Become A Marketing Genius In 30 Minutes!
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Become a Marketing Genius in 30 Minutes The Simple Ideas Experts Use to Get Rich!
A Marketing Shortcut of Staggering Brevity Gary Arndts
CONTENTS YOU’RE JUST 30 MINUTES FROM BECOMING A MARKETING GENIUS… ..... 4 So, What’s a Strategy……Anyway? ............................................................................................. 5 What Drags Us Down as Marketers? ........................................................................................... 6 Folklore ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Good, Ol’ Fashion ‘Source’ Sense ............................................................................................... 7 Play it Too, Safe............................................................................................................................. 7 Try to Cheat…................................................................................................................................ 8 Avoid Thinking!............................................................................................................................... 8 Marketing IQ Booster Shot ............................................................................................................ 9 Some Guru Wisdom ...................................................................................................................... 10 One Strategy Will Always Outperform Another ......................................................................... 11 Thou Shalt Test… ........................................................................................................................ 12 What’s in it for Me? ...................................................................................................................... 12 It Ain’t About You, Babe .............................................................................................................. 13
HOW STRATEGIES ARE BORN ........................................................................................... 14 Get Focused… ............................................................................................................................... 14 Why is focusing so vital? ............................................................................................................. 15 Start with These Key Questions….............................................................................................. 16 Focusing Questions… .................................................................................................................. 17 Business-to-Business Targeting Parameters .......................................................................... 18 Geographic ................................................................................................................................... 18 Classification (demographic)....................................................................................................... 18 Size of Firm (demographic)........................................................................................................ 18 Buying Decision Makers & Influences (demographic) ............................................................. 19 Volume (demographic) ............................................................................................................... 19 Marketing Factor (Psychographic).............................................................................................. 19 Consumer Targeting Parameters ............................................................................................... 20 Geographic ................................................................................................................................... 20 Demographic ................................................................................................................................ 20 Psychographic.............................................................................................................................. 20 Volume.......................................................................................................................................... 21 Marketing Factor .......................................................................................................................... 21 Benefit........................................................................................................................................... 21
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PUT YOUR BUSINESS IN A FRAME .................................................................................. 22 Framing is Darned Important Because…................................................................................... 23 To Frame…Start with These Burning Questions....................................................................... 23 Framing Parameters...................................................................................................................... 24 When Framing Your Business… ................................................................................................ 26 Create a Radio Spot for Your Business… ................................................................................. 26
FINDING PROSPECTS… .......................................................................................................... 29 To Find Prospects, Consider These Tactics… .......................................................................... 30
FUNNELING PROSPECTS ...................................................................................................... 33 Look at Your Market Like a Pyramid .......................................................................................... 34 Marketing with Pyramids ............................................................................................................. 35 Next You Will Do Something Truly Amazing . . . ....................................................................... 36 Funneling Brings It All Together ................................................................................................. 37 Even More Burning Questions .................................................................................................... 38 The Amazing Power of Offers..................................................................................................... 39 What to Know About Underlying Offers….................................................................................. 39 What to Know About Promotional Offers…................................................................................ 40 Promotional Offers that Work….................................................................................................. 40 Promotional Offers that Don’t Work… ........................................................................................ 42 The 40-40-20 Rule ....................................................................................................................... 42 The Drop-Like-a-Rock Funnel..................................................................................................... 43 The Database Way Station ......................................................................................................... 44 Funnels in Action ......................................................................................................................... 46
STRATEGY ACTION STEPS .................................................................................................. 48 Focusing ......................................................................................................................................... 48 Framing ........................................................................................................................................... 48 Finding............................................................................................................................................. 49 Funneling ........................................................................................................................................ 49
MARKETING TOOL KIT ............................................................................................................ 50 To Create Awareness.................................................................................................................. 50 To Follow Up/Communicate Benefits......................................................................................... 50 To Sustain/Enhance Communication......................................................................................... 50
MORE MARKETING RESOURCES! .................................................................................... 50
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You’re Just 30 Minutes from Becoming a Marketing Genius… Since you are starting or running a business… …you must be just dynamite at doing something right. That something, however, may not be marketing. When I talk to people who are embarking on a new business venture, and ask them what their biggest fear is, they often tell me what really makes them sweat is the idea of getting customers. …that same unease may also occasionally cross your mind. And it should! A customer is the one thing every business must have. No exceptions. You could have a business without employees. You could farm out everything. You could operate without equipment or even a physical location. But you must have customers - at least one. Any business must have an income, and customers are those delightful people who are the…
…source of your income!
No matter what your expertise, without a way to get customers, you will not succeed. The most effective way to get customers is to have a strategy.
Strategy is one of those words that is thrown around a lot. So about this time, you may be asking yourself…
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So, What’s a Strategy……Anyway? Think of a strategy simply as a…
…recipe. Just like cooking, if you do the same thing more than once and get the same result, you have created a strategy. You figure out the ingredients. You set up a simple procedure, you end up with a certain result. You do it again, using the same stuff and the same procedure and guess what? You get that same result.
But where do the recipes come from, you ask? Excellent question! You can create a strategy on your own by experimenting. You can watch someone else. You can get instructions from a chef. One thing is certain, over the years you will need to create new strategies from time to time if you are to maintain your success. Many businesses succeed, not because they are good at marketing, but in spite of the fact that they are awful at marketing. As years pass, a business tends to hit critical mass, a time when they have been around long enough, and enough people know about them, that they can maintain a steady supply of customers. They are living on this momentum, and they will until somebody comes along and eats their lunch…
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Maybe you. However, you cannot afford to wait for critical mass, or to hope that success will come to you without a marketing strategy. It’s far too risky. Anyone can create a marketing strategy. So you ask . . . if it’s so dadburn easy, why doesn’t everyone do it? Did I say it was easy? Actually, it’s not hard. So that brings up the really big question…
What Drags Us Down as Marketers? What keeps people from being better marketers? It’s frankly odd that just as we’re becoming increasingly sharp buyers, as marketers most of us are still pretty primitive. Here’s why…
Folklore Many of us literally go by old wives tales…
Folklore about marketing We suppose there are rules and secrets to marketing, but that they’re almost mystical things, unknowable or known only by experts or gurus… Not true. If fact, you’re the best person to create your marketing strategy. You might need a little help…but no one knows what you want, where you are going, and what you can offer as well as you do. 6
It’s really true. You can do it. As long as you use…
Good, Ol’ Fashion ‘Source’ Sense
Another problem is that we listen to the only one-on-one source for marketing information we’re exposed to, which is often a media salesperson. This may work out, but these salespeople have different goals than you do... …remember, they succeed when you spend money, whether you get results or not. Take control yourself, but don’t…
Play it Too, Safe Being unsure of ourselves, we fall back on clichés. We overuse words that have all but lost their meaning, and certainly have lost their energy. Empty words like quality, service, price and so on…….used to mean something, not now. We are almost paralyzed by what is really just stage fright. This is another reason why we resort to safe messages filled with clichés. We think marketing…….especially advertising ……is about exposing ourselves to the world. This is scary. Rather than look stupid, face ridicule, lose face, we play it safe. We also…
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…act like apes, and…
Try to Cheat… Surely, you remember that urge back in high school to take just a little peek over there at the next guy’s test paper. I certainly do. Monkey see……monkey…… And guess what? You’re still not over it! And I’m not either! Shame on us both. We copy our competitors, thinking they must know something we don’t. We think that’s safe. Odds are they are also copying us. We increase the size of our yellow page ad. Next year our competitor increases the size of his. Then we increase our ad size again, since we think our competitor must know something we don’t…..and on and on… Monkey see, monkey do. Copy. Copy. Copy. Why do we do it? Brace yourself. This ain’t pretty. It’s because we copycats can……(gulp!)
Avoid Thinking! Did you ever feel that just by possessing a book you possessed its knowledge? It’s kind of like that. Let’s go back to the recipe analogy…
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……just because you have a chocolate chip does not mean you’re baking cookies. Just because you build a web site does not mean you have a marketing strategy. Sadly, most web sites I see are pretty much just chocolate chips…
sweet, but there’s no wonderful smell of cookies baking. An ingredient is not a recipe. A marketing tool is not a strategy. A brochure is not a strategy. Brochures will not help you. Web sites will not help you……not without a strategy. And strategies require thinking. Maybe all we need is just a little…
Marketing IQ Booster Shot (I’ve had mine this month.) This won’t hurt a bit. There, now……. Now you’ll be able to create a strategy to accomplish your goals. You’re about to get a recipe for creating strategies. And it’s really easy to use. So powerful and easy to use, in fact, we must cross our fingers and hope your competitors don’t get a hold of this. Wait a minute……I feel another good question coming…… You’re about to ask, “Are there companies who have never heard of this recipe and are really successful anyway?” Sure. Lots of them! That’s the whole point!
