Here in NZ we have a general election tomorrow with the potential for a change of government.
And as I write this message the vote counting has just started on whether Scotland should become an independent country or not.
Regardless of where you are in the world there is always some change that is going on.
And the good news is that there are two marketing strategies that work brilliantly regardless of any changes.
In this message I'd like to remind you what these two marketing strategies are and I invite you to use them more often in your marketing. (You'll be delighted at how well they work for you.)
Here's marketing strategy 1:
Collect and use positive client testimonials in all your marketing.
This is one of the simplest and most effective things you can to instantly improve the effectiveness of any marketing message.
Here's the simple rule to remember:
If you say something positive about your product or service people will tend to doubt you because you are trying to get them to spend money with you.
If a delighted customer says something positive about your product or service this is 10 times more persuasive because the customer is not trying to sell you anything. (They are just sharing their positive experiences with the product or service.
So take a look at all your marketing messages...
On your website, in your proposals, in your brochures and so on. Ask yourself a simple question:
Who is saying positive things in these marketing messages?
Is it 'you' saying positive things about what you sell?
Or is it 'happy customers' saying positive things about what you sell?
In most cases you will see that it is 'you' doing most of the selling.
My recommendation is that you collect and use some positive testimonials from your delighted clients and then use these in a lot of your marketing messages. This is instantly more persuasive and can work incredibly well.
Here's a good example...
I worked with a luxury car dealership a while ago and we collected 35 amazing testimonials from some of their best customers. We put these into a beautiful looking 8 page booklet and this booklet is handed out to any person who takes a test drive.
The results have been phenomenal.
As the sales manager for this car dealership explained...
“Hi Graham, Just a quick note to let you know that I am delighted at how well the testimonials booklet you created for us is working to help our luxury car dealership make more sales. The testimonials booklet is easily one of the most effective marketing strategies we have ever used. One of the best things about the testimonials booklet is that it has positive feedback from our delighted clients about why they chose our luxury model, the benefits they have enjoyed from their vehicle and why they highly recommend our dealership other people. This is especially helpful when we have clients who have never owned our brand or dealt with our dealership before. We simply give them a copy of the booklet as part of the sales process and its compelling proof that buying a vehicle from us is a good decision to make. A huge number of the people we share this testimonials book let with go on to become happy clients. I also like that a number of the testimonials have clients mentioning how they considered other luxury vehicle options and why they chose our luxury brand instead. Having happy clients say this sort of thing is far more convincing and believable than anything we could say on our own behalf. Thanks again for such a useful marketing strategy. It’s working like magic for us.”
The key here is that potential clients for this luxury car firm get to read real testimonials from real customers. These are easily 10 times more believable than anything their sales team can say. And they are getting a ton of new customers as a result.
*Action Step One: *
Over the next month collect 10-30 compelling testimonials from your best clients and customers. And then use them in all your marketing.
*Here's marketing strategy 2: *
Use AVSIT Marketing with clients, prospects and key referral sources. AVSIT means Add Value Stay in Touch and it is very simple to do.
Just pick 100 people to start with. Maybe 50 clients, 25 clients in waiting and 25 referral sources.
(Clients in waiting are people you have communicated with who are interested in what you do but have not yet spent money with you.)
Then every month send these 100 people something that adds value.
The most effective way to do this is with good old fashioned snail mail because virtually no one uses it today.
By doing this every month you build up a community of people who like and trust you. And this produces deligthful amounts of repeat and referral sales from these people.
Action Step Two:
Make a list of 100 people that you will start an AVSIT Marketing campaign with. Then every month send out something to these 100 people that 'adds value' in some way.
These are two marketing strategies that always work to increase sales.