Top 18 Marketing Elements 5 & 6 continued
I've been off line for a time and I realized I never finished this series. So I committing over the next few weeks to get this complete.
When I talk to business owners about their marketing and explain about our outside-the-box, non-traditional marketing and advertising, the first question I get goes something like this.
'Do you use magazine ads or that direct mail stuff for that?'
My answer is always....YES!
We do use all different types of media. But the method we use to deliver the message is always the last thing we consider.
I DO use newspaper, magazines, yellow pages, Val-Pak, direct mail, email, websites and many more MEDIA when I am working with a client. But that is chosen only after we choose who we are going to target and what message we want to deliver.
When most people start thinking about marketing or advertising for their business, all they consider is the media they will use. One of the biggest leaps in my own businesses came 5 or 6 years ago when, my top small business marketing mentor, Dan Kennedy (The Doctor of Harsh Reality) drilled this into my head with his Marketing Triangle that must be in balance before launching any advertising campaign.
We first start with either our specifically defined market and choose a message that will get us the most traction or with the message we want to deliver then choose the target market. Only after that do we even start to consider how we want to deliver that message (media).
But on to our 5th & 6th marketing step to create more compelling, higher response sales material.
#5: Choose and Urgency Method.
I know you find this extremely hard to believe, but your prospects DO NOT have you products, your company, your services at the top of their mind. They ARE NOT burning up to buy from you. And 2nd, they will procrastinate if given the chance.
You must give them a burning reason to buy from you now and not wait until they get around to it. Because .... they almost never do!
So make sure you give them a reason to do it now.
#6: Conversation in their Head.
Again, I know you will find it hard to believe, but you and your company are not the most important thing going on in your prospect's life. They aren't thinking about you.
But they probably are thinking about Paris Hilton, Michael Jackson, the earthquake in Haiti, the NFL playoffs, the government health care debate, new year's resolutions, Valentine's Day coming up, their birthday coming up next week or something besides you.
If you will design your message to enter that conversation you can get their attention and get them to read your message.
If they have some opinion about your industry...about a problem they have in their life...about something going on with problems in their business, you have a chance to get their attention. When your message speaks in words and phrases they have going on in their head, they are far more likely to respond to your message.
So in summary, no urgency...no sale. Enter the conversation in their head guarantee's you a reading of your message.
Wayne Story
www.MarketingResultsRx.com
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Friday, July 31, 2009
Top 18 Marketing Elements
Here's the next chapter in my continuing series on 18 key elements that should be in any marketing sales letter or website selling a product or service. If your media is a display ad, it is difficult to have enough room to cover all of these. However even in a display ad, you should try to determine the most critical ones and use them.
Remember: Now's the time to get your marketing copy right - so it will sell!
Top 18 Marketing Elements - 3 & 4
3. Choose The Right Media: Once you know the WHO and the MESSAGE you are going to deliver to the WHO, (see my last post) you can now choose the media.
Here’s another big mistake I see all the time. Most business owners first choose the media and then try to decide what MESSAGE they want to convey. When starting with media, they almost never consider the WHO that particular media is best targeted to reach.
A great example of this was the owner of a home flooring sales and installation company that attended one of my marketing seminars. The Val-Pak advertising salesperson had been to his office and convinced him this was a great advertising media for him to use. The salesperson helped him put some ads together to run in their monthly mailings.
You see by choosing the media first, he hadn’t considered WHO was opening, reading and responding to the ads. 87% of Val-Pak ad envelopes are opened by women. But, his ads were using words, phrases, terms and offers that were targeted to getting men to respond. 87% of all of his ads were falling on deaf ears.
You always want to choose the media based on the MESSAGE you have chosen and the WHO you want and expect to respond.
4. Identify What Your OFFER Will Be: You next need to determine what you want to use to grab your prospect’s attention that will cause them to want to take action. Your OFFER might be for some product that is brand new and solves some specific problem that exists in the industry. It might be to OFFER something special that they just can’t do without. It might be some special sale, or special quantity, or a special design, or special product combination for a specific improved price.
Your OFFER might be to request some type of free information to get the prospect to give you their name, email and address. For many companies this is a much better OFFER because it can often take several steps to convince a new client/customer/patient to do business with you. If you have their contact information, you can start dribbling information and OFFERs to get them to begin to Know, Like & Trust you . . . and then do business with you.
Remember: Now's the time to get your marketing copy right - so it will sell!
Top 18 Marketing Elements - 3 & 4
3. Choose The Right Media: Once you know the WHO and the MESSAGE you are going to deliver to the WHO, (see my last post) you can now choose the media.
Here’s another big mistake I see all the time. Most business owners first choose the media and then try to decide what MESSAGE they want to convey. When starting with media, they almost never consider the WHO that particular media is best targeted to reach.