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That’s where this recipe came from……watching them! Some cooks produce great results without being conscious of how they do it. I’ve spent 25 years (really about 30 years, but I’m in denial) in the kitchen watching the cooks and trying out the recipes whether they were written down or not. That’s why I can now tell you that…...
Here, at last is the genuine EZ Bake Way to cook up enough profits to feed a family of up to… …just how big is your family?
Some Guru Wisdom If you trek up that winding trail to the hall of the mountain king… ….and ask that wise old glassy-eyed marketing guru……he’ll grant you a few basic truths about marketing that you must know. I certainly have no intention of arguing with him. They have worked for me often enough to accept them.
It’s Not About the Money, in fact…
MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #1
There is no correlation… …between the amount of money you spend and the effectiveness of your marketing. 10
Wow! Did he really say that? It’s the truth. The strategy, not money, makes a marketing program work. Think about it like this… If success was just a result of the money spent, then any marketing program costing over a certain amount, let’s say $10,000, would be a success! And programs costing less would not. Pretty stupid notion, isn’t it? But as you know, if you do the same thing more than once and get the same result you have created a successful strategy.
A strategy is a recipe. Remember?......you use the same ingredients in the same way and you get the same results. If you hit a sale and save money on an ingredient, does the recipe still work? If you borrow an ingredient from a neighbor, does the recipe still work? Course it does! Money is just another ingredient. For some strategies, you don’t need it at all. While we are talking strategies……the guru will also tell you that….
One Strategy Will Always Outperform Another A more profitable strategy is often free, requiring only testing to confirm it. In fact…
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……one big, big, big time business guru tells us that marketing and innovation are the only two ways to create money out of thin air. You simply find a way to do something that delivers greater results for the same or a lesser investment.
Thou Shalt Test… No one (not even a genuine guru) can outguess their customers – at least, not consistently. Although you can use your experience and other peoples experience to guide you, the big problem is that most people let their experience (or their perception of their experience) limit what they try. The great marketing geniuses of the world are only geniuses because they take the time to learn their customers’ secrets by testing ideas and learning from these experiments. Oh, sure. They know some cool tricks. But they still test. Believe it……
What’s in it for Me?
Me…me…me…me…me… It’s just our nature, the guru tells us. Human beings always act in what they perceive to be their own self-interest - at least, at the moment. We maximize our pleasure, and avoid pain or discomfort to the extent that we think we understand how to do it. You must appeal to those self interests in your marketing. 12
No option. You must. Forget being clever. Forget being creative. Forget bragging about your business…….because……
It Ain’t About You, Babe Let’s put it another way. Marketing is never about you – it is always about your customer or prospect. It has nothing to do with you. Sorry, but they (your prospects) don’t really care about you. (Now you are thinking…..how about that time my aunt bought those sugar cookies so I could go to band camp……and she’s was a diabetic……allergic to flour and sugar and butter……and……WAIT A MINUTE! Didn’t it make her feel good just to help you? Was she really paying for cookies……or that good feeling?) The bottom line… Don’t focus on yourself. Focus on your prospects. This is good news! This little axiom alone should eliminate any stage fright you have about marketing yourself. Because you are not really marketing yourself after all……you’re marketing benefits for your customers……and nothing else.
Hope it was worth that long hike up the guru’s mountain.
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How Strategies Are Born A powerful method for creating strategies is called the F-4 System. It stands for…..
Focusing, Framing, Finding and Funneling This recipe works. It’s simple. It makes it easy to cook up a workable formula to gain new customers. And…….it works well for any type business.
Focus – Target prospects for your business. “I want to serve the following type customers…”
Framing – Create your message, your image. Who are you? Why should your prospects come to you? What makes you different? What exclusive advantage do you offer them? Some call this creating your Unique Selling Proposition. “These customers want me to serve them because only I can offer them…”
Finding – Where are your prospects? How do you make contact with them? “I will identify and communicate with prospects in the following ways…”
Funneling – Lead prospects to you and what you can offer. Encourage them to take steps immediately or eventually resulting in them becoming your customer. “I will use the following process (strategy) to turn prospects into customers…”
Get Focused… There are four parts to the F-4 System It is no accident that the first is Focusing. It’s often overlooked and underestimated in importance . . . as is Framing.
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MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #2
Just between us… …I’ve seen businesses do such a good job with these first two that they virtually skipped the last two Fs and still succeeded spectacularly. This is good because the last two Fs are where a lot of money ends up being spent.
Why is focusing so vital? You have limited resources. You’ll be taken seriously if you focus. (think specialist instead of general practitioner)
You’ll make more money. (How much is a Jack-of-all-trades worth compared to a specialist?)
You’ll be recommended more often because people have a clear idea of what you do and whom you do it for.
You enjoy economies of scale with your time, money, efforts, tools, learning, marketing and communication.
All in all, focusing helps you to…
Spot and compare opportunities Allocate your resources Target features and benefits to specific needs Increase your profitability
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Start with These Key Questions…
Obviously it makes a difference whether you’re targeting industrial customers, non-industrial businesses or consumers. Some questions below would apply to one or the other......some to both. You may need to describe your customers in terms of their industry, size, location, demographics, psychographics, benefits sought, volumes purchased, marketing factors… and so on.
OOPS……there are some big words here. I don’t like that. What do demographic, psychographic and geographic mean? Pretty simple...
Geographic:
Where they buy…
Demographic:
Who buys…
Psychographic:
Why they buy…
I simply love simplicity…
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Focusing Questions…
Decision Makers – What person, (name, title, function or demographic) selects your products or service? Who influences this decision?
Distribution – Do you sell to customers directly? If not, describe the process you use to get your products or services to your ultimate customers. (Identify all middlemen and purchasing influences.)
Targeting – What characteristics make your customers YOUR customers (what are they seeking and why?)
Non-targeted Customers – What characteristics makes potential prospects YOUR COMPETITION’S customers? Why do they have them and you don’t?
Lost Customers – What customers have you lost? Why did you lose them? What would it take to get them back?
Potential Customers – Who isn’t, but could be your customer?
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Business-to-Business Targeting Parameters
Geographic Country
State
County
City
Areas
By Size
Rural
Regional
Territory
SMSA
Classification (demographic) Electronics
Instruments
Furniture
Plastics
Computers
Medical
Machinery
Paper
Electrical
Services
Aerospace
Food
Chemicals
Leather
Processes
Metalworking
Textile
Petroleum
Building Products
Metals
Transportation
Lumber
Rubber
Communications
Size of Firm (demographic) Employees
Sales
Mfg. Space
Number of Plants
Profitability
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Buying Decision Makers & Influences (demographic)
President
Sales
R&D Engs.
Controller
Mfg. Mgrs.
Information Systems
Marketing Mgrs.
Plant Managers
Distribution
Accounting
Production Engs.
Advertising
Buyers
Maintenance
Legal
Shipping
Volume (demographic) Heavy
Medium
Light
Non-users
Marketing Factor (Psychographic) You may need to focus on those who tend to respond to certain type appeals. Price
Price Deals
Ads
Brand Loyalty
Product
Quality
Habit
Indifference
Distribution
Image
Message
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Consumer Targeting Parameters
Geographic Country
State
County
City
Areas
Regional
Rural
DMA
Territory
(Designated Market Area)
Demographic Age
Education
Sex
Life Cycle
Family
Religion
Size
Social Class
Income Occupation
Nationality Own/Rent
Psychographic Compulsive
Achiever
Gregarious
Liberal
Autonomy
Ambitious
Conservative
Leadership
Authoritative
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Volume Heavy
Medium
Light
Non-users
Marketing Factor You can even focus on those who tend to respond to a certain type appeal. Price
Message
Price Deals
Image
Retail Ads
Indifference
Distribution
Habit
Brand Loyalty
Product Quality
Benefit These are universal wants that are the basis for many appeals Make Money
Save Time
Save Money
Admiration
Retirement
Less Fear
Security
Friendship
Better Health
Love
Reduce Fat
Sex Appeal
Comfort
Appearance
More Leisure
Less Worry
Freedom
Enjoyment
Easier Chores
Prestige
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Put Your Business in a Frame
Some experts note the importance of creating a Unique Selling Proposition. This simple message can light up the world about…
The purpose you fulfill The service you provide Benefits you deliver that are different from anyone else’s Other experts call this a Unique Customer Advantage. I like to think of it as Framing a business. Framing is the process of creating a picture that you display to the world. It is your message, your image, and your unique position in the universe. But…
MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #3
…it isn’t really a picture of you or your business. Not at all! It is a picture of your customer enjoying some benefit only you can deliver. Remember the guru’s 4th marketing wisdom?
