Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
ESTABLISH THE RIGHT MARKETING MINDSET
Before we start talking about the importance of mindset, let me give you my definition of marketing: Marketing is everything you do to communicate your value to others. Marketing is not a short-term strategic project, or something done randomly or haphazardly whenever you feel like it. Marketing should be a fundamental part of the way you do business every day. Whether you're running new advertisements, coming up with new ways to answer your phone, or just regularly calling your clients to check in with them (which, by the way, is the best marketing of all), you're always going to be marketing.
Now that we know what marketing is, let's talk about what it's not. Marketing is not difficult. In fact, it may just be your mindset that's making it difficult. When I first began my business, I had a really hard time getting my mind around how to do marketing right. Ultimately, what I learned is that I had some serious misconceptions about marketing that were getting in the way of my success. These myths came from a variety of places. Some I had been taught and some I picked up on my own, but in order to realize the success I wanted in my business, I had to re-educate myself and get my head right about marketing. It's time to embrace marketing.
In this chapter, I want to help you overcome the mental challenges that stop you from marketing. Maybe you've tried marketing before and felt its effectiveness just couldn't be tracked. It's possible that negative encounters have made you feel marketing is just a bunch of lies.
Those beliefs are going to keep you hold you back from success because they stop you from marketing — even if you have the perfect marketing plan right in front of you. Whatever your feelings are, I want you to set them aside and understand that there's a reason people market. People market because it works — when it's done properly.
So before we talk about how to market properly, let's dispel a few common misconceptions about marketing.
Misconception 1: Marketing Is Manipulation
Not too long ago, I was speaking at a conference in New Orleans about how marketing can help every business grow and succeed. As I'm speaking, I notice a man in the audience shaking his head "no." You get those sometimes, so I press on and don't think too much about it. I finish my presentation and eventually make my way to the reception that followed.
At the reception, the guy approaches me and says, "Hey, you had a great presentation, but you were completely wrong about your definition of marketing."
I always have room to learn, so I say, "Okay. Can you tell me your definition of marketing?"
The man, who stands at about 6'7", puts his arms on my comparatively small 5'11" frame and forcibly pushes me to the side. "That's marketing," he says.
"What do you mean, 'that's marketing'?" I ask, annoyed.
He replies, "Well, let me show you again." He grabs me and forces me to move to the side again. "That's marketing."
"So you think bullying tactics and shoving me in a direction I don't want to go is marketing?" He says, "No, no, no ... it's manipulating people into doing what you want."
I reply, "Well, I wouldn't use the word manipulating, and I'll tell you why. The moment you put your hands on me and moved me, I thought, This guy is a big jerk. So while I did what you wanted me to do, my impression of you from now on will be that guy's a big jerk. Your definition of marketing instantly created a negative reaction in me about you and whatever you want me to do. Now I might let you force me into it once or twice, but I'll never do anything for you again because you've lost my trust and have made me think less of you."
That's it in a nutshell, isn't it? This guy had the idea that he should use his marketing to trick or force people into taking action. We've all been on the receiving end of this type of manipulative, bullying type of "marketing," and modern purchasers want nothing to do with it.
The Truth: Marketing Is Not Manipulation!
Effective marketing never involves manipulation or bullying. Sure, some people use these tactics, but over the long run, people stop trusting the people who use manipulations and look elsewhere. Manipulation is not marketing.
Misconception 2: Marketing Is Bragging
Another common marketing misconception is believing marketing is bragging. Most of us were taught to be humble and not to brag about our accomplishments. If we played sports as kids, after the game we lined up and said, "Good game," to the other team, whether we won or lost. As we continued collecting achievements in school and then at work, we were taught that we shouldn't be the ones saying how great we are; we should let other people do that.
The Truth: Marketing Is Not Bragging!
However, when we become entrepreneurs and business owners, the rules change drastically. It's still true that it's best when others talk about how great you are, but nobody will know how great you are in the first place until you tell them yourself. You have to go first. In the world of the entrepreneur, you have to share the accolades you've received from others because you're the only one who knows them.