A great example of this was the owner of a home flooring sales and installation company that attended one of my marketing seminars. The Val-Pak advertising salesperson had been to his office and convinced him this was a great advertising media for him to use. The salesperson helped him put some ads together to run in their monthly mailings.
You see by choosing the media first, he hadn’t considered WHO was opening, reading and responding to the ads. 87% of Val-Pak ad envelopes are opened by women. But, his ads were using words, phrases, terms and offers that were targeted to getting men to respond. 87% of all of his ads were falling on deaf ears.
You always want to choose the media based on the MESSAGE you have chosen and the WHO you want and expect to respond.
4. Identify What Your OFFER Will Be: You next need to determine what you want to use to grab your prospect’s attention that will cause them to want to take action. Your OFFER might be for some product that is brand new and solves some specific problem that exists in the industry. It might be to OFFER something special that they just can’t do without. It might be some special sale, or special quantity, or a special design, or special product combination for a specific improved price.
Your OFFER might be to request some type of free information to get the prospect to give you their name, email and address. For many companies this is a much better OFFER because it can often take several steps to convince a new client/customer/patient to do business with you. If you have their contact information, you can start dribbling information and OFFERs to get them to begin to Know, Like & Trust you . . . and then do business with you.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Top 18 Marketing Copy Elements - 1 & 2
Now's the time to Get Your Marketing Copy RIGHT!
I am frequently asked to review copy written by my clients; and I often find that many essential elements are missing. I have worked up a simple list of these elements you should include when you write copy that is designed to get your prospect to buy something or request something you offer as a reason to get them to give you a name, email address and/or address.
I will share my "Must Have" list with you over the next few weeks of posts.
1. Identify the WHO You Are Speaking To: Most all advertising that I see is extremely generic and doesn't call out any specific WHO that company wants to respond. I often find that people give little or no thought to the WHO of marketing. This is the group of businesses, consumers, etc that are most likely to respond and that we want our message to target.
When I bring this up to people the response I often get is: "I don't want to miss anyone that might respond." The truth is that the less targeted you copy the less response you will get. We have proved this over and over again. But, people are still afraid they might miss someone. The broader your message . . . you'll find you receive a smaller percentage of response.
So you must start by specifically deciding who you want this message to target. I am working with a pest control company that wants to sell environmentally friendly bug and varmint control services. We first decided we would target people who are specifically worried about the environment and doing business with green companies that have a certain high level of income.
Now we can acquire a list of those specific people and use this information for the next key element in your marketing copy.
2. Identify the MESSAGE For That Specific WHO: The next big mistake I often see is the MESSAGE is so generic that no one responds. Now that you've identified specifically WHO is most likely to respond, and WHO you want to respond (this is even more critical), you must speak to them in language that hits home with them.
Depending on age, social status, area of the country, psychological influences (psychograpic), stage of life, type of business, industry affiliations, social affiliations, level of education, religious belief status, heritage, etc., you'll need to use different words, illustrations and abbreviations to gain their interest in your product or service.
The words, illustrations, examples, photos, testimonials, proof statements that you use should be predicated on the WHO and what is most likely to cause them to respond.
That's the first two of the eighteen. I'll post the next two in a couple of days.
If you are interested in learning how to use these strategies in more detail, review our website and check out our Small Business Marketing PowerCircle meeting in Albuquerque.
http://www.MarketingStrategiesRx.com
I am frequently asked to review copy written by my clients; and I often find that many essential elements are missing. I have worked up a simple list of these elements you should include when you write copy that is designed to get your prospect to buy something or request something you offer as a reason to get them to give you a name, email address and/or address.
I will share my "Must Have" list with you over the next few weeks of posts.
1. Identify the WHO You Are Speaking To: Most all advertising that I see is extremely generic and doesn't call out any specific WHO that company wants to respond. I often find that people give little or no thought to the WHO of marketing. This is the group of businesses, consumers, etc that are most likely to respond and that we want our message to target.
When I bring this up to people the response I often get is: "I don't want to miss anyone that might respond." The truth is that the less targeted you copy the less response you will get. We have proved this over and over again. But, people are still afraid they might miss someone. The broader your message . . . you'll find you receive a smaller percentage of response.
So you must start by specifically deciding who you want this message to target. I am working with a pest control company that wants to sell environmentally friendly bug and varmint control services. We first decided we would target people who are specifically worried about the environment and doing business with green companies that have a certain high level of income.
Now we can acquire a list of those specific people and use this information for the next key element in your marketing copy.
2. Identify the MESSAGE For That Specific WHO: The next big mistake I often see is the MESSAGE is so generic that no one responds. Now that you've identified specifically WHO is most likely to respond, and WHO you want to respond (this is even more critical), you must speak to them in language that hits home with them.
