People remember what feels best or worst; those are peak experiences.
Problems can be negative peaks. Solutions can be more powerful positive peaks.
Successful business owners solve problems & create positive peaks. They focus on solutions more than just selling products & services.
People will return because they want to repeat positive peaks & avoid negative peaks.
Peaks don't have to be summits, just significant issues.
Your advertising should show how you help prevent & solve problems.
These can be simple like possible uses people might not expect. Example: Somebody complains about another broken ice chopper. Ice chopping is done straight up & down. Some ice choppers bend & break if they're used for scraping because it's a different angle. A spade can be better for scraping & removing chopped ice.
Your ads should show ways to produce & expand positive effects.
Check competitors' offers & add value, so your offers are better.
Some people don't like discount stores but they perceive a value in low prices. Though saving money feels good; solutions can feel better & become better memories.
Confirmation Bias In Your Favor
It's vital to get confirmation bias to work in your favor. When you're perceived as a community supporter & value provider, each value increment will confirm people's positive feelings & thoughts.
People will like your offers better than competitors'. If anything negative comes up, it might be disregarded or considered to be an exception.
Memories Last Longer Than Experiences
To avoid problems & negative memories, encourage customers to ask questions before & after they buy. Some manufacturers have tech support or trouble shooting guides. Show customers how to find & use those.
People can have good in-store experiences & be satisfied with product/service results, but still regret purchases later. If a good result doesn't last, the final memory might be bad.
If they find a lower price later, they might regret paying more unless they remember a significant added value. Added value can lead to better results that are worth the prices.
Total satisfaction can depend more on memory than experience. Solving long-term problems can lead to positive memories.
According to Daniel Kahneman ("Thinking, Fast & Slow"), pleasure & pain often are remembered based on peak & end levels. The length of pain or pleasure may be disregarded if the experience changes.
Pain might decrease toward the end, so people remember relief.
People will remember an inconvenience & they'll remember who helped solve a problem.
Satisfaction can be mentally linked to your store, so people want to return.
Advice can make a difference between satisfaction & remorse.
Your information, advice & instructions can lead to satisfactory results, so people are less apt to regret a purchase.
If people bought a product from a discount store without added value, results might be unsatisfactory.
Remorse can happen if a price seems too high compared to the value of results. Added value can improve results that are worth a higher price.
Remembering In-Store Experiences
Some retailers use music, fragrances, colors & pictures to influence moods.
When people are in a good mood, they might accept & remember advice.
Make added value a regular part of your in-store experience.
When people think about your store, they should remember the values you offer. It should be like a word association. When people need solutions, they should remember your store.
People remember a positive difference, even if it seems small; so, offer various things & track what people accept.
Your success can depend on how you affect people's conditions & moods.
General quality of life can be like a tide & moods can be like waves.
Mood troughs can be deep, so crests bring important relief. People have crests when they get relief from problems.
Your store should be mentally linked with crests. If people feel better in your store, they'll have a favorable impression. Crests & peaks tip a scale in your favor when people think about which stores to patronize.
You can help people add peaks & crests by finding what's missing. What do they need?
Fulfilling goals requires a series of steps. You can offer information & products for planning & completing steps. People can return for what they need for each step & future projects.
Increase Knowledge & Decrease Risk
People need knowledge, skills, money, time, work space, tools & materials. By removing these barriers, you can gain advantages over competitors.
You should welcome beginners who might not know how to start.
Even if they can't identify symptoms, they know something is wrong. They have risks if they do something wrong & don't solve problems.
They need help diagnosing problems so they can buy the right solutions.
They need the right knowledge, materials & tools. Your ads should show you're the right source.
Beginners don't know if they'll have a long-term interest or need for tools. If you have a rental or trade-in program, people can try new skills with low risk.
People can return what they won't use again & you can offer used tools.
People can start with low investments & you can profit from selling tools multiple times.
You might be able to start a club or work with an existing club.
If members share expenses with others, you'll have multiple customers who can afford to buy or rent things.
If you have to order & sell materials in big lots, you can encourage members to divide lots into smaller amounts.
People can save time by working with others & learning together. If each person specializes in a skill, people can solve complex problems more quickly. They can specialize in what they learn & buy.
Clubs can provide work shops & hobby space. Example: A remote control plane club has a small air field. Members share knowledge & skills, so beginners can start with little risk.
Product & Information Sources
People might buy from whomever provides valuable information.
Do your ads have enough information for purchase decisions? If people check manufacturers' web sites, they might buy from manufacturers.
Information from manufacturers might not apply directly to people's conditions. You should offer information about using products in local conditions.
If local conditions don't affect how products are used, you need to produce a different kind of value. Help people choose & use products effectively & efficiently for personal conditions.
What can you offer to make products easier to use? What can you provide to prevent problems?
You can offer what people want before, during & after producing specific results. What can you provide to make those results easier? What can you provide to make those results better or last longer?
Which products can be combined to produce different or better results? What's the best way to produce those results? Are there instructions or will you write the instructions?
Tutorials can help people produce good results. You can help people choose tutorials that fit their conditions & help them adapt information.
Any Relief Is Valuable
Though you should offer maximum value, people might expect less. They can return for more after they settle preliminary issues.
In people's minds, current issues often are magnified in importance & urgency. Their thoughts aren't necessarily on what's realistically most important & urgent. It's like a picture focused on an object, other objects seem blurry.
When people are involved in a situation, they might not see the big picture clearly. As an outsider, you might have a wider perspective.
To satisfy them, you might need to solve what's on their minds. You can use your perspective & knowledge to help them get the most value they can afford. Even if they can't afford the best value, they can get some improvement & improve their morale.
People need morale boosts because it's a burden to constantly feel low.
They realize burdens still exist, but they need a mental rest like setting a load down. Even temporary pleasures are good because people get relief when they don't dwell on problems.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Friday, December 15, 2017
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Discount Chain Competitors - Competing At A Product Level
This post continues from my previous post "Hedgehog Concept As a Basis For Tactics & Strategy".
This is based on "Marketing Warfare" & "Bottom-Up Marketing" by Jack Trout & Al Ries, plus insights from miscellaneous sources.
I don't have space for each detail of these books. You might need to read the books or thorough summaries.
I've written other posts based on what Al Ries & Jack Trout have written. My post URLs change when they're automatically archived. You can do a search to get what might be in an archive.
You need a tactic & strategy. Choose a tactic (action: idea to implement) others aren't using in your market. Use a strategy (plan to implement your action) to make the tactic effective. It means developing a solution & getting people to use it to solve specific problems.
Marketing battlegrounds are in people's minds. Their mental conditions are affected by physical conditions & competitors' offers.
Your offers should fit people's conditions better than competitors' offers, so you need to know what their conditions are.
Solutions are bought in people's minds before money is paid. As people weigh options, you need to tip their scales with compelling descriptions of value.
Too much retail advertising is just product names, pictures & prices. It works for big retailers offering familiar products for low prices. It works when people are ready to buy from familiar stores. When people are familiar with products & stores, connections are made quickly when desires or needs arise.
You shouldn't compete with the same offers. Your success might depend on new products big retailers won't stock. It's hard for them to justify stocking thousands of units without a clear market. If you stock a few units, you can get sales while big retailers wait for a market to grow.
Better Information & Superior Results
You need to show your store is a better source for better solutions. Provide persuasive information about benefits to show you offer more value.
When people think products are the same, they focus on prices. You need to explain how products are different & why it matters in particular conditions. You should add information people need to get superior results.
Your advertising doesn't have to compete for attention against clutter.
You can reach people through employers, businesses, clubs, schools, etc. Community involvement is vital for long-term success.
Guerrilla marketing is modeled after guerrilla warfare. Optimal success in any guerrilla effort depends on winning people's support.
When your offers are valuable incentives, you can ask employers, businesses, clubs & schools to distribute offers.
Incentives could be donations or better value than competitors offer. Donations would be in exchange for sales compared to paying for advertising.
Example 1 - Your donations can help clubs & schools buy equipment.
Example 2 - Employers can reward workers & make their lives easier. Compared to competitors, what can you offer to improve conditions at work or home? Will they be less stressed & possibly more attentive at work? Will their morale be better?
Marketing Principles
These principles in "Marketing Warfare" are applicable to small stores:
Guerrilla Marketing Principles:
1 - Find a segment of the market small enough to defend.
2 - No matter how successful you become, never act like the leader.
3 - Be prepared to bugout at a moment's notice.
Flanking Marketing Principles:
1 - A good flanking move must be made into an uncontested area.
2 - Tactical surprise ought to be an important element of the plan.
3 - The pursuit is as critical as the attack itself.
Let's apply these principles.
Find a niche you know better than competitors do. Combine products, services & information to develop superior offers for specific conditions. It's best to offer what competitors don't. If a product or service is similar, use information to innovate a significant difference.
Offer information people need to get optimal results, so they don't have to guess or rely on inaccurate tips.
A Profitable Category
Find a small category that's unprofitable for a competitor. Even if your category is profitable for you, it's risky if it's similar to a strong competitor's category. If a competitor expands, you may need to adjust or abandon your category.
Your category can be based on helping people thrive in conditions in your area. Your category should be small enough to defend with limited resources. It means you can reach niche members with compelling offers often enough for significant profits.
It should be a solution category more than a product/service category because people need solutions.
Example - There isn't a product that fits every condition. People remove wet & dry dirt in various ways. Your promotions should show solutions, so you can serve people according to current problems. You should adjust your inventory when people's conditions or competitors change.
Though big stores have cleaning products, small stores can have better quality & selection. In a small store, people can quickly find supplies & go home to start cleaning without having walk through a big store & parking lot.
When you have problems, do you want miscellaneous product lists or clear solutions? Instead of offering miscellaneous products, you could group specific products.
Determine which products apply to current conditions & make compelling offers.
Critical Mass Is Vital For Offense & Defense.
Critical mass (CM) is putting more resources in a space than a competitor has there. Though your resources are small compared to big retailers, your focus can make a difference. You can advertise enough to hold your niche's attention with solutions they need.
When you determine which conditions you can mitigate & who needs help, you can send offers through somebody they trust.
If competition is too strong & you can't generate CM, you can bugout of a product line or category.
A competitor's identity is tied to its category. You need to be careful, so your identity won't be a weak copy. You need to make it very different to keep it strong. Your business's identity depends on its category.
A category & identity are important for top of mind awareness. You need people to remember your store in the right contexts. You can't afford to let a competitor fit your context & category better.
Niche members should recognize what you offer & be interested enough to learn more. Your ad copy should explain how your offer fits their conditions better than competitors.
Big competitors watch each other; they can't afford to watch everybody. Even if they notice your store, they can't afford to change tactics & strategies to match multiple small stores.
Since you have a small business, you should be flexible enough to adjust. You need to test methods & determine what to stop or adjust.
Big businesses tend to move ahead instead of sideways. They have a lot of infrastructure to change. With a smaller infrastructure, you can change when competitors or consumers change.
You need to make your focus fit the population so you'll have enough sales volume. If you're in a small city, your opportunities might be shorter, so you might have to change quickly & often.
When local demand is satisfied, you can pursue other opportunities. Be ready for significant changes, so you can get in & out quickly.
Hopefully, you have fast product turnover, so you can change your inventory quickly. You can adjust your marketing quickly. Big businesses might have warehouses of inventory so changing is hard. Their promotions are set months ahead.
As you track results, you'll know what to pursue or stop. You'll notice what's worth more investment. When something isn't effective, you need to put resources toward testing other things.
As you monitor your niche, you'll notice what matters to customers. Track how they respond to your promotions & what they say.
When success wanes, you should consider why. When necessary, you need to withdraw.
A market leader might try to defend a position. Guerrillas move to different positions.
Specialists Concentrate On Specific Problems
Like medical specialists concentrate on specific functions, you should focus on functions in people's lives. When you know what causes problems, you can restore optimal functioning.
You should be an authority on specific life functions. As an authority, you'll be credible when you advise buying & using products.
Instead of advertising miscellaneous products, you can promote solutions to specific problems. You can reduce people's stress by helping them find what fits their conditions.
Since you have direct consumer contact, you can learn about new conditions & stock products for those conditions. Your promotions should emphasize optimal solutions.
Based on people's goals, you can determine if you have what they need to make positive changes.
When you plan promotions, focus on how competitors come up short of full solutions & what you can do better to fill gaps.
Instead of thinking about what you can sell, your inventory & promotions should based be on eliminating problems.
High Quality & High Price
Manufacturers justify high prices with high quality benefits. You need to show those benefits are worthwhile in local consumers' conditions. Example - For people in cold regions, are sewing machines powerful enough for multiple layers of thick fabrics?
In my area, a retailer offers warranty service. Warranty service is seldom required for high quality products. Customers get more benefits because the machines seldom wear out or break. The products are more expensive & last longer than what big stores sell.
Replacing cheap machines is more expensive than investing in long lasting quality.
He chooses good suppliers & adds value. He offers free lessons to help people get maximum benefits. He & his suppliers make the machines well worth the prices.
His store is profitable though big stores sell cheaper machines.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This is based on "Marketing Warfare" & "Bottom-Up Marketing" by Jack Trout & Al Ries, plus insights from miscellaneous sources.
I don't have space for each detail of these books. You might need to read the books or thorough summaries.
I've written other posts based on what Al Ries & Jack Trout have written. My post URLs change when they're automatically archived. You can do a search to get what might be in an archive.
You need a tactic & strategy. Choose a tactic (action: idea to implement) others aren't using in your market. Use a strategy (plan to implement your action) to make the tactic effective. It means developing a solution & getting people to use it to solve specific problems.
Marketing battlegrounds are in people's minds. Their mental conditions are affected by physical conditions & competitors' offers.
Your offers should fit people's conditions better than competitors' offers, so you need to know what their conditions are.
Solutions are bought in people's minds before money is paid. As people weigh options, you need to tip their scales with compelling descriptions of value.
Too much retail advertising is just product names, pictures & prices. It works for big retailers offering familiar products for low prices. It works when people are ready to buy from familiar stores. When people are familiar with products & stores, connections are made quickly when desires or needs arise.
You shouldn't compete with the same offers. Your success might depend on new products big retailers won't stock. It's hard for them to justify stocking thousands of units without a clear market. If you stock a few units, you can get sales while big retailers wait for a market to grow.
Better Information & Superior Results
You need to show your store is a better source for better solutions. Provide persuasive information about benefits to show you offer more value.
When people think products are the same, they focus on prices. You need to explain how products are different & why it matters in particular conditions. You should add information people need to get superior results.
Your advertising doesn't have to compete for attention against clutter.
You can reach people through employers, businesses, clubs, schools, etc. Community involvement is vital for long-term success.
Guerrilla marketing is modeled after guerrilla warfare. Optimal success in any guerrilla effort depends on winning people's support.
When your offers are valuable incentives, you can ask employers, businesses, clubs & schools to distribute offers.
Incentives could be donations or better value than competitors offer. Donations would be in exchange for sales compared to paying for advertising.
Example 1 - Your donations can help clubs & schools buy equipment.
Example 2 - Employers can reward workers & make their lives easier. Compared to competitors, what can you offer to improve conditions at work or home? Will they be less stressed & possibly more attentive at work? Will their morale be better?
Marketing Principles
These principles in "Marketing Warfare" are applicable to small stores:
Guerrilla Marketing Principles:
1 - Find a segment of the market small enough to defend.
2 - No matter how successful you become, never act like the leader.
3 - Be prepared to bugout at a moment's notice.
Flanking Marketing Principles:
1 - A good flanking move must be made into an uncontested area.
2 - Tactical surprise ought to be an important element of the plan.
3 - The pursuit is as critical as the attack itself.
Let's apply these principles.
Find a niche you know better than competitors do. Combine products, services & information to develop superior offers for specific conditions. It's best to offer what competitors don't. If a product or service is similar, use information to innovate a significant difference.
