First, let’s be clear. Marketing is not selling. Marketing makes people aware of your company, products and services. It is the mechanism to help bring potential customers or leads to you.

Selling is turning those leads resulting from your marketing into paying customers who will come back to you over and over. Once you make the sale, marketing then starts all over again, with a customer satisfaction process or even better, a customer loyalty process.

Marketing is everything your company does to touch a potential lead. Such things as signage, price, employee appearance, the design of your website, how the phone is answered, your advertising plan, your brand identification, and any other number of items consist of marketing.

For a marketing plan to work you need to identify the company’s target market. And your best prospects are your current customers. Many times they are left off the list of demographics and are taken for granted in the quest for new leads.

Successful small business owners usually determine a unique attribute for their company and focus their marketing efforts into this niche. Developing uniqueness apart from your competition will narrow the scope and budget of the company’s marketing efforts and allow the small business owner to start building a brand. This is just the opposite of mass marketing. Just like doctors and attorneys develop specialties, the entrepreneur should develop a specialty niche for the product or service that can be communicated effectively.

The seven most popular niche areas for a small business are: the owner’s expertise, the exclusiveness of the product or service, the efficiency of the business, customer satisfaction, loyalty, and a unique buying experience. Your business should fall into one or more categories to be a niche marketer.

Finally, develop a marketing mindset or habit. Try to think of three to five new marketing ideas, or refine a current marketing process, every day. Put marketing on your to-do list every day. If you can answer these two questions: “How am I building awareness with my prospects and clients through all our marketing? How can I make it better?” you will develop a marketing mindset, create demand for your product or service, and develop leads.

One area of marketing that has really been proven to show strong results is Arizona video marketing. This refers to both the style of video marketing as well as the overall focus on showcasing Arizona as a true land of opportunity. You don’t have to break your budget, balance or even the boldness you have as a new entrepreneur — whether you’re talking about Phoenix video marketing or Scottsdale video marketing, you are bound to find great marketing that can really make all the difference when it comes to getting your business off to a great start.

So, if you’re really ready to get started, you can definitely check out some of the many Arizona video marketing firms that offer this valuable service, but you’ll have to get started today!

Take a look at yourself even before researching every idea that strikes your fancy. Ask yourself what you have that you can offer. Chances are you may know more than what you think.

Start by taking inventory of yourself. Is there some area of interest that you can do or write about? Perhaps an occupation or a hobby. How about interests? By doing this self evaluation you could discover more ideas. This, in itself can save you countless hours of research.

All ideas can be easily arranged into outline format, so create an outline. What your outline should do is to arrange your ideas and provide a roadmap for you. Utilize general categories first. You can and should utilize this technique for anything that you plan to evaluate. When you have your broad categories ready, you can prioritize your categories and divide them into sub-categories.

After brainstorming for ideas, itís time to evaluate the idea. Is it going to be successful? Is there a need for this product? Can you widen your potential market with some fine-tuning? Some of these questions can only be answered by doing a market research.

Producing your own product needs a bit of effort and time on your part.

Before you begin making your own product you must know if a lot of people will buy the info-product you intend to make. Now if you enjoy evaluating Surround Sound Systems and you have adequate knowledge to be able to teach others how to wire and install these systems you may have a building block for something that people want.

You must first establish if a lot of people will buy it before you produce an info-product.

If you are thinking about developing your own product, it is essential for you to make sure that you have come up with a product that consumers will actually be interested in. A lot of people are willing to spend money for info-products that will help them solve their problems. Determining what your customers want to buy isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Although there are means to check this information out, and then apply it to produce your own information product. Hence, you need to know the value of doing some market research before you endeavor to develop and bring an info-product to the market. Only after you determined that a viable market exists for your product should you go ahead devote the time, money and energy needed to produce your own info-product.

Developing an info-product is one of the best means to boost your earnings with your internet marketing business.

Follow these guidelines and your internet marketing endeavor will be a success and will generate a continuous flow of earnings for many years to come.

Firstly, you may wish to consider what age group your product will be aimed at. For example, if you want to provide a line of clothing for the younger generation then this will dictate the features of the clothing products you provide; they may need to be less traditional in taste and more flamboyant or trendy. Furthermore, you may wish to sell a product to a range of age groups.

The amount of income your sales audience have will also influence your services and products and what you wish to charge for them. For instance, it may be that a product you want to sell will be aimed at individuals with more disposable income. Therefore, if the market research you undertake supports this, it may mean that you will need to provide a higher quality product but sell it at a higher price.