Depending on age, social status, area of the country, psychological influences (psychograpic), stage of life, type of business, industry affiliations, social affiliations, level of education, religious belief status, heritage, etc., you'll need to use different words, illustrations and abbreviations to gain their interest in your product or service.
The words, illustrations, examples, photos, testimonials, proof statements that you use should be predicated on the WHO and what is most likely to cause them to respond.
That's the first two of the eighteen. I'll post the next two in a couple of days.
If you are interested in learning how to use these strategies in more detail, review our website and check out our Small Business Marketing PowerCircle meeting in Albuquerque.
http://www.MarketingStrategiesRx.com
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Great Big Quivering Gelatinous Invertebrate Jelly of Indecision
I just finished reading an article posted by a friend of mine on his Blog. (Chris Hurn, Mercantile Commercial Capital, Orlando, FL). Also to be totally transparent, his company has done a fantastic job providing financing for our new building. Anyway, back to the story. They had made an application to create a National Bank that would be the holding company for their firm and give them greater lending power for people like us who would like to own their own building. But they were turned down even though they were an INC 500 fastest growing company in a failing economy. The governing agency decided they weren't going to approve any more banks for the foreseeable future. He was upset at the government agency for stringing him along, when they are a highly profitable company and showed proven quality lending skills.
You can read his Blog post on this issue at the following link:
The "Great Big Quivering Gelatinous Invertebrate Jelly of Indecision"
What struck me was several people that commented decided Chris' issue was with Obama and that the problem was Bush bad Obama good. I'm not quite sure why it is when we discuss the administration of Career Government agencies and employees; it has to turn into a referendum on one Presidential administration over another. Chis was comparing this experience with his partner's former bank start-up experience. The earlier bank application was approved with people that had less experience and with less proven capital. Several saw this as a Bush/Obama issue when his partners first experience was actually under a totally different administration than Bush or Obama.
So the Presidential comparison was irrelevant to this conversation. Everyone immediately gets defensive and assumes you are badmouthing their candidate. Instead, the issue really is the broken bureaucracy we must wade through to fulfill Government legal requirements and the shroud of hypocrisy that happens when they encourage you to invest your time even though they've decided in advance they aren't going to approve the application.
The Government in general in the Clinton, Bush and now Barrack Obama administrations have in the past and continue to undermined the private sector's ability to excel. The issue is not what President is in office and whether you like that choice. The issue is the bureaucracy our legislature has created over the last 30 years. They find it necessary to create laws to prevent stupidity and greed. When those two are present in a business, and they fail, our government should get the heck out of the way and let them fail. Our economy will survive. It has in the past. Our government should not be in the role of deciding who should fail and who should survive. The truth is, when government takes that path, you almost always just prolong the inevitable. A fine example: do a Google search for "Chrysler Bail-Out 1979."
The Government gave Chrysler $1.2 Billion to keep it from going into bankruptcy. But under the table they did anyway. Creditors only received 30 cents on the dollar. They still laid off 63,000 employees. That sounds a whole lot like bankruptcy to me, without formally calling it "Chapter 11."
Now 30 years later we're back in the same boat with that industry. When does the government stop and get out of our way? Presidential politics should have nothing to do with it. Most all problems are created by large bulbous government agencies and congressional officeholders who must payoff constituents to get re-elected and don't have the fortitude to do the right thing for the country regardless of the election outcome. (All legislators need to be required to read the writings of our founding fathers before they are allowed to take office.) We are repeating the same historic mistakes over and over again except the numbers are getting gigantic.
I welcome your comments on the subject below.
You can read his Blog post on this issue at the following link:
The "Great Big Quivering Gelatinous Invertebrate Jelly of Indecision"
What struck me was several people that commented decided Chris' issue was with Obama and that the problem was Bush bad Obama good. I'm not quite sure why it is when we discuss the administration of Career Government agencies and employees; it has to turn into a referendum on one Presidential administration over another. Chis was comparing this experience with his partner's former bank start-up experience. The earlier bank application was approved with people that had less experience and with less proven capital. Several saw this as a Bush/Obama issue when his partners first experience was actually under a totally different administration than Bush or Obama.
So the Presidential comparison was irrelevant to this conversation. Everyone immediately gets defensive and assumes you are badmouthing their candidate. Instead, the issue really is the broken bureaucracy we must wade through to fulfill Government legal requirements and the shroud of hypocrisy that happens when they encourage you to invest your time even though they've decided in advance they aren't going to approve the application.
The Government in general in the Clinton, Bush and now Barrack Obama administrations have in the past and continue to undermined the private sector's ability to excel. The issue is not what President is in office and whether you like that choice. The issue is the bureaucracy our legislature has created over the last 30 years. They find it necessary to create laws to prevent stupidity and greed. When those two are present in a business, and they fail, our government should get the heck out of the way and let them fail. Our economy will survive. It has in the past. Our government should not be in the role of deciding who should fail and who should survive. The truth is, when government takes that path, you almost always just prolong the inevitable. A fine example: do a Google search for "Chrysler Bail-Out 1979."