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People always act in what they perceive to be their own self-interest. No one is interested in seeing a picture of you… They want to see a picture of themselves and how they will look and feel after you have served them. That’s all Framing is - and it’s a real key to the success for….any business. If this picture is attractive enough, you have truly created a better mousetrap and people will begin to beat that path to your door. In fact . . .
Framing is Darned Important Because… It clearly answers your prospect’s only question, “What is in it for me?” It differentiates you from anyone else. It makes you memorable, easier to recall. It makes it easier for someone to recommend you. It creates a comfortable niche or image for you. It gives you a framework that makes creation of marketing materials simple, easy, consistent and effective.
To Frame…Start with These Burning Questions
(If you can’t take the heat…stay out of the kitchen)
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Framing Parameters Products or Services – How could you describe your product/service?
Problems/Opportunities – What wants/needs do your product(s) meet? What problem do they solve?
Advantages – What are the top five strengths of your products or services?\
Disadvantages – What are the top five weaknesses of your products or services?
Alternatives – If your customers would not buy YOUR products or services, what would they buy or do instead?
Threats – What are the greatest threats to your ability to sell your products or services?
Product Evolution – Are you selling the same products and services that were available five years ago? How have they changed?
Overall Quality – What does quality actually mean to your customers?
Competitive Pricing – What does competitive pricing actually mean to your customers?
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Clear Focus – How tightly is your product aimed at a particular group?
High Level of Service – How would your customers define your service?
Personalized Service – Do your customers feel their service is personalized?
Name Recognition – Are most customers/prospects aware of you? How does your name recognition compare to your competitions’?
Professionalism – Do customers regard your service/stature/image as highly professional? Why or why not?
Engineering/Design – Are you known for your innovative approaches?
Guarantee/Warranty – Do you offer a guarantee or warranty? What is it?
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When Framing Your Business…
There should be a sense of uniqueness... - an onlyness about you, or your business will not be remembered. So… Decide what you would like to be known for, and ask yourself if this is also something that your prospects will highly value. What are you better at than anyone else? What are your areas of specialization? What niche could you dominate? What results can you promise? Are you comfortable in this niche? Do you deliver on your promises consistently?
Create a Radio Spot for Your Business… When someone asks you what business you’re in, (and think how many times that happens every week) you have a unique opportunity to create a very special image in the mind of that person. This is important because the image you create will enable that person to become a salesperson for your business by recommending you to others.
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Create a radio spot for your business! In your spot, you must tell them…
Customers you serve What problem, solution, or issues you address for customers What you do it How you’re able to do it better than anyone else
This is really easy, but it takes practice (in the bathroom, in front of the mirror…….when no one else is home.) Try this little formula when you are asked what business you are in. Say: “You know how….” (then state your prospect) Customers
a) manufacturers… b) working mothers… c) landscapers… (then say a problem or opportunity)
Issues
a) “sometimes have computer problems on the weekend…” b) “have difficulties getting qualified child care…” c) “are too busy working to keep an eye on their finances…” 27
(then say ) “Well, I specialize in… What You Do
a) “keeping computers up and going 24/7… “ b) “bringing qualified child care workers and needful mothers together…” c) “providing low cost financial advice to those who are not happy being indoors, worrying about money matters…”
How You Can Do It
(then say) “I can do that because…” a) “I have a backup staff of five experts, one of us is always on call…” b) “I maintain an up-to-date database of resources that I have personally checked out…” c) “I worked as a landscaper and I understand the financial structure of these organizations as well as the nuts and bolts of the business… “
You know that you are “well framed” when someone comes up to you and says, “Oh, I know you. You are the guys who…”
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Finding Prospects… …hunting them down and…
When most of us think of marketing… and advertising in particular, what enters our brain is prospecting, “How are we going to reach prospects?” Hey, another excellent question. You’re a natural at this… And naturally, you want to pursue the hottest prospects as inexpensively as possible.
Here is wonderful news! If…you’ve focused and framed your business properly you’ll be successful. Your communication will be both directed and persuasive. So your job in Finding is mainly to be efficient. You wish to contact the best prospects in the lowest cost way that will still accomplish your objectives. Finding is how you will . . .
Identify prospects Determine prospects’ value Refresh your customer base Develop the lowest cost methods of communication
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MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #4
Let’s crack the vault. A little secret I’ve learned… . . . instead of going to extraordinary lengths to pinpoint prospect, ask them to reveal themselves to you! Say to yourself, “Self, I know that some of my prospects read this publication and the cost of advertising here is not prohibitive. So I will run an ad and ask readers to tell me if they are prospects.” Even better, of course, in this age of search engine marketing, an ad on Google or Yahoo lets prospects show their interest simply by choosing to click to your website. After all, no one really can identify a prospect, except prospects themselves! A person may fit all the criteria to be a perfect customer, but have his or her own reasons to never use your product or service.
To Find Prospects, Consider These Tactics… History – List five ways you have obtained new customers in the past – in descending order of effectiveness:
Spy – Discover what your competitors are doing to communicate with prospects?
Partnerships – Is there another business, who isn’t a competitor, selling to your prospects? Could you do collaborative marketing?
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Co-beneficiaries – Who else benefits when you sell something? Can you ask them to join forces?
Trade publications – Are there publications reaching both the industry and the person inside the company who you need to reach?
Mailing lists – Are there mailing lists available that reach your target market? Do trade publications make their subscription lists available?
Directories – Are there trade directories, including on-line directories, that reach your market? Would general industrial directories such as Thomas Register contribute to your marketing effort?
Newsletters – Are industry newsletters available? Would creating your own newsletter make sense?
Consumer media – Is your market broad demographically - yet targeted geographically - so that daily or weekly newspapers would be a cost efficient method of communication? How about radio or television?
Trade shows – Are there shows or conventions that your prospects attend?
Yellow Pages – Would your prospects seek new sources by exploring the Yellow Pages?
Publicity – Are you sending news releases on new products, services, personnel changes and other newsworthy information to trade publications and other media?
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Internet – Do you have a web site? How does it fit into your marketing strategy? How do you attract visitors and get them to respond?
Referrals – How are you cultivating word-of-mouth advertising for your business? Are you asking for testimonials from satisfied customers? How do you reward those who recommend you to others?
Contact – How do you maintain communication with customers and prospects? This may be the least costly, but most important of all your marketing activities.
Marketing Tools – What communication tools do you have and how do they fit into your overall strategy?
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Funneling Prospects
Let’s take a look at what you’ve accomplished so far…
You’ve focused on your target customers You’ve framed your service by creating a picture of your customer meeting his self-interest with your help
You’ve found prospects – come up with ways of contacting suspects and being visible when prospects are searching for you. Very Impressive.
Now, how do go from beating the bushes for business to beating a path to the bank deposit window? I call it Funneling... It’s based on a very simple notion: some prospects are more valuable to you than others. You have more confidence that some are better prospects. . As this confidence increases so does a prospect’s value to you - and the amount of money, time and effort you are willing to spend on them should also increase.
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Look at Your Market Like a Pyramid You can look at your market as a pyramid, so that…
You can differentiate your audience and treat segments appropriately You can determine what various prospects are worth to you You can get customers without one-on-one sales efforts You can retain or regain customers
Your marketing pyramid might look like this:
Customers Do business with now
Past Customers Have done business with
Qualified Prospects Meet your qualification standards
Unqualified Prospects Identified or expressed an interest
Suspects Suspect they have a need
Never Will never become customers (for whatever reason) 34
Marketing with Pyramids
You can create a hierarchy… of your market that makes sense in terms of what separates some people from other people. Flexibility – The pyramid is a flexible way of viewing your market. You can define each level anyway that is useful for you.
Value – Notice that as you rise on the pyramid above, these individuals’ suspected worth increases.
Customers’ Value – You might even create a pyramid of customers, from most valuable to least valuable.
Pareto’s Principle – 20% of your customer base is worth more than the other 80%
Action – Your big question – how do you treat each segment differently?
My own rule – The more confident you are that someone is a good prospect the more you should be willing to spend on them.
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Next You Will Do Something Truly Amazing . . .
…turn your pyramid upside down and create a funnel… Toss in all your suspects…
Develop a shaking process to channel them down the funnel Qualify them Make regular contacts & keep shaking Ultimately . . . close the sale!
The really great thing about this is…
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Funneling Brings It All Together Now you’re doing it all...
