords or industry-specific terms that they use
frequently? What gets their attention?
10. Problems and Solutions. What are the key issues/problems/concerns
keeping them awake at night? Are they in enough pain that they’re willing to pay
you to solve their problem? Where are they seeking assistance to help solve the
problem? What kinds of products and services might they purchase to help solve
this problem — books, magazines, coaching, consulting, etc.?
Once you’ve completed several interviews, then compile the information you have
received and create a profile of your target market. Based on the info in this
profile, then answer these three questions:
1. Are there enough of them to make them viable as a group?
2. Would I enjoy working with this target market?
3. Do you offer ready solutions that would help this target market solve their
problems?
If the answers to those questions are all “yes”, have this profile available to
you as you plan your marketing strategy, write your website copy, create
information products, write articles, blog, or compose your email newsletter.
When you fully understand your target market, you are able to streamline and
focus your marketing, and you’ll wonder why you ever waited this long to define
your target market!
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach Donna Gunter helps service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.
Contact me at georgann@catchphrasemarketing.com, or call me at 877-434-9019, with any questions you may have about electronic marketing (email, newsletters, ezines) or to discuss how using these marketing methods can quickly improve your business’ profitability. I can show you how to do it, or I can do it all for you.
Also, you can go to www.catchphrasemarketing.com to get even more information on the benefits of using email marketing in your business
10 Essential Questions to Ask Your Target Market
Article by guest author, Donna Gunter. This article will be published in
two parts.
“My target market is everybody.” Is this statement true for your business?
If so, how is that working for you? My guess would be that it’s not working
at all. I shudder when a client tells me that their target market is everyone.
When you target everyone, it’s too hard to focus on anyone and you attract
no one.
One of the most terrifying decisions an online business owner makes is the
decision to refine and define their target market. Why? Generally because
they’re scared of excluding people. However, the more focused you are in your
marketing efforts and the better you understand and can define your target
market, the easier your marketing becomes. Really! And, what’s even more
astonishing is that you’ll soon begin to hear, “Well, I know you only work with
<xyz market> and have seen how successful they have been in working with you,
but I’m <abc market>. Will you work with me, too, and help me succeed?”
What’s the easiest way to uncover the characteristics of your target market?
Conduct informational interviews with those who belong to that target market.
Despite the fact that most informational interviews are used by people seeking a
job in a particular market, you can apply this concept to help you create a full
description of your target market. If you have no idea who that might be,
interview some of your favorite clients or friends/colleagues that you think
would make an ideal client for you. Go through your contact database Read more
When Is The Best Time For A Small Business To Market?
The best time to market is today. And everyday hereafter. Marketing should be a year-round process. Even seasonal businesses must consistently reach out to customers or risk having to rebuild their sales every year.
Many business owners who are struggling today might have built highly successful companies if only they’d put marketing programs in place. In the first few years of business, owners are focused on doing the ‘thing’ that is the business (i.e., doctors want to be doctors) instead of marketing and other activities to grow the business. According to Michael Gerber, author of E-Myth, 80% of new businesses fail in the first 5 years. 80% of those left will fail in the next 5 years. But to try to bring in customers without prospect databases, marketing tools or materials, often with little or no name recognition in the marketplace is almost impossible.
If this story seems a bit too familiar, it’s time to take charge of your company’s marketing and become proactive. Whether you are just starting your business or have been in business for many years, consider putting into place a system to capture prospect’s contact information and a system to stay in touch with everyone who’s shown interest or purchased from you. Making an investment of time and money into establishing a marketing and client retention system now will pay benefits for years to come.
There are many software programs available to facilitate this aspect of marketing. Not all of them will be best for your business. Take some time to evaluate which one will work best for you or consult with a marketing pro. In the meantime, even keeping paper records (i.e., sign up forms at the counter of the restaurant) will get you started. Then, when you have decided on an automated approach, it’ll just be a matter of data entry to get caught up.
Client acquisition and retention doesn’t have to be hard. It just has to be done.
Contact me at georgann@catchphrasemarketing.com, or call me at 877-434-9019, with any questions you may have about electronic marketing (email, newsletters, ezines) or to discuss how using these marketing methods can quickly improve your business’ profitability. I can show you how to do it, or I can do it all for you.
Also, you can go to www.catchphrasemarketing.com to get even more information on the benefits of using email marketing in your business
Georgann McCrosson
More on Lead Nurturing
The definition of ‘nurture’ is to foster, help develop or grow. Lead nurturing is not about following up in a few months to see if a prospect is ready to buy. It is about developing long-term, trust-filled relationships. Provide your prospects with consistent, meaningful communication, regardless of their timing to buy.
Be sure your potential clients have answers to the following questions:
- How will your service or product help them?
- Why should they buy from you instead of a competitor?
- Does your solution really work? Can you prove it?
What other questions might your prospects have? Take some time to find out. Once they have the answers they will be much more likely to buy from you when they’re ready.
Too often our emphasis is on lead generation. But, getting tons of leads does not necessarily mean getting tons of sales. When it comes to leads, more is not better unless you are prepared to nurture the people who raised their hand, asking for more information.
Start a lead nurturing program as soon as possible. It matters less what you do than the fact that you do it. As part of your program decide how often you will contact your potential clients and stick to it. Whether it’s once a week or once a month, they will become comfortable with hearing from you. And your reliability will be noticed. If you are reliable before the sale, they’ll know it’s more likely they can rely on you after the sale.
Contact me at georgann@catchphrasemarketing.com, or call me at 877-434-9019, with any questions you may have about electronic marketing (email, newsletters, ezines) or to discuss how using these marketing methods can quickly improve your business’ profitability. I can show you how to do it, or I can do it all for you.
Also, you can go to www.catchphrasemarketing.com to get even more information on the benefits of using email marketing in your business
Georgann McCrosson
Nurturing Leads
No matter what communication medium you utilize, it’s rare that a single approach will be effective in sparking interest in the majority of your audience.
Once you’ve sparked some interest in the prospect with your message, the next step is getting them to let you know it, to raise their hand, identify themselves and progress to the next step.
Unfortunately, that can take several attempts as well! Being busy and distracted, requiring motivation, education, awareness, etc., contribute to your prospect’s attention span. A single contact – even among people who have already expressed an interest in your service – is rarely enough to carry them to the next level of interaction.
Most leads are long-term relationships. According to marketing research about 75% of proactively generated leads do not have an immediate need for your service. They have identified themselves as interested in hearing what you have to say, but they’re not ready yet to make an investment.
And, according to the Yankee Group, 40% to 80% of new business leads are lost or not followed up on due there being no process in place to maintain contact with a lead that is in the pipeline but not ready to buy.
Lead nurturing is an important, but frequently overlooked, part of the whole lead generation process for service providers. As a business professional, you can’t know exactly what message, in what format, will be the one to spur the desired action in your prospect.
Direct marketing, via mail, email or phone calls, is regarded in terms of “campaigns”. Unfortunately they are rarely long enough or intensive enough to extract all the value possible.
Ongoing communications with your target audience, long after the campaign is over, will boost your lead rates and improve the quality of the leads you generate.
Contact me at georgann@catchphrasemarketing.com, or call me at 877-434-9019, with any questions you may have about electronic marketing (email, newsletters, ezines) or to discuss how using these marketing methods can quickly improve your business’ profitability. I can show you how to do it, or I can do it all for you.
Also, you can go to www.catchphrasemarketing.com to get even more information on the benefits of using email marketing in your business
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Georgann McCrosson
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