The Government gave Chrysler $1.2 Billion to keep it from going into bankruptcy. But under the table they did anyway. Creditors only received 30 cents on the dollar. They still laid off 63,000 employees. That sounds a whole lot like bankruptcy to me, without formally calling it "Chapter 11."
Now 30 years later we're back in the same boat with that industry. When does the government stop and get out of our way? Presidential politics should have nothing to do with it. Most all problems are created by large bulbous government agencies and congressional officeholders who must payoff constituents to get re-elected and don't have the fortitude to do the right thing for the country regardless of the election outcome. (All legislators need to be required to read the writings of our founding fathers before they are allowed to take office.) We are repeating the same historic mistakes over and over again except the numbers are getting gigantic.
I welcome your comments on the subject below.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
"Show Me The Money - V"
Final Edition: Show Me The Money, 12/24 Marketing Plan - Part V
Remember, I've been discussing the 12 to 24 months we have to ramp-up our businesses to prepare for a changing economy that will probably last for at least 3-5 years after 2010, maybe longer according to top economy strategists.
You can decide to be ready or you can ignore it and be scrambling to find customers when the real problems hit. Nothing our government can do at this time will have a lasting effect on the weakening economy.
The positive impact from government fiddling will only be short lived. We must be prepared and creating our own bail-out, because they ain't going to give us one. We tend not to learn from history, and history has show the direction we are going right now, will actually extend the recession.
As a continuation of our study of the Affluent market place that has the potential to be a lifesaver for us, I want to complete my review for you today. Dan Kennedy has given us some great strategies in his book No BS Marketing to the Affluent. Here's some more of his 'Keys to the Vault' and a report from his book.
Kennedy Key to Vault #2: "Who you bring through the door matters a lot. Why not deliberately get higher value customers?"
Boomers represent more than 70% of U.S. households with incomes exceeding $75,000 and assets $200,000 and above. Over the next 30 years they will be inheriting an enormous transfer of wealth from parents because their parents believed in leaving a financial legacy to the kids.
Patrick Swayze, the actor from "Dirty Dancing" is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer. They say smoking is one of the contributing factors. But he refuses to stop smoking. You see how many in our generation think?
The boomer is fueling the alternative health industry, the magic treatment with nutritional and dietary supplements, herbal supplements, treatments in foreign clinics etc.
The Wellness Industry has emerged as a major business sector. Spas, organic foods, nutrition, exercise and fitness, cosmetic surgeries and procedures, beauty products and services, chiropractic, message therapy, and cosmetic dentistry. This is all because of demands from the boomer. Business week says this is a $400 Billion industry today, growing to $1 Trillion by 2020.
Boomers & Nostalgia
Emotional Nostalgia will go a long way to connecting with the Affluent Baby Boomer. Many times you'll see advertisers using very popular, well-remembered songs of boomer youth.
Dan says, "Roy Rogers is an (nostalgia) anchor for male boomers of a certain age, but...sitting on the floor in front of the B&W TV, still in pajamas, with a bowl of cereal, to watch Roy Rogers, his super horse, Trigger, and Dale Evans . . . that's a better anchor."
These types of Nostalgia Anchors are extremely useful in marketing to Boomers. That's the lure of the country store, for instance the allure of Cracker Barrel restaurants.
How to Lose a Boomer in 60 Seconds
Here's some sure fire way to turn off the boomer in your business or with your advertising. If you subject them to perceived or real DISRESPECT. (Don't call them Pops, Ma'am, Old Man, etc.) If your employees dress in ways considered disrespectful, for instance, having employees with piercing earrings in every part of the body, whole arms or necks, etc full of tattoos. Using language that is perceived as disrespect.
There was a young Irish lady on American Idol this last season. She had an amazing voice, probably the best on the show. But her whole arm and parts of her body (that showed on camera) were covered with tattoos. She didn't last very long on the show. She didn't get votes. I think one of the big reasons is the Boomer regular viewers that refused to vote for her because of her appearance.
The language your employees use can be very disrespectful. "I realize at your age you don't know much about the internet, but...." If they engage in impolite, disrespectful behavior such as talking on a cell phone while ringing up a sale the boomer will buy less and most likely walk out of the business. The boomer just isn't very thrilled with having to deal with very young disinterested employees.
Selling to the Self Employed Affluent
Self employed business owners are a significant portion of the population - statistics show that it's 20% of the U.S. Population but will account for over 70% of the affluence. Many self-employed affluents came from poor backgrounds and seldom disconnect emotionally from this past. Some even romanticize their past struggles according to Dan.