Customer Focus – You’re reviewing your prospects in terms of who are the best bets to slide on down the funnel. (Demo-, Psycho- & Geo-graphically)
Framing – You’re getting clear about what specific needs you’re really meeting. Results can you promise. Stoppers that keep prospects from becoming customers…
Finding – You’re discovering how to fill that funnel. The tightest group of prospects you can identify…how to reach them…make them aware of you…
Funneling – And so, in the end funneling once again leads us to even more burning questions…
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Even More Burning Questions
Questions magically lead to new ideas! Answers are dead things that can stop further thinking…
How can you assure that prospects are aware of you …and see you in the way you want to frame your business?
What can you offer to turn suspects into prospects?
What can you offer to turn prospects into qualified prospects?
What can you offer to turn qualified prospects into customers?
What can you offer to keep customers from becoming past customers?
What can you offer to get lost customers to become new customers?
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The Amazing Power of Offers Offers are a most powerful way to . . . sift a suspect through your marketing funnel until the suspect becomes qualified and ultimately becomes a customer. You can think of offers as being of two types…
Underlying Offers – Your business, your products and services and your prospects’ perception of those things. It’s what you’re really selling!
Promotional Offers – What you as an advertiser are willing to give a reader to elicit a response. It’s bait!
What to Know About Underlying Offers… They have a major impact on the effectiveness of promotional offers. If you’re not known, it can cast a shadow over any or all of your promotions. Credibility is a major issue. An old saying is, “You can’t get fired for buying IBM.” This was a way of saying that if something goes wrong (and with technology that can happen), at least, you bought from the largest computer company in the world. IBM used this as leverage for many years, even though their products weren’t always the best. Purchasers are looking for reasons not to buy. Lack of familiarity or poor perception can be reason enough. 39
What to Know About Promotional Offers… Promotional offers are critical in differentiating your products and services. Offers must be compelling to stand out from the crowd. Offers should be related to your objectives.
Promotional Offers that Work… If you’re… Seeking
Then, offer…
Unqualified Leads
Information (No questions asked)
Qualified Leads
Answers to Questions Free Information Free Gift Premium Item Seminar Demo Sample Free Trial Analysis Free Book Newsletter Subscription (Time Limit Recommended)
40
Seeking
Then, offer…
New Order
Gift with Purchase Discount Additional Product Add-on Service Multiple Product Discount Complimentary Product Extended Warranty Satisfaction Guarantee Money Back Guarantee Easy Payment Terms Free Shipping Buyers Club
Repeat Order
Same as Above Emphasize Relationship Cross Selling Frequent Buyer
Get Customer Back
Major Incentive Deep Discounts Sweepstakes/Contest
Now for the dark side. Let’s talk about…
41
Promotional Offers that Don’t Work… The non-offer offer – Build it and they will come. For example, free information without description of what it contains or why they should care. Too cute offer – Gimmick not related to your underlying offer. May generate false positives. However, may be useful to eliminate possibilities or create an unqualified prospecting list. Certain restrictions apply offer – Offers with too many strings attached. Too complicated. Too convoluted. Instead make it very, very, easy, easy, to take advantage of your offer.
The 40-40-20 Rule
MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #5
Many marketing pros believe that if you expect an immediate response, your results will depend…
40% on your targeting 40% on your message or offer 20% on your presentation Unfortunately……many marketers spend 80% of their time on presentation and 20% on targeting and offers. Ouch!
42
What your ad looks like…what color your mailer is…and so on…may be only a fraction as influential as targeting the right people with the right offer. Time and time again, I’ve seen really ugly mailers out pull beautifully designed brochures. After all…let’s be honest…appearance and presentation are usually typically more about you and less about your customers’ wants and needs. This is not to say that appearance may not be important or that sometimes it may be worth a whole lot more than 20%... …but it’s something to keep in perspective.
The Drop-Like-a-Rock Funnel
Word of mouth… …it will always be your most powerful marketing tool. When someone recommends you to a friend, that friend often drops through your funnel like a rock.
Your credibility is not an issue. Your capabilities are not an issue. Your offer is not an issue. In additional, there’s evidence that customers who come from referrals are more profitable, more reliable, easier to work with and stay on longer as customers.
43
The Database Way Station A major factor in strategic marketing is timing… MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #6
If someone doesn’t… …perceive an immediate need or desire for your product or service, there is almost nothing you can do to get their attention. Think about it like this… If someone has just bought new tires, there is nothing you can say in a tire ad that will get their attention……at least not in the way you want their attention. On the other hand…if they just experienced a bare tread blowout, just about any tire ad will interest them. In this situation, how can you identify people who aren’t ready now, but will be tire buyers someday? [SIDE NOTE: You might say, well, if he isn’t ready to buy a tire right now, I don’t care if I communicate with that guy or not? “Big mistake”, as Arnold might say. If you wait until he’s ready, it may be too late! He may quickly buy from a competitor he is already aware of . . . and you’re toast. “Hasta la vista baby!”]
So what to do? 44
Think like the marketing genius you now are! What if you created a list of extremely valuable customers……say, people who own several vehicles. These people just by virtue of real world odds, will have need for your services more frequently. They’ll be good prospects and warrant some communication every few months. Certainly it would be more productive than a mailing to……everybody. You want to collect these valuable prospects in your funnel…..and then guide them on their way to……YOU! A funnel is really just a database……a place to store prospects until they are ready to become customers.
It’s a pond you stock today… …so can fish later with a good chance of catching something……without spending a fortune on bait or waiting hours for a bite. It’s usually not wise or necessary to spend a fortune to find valuable prospects to create your database. Instead use relatively low cost techniques, such as running an ad that reaches thousands of people for pennies each, or offering prospects something inexpensive in return for filling out a questionnaire and identifying themselves. As your database grows you can use more costly, but very effective, approaches like direct mail, telephone calls, or even personal visits.
45
Most important, gather contact information on all the prospects who didn’t buy from you this time. They will buy again…and you’ll have a second shot at them…if you know who they are.
Funnels in Action
In these examples, you’ll see how prospects become increasingly qualified and the marketers are willing to offer and spend more on them. Why? Because the marketer is more sure they are worth it.
BOOK CLUB Offer
Offered to…
4 Free books for $1
…a list of those who
When You Become a Member
have bought books by mail from another source (to get them to join the club)
Free book for every six books you buy
…those who are already members (to get them to buy now)
46
ELECTRONIC COMPONENT MANUFACTURER
Offer
Offered to…
Free catalog
…any business reading publications of interest to genuine prospects
Free quote
…same as above
Free custom design
…only those actively engaged in a project that will require this electronic component
Free sample
…those having a definite project coming up and who said our price was acceptable
Engineer visit
…previous customer
to prospect
or someone who signs a purchase order
Quantity discount
...only those known to use thousands of components each year
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Strategy Action Steps Focusing Start by listing your current customers. Which one’s are furthering your objectives? Why? Are there more customers or prospects like them like that out there? If you were focusing more on them, how would that affect your marketing? Your profitability? Your competitive power?
Look at other groups and ask the same questions.
Framing Ask these customers why they do business with you. What would cause them to do more business with you? What wants & needs are you meeting? What wants & needs could you meet? How do you describe what you offer in a powerful way?
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Finding Examine how you have been finding prospects, or they have been finding you. What has worked and what has not worked? What haven’t you tried? How can you experiment at a low cost?
Funneling How can you identify someone who is a good prospect? What makes them better prospects (hint: review your focus) What steps can you take to get them from unknown to a suspect, to a prospect, to a customer, to a repeat customer, to a customer who buys more, to a customer who refers other customers?
Test ideas repeatedly and fail often. But do it in a small way that won’t cost much or injure existing business. Keep trying till you discover recipes that works.
Start cooking...