Offer information people need to get optimal results, so they don't have to guess or rely on inaccurate tips.
A Profitable Category
Find a small category that's unprofitable for a competitor. Even if your category is profitable for you, it's risky if it's similar to a strong competitor's category. If a competitor expands, you may need to adjust or abandon your category.
Your category can be based on helping people thrive in conditions in your area. Your category should be small enough to defend with limited resources. It means you can reach niche members with compelling offers often enough for significant profits.
It should be a solution category more than a product/service category because people need solutions.
Example - There isn't a product that fits every condition. People remove wet & dry dirt in various ways. Your promotions should show solutions, so you can serve people according to current problems. You should adjust your inventory when people's conditions or competitors change.
Though big stores have cleaning products, small stores can have better quality & selection. In a small store, people can quickly find supplies & go home to start cleaning without having walk through a big store & parking lot.
When you have problems, do you want miscellaneous product lists or clear solutions? Instead of offering miscellaneous products, you could group specific products.
Determine which products apply to current conditions & make compelling offers.
Critical Mass Is Vital For Offense & Defense.
Critical mass (CM) is putting more resources in a space than a competitor has there. Though your resources are small compared to big retailers, your focus can make a difference. You can advertise enough to hold your niche's attention with solutions they need.
When you determine which conditions you can mitigate & who needs help, you can send offers through somebody they trust.
If competition is too strong & you can't generate CM, you can bugout of a product line or category.
A competitor's identity is tied to its category. You need to be careful, so your identity won't be a weak copy. You need to make it very different to keep it strong. Your business's identity depends on its category.
A category & identity are important for top of mind awareness. You need people to remember your store in the right contexts. You can't afford to let a competitor fit your context & category better.
Niche members should recognize what you offer & be interested enough to learn more. Your ad copy should explain how your offer fits their conditions better than competitors.
Big competitors watch each other; they can't afford to watch everybody. Even if they notice your store, they can't afford to change tactics & strategies to match multiple small stores.
Since you have a small business, you should be flexible enough to adjust. You need to test methods & determine what to stop or adjust.
Big businesses tend to move ahead instead of sideways. They have a lot of infrastructure to change. With a smaller infrastructure, you can change when competitors or consumers change.
You need to make your focus fit the population so you'll have enough sales volume. If you're in a small city, your opportunities might be shorter, so you might have to change quickly & often.
When local demand is satisfied, you can pursue other opportunities. Be ready for significant changes, so you can get in & out quickly.
Hopefully, you have fast product turnover, so you can change your inventory quickly. You can adjust your marketing quickly. Big businesses might have warehouses of inventory so changing is hard. Their promotions are set months ahead.
As you track results, you'll know what to pursue or stop. You'll notice what's worth more investment. When something isn't effective, you need to put resources toward testing other things.
As you monitor your niche, you'll notice what matters to customers. Track how they respond to your promotions & what they say.
When success wanes, you should consider why. When necessary, you need to withdraw.
A market leader might try to defend a position. Guerrillas move to different positions.
Specialists Concentrate On Specific Problems
Like medical specialists concentrate on specific functions, you should focus on functions in people's lives. When you know what causes problems, you can restore optimal functioning.
You should be an authority on specific life functions. As an authority, you'll be credible when you advise buying & using products.
Instead of advertising miscellaneous products, you can promote solutions to specific problems. You can reduce people's stress by helping them find what fits their conditions.
Since you have direct consumer contact, you can learn about new conditions & stock products for those conditions. Your promotions should emphasize optimal solutions.
Based on people's goals, you can determine if you have what they need to make positive changes.
When you plan promotions, focus on how competitors come up short of full solutions & what you can do better to fill gaps.
Instead of thinking about what you can sell, your inventory & promotions should based be on eliminating problems.
High Quality & High Price
Manufacturers justify high prices with high quality benefits. You need to show those benefits are worthwhile in local consumers' conditions. Example - For people in cold regions, are sewing machines powerful enough for multiple layers of thick fabrics?
In my area, a retailer offers warranty service. Warranty service is seldom required for high quality products. Customers get more benefits because the machines seldom wear out or break. The products are more expensive & last longer than what big stores sell.
Replacing cheap machines is more expensive than investing in long lasting quality.
He chooses good suppliers & adds value. He offers free lessons to help people get maximum benefits. He & his suppliers make the machines well worth the prices.
His store is profitable though big stores sell cheaper machines.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Friday, October 13, 2017
Hedgehog Concept As a Basis For Tactics & Strategy
Hedgehog Concept As a Basis For Tactics & Strategy
This post is based partially on "Bottom-Up Marketing" by Al Ries & Jack Trout and "Good to Great Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't" by Jim Collins.
I don't have space to do complete reviews. To get fuller explanations, please read the books or summaries.
Often you can get more value from a book by combining it with another. I'm adding insights from other sources.
Pick an Action & Make a Plan
Choose an available tactic (action) nobody uses in your local business category. Use a strategy (plan) to make the tactic effective.
For manufacturers, tactics are making & marketing products for specific purposes. For retailers, optimal tactics are stocking & marketing products for people in specific conditions.
Strategic details should include choosing advertising media to reach people with offers based on where they are.
Successful strategies are focused on general factors like -
Which specific benefits do we offer? Who will buy those benefits? Why & how will they buy those benefits?
A few more specific factors are -
From whom, do they prefer to buy those benefits? Where do they want to buy those benefits? How often will they buy those benefits?
Tactics should be refined based on strategic insights.
Ultimate Success Requires Specialization
Jim Collins emphasized using a Stop Doing List because people should do what's most important. In his main analogy, a fox knows many small things & a hedgehog knows one big thing, which works in many conditions.
A fox should use a Stop Doing List to narrow its focus. A hedgehog protects itself with one effective tactic, so it's already focused.
Some criteria for forming a tactic are the 3 Circles of the Hedgehog Concept.
1- In your local business category, what can you do best? Among those abilities, what can you consistently do better than everybody else?
2- When you consider things you can do best, what do you feel passionately compelled to do?
3- Now you need an economic engine. When you've chosen what you can do best & feel compelled to do, determine how to it professionally.
Collins advises doing what you're genetically encoded to do. He emphasizes focusing on natural abilities because excellence is more likely.
You might create superior value with your natural, tactical abilities.
You should offer what people won't get from others. When your business is based on unique natural abilities, your offers can be unique.
You need to determine which personal & professional resources will make your economic engine effective & efficient.
You don't need a perfect engine because you'll need to make adjustments as you test methods.
A Strategy Makes A Tactic Effective.
What's your strategic plan? Which methods will you use? What will you do & not do?
If you offer a service, will you do it at your location or customers' homes & offices? You could pick up machines & deliver them after your service.
If you offer a product, will you sell from a permanent store, a truck or in customers' homes & offices?
How will you get needed resources? What kind of equipment will you use?
Which skills are necessary? How will you develop your skills? How will you find people who have necessary skills?
How will you incentivize skilled people to join & stay on your team? Which opportunities will you offer?
Team members are employees, plus product & service suppliers.
Jim Collins advises finding people before determining what to do. Collins used an analogy of getting the right people on your "bus". His case studies were established businesses, so in effect, they had buses already.
New businesses have different needs. Business owners should build a "hedgehog vehicle" for a particular purpose.
When you establish a general direction & purpose for your hedgehog vehicle, you can determine who can contribute what you need.
When you decide what to offer, you'll know which skills your team needs. Each skill contributes to building & operating your vehicle, so you can reach your destination.
Your economic engine is your ability to sell. You need to work on other things even when they don't lead directly to sales.
If you focus too much on your economic engine, you might neglect other functions. Working on each skill is like maintaining your whole vehicle.
If you try to do too much by yourself, you might not have each necessary skill.
Big competitors have necessary skills to defeat you. You need multiple skills for simultaneous driving, navigating & maintenance during a non-stop race.
As you build your hedgehog vehicle, you should check your conditions. How will your vehicle endure economic & competitive forces?
As you assemble a team & gather resources, you'll test methods & track consumers' responses. You can change your To Do List & Stop Doing List based on their responses.
You should also decide what to do more & what to do less.
You & your team might adjust your roles. When roles change, you might need different team members. Each change can lead to other opportunities.
As you test methods & monitor competitors, you can make adjustments. You might avoid big, expensive detours if you test & adjust regularly.
You'll need to adjust your vehicle, so it should be built for a variable competitive terrain.
You can protect your business with defensive adjustments as you monitor conditions.
As competitors test methods & change inventories, you can track their results & effects on your business.
You need to make your main tactic & strategy consistent, yet flexible. You need your business to be flexible enough to bend, so it doesn't break as the terrain changes.
When you set up methods, you need to decide why some methods will be similar to or different than competitors' methods.
Example - Big box stores cut labor costs by pushing self-service. You can make different aspects of your store self-service. You can have information kiosks & charts, so people can find answers. While some customers serve themselves, you can help others with more complex tasks.
If you do it, you'll offer more information than some big stores, plus you'll provide more service. You could include a statement on your kiosks & charts to explain how you can serve people better while others find information.
Retail Connections
Big box stores push products, you should promote solutions.
You can increase your trade skill by listening to customers & offering solutions. Improving your trade skill will make you a stronger competitor.
As you listen & learn, you can adjust your offers.
Stores can be more than places for people to buy products. Retailers can connect people to better conditions.
Some people know what they need to achieve better conditions. Others feel a gap, but they don't know how to fill it. They can't solve problems with vague product knowledge.
High tech products are often crammed with features & potential benefits. You can help people convert features to solutions in their conditions.
You can guide people from current conditions to their desired conditions.
Your tactic & strategy can include guiding people. Matching products with people's needs can be part of your Hedgehog Concept.
Needs can be expressed as gaps. People's conditions can be expressed as puzzles.
You could offer pieces that fit gaps better than competitors' pieces. Your Hedgehog Concept could include putting pieces in place better than anybody else.
You can adjust your business according to what's currently important to your niche.
What are more important now could be product factors like functionality, reliability, durability & convenience.
You might need to adjust aspects of your business like location & business hours, plus wide &/or deep selection of primary products & accessories.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies and tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This post is based partially on "Bottom-Up Marketing" by Al Ries & Jack Trout and "Good to Great Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't" by Jim Collins.
I don't have space to do complete reviews. To get fuller explanations, please read the books or summaries.
Often you can get more value from a book by combining it with another. I'm adding insights from other sources.
Pick an Action & Make a Plan
Choose an available tactic (action) nobody uses in your local business category. Use a strategy (plan) to make the tactic effective.
For manufacturers, tactics are making & marketing products for specific purposes. For retailers, optimal tactics are stocking & marketing products for people in specific conditions.
Strategic details should include choosing advertising media to reach people with offers based on where they are.
Successful strategies are focused on general factors like -
Which specific benefits do we offer? Who will buy those benefits? Why & how will they buy those benefits?
A few more specific factors are -
From whom, do they prefer to buy those benefits? Where do they want to buy those benefits? How often will they buy those benefits?
Tactics should be refined based on strategic insights.
Ultimate Success Requires Specialization
Jim Collins emphasized using a Stop Doing List because people should do what's most important. In his main analogy, a fox knows many small things & a hedgehog knows one big thing, which works in many conditions.
A fox should use a Stop Doing List to narrow its focus. A hedgehog protects itself with one effective tactic, so it's already focused.
Some criteria for forming a tactic are the 3 Circles of the Hedgehog Concept.
1- In your local business category, what can you do best? Among those abilities, what can you consistently do better than everybody else?
2- When you consider things you can do best, what do you feel passionately compelled to do?
3- Now you need an economic engine. When you've chosen what you can do best & feel compelled to do, determine how to it professionally.
Collins advises doing what you're genetically encoded to do. He emphasizes focusing on natural abilities because excellence is more likely.
You might create superior value with your natural, tactical abilities.
You should offer what people won't get from others. When your business is based on unique natural abilities, your offers can be unique.
You need to determine which personal & professional resources will make your economic engine effective & efficient.
You don't need a perfect engine because you'll need to make adjustments as you test methods.
A Strategy Makes A Tactic Effective.
What's your strategic plan? Which methods will you use? What will you do & not do?
If you offer a service, will you do it at your location or customers' homes & offices? You could pick up machines & deliver them after your service.
If you offer a product, will you sell from a permanent store, a truck or in customers' homes & offices?
How will you get needed resources? What kind of equipment will you use?
Which skills are necessary? How will you develop your skills? How will you find people who have necessary skills?
How will you incentivize skilled people to join & stay on your team? Which opportunities will you offer?
Team members are employees, plus product & service suppliers.
Jim Collins advises finding people before determining what to do. Collins used an analogy of getting the right people on your "bus". His case studies were established businesses, so in effect, they had buses already.
New businesses have different needs. Business owners should build a "hedgehog vehicle" for a particular purpose.
When you establish a general direction & purpose for your hedgehog vehicle, you can determine who can contribute what you need.
When you decide what to offer, you'll know which skills your team needs. Each skill contributes to building & operating your vehicle, so you can reach your destination.
Your economic engine is your ability to sell. You need to work on other things even when they don't lead directly to sales.
If you focus too much on your economic engine, you might neglect other functions. Working on each skill is like maintaining your whole vehicle.
If you try to do too much by yourself, you might not have each necessary skill.
Big competitors have necessary skills to defeat you. You need multiple skills for simultaneous driving, navigating & maintenance during a non-stop race.
As you build your hedgehog vehicle, you should check your conditions. How will your vehicle endure economic & competitive forces?
As you assemble a team & gather resources, you'll test methods & track consumers' responses. You can change your To Do List & Stop Doing List based on their responses.
You should also decide what to do more & what to do less.
You & your team might adjust your roles. When roles change, you might need different team members. Each change can lead to other opportunities.
As you test methods & monitor competitors, you can make adjustments. You might avoid big, expensive detours if you test & adjust regularly.
You'll need to adjust your vehicle, so it should be built for a variable competitive terrain.
You can protect your business with defensive adjustments as you monitor conditions.
As competitors test methods & change inventories, you can track their results & effects on your business.
You need to make your main tactic & strategy consistent, yet flexible. You need your business to be flexible enough to bend, so it doesn't break as the terrain changes.
When you set up methods, you need to decide why some methods will be similar to or different than competitors' methods.
Example - Big box stores cut labor costs by pushing self-service. You can make different aspects of your store self-service. You can have information kiosks & charts, so people can find answers. While some customers serve themselves, you can help others with more complex tasks.
If you do it, you'll offer more information than some big stores, plus you'll provide more service. You could include a statement on your kiosks & charts to explain how you can serve people better while others find information.
Retail Connections
Big box stores push products, you should promote solutions.
You can increase your trade skill by listening to customers & offering solutions. Improving your trade skill will make you a stronger competitor.
As you listen & learn, you can adjust your offers.
Stores can be more than places for people to buy products. Retailers can connect people to better conditions.
Some people know what they need to achieve better conditions. Others feel a gap, but they don't know how to fill it. They can't solve problems with vague product knowledge.
High tech products are often crammed with features & potential benefits. You can help people convert features to solutions in their conditions.
You can guide people from current conditions to their desired conditions.
Your tactic & strategy can include guiding people. Matching products with people's needs can be part of your Hedgehog Concept.
Needs can be expressed as gaps. People's conditions can be expressed as puzzles.
You could offer pieces that fit gaps better than competitors' pieces. Your Hedgehog Concept could include putting pieces in place better than anybody else.
You can adjust your business according to what's currently important to your niche.
What are more important now could be product factors like functionality, reliability, durability & convenience.
You might need to adjust aspects of your business like location & business hours, plus wide &/or deep selection of primary products & accessories.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies and tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Be A Stronger Competitor With Better Relationships
Subject: Customer Relationships Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date Posted in an earlier blog: 05/23/01
Some people want high-tech and high-touch.