Dan gives the example of Jay Leno's star on Hollywood Walk of Fame. It's located at the corner where he was arrested twice for vagrancy. Or, that he has a massive collection of classic cars may have its roots in the fact that he slept in his car while he was homeless.
Ron Legrand is a highly successful educator and information marketer in the RE business. He travels in his two private jets, lives in a palatial estate in Florida, once worked as an auto mechanic and Dan says Ron remembers having to tell his wife they couldn't afford to get the dryer repaired. And . . . he talks about it frequently in his workshops and seminars.
These affluent boomers have sacrificed much in their life for everything they've gotten. They feel they have to put up with anything unnecessary off of anyone. They view themselves as fiercely independent. They hate rules and tend to run quickly away from a business if they start hearing any rules based language in the businesses advertising.
Remember, I've been discussing the 12 to 24 months we have to ramp-up our businesses to prepare for a changing economy that will probably last for at least 3-5 years after 2010, maybe longer according to top economy strategists.
You can decide to be ready or you can ignore it and be scrambling to find customers when the real problems hit. Nothing our government can do at this time will have a lasting effect on the weakening economy.
The positive impact from government fiddling will only be short lived. We must be prepared and creating our own bail-out, because they ain't going to give us one. We tend not to learn from history, and history has show the direction we are going right now, will actually extend the recession.
As a continuation of our study of the Affluent market place that has the potential to be a lifesaver for us, I want to complete my review for you today. Dan Kennedy has given us some great strategies in his book No BS Marketing to the Affluent. Here's some more of his 'Keys to the Vault' and a report from his book.
Kennedy Key to Vault #2: "Who you bring through the door matters a lot. Why not deliberately get higher value customers?"
Boomers represent more than 70% of U.S. households with incomes exceeding $75,000 and assets $200,000 and above. Over the next 30 years they will be inheriting an enormous transfer of wealth from parents because their parents believed in leaving a financial legacy to the kids.
If you believe this is just the rest of the country not New Mexico, I just did a mailing list search of only three counties in New Mexico (Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe). The list gave me 55,652 households with income over $100,000 and Investable Assets over $200,000. Is that a big enough marketplace for you?
Disney is going after this demographic in a big way. A few months ago we reviewed the Harley Davidson ad targeting this age group. It was titled "Screw It, Let's Ride." The "Screw It" referred to the bad economy news from the press.
1/3 of all boomers are from financially secure to financially independent. About half of that 1/3 qualifies as wealthy. "Within the boomer population, there is a historically unprecedented percentage of affluent and ultra-affluent consumers coupled with a historically unprecedented willingness on their part to spend their money on themselves. This is a terrific dynamic for us marketers!" Dan Kennedy
Because of their expected inheretance, the boomer generation is expected to have a wealth transfer of $7.2 Trillion over the next 30 years.
Boomers are Re-Inventing Their Lives - And You Could Profit
Disney is going after this demographic in a big way. A few months ago we reviewed the Harley Davidson ad targeting this age group. It was titled "Screw It, Let's Ride." The "Screw It" referred to the bad economy news from the press.1/3 of all boomers are from financially secure to financially independent. About half of that 1/3 qualifies as wealthy. "Within the boomer population, there is a historically unprecedented percentage of affluent and ultra-affluent consumers coupled with a historically unprecedented willingness on their part to spend their money on themselves. This is a terrific dynamic for us marketers!" Dan Kennedy
Because of their expected inheretance, the boomer generation is expected to have a wealth transfer of $7.2 Trillion over the next 30 years.
Boomers are Re-Inventing Their Lives - And You Could Profit
Dr Mary Furlong, in her book "Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace writes: "Today, boomers are RE-INVENTING their lives. They are finding NEW places to work, NEW places to travel to (and NEW ways of traveling), NEW ways to spend their days, NEW ways to spend time with their children and grandchildren, and NEW ways to stay vital and connected as they age. Each choice represents enormous business opportunity."
Leslie M Harris, in " After Fifty: How the Baby Boom Will Redefine the Mature Market, said: "Boomers see age as a lifestyle choice rather than a chronological imperative." They are very different from their parent's generation.
So what do they want?
In his book, "Common Census: Counterintuitive Guide to Generational Marketing," Ken Gronbach reports that they know what they want. They've been buying the same oil for their cars for years and they wear tan pants. At this point in their lives, they want only three things:
1. Life made easy. 2. Time Saved. 3. Not to be ripped off.
How are you targeting your message to these wants? Note: Affluent boomers already own a lot of stuff. Consequently, boomers are SERVICE CONSUMERS more than product buyers. We want nothing as a thing; we want a thing that gives us time, convenience, freedom, or ease.