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Marketing Tool Kit To Create Awareness... Newspapers
Consumer Magazines
Trade Publications
Independent Newsletters
Radio
Television
Director Listings
Directory Advertisements
Yellow Pages
Outdoor (billboards, signs)
Events
Seminars
Demonstrations
Trade Shows
Mailings
Articles
Books
Publicity
Telephone
Speeches/Presentations
Volunteering
Partnering
To Follow Up/Communicate Benefits... Brochures
Newsletters
Videos
Samples
Events
Seminars
Catalogs
Websites
CDs
Guides & Manuals
Photos
Portfolios
Publicity
Business Cards
Audio tapes
Multimedia
Demonstrations
Trade Shows
Mailings
E-mail
To Sustain/Enhance Communication... Newsletter
E-mail
Articles/Columns
Books (your own)
Samples
Giveaways
Faxes
Ad Specialties
Speeches
Presentations
Coupons
Telephone
Displays
Volunteering
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High Focused Pay Per Click Management
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A Marketing Shortcut of Staggering Brevity Gary Arndts
CONTENTS YOU’RE JUST 30 MINUTES FROM BECOMING A MARKETING GENIUS… ..... 4 So, What’s a Strategy……Anyway? ............................................................................................. 5 What Drags Us Down as Marketers? ........................................................................................... 6 Folklore ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Good, Ol’ Fashion ‘Source’ Sense ............................................................................................... 7 Play it Too, Safe............................................................................................................................. 7 Try to Cheat…................................................................................................................................ 8 Avoid Thinking!............................................................................................................................... 8 Marketing IQ Booster Shot ............................................................................................................ 9 Some Guru Wisdom ...................................................................................................................... 10 One Strategy Will Always Outperform Another ......................................................................... 11 Thou Shalt Test… ........................................................................................................................ 12 What’s in it for Me? ...................................................................................................................... 12 It Ain’t About You, Babe .............................................................................................................. 13
HOW STRATEGIES ARE BORN ........................................................................................... 14 Get Focused… ............................................................................................................................... 14 Why is focusing so vital? ............................................................................................................. 15 Start with These Key Questions….............................................................................................. 16 Focusing Questions… .................................................................................................................. 17 Business-to-Business Targeting Parameters .......................................................................... 18 Geographic ................................................................................................................................... 18 Classification (demographic)....................................................................................................... 18 Size of Firm (demographic)........................................................................................................ 18 Buying Decision Makers & Influences (demographic) ............................................................. 19 Volume (demographic) ............................................................................................................... 19 Marketing Factor (Psychographic).............................................................................................. 19 Consumer Targeting Parameters ............................................................................................... 20 Geographic ................................................................................................................................... 20 Demographic ................................................................................................................................ 20 Psychographic.............................................................................................................................. 20 Volume.......................................................................................................................................... 21 Marketing Factor .......................................................................................................................... 21 Benefit........................................................................................................................................... 21
2
PUT YOUR BUSINESS IN A FRAME .................................................................................. 22 Framing is Darned Important Because…................................................................................... 23 To Frame…Start with These Burning Questions....................................................................... 23 Framing Parameters...................................................................................................................... 24 When Framing Your Business… ................................................................................................ 26 Create a Radio Spot for Your Business… ................................................................................. 26
FINDING PROSPECTS… .......................................................................................................... 29 To Find Prospects, Consider These Tactics… .......................................................................... 30
FUNNELING PROSPECTS ...................................................................................................... 33 Look at Your Market Like a Pyramid .......................................................................................... 34 Marketing with Pyramids ............................................................................................................. 35 Next You Will Do Something Truly Amazing . . . ....................................................................... 36 Funneling Brings It All Together ................................................................................................. 37 Even More Burning Questions .................................................................................................... 38 The Amazing Power of Offers..................................................................................................... 39 What to Know About Underlying Offers….................................................................................. 39 What to Know About Promotional Offers…................................................................................ 40 Promotional Offers that Work….................................................................................................. 40 Promotional Offers that Don’t Work… ........................................................................................ 42 The 40-40-20 Rule ....................................................................................................................... 42 The Drop-Like-a-Rock Funnel..................................................................................................... 43 The Database Way Station ......................................................................................................... 44 Funnels in Action ......................................................................................................................... 46
STRATEGY ACTION STEPS .................................................................................................. 48 Focusing ......................................................................................................................................... 48 Framing ........................................................................................................................................... 48 Finding............................................................................................................................................. 49 Funneling ........................................................................................................................................ 49
MARKETING TOOL KIT ............................................................................................................ 50 To Create Awareness.................................................................................................................. 50 To Follow Up/Communicate Benefits......................................................................................... 50 To Sustain/Enhance Communication......................................................................................... 50
MORE MARKETING RESOURCES! .................................................................................... 50
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You’re Just 30 Minutes from Becoming a Marketing Genius… Since you are starting or running a business… …you must be just dynamite at doing something right. That something, however, may not be marketing. When I talk to people who are embarking on a new business venture, and ask them what their biggest fear is, they often tell me what really makes them sweat is the idea of getting customers. …that same unease may also occasionally cross your mind. And it should! A customer is the one thing every business must have. No exceptions. You could have a business without employees. You could farm out everything. You could operate without equipment or even a physical location. But you must have customers - at least one. Any business must have an income, and customers are those delightful people who are the…
…source of your income!
No matter what your expertise, without a way to get customers, you will not succeed. The most effective way to get customers is to have a strategy.
Strategy is one of those words that is thrown around a lot. So about this time, you may be asking yourself…
4
So, What’s a Strategy……Anyway? Think of a strategy simply as a…
…recipe. Just like cooking, if you do the same thing more than once and get the same result, you have created a strategy. You figure out the ingredients. You set up a simple procedure, you end up with a certain result. You do it again, using the same stuff and the same procedure and guess what? You get that same result.
But where do the recipes come from, you ask? Excellent question! You can create a strategy on your own by experimenting. You can watch someone else. You can get instructions from a chef. One thing is certain, over the years you will need to create new strategies from time to time if you are to maintain your success. Many businesses succeed, not because they are good at marketing, but in spite of the fact that they are awful at marketing. As years pass, a business tends to hit critical mass, a time when they have been around long enough, and enough people know about them, that they can maintain a steady supply of customers. They are living on this momentum, and they will until somebody comes along and eats their lunch…
5
Maybe you. However, you cannot afford to wait for critical mass, or to hope that success will come to you without a marketing strategy. It’s far too risky. Anyone can create a marketing strategy. So you ask . . . if it’s so dadburn easy, why doesn’t everyone do it? Did I say it was easy? Actually, it’s not hard. So that brings up the really big question…
What Drags Us Down as Marketers? What keeps people from being better marketers? It’s frankly odd that just as we’re becoming increasingly sharp buyers, as marketers most of us are still pretty primitive. Here’s why…
Folklore Many of us literally go by old wives tales…
Folklore about marketing We suppose there are rules and secrets to marketing, but that they’re almost mystical things, unknowable or known only by experts or gurus… Not true. If fact, you’re the best person to create your marketing strategy. You might need a little help…but no one knows what you want, where you are going, and what you can offer as well as you do. 6
It’s really true. You can do it. As long as you use…
Good, Ol’ Fashion ‘Source’ Sense
Another problem is that we listen to the only one-on-one source for marketing information we’re exposed to, which is often a media salesperson. This may work out, but these salespeople have different goals than you do... …remember, they succeed when you spend money, whether you get results or not. Take control yourself, but don’t…
Play it Too, Safe Being unsure of ourselves, we fall back on clichés. We overuse words that have all but lost their meaning, and certainly have lost their energy. Empty words like quality, service, price and so on…….used to mean something, not now. We are almost paralyzed by what is really just stage fright. This is another reason why we resort to safe messages filled with clichés. We think marketing…….especially advertising ……is about exposing ourselves to the world. This is scary. Rather than look stupid, face ridicule, lose face, we play it safe. We also…
7
…act like apes, and…
Try to Cheat… Surely, you remember that urge back in high school to take just a little peek over there at the next guy’s test paper. I certainly do. Monkey see……monkey…… And guess what? You’re still not over it! And I’m not either! Shame on us both. We copy our competitors, thinking they must know something we don’t. We think that’s safe. Odds are they are also copying us. We increase the size of our yellow page ad. Next year our competitor increases the size of his. Then we increase our ad size again, since we think our competitor must know something we don’t…..and on and on… Monkey see, monkey do. Copy. Copy. Copy. Why do we do it? Brace yourself. This ain’t pretty. It’s because we copycats can……(gulp!)
Avoid Thinking! Did you ever feel that just by possessing a book you possessed its knowledge? It’s kind of like that. Let’s go back to the recipe analogy…
8
……just because you have a chocolate chip does not mean you’re baking cookies. Just because you build a web site does not mean you have a marketing strategy. Sadly, most web sites I see are pretty much just chocolate chips…
sweet, but there’s no wonderful smell of cookies baking. An ingredient is not a recipe. A marketing tool is not a strategy. A brochure is not a strategy. Brochures will not help you. Web sites will not help you……not without a strategy. And strategies require thinking. Maybe all we need is just a little…
Marketing IQ Booster Shot (I’ve had mine this month.) This won’t hurt a bit. There, now……. Now you’ll be able to create a strategy to accomplish your goals. You’re about to get a recipe for creating strategies. And it’s really easy to use. So powerful and easy to use, in fact, we must cross our fingers and hope your competitors don’t get a hold of this. Wait a minute……I feel another good question coming…… You’re about to ask, “Are there companies who have never heard of this recipe and are really successful anyway?” Sure. Lots of them! That’s the whole point!