Some companies send out messages from their CEOs. These messages may have been written by others who do it for the CEOs, but what's important is the effort to reach out to people.
If customers are more apt to identify with somebody else (other than the CEO), then a person who is like them ought to chosen to communicate with them - a spokesperson.
The messages may not elicit warm & fuzzy feelings though they may be written in an informal, friendly way. However, they still show an effort is made to have a relationship.
In a relationship, each party involved has to "own" it. As owners, they're able to change it. So, a company doing what I propose should be flexible. A rigid agenda will probably lead to failure.
A facilitator, like a moderator, will have to "drive" the project but still be open to directions from the customers. As a facilitator, s/he may have to stir things up at times by introducing new subjects.
Each part of a business has to be like this to thrive. Too many business owners watch competitors too much & listen to customers too little.
The internet, with e-mail, gives businesses quick access to customers. Businesses should be open to quick access from prospects & customers. The internet is too powerful to be used only for advertising.
A possible way to get people to opt-in to receiving messages is to show the company has opted-in to receiving messages from customers who have concerns. To do this effectively, the company must have real people for customers to contact (burt@abc.com instead of info@abc.com).
This can cause problems when people like "Burt" quit or are downsized. It may leave customers feeling abandoned. It may be worth the risk.
Dennis S. Vogel
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies and tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Be A Stronger Competitor With Better Relationships
Connections Are More Than Transactions
People can interact superficially with businesses through transactions. Some stores sell products instead of solutions.
People need to know how to use products to solve problems. You can serve people better by offering more than superficial transactions.
People value results more than products. You can help people get superior results with the right products & information.
People value relationships & they can't easily replace great relationships.
A great relationship improves at least one aspect of a person's life. Your business can improve lives instead of only selling products & services.
People can connect to achieve goals. Since people buy products because they have goals, you have a good chance to connect with them.
People connect through meaningful communication. It requires exchanging information, not just money.
Products don't end people's struggles when they don't get the advertised results. Your advertising should show how you help people get expected results.
How Hard Can It Be?
When people have instructions, they may be overconfident. After they start, they might have problems. Encourage them to ask questions before & after they buy from you. Any bit of advice can make a difference between a mistake & success.
Your success might depend on helping people get full value from products. That full value often includes relief from stress. For full value, they need to learn how to get the best results for their specific conditions.
It's hard to quantify effects of stress & benefits of stress relief. When people experience that extra value, they'll want more.
There's stress involved in taking time to learn another thing. People might have trouble understanding instructions.
If you have different ways to explain how to use products, you can reduce people's stress.
You could try to help people find instructions they understand.
You can help people adjust instructions for their specific conditions. You can help people adjust actions according to changing conditions.
You should compete by supplying products & knowledge people need to fill gaps between current conditions & desired results. Until gaps are filled, people won't be satisfied.
You can profitably fill some satisfaction gaps better than competitors. You need to combine product knowledge with insights about customers.
You can help them with specific problems when you encourage them to describe their situations.
You can say, "There are different ways to use this product. If you answer some questions, I can help you get full value from this. What are you working on? What's the main benefit you need?"
You can ask diagnostic questions like doctors do.
When did it start? How often does it happen? What have you tried? Did that help at all?
As you learn about products & customers, you'll know which questions are applicable.
You can help customers determine causes & effects, so in the future, they can avoid negative causes & repair the effects.
By asking about what they have now, you can help customers determine what they need. You should have ways to help find them tools & materials.
After tools & materials are found, you can help them with techniques. If you have instructional resources, you can show exactly what people need. If you don't offer instructional resources, you can help people find instructions by title or author.
There are instructions available through the Internet, but people might be skeptical. You can review videos & written instructions, so you can help people find reliable instructions that are applicable to their conditions.
Gathering & Storing Information
You should have a process for finding, retrieving & prioritizing information.
You might find instructions for multiple products & using a product in many ways.
You can organize information in cabinets &/or computer flash drives.
As you plan product & service promotions, you can gather information & instructions about what you promote.
As you help customers find information, you should save what you find.
Search engines find expired links, so you should save some information.
If you don't download a resource, you should keep a record of titles & authors with the links. If links expire, you can do a search for titles & authors' names.
You can keep lists of favorites & bookmarks in web browsers. You can also copy & paste listings into documents about specific subjects.
Some text editing programs let people click URLs to launch web browsers.
When you have information available, you should include that benefit in your advertising, so people will know you offer solutions, not just products.
You can include printed or digital resource lists with products.
Analogy About Driving, Faith & Trust
If people have faith in your driving skills, they might let you drive their cars. If they ride while you drive, it shows they trust you.
Solving problems can be like a long, stressful commute. When you help people with information, it's like you're sharing the driving responsibility.
By sharing a drive, people can go further in less time.
Your advice can help people avoid mistakes. They'll have more time & energy to do more tasks. They might have more money to buy more.
People might have enough faith to buy what you sell. As you build relationships, they should accept your advice.
When you inspire a trusting relationship, people are more apt to buy from you.
There's a lot of value in trust. People want assurance.
Think about how much better you feel when you deal with people you trust.
You should do what you can to inspire trust, so people can be less stressed.
When you help people solve problems, you'll help them build self-confidence.
Self-confident people tend to be less stressed as they solve problems.
When you connect with customers, you can benefit them in hard-to-quantify ways. Psychological benefits are real & people may return to get more.
What Is A Connection?
Personal connections involve agreeing. In a retail context, people can agree about a goal & how to achieve it.
You can help people with techniques, so they know what to do. They might need help with step-by-step plans.
You can help people recognize problems, so they don't try the wrong solutions. They might need tips, so they know when problems are solved & don't do more than necessary or stop too soon.
You can help people determine which tools & materials to use plus how to use them.
If you don't have particular tools & materials, you could find people find sources of what they need.
Connecting & Understanding
People will feel some relief when they know you understand. They'll doubt your advice if you seem to misunderstand.
A good lesson about communication is in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. Covey wrote a chapter about "Habit 5 Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood."
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Some people want high-tech and high-touch.
Some companies send out messages from their CEOs. These messages may have been written by others who do it for the CEOs, but what's important is the effort to reach out to people.
If customers are more apt to identify with somebody else (other than the CEO), then a person who is like them ought to chosen to communicate with them - a spokesperson.
The messages may not elicit warm & fuzzy feelings though they may be written in an informal, friendly way. However, they still show an effort is made to have a relationship.
In a relationship, each party involved has to "own" it. As owners, they're able to change it. So, a company doing what I propose should be flexible. A rigid agenda will probably lead to failure.
A facilitator, like a moderator, will have to "drive" the project but still be open to directions from the customers. As a facilitator, s/he may have to stir things up at times by introducing new subjects.
Each part of a business has to be like this to thrive. Too many business owners watch competitors too much & listen to customers too little.
The internet, with e-mail, gives businesses quick access to customers. Businesses should be open to quick access from prospects & customers. The internet is too powerful to be used only for advertising.
A possible way to get people to opt-in to receiving messages is to show the company has opted-in to receiving messages from customers who have concerns. To do this effectively, the company must have real people for customers to contact (burt@abc.com instead of info@abc.com).
This can cause problems when people like "Burt" quit or are downsized. It may leave customers feeling abandoned. It may be worth the risk.
Dennis S. Vogel
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies and tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Be A Stronger Competitor With Better Relationships
Connections Are More Than Transactions
People can interact superficially with businesses through transactions. Some stores sell products instead of solutions.
People need to know how to use products to solve problems. You can serve people better by offering more than superficial transactions.
People value results more than products. You can help people get superior results with the right products & information.
People value relationships & they can't easily replace great relationships.
A great relationship improves at least one aspect of a person's life. Your business can improve lives instead of only selling products & services.
People can connect to achieve goals. Since people buy products because they have goals, you have a good chance to connect with them.
People connect through meaningful communication. It requires exchanging information, not just money.
Products don't end people's struggles when they don't get the advertised results. Your advertising should show how you help people get expected results.
How Hard Can It Be?
When people have instructions, they may be overconfident. After they start, they might have problems. Encourage them to ask questions before & after they buy from you. Any bit of advice can make a difference between a mistake & success.
Your success might depend on helping people get full value from products. That full value often includes relief from stress. For full value, they need to learn how to get the best results for their specific conditions.
It's hard to quantify effects of stress & benefits of stress relief. When people experience that extra value, they'll want more.
There's stress involved in taking time to learn another thing. People might have trouble understanding instructions.
If you have different ways to explain how to use products, you can reduce people's stress.
You could try to help people find instructions they understand.
You can help people adjust instructions for their specific conditions. You can help people adjust actions according to changing conditions.
You should compete by supplying products & knowledge people need to fill gaps between current conditions & desired results. Until gaps are filled, people won't be satisfied.
You can profitably fill some satisfaction gaps better than competitors. You need to combine product knowledge with insights about customers.
You can help them with specific problems when you encourage them to describe their situations.
You can say, "There are different ways to use this product. If you answer some questions, I can help you get full value from this. What are you working on? What's the main benefit you need?"
You can ask diagnostic questions like doctors do.
When did it start? How often does it happen? What have you tried? Did that help at all?
As you learn about products & customers, you'll know which questions are applicable.
You can help customers determine causes & effects, so in the future, they can avoid negative causes & repair the effects.
By asking about what they have now, you can help customers determine what they need. You should have ways to help find them tools & materials.
After tools & materials are found, you can help them with techniques. If you have instructional resources, you can show exactly what people need. If you don't offer instructional resources, you can help people find instructions by title or author.
There are instructions available through the Internet, but people might be skeptical. You can review videos & written instructions, so you can help people find reliable instructions that are applicable to their conditions.
Gathering & Storing Information
You should have a process for finding, retrieving & prioritizing information.
You might find instructions for multiple products & using a product in many ways.
You can organize information in cabinets &/or computer flash drives.
As you plan product & service promotions, you can gather information & instructions about what you promote.
As you help customers find information, you should save what you find.
Search engines find expired links, so you should save some information.
If you don't download a resource, you should keep a record of titles & authors with the links. If links expire, you can do a search for titles & authors' names.
You can keep lists of favorites & bookmarks in web browsers. You can also copy & paste listings into documents about specific subjects.
Some text editing programs let people click URLs to launch web browsers.
When you have information available, you should include that benefit in your advertising, so people will know you offer solutions, not just products.
You can include printed or digital resource lists with products.
Analogy About Driving, Faith & Trust
If people have faith in your driving skills, they might let you drive their cars. If they ride while you drive, it shows they trust you.
Solving problems can be like a long, stressful commute. When you help people with information, it's like you're sharing the driving responsibility.
By sharing a drive, people can go further in less time.
Your advice can help people avoid mistakes. They'll have more time & energy to do more tasks. They might have more money to buy more.
People might have enough faith to buy what you sell. As you build relationships, they should accept your advice.
When you inspire a trusting relationship, people are more apt to buy from you.
There's a lot of value in trust. People want assurance.
Think about how much better you feel when you deal with people you trust.
You should do what you can to inspire trust, so people can be less stressed.
When you help people solve problems, you'll help them build self-confidence.
Self-confident people tend to be less stressed as they solve problems.
When you connect with customers, you can benefit them in hard-to-quantify ways. Psychological benefits are real & people may return to get more.
What Is A Connection?
Personal connections involve agreeing. In a retail context, people can agree about a goal & how to achieve it.
You can help people with techniques, so they know what to do. They might need help with step-by-step plans.
You can help people recognize problems, so they don't try the wrong solutions. They might need tips, so they know when problems are solved & don't do more than necessary or stop too soon.
You can help people determine which tools & materials to use plus how to use them.
If you don't have particular tools & materials, you could find people find sources of what they need.
Connecting & Understanding
People will feel some relief when they know you understand. They'll doubt your advice if you seem to misunderstand.
A good lesson about communication is in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. Covey wrote a chapter about "Habit 5 Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood."
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Products DO NOT Sell Themselves
Subject: Products DO NOT Sell Themselves Author: Dennis S. Vogel
Date Posted in an earlier blog: 11:30:06 05/23/01 Wednesday
Let's Set The Record Straight -
Products DO NOT Sell Themselves
If you think they do, take a product out of its package and put a price on it. Put it somewhere that people will only find it by accident. Be sure it can't depend on anybody's or anything's reputation to gain favorable impressions.
Don't use any point of purchase signs, no sales presentations, no packaging.
Don't let anybody know that the product exists.
Don't answer any questions about it.
Don't use any attractive displays.
Don't list any features, advantages or benefits.
Don't demonstrate it.
Don't let anybody have for a trial use.
Don't offer any warranties or guarantees.
Now think about this logically - Do you think enough people, if anybody, will buy enough units to make it profitable?
If your answer is "No," then don't ever think that products sell themselves.
Dennis S. Vogel
Your business will thrive, no matter who
your competitors are, if you market it
powerfully and do everything else correctly.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Make Your Offers Match People's Conditions & Goals
Hopefully, we've eliminated that fallacy about products selling themselves. Successful selling requires effort.
To successfully sell a product, you have to do the opposite of what I wrote in the post above.
I'm writing some basics in this post before moving to more advanced knowledge.
For brevity, let's refer to what you offer as a product (even if you have a service).
Let's focus on a local area for a store as opposed to worldwide access for a web site.
In your business trade zone, people can buy your product in face-to-face transactions.
In your trade zone, people use your product for specific results that could be different than other areas. Manufacturers emphasize results for general users. Actual results depend on conditions in certain areas.
You should focus on results that fit conditions in your trade zone.
Example - People want cars to look good. Cars can be washed for short-term & long-term appearance.
Where I live, short-term appearance changes quickly in sloppy weather. Long-term appearance is a matter of reducing rust.
We put salt on streets to melt ice & snow, so we can drive safely. Salt ends up on our cars & causes metal to rust.
We can put wax on our cars in any season, but in winter, wax is used to resist some rust. Even if it's the same kind of wax, we buy it for different results.
In sloppy winter weather, our cars are coated by dirt. A coat of wax won't shine through dirt.
Shiny wax finishes are offered in warm weather.
Specific Results In Specific Conditions
Which results are commonly desired?
Rank them in importance to people in your trade zone.
You should consider the value people can get from competitors. How can you add more value to produce the most important result?
Can your product be used to produce multiple benefits?
Your advertising should explain how well your product can be used to produce those results in your trade zone.
Your advertising should include your offers of detailed advice.
Can people get better results by using products differently - maybe a little more or less - than manufacturers advise?
Which other products could be added to increase benefits? Which products could decrease side effects?
What Are Their Problems?
You might get insights from consumers' reviews & articles of professional critics (Consumer Reports).
You can use a search engine to find web sites people use to complain or get advice.
Some of these might be manufacturers' blogs. You might find reviews in your competitors' web sites.
Based on what you read & hear from customers, you'll learn about product limitations & people's frustrations.
You should advise customers about problems in your trade zone & how to solve those with your product.
If you don't have testimonials from local people, explain how you used the product to produce results.
After you help them, they might give you testimonials.
Meaningful Messages
If the manufacturer has pictures of people using a product, are they realistic?
Examples - If your trade zone is in Wisconsin, don't use pictures of people using a product near palm trees.
If your product is used to clean vehicles, use pictures of vehicles like those your niche members own.
Help niche members imagine themselves experiencing product benefits.
Your advertising should show what's realistic in niche members' lives, not just based on manufacturers' specifications.
Can the product be safely adapted without voiding a warranty?
Do ads lead people to have the right expectations?
Example - Paint might be easy to apply in ideal conditions.
In a cold, rainy area, is it realistic to apply primer & a coat of paint before rain falls again or the temperature drops?
Ask customers about their conditions. What can you offer to make things realistic?
What can you offer to make things as close to ideal as practical?