The third on the list is missed more than any other. How much do I harp on you about using guarantees? Many times in our lives we have been disappointed by our purchases and even felt ripped-off at times.
Kennedy Key to Vault #3: "Your desired customer's attitudes about things related to your product or service matter much more than any facts about your product or service."
What do you think Dan means by that?
Attitudes Governing Boomer's Spending
Age: Studies show early boomers (my age group) placed old age at 83. That's 3 years after average life expectancy. Boomers now expect to be cured of all sorts of things our grandparents accepted as incurable: breast cancer, and other cancers, heart disease and heart attacks, and other serious ailments. Optimistic faith in medical research producing cures.
Truth?
There hasn't been a new, complete cure for anything since polio. But boomers still inherently believe it will happen. That makes them not very interested in self-help, self-discipline, and so on regarding disease. Many diabetics ignore creating a healthy environment for themselves. They believe there will be a cure or maybe advancements in organ transplants to take care of the problem. So they ignore healthy eating and exercising as a solution.
Patrick Swayze Does!
Leslie M Harris, in " After Fifty: How the Baby Boom Will Redefine the Mature Market, said: "Boomers see age as a lifestyle choice rather than a chronological imperative." They are very different from their parent's generation.
So what do they want?
In his book, "Common Census: Counterintuitive Guide to Generational Marketing," Ken Gronbach reports that they know what they want. They've been buying the same oil for their cars for years and they wear tan pants. At this point in their lives, they want only three things:
1. Life made easy. 2. Time Saved. 3. Not to be ripped off.
How are you targeting your message to these wants? Note: Affluent boomers already own a lot of stuff. Consequently, boomers are SERVICE CONSUMERS more than product buyers. We want nothing as a thing; we want a thing that gives us time, convenience, freedom, or ease.
The third on the list is missed more than any other. How much do I harp on you about using guarantees? Many times in our lives we have been disappointed by our purchases and even felt ripped-off at times.
Kennedy Key to Vault #3: "Your desired customer's attitudes about things related to your product or service matter much more than any facts about your product or service."
What do you think Dan means by that?
Attitudes Governing Boomer's Spending
Age: Studies show early boomers (my age group) placed old age at 83. That's 3 years after average life expectancy. Boomers now expect to be cured of all sorts of things our grandparents accepted as incurable: breast cancer, and other cancers, heart disease and heart attacks, and other serious ailments. Optimistic faith in medical research producing cures.
Truth?
There hasn't been a new, complete cure for anything since polio. But boomers still inherently believe it will happen. That makes them not very interested in self-help, self-discipline, and so on regarding disease. Many diabetics ignore creating a healthy environment for themselves. They believe there will be a cure or maybe advancements in organ transplants to take care of the problem. So they ignore healthy eating and exercising as a solution.
Patrick Swayze Does!
Patrick Swayze, the actor from "Dirty Dancing" is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer. They say smoking is one of the contributing factors. But he refuses to stop smoking. You see how many in our generation think?The boomer is fueling the alternative health industry, the magic treatment with nutritional and dietary supplements, herbal supplements, treatments in foreign clinics etc.
The Wellness Industry has emerged as a major business sector. Spas, organic foods, nutrition, exercise and fitness, cosmetic surgeries and procedures, beauty products and services, chiropractic, message therapy, and cosmetic dentistry. This is all because of demands from the boomer. Business week says this is a $400 Billion industry today, growing to $1 Trillion by 2020.
Boomers & Nostalgia
Emotional Nostalgia will go a long way to connecting with the Affluent Baby Boomer. Many times you'll see advertisers using very popular, well-remembered songs of boomer youth.
Dan says, "Roy Rogers is an (nostalgia) anchor for male boomers of a certain age, but...sitting on the floor in front of the B&W TV, still in pajamas, with a bowl of cereal, to watch Roy Rogers, his super horse, Trigger, and Dale Evans . . . that's a better anchor."
These types of Nostalgia Anchors are extremely useful in marketing to Boomers. That's the lure of the country store, for instance the allure of Cracker Barrel restaurants.
How to Lose a Boomer in 60 Seconds
Here's some sure fire way to turn off the boomer in your business or with your advertising. If you subject them to perceived or real DISRESPECT. (Don't call them Pops, Ma'am, Old Man, etc.) If your employees dress in ways considered disrespectful, for instance, having employees with piercing earrings in every part of the body, whole arms or necks, etc full of tattoos. Using language that is perceived as disrespect.
There was a young Irish lady on American Idol this last season. She had an amazing voice, probably the best on the show. But her whole arm and parts of her body (that showed on camera) were covered with tattoos. She didn't last very long on the show. She didn't get votes. I think one of the big reasons is the Boomer regular viewers that refused to vote for her because of her appearance.
