One of the best examples of viral marketing was the success of Hotmail. Why do you think Microsoft bought it. Quite simply they were one of the first to give away FREE email accounts to people. And with every email that was sent there was a link to go and get your own free account.

But what does it take to create a viral marketing campaign?

Viral Marketing Ingredient No.1

Well firstly whatever you’re want to ‘take viral’ needs to be able to create a buzz in the particular niche your attacking. Now creating buzz is a skill in itself and to do this you need to understand ‘launch tactics’. These launch tactics need to create an upswell of interest around the topic you’re promoting. In essence a ‘luanch’ is like a sales letter turned on its side and played out over a number of days with key elements such as great offer, loads of proof and a real strong call to action at the end of it.   I will cover this in another post.

Viral Marketing Ingredient No.2

The next thing your topic needs, to achieve viral marketing success, is it has to hold real value to the recipient. This value can be in the form of humour, practical use or any form of value you care to mention. But the value must be worth sharing.

Viral Marketing Ingredient No.3

Lastly the final thing that is needed is it must be easy to share with others. It must have a self advertising feature like our friends at Hotmail had. There can be no hurdles to jump over or hoops to jump through if you want to create a viral marketing effect. This one thing is probably the biggest factor in the success in a viral marketing campaign.

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My “Why Most Marketing Doesn’t Work And How You Can Fix It…” Newsletter is full of ‘Tips From The Trenches’ and helps Small Business Owners overcome their biggest frustration – not knowing what Marketing Material to use and how to create marketing material that sells. It covers the key success factors of Marketing Material in the areas of…

• UK Advertising

• Magazine Advertising

• Postcard Marketing

• Direct Mail

• Websites That Sell

• Email Marketing

• Print Advertising

• Google Adwords

• Fax Advertising

• Sales Letters

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Instead they all use a formula that is as old as the hills and which continues to produce results.

So what’s this amazing formula you ask?

OK ready? Here it is…

Problem + Aggravate + Ideal Solution/Result = Massive Desire

So lets use an example to explain how this works.

Let’s say I run a debt management firm. If I was going to use this formula to create copy that pulled in a great response here’s what I’d do…

First I’d get into the shoes of someone that’s in debt and can’t afford to pay the bills never mind they credit cards.

Then I would list all the things that they are afraid of or that cause them pain when they think about what not paying their debts is going to do to their life. This is the ‘PROBLEM’.

Then I would write out what how these things might be ruining a person’s life. This is the ‘aggravate’ section of my copy.

Lastly I would list out all of the ideal solutions to each of these. This obviously  is the ‘SOLUTION’ part of the formula.

Then and only then would I begin to write my copy.

What this formula does is connect the reader with you so that they begin to think “this company really gets me. It’s as if they’ve been eavesdropping on what I’ve been thinking for the last 6 months!”

If you’d like to get more tips and examples of copy I and other marketing experts have written then go to the link below and get a FREE subscription to my newsletter “Why Most Marketing Doesn’t Work And How You Can Fix It…”

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Step 1 – Research

The first step in any Marketing Plan is to carry out research. No decent Marketing Plan should ever be put down on paper unless research has been carried out first. The three critical areas of research that need to be covered are customer, competitor and staff research.

You will also be able to see what your competitors are doing in terms Marketing Strategies such as Guarantees, Offers, Headlines and Calls To Action.

Doing this will uncover a myriad of opportunities and gaps for you to exploit in your Marketing Plan sitting right under your nose.

Step 2 – Target Market Focus

The second step in your Marketing Plan is to decide on your Target Market. Without a Target Market you have nothing to aim at. This is critical when you’re a small business as you don’t have the time or the money to aim at everybody. Secondly no message or offer can be that exciting if you’re trying to please everybody. I can’t overstate how important it is to know and focus on a Target Market or Niche when you’re a Small Business.

Step 3 – Unique Message Creation

Once you’ve completed your research and decided on your Target Market you want to spend some time creating your Unique Message. For some this may be based on service response time. For example, Dominos Pizza came up with “Hot delicious Pizza delivered to your door in under 30 minutes or it’s FREE!” This exploded their business overnight and created an international success story. The trick with Message Creation is to match it to the biggest ‘want’ of your Target Market. We call this Market-Message-Match. Then the purpose of the business is to deliver on the Unique Message. It centres you, gives you a laser focus and allows the prospect to immediately see why they should take a closer look at you rather than someone else.

Step 4 – Media Selection

This is where most Small Business Owners start their Marketing Plan but in reality it should be one of the last things you do. If you haven’t targeted a tight enough group and created a Unique Message that punches above it’s weight then it won’t matter what media you select (such as Direct Mail, Google AdWords, Postcards, Email Marketing, FREE Reports, Classified Advertising, Magazine Advertising, Joint Ventures) you’re not going to get the right return on the money you spend in this area of your Marketing Plan i.e. attract enough paying customers for the money you spend.

The other big mistake Small Business Owners make at this stage of their Marketing Plan is they don’t implement enough ‘Routes To Market’. You want at least 5-7 forms of Media in operation at one time. In saying this it makes sense to put 2 or 3 methods in place to begin with and then add one a month after the first 8 weeks.

Step 5 – Testing Plan

Once you’ve selected your Media it’s imperative that you know how to test the Media your spending money or time implementing. This is a never ending process and will eventually form the biggest part of your Marketing Plan.

If you don’t know “what’s working and what’s not” how are you ever going to get the best return from the money you’re spending on the Media you’ve selected in your Marketing Plan?

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The trick is to have enough routes to market within your Marketing Mix that enable you and your business to create forward momentum. In other words if one is not working or starts to under perform the others keep things moving you towards your goal.