Does the manufacturer provide enough information for people to get superior results in their specific conditions?
Is the information easy for customers to use? Do they need it in a different format?
You should help customers determine what they need to know, so they can be totally satisfied with their results.
People need an ally to help them defeat problems. You should show you're a knowledgeable ally.
Sorted Details
Retail web sites help people sort products according to prices or other general details. Those details don't always help people choose the best solution.
Some sites have recommendations based on browsing & buying. Those recommendations don't show people how to use products.
People don't always understand product specifications. Based on customers' goals, you should help them understand which details matter more.
You should help customers compare details about products & conditions.
You can ask for descriptions of their conditions.
What's the main thing they want to change? How long has a condition existed?
When do they expect different results to start? What have they tried before?
What caused them to be dissatisfied with previous results?
You can help them be realistic.
They might expect a specific solution where a different solution is better or only mitigation is possible.
What should be their criteria for deciding about repairing or replacing a product?
As you interact with customers, you'll get insights so you can anticipate their concerns. You can prepare checklists, charts & documents for customers to check as they look at products. They can use your checklists, charts & documents at home while they check their conditions.
They can use these as guides for making decisions. They could bring checklists back to your store for discussions.
They could use mobile devices to show you pictures of their conditions. They could use pictures to show you their progress, so you can refine their results.
Necessary Costs & Risks
You need to invest time & money to get information, so you can provide advice.
There's a risk of people misunderstanding your advice.
Despite costs & risks, you need to offer unique value to compete with discount stores.
Can you offer more value than competitors if you don't offer advice?
It can be hard to prescribe solutions based on somebody else's description of conditions. You need to be sure customers understand your guidance is based on their descriptions.
When you determine the kind of advice you'll offer, you'll know which questions to ask customers.
As you refine your questions & advice, you'll learn how to help customers clarify their answers.
As you guide them to final decisions, you can help them with small decisions by excluding information that doesn't fit their conditions.
I Wish I Would've Known That Before
Imagine somebody just bought a product from a different store.
What would be one detail that could've persuaded that person to buy from you instead?
Why would somebody regret not buying from you?
"If I knew that before, I would've bought it from you!" What would cause somebody to say that?
You should have at least one superior detail like that, but more of those details would make your offers more compelling.
Superior product quality is vital, yet you depend on a manufacturer to fulfill it. That product quality is available through other stores, too.
You should control your superior details as much as you can, so you don't have to depend on individual manufacturers.
Manufacturers might change their quality standards &/or distribution channels.
It's better if your superior details apply to your whole business, not just products.
Your superior details could be how you customize products specifically for each customer & include your product selection.
You could offer free or low cost lessons or preventative maintenance.
When you have a powerful differentiating advantage, you can form a successful central marketing theme.
Buyers' remorse often happens. When it happens, it should be because customers didn't buy from you.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
Your success depends on providing more value than competitors
& making compelling offers.
To get free information, you can use these URLs:
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Date Posted in an earlier blog: 11:30:06 05/23/01 Wednesday
Let's Set The Record Straight -
Products DO NOT Sell Themselves
If you think they do, take a product out of its package and put a price on it. Put it somewhere that people will only find it by accident. Be sure it can't depend on anybody's or anything's reputation to gain favorable impressions.
Don't use any point of purchase signs, no sales presentations, no packaging.
Don't let anybody know that the product exists.
Don't answer any questions about it.
Don't use any attractive displays.
Don't list any features, advantages or benefits.
Don't demonstrate it.
Don't let anybody have for a trial use.
Don't offer any warranties or guarantees.
Now think about this logically - Do you think enough people, if anybody, will buy enough units to make it profitable?
If your answer is "No," then don't ever think that products sell themselves.
Dennis S. Vogel
Your business will thrive, no matter who
your competitors are, if you market it
powerfully and do everything else correctly.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Make Your Offers Match People's Conditions & Goals
Hopefully, we've eliminated that fallacy about products selling themselves. Successful selling requires effort.
To successfully sell a product, you have to do the opposite of what I wrote in the post above.
I'm writing some basics in this post before moving to more advanced knowledge.
For brevity, let's refer to what you offer as a product (even if you have a service).
Let's focus on a local area for a store as opposed to worldwide access for a web site.
In your business trade zone, people can buy your product in face-to-face transactions.
In your trade zone, people use your product for specific results that could be different than other areas. Manufacturers emphasize results for general users. Actual results depend on conditions in certain areas.
You should focus on results that fit conditions in your trade zone.
Example - People want cars to look good. Cars can be washed for short-term & long-term appearance.
Where I live, short-term appearance changes quickly in sloppy weather. Long-term appearance is a matter of reducing rust.
We put salt on streets to melt ice & snow, so we can drive safely. Salt ends up on our cars & causes metal to rust.
We can put wax on our cars in any season, but in winter, wax is used to resist some rust. Even if it's the same kind of wax, we buy it for different results.
In sloppy winter weather, our cars are coated by dirt. A coat of wax won't shine through dirt.
Shiny wax finishes are offered in warm weather.
Specific Results In Specific Conditions
Which results are commonly desired?
Rank them in importance to people in your trade zone.
You should consider the value people can get from competitors. How can you add more value to produce the most important result?
Can your product be used to produce multiple benefits?
Your advertising should explain how well your product can be used to produce those results in your trade zone.
Your advertising should include your offers of detailed advice.
Can people get better results by using products differently - maybe a little more or less - than manufacturers advise?
Which other products could be added to increase benefits? Which products could decrease side effects?
What Are Their Problems?
You might get insights from consumers' reviews & articles of professional critics (Consumer Reports).
You can use a search engine to find web sites people use to complain or get advice.
Some of these might be manufacturers' blogs. You might find reviews in your competitors' web sites.
Based on what you read & hear from customers, you'll learn about product limitations & people's frustrations.
You should advise customers about problems in your trade zone & how to solve those with your product.
If you don't have testimonials from local people, explain how you used the product to produce results.
After you help them, they might give you testimonials.
Meaningful Messages
If the manufacturer has pictures of people using a product, are they realistic?
Examples - If your trade zone is in Wisconsin, don't use pictures of people using a product near palm trees.
If your product is used to clean vehicles, use pictures of vehicles like those your niche members own.
Help niche members imagine themselves experiencing product benefits.
Your advertising should show what's realistic in niche members' lives, not just based on manufacturers' specifications.
Can the product be safely adapted without voiding a warranty?
Do ads lead people to have the right expectations?
Example - Paint might be easy to apply in ideal conditions.
In a cold, rainy area, is it realistic to apply primer & a coat of paint before rain falls again or the temperature drops?
Ask customers about their conditions. What can you offer to make things realistic?
What can you offer to make things as close to ideal as practical?
Does the manufacturer provide enough information for people to get superior results in their specific conditions?
Is the information easy for customers to use? Do they need it in a different format?
You should help customers determine what they need to know, so they can be totally satisfied with their results.
People need an ally to help them defeat problems. You should show you're a knowledgeable ally.
Sorted Details
Retail web sites help people sort products according to prices or other general details. Those details don't always help people choose the best solution.
Some sites have recommendations based on browsing & buying. Those recommendations don't show people how to use products.
People don't always understand product specifications. Based on customers' goals, you should help them understand which details matter more.
You should help customers compare details about products & conditions.
You can ask for descriptions of their conditions.
What's the main thing they want to change? How long has a condition existed?
When do they expect different results to start? What have they tried before?
What caused them to be dissatisfied with previous results?
You can help them be realistic.
They might expect a specific solution where a different solution is better or only mitigation is possible.
What should be their criteria for deciding about repairing or replacing a product?
As you interact with customers, you'll get insights so you can anticipate their concerns. You can prepare checklists, charts & documents for customers to check as they look at products. They can use your checklists, charts & documents at home while they check their conditions.
They can use these as guides for making decisions. They could bring checklists back to your store for discussions.
They could use mobile devices to show you pictures of their conditions. They could use pictures to show you their progress, so you can refine their results.
Necessary Costs & Risks
You need to invest time & money to get information, so you can provide advice.
There's a risk of people misunderstanding your advice.
Despite costs & risks, you need to offer unique value to compete with discount stores.
Can you offer more value than competitors if you don't offer advice?
It can be hard to prescribe solutions based on somebody else's description of conditions. You need to be sure customers understand your guidance is based on their descriptions.
When you determine the kind of advice you'll offer, you'll know which questions to ask customers.
As you refine your questions & advice, you'll learn how to help customers clarify their answers.
As you guide them to final decisions, you can help them with small decisions by excluding information that doesn't fit their conditions.
I Wish I Would've Known That Before
Imagine somebody just bought a product from a different store.
What would be one detail that could've persuaded that person to buy from you instead?
Why would somebody regret not buying from you?
"If I knew that before, I would've bought it from you!" What would cause somebody to say that?
You should have at least one superior detail like that, but more of those details would make your offers more compelling.
Superior product quality is vital, yet you depend on a manufacturer to fulfill it. That product quality is available through other stores, too.
You should control your superior details as much as you can, so you don't have to depend on individual manufacturers.
Manufacturers might change their quality standards &/or distribution channels.
It's better if your superior details apply to your whole business, not just products.
Your superior details could be how you customize products specifically for each customer & include your product selection.
You could offer free or low cost lessons or preventative maintenance.
When you have a powerful differentiating advantage, you can form a successful central marketing theme.
Buyers' remorse often happens. When it happens, it should be because customers didn't buy from you.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
Your success depends on providing more value than competitors
& making compelling offers.
To get free information, you can use these URLs:
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising
Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising Author: Dennis S. Vogel Date Posted: 09:37:09 05/23/01 Wed
This was previously posted in another blog.
Trust usually isn't established instantly. Trust is a compatibility issue that builds in stages. Faith comes first. Faith may come about because of credentials or a display of knowledge.
Here's an example- After reading my posts to this forum, you may have faith in my knowledge. But letting me handle your marketing program for you is a matter of trust.
It's best to build trust before a consumer needs you. Cultivate realistic sounding testimonials. Induce referrals. Write articles. Submit posts to discussion forums.
If you're the only product/service provider in a consumer's time of need. You may get a sale based on that even if you haven't established firm trust.
How can you set this up? It depends on your business. But I'll give some samples.
An appliance dealer can give/send magnetic advertising specialties for people to put on their appliances.
To supplement this, the dealer can establish a program of getting information about the specifications people will want/need in a replacement appliance. Some specifications are: Measurements, capacity, gas/electric, color, etc.
When an appliance breaks down, the customer can call for a price quote without having to supply the necessary information. (During a stressful time, people aren't apt to want to hassle with this information; they just want a solution NOW!)
I still have a business card for a lock-out service in my wallet. I got it at a gas station. I never met the owner of the service but if my keys are locked in my car on a cold winter day, it doesn't matter that I haven't met him, I'll call him.
We know people tend to hate advertising.
The whole truth is- People hate advertising that intrudes on them without giving them a benefit.
Entertainment is a benefit but it might not induce anybody to buy the advertised product though it may get them to pay attention to the ad.
Since people are more cure oriented than prevention oriented, it's necessary to fully describe undesirable effects.
This is something an appliance dealer can use but can be adapted for other businesses. "Did this ever happen to you or to somebody you know? The freezer breaks down & all of the food in it (possibly $200 worth) is going to spoil if it isn't put into a new freezer SOON! Now besides all of the other things you have to do, you have to buy a freezer NOW! Pre-shopping for a freezer will limit the hassle you go through at a stressful time like this. We can deliver the new freezer right away & take away the old one"
Then it's just a matter of introducing what I wrote above.
Just think, "Why or when would a consumer want my marketing message?" then base the message on the answer.
Dennis S. Vogel
thrivingbusiness@email.com
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies and tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This was previously posted in another blog.
Subject: Re: Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising Author: SidK Date Posted: 09:40:03 05/23/01 Wed
In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel's message, "Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising" on 09:37:09 05/23/01 Wed
I know you didn't come right out with it. But it seems that you're implying that if customers don't want to receive personal messages from me, that they don't trust me.
They buy from me, so they must trust me.
This was previously posted in another blog.
Subject: Re: Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising Author:
Dennis S. Vogel Date Posted: 09:43:08 05/23/01 Wed
In reply to: SidK 's message, "Re: Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising" on 09:40:03 05/23/01 Wed
Sid:
You're right; you have earned their trust, so they buy from you.
There are a lot of variables in this issue. I'll cut through most of it by writing that what you offer & your messages have to be relevant to your customers' lives.
If you sell chewing gum, they probably won't be thrilled by getting repeated messages about it. This may be true about any commodity.
To prevent something from becoming a commodity it's important to use the information I wrote in the other post I wrote for you in response to USP,PA,CA,USA, It's too much to keep up with!
Relevance is a deep subject, but as you pointed out, I should have covered it briefly in the original post. Thank you for pointing that out.
Dennis S. Vogel
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Help People Receive Your Advertising
Being receptive to an ad doesn't mean people will buy what's offered.
Though people trust you, they might not be ready to buy for many reasons. Many internal & external things can block their receptivity to your offers.
When you understand some of these, you can try to work around them.
Receptivity Reality Check
When you advertise, you should consider what's painful & obvious.
People already have too many external distractions. Your ads are more distractions.
People already have many thoughts. You're asking people to think even more.
People have many decisions to make. You're asking them to make another decision.
People have problems to solve & avoid.
To advertise successfully, you need your offer to match those problems & thoughts after getting past other distractions.
You should quickly show you understand how to solve or mitigate people's problems.
You should use the insights below & your knowledge about niche members to improve their lives.
In marketing, receptivity is a willingness & readiness to receive a message or a product/service.
Frequency can be important beyond getting people to notice & remember a message. A benefit of frequency is possibly reaching consumers when they're receptive.
Since people can't always pay attention to your messages, you need to test frequency levels.
Frequency can also increase people's comfort with your business, so they'll consider your offers.
Here Are Some Baseline Basics
When people are aware of a problem, they're apt to pay attention to a relevant message. Use words, sounds & images people recognize as relevant to a problem & solution.
You should learn what your niche members listen to & watch. You can find broadcasts, web & editorial content to match your messages.
Marketing messages convey ideas.
People aren't always open to ideas because they have too many things to think about already.
People aren't always able to think about a problem at a particular time. They have condition-specific priorities. Your offer might have a low priority if it isn't relevant in their current condition.
If your message reaches them when they're focused on a task, they might need to disregard your message.
You can learn when their leisure times are & what they do.
Do your best to have your messages reach niche members when they're ready to pay attention. Those are times they aren't distracted by issues that aren't related your offers.
They're more apt to be interested in your offers when they're actively involved in related issues & options.
Their desires will be high when problems & opportunities are acute.
They're more apt to buy if they can quickly go to a store or use a web site.
People are complex, so there are exceptions.
Though they have to put some priorities on a back burner, they feel 'heat' because that 'burner' is hot.
While people focus on primary tasks, they may be distracted by those other concerns or preferences.
Example - It's Friday afternoon. People are at work & listening to a radio. They hear commercials for a water park. In a few hours, they can leave monotonous conditions & have some fun.
In these commercials, sounds of splashing & laughing can attract attention so people might listen to the spoken message.
Too Many Messages For One Mind
People are often exposed to many messages each day. It's hard to pay attention to ads because most don't pertain to their situations.
Even if they have few external distractions, people have personal distractions.
Advertisers need to quickly express problems & solutions in ways that match consumers' experiences. Which images, sounds or words will fit consumers' beliefs about their situations?
It's hard to prioritize anything that doesn't seem immediately urgent or important.
High priority matters are processed subconsciously, a few of those evoke conscious attention. Subconscious minds block low priority messages & distractions.
Even when people want to pay attention, they might be too overwhelmed & tired to think about & remember messages.