The language your employees use can be very disrespectful. "I realize at your age you don't know much about the internet, but...." If they engage in impolite, disrespectful behavior such as talking on a cell phone while ringing up a sale the boomer will buy less and most likely walk out of the business. The boomer just isn't very thrilled with having to deal with very young disinterested employees.
Selling to the Self Employed Affluent
Self employed business owners are a significant portion of the population - statistics show that it's 20% of the U.S. Population but will account for over 70% of the affluence. Many self-employed affluents came from poor backgrounds and seldom disconnect emotionally from this past. Some even romanticize their past struggles according to Dan.
Dan gives the example of Jay Leno's star on Hollywood Walk of Fame. It's located at the corner where he was arrested twice for vagrancy. Or, that he has a massive collection of classic cars may have its roots in the fact that he slept in his car while he was homeless.
Ron Legrand is a highly successful educator and information marketer in the RE business. He travels in his two private jets, lives in a palatial estate in Florida, once worked as an auto mechanic and Dan says Ron remembers having to tell his wife they couldn't afford to get the dryer repaired. And . . . he talks about it frequently in his workshops and seminars.
These affluent boomers have sacrificed much in their life for everything they've gotten. They feel they have to put up with anything unnecessary off of anyone. They view themselves as fiercely independent. They hate rules and tend to run quickly away from a business if they start hearing any rules based language in the businesses advertising.
Who's Paying Attention To The Boomer Affluent?
How many business do you know that will set themselves up to meet every need of a boomer affluent? Disney hotel resorts at Disney World are trained this way. That's why you see them advertising for them to bring their kids and grandkids for a family reunion at Disney World. And guess what, it's working.
They admire the qualities that got them where they are now when they see it in other people and businesses. They're looking for people with stories like their own to do business with.
These people reward ingenuity, drive, persistence, and salesmanship.
They admire the qualities that got them where they are now when they see it in other people and businesses. They're looking for people with stories like their own to do business with.
These people reward ingenuity, drive, persistence, and salesmanship.
Jo Media, MasterMind member
Jo Medina, Medina Insurance agency, often talks about how her clients respond to her and refer their family and friends because she goes out of her way to share stories about her family and where she came from and how hard she has worked to make her agency a success. She has clients with several businesses, several homes and many cars. She's moving her business to targeting affluent households and business owners.
They Are Searching for Value as THEY Define It.
The affluent consumers and businesses are smart about money and getting good deals and bargains. Donald Trump brags about buying a bankrupt billionaire's oceanfront mansion our of a foreclosure. He loves to tell the story of how he then got his whole investment back by replacing all of the antiques and antique furniture with reproductions and then selling the originals. As a result, he basically got the mansion for free, a big bargain.
If given no other reason to judge your product's or service's value, the affluent will choose the best price. I'm sure you've done this yourself. We're buying a new refrigerator. Once we've decided which one we want, Linda is searching the internet and the stores for the best price. That's because no store has given us a compelling reason not to pick price as the only differentiator.
The affluent is hungry to learn as much about a subject of interest in a buying decision as possible. Linda has gone to every website she can find and to every opinion site to get info she needs on a refrigerator.
Affluents Are Information Magnets
Affluent consumers reward those businesses that teach them the key things they need to know to make a right decision. They also reward those who seem to know insider information and are willing to share it in language the affluent understands. That's one of the reasons I push you so hard to implement a printed newsletter. You will be considered an author, and authors have a higher perceived valuel in business by affluent consumers.
This is especially so in B2B. Rick Gee, (Imaging Concepts of NM) (also a MasterMind member) is a very successful salesman of high dollar document management systems (high end, high volume color office printers and storage systems). He gets higher profit margins than competing salespeople because he simply provides written proof of his expertise.
Another advantage you can bring is to take the hassle and trouble out of any transaction by doing things for your client that relieves them of mundane tasks. In the auto repair industry, the Affluent would rather you just come pick-up the car in their driveway so they don't have to mess with bringing it in and then arranging transportation back home or to work for themselves. Or, better yet, provide them a loaner car of equal or better quality to their own.
If you connect with the affluent in a way that speaks directly to them, their needs and prejudices, and offer unusual services, price becomes virtually irrelevant.
Kennedy Key to Vault #4: "Be a good news merchant. Sell optimism along with whatever else you sell."
Why would this be important to the affluent buyer, especially the boomer affluent? It's important because they have been through many downturns in the economy over their life and come out ahead. The Boomer Affluent especially is tired of hearing bad news. That's one of the reasons why you see much of the newspaper industry failing and losing readership.
We're just downright tired of it and will refuse to read it any more. Be upbeat when you write. Be upbeat when you present to your potential customer. Show them you have a great optimism for the future and they will reward you for it.
Conclusion:
Affluent and Mass Affluent consumers, business owners and company executives will continue to spend even in a down economy. They will get what they want. Travel is up; spending on natural healing products and services is up. This is why so many fortunes were built during the depression of the 1930's.