Being the first to share the good things others have said about you provides a model for others who also have had positive experiences with you or your company. They'll feel more comfortable telling you and others how positive their experience has been with your company, or how you're particularly good at x, y, or z, when they see others doing it first — giving you more accolades to publicize. As more and more people share positive stories with you, and you continue to publicize those stories through your website or social media or elsewhere, you'll reach a critical mass where everything starts rolling: your message is reaching more and more of your ideal clients, more and more clients and colleagues are telling you that you're doing a good job, they are referring you to their friends and associates, and your business begins to grow. The way you do that is by marketing. It's not bragging; it's simply telling the truth. Don't be afraid to step forward and let the world know who you are and how you can help.
Misconception 3: Marketing Is Ineffective
A third reason we resist marketing is that we simply think it's ineffective. One of the biggest reasons I've heard my clients say they don't market is that they feel it is guesswork that doesn't amount to much. I am here to tell you that is the biggest lie business owners tell themselves. The truth is they are scared to lose money with marketing.
Most small businesses operate on a no-frills budget, and many owners consider marketing something they can't afford or a soft expense. Owners have said to me, "I have to pay the bills. Marketing I can cut." True, marketing is an expense that can be reduced or cut. The question that then arises is how, without marketing, do you propose to gain those much-needed clients that mean sales? It's cliché to say you have to spend money to make money, but it is sometimes true. If you do not effectively market your company, brand, image, and products or services, you won't be in business for long.
If your marketing hasn't been effective, it might be because you haven't been taught a methodology that yields repeatable, measurable results.
The Truth: Marketing Is a Science!
I have some great news for you. Marketing is not guesswork, and you can indeed measure your results. As long as you treat marketing as a science.
The science that is most closely related to marketing is psychology. Psychologists have spent a long time studying human behavior, and from this data they have mapped out quite well how we make decisions, learn, and take action.
Psychological studies indicate that all purchase decisions occur first in the subconscious mind and are driven primarily by emotion. No matter how much we want to believe that our logical, conscious mind makes the decision, as much as 95 percent of all purchase decisions are made in the subconscious mind.
This understanding is key because it gives us an advantage. Now that we know our subconscious mind makes purchasing decisions, we only have to find a way to speak directly to it. Fortunately, psychologists tell us that the best way to get a message through to the subconscious mind is frequency and repetition.
Remember, we're talking about effective communication, not manipulation. I'm assuming you're in business because you believe your product or service will truly help people. There are plenty of "marketing experts" who may not have your prospective clients' best interest at heart that are already using this understanding to their advantage. Don't your prospects deserve to hear about your products and services in a way that ensures they can take action?
The Importance of Frequency
In the marketing world, the number of times a person must be exposed to an advertising message before a response is made is known as effective frequency. In his article "The Impact of Television Advertising: Learning without Involvement," Herbert E. Krugman explains that psychologically there are three levels of exposure: curiosity, recognition, and decision.
Exposure #1 causes a "What is it?" type of response. Krugman states, "Anything new or novel no matter how uninteresting on second exposure has to elicit some response the first time."
Exposure #2 causes a "What of it?" response. At this point, prospects decide if the product has any importance to them. If they find it does have importance, they are more apt to take action with future exposures.
Exposure #3 is what Krugman describes as "the true reminder." Psychologically, Krugman believes that all future exposures are really just Exposure #3. It's the point at which prospects take action if they were interested as a result of Exposure #2. Krugman felt that people put a marketing message out of their minds until it has some use, which is when the response to the message occurs.
The benefit of these repeated exposures is that the prospect doesn't have to go over all the cognitive steps again. By Exposure #3, they know if they want the product and take action.
Remember, Krugman assumes a psychological response for each exposure. Based on that theory, three exposures may be enough for your prospect to make a purchasing decision. However, that doesn't mean you can get away with three ads and it rarely works as easily as this.
Jay Conrad Levinson, the author of Guerrilla Marketing, would point out in his presentations that people are inundated with marketing messages today — so much so that your message is missed two out of every three times. Taking into account Krugman's three-exposure theory, your message would have to be seen at least nine times before you'd have any hope of your prospect's action. Even then, the prospect would have to be in buying mode at that sixth exposure to take action. Chances are it will take more exposures than that to find them at their point of need and for them to take action.
Based on what we now know, it isn't unreasonable to think that it will take dozens of exposures before action is taken upon your marketing message.
While there are several thoughts on the number of times a message has to be seen, there is no disagreement about the fact that frequency is key to successful marketing.
The Importance of Consistency
Further, based on Krugman's studies, we know the message delivered should be consistent — in other words, it should use the same words. If the message is the same, the prospect will not have to think "What is it?" or "What of it?" again.
