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Many business people do not understand the distinction between sales and marketing. The common view goes something like this. "Market by advertising to get your name out there so that people will be familiar with you when you come knocking on their door to sell your products and services".
And off they go, to promote their company with image advertising that shouts to the world how great they are. They hope and pray that somehow, some way, the message about their brand will stick in people's minds, never knowing if it does or doesn't. Or whether their marketing dollars are paying them back in increased sales.
Some even think that a listing in a dusty directory or two is enough to get their phones to start ringing. This all too common approach is a huge waste of time and money. Never let an advertising rep tell you any different.
Sales and Marketing are far more alike than most people realize. The sole purpose of marketing, and advertising is to make sales. Full Stop.
Advertising must do much more than just get your name out there. It must educate, convince, and persuade to turn a casual prospect into a qualified one. A qualified prospect is one who has already made his/her mind up that your business is what they need. A qualified prospect is almost a paying customer before they walk in your door.
Great advertising is nothing less than "Salesmanship in Print”!
Think of it as a sales presentation that's geared toward accomplishing a carefully defined objective, whether that objective is the actual sale, or a step toward it.
Most successful campaigns are in fact a series of graduated commitments, leading up to a transaction. It might start with something as simple as an exchange of information. For example: the prospect gives their name and address in exchange for some information about solving a problem. That's always a winning formula.
When a prospect takes this step, they are actually qualifying themselves, persuading themselves, and giving you permission to follow up with them, all at the same time, and all without any investment in personal selling. After all, why should you waste your valuable time talking to a prospect that isn't already highly qualified and predisposed to buying from you?
Marketing by repetitive advertising in print is very expensive indeed. Newspapers are disposable, thrown out each day. How much do you have to spend, week in week out to keep your name there? Glossy magazines last longer but cost much more than newspapers and need better photographs to do justice to the page. The cost of photography and professional copy writing adds to the expense. Get it wrong and you have a very costly mistake indeed.
Marketing by advertising in directories, whether in print or on the web leads to a dull listing, a lifeless and uninspiring advertisement that just gathers dust. With Yellow pages you need at least a quarter page to get one low-resolution picture in, and it will be in dreary black and yellow (not much change out of $5,000 there). What about the quality of the prospects from these sources? Have you really been able to sell to them in your limited space or do you have to start from scratch after they respond?
Getting qualified prospects requires marketing that educates, convinces and persuades. TV advertising is a good medium; you can put enough words and colourful images before an audience to do much of the sales work for you. Why do you think “As seen on TV” is such a popular advertising line? But you can’t afford that.
What about a web site? Do you know how many millions of web sites are competing with yours? Try typing ‘Kitchen Buyers Tips and Advice’ in the Google search box for New Zealand and then look for your site. If you type in your web site address it might come in on Page 1 but how many prospects are going to do that? Fact is that most surfers do not go beyond page 3 of the listings.
The fact is that the majority of people now search the web for what they want: ideas, information about suppliers, pictures, technical information, prices, etc, etc. The reason for this is that information is readily available with little effort to retrieve it; no travelling, no dealing with sales people, no obligation, no risk. The trick is to get them to find you during this research and to give them information that informs them about your existence, educates them about your products and services, convinces them that you are worthwhile and persuades them to contact you directly. This is then your qualified prospect, almost a paying customer already.
7 Point Plan For Surviving The Downturn
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