Where is your sales audience situated? Are they based locally? Are they based nationally? Are they based internationally? You will need to find out who is interested in your product and how you can service their needs. For example, if you choose to provide a product on a national basis then you will need to factor in higher transporting costs than if it were just sold locally.

Before you connect with your sales audience you will need to make sure that you know exactly who they are and where you can find them. By considering which age groups you wish to target, what income they earn and where they are likely to be based geographically, you will be able to develop your products around that valuable information.

Over the years, brand valuation is being recognized as an important factor to be used in the analysis of marketing and finance efforts involved in the company. It falls under the intangible business assets category and is being closely looked into for ways to expand market share. Hence, many are undertaking new approaches that will boost efforts to increase the value of a given brand.

Since brand is a potent factor in every business, business owners are more interested in being able to translate that into financial terms. This is where brand valuation comes in. It is closely associated, if not directly related, to consumer perceptions about a brand and its list of products or services. However, aside from monetizing that value, business owners also utilize the impact of brand valuation as a way to determine areas that need to be improved to boost performance.

Determining Value of Brand

As a corporate asset, a brand is essential in helping increase the company’s bottom line. If you can create a solid brand that increases your company’s value to shareholders or consumers, then it will help increase your business potential. The concept of brand value remains quite hazy though, given the fact that no clear method has been established to measure exactly the value and worth of a given brand, especially because it is an intangible asset.

Still, there are a few who remains unconvinced as to what a brand really means. It could be the symbol that represents your company such as a name or logo. This then becomes a symbol for what the company stands for and promise to deliver. That definition of the brand is where value comes in as a brand is expected to deliver the expectations it has created to the consumers. To be able to do that takes commitment from the internal operations of the brand.

However, one cannot precisely give an exact value for a brand. There are direct and indirect processes involved though that enables a company to come up with a definite price for the brand, based on the investment put into developing it.

Direct Valuation Methods

To come up with a direct valuation method for a brand, it takes into account all investments put into the brand while also considering inflation. Other direct methods of value measurement used are Franchise Valuation and Awareness Valuation. When business owners plan on releasing a new product into the market, they typically include into the product value the advertising budget for that given product to increase awareness among consumers.

Indirect Valuation Methods

This is a more complicated process of determining the value of a brand than the one above. One process involves assessing the probable profit earnings that a particular brand is projected to produce. This method takes into consideration the effect that a brand has on the actual sales and profits acquisition. Another method also employs the use of the brand name in considering how one arrives with a value for the product.

Basically, all these methods are merely educated guesses to be able to account an efficient method for putting a price into the brand. Despite all existing debates about what the best method to use in computing brand value, or if brand value does offer any significant impact at all in the sales department, is something that will be settled only with the help of proper strategy. A brand is primarily not just a logo or name, but it is the set of values exhibited by your company for a consistent period.

So, as long as you have established the quality of your brand, then brand valuation should be easier to figure out.

In the mid 70’s, a store could run a “10% off” sale and people would flock in. Then the big stores got into the discounting mentality. Now it is common to see “70% off” sales – especially in jewelry. The consumer is not too long a fool. These promotions do not produce the wanted response anymore.

Repeated, high powered sales events create a downward spiral. Eventually you cannot offer a big enough “deal” to get the public excited. The big three car makers played this game for three years. By January 2006 they found themselves in deep financial trouble. They had borrowed customers from the future by offering a bigger, better sale every couple months. It is a deep grave from which to crawl out.

Successful businesses, now and in the future, will be practicing what I call “soft marketing”. To make sales today, marketing efforts have to come in under the consumer’s sales-pitch radar.

Many of the big companies have known this for some time because of their on-going marketing analysis. You can take advantage of their research for free.

Look at Coca-Cola for example.

Coke was famous for their flashy, high-powered TV ads. Today you seldom see such ads. Have they cut back on their marketing expenditure? No. In fact, they are now spending more using soft marketing techniques. Most people do not even realize they are being advertised to. That is the beauty and power of soft marketing.

Here are two ways Coke is using a soft marketing approach to build profits and market share.

1. You may have seen Coke products displayed on TV shows and movies. “American Idol” is a popular TV show, with about 35 million viewers. The three judges are a big part of the success of the show. In front of each judge is a tall Coke cup. These characters, in effect, are recommending Coke to their viewers. Coke pays a lot of money for this and sells a lot of product based on this endorsement type advertising.