9
That’s where this recipe came from……watching them! Some cooks produce great results without being conscious of how they do it. I’ve spent 25 years (really about 30 years, but I’m in denial) in the kitchen watching the cooks and trying out the recipes whether they were written down or not. That’s why I can now tell you that…...
Here, at last is the genuine EZ Bake Way to cook up enough profits to feed a family of up to… …just how big is your family?
Some Guru Wisdom If you trek up that winding trail to the hall of the mountain king… ….and ask that wise old glassy-eyed marketing guru……he’ll grant you a few basic truths about marketing that you must know. I certainly have no intention of arguing with him. They have worked for me often enough to accept them.
It’s Not About the Money, in fact…
MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #1
There is no correlation… …between the amount of money you spend and the effectiveness of your marketing. 10
Wow! Did he really say that? It’s the truth. The strategy, not money, makes a marketing program work. Think about it like this… If success was just a result of the money spent, then any marketing program costing over a certain amount, let’s say $10,000, would be a success! And programs costing less would not. Pretty stupid notion, isn’t it? But as you know, if you do the same thing more than once and get the same result you have created a successful strategy.
A strategy is a recipe. Remember?......you use the same ingredients in the same way and you get the same results. If you hit a sale and save money on an ingredient, does the recipe still work? If you borrow an ingredient from a neighbor, does the recipe still work? Course it does! Money is just another ingredient. For some strategies, you don’t need it at all. While we are talking strategies……the guru will also tell you that….
One Strategy Will Always Outperform Another A more profitable strategy is often free, requiring only testing to confirm it. In fact…
11
……one big, big, big time business guru tells us that marketing and innovation are the only two ways to create money out of thin air. You simply find a way to do something that delivers greater results for the same or a lesser investment.
Thou Shalt Test… No one (not even a genuine guru) can outguess their customers – at least, not consistently. Although you can use your experience and other peoples experience to guide you, the big problem is that most people let their experience (or their perception of their experience) limit what they try. The great marketing geniuses of the world are only geniuses because they take the time to learn their customers’ secrets by testing ideas and learning from these experiments. Oh, sure. They know some cool tricks. But they still test. Believe it……
What’s in it for Me?
Me…me…me…me…me… It’s just our nature, the guru tells us. Human beings always act in what they perceive to be their own self-interest - at least, at the moment. We maximize our pleasure, and avoid pain or discomfort to the extent that we think we understand how to do it. You must appeal to those self interests in your marketing. 12
No option. You must. Forget being clever. Forget being creative. Forget bragging about your business…….because……
It Ain’t About You, Babe Let’s put it another way. Marketing is never about you – it is always about your customer or prospect. It has nothing to do with you. Sorry, but they (your prospects) don’t really care about you. (Now you are thinking…..how about that time my aunt bought those sugar cookies so I could go to band camp……and she’s was a diabetic……allergic to flour and sugar and butter……and……WAIT A MINUTE! Didn’t it make her feel good just to help you? Was she really paying for cookies……or that good feeling?) The bottom line… Don’t focus on yourself. Focus on your prospects. This is good news! This little axiom alone should eliminate any stage fright you have about marketing yourself. Because you are not really marketing yourself after all……you’re marketing benefits for your customers……and nothing else.
Hope it was worth that long hike up the guru’s mountain.
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How Strategies Are Born A powerful method for creating strategies is called the F-4 System. It stands for…..
Focusing, Framing, Finding and Funneling This recipe works. It’s simple. It makes it easy to cook up a workable formula to gain new customers. And…….it works well for any type business.
Focus – Target prospects for your business. “I want to serve the following type customers…”
Framing – Create your message, your image. Who are you? Why should your prospects come to you? What makes you different? What exclusive advantage do you offer them? Some call this creating your Unique Selling Proposition. “These customers want me to serve them because only I can offer them…”
Finding – Where are your prospects? How do you make contact with them? “I will identify and communicate with prospects in the following ways…”
Funneling – Lead prospects to you and what you can offer. Encourage them to take steps immediately or eventually resulting in them becoming your customer. “I will use the following process (strategy) to turn prospects into customers…”
Get Focused… There are four parts to the F-4 System It is no accident that the first is Focusing. It’s often overlooked and underestimated in importance . . . as is Framing.
14
MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #2
Just between us… …I’ve seen businesses do such a good job with these first two that they virtually skipped the last two Fs and still succeeded spectacularly. This is good because the last two Fs are where a lot of money ends up being spent.
Why is focusing so vital? You have limited resources. You’ll be taken seriously if you focus. (think specialist instead of general practitioner)
You’ll make more money. (How much is a Jack-of-all-trades worth compared to a specialist?)
You’ll be recommended more often because people have a clear idea of what you do and whom you do it for.
You enjoy economies of scale with your time, money, efforts, tools, learning, marketing and communication.
All in all, focusing helps you to…
Spot and compare opportunities Allocate your resources Target features and benefits to specific needs Increase your profitability
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Start with These Key Questions…
Obviously it makes a difference whether you’re targeting industrial customers, non-industrial businesses or consumers. Some questions below would apply to one or the other......some to both. You may need to describe your customers in terms of their industry, size, location, demographics, psychographics, benefits sought, volumes purchased, marketing factors… and so on.
OOPS……there are some big words here. I don’t like that. What do demographic, psychographic and geographic mean? Pretty simple...
Geographic:
Where they buy…
Demographic:
Who buys…
Psychographic:
Why they buy…
I simply love simplicity…
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Focusing Questions…
Decision Makers – What person, (name, title, function or demographic) selects your products or service? Who influences this decision?
Distribution – Do you sell to customers directly? If not, describe the process you use to get your products or services to your ultimate customers. (Identify all middlemen and purchasing influences.)
Targeting – What characteristics make your customers YOUR customers (what are they seeking and why?)
Non-targeted Customers – What characteristics makes potential prospects YOUR COMPETITION’S customers? Why do they have them and you don’t?
Lost Customers – What customers have you lost? Why did you lose them? What would it take to get them back?
Potential Customers – Who isn’t, but could be your customer?
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Business-to-Business Targeting Parameters
Geographic Country
State
County
City
Areas
By Size
Rural
Regional
Territory
SMSA
Classification (demographic) Electronics
Instruments
Furniture
Plastics
Computers
Medical
Machinery
Paper
Electrical
Services
Aerospace
Food
Chemicals
Leather
Processes
Metalworking
Textile
Petroleum
Building Products
Metals
Transportation
Lumber
Rubber
Communications
Size of Firm (demographic) Employees
Sales
Mfg. Space
Number of Plants
Profitability
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Buying Decision Makers & Influences (demographic)
President
Sales
R&D Engs.
Controller
Mfg. Mgrs.
Information Systems
Marketing Mgrs.
Plant Managers
Distribution
Accounting
Production Engs.
Advertising
Buyers
Maintenance
Legal
Shipping
Volume (demographic) Heavy
Medium
Light
Non-users
Marketing Factor (Psychographic) You may need to focus on those who tend to respond to certain type appeals. Price
Price Deals
Ads
Brand Loyalty
Product
Quality
Habit
Indifference
Distribution
Image
Message
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Consumer Targeting Parameters
Geographic Country
State
County
City
Areas
Regional
Rural
DMA
Territory
(Designated Market Area)
Demographic Age
Education
Sex
Life Cycle
Family
Religion
Size
Social Class
Income Occupation
Nationality Own/Rent
Psychographic Compulsive
Achiever
Gregarious
Liberal
Autonomy
Ambitious
Conservative
Leadership
Authoritative
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Volume Heavy
Medium
Light
Non-users
Marketing Factor You can even focus on those who tend to respond to a certain type appeal. Price
Message
Price Deals
Image
Retail Ads
Indifference
Distribution
Habit
Brand Loyalty
Product Quality
Benefit These are universal wants that are the basis for many appeals Make Money
Save Time
Save Money
Admiration
Retirement
Less Fear
Security
Friendship
Better Health
Love
Reduce Fat
Sex Appeal
Comfort
Appearance
More Leisure
Less Worry
Freedom
Enjoyment
Easier Chores
Prestige
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Put Your Business in a Frame
Some experts note the importance of creating a Unique Selling Proposition. This simple message can light up the world about…
The purpose you fulfill The service you provide Benefits you deliver that are different from anyone else’s Other experts call this a Unique Customer Advantage. I like to think of it as Framing a business. Framing is the process of creating a picture that you display to the world. It is your message, your image, and your unique position in the universe. But…
MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #3
…it isn’t really a picture of you or your business. Not at all! It is a picture of your customer enjoying some benefit only you can deliver. Remember the guru’s 4th marketing wisdom?
