Tag Archives: marketing message

Out:think – A company that’s got it goin’ on

July 1, 2011 9:44 pm Leave a Comment

by Pam Ivey

For those of you who work with authors (or any other type of client or customer for that matter) to increase their visibility and support them in marketing their books, I came across a brilliant site today that really has it together. The company’s called Out:think and works with author powerhouses such as, Dan Pink (Drive), Barbara Corcoran (If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails), Pamela Slim (Escape from Cubicle Nation), and Sunni Brown (Gamestorming).

Here’s the headline from the homepage of their website:

“We build online marketing platforms that sell a lot of books.”

Wow. Simple but pretty darned powerful, wouldn’t you agree?

We could apply this lesson from Out:think to our own marketing efforts. Think about this – what is the number one goal, aspiration, dream, want, of your target market? Speak to that in plain easy-to-understand language and set yourself apart from the competition.

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How To Create A Powerful Marketing Message

June 8, 2011 2:22 pm 2 Comments

In an earlier article, Get More Clients By Explaining Your Benefits, we talked about the benefits of the services you provide, rather than just features. Potential clients are much more likely to identify with your message and want to work with you.

What are their problems and pain-points? What keeps them up at night?

Are they stressed out because they’re trying to do it all in their business and they feel they’re getting more and more behind?

Are they frustrated because they have to have new products and programs in them that could bring more income into their business but they don’t have the time to get to them?

Are they bewildered by not knowing how to market the products and programs they already have?

Are they fearful or unskilled in the area of technology and are unsure of how to deliver their products and programs?

Are they uncertain of the best system or process to use for a particular area of their business?

The above is just a few possibilites of what your potential clients are experiencing. Can you come up with others? If you’re having difficulties, ask your current clients why they partnered with you. What was their reasoning behind hiring your services? What was the desired outcome?

For those of you who don’t yet have clients, ask people in your target market or who match your ideal client profile. (If you don’t know your target market or ideal client profile yet, I’ll be going over that in upcoming articles.)

Once you determine their problems, pain-points, and what’s keeping them awake at night, craft your marekting message, using this information as your guide. And don’t forget to focus on the benefits of working with you!

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Get More Clients by Explaining Your Benefits

June 3, 2011 6:03 pm 1 Comment

I heard this a number of years ago and it really resonated with me – gave me that a-ha moment: People don’t really buy a drill, they buy the hole – what the drill will do for them.

So, explain to your prospective clients what it is that you can do for them. Is it to:

  • give them more time?
  • get their technology taken care of so they don’t have to worry about it?
  • give them the freedom  to take time away from their business?
  • get their books up to date so it’s off their mind?
  • get their membership program running on autopilot?
  • get more clients?

You get the idea. Think about what benefits your services can provide to prospective clients.

Think about it from their point of view. For instance, it isn’t necessarily to have their audio transcribed, but really to allow them to have a product that they can sell to make more money.

Or, if your service is setting up shopping carts for example, here are some of the benefits to your clients:

  • Project a more professional image to customers at checkout
  • Taking payments is simplified and automated
  • Get affiliates onboard to sell more products and services and make more money
  • Get reports with just a couple of clicks so you know how much you’ve made instantly

Don’t rely on this VA standard alone:

I’ll give you more time so you can concentrate on money-generating activities.

It’s definitely a good one and you can certainly incorporate it into your promotional material but also remember to concentrate on your specific services and the benefits they can provide to your potential clients , as well.

Here’s an exercise for you that, once you’re done, will provide you with great content for your marketing efforts.

Make a list of all your services and beside each one, come up with a few benefits that will really speak to your clients pain points, aspirations and desires.

(Hint: you can also use these as headlines in your ezine, promotional emails and website!)

What you are starting to craft is your marketing message and we’ll be having a more in-depth look at that in the next few articles.

Get clear on who you want to work with and the benefits you can provide to them and this will help you to attract more clients to your business and in turn, make more money.

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Build a Strong Marketing Message

May 29, 2011 11:24 pm 1 Comment

In this video, you’ll see the power of a strong message. So, work hard to succinctly and clearly articulate what you want to convey to your prospective clients (and all others!)

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The 5 Most Powerful Words in Marketing

May 21, 2011 12:15 pm Leave a Comment

There are five unbelievably powerful words that you must consider before you even sit down to write your website copy and other marketing materials.

These five powerful words are: What’s In It For Me.

You may have heard of this referred to as the acronym: WIIFM. It may sound harsh, but visitors to your website simply don’t care about what you do; they care about how what you do affects them.

Initially, at least, they only care about how you can help them get the results they seek, how you can help them solve their deepest and most painful problems. Then, once they’ve subconsciously made the decision to work with you, they may go digging around your site to learn more about you, your experience, your qualifications, what you’ve done for other clients, etc.

But mostly they want to know how your products and services will change their lives. If that business development course you’re offering next month will share tricks to increase their productivity, marketing techniques to double their income, tips on hiring staff so the business owners can take more time off, etc., be sure to address those benefits. You’re not just offering to help people grow their business…you’re helping people improve their overall quality of life. But your website visitors won’t know that unless you tell them…so be sure to tell them exactly what they will gain from buying your products and services.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to hone in on reasons that will hit home with your website visitors (and prospective clients):

Continue reading on the New Coach Connection Blog

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