Smart Marketing

by Bob Leduc

Smart Marketing
Copyright 2003 Bob Leduc

Are you attracting a large number of prospective customers
at the lowest possible cost ...and converting the maximum
number of them into paying customers? It's not very
difficult if you follow these 3 simple steps.

Step 1: Control Your Advertising Expense

Look for ways to keep your sales volume growing without
increasing your advertising expense. For example:

* Negotiate Price With Advertisers

Many advertisers are willing to negotiate a special
discount to keep your business - or to get it away from
their competitors. Take the initiative when you're placing
an ad. Ask for a discount ...or a bigger discount than the
one already offered.

* Trim Your Ads

Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads without
increasing your total cost. Don't be surprised if some of
your short ads generate a bigger response than your long
ads. The most effective ad I ever used had only 11 words.

Step 2: Generate Some Unpaid Publicity

Publicity is what you get when someone else promotes (or
you get them to promote) your business. It establishes more
credibility with prospective customers than advertising
...and it generates sales at a much lower cost.

Start a publicity program for your business - or expand the
one you already have. Here are 3 simple ways you can use
publicity to generate business:

(1) Find something newsworthy about your business. Write
about it in a news release and distribute it to publishers.

(2) Contact non-competing businesses serving customers in
your market. Offer to publicize their products or services
to your customers in exchange for their publicizing your
services to their customers.

(3) Write a short "how to" article to help customers in
your targeted market. Promote a product or service related
to the topic of the article in a short byline at the end.
Distribute your article to ezine publishers, web sites and
trade magazines serving your targeted market. Give them
permission to publish it at no cost.

Caution: Don't expect unpaid publicity to replace the
results you get with advertising. Use it to supplement your
advertising. You control where and when your advertising
appears. You cannot control where or when you get publicity
...or if you get any at all.

Step 3: Improve Your Selling Propositions

Most prospects who take the time to consider your product
or service would like to buy from you. But they decided
that other things they want are either more important or
more urgent.

You can capture many of these sales by dramatically
improving your offer. Create a "good deal" that's so
enticing it becomes their first choice.

You don't have to reduce your price to improve your offer.
Instead, simply load your offer with bonuses. Make sure
your bonuses have a high perceived value to your customers
...even if they cost you little or nothing.

Always include an expiration date for your offer. Give
prospects the choice to either accept your proposition
within a short time or forfeit it. This will motivate many
prospects to delay some other purchase so they can buy your
product or service now.

Tip: To create an absolutely irresistible offer - include a
special discount price AND a set of valuable bonuses in
your offer.

Controlling your advertising expense and getting unpaid
publicity will attract potential customers at the lowest
cost. Improving your selling propositions will convert the
maximum number of those prospects into paying customers.
Together, these 3 steps are what I call "smart marketing".

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find
new customers and increase sales. He just released a New
Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast
With Simple Postcards and several other publications to help
small businesses grow and prosper. For more information:
Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards"
or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

About the Author