A great example of this concept occurred in my first business. I had been saving up my pennies and dollars in order to buy a full-page ad in my local newspaper. As soon as I got enough money to run the ad, I called them and had it run once. It was all I could afford.
I can still remember getting that newspaper with the big ad and running around the shop like a madman shouting, "The newspaper is here! The newspaper is here! I'm somebody now" — just like Steve Martin in my favorite comedy movie, The Jerk. I was quite proud of making enough money to advertise my business. It was a significant amount of money. I honestly felt that this ad would change my fortune.
Unfortunately, after weeks of no significant business increase from that ad, I learned the hard lesson that one-off ads don't generally work that well. Sure, sometimes you can hit a home run, but it doesn't happen every day. I realized that this large ad just wasted money that took me a decent amount of time to make.
I decided it had to be the copy, so I rewrote the ad, saved up, and ran a new one a month later. When that didn't work, I ran another two months later with different copy. By my third time, I felt like a moron.
I looked at all three ads side by side in the newspapers to figure out what I did wrong. That's when I noticed another ad that said, "Run your business-card-sized ad for $40/wk." I was spending 40 times that on the large ads.
I called the newspaper and ordered the smaller ad. This time, I ran it every week and left the copy the same on each run. What I put in that ad was really simple. It was just a picture of a lady screaming with the "Home Alone" face, looking at her laptop, and all it said was "Don't worry, we can fix it," with a phone number and nothing else.
For the first month, nothing much happened.
The second month we saw a slight increase in sales.
On the third month, something happened. The phones rang frequently every day and we saw nearly a 200 percent increase in sales.
Frequency and consistency pay off. When done right, marketing works wonders.
The Importance of Measurement
Now some of you may be wondering, how could we be sure it was the newspaper ad that made that 200 percent difference? Because we thought like scientists running an experiment. We had a way to measure our results. We listed a special tracked phone number in the ad so we could measure the response rate for that ad alone. If someone called in on that phone line, we knew they had seen the ad. We always used tracked phone numbers in our ads, and we ran unique phone numbers in each phone book we advertised in. Apparently we were also unique in measuring our results.
We discovered this about a year later when the sales representative from the phone book company paid us a visit. He told us, "It's time to write a new ad. This year our phone book is going to be smaller, but lucky you, you only need to pay 10 percent more than last year."
I said, "Man, that sounds like a great deal. Ten percent more for a smaller ad — you're a good salesman." (If you haven't noticed yet, I have a pretty sarcastic sense of humor.)
I led him over to one of the desks we have up front and spun the monitor around so he could see. "Why don't you sit down here at this desk, and we'll see how your phone book is doing?"
"What?" he said.
"We track the number we run in your ad so we know how many phone calls we get from your book," I answered matter of factly. I pull the number up in our CRM records and it showed fifteen phone calls a month.
I said, "Hmm ... fifteen phone calls a month. What do I pay you?" He told me what I paid him, which was way too much for fifteen phone calls a month.
"Gee, man," I said, "looks like we've got a problem here. Only fifteen phone calls a week — I guess we just need to cancel."
"Whoa, let me call my boss," he said and walked outside.
He came back in and said, "Listen, we'll give you twice as many ads for the same price."
I said, "Dude — only fifteen phone calls a week?"
"All right," he said, and he walked outside again.
This time, he came back in and said, "We're going to give you twice as many ads at a lower price than you paid last year."
"That's a deal," I said.
Not long afterward, the sales rep from another phone book came in. I said to myself, Boy, I've got this down pat. I invited him to sit down.
"Hey, let's talk about your ad," he said.
"Let me guess," I said. "Ten percent more."
"No, sorry — 30 percent more."
"Well, that's great. Let me guess: smaller phone book."
"Oh, much smaller. We took out the residential section so nobody is going to read it," he answered. (Okay, he didn't really say that, but it was true.)
"Fantastic," I said. "So, 30 percent ... let's sit down and look at this." I pull up his phone number and I show him the report. "What's this?" he asked.
"We track the phone number we run in your ad so we know how many calls we've gotten."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it also tracks into our CRM, so we know how many sales we have off these phone calls. So let's look." I looked at the screen, and it said twenty-five calls per week.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "One Hour Marketing"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Herman Pool.
Excerpted by permission of Morgan James Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