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People always act in what they perceive to be their own self-interest. No one is interested in seeing a picture of you… They want to see a picture of themselves and how they will look and feel after you have served them. That’s all Framing is - and it’s a real key to the success for….any business. If this picture is attractive enough, you have truly created a better mousetrap and people will begin to beat that path to your door. In fact . . .
Framing is Darned Important Because… It clearly answers your prospect’s only question, “What is in it for me?” It differentiates you from anyone else. It makes you memorable, easier to recall. It makes it easier for someone to recommend you. It creates a comfortable niche or image for you. It gives you a framework that makes creation of marketing materials simple, easy, consistent and effective.
To Frame…Start with These Burning Questions
(If you can’t take the heat…stay out of the kitchen)
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Framing Parameters Products or Services – How could you describe your product/service?
Problems/Opportunities – What wants/needs do your product(s) meet? What problem do they solve?
Advantages – What are the top five strengths of your products or services?\
Disadvantages – What are the top five weaknesses of your products or services?
Alternatives – If your customers would not buy YOUR products or services, what would they buy or do instead?
Threats – What are the greatest threats to your ability to sell your products or services?
Product Evolution – Are you selling the same products and services that were available five years ago? How have they changed?
Overall Quality – What does quality actually mean to your customers?
Competitive Pricing – What does competitive pricing actually mean to your customers?
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Clear Focus – How tightly is your product aimed at a particular group?
High Level of Service – How would your customers define your service?
Personalized Service – Do your customers feel their service is personalized?
Name Recognition – Are most customers/prospects aware of you? How does your name recognition compare to your competitions’?
Professionalism – Do customers regard your service/stature/image as highly professional? Why or why not?
Engineering/Design – Are you known for your innovative approaches?
Guarantee/Warranty – Do you offer a guarantee or warranty? What is it?
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When Framing Your Business…
There should be a sense of uniqueness... - an onlyness about you, or your business will not be remembered. So… Decide what you would like to be known for, and ask yourself if this is also something that your prospects will highly value. What are you better at than anyone else? What are your areas of specialization? What niche could you dominate? What results can you promise? Are you comfortable in this niche? Do you deliver on your promises consistently?
Create a Radio Spot for Your Business… When someone asks you what business you’re in, (and think how many times that happens every week) you have a unique opportunity to create a very special image in the mind of that person. This is important because the image you create will enable that person to become a salesperson for your business by recommending you to others.
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Create a radio spot for your business! In your spot, you must tell them…
Customers you serve What problem, solution, or issues you address for customers What you do it How you’re able to do it better than anyone else
This is really easy, but it takes practice (in the bathroom, in front of the mirror…….when no one else is home.) Try this little formula when you are asked what business you are in. Say: “You know how….” (then state your prospect) Customers
a) manufacturers… b) working mothers… c) landscapers… (then say a problem or opportunity)
Issues
a) “sometimes have computer problems on the weekend…” b) “have difficulties getting qualified child care…” c) “are too busy working to keep an eye on their finances…” 27
(then say ) “Well, I specialize in… What You Do
a) “keeping computers up and going 24/7… “ b) “bringing qualified child care workers and needful mothers together…” c) “providing low cost financial advice to those who are not happy being indoors, worrying about money matters…”
How You Can Do It
(then say) “I can do that because…” a) “I have a backup staff of five experts, one of us is always on call…” b) “I maintain an up-to-date database of resources that I have personally checked out…” c) “I worked as a landscaper and I understand the financial structure of these organizations as well as the nuts and bolts of the business… “
You know that you are “well framed” when someone comes up to you and says, “Oh, I know you. You are the guys who…”
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Finding Prospects… …hunting them down and…
When most of us think of marketing… and advertising in particular, what enters our brain is prospecting, “How are we going to reach prospects?” Hey, another excellent question. You’re a natural at this… And naturally, you want to pursue the hottest prospects as inexpensively as possible.
Here is wonderful news! If…you’ve focused and framed your business properly you’ll be successful. Your communication will be both directed and persuasive. So your job in Finding is mainly to be efficient. You wish to contact the best prospects in the lowest cost way that will still accomplish your objectives. Finding is how you will . . .
Identify prospects Determine prospects’ value Refresh your customer base Develop the lowest cost methods of communication
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MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #4
Let’s crack the vault. A little secret I’ve learned… . . . instead of going to extraordinary lengths to pinpoint prospect, ask them to reveal themselves to you! Say to yourself, “Self, I know that some of my prospects read this publication and the cost of advertising here is not prohibitive. So I will run an ad and ask readers to tell me if they are prospects.” Even better, of course, in this age of search engine marketing, an ad on Google or Yahoo lets prospects show their interest simply by choosing to click to your website. After all, no one really can identify a prospect, except prospects themselves! A person may fit all the criteria to be a perfect customer, but have his or her own reasons to never use your product or service.
To Find Prospects, Consider These Tactics… History – List five ways you have obtained new customers in the past – in descending order of effectiveness:
Spy – Discover what your competitors are doing to communicate with prospects?
Partnerships – Is there another business, who isn’t a competitor, selling to your prospects? Could you do collaborative marketing?
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Co-beneficiaries – Who else benefits when you sell something? Can you ask them to join forces?
Trade publications – Are there publications reaching both the industry and the person inside the company who you need to reach?
Mailing lists – Are there mailing lists available that reach your target market? Do trade publications make their subscription lists available?
Directories – Are there trade directories, including on-line directories, that reach your market? Would general industrial directories such as Thomas Register contribute to your marketing effort?
Newsletters – Are industry newsletters available? Would creating your own newsletter make sense?
Consumer media – Is your market broad demographically - yet targeted geographically - so that daily or weekly newspapers would be a cost efficient method of communication? How about radio or television?
Trade shows – Are there shows or conventions that your prospects attend?
Yellow Pages – Would your prospects seek new sources by exploring the Yellow Pages?
Publicity – Are you sending news releases on new products, services, personnel changes and other newsworthy information to trade publications and other media?
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Internet – Do you have a web site? How does it fit into your marketing strategy? How do you attract visitors and get them to respond?
Referrals – How are you cultivating word-of-mouth advertising for your business? Are you asking for testimonials from satisfied customers? How do you reward those who recommend you to others?
Contact – How do you maintain communication with customers and prospects? This may be the least costly, but most important of all your marketing activities.
Marketing Tools – What communication tools do you have and how do they fit into your overall strategy?
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Funneling Prospects
Let’s take a look at what you’ve accomplished so far…
You’ve focused on your target customers You’ve framed your service by creating a picture of your customer meeting his self-interest with your help
You’ve found prospects – come up with ways of contacting suspects and being visible when prospects are searching for you. Very Impressive.
Now, how do go from beating the bushes for business to beating a path to the bank deposit window? I call it Funneling... It’s based on a very simple notion: some prospects are more valuable to you than others. You have more confidence that some are better prospects. . As this confidence increases so does a prospect’s value to you - and the amount of money, time and effort you are willing to spend on them should also increase.
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Look at Your Market Like a Pyramid You can look at your market as a pyramid, so that…
You can differentiate your audience and treat segments appropriately You can determine what various prospects are worth to you You can get customers without one-on-one sales efforts You can retain or regain customers
Your marketing pyramid might look like this:
Customers Do business with now
Past Customers Have done business with
Qualified Prospects Meet your qualification standards
Unqualified Prospects Identified or expressed an interest
Suspects Suspect they have a need
Never Will never become customers (for whatever reason) 34
Marketing with Pyramids
You can create a hierarchy… of your market that makes sense in terms of what separates some people from other people. Flexibility – The pyramid is a flexible way of viewing your market. You can define each level anyway that is useful for you.
Value – Notice that as you rise on the pyramid above, these individuals’ suspected worth increases.
Customers’ Value – You might even create a pyramid of customers, from most valuable to least valuable.
Pareto’s Principle – 20% of your customer base is worth more than the other 80%
Action – Your big question – how do you treat each segment differently?
My own rule – The more confident you are that someone is a good prospect the more you should be willing to spend on them.
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Next You Will Do Something Truly Amazing . . .
…turn your pyramid upside down and create a funnel… Toss in all your suspects…
Develop a shaking process to channel them down the funnel Qualify them Make regular contacts & keep shaking Ultimately . . . close the sale!
The really great thing about this is…
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Funneling Brings It All Together Now you’re doing it all...