Traction Distraction Subtraction
This is an imperfect analogy. Please don't judge it for technical correctness.
People can only think of a few things simultaneously. It's hard to add another issue when people are already distracted by problems.
Connections can happen when you express your offer with analogies, images, words & sounds people use to express thoughts & feelings.
To get traction in people's minds, you can connect with their current thoughts or distractions (other concerns or preferences).
In effect, traction is gripping something. When vehicles move, tires 'grip' a road & a road 'grips' tires.
Even when tires are in good condition, road conditions can interfere with traction.
Like planning a trip based on driving conditions, it's best to plan advertising according consumers' conditions.
You can use optimal images, words & sounds & still get suboptimal results because of conditions beyond your control.
If you want people to think of a problem (not related to current tasks), you need to get them to subtract an issue.
If you present problems & solutions that are more urgent &/or important than people's current thoughts, you might get their attention & interest.
If you present the most pleasant solution, you can inspire desire & get people into buying action.
People might be attracted & persuaded by familiar images, sounds &; words.
You can learn about appealing images, words & sounds by listening to niche members, noticing what they respond to & reading what they write in reviews.
You can observe how competitors communicate, but you shouldn't copy them. Like many things, best practices are good until they're used too much.
If your message is too familiar, people might not notice it. It could be like background noise. You need to consider what's common & test messages.
Unfamiliar things can be like friction.
Traction requires some friction (unfamiliarity). Overused messages could be like bald tires on ice.
If people think they've heard or seen something before, why should they listen or look again?
You can make your advertising recognizable with consistent images or sounds. Your new ads should be different enough so people know you've made a new offer.
Disappointing Results Interfere With Receptivity
Receptive can also mean being ready to consider a possibility. After a disappointment, people might be skeptical & think there's no solution.
People might've expected a full solution but only experienced mitigation.
Despite disappointments, if a full solution exists, people can be convinced to try it. Do your best to explain how your offer fits their conditions & what you do to make a solution complete.
They're willing to pay for full satisfaction. They don't want to pay just to decrease their dissatisfaction.
Will a product/service only mitigate a problem? Can you make it the best mitigation people can afford?
Receptivity & Affordability
Receptivity may depend on a person's budget & available credit.
A product is more relevant when people can afford it. It's vital to develop versions of offers niche members can afford.
Some people will do some or all of the work to save money. Others expect & can afford a full service solution.
Some will buy incremental solutions. They'll buy what they can afford. They'll invest more money when they can afford it.
What's the minimum, but significant increment you can offer?
Attractive Names
Since people are receptive to solutions, it's good to package products & services together to create total solutions.
Manufacturers name products. Retailers can set package names based on benefits niche members will buy.
The package names can be part of your sales copy.
Example - Gardeners buy seeds, fertilizers, hoes & rakes. Retailers can group products people need to produce benefits. Retailers could test package names like "Quick Plump Vegetables" & "Easy Weed Free".
Retail packages can include free or low-priced services to help customers make products fit their situations better. Customer service can include lessons to help people reduce frustrations & increase benefits.
Ask about their conditions.
As customers to describe conditions, you'll learn more about customizing offers for them. You'll learn how to add superior value to what they buy.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please use my blog for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
You Can Help People Decide To Buy From You
The ideas below can help you develop advertising, point-of-purchase signs & sales presentations.
These aren't templates, these are insights you could use with templates.
What's In It For Them?
There are general & specific reasons to buy things.
You can start with general reasons, then focus on what applies in particular situations.
You can list the insights by subject & use the most urgent & important answers as your opening statement or headline.
Here are important questions in general -
When people determine if they need your product/service, what do they need to know?
What should people know about you to assure them you're the best provider for their situations?
Here are more specific considerations -
What's happening now in your area?
How does your product/service help people cope with what's happening?
What kind of value can you add to make that product/service better for people in those conditions?
How can you help people get maximum benefits from the value you add?
How can you help people maintain those benefits?
Do you have another product/service to increase those benefits?
Do you have more knowledge than competitors? How can you apply your knowledge to people's conditions?
When people solve problems, those solutions might cause other problems. How can you help people decrease problems?
Example - I mow my lawn to fulfill a legal requirement. Now I have grass clippings. What can I do with the clippings?
Some lawn mowers cut grass into mulch (small bits). That mulch becomes fertilizer.
Products & services aren't perfect solutions. What can you do to decrease inconveniences, imperfections & side effects?
Example - Before I use my lawn mower, I need to put fuel in the tank. If I spill any gas, it's a hazardous mess.
Some gas cans are more convenient to use because they're made for pouring into small engines.
Overworked Minds Resist More Decisions
Let's start this next topic with an obvious point as a baseline.
People have "decision loads". You can help people manage decision loads.
Though some enjoy shopping, people are unlikely to enjoy making more decisions.
People want to decrease the numbers of decisions. They want to decrease the time they spend in making decisions.
You should use your knowledge about your niche & products to help people make good decisions quickly.
When you establish a reputation for helping people make good, quick decisions, people will be more receptive to your offers.
If you offer "turn key" solutions, people can get problems solved by letting you make some decisions.
Example - I have old lawn & bushes that are dying. A landscaper agreed to remove the bushes & lawn.
He'll also plant grass seed & set up sprinklers with a timer.
He'll check the grass & remove the automatic sprinklers at the right time.
I won't need to deal with any of it until it's time to mow my new lawn.
Often people don't know where to start when they think about decisions.
Ask about their conditions. Ask what they've done so far. Ask what they want to achieve.
They might not have an answer for each question. You can help find answers by showing different options.
Make it as easy as possible for consumers to fill gaps.
Determine the gap between current conditions & customers' desires. Show how your product will fill gaps.
Decisions & Thought Patterns
If people often make decisions about offers like yours, they might decide quickly.
Their thought patterns & receptivity to offers will change as conditions change.
When product categories & people's experiences change, they might deliberate longer because previous thought patterns were set for other conditions.
It depends which benefits people want at a particular time. What's more important now? Do they value convenience, functionality, reliability, durability, price or another feature & benefit?
The importance of a benefit varies depending on competitive offers & people's experiences.
Example - If people keep upgrading, they won't keep a product for long. Durability would be less important.
Functionality might be the most important general benefit. A specific function might the reason for an upgrade.
Your supply chain & trade journals might have helpful information.
You should offer more than product benefits. You should offer a strong benefit of buying specifically from you instead of competitors.
Decisions Are Big & Small
You should develop advertising based on people's decisions. I've included a few factors below.
What will they buy? When will they buy it? Can they rent it? Will they use it enough to justify buying it?
When do they have time to shop? How much can they afford? Which model & brand should they buy for their conditions?
How many offers/stores do they check?
How will they learn to use it? Do you offer lessons? Are there instruction books or videos?
Do instruction books or videos have general tips or detailed steps?
Do you have suggestions about storing the product?
Do you offer delivery & set up?
Detailed testimonials could help people choose options.
They might be guided by testimonials (including case studies) from people in similar conditions.
Why did customers buy certain products? How do those products help them?
What advice do they have about getting maximum benefits & avoiding mistakes?
Help People Decide Based On Their Problems
Are people apt to buy now or ask for information? How much information will they listen to or read at a time?
If you advertise in mass media, can you afford a full sales message or urge people to ask for information?
If it's a multiple step sales process, you should guide people through a decision process.
In each increment, you should provide information for their next step.
There are various logical scenarios.
1. You could start by describing a problem, so people can determine if they have it.
2. If they have that problem, they can get information about solutions.
3. With that information, they can determine which solution they can afford.
4. They can decide when to buy a solution based on their priorities.
5. They can choose a payment option.
Issues Are Confusing Or Simple
Some people know how to simplify decisions. When they have key information, they can process big & small issues.
Others will endure problems because they delay purchases until they're comfortable with a decision.
You can ask people which issues are confusing or simple. You can offer information to help clarify issues.
Sometimes many simple issues combine into a confusing mess. You can ask people how many decisions might be too many.
Multiple step selling lets people gather incremental information & make incremental decisions.
Information can overwhelm people. You should help people put information together easily so they can make simple decisions.
Example - If multiple sizes or styles are available, how will you help people choose a size or style?
If you offer payment options, how will you help people choose an option?
Thinking & making decisions requires effort & people often have low energy. When they feel pressure to decide, they use more energy. As they use energy, deciding gets harder.
A wide selection of models & brands can be a benefit because people might find what matches their situations. A wide selection also increases the decisions to make.
You might help people determine which models to consider by eliminating whatever doesn't match their situations.
Ask prospects if they feel comfortable with standard combinations or if they want to decide each option separately.
How much information do people need to make the best decisions? If you guide them about facts to consider, you can make decision processes easier & faster. You can put questions & factors in diagnostic charts to guide people's thoughts. (You can use a search engine to find sample diagnostic charts.)
You could help by giving information or advising them which information sources to check.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
You can use these URLs for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This was previously posted in another blog.
Trust usually isn't established instantly. Trust is a compatibility issue that builds in stages. Faith comes first. Faith may come about because of credentials or a display of knowledge.
Here's an example- After reading my posts to this forum, you may have faith in my knowledge. But letting me handle your marketing program for you is a matter of trust.
It's best to build trust before a consumer needs you. Cultivate realistic sounding testimonials. Induce referrals. Write articles. Submit posts to discussion forums.
If you're the only product/service provider in a consumer's time of need. You may get a sale based on that even if you haven't established firm trust.
How can you set this up? It depends on your business. But I'll give some samples.
An appliance dealer can give/send magnetic advertising specialties for people to put on their appliances.
To supplement this, the dealer can establish a program of getting information about the specifications people will want/need in a replacement appliance. Some specifications are: Measurements, capacity, gas/electric, color, etc.
When an appliance breaks down, the customer can call for a price quote without having to supply the necessary information. (During a stressful time, people aren't apt to want to hassle with this information; they just want a solution NOW!)
I still have a business card for a lock-out service in my wallet. I got it at a gas station. I never met the owner of the service but if my keys are locked in my car on a cold winter day, it doesn't matter that I haven't met him, I'll call him.
We know people tend to hate advertising.
The whole truth is- People hate advertising that intrudes on them without giving them a benefit.
Entertainment is a benefit but it might not induce anybody to buy the advertised product though it may get them to pay attention to the ad.
Since people are more cure oriented than prevention oriented, it's necessary to fully describe undesirable effects.
This is something an appliance dealer can use but can be adapted for other businesses. "Did this ever happen to you or to somebody you know? The freezer breaks down & all of the food in it (possibly $200 worth) is going to spoil if it isn't put into a new freezer SOON! Now besides all of the other things you have to do, you have to buy a freezer NOW! Pre-shopping for a freezer will limit the hassle you go through at a stressful time like this. We can deliver the new freezer right away & take away the old one"
Then it's just a matter of introducing what I wrote above.
Just think, "Why or when would a consumer want my marketing message?" then base the message on the answer.
Dennis S. Vogel
thrivingbusiness@email.com
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies and tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This was previously posted in another blog.
Subject: Re: Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising Author: SidK Date Posted: 09:40:03 05/23/01 Wed
In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel's message, "Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising" on 09:37:09 05/23/01 Wed
I know you didn't come right out with it. But it seems that you're implying that if customers don't want to receive personal messages from me, that they don't trust me.
They buy from me, so they must trust me.
This was previously posted in another blog.
Subject: Re: Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising Author:
Dennis S. Vogel Date Posted: 09:43:08 05/23/01 Wed
In reply to: SidK 's message, "Re: Building Trust And Receptivity To Your Advertising" on 09:40:03 05/23/01 Wed
Sid:
You're right; you have earned their trust, so they buy from you.
There are a lot of variables in this issue. I'll cut through most of it by writing that what you offer & your messages have to be relevant to your customers' lives.
If you sell chewing gum, they probably won't be thrilled by getting repeated messages about it. This may be true about any commodity.
To prevent something from becoming a commodity it's important to use the information I wrote in the other post I wrote for you in response to USP,PA,CA,USA, It's too much to keep up with!
Relevance is a deep subject, but as you pointed out, I should have covered it briefly in the original post. Thank you for pointing that out.
Dennis S. Vogel
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Help People Receive Your Advertising
Being receptive to an ad doesn't mean people will buy what's offered.
Though people trust you, they might not be ready to buy for many reasons. Many internal & external things can block their receptivity to your offers.
When you understand some of these, you can try to work around them.
Receptivity Reality Check
When you advertise, you should consider what's painful & obvious.
People already have too many external distractions. Your ads are more distractions.
People already have many thoughts. You're asking people to think even more.
People have many decisions to make. You're asking them to make another decision.
People have problems to solve & avoid.
To advertise successfully, you need your offer to match those problems & thoughts after getting past other distractions.
You should quickly show you understand how to solve or mitigate people's problems.
You should use the insights below & your knowledge about niche members to improve their lives.
In marketing, receptivity is a willingness & readiness to receive a message or a product/service.
Frequency can be important beyond getting people to notice & remember a message. A benefit of frequency is possibly reaching consumers when they're receptive.
Since people can't always pay attention to your messages, you need to test frequency levels.
Frequency can also increase people's comfort with your business, so they'll consider your offers.
Here Are Some Baseline Basics
When people are aware of a problem, they're apt to pay attention to a relevant message. Use words, sounds & images people recognize as relevant to a problem & solution.
You should learn what your niche members listen to & watch. You can find broadcasts, web & editorial content to match your messages.
Marketing messages convey ideas.
People aren't always open to ideas because they have too many things to think about already.
People aren't always able to think about a problem at a particular time. They have condition-specific priorities. Your offer might have a low priority if it isn't relevant in their current condition.
If your message reaches them when they're focused on a task, they might need to disregard your message.
You can learn when their leisure times are & what they do.
Do your best to have your messages reach niche members when they're ready to pay attention. Those are times they aren't distracted by issues that aren't related your offers.
They're more apt to be interested in your offers when they're actively involved in related issues & options.
Their desires will be high when problems & opportunities are acute.
They're more apt to buy if they can quickly go to a store or use a web site.
People are complex, so there are exceptions.
Though they have to put some priorities on a back burner, they feel 'heat' because that 'burner' is hot.
While people focus on primary tasks, they may be distracted by those other concerns or preferences.
Example - It's Friday afternoon. People are at work & listening to a radio. They hear commercials for a water park. In a few hours, they can leave monotonous conditions & have some fun.
In these commercials, sounds of splashing & laughing can attract attention so people might listen to the spoken message.
Too Many Messages For One Mind
People are often exposed to many messages each day. It's hard to pay attention to ads because most don't pertain to their situations.
Even if they have few external distractions, people have personal distractions.
Advertisers need to quickly express problems & solutions in ways that match consumers' experiences. Which images, sounds or words will fit consumers' beliefs about their situations?
It's hard to prioritize anything that doesn't seem immediately urgent or important.
High priority matters are processed subconsciously, a few of those evoke conscious attention. Subconscious minds block low priority messages & distractions.
Even when people want to pay attention, they might be too overwhelmed & tired to think about & remember messages.
Traction Distraction Subtraction
This is an imperfect analogy. Please don't judge it for technical correctness.
People can only think of a few things simultaneously. It's hard to add another issue when people are already distracted by problems.
Connections can happen when you express your offer with analogies, images, words & sounds people use to express thoughts & feelings.
To get traction in people's minds, you can connect with their current thoughts or distractions (other concerns or preferences).
In effect, traction is gripping something. When vehicles move, tires 'grip' a road & a road 'grips' tires.
Even when tires are in good condition, road conditions can interfere with traction.
Like planning a trip based on driving conditions, it's best to plan advertising according consumers' conditions.
You can use optimal images, words & sounds & still get suboptimal results because of conditions beyond your control.
If you want people to think of a problem (not related to current tasks), you need to get them to subtract an issue.
If you present problems & solutions that are more urgent &/or important than people's current thoughts, you might get their attention & interest.