Having said this you don’t build a winning Marketing Mix overnight. It takes time and you need to constantly test to find what works and what doesn’t.

The best advice is to create a Marketing Plan (see upcoming Marketing Plan post) that is flexible and that allows you to add a new Marketing Device (route to market) such as Postcard Marketing or a Joint Venture at least once every 4 – 8 weeks.

The other key to building your Marketing Mix is not to leave out marketing tools and devices that you think don’t work or are too expensive.

Assumption is the mother of all evil when it comes to building a Marketing Mix that works.

Many assumptions about marketing and certain media such as Yellow Pages or Direct Mail are based on experiences where execution of the media device concerned were done at the wrong time, were not done consistently or were simply carried out in the wrong way.

By implementing low cost tests you can first disprove the ‘Doubting Thomas’ in the back of your mind that’s holding you back and secondly by starting small you won’t lose your shirt by trying new things. You have to go through this process if you want to build your business.

To help you decide what elements you need to add to your Marketing MixI’m currently allowing FREE access to my “Why Most Marketing Doesn’t Work And How You Can Fix It” Newsletter for all Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs.

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The key to massive business growth and mining into the hidden profits laying dormant in your business is to use multiple marketing strategies in each of the Business Multipliers.

The 3 Business Multipliers are…

1. Lead Generation
2. Sales Conversion
3. Customer Maximisation

Here are some examples of why most business owners are leaving money on the table by not maximising each of these Business Multipliers to their own advantage…

• Only having one or two routes to market such as word of mouth and telemarketing or direct mail
• Not using guarantees other than the boring old standard of “Satisfaction Guaranteed!”
• Not having a unique message that separates your business from the crowd. “We really care and we’re really good at what we do” is not a unique message.
• Not using social proof to say “hey we keep our promises and we deliver the goods.”
• Creating ads, sales letters and websites with no headlines
• Not having a core irresistible offer that makes people give you a try
• Not knowing the lifetime value of your customer or client so you can decide how much you can afford to spend to buy customers and clients
• Not using customer or client incentive reward schemes to get positive cash flow by getting new customers and clients on a pay for results basis
• Allowing your print advertising to be placed on left hand pages
• Not having any follow up systems to keep in touch and make offers to unconverted enquiries
• Not using simple up sell and cross sell techniques to maximise every customer and client transaction.
• Not articulating and educating your customers and clients on the benefits of your product and service and the effort that goes into the finished result they experience.

I could go on but the list is endless!

Here’s the thing…

Everything I’ve mentioned represents a huge opportunity if you’re one of the few that is prepared to take corrective action. Most of your competition are making the same mistakes and will keep making them until they go out of business.

Marketing Strategy No.1 – Taking Consistent Action Is The Only Way To Find Out What Really Works

One of the most common things I hear Small Business Owners say to me when they meet me for the first time is, “Direct Mail doesn’t work!”

My response to this is, “How many times did you send your mailing?”

Nearly everyone of them replies by saying “Once or twice.”

Direct mail and the whole of marketing is built on a series of sequences which must be repeated and stuck to. And those that think less and do more (in my experience) seem to be better at the marketing game.

Now I’m not saying you should keep running an ad or a sales letter that got zero response but you should test a new approach until you find the one that produces a result. If you do you will begin to find things do work (including Direct Mail, Classified Ads, Websites, etc). You just need to give things a little time, stick to the plan and understand that it’s the way you’re doing things and not the media if things aren’t working.

Marketing Strategy No.2 – The List Is What Makes Or Breaks The Success Of Your Marketing

When I’m speaking at conferences or running one my mastermind groups I think the question I get asked the most is “If you could pick one thing to keep in your business if you lost everything what would it be?” And my answer is always, “The ‘LIST’!”

You see the ‘list’ you are talking to through your marketing media dictates the success of the media you are using. The truth is no matter how brilliant a headline is or compelling an offer may be, all of that counts for nothing if it’s all aimed at the wrong audience.

So remember when you’re sending a mailing, a batch email, a fax blast or a leaflet drop, the list that your media is going to needs to be tightly matched to your message.

Marketing Strategy No.3 – The ‘Offer’ Is Everything

When I look at any marketing material that has not pulled a great response there is always a number of reasons why.  But the most frequent reason of all (outside of the ‘list’ not being targeted enough) is the lack of an ‘Irresistible Offer’.

The great thing about an ‘offer’ is that it costs nothing to think up and usually can create an increase in response of over 100% – 200%.

But the other thing about an ‘offer’ is realising that it is the reason for you to create and send out all of your marketing materials. This is a breakthrough for many small business owners. As soon as they get this they change the way they run their marketing.

So next time you create a sales letter or run an ad ask yourself “what’s the offer going to be this time?” and you’ll be starting down the right road.

Marketing Strategy No.4 – Headlines Are The Reason Why A Prospect Will Read The Rest Of Your Ad

The secret to a good headline is creating something that connects with the conversation that’s already going on inside the prospects head.

It’s not about creating clever slogans or anecdotes. Instead get inside the customer’s shoes and think like they think. Then craft a headline that answers a problem or suggests a result that they would love to achieve.

For example, a headline I used to great effect for a debt management client increased leads by over 200% in just one week. It read, “Did You Know That You Don’t Have To Keep Making Debt Repayments If You Can No Longer Afford Them?”

If you were killing yourself to keep up with your credit card payments wouldn’t that make you read the next part of the ad?

Marketing Strategy No.5 – Guarantees Increase Sales

I think the biggest fear most small business owners have when I talk to them about marketing is offering