Marketing Success #mpresif

Whow - isn't marketing absolutely exciting?

There are so many ways to market your business out there. Fancy terms, new trends! You hear buzz words like OOH, SEO optimisation, inbound marketing and webbuilding, la-la-la and you as a business owner want to run to the hills!

But let's be honest - it's all great to incorporate all the newest forms of marketing into your marketing plan or strategies. BUT never forget that the basics will always apply.

It's like mathematics - you can't do algebra right when you've forgotten that you have to first multiply before you can subtract numbers! We all want to jump onto the bandwagon with the newest and cutest ways to market our businesses, but if we forget the fundamentals, we might get the sum wrong.

I've done some Cold Calling this week for one of my clients. They've decided to focus their attention on a different market than the one they've been in for years. The challenge was put to me on how are we going to get them into this new market - since the competition is absolutely fierce and there are so many other role players!

I thought about this long and hard and it came to me that maybe we must go back to the drawing board - really focus on the basics of marketing! And Cold Calling came to mind. Not entirely cold calling, but let me share with you what I did.

Research!

I started to search for businesses that would be the most likely prospects for my client. I then tried to make a point of contact - be it perhaps I found this business on an online directory, inside a marketing booklet handed out at homes or be it a friend who gave me a connection.

When I would then "cold call" these businesses I had a point of reference and made them at ease that I'm not some SPAM marketer that want to sell them something. My tone was also not aggressive selling - but rather - need searching.

This is a trick I learned in Spin Selling. Before you start to pronounce all the wonderful attributes of your service or product, find out what NEED your prospect client might have. Then when you understand the NEED you ensure that your service / product can fulfill that need.

After contacting about 52 businesses I had prospects who showed true interest, even a few appointments and even those who provided me with open doors for more communication!

SEE success! - from just having the GUTS to do some basic marketing.

Cold Calling might be called - old traditional marketing - and many people absolutely detest a call from a tele-marketer. BUT again - as I've mentioned it's all in the WAY you do it.

Yes, having someone call you - all aggressive and not hearing you when you say NO I don't need it - could surely put you off! But having someone who calls you, absolutely interested in YOUR needs and giving you a chance to TALK - you might give them that wanted appointment or email address.

This is simply ONE example of Marketing Basics. There is a few Fundamentals that you need to have put in place when trying to broaden your customer reach.

Let us share some of that with you! www.mpresifmarketing.co.za 

If you'd like to receive more of my marketing tips - send me a mail - I'd love to chat gerda@mpresifmarketing.co.za or book a marketing coaching session with Liezel - admin@mpresifmarketing.co.za

Mpresif-greetings
Gerda

How to create an Image-Link-Post!

How to make a great Facebook Post - is to ensure that your image is a link in itself!

Research have shown that these types of posts are much more successful than ordinary text posts with a link in it.

To create an Image-Link-Post - first go to your Status. In your status copy the URL that you'd like your Fans to follow.

Facebook will then automatically create an image of your website, blog or article that you've inserted.

You can then just delete the URL at the top of the image and type in your own content.

Voila! You've created an Image-Link-Post which looks professional! - Have fun Posting.

Mpresif-greetings
Gerda

Why is your business not growing?

We've all heard of the 7 P's of Marketing? Well, perhaps you haven't.

That was one of the principles taught to us in marketing when I was studying the subject.

Now as you start to work in the field, you realize there are truth to those 7 P's.

There are one thing a lot of big organisations in South Africa neglect to do - in my point of view - and that is the P called People.

If you look up - marketing for dummies you'll find that it says - What are the important points of contact between your customer and your business?

As small business owners, we work really hard to perfect our brand and build a good reputation. But ultimately, it's going to be the experience people have with the people who represent your brand, that will make them give your brand a certain ranking in their minds. That's marketing BASICS, right?

For us small guys it's a bit easier, because we might only have a few employees working for us - therefore it's much easier to monitor how your receptionist or assistant is treating people either on the phone or when they enter the office / shop.

But - ouch - many times I've done my shopping in a big retail chain (and I wont give names cause this is not a name and shame blog) and dreading the person behind the counter. Many times, they don't acknowledge you, start talking to another colleague next to them and completely ignore you - as if you don't exist at all!

Now I'm one of those people who love other people. So, I always smile and make short conversation with all sorts of people when I'm out and about. But it's always such an awful experience when you're being ignored!

Then I wonder - how on earth do these guys keep their brands in tact? I saw many complaints about customers on various platforms about such encounters, but it's not as if the employees' attitudes change in any way.

As a marketer, I know it's so important to always treat your customers with utmost respect and always be polite and helpful.

I'd like to hear more about your viewpoints on this subject, cause it baffles me...

You're always welcome to have a cup of coffee with a marketing specialist, if you're interested to know how we can grow your business with Marketing Basics! http://www.mpresifmarketing.co.za/wmenu.php

Mpresif-greetings
Gerda

Mpress-me-Tips like to present: What makes the PERFECT Facebook post

There are tons of sources out there available on the internet, providing you with tips on how to better market your business on facebook.

One caught my eye and I thought to share it with you.

There are 5 ingredients - tried and tested - that is required to go into the pefect Facebook post:

 These are that a Perfect Facebook Post:
1. Is a link in itself
2. Is not LOOOOONG - but is short and sweet and to the point
3. Is published at non-peak times!
4. Follows other posts on a regular basis
5. Is timely and newsworthy

 I am going to get into more detail with each ingredient this week, especially on how to create a post that is a link in itself!