If you present the most pleasant solution, you can inspire desire & get people into buying action.
People might be attracted & persuaded by familiar images, sounds &; words.
You can learn about appealing images, words & sounds by listening to niche members, noticing what they respond to & reading what they write in reviews.
You can observe how competitors communicate, but you shouldn't copy them. Like many things, best practices are good until they're used too much.
If your message is too familiar, people might not notice it. It could be like background noise. You need to consider what's common & test messages.
Unfamiliar things can be like friction.
Traction requires some friction (unfamiliarity). Overused messages could be like bald tires on ice.
If people think they've heard or seen something before, why should they listen or look again?
You can make your advertising recognizable with consistent images or sounds. Your new ads should be different enough so people know you've made a new offer.
Disappointing Results Interfere With Receptivity
Receptive can also mean being ready to consider a possibility. After a disappointment, people might be skeptical & think there's no solution.
People might've expected a full solution but only experienced mitigation.
Despite disappointments, if a full solution exists, people can be convinced to try it. Do your best to explain how your offer fits their conditions & what you do to make a solution complete.
They're willing to pay for full satisfaction. They don't want to pay just to decrease their dissatisfaction.
Will a product/service only mitigate a problem? Can you make it the best mitigation people can afford?
Receptivity & Affordability
Receptivity may depend on a person's budget & available credit.
A product is more relevant when people can afford it. It's vital to develop versions of offers niche members can afford.
Some people will do some or all of the work to save money. Others expect & can afford a full service solution.
Some will buy incremental solutions. They'll buy what they can afford. They'll invest more money when they can afford it.
What's the minimum, but significant increment you can offer?
Attractive Names
Since people are receptive to solutions, it's good to package products & services together to create total solutions.
Manufacturers name products. Retailers can set package names based on benefits niche members will buy.
The package names can be part of your sales copy.
Example - Gardeners buy seeds, fertilizers, hoes & rakes. Retailers can group products people need to produce benefits. Retailers could test package names like "Quick Plump Vegetables" & "Easy Weed Free".
Retail packages can include free or low-priced services to help customers make products fit their situations better. Customer service can include lessons to help people reduce frustrations & increase benefits.
Ask about their conditions.
As customers to describe conditions, you'll learn more about customizing offers for them. You'll learn how to add superior value to what they buy.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please use my blog for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
You Can Help People Decide To Buy From You
The ideas below can help you develop advertising, point-of-purchase signs & sales presentations.
These aren't templates, these are insights you could use with templates.
What's In It For Them?
There are general & specific reasons to buy things.
You can start with general reasons, then focus on what applies in particular situations.
You can list the insights by subject & use the most urgent & important answers as your opening statement or headline.
Here are important questions in general -
When people determine if they need your product/service, what do they need to know?
What should people know about you to assure them you're the best provider for their situations?
Here are more specific considerations -
What's happening now in your area?
How does your product/service help people cope with what's happening?
What kind of value can you add to make that product/service better for people in those conditions?
How can you help people get maximum benefits from the value you add?
How can you help people maintain those benefits?
Do you have another product/service to increase those benefits?
Do you have more knowledge than competitors? How can you apply your knowledge to people's conditions?
When people solve problems, those solutions might cause other problems. How can you help people decrease problems?
Example - I mow my lawn to fulfill a legal requirement. Now I have grass clippings. What can I do with the clippings?
Some lawn mowers cut grass into mulch (small bits). That mulch becomes fertilizer.
Products & services aren't perfect solutions. What can you do to decrease inconveniences, imperfections & side effects?
Example - Before I use my lawn mower, I need to put fuel in the tank. If I spill any gas, it's a hazardous mess.
Some gas cans are more convenient to use because they're made for pouring into small engines.
Overworked Minds Resist More Decisions
Let's start this next topic with an obvious point as a baseline.
People have "decision loads". You can help people manage decision loads.
Though some enjoy shopping, people are unlikely to enjoy making more decisions.
People want to decrease the numbers of decisions. They want to decrease the time they spend in making decisions.
You should use your knowledge about your niche & products to help people make good decisions quickly.
When you establish a reputation for helping people make good, quick decisions, people will be more receptive to your offers.
If you offer "turn key" solutions, people can get problems solved by letting you make some decisions.
Example - I have old lawn & bushes that are dying. A landscaper agreed to remove the bushes & lawn.
He'll also plant grass seed & set up sprinklers with a timer.
He'll check the grass & remove the automatic sprinklers at the right time.
I won't need to deal with any of it until it's time to mow my new lawn.
Often people don't know where to start when they think about decisions.
Ask about their conditions. Ask what they've done so far. Ask what they want to achieve.
They might not have an answer for each question. You can help find answers by showing different options.
Make it as easy as possible for consumers to fill gaps.
Determine the gap between current conditions & customers' desires. Show how your product will fill gaps.
Decisions & Thought Patterns
If people often make decisions about offers like yours, they might decide quickly.
Their thought patterns & receptivity to offers will change as conditions change.
When product categories & people's experiences change, they might deliberate longer because previous thought patterns were set for other conditions.
It depends which benefits people want at a particular time. What's more important now? Do they value convenience, functionality, reliability, durability, price or another feature & benefit?
The importance of a benefit varies depending on competitive offers & people's experiences.
Example - If people keep upgrading, they won't keep a product for long. Durability would be less important.
Functionality might be the most important general benefit. A specific function might the reason for an upgrade.
Your supply chain & trade journals might have helpful information.
You should offer more than product benefits. You should offer a strong benefit of buying specifically from you instead of competitors.
Decisions Are Big & Small
You should develop advertising based on people's decisions. I've included a few factors below.
What will they buy? When will they buy it? Can they rent it? Will they use it enough to justify buying it?
When do they have time to shop? How much can they afford? Which model & brand should they buy for their conditions?
How many offers/stores do they check?
How will they learn to use it? Do you offer lessons? Are there instruction books or videos?
Do instruction books or videos have general tips or detailed steps?
Do you have suggestions about storing the product?
Do you offer delivery & set up?
Detailed testimonials could help people choose options.
They might be guided by testimonials (including case studies) from people in similar conditions.
Why did customers buy certain products? How do those products help them?
What advice do they have about getting maximum benefits & avoiding mistakes?
Help People Decide Based On Their Problems
Are people apt to buy now or ask for information? How much information will they listen to or read at a time?
If you advertise in mass media, can you afford a full sales message or urge people to ask for information?
If it's a multiple step sales process, you should guide people through a decision process.
In each increment, you should provide information for their next step.
There are various logical scenarios.
1. You could start by describing a problem, so people can determine if they have it.
2. If they have that problem, they can get information about solutions.
3. With that information, they can determine which solution they can afford.
4. They can decide when to buy a solution based on their priorities.
5. They can choose a payment option.
Issues Are Confusing Or Simple
Some people know how to simplify decisions. When they have key information, they can process big & small issues.
Others will endure problems because they delay purchases until they're comfortable with a decision.
You can ask people which issues are confusing or simple. You can offer information to help clarify issues.
Sometimes many simple issues combine into a confusing mess. You can ask people how many decisions might be too many.
Multiple step selling lets people gather incremental information & make incremental decisions.
Information can overwhelm people. You should help people put information together easily so they can make simple decisions.
Example - If multiple sizes or styles are available, how will you help people choose a size or style?
If you offer payment options, how will you help people choose an option?
Thinking & making decisions requires effort & people often have low energy. When they feel pressure to decide, they use more energy. As they use energy, deciding gets harder.
A wide selection of models & brands can be a benefit because people might find what matches their situations. A wide selection also increases the decisions to make.
You might help people determine which models to consider by eliminating whatever doesn't match their situations.
Ask prospects if they feel comfortable with standard combinations or if they want to decide each option separately.
How much information do people need to make the best decisions? If you guide them about facts to consider, you can make decision processes easier & faster. You can put questions & factors in diagnostic charts to guide people's thoughts. (You can use a search engine to find sample diagnostic charts.)
You could help by giving information or advising them which information sources to check.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
You can use these URLs for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Friday, May 26, 2017
USP,PA,CA,USA, It's too much to keep up with!
Subject: USP,PA,CA,USA, It's too much to keep up with! Author: SidK Date Originally Posted: 10:15:27 05/23/01 Wed (in a previous blog)
I've heard an read about unique selling propositions, pre-emptive advantages, competitive advantages, unique selling advantages, positioning and others. Are they the same or different?
NOTE: As I reviewed my message recently, I noticed some mistakes. I also added an update below.
Corrected Post:
Hi Sid:
Some people treat them as the same. They're similar. The biggest word for each of them is UNIQUE! If your business is like any others, there's no real reason for customers to buy from you (unless they can get to your business more easily).
If you offer exactly the same products & services as competitors, people could choose you at random & get the same benefits. If that's the case, you're relying on the chance of being chosen. I'd prefer to sell by design, not by chance.
There's definite overlap among these terms.
Here's how I define them -
Unique selling proposition: What are you offering that your competitors aren't offering? Maybe they're able to, but so far they haven't. For example - Bayer aspirin focuses on relieving pain but even more, taking aspirin can help to prevent heart-attacks. Any aspirin product can do these.
Preventing heart-attacks is something Tylenol (non-aspirin pain reliever) can't do, so compared to acetaminophen, aspirin has a unique selling proposition.
Unique buying advantage: What advantage do customers think they get by buying from you instead of from your competitors. (This can be used as a basis of referral marketing.) It's something customers already believe about your business, product/service without much if any prompting from you. For example - Tums has calcium, but Rolaids doesn't. (Doctors helped this a lot.)
Unique selling advantage: What do you want prospects to accept as a clear advantage. For example - "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. Fed Ex." It was unique until the US Postal Service and UPS matched it.
Pre-emptive advantage: In a highly competitive/commodity environment, one competitor finds something about itself the others haven't figured out yet. The others could also claim it if they realized it. Avis car rental used to boast its service lines were shorter than Hertz's. National and Budget car rentals could have claimed the same thing and still could if they wanted to seem like copy-cats.
Competitive advantage: Wal-Mart stores are typically set up near the edges of cities so they'll be close to major highways, so the trucks can get to the stores easily. In some cities, this is a low population area. Since Wal-Mart put a lot of money into its locations, it probably won't move a store (it has in some cases). So, W-M can't do much about its stores' distances from customers' homes.
Positioning: This is the picking order in a business category. Somebody wants to deal with the top company in a category, s/he will probably pick the number two company if the number one company is unavailable.
"Avis is number two, why pick us? We try harder." If people didn't want to wait in a long line for a Hertz car, they may just go for the number two company. The "We try harder" part is just a nice little touch, but it's the number two positioning that made it successful for Avis until it changed its focus and lost momentum.
Trying harder isn't enough to win a marketing battle. The road to hell is being paved with good intentions & the people who try harder are doing the paving. Trying harder is OK if the effort creates enough of the value people will pay for.
Branding: The biggest effort in marketing is to get people to think of brand name when a business, product or service category comes to mind. Which brand comes to mind when you think about computers? That's branding.
Inherent Drama: This is another element we could add, which I reduce down to ID, because if you have an inherent drama in your business, product/service it should be used as a form of identity.
This conversation was used in a commercial decades ago:
Girl 1: "Here he comes. Give me another Certs, mine is gone."
Girl 2: "Do this. (slurping/sucking sound) Do you feel that cool, fresh feeling?"
Girl 1: "Yeah."
Girl 2: "That means Certs is still working."
Then Girl 1 is confident the boy of her dreams won't be offended by bad breath. Certs had, maybe still has, the inherent drama (ID) of lasting breath freshness.
I like to include ways to apply information I provide, but these subjects have so many variables, it would take a lot of space to provide practical applications of these other than the examples I gave.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please click here for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Your Central Marketing Theme Should Be Like A Lens
Unique Selling Propositions, Pre-emptive Advantages, Competitive Advantages, Unique Selling Advantages, Unique Buying Advantages & positioning statements should be simple messages to lead people to recognize a value they want/need. These are examples of a marketer's central marketing theme.
It's hard even for experienced marketers to remember marketing details like these. It's like that for consumers who try to remember product features & benefits. It's hard for them to compare options. They need you to help them focus on benefits they should prioritize.
They need a framework. I've written some ideas below to help you frame your messages.
Your central marketing theme should be like a lens to focus your business on consumers' needs & desires.
Your central marketing theme should be like a lens to focus consumers on their conditions compared to what you offer.
Example: "When you need (a specific benefit), choose a better option at (business name)."
If that's your basic theme, you'd evaluate potential inventory orders & future offers based on helping customers get that benefit. How could you put products & services together to help customers produce that benefit?
Your full message should help customers recognize it as a benefit they want/need.
Your theme & messages should specifically link your business with a benefit in people's minds. As much as practical, your business should be an exclusive source of that benefit or a combination of benefits.
Though people may seem to have the same problem, they experience a problem differently.
Since people's experiences can be vastly different, you can help them diagnose problems & find their best options.
You should help niche members focus on what's most important for their situations. Some benefits may be important for a minority of members. They need you to help them find the best benefits for their lives.
When there are multiple options to solve or mitigate a problem, marketing messages can help people set priorities. People need to know which factors are more important so they can choose the best options for their situations.
Those options can include which retailers offer the best values. Your methods can make your business a better option than a competitor.
How much do you depend on manufacturer advertising? To attract a majority of consumers, manufacturers might emphasize the most popular benefits. In your area, some consumers might want less popular benefits.
Small stores can be profitable by selling to niche members who don't need all of the popular benefits.
Profitability can be maintained by testing methods & tracking niches as they change.
Find a Balance Between Specificity & Flexibility
You should carefully adjust your central marketing theme. You need to make it as specific as you can to make it meaningful to your niche. You need it to be flexible because your niche & available products will change.
As you get information, you can adjust your marketing methods. As you get responses to your advertising, you can adjust your offers.
Even if competitors sell the same products, they might focus on a narrow range of benefits. You should help niche members get specific benefits that may be less popular. Your niche members might not know about less promoted benefits until they get information from you.
Example - People often get unwanted phone calls. Some phones can be set to block some calls. People can also assign special ring tones for specific callers. You should know which products offer those benefits & show consumers how to set them up.
Some manufacturers cram many potential benefits into products. It's especially true in high technology.
People get a complex product but they use a narrow range of features. Example - They want to make phone calls, but the same product is also a small computer & camera. Will they make calls & rarely use other features?
Do people want/need a device for high quality pictures or videos? Some cameras can be used to magnify small print. So people might want a built-in camera, even if they don't take pictures.
Are features cheap or high quality? Example - Many phones have built in cameras. Are those high quality cameras? Are they high quality phones with low quality cameras?
When products have multiple features, the overall quality can be hard to rate. Consumers might rate a cell phone at a 10 for phone calls, they might rate it at a 4 for texting. The built-in camera might rate at a 2. How would they rate its overall quality?
They probably buy a phone to communicate, but do they prefer calls or texting? That preference would determine their quality ratings.
If you base your business on offering only high quality products, how would low quality features fit your marketing theme?
If you have a good product selection & product knowledge, you can help people prioritize feature & benefit qualities.
How well can you help people avoid wasting money on features they won't use? You could offer an advantage of selling what people will use (possibly a simpler, less expensive product).
You should do your best to offer benefits people will use.
You might offer specific product brands but you'll sell the benefit of solving & avoiding problems. People pay for products/services so they get benefits.
People pay for phones & tablets so they can talk or text? Which is more important to them - sound quality or keypad size?
People may want the most modern products for social reasons (snob appeal). To impress anybody, people should know how to use those products.
Even if people want complex products, you could show them how to get maximum value from the features they use.
If it's a profitable proposition, it could be a Preemptive Advantage since competitors can do it, too.
Warning: If It Isn't Profitable, It Isn't An Advantage.
