| Marketing Tips to help you Create Waves of Positive Change...in your community, the world, and best of all, your bottom line! |
| August 2007 |
| -- S h ar o n F ra n ci s, C E O |
Increase Your Income by 230%!
According to statistics compiled by the US Department of
Labor and from a survey done by Yahoo, business people
who read at least 7 business books a year earn over 230%
more than people who read only 1 book each year.
What to Read this Month: Made to Stick: Why Some
Ideas Survive and Some Die
Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of this book, help us
understand the principles that link "sticky" ideas of all
kinds, from the "kidney thieves" of urban legend to JFK's
"Man on the Moon" speech to the fundraising strategy of
the Nature Conservancy.
According to the authors, one of the reasons certain
messages work better than others is because of their
"curiosity factor." As humans, we tend to feel left out if we
have a gap in our knowledge and curiosity can be like an
itch that just needs to be scratched.
Want to know other reasons? Read the book.
Read more about Made to Stick
Keys to Successful Event Marketing
Many times, clients ask how to get more people to attend
their events. And I always answer, "It depends."
What I mean is - it depends on the type of event you're
having. For instance, is it a free event? Is it black tie? It is
educational? Or is it just for fun?
All of these things will play a part in how much you can and
should spend on the marketing of your events. And just as
important, they will determine who should receive your
messages -- and how soon (or late) you can send out those
messages and expect them to be effective.
Some things to consider:
Above all, remember business events serve business
goals. Don’t neglect the forest for the trees. Managing
events can be an extremely complicated and costly
activity. But these activities are simply the trees—they are
a means to an end. The forest lies in the business result
and the planning that drives it. If you are paying attention to
the trees alone, you miss the true power of event
marketing. And if the results of your event don't yield a
return on your investment (of both time and money), then
you should re-evaluate whether to hold the event at all.
Here's an example. Let's say you've planned a free event
and will spend approximately $600 total (on both the
marketing of the event and day-of-event details). If you add
in your own time spent planning and pulling this event
together, you may have a true event cost of more than
$1,000. Will it be worthwhile if you gather no new leads or
sales from this event? Maybe - if your goal is simply to
create good will. But good will only goes so far with your
bottom line. And the ROI on good will takes a long time to
show itself. So be patient.
If your events are not pulling in the number of people you'd
like to see in attendance, or if those people are not acting
on your offer (buying your product or service once they get
there), you may need to re-evaluate either your marketing
efforts, your sales efforts, your offer, or all three.
And remember, effective marketing takes both time and
money. So be prepared and plan well.
According to statistics compiled by the US Department of
Labor and from a survey done by Yahoo, business people
who read at least 7 business books a year earn over 230%
more than people who read only 1 book each year.
What to Read this Month: Made to Stick: Why Some
Ideas Survive and Some Die
Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of this book, help us
understand the principles that link "sticky" ideas of all
kinds, from the "kidney thieves" of urban legend to JFK's
"Man on the Moon" speech to the fundraising strategy of
the Nature Conservancy.
According to the authors, one of the reasons certain
messages work better than others is because of their
"curiosity factor." As humans, we tend to feel left out if we
have a gap in our knowledge and curiosity can be like an
itch that just needs to be scratched.
Want to know other reasons? Read the book.
Read more about Made to Stick
Keys to Successful Event Marketing
Many times, clients ask how to get more people to attend
their events. And I always answer, "It depends."
What I mean is - it depends on the type of event you're
having. For instance, is it a free event? Is it black tie? It is
educational? Or is it just for fun?
All of these things will play a part in how much you can and
should spend on the marketing of your events. And just as
important, they will determine who should receive your
messages -- and how soon (or late) you can send out those
messages and expect them to be effective.
Some things to consider:
- + People are very busy and most will not want or be able
to commit to a casual event until that day. Trust me. Lot's
of research has been done on this in the arts and
entertainment field. And most people say they "wait to
see" what their friends are doing and/or how tired they will
be before they decide if and where they will go out. Keep
this in mind when marketing your no or low-cost event.
And keep reminding people all the way up to the day of
the event, because that may be the day they decide to go.
+ If there is a cost of $50 or more to attend your event,
you will want to begin to market at least 6 weeks prior to
give your audience enough time to decide if they will go.
And you will want to keep sending your message out at
least weekly (in different formats) so that your event
remains in their awareness.
