Marketing

An advertising campaign can be regarded as successful if it more than pays for itself. That being said, some are obviously better than others.

All too often you see businesses spending relatively large amounts of advertising money on attracting “the general public.” This is the most common and the least effective method of advertising.

Studies have been completed which have concluded that it costs around 6 times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to get an existing customer to come back and repeat spend. It also concluded that in most businesses a customer only becomes profitable once they have made 2 – 4 transactions (revenue from sales - cost to acquire customer).

It is simply amazing that more businesses do not focus on their existing customers. Not only are they cheaper to attract, if they are happy with the service they receive they will tell their friends! That costs you next to nothing and you have someone vouching for you!

A referral program is one of the most effective advertising campaigns a business can run. All you have to do is simply ask your existing clients to refer a friend. If they are happy with your service, they more than likely will. Add a powerful incentive and you will be amazed at the results.

The Pyramid of Cost Effective Customers:

General Public (hardest to sell to)
Target Market
Referrals
Existing Customers (easiest to sell to)

Do you have a clearly defined target market with specific campaigns to reach them effectively?

If your answer is not a resounding YES, you are missing out on valuable opportunities.

One major factor of business success lies in selecting a specific target market and explicitly focusing all your efforts towards it.

To be more specific, everyone is different. Each person has their own set of characteristics i.e. needs, wants, income, gender, religion, race, interests, age, hobbies, etc.

People with similar characteristics can be placed into general groups.

At this level you can already see that the people in one group are very different to the people in another group.

These groups can be broken down to any level of detail you wish.

The key here is to find the group of people who will desire your goods/service and can also afford it. For example, if you are selling luxury homes, although many people will desire your product, not many can afford it. Similarly if you are selling budget clothing, many people can afford your product, but may not desire it.

Ask yourself:

1. 1. Who are they?
2. 2. How do they behave?
3. 3. What appeals to them?
4. 4. Where are they?

Once your target market is defined, you simply need to find a place where they frequent and convey your Unique Selling Benefit to them.

Successful businesses have a clearly defined target market and actively undertake specific campaigns to reach them effectively.

Too many businesses are under the impression that they have to compete on price. The two biggest problems with this is that there will always be someone willing to do the job for cheaper than you and this method eats into your margins.

Most successful businesses do not compete on price.

There is literally an unlimited amount of other ways to successfully compete with competition. The only limit is creativity.

So what am I really talking about you may ask?

It all comes down to your unique selling point (USP).

A unique selling point is the reason why someone would choose to do business with you over your competitors. It is something you can offer your customers that no other business in your industry can offer. It may be that you have the fastest delivery times, the highest quality product or a specific guarantee.

The point is that it is unique to your business and most importantly that it is something of value to your potential customers.

It is imperative however, that you are always able to deliver on your USP. You gain a reputation on how you conduct yourself. Therefore, if you say you are the fastest, you cannot be just very fast, you must be the fastest.

If you are not convinced, simply have a look at some of the biggest most successful businesses around. I’ll get the ball rolling:

FedEx – Guaranteed overnight delivery.
McDonalds – Guarantee the same quality food and service anywhere in the world.
Dell – Make up your own system from the convenience of your own home.
Fitness First – One membership which can be used at any of their gyms.

I am sure you could think of dozens more.

It is the same in all industries and the same for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

You want to see your business sky rocket?

Follow these 4 steps:
Create or further develop your USP.
Ensure your customers know about it.
Deliver it each and every time.
Stop competing on price!