I encourage business owners to do what's unique. I should also warn you there are reasons some potential propositions aren't made.
It can be easy to offer what competitors don't or can't offer but it can be challenging to make profitable offers. If competitors don't offer something, it might be unprofitable. It depends a lot on a business's cost structure.
Setting up a cost structure is beyond the scope of this post.
Simple Meaningful Messages
Your central marketing theme should be short, simple & easy to remember.
Simplicity is important especially in short messages. People are distracted. When they hear or see messages, there are other things happening. There are environmental noises plus internal thoughts & feelings.
If they misunderstand a message, they may think they perceived it accurately, so they won't seek clarification.
It's vital to express a simple reason to buy, even if a product/service is complex.
When many details are crammed into a short message, people might be overwhelmed & miss details. As they try to understand a detail, they might misunderstand other details.
Multiple Step Sales Processes
If you have complex products/services, you'll probably need multiple step messages.
It's hard to explain many benefits in a minute or a small ad. What's necessary is to convince people to check a web site or call for more information.
A short message can be a summary of what matters most to a niche.
When consumers ask for information, you can guide them to select their best options.
Security systems use complex technology, so marketers ask consumers to request more information. In a minute, a company can express the importance of getting information instead of trying to get people to buy.
Simple Messages Should Lead To Deeper Messages
Your store's success depends on reasons people buy & use products & services. When you know these reasons, you can adjust your marketing & your in-store sales efforts.
Though your central marketing theme should be simple, it should focus on a combination of factors.
Let's use this example again: "When you need (a specific benefit), choose a better option at (business name)."
Who needs the benefit? Which option is better for this person? Why is it better?
These factors pertain to products/services & involve questions about who, what, where, when, why, how (often, much, long).
Some questions are: Who will buy a product/service? What will they buy? Why will they buy it? Why will they choose a specific version? Who will receive it? Who will use it? Why will they use it? How long will they use it?
Why is a specific version better in their specific situations? How is that specific version better for them? Can you quantify how much better? What makes their situations different than experiences of the general population?
What makes your store a better outlet for this product version?
These details will be too much to fit into a short statement, but they'll be your framework for your central marketing theme. Choose the most compelling details. Use the other details in your sales copy.
Buyers & Users Are Different
You might need to sell through alternative methods. An alternative method might require deep messages to different buyers. Deeper messages might require multiple step methods.
It's important to test messages so you can know how many details & steps you'll need to use.
Example: A medical alert company focuses on people who have disabled relatives. Elderly or disabled people might resist offers of an alert system. They don't want to believe they need to be monitored. They might consider it to be an expensive intrusion.
Somebody might buy a system & urge an elderly or disabled loved one to accept it.
The ads are focused on how buyers want to be sure their loved ones get necessary help. The buyers can feel better about their loved ones being helped & can assure their loved ones it's the right thing to do.
The simple message is a person needs the service. The simple message integrates with a deeper explanation. The deeper explanation is why a family needs the service. The deeper explanation supports the simple message. The family feels better because one member is safer.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please click here for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
I've heard an read about unique selling propositions, pre-emptive advantages, competitive advantages, unique selling advantages, positioning and others. Are they the same or different?
NOTE: As I reviewed my message recently, I noticed some mistakes. I also added an update below.
Corrected Post:
Hi Sid:
Some people treat them as the same. They're similar. The biggest word for each of them is UNIQUE! If your business is like any others, there's no real reason for customers to buy from you (unless they can get to your business more easily).
If you offer exactly the same products & services as competitors, people could choose you at random & get the same benefits. If that's the case, you're relying on the chance of being chosen. I'd prefer to sell by design, not by chance.
There's definite overlap among these terms.
Here's how I define them -
Unique selling proposition: What are you offering that your competitors aren't offering? Maybe they're able to, but so far they haven't. For example - Bayer aspirin focuses on relieving pain but even more, taking aspirin can help to prevent heart-attacks. Any aspirin product can do these.
Preventing heart-attacks is something Tylenol (non-aspirin pain reliever) can't do, so compared to acetaminophen, aspirin has a unique selling proposition.
Unique buying advantage: What advantage do customers think they get by buying from you instead of from your competitors. (This can be used as a basis of referral marketing.) It's something customers already believe about your business, product/service without much if any prompting from you. For example - Tums has calcium, but Rolaids doesn't. (Doctors helped this a lot.)
Unique selling advantage: What do you want prospects to accept as a clear advantage. For example - "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. Fed Ex." It was unique until the US Postal Service and UPS matched it.
Pre-emptive advantage: In a highly competitive/commodity environment, one competitor finds something about itself the others haven't figured out yet. The others could also claim it if they realized it. Avis car rental used to boast its service lines were shorter than Hertz's. National and Budget car rentals could have claimed the same thing and still could if they wanted to seem like copy-cats.
Competitive advantage: Wal-Mart stores are typically set up near the edges of cities so they'll be close to major highways, so the trucks can get to the stores easily. In some cities, this is a low population area. Since Wal-Mart put a lot of money into its locations, it probably won't move a store (it has in some cases). So, W-M can't do much about its stores' distances from customers' homes.
Positioning: This is the picking order in a business category. Somebody wants to deal with the top company in a category, s/he will probably pick the number two company if the number one company is unavailable.
"Avis is number two, why pick us? We try harder." If people didn't want to wait in a long line for a Hertz car, they may just go for the number two company. The "We try harder" part is just a nice little touch, but it's the number two positioning that made it successful for Avis until it changed its focus and lost momentum.
Trying harder isn't enough to win a marketing battle. The road to hell is being paved with good intentions & the people who try harder are doing the paving. Trying harder is OK if the effort creates enough of the value people will pay for.
Branding: The biggest effort in marketing is to get people to think of brand name when a business, product or service category comes to mind. Which brand comes to mind when you think about computers? That's branding.
Inherent Drama: This is another element we could add, which I reduce down to ID, because if you have an inherent drama in your business, product/service it should be used as a form of identity.
This conversation was used in a commercial decades ago:
Girl 1: "Here he comes. Give me another Certs, mine is gone."
Girl 2: "Do this. (slurping/sucking sound) Do you feel that cool, fresh feeling?"
Girl 1: "Yeah."
Girl 2: "That means Certs is still working."
Then Girl 1 is confident the boy of her dreams won't be offended by bad breath. Certs had, maybe still has, the inherent drama (ID) of lasting breath freshness.
I like to include ways to apply information I provide, but these subjects have so many variables, it would take a lot of space to provide practical applications of these other than the examples I gave.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please click here for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Your Central Marketing Theme Should Be Like A Lens
Unique Selling Propositions, Pre-emptive Advantages, Competitive Advantages, Unique Selling Advantages, Unique Buying Advantages & positioning statements should be simple messages to lead people to recognize a value they want/need. These are examples of a marketer's central marketing theme.
It's hard even for experienced marketers to remember marketing details like these. It's like that for consumers who try to remember product features & benefits. It's hard for them to compare options. They need you to help them focus on benefits they should prioritize.
They need a framework. I've written some ideas below to help you frame your messages.
Your central marketing theme should be like a lens to focus your business on consumers' needs & desires.
Your central marketing theme should be like a lens to focus consumers on their conditions compared to what you offer.
Example: "When you need (a specific benefit), choose a better option at (business name)."
If that's your basic theme, you'd evaluate potential inventory orders & future offers based on helping customers get that benefit. How could you put products & services together to help customers produce that benefit?
Your full message should help customers recognize it as a benefit they want/need.
Your theme & messages should specifically link your business with a benefit in people's minds. As much as practical, your business should be an exclusive source of that benefit or a combination of benefits.
Though people may seem to have the same problem, they experience a problem differently.
Since people's experiences can be vastly different, you can help them diagnose problems & find their best options.
You should help niche members focus on what's most important for their situations. Some benefits may be important for a minority of members. They need you to help them find the best benefits for their lives.
When there are multiple options to solve or mitigate a problem, marketing messages can help people set priorities. People need to know which factors are more important so they can choose the best options for their situations.
Those options can include which retailers offer the best values. Your methods can make your business a better option than a competitor.
How much do you depend on manufacturer advertising? To attract a majority of consumers, manufacturers might emphasize the most popular benefits. In your area, some consumers might want less popular benefits.
Small stores can be profitable by selling to niche members who don't need all of the popular benefits.
Profitability can be maintained by testing methods & tracking niches as they change.
Find a Balance Between Specificity & Flexibility
You should carefully adjust your central marketing theme. You need to make it as specific as you can to make it meaningful to your niche. You need it to be flexible because your niche & available products will change.
As you get information, you can adjust your marketing methods. As you get responses to your advertising, you can adjust your offers.
Even if competitors sell the same products, they might focus on a narrow range of benefits. You should help niche members get specific benefits that may be less popular. Your niche members might not know about less promoted benefits until they get information from you.
Example - People often get unwanted phone calls. Some phones can be set to block some calls. People can also assign special ring tones for specific callers. You should know which products offer those benefits & show consumers how to set them up.
Some manufacturers cram many potential benefits into products. It's especially true in high technology.
People get a complex product but they use a narrow range of features. Example - They want to make phone calls, but the same product is also a small computer & camera. Will they make calls & rarely use other features?
Do people want/need a device for high quality pictures or videos? Some cameras can be used to magnify small print. So people might want a built-in camera, even if they don't take pictures.
Are features cheap or high quality? Example - Many phones have built in cameras. Are those high quality cameras? Are they high quality phones with low quality cameras?
When products have multiple features, the overall quality can be hard to rate. Consumers might rate a cell phone at a 10 for phone calls, they might rate it at a 4 for texting. The built-in camera might rate at a 2. How would they rate its overall quality?
They probably buy a phone to communicate, but do they prefer calls or texting? That preference would determine their quality ratings.
If you base your business on offering only high quality products, how would low quality features fit your marketing theme?
If you have a good product selection & product knowledge, you can help people prioritize feature & benefit qualities.
How well can you help people avoid wasting money on features they won't use? You could offer an advantage of selling what people will use (possibly a simpler, less expensive product).
You should do your best to offer benefits people will use.
You might offer specific product brands but you'll sell the benefit of solving & avoiding problems. People pay for products/services so they get benefits.
People pay for phones & tablets so they can talk or text? Which is more important to them - sound quality or keypad size?
People may want the most modern products for social reasons (snob appeal). To impress anybody, people should know how to use those products.
Even if people want complex products, you could show them how to get maximum value from the features they use.
If it's a profitable proposition, it could be a Preemptive Advantage since competitors can do it, too.
Warning: If It Isn't Profitable, It Isn't An Advantage.
I encourage business owners to do what's unique. I should also warn you there are reasons some potential propositions aren't made.
It can be easy to offer what competitors don't or can't offer but it can be challenging to make profitable offers. If competitors don't offer something, it might be unprofitable. It depends a lot on a business's cost structure.
Setting up a cost structure is beyond the scope of this post.
Simple Meaningful Messages
Your central marketing theme should be short, simple & easy to remember.
Simplicity is important especially in short messages. People are distracted. When they hear or see messages, there are other things happening. There are environmental noises plus internal thoughts & feelings.
If they misunderstand a message, they may think they perceived it accurately, so they won't seek clarification.
It's vital to express a simple reason to buy, even if a product/service is complex.
When many details are crammed into a short message, people might be overwhelmed & miss details. As they try to understand a detail, they might misunderstand other details.
Multiple Step Sales Processes
If you have complex products/services, you'll probably need multiple step messages.
It's hard to explain many benefits in a minute or a small ad. What's necessary is to convince people to check a web site or call for more information.
A short message can be a summary of what matters most to a niche.
When consumers ask for information, you can guide them to select their best options.
Security systems use complex technology, so marketers ask consumers to request more information. In a minute, a company can express the importance of getting information instead of trying to get people to buy.
Simple Messages Should Lead To Deeper Messages
Your store's success depends on reasons people buy & use products & services. When you know these reasons, you can adjust your marketing & your in-store sales efforts.
Though your central marketing theme should be simple, it should focus on a combination of factors.
Let's use this example again: "When you need (a specific benefit), choose a better option at (business name)."
Who needs the benefit? Which option is better for this person? Why is it better?
These factors pertain to products/services & involve questions about who, what, where, when, why, how (often, much, long).
Some questions are: Who will buy a product/service? What will they buy? Why will they buy it? Why will they choose a specific version? Who will receive it? Who will use it? Why will they use it? How long will they use it?
Why is a specific version better in their specific situations? How is that specific version better for them? Can you quantify how much better? What makes their situations different than experiences of the general population?
What makes your store a better outlet for this product version?
These details will be too much to fit into a short statement, but they'll be your framework for your central marketing theme. Choose the most compelling details. Use the other details in your sales copy.
Buyers & Users Are Different
You might need to sell through alternative methods. An alternative method might require deep messages to different buyers. Deeper messages might require multiple step methods.
It's important to test messages so you can know how many details & steps you'll need to use.
Example: A medical alert company focuses on people who have disabled relatives. Elderly or disabled people might resist offers of an alert system. They don't want to believe they need to be monitored. They might consider it to be an expensive intrusion.
Somebody might buy a system & urge an elderly or disabled loved one to accept it.
The ads are focused on how buyers want to be sure their loved ones get necessary help. The buyers can feel better about their loved ones being helped & can assure their loved ones it's the right thing to do.
The simple message is a person needs the service. The simple message integrates with a deeper explanation. The deeper explanation is why a family needs the service. The deeper explanation supports the simple message. The family feels better because one member is safer.
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please click here for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Wal-Mart is catching my customers
Subject: Wal-Mart is catching my customers Author: fishstory Date Originally Posted: 09:51:16 05/23/01 Wed (in a previous blog)
I've read some of the latest marketing books. The authors mostly advocate specializing as a way of limiting competition, plus to draw in more prospects.
I specialize in fishing equipment. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart sells products for prices that are about what it costs from my supplier. I know I shouldn't try to compete on price because it's a weak foundation and Wal-Mart will be able to beat everytime.
But how can I compete when people are more apt to go for the lowest prices?
In reply to: fishstory 's message, "Wal-Mart is catching my customers" Date Originally Posted: 05/23/01 Wed (in a previous blog)
Hi:
Here are some ideas for you.
You can do joint ventures with boat dealers in which your products would be a purchase bonus or maybe they would recommend you as their official fishing equipment supplier.
You can have a contest for best fish story in two categories, true and false. This could attract attention.
This may work with fishing jokes too.
------------------
One year when the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears weren't in the play-offs, the coaches decided to have an ice fishing contest.
Each of the 3 days, the teams were fishing the Packers caught fish, but the Bears didn't catch any.
At the press conference afterward, the Bears accused the Packers of cheating. They took reporters to the Packers' fishing shack and pointed to the hole the Packers cut in the ice.
--------------------
Post pictures of people with their fish.
Invite people to come and discuss fishing in a group setting.
Have somebody you know and trust, who won't be recognized as being connected with you go to Wal-Mart to find out how much/little W-M employees know about fishing. S/he may need to do this a few times to meet the various people who cover that department.
Sometimes, that's all the employees do, they're assigned to cover a few departments at a time, so they probably don't know much about any of them.
Be sure you have a strong Unique Selling Proposition.
It can be similar to -
"Do you know how when you go to the sporting goods department in a big discount store the employees grab a flyswatter when you talk about flies? At Fishstory LLC, we know the local fishing conditions and can recommend the right equipment so you can catch what you want."
Get a free web site if you don't already have a site and a message board like this one for your customers and prospects.
Establish yourself as the local authority with fisher-people and the press. If an issue about fishing comes up, submit your opinion by phone or by sending a good, crisp press release. There are plenty of books and articles about publicity and press releases. Ask at a library or book store.
Ask about having a fishing column in the local newspaper or a feature spot on a radio/TV station.