 If you're not in the mood to read and want a more personal interaction - join my basic Facebook for Business Workshop, held the 12th of November, 9:00 at Wonderboom-South Pretoria.

 I will be showing business-owners how to effectively market their businesses on Facebook with some great tips and tricks.

Mpresif-greetings

Mpress-Me-Tips

We would love to share our Mpresif marketing advice with you - for free!

If you're interested, give us a shout at gerda@mpresifmarketing.co.za and we'll send you our weekly Mpress-Me-Tips.

We'll also create a Members-Only page on our website for all our valued clients, www.mpresifmarketing.co.za

What is your marketing question? Post us and we'll gladly get the conversation going.

Have a fab-mpresif-day!
Gerda

The Language we Speak

When I was still a rookie-marketer, if I could call it that, I had this wonderful mentor. He taught me a great number of essential human etiquette that truly stayed with me throughout my marketing career.

In today's age, digital everything is taking marketing by storm. It's making marketing easier on some but more complex on others. But in essence, digital marketing is a wonderful new tool that opens doors for many small businesses.

The one big problem with digital marketing is too much focus on digital marketing. This happens when we forget the human element of our business. We focus more on the number aspect of marketing. How many likes, how many followers, how many views, how many reviews, how many clicks, how many shares etc. It becomes a number game and not a human gain.

I believe, marketing is a relationship phenomenon. The way we treat people will definitely have a major impact on one of the most important aspects of your marketing strategy, WORD OF MOUTH.

There is this saying that people will not remember you, but will always remember how you made them feel. The first time I heard this saying, it struck me how perfectly this fits into marketing.

My point is that we can have so many different strategies on how to better market ourselves and get our reach to this great high, but if you do not give people a good experience when they deal with you, you've lost. Then all your hard work, was truly not worth it.

Therefore, I wanted to share some fundamental secrets my mentor, Milton, shared with me and thought it would be interesting to share this with my growing marketing audience. These secrets have become so much a part of me as a person, that I want you to really implement them into the way you deal with your prospects and clients.

Whenever a person deals with your company or business or venture, it's so important to treat them as important. Never underestimate a kind gesture, people want to feel they matter.

My Milton Secrets:

• Greet people with real interest, shake their hand and look them in the eye
• Never only send an email to a new prospect, give them a call and arrange to meet them 
• When you phone a prospect or a client and you ask them how they are, don't do it out of habit, but be sincere 
• Always ask for information with true kindness and let it show in your correspondence and voice
• When conflict arises, stay calm and ask a question rather than directing a statement, get the focus on the solution and redirect it away from the problem (otherwise the focus is on blame)
• Apologise when you were wrong or made a mistake and truly make it up to your client 
• Be honest, never make promises you're not sure you can keep 
• Stay in contact with your client on the progress of their order 
• Always smile, even if you're having a bad day 
• Focus on the positive of every situation, no matter how bad it gets 

There are so many more Milton secrets I'd like to share with you, but I'll keep them out for my next blog session. Keep reading... 

Teeth Whitening - the BIG debate!

Wow! I was amazed at the grand phenomenon of teeth whitening and how it has taken South Africans by storm!

To me personally, whitening my teeth, have never really been that much of a concern, until one of my clients, a dentist, required me to do research on this white topic!

Firstly, I had an appointment with her Oral Hygienist and was amazed at the fundamental basics of keeping your breath nice and fresh! It was quite a learning experience! But that's a conversation for another day!

We discussed teeth whitening and I was quite intrigued and had to say, I wanted to try it out! I also found out that there are various options available. I always thought it had to be done only by a professional and they kind of gave you new teeth!

Well, I was impressed (Mpressed) that you can even try and do the technique at home by yourself. Although it takes a few days and some real dedication. Not something, a mother of two would be able to handle without some mishaps!

The best part came when I saw a certain tooth paste being advertised on Facebook. Every time this product was advertised, about fourty people would reply - I want this! With their email addresses attached! I was, but what is this? And isn't this grand competition for my client?

Therefore, I'd like to throw the ball into your court. What's your opinion on this tooth paste phenomenon. Obviously, if it did work and cost much less than going out to a professional, people would try it, right? But apparently it has some bad side effects on tooth enamel!

What's your opinion on this matter? Would you sacrifice your tooth enamel for a chance at having perfectly white teeth? Or would you rather save some money to have your dentist do it for you?

Mpressiveness of Marketing

Marketing to some is selling.

Whenever I tell someone I am a marketer, they ask me, so what do you sell?

That's the fun thing about my profession. To help others understand that marketing is much much more.

I started this blog to convey my thoughts around the principle of marketing and how in today's age, it has become a much more personal phenomenon.

To me, marketing is about building relationships and not simply all about telling people about what product/service you have, how much it costs and how wonderful it is. But it's about truly tapping into the needs of those people and then aligning what you have to offer with their needs. When you do that, you get people to trust you!

I've been doing marketing for 8 years now and I'm still learning new creative ways to market people's businesses. Now that I've started my own marketing company, not only do I help my clients market themselves, but I need to market myself to them too!

Marketing is a word I would love to explore more and share with fellow bloggers who love the possibilities it brings, and who wish to know more about this awe-inspiring term that can turn your business from mediocre to Mpressive!