Customer Focus – You’re reviewing your prospects in terms of who are the best bets to slide on down the funnel. (Demo-, Psycho- & Geo-graphically)
Framing – You’re getting clear about what specific needs you’re really meeting. Results can you promise. Stoppers that keep prospects from becoming customers…
Finding – You’re discovering how to fill that funnel. The tightest group of prospects you can identify…how to reach them…make them aware of you…
Funneling – And so, in the end funneling once again leads us to even more burning questions…
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Even More Burning Questions
Questions magically lead to new ideas! Answers are dead things that can stop further thinking…
How can you assure that prospects are aware of you …and see you in the way you want to frame your business?
What can you offer to turn suspects into prospects?
What can you offer to turn prospects into qualified prospects?
What can you offer to turn qualified prospects into customers?
What can you offer to keep customers from becoming past customers?
What can you offer to get lost customers to become new customers?
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The Amazing Power of Offers Offers are a most powerful way to . . . sift a suspect through your marketing funnel until the suspect becomes qualified and ultimately becomes a customer. You can think of offers as being of two types…
Underlying Offers – Your business, your products and services and your prospects’ perception of those things. It’s what you’re really selling!
Promotional Offers – What you as an advertiser are willing to give a reader to elicit a response. It’s bait!
What to Know About Underlying Offers… They have a major impact on the effectiveness of promotional offers. If you’re not known, it can cast a shadow over any or all of your promotions. Credibility is a major issue. An old saying is, “You can’t get fired for buying IBM.” This was a way of saying that if something goes wrong (and with technology that can happen), at least, you bought from the largest computer company in the world. IBM used this as leverage for many years, even though their products weren’t always the best. Purchasers are looking for reasons not to buy. Lack of familiarity or poor perception can be reason enough. 39
What to Know About Promotional Offers… Promotional offers are critical in differentiating your products and services. Offers must be compelling to stand out from the crowd. Offers should be related to your objectives.
Promotional Offers that Work… If you’re… Seeking
Then, offer…
Unqualified Leads
Information (No questions asked)
Qualified Leads
Answers to Questions Free Information Free Gift Premium Item Seminar Demo Sample Free Trial Analysis Free Book Newsletter Subscription (Time Limit Recommended)
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Seeking
Then, offer…
New Order
Gift with Purchase Discount Additional Product Add-on Service Multiple Product Discount Complimentary Product Extended Warranty Satisfaction Guarantee Money Back Guarantee Easy Payment Terms Free Shipping Buyers Club
Repeat Order
Same as Above Emphasize Relationship Cross Selling Frequent Buyer
Get Customer Back
Major Incentive Deep Discounts Sweepstakes/Contest
Now for the dark side. Let’s talk about…
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Promotional Offers that Don’t Work… The non-offer offer – Build it and they will come. For example, free information without description of what it contains or why they should care. Too cute offer – Gimmick not related to your underlying offer. May generate false positives. However, may be useful to eliminate possibilities or create an unqualified prospecting list. Certain restrictions apply offer – Offers with too many strings attached. Too complicated. Too convoluted. Instead make it very, very, easy, easy, to take advantage of your offer.
The 40-40-20 Rule
MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #5
Many marketing pros believe that if you expect an immediate response, your results will depend…
40% on your targeting 40% on your message or offer 20% on your presentation Unfortunately……many marketers spend 80% of their time on presentation and 20% on targeting and offers. Ouch!
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What your ad looks like…what color your mailer is…and so on…may be only a fraction as influential as targeting the right people with the right offer. Time and time again, I’ve seen really ugly mailers out pull beautifully designed brochures. After all…let’s be honest…appearance and presentation are usually typically more about you and less about your customers’ wants and needs. This is not to say that appearance may not be important or that sometimes it may be worth a whole lot more than 20%... …but it’s something to keep in perspective.
The Drop-Like-a-Rock Funnel
Word of mouth… …it will always be your most powerful marketing tool. When someone recommends you to a friend, that friend often drops through your funnel like a rock.
Your credibility is not an issue. Your capabilities are not an issue. Your offer is not an issue. In additional, there’s evidence that customers who come from referrals are more profitable, more reliable, easier to work with and stay on longer as customers.
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The Database Way Station A major factor in strategic marketing is timing… MAJOR SECRET FROM THE BIG VAULT #6
If someone doesn’t… …perceive an immediate need or desire for your product or service, there is almost nothing you can do to get their attention. Think about it like this… If someone has just bought new tires, there is nothing you can say in a tire ad that will get their attention……at least not in the way you want their attention. On the other hand…if they just experienced a bare tread blowout, just about any tire ad will interest them. In this situation, how can you identify people who aren’t ready now, but will be tire buyers someday? [SIDE NOTE: You might say, well, if he isn’t ready to buy a tire right now, I don’t care if I communicate with that guy or not? “Big mistake”, as Arnold might say. If you wait until he’s ready, it may be too late! He may quickly buy from a competitor he is already aware of . . . and you’re toast. “Hasta la vista baby!”]
So what to do? 44
Think like the marketing genius you now are! What if you created a list of extremely valuable customers……say, people who own several vehicles. These people just by virtue of real world odds, will have need for your services more frequently. They’ll be good prospects and warrant some communication every few months. Certainly it would be more productive than a mailing to……everybody. You want to collect these valuable prospects in your funnel…..and then guide them on their way to……YOU! A funnel is really just a database……a place to store prospects until they are ready to become customers.
It’s a pond you stock today… …so can fish later with a good chance of catching something……without spending a fortune on bait or waiting hours for a bite. It’s usually not wise or necessary to spend a fortune to find valuable prospects to create your database. Instead use relatively low cost techniques, such as running an ad that reaches thousands of people for pennies each, or offering prospects something inexpensive in return for filling out a questionnaire and identifying themselves. As your database grows you can use more costly, but very effective, approaches like direct mail, telephone calls, or even personal visits.
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Most important, gather contact information on all the prospects who didn’t buy from you this time. They will buy again…and you’ll have a second shot at them…if you know who they are.
Funnels in Action
In these examples, you’ll see how prospects become increasingly qualified and the marketers are willing to offer and spend more on them. Why? Because the marketer is more sure they are worth it.
BOOK CLUB Offer
Offered to…
4 Free books for $1
…a list of those who
When You Become a Member
have bought books by mail from another source (to get them to join the club)
Free book for every six books you buy
…those who are already members (to get them to buy now)
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ELECTRONIC COMPONENT MANUFACTURER
Offer
Offered to…
Free catalog
…any business reading publications of interest to genuine prospects
Free quote
…same as above
Free custom design
…only those actively engaged in a project that will require this electronic component
Free sample
…those having a definite project coming up and who said our price was acceptable
Engineer visit
…previous customer
to prospect
or someone who signs a purchase order
Quantity discount
...only those known to use thousands of components each year
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Strategy Action Steps Focusing Start by listing your current customers. Which one’s are furthering your objectives? Why? Are there more customers or prospects like them like that out there? If you were focusing more on them, how would that affect your marketing? Your profitability? Your competitive power?
Look at other groups and ask the same questions.
Framing Ask these customers why they do business with you. What would cause them to do more business with you? What wants & needs are you meeting? What wants & needs could you meet? How do you describe what you offer in a powerful way?
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Finding Examine how you have been finding prospects, or they have been finding you. What has worked and what has not worked? What haven’t you tried? How can you experiment at a low cost?
Funneling How can you identify someone who is a good prospect? What makes them better prospects (hint: review your focus) What steps can you take to get them from unknown to a suspect, to a prospect, to a customer, to a repeat customer, to a customer who buys more, to a customer who refers other customers?
Test ideas repeatedly and fail often. But do it in a small way that won’t cost much or injure existing business. Keep trying till you discover recipes that works.
Start cooking...
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Marketing Tool Kit To Create Awareness... Newspapers
Consumer Magazines
Trade Publications
Independent Newsletters
Radio
Television
Director Listings
Directory Advertisements
Yellow Pages
Outdoor (billboards, signs)
Events
Seminars
Demonstrations
Trade Shows
Mailings
Articles
Books
Publicity
Telephone
Speeches/Presentations
Volunteering
Partnering
To Follow Up/Communicate Benefits... Brochures
Newsletters
Videos
Samples
Events
Seminars
Catalogs
Websites
CDs
Guides & Manuals
Photos
Portfolios
Publicity
Business Cards
Audio tapes
Multimedia
Demonstrations
Trade Shows
Mailings
To Sustain/Enhance Communication... Newsletter
Articles/Columns
Books (your own)
Samples
Giveaways
Faxes
Ad Specialties
Speeches
Presentations
Coupons
Telephone
Displays
Volunteering
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