Linda and I owned 2 snowmobiles that we bought a couple of years ago to try out to see if we would enjoy it. We weren't getting time to go out on them, so we decided to sell them this year to get them out of the yard.
We put two ads up on Craig's List, on the web, one in Albuquerque and one in Colorado Springs. We had 18 calls of people ready to buy them for cash right away. They would drive to Albuquerque to get them and for full price. But, we have a sinking economy, right? People will continue to spend on what they really want. You just have to find what that is and provide it.
That makes the affluent marketplace a better target for your products and services. We just need to learn how to market and speak to them in a marketing language they respond to. We need to learn to package our products and services that meet a perceived need or desire. There is much opportunity here.
And, you need to study this group much more. Get and read Dan Kennedy's book, "No BS Marketing to the Affluent" and subscribe to his monthly affluent newsletter to keep up on the latest developments. We can help you with that subscription. Just call us at 505-260-4663.
J. Wayne Story
Small Business Marketing Strategist
http://www.marketingstrategiesrx.com/
They Are Searching for Value as THEY Define It.
The affluent consumers and businesses are smart about money and getting good deals and bargains. Donald Trump brags about buying a bankrupt billionaire's oceanfront mansion our of a foreclosure. He loves to tell the story of how he then got his whole investment back by replacing all of the antiques and antique furniture with reproductions and then selling the originals. As a result, he basically got the mansion for free, a big bargain.
If given no other reason to judge your product's or service's value, the affluent will choose the best price. I'm sure you've done this yourself. We're buying a new refrigerator. Once we've decided which one we want, Linda is searching the internet and the stores for the best price. That's because no store has given us a compelling reason not to pick price as the only differentiator.
The affluent is hungry to learn as much about a subject of interest in a buying decision as possible. Linda has gone to every website she can find and to every opinion site to get info she needs on a refrigerator.
Affluents Are Information Magnets
Affluent consumers reward those businesses that teach them the key things they need to know to make a right decision. They also reward those who seem to know insider information and are willing to share it in language the affluent understands. That's one of the reasons I push you so hard to implement a printed newsletter. You will be considered an author, and authors have a higher perceived valuel in business by affluent consumers.
This is especially so in B2B. Rick Gee, (Imaging Concepts of NM) (also a MasterMind member) is a very successful salesman of high dollar document management systems (high end, high volume color office printers and storage systems). He gets higher profit margins than competing salespeople because he simply provides written proof of his expertise.
Another advantage you can bring is to take the hassle and trouble out of any transaction by doing things for your client that relieves them of mundane tasks. In the auto repair industry, the Affluent would rather you just come pick-up the car in their driveway so they don't have to mess with bringing it in and then arranging transportation back home or to work for themselves. Or, better yet, provide them a loaner car of equal or better quality to their own.
If you connect with the affluent in a way that speaks directly to them, their needs and prejudices, and offer unusual services, price becomes virtually irrelevant.
Kennedy Key to Vault #4: "Be a good news merchant. Sell optimism along with whatever else you sell."
Why would this be important to the affluent buyer, especially the boomer affluent? It's important because they have been through many downturns in the economy over their life and come out ahead. The Boomer Affluent especially is tired of hearing bad news. That's one of the reasons why you see much of the newspaper industry failing and losing readership.
We're just downright tired of it and will refuse to read it any more. Be upbeat when you write. Be upbeat when you present to your potential customer. Show them you have a great optimism for the future and they will reward you for it.
Conclusion:
Affluent and Mass Affluent consumers, business owners and company executives will continue to spend even in a down economy. They will get what they want. Travel is up; spending on natural healing products and services is up. This is why so many fortunes were built during the depression of the 1930's.
Linda and I owned 2 snowmobiles that we bought a couple of years ago to try out to see if we would enjoy it. We weren't getting time to go out on them, so we decided to sell them this year to get them out of the yard.
We put two ads up on Craig's List, on the web, one in Albuquerque and one in Colorado Springs. We had 18 calls of people ready to buy them for cash right away. They would drive to Albuquerque to get them and for full price. But, we have a sinking economy, right? People will continue to spend on what they really want. You just have to find what that is and provide it.
That makes the affluent marketplace a better target for your products and services. We just need to learn how to market and speak to them in a marketing language they respond to. We need to learn to package our products and services that meet a perceived need or desire. There is much opportunity here.
And, you need to study this group much more. Get and read Dan Kennedy's book, "No BS Marketing to the Affluent" and subscribe to his monthly affluent newsletter to keep up on the latest developments. We can help you with that subscription. Just call us at 505-260-4663.
J. Wayne Story
Small Business Marketing Strategist
http://www.marketingstrategiesrx.com/
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