2. Coke brings new loyal customers in the “back door” using nostalgia products. Coke collectibles are a huge market today. And once caught up in the hobby of Coke collectibles, a person, and the whole family, become avid Coke drinkers. And Coke is being advertised to everyone who enters that home.

Coke’s soft marketing techniques have made them almost bullet-proof in the soft drink market. They have built an image of being the most popular soda. Since it is human nature to want to be on the winning team, swarms of new customers are joining the group every day.

Here are three powerful soft marketing tactics you can start using today.

1. Become known as an expert. Credibility and trust are the two most important ways to succeed in any business. Write and submit articles and press releases. If you cannot write, hire someone to do it for you. There are several good writing service web sites on the internet. They are very cheap. Also, you should join a “Private Label Rights” content site. They provide already written articles that you can put your name on as your own. This is pure gold for on-line or off-line marketing.

If you have a business on Main Street, your local newspaper should be your best friend. Do whatever you can to develop a relationship with them. You may or may not be able to get your news articles and releases printed for free, but even buying the space will return big dividends.

2. Give away a free report on the topic of your product or service. Your local newspaper will probably give you some free editorial space in the beginning if the report is of interest and free to their subscribers. A real life example is a realtor in this area that offers a free report – “10 Ways To Get Top Dollar For Your Home”. It reveals what is valuable, and what is not, when getting your home ready for sale. With this he becomes the expert in the consumer’s mind and a person who cares about them.

You can get a book or report written for you for a few hundred dollars by the same on-line companies that ghost-write articles and press releases or from your “Private Label Rights” membership site. This realtor has been using the same report for over ten years now. It is estimated this report has generated about $1.6 million in profits.

3. Partner with related, non-competing businesses. One dry cleaning operation partnered with clothing stores in the community. The store, when selling a garment, would give a gift certificate to the customer. The gift certificate was good for a free first-time cleaning and pressing of that new garment.

The customer thought the store was paying for the dry cleaning. The fact is the dry cleaner was giving the service for free. The customer saw the store as being a “hero” and the store saw the dry cleaner as being a “hero”. Both stores gained a load of new and repeat customers.

Use these soft marketing strategies or think up your own to fit your product or service. Have some brainstorming sessions with other energetic, savvy business people, like you. The resulting ideas will amaze you, and your traffic and profits will increase as if by magic.

The LOHAS market is one example. LOHAS is the acronym for consumers who “live a life of health and sustainability.” Sixty-percent of people within the LOHAS marketplace are women, according to an in-depth study, The Ohio Health and Wellness Report, conducted by The Marketing Insider, my company. According to the study, women make up slightly less – 54 percent – of the LOHAS market in Ohio. The August 2005 study surveyed 1100 participants in the Ohio market. In all, LOHAS consumers are estimated to account for one-third of the U.S. population.

LOHAS consumers are highly educated and driven by balancing their needs to better the environment, society and personal health. The Ohio Health and Wellness Report also indicated LOHAS consumers are challenged to eat right because they have very high dietary standards, yet health is a very high priority to them.

Indeed, eighty-five percent surveyed indicated they care strongly about protecting the environment and will support companies who have similar values and beliefs. To this consumer, the company and the brand are inseparable.

Though consumers within the general population may support some of these beliefs, targeting LOHAS consumers is quite different from targeting the general population. Although LOHAS consumers, especially Ohioans, distrusted television, they are influenced by what they see on TV when it comes to purchasing.

Perhaps, it is a better indication of an under-developed marketplace with under-developed attitudes. According to our research, Ohio’s LOHAS consumers total twenty-eight percent of the population, versus twenty-three percent on a national scale (according to the 2005 national survey), yet LOHAS consumers within the Ohio marketplace have attitudes that are less developed than the rest of the nation. Often this is a result of lack of information and education. With Ohio’s introduction to companies such as Whole Foods, this should improve. It’s no surprise that Whole Foods built one of their largest stores in the Ohio market. This merchant did its research and has been quite successful in a new market, in a short time.

I often wonder, why aren’t other consumer-based companies that target consumers jumping on the bandwagon? I’ve often found it’s because companies didn’t realize that this consumer segment, predominantly women, exist and that women in this group should be targeted differently from those in the mass market.