If you have more questions, please post them.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please click here for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Update For Most Retailers:
You need to be more flexible than competitors. Big retailers will change whatever is necessary to increase profits.
You'll need to keep testing more methods to sustain your success.
You shouldn't think you'll always offer better products & services. Big retailers will always experiment with prices & product/service quality. You need to keep experimenting also.
I wrote many insights for increasing your store's value. As you use these insights, you'll need to add your trade skill & input from customers.
The 1st post in this thread was written for fishing equipment dealer. You should mentally substitute 'fishing' for your customers' activities & desires.
As you read my suggestions & questions, please ask yourself, "How could I apply or adjust these in my store?"
Be A Personal Resource
Base your offers on the experiences customers want. Fishing is a solitary experience for some people. Others use fishing as a social event. How might these differences affect what people buy?
If most potential customers want solitary fishing experiences, you should stock what they want & offer it in meaningful ways.
If fishing is a way for them to have peaceful time alone, your advertising should focus on offering what's necessary.
You should do your best to focus on consumers who want & need your current inventory. How can you help customers get optimal benefits from your inventory?
As you maximize opportunities from what you currently offer & sell your inventory, you can adjust according to customer base changes.
To help customers, you should ask about what they want to do. Do they want challenges of catching big fish? Do they want a lot of fish? What have they been doing? What should they do differently to improve their results?
How does your store fit into people's desired experiences? How can you better help people catch fish for food? For those who use fishing as a social activity, how can you make it better?
People buy through web sites if they only want to buy through basic transactions without extra customer service. A web site won't have a deeper role in their lives. A web site won't have personal connections to a community unless it includes social media.
When people want more than products & basic transactions, what can you do for them?
What are their personal identities? Are they fishermen (fisher people)? Are they sportsmen (sports people)?
How do their personal identities affect their desires & experiences?
How important is fishing to them? Do they do it each week? If they miss a week, do they feel bad? Is fishing their only hobby?
If they have many recreational opportunities, is fishing a minor option?
What could make fishing more important to them?
Do sportsmen switch to hunting when seasons change? Do fishermen keep fishing when seasons change? How do they change their fishing methods when seasons change?
Help them gain & maintain their desires.
Be A Community Resource
How can you & your business fit into your local fishing community? How can your store be relevant for more than products?
A business relationship is important. You can focus on how your store can add to relationships people have with each other.
Would individuals benefit if they joined a group? Would a group function better as a club?
How could you help to introduce individuals? Could you have a sign up sheet for a club? Do you have a mailing list?
How could you help people form a club?
A club could be like a focus group for market research.
Do you have space for people to meet in your store? Customers could have discussions or club meetings. (Note: You might have disclaimers like "Opinions expressed aren't necessarily those of the store owner or its staff.")
Check insurance & liability issues. In some places, a fire marshal will determine how many people can safely occupy a building.
You should determine how to choose a club to support. Your criteria could include a club's goals & how you can help to achieve those goals. How well can a club help you achieve your goals?
Have you found groups that support environmental causes? Some related causes are wet lands, rivers, lakes, wild life & invasive species.
If you support them, they'll probably support you. You could get referrals, endorsements & testimonials. When they buy from you, you'll get social proof for the value you provide.
You can experiment with your levels of support. What do club members ask for? Determine what you can afford. Ask group leaders how you can help them.
It's common to think about adding value to people's lives. How can you help people add value to their lives? How can you help people add value to other people's lives? How can you help people add value to their communities?
Be An Information Resource
Is there a local broadcast journalist, newspaper columnist or blogger who writes about fishing & outdoor sports?
You can contribute information. You can get information about activities & groups.
You should ask questions & provide answers.
You should know about some sources you can advise customers to check for in-depth information.
You should know what's important to customers.
Here are some possible issues for you to know:
Do people always use the same kinds of equipment each time they fish?
Do they go out in boats & use different equipment compared to what they use on piers?
Would they fish from boats more often if they had heavy duty equipment?
Would they fish more often if they had other equipment?
Would they rent equipment?
Are there contests for catching certain kinds of fish?
Are there contests for people using boats or fishing from docks?
Do people want more contests? What kind of contest would be a good addition?
What would make contests better?
How can you contribute to contests?
Which activities are compatible & incompatible with fishing?
It might be best to promote activities together & though some activities should be separate in time & location. It's good to identify & avoid potential conflicts.
Example: Where I live in Wisconsin, there are shipwrecks. People, who enjoy fishing, might enjoy viewing wrecked ships. Scuba divers get close views of ships but they could get tangled in fishing lines. Divers might scare fish away.
Be A Business Resource
If you work with other business owners, your combined contributions could be substantial & affordable. Other business owners might help you form & support clubs.
Which other businesses could make fishing more fulfilling?
Here are ideas about people & businesses you can work with:
retailers, photographers, picture printing & developing,
charter boats, camp grounds, motels, caterers for gatherings, restaurants,
tour guides, tour buses, travel agents, newspapers, broadcasters & game wardens
Which products & services would make fishing more comfortable & beneficial?
Be A Resource For Fund Raisers (Charities)
There are probably a lot of activities & fund raising events.
You should have criteria for choosing which of those to participate in.
Do you have enough total resources (including money, time & energy) to participate in them?
What can you do well without causing yourself excessive stress? Which events match your talents & resources?
Which activities fit your policies, plans & procedures?
You should consider the timing. Which activities & events happen in the same time period? How well do they fit your schedule?
Which groups seem to need you most?
To which groups & activities can you make unique contributions?
Which activities or events would bring you a high return on your investment (ROI)?
For charities, it might seem bad to consider ROI, but your future contributions might depend on how much you benefit.
As long as you gain something, you might be able to justify continuing.
Be A Product/Service Resource
You should have a checklist for determining what to offer & how to promote offers.
There are factors people use to determine if they'll do things. If your offers reach them at the right times in the right places, you can get more sales.
Here are a few examples:
If your offer reaches people as they start planning, you can affect the activities they pick.
Your offer could provide what they need to choose a preferred activity instead of their second choice.
What do people use as criteria to determine what to do in their leisure time?
What do people want when they consider going fishing?
After they decide to go fishing, what do they want as they prepare?
What do they need while they fish? What do they want after they've been fishing?
How do they evaluate product & service quality?
What can you do to improve customers' in-store experiences?
How can you help people have better experiences when they use products?
You can provide information about how to use products for full functionality plus maximum durability & reliability.
Example: Do people have the right equipment for the fish they want to catch? Catch & release is different than hooking a fish & losing it.
Do competitors sell products strong enough to land fish?
Do customers know about smart phone apps? Do they know how to use new technology to add to their enjoyment?
Do you offer products to help people protect their equipment? They might keep a fish but lose a phone.
Do they know how to hold a fish & a selfie stick at the same time?
Can you help them get more enjoyment in less time &/or with less effort?
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please click here for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
I've read some of the latest marketing books. The authors mostly advocate specializing as a way of limiting competition, plus to draw in more prospects.
I specialize in fishing equipment. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart sells products for prices that are about what it costs from my supplier. I know I shouldn't try to compete on price because it's a weak foundation and Wal-Mart will be able to beat everytime.
But how can I compete when people are more apt to go for the lowest prices?
In reply to: fishstory 's message, "Wal-Mart is catching my customers" Date Originally Posted: 05/23/01 Wed (in a previous blog)
Hi:
Here are some ideas for you.
You can do joint ventures with boat dealers in which your products would be a purchase bonus or maybe they would recommend you as their official fishing equipment supplier.
You can have a contest for best fish story in two categories, true and false. This could attract attention.
This may work with fishing jokes too.
------------------
One year when the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears weren't in the play-offs, the coaches decided to have an ice fishing contest.
Each of the 3 days, the teams were fishing the Packers caught fish, but the Bears didn't catch any.
At the press conference afterward, the Bears accused the Packers of cheating. They took reporters to the Packers' fishing shack and pointed to the hole the Packers cut in the ice.
--------------------
Post pictures of people with their fish.
Invite people to come and discuss fishing in a group setting.
Have somebody you know and trust, who won't be recognized as being connected with you go to Wal-Mart to find out how much/little W-M employees know about fishing. S/he may need to do this a few times to meet the various people who cover that department.
Sometimes, that's all the employees do, they're assigned to cover a few departments at a time, so they probably don't know much about any of them.
Be sure you have a strong Unique Selling Proposition.
It can be similar to -
"Do you know how when you go to the sporting goods department in a big discount store the employees grab a flyswatter when you talk about flies? At Fishstory LLC, we know the local fishing conditions and can recommend the right equipment so you can catch what you want."
Get a free web site if you don't already have a site and a message board like this one for your customers and prospects.
Establish yourself as the local authority with fisher-people and the press. If an issue about fishing comes up, submit your opinion by phone or by sending a good, crisp press release. There are plenty of books and articles about publicity and press releases. Ask at a library or book store.
Ask about having a fishing column in the local newspaper or a feature spot on a radio/TV station.
If you have more questions, please post them.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please click here for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Update For Most Retailers:
You need to be more flexible than competitors. Big retailers will change whatever is necessary to increase profits.
You'll need to keep testing more methods to sustain your success.
You shouldn't think you'll always offer better products & services. Big retailers will always experiment with prices & product/service quality. You need to keep experimenting also.
I wrote many insights for increasing your store's value. As you use these insights, you'll need to add your trade skill & input from customers.
The 1st post in this thread was written for fishing equipment dealer. You should mentally substitute 'fishing' for your customers' activities & desires.
As you read my suggestions & questions, please ask yourself, "How could I apply or adjust these in my store?"
Be A Personal Resource
Base your offers on the experiences customers want. Fishing is a solitary experience for some people. Others use fishing as a social event. How might these differences affect what people buy?
If most potential customers want solitary fishing experiences, you should stock what they want & offer it in meaningful ways.
If fishing is a way for them to have peaceful time alone, your advertising should focus on offering what's necessary.
You should do your best to focus on consumers who want & need your current inventory. How can you help customers get optimal benefits from your inventory?
As you maximize opportunities from what you currently offer & sell your inventory, you can adjust according to customer base changes.
To help customers, you should ask about what they want to do. Do they want challenges of catching big fish? Do they want a lot of fish? What have they been doing? What should they do differently to improve their results?
How does your store fit into people's desired experiences? How can you better help people catch fish for food? For those who use fishing as a social activity, how can you make it better?
People buy through web sites if they only want to buy through basic transactions without extra customer service. A web site won't have a deeper role in their lives. A web site won't have personal connections to a community unless it includes social media.
When people want more than products & basic transactions, what can you do for them?
What are their personal identities? Are they fishermen (fisher people)? Are they sportsmen (sports people)?
How do their personal identities affect their desires & experiences?
How important is fishing to them? Do they do it each week? If they miss a week, do they feel bad? Is fishing their only hobby?
If they have many recreational opportunities, is fishing a minor option?
What could make fishing more important to them?
Do sportsmen switch to hunting when seasons change? Do fishermen keep fishing when seasons change? How do they change their fishing methods when seasons change?
Help them gain & maintain their desires.
Be A Community Resource
How can you & your business fit into your local fishing community? How can your store be relevant for more than products?
A business relationship is important. You can focus on how your store can add to relationships people have with each other.
Would individuals benefit if they joined a group? Would a group function better as a club?
How could you help to introduce individuals? Could you have a sign up sheet for a club? Do you have a mailing list?
How could you help people form a club?
A club could be like a focus group for market research.
Do you have space for people to meet in your store? Customers could have discussions or club meetings. (Note: You might have disclaimers like "Opinions expressed aren't necessarily those of the store owner or its staff.")
Check insurance & liability issues. In some places, a fire marshal will determine how many people can safely occupy a building.
You should determine how to choose a club to support. Your criteria could include a club's goals & how you can help to achieve those goals. How well can a club help you achieve your goals?
Have you found groups that support environmental causes? Some related causes are wet lands, rivers, lakes, wild life & invasive species.
If you support them, they'll probably support you. You could get referrals, endorsements & testimonials. When they buy from you, you'll get social proof for the value you provide.
You can experiment with your levels of support. What do club members ask for? Determine what you can afford. Ask group leaders how you can help them.
It's common to think about adding value to people's lives. How can you help people add value to their lives? How can you help people add value to other people's lives? How can you help people add value to their communities?
Be An Information Resource
Is there a local broadcast journalist, newspaper columnist or blogger who writes about fishing & outdoor sports?
You can contribute information. You can get information about activities & groups.
You should ask questions & provide answers.
You should know about some sources you can advise customers to check for in-depth information.
You should know what's important to customers.
Here are some possible issues for you to know:
Do people always use the same kinds of equipment each time they fish?
Do they go out in boats & use different equipment compared to what they use on piers?
Would they fish from boats more often if they had heavy duty equipment?
Would they fish more often if they had other equipment?
Would they rent equipment?
Are there contests for catching certain kinds of fish?
Are there contests for people using boats or fishing from docks?
Do people want more contests? What kind of contest would be a good addition?
What would make contests better?
How can you contribute to contests?
Which activities are compatible & incompatible with fishing?
It might be best to promote activities together & though some activities should be separate in time & location. It's good to identify & avoid potential conflicts.
Example: Where I live in Wisconsin, there are shipwrecks. People, who enjoy fishing, might enjoy viewing wrecked ships. Scuba divers get close views of ships but they could get tangled in fishing lines. Divers might scare fish away.
Be A Business Resource
If you work with other business owners, your combined contributions could be substantial & affordable. Other business owners might help you form & support clubs.
Which other businesses could make fishing more fulfilling?
Here are ideas about people & businesses you can work with:
retailers, photographers, picture printing & developing,
charter boats, camp grounds, motels, caterers for gatherings, restaurants,
tour guides, tour buses, travel agents, newspapers, broadcasters & game wardens
Which products & services would make fishing more comfortable & beneficial?
Be A Resource For Fund Raisers (Charities)
There are probably a lot of activities & fund raising events.
You should have criteria for choosing which of those to participate in.
Do you have enough total resources (including money, time & energy) to participate in them?
What can you do well without causing yourself excessive stress? Which events match your talents & resources?
Which activities fit your policies, plans & procedures?
You should consider the timing. Which activities & events happen in the same time period? How well do they fit your schedule?
Which groups seem to need you most?
To which groups & activities can you make unique contributions?
Which activities or events would bring you a high return on your investment (ROI)?
For charities, it might seem bad to consider ROI, but your future contributions might depend on how much you benefit.
As long as you gain something, you might be able to justify continuing.
Be A Product/Service Resource
You should have a checklist for determining what to offer & how to promote offers.
There are factors people use to determine if they'll do things. If your offers reach them at the right times in the right places, you can get more sales.
Here are a few examples:
If your offer reaches people as they start planning, you can affect the activities they pick.
Your offer could provide what they need to choose a preferred activity instead of their second choice.
What do people use as criteria to determine what to do in their leisure time?
What do people want when they consider going fishing?
After they decide to go fishing, what do they want as they prepare?
What do they need while they fish? What do they want after they've been fishing?
How do they evaluate product & service quality?
What can you do to improve customers' in-store experiences?
How can you help people have better experiences when they use products?
You can provide information about how to use products for full functionality plus maximum durability & reliability.
Example: Do people have the right equipment for the fish they want to catch? Catch & release is different than hooking a fish & losing it.
Do competitors sell products strong enough to land fish?
Do customers know about smart phone apps? Do they know how to use new technology to add to their enjoyment?
Do you offer products to help people protect their equipment? They might keep a fish but lose a phone.
Do they know how to hold a fish & a selfie stick at the same time?
Can you help them get more enjoyment in less time &/or with less effort?
Thank you for using my blog.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
thrivingbusiness@email.com
No competitor is invincible. You don't need
a miracle. Your business will THRIVE if you
have the right marketing.
Please click here for free information.
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
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