+ Whether your event is large or small, be creative in how
you present it to the public. Use a theme to pull all the
parts together. And if you can, add things to your event
that haven't been done before. Doing so will make it
easier to create 'buzz' in the community and get people
talking about (and recommending) your event to their
friends.
Above all, remember business events serve business
goals. Don’t neglect the forest for the trees. Managing
events can be an extremely complicated and costly
activity. But these activities are simply the trees—they are
a means to an end. The forest lies in the business result
and the planning that drives it. If you are paying attention to
the trees alone, you miss the true power of event
marketing. And if the results of your event don't yield a
return on your investment (of both time and money), then
you should re-evaluate whether to hold the event at all.
Here's an example. Let's say you've planned a free event
and will spend approximately $600 total (on both the
marketing of the event and day-of-event details). If you add
in your own time spent planning and pulling this event
together, you may have a true event cost of more than
$1,000. Will it be worthwhile if you gather no new leads or
sales from this event? Maybe - if your goal is simply to
create good will. But good will only goes so far with your
bottom line. And the ROI on good will takes a long time to
show itself. So be patient.
If your events are not pulling in the number of people you'd
like to see in attendance, or if those people are not acting
on your offer (buying your product or service once they get
there), you may need to re-evaluate either your marketing
efforts, your sales efforts, your offer, or all three.
And remember, effective marketing takes both time and
money. So be prepared and plan well.
Good Words
Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued.
It must ensue. And it only does so as the
unintended side of one's personal dedication
to a cause greater than oneself.
-- Viktor Frankl
Marketing Factoid
Words that resonate with spiritual impact are
the smallest number of words in the English
language. Advanced Marketing Institute
research has found that spiritual impact
words carry the strongest potential for
influence and often appeal to people at a very
deep emotional level.
Words with Spiritual impact are best used
with people and businesses desiring to
make an appeal to some aspect of
spirituality. This does not mean religion
specifically, but any product or service that
resonates with “spirituality” oriented markets
are appropriate. The clergy, new age, health
food and related markets all respond
favorably to sales copy heavy with Spiritual
impact content. Women and children also
respond strongly to words in the Spiritual
sphere. Marketing documents with strong
Spiritual impact content can make for the
most powerful presentations in the
marketplace, but must be used with
considerable skill.
Source: The Advanced Marketing Inst.
Testimonial
Social Good provides highly professional,
personable public relations and marketing
services... we are very pleased with the work
[they] have completed for us and look forward
to continuing to work with them.
--Madhu Bajaj
Program Manager
Ventura County
AIDS Partnership
Good Tool: Headline Analyzer
Analyze the headlines you use in all of your
marketing copy with this really cool online
tool provided by the Advanced Marketing
Institute: (bookmark this site) www.
aminstitute.com/
The tool will analyze your headline according
to its Emotional Marketing Value (or EMV).
Reaching your customers in a deep and
emotional way is one of the keys to
successful copywriting, and your headline is
unquestionably the most important piece of
copy you use to reach prospects.
Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued.
It must ensue. And it only does so as the
unintended side of one's personal dedication
to a cause greater than oneself.
-- Viktor Frankl
Marketing Factoid
Words that resonate with spiritual impact are
the smallest number of words in the English
language. Advanced Marketing Institute
research has found that spiritual impact
words carry the strongest potential for
influence and often appeal to people at a very
deep emotional level.
Words with Spiritual impact are best used
with people and businesses desiring to
make an appeal to some aspect of
spirituality. This does not mean religion
specifically, but any product or service that
resonates with “spirituality” oriented markets
are appropriate. The clergy, new age, health
food and related markets all respond
favorably to sales copy heavy with Spiritual
impact content. Women and children also
respond strongly to words in the Spiritual
sphere. Marketing documents with strong
Spiritual impact content can make for the
most powerful presentations in the
marketplace, but must be used with
considerable skill.
Source: The Advanced Marketing Inst.
Testimonial
Social Good provides highly professional,
personable public relations and marketing
services... we are very pleased with the work
[they] have completed for us and look forward
to continuing to work with them.
--Madhu Bajaj
Program Manager
Ventura County
AIDS Partnership
Good Tool: Headline Analyzer
Analyze the headlines you use in all of your
marketing copy with this really cool online
tool provided by the Advanced Marketing
Institute: (bookmark this site) www.
aminstitute.com/
The tool will analyze your headline according
to its Emotional Marketing Value (or EMV).
Reaching your customers in a deep and
emotional way is one of the keys to
successful copywriting, and your headline is
unquestionably the most important piece of
copy you use to reach prospects.