Now that we know targeting women as one consumer group can be challenging, what should we do about it? If you’re targeting LOHAS consumers or are interested in targeting them, it’s important to realize that the Nomadics(tm) group is actually predicted to transition into the LOHAS category. Nomadics are people who may dip into LOHAS-oriented behavior, yet not lead a fully integrated lifestyle. So, if you have a product that is natural and better for the environment , then you must consider the attitudes and purchasing behaviors of both the LOHAS and the Nomadic markets-a combined 65% of the overall population. Even if you are a printer, it behooves you to mention if you’re using recycled paper or soy-based inks. Why? Because people in general are getting more concerned about the environment and wanting to do what they can to help protect it. By doing your part and promoting it, you’ll have the opportunity to further tap into a growing, predominantly female marketplace that is made up of business people too.

So remember, the next time you decide to market to women that not all women are the same and that they must be targeted differently. Understand their lifestyle and you’ll have a better opportunity to capture their dollars.

And what’s the one thing? The results I got for my clients.

Therefore, improving results became a pretty big focus of mine. You might even call it a passion (Some people who aren’t nearly as nice have called it in an obsession).

Regardless, here are 5 tips that can help you improve the conversions of your marketing materials.

1. Know who you’re talking to. If I hear anyone say “women are my potential customers” or “anyone with skin is my target market” (yes, that really was a direct quote from someone who sold Mary Kay or Arbonne or something like that) I will send my border collies (all 3 of them) to your house and force you to play fetch with them until your arm falls off. Seriously, the quickest way you can end up with the most dismal results imaginable is to try and talk to everyone. Come up with a specific customer — the more specific the better — and make sure your marketing materials speak directly to that customer.

2. Make sure you write benefits, not features. This one is probably the hardest one to “get” but also one of the most critical. People buy benefits, not features, so if you only talk about features you’re just asking for people not to buy what you’re selling.

So what is the difference between features and benefits? Features are a description of a product — for instance, if we’re talking about a diet pill, a feature would that the product is a pill. A benefit would be the solution the product provides — in this case, losing weight.

As much as you possibly can, write about why someone should buy your product. No one buys diet pills because they like taking pills, they buy them to lose weight. Think of the solution your product or service provides and write about that.

3. Work on that headline. David Ogilvy, famous ad man and author of Confessions of an Advertising Man, has said that people make the decision to read your marketing materials based your headline.

Your headline should: a. speak to your potential customers, b. contain a benefit, c. be so compelling your target market is compelled to read further. That’s a lot to ask for from basically a handful of words. So don’t rush the process — take as much time as you need to create the very best headline for your particular piece.

4. Don’t forget the call to action. You’ve got to tell people what to do next. If you don’t tell them what you want them to do, chances are they won’t do anything.

Don’t assume your potential customers know what you want them to do. They don’t. They can’t read your mind. Nor do they want to. They’re busy people. They don’t have the time or the energy to figure things out. Tell them what to do next, or don’t be surprised when they don’t do anything.

5. Use P.S.’s or captions. Postscripts (P.S.) are the second most read item in a sales piece. What’s the third? Captions. (The copy under photos, diagrams or other illustrations.) Now that you know that, think of the ways you can use either or both of those items in your pieces. Maybe you put a special offer in there or you highlight a particularly compelling benefit. Or you tell them again what you want their next step to be. Whatever you do, don’t waste that space.

If you even do just one of these tips, you should start seeing better results. Work on all five and you might be amazed at how much your results improve.

1. Craft your vision statement: Answer the question, “Why does my company exist?” This is the heart and soul of your organization and the platform from which you should make every decision be it marketing, product development, or customer service related.

2. Identify your ideal client: Take a hard look again at why you’re in business in the first place. Then identify who’s really going to want what you’re selling. Who’s going to understand exactly where you’re coming from and jump at the chance to do business with you? If you can identify those quality consumers, you will have a much easier time finding them.

3. Target your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats): The first two components are internal–what’s going on inside of you and your company. The last two areas are external or the outside forces you must consider. There are unlimited applications for the SWOT exercise.

4. Ask, “What makes my company unique?” Why should anyone do business with you as opposed to your numerous competitors? Consider how you make decisions when faced with a choice between similar products from different manufacturers. How do you decide which car or soda to buy? Remember, each potential client asks the same question when they consider buying from you. How do you stand out? If Starbucks just sold cups of coffee, they would not have become the dominant force they are today.

5. Expand your possibilities: Think BIG. A gold fish will only grow as large as its environment allows. Slip the fish into a bigger bowl and watch it grow. The same is true of your marketing plan. Think conservatively and small and your business is likely to remain that way. Dare to dream and think large. You will never reach the big goal if you think it’s not possible.

6. Hone your goals & tactics: Using your vision statement as a compass point, ask what goals do you need to achieve in order to reach your vision? Remember to set SMART goals (specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, time sensitive). Once you have them all listed, ask, “If I accomplish every single one of these goals, will that guarantee success?” If the answer is not a resounding “Yes!” keep adding goals until you are satisfied. Next, break each goal down into the specific steps or tactics necessary to accomplish each goal. Ask, “If I finish every listed tactic will I reach this goal?” If the answer is no, keep breaking it down to the last detail.

7. Set your priorities: Once you’ve got your goals and tactics in place you have got to put them in order. Write each one out on a separate piece of paper and shuffle them around. Look at each one and ask, “How important is this to my success in the next 3 months?” Use the ABCDE method of prioritization. Sort them in groups of As, Bs, and Cs, based on importance. Ds are anything you can delegate. Es are anything you can eliminate. Next, prioritize within each group: A1, A2, A3. Finally, get to work. Even though you might be tempted, don’t move on to the Bs until you have completed all the A tasks.

8. Take action: One of the most critical steps in any marketing plan is to get your hands dirty and get started. The marketing plan that never reaches the public will net you zero sales. Learn to embrace the notion of “failure” as feedback on how to get it right. With this attitude, any setback becomes an opportunity to fine tune your plan and make it better. A parting anonymous quote: “Failing quickly is at least better than failing slowly.”

9. Be consistent and patient: Without these two pieces of the puzzle, your marketing plan is doomed to failure. Create a marketing plan that covers the next 12, 24, and 36 months. Once you have taken the time to unlock doors with the first 8 keys, use consistency and patience to broadcast your message to your customers. A client might need to encounter your message a minimum of 9 times before he/she is ready to buy. Therefore, understand that you will never know whether your plan is working within the first 60 days. Practice patience.

A better way to think about marketing is to envision a pyramid. Marketing is at the top clearly defining the direction of a business or organization while advertising and public relations are at the base supporting the marketing function.

Think of it this way. Marketing is everything you do to make your product or service more visible, more desirable and more profitable. Your marketing plan will clearly define the big picture and provide focus and direction based on the 4 Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion.

Whether it’s sending an invoice, handling a complaint call, running a radio ad or sending an e-mail, you’re marketing your business if you’re touching a customer or a potential customer.

That said, let’s talk about ways to use marketing to increase business and get new customers. While there are many tactics available, there are 5 categories that will simplify your efforts and help you get better results. Develop a plan that includes five key components: Advertising; Public Relations; Special Promotions; Community Relations; and Customer Relations

Advertising is paid space that typically includes print, television and radio commercials, signs, direct mailings and Internet messages. You have control over content, format, timing and size because you are paying for it. Because readers and viewers know you are paying for it, they tend to viewadvertising as biased information with less credibility than public relations. Advertising can be expensive and is often overused as a tactic to meet marketing goals.

Public Relations includes ongoing, slow, build-up activities to build a brand and communicate specific messages to targeted audiences. Time, energy and imagination, rather than big budgets are key to success. Campaigns are typically conducted through the media (newspapers, magazines, television, radio), where readers view content as a credible message from an unbiased source. Editors and reporters have the final say as to publication timing and content.Public Relations can garner media placement and gain more credibility than any of your advertising messages can buy.

Special Promotions include punch cards, t-shirts and special events. They are a great way to reward people and/or personally touch a lot of customers in a short time.

Community Relations is all about your business becoming involved in your community. Perhaps your business donates money to nonprofit associations or events like the American Birkebeiner’s Ski for the Cure program. Maybe you and your employees volunteer at a fundraising event or you or your employees join a service club. Community relations boosts credibility by building personal relationships with customers and creating goodwill in the community.

Customer Relations includes anything that builds or strengthens a relationship with a past, present or potential customer. It takes far less money and effort to keep an existing customer than to attract a new one, so customer relations is a vital component of a successsful business.

A good Marketing Plan always incorporates these 5 key marketing components. If one is left out, it is guaranteed that less than 100% effort is being made toward growing your business.

Creating a clearly defined Brand and combining a mixture of marketing
tactics that address these 5 components to promote that Brand are key to business success.

If you define what you want to accomplish, research options, and
develop an excellent plan, you will be on your correct path to attracting more customers, bigger profits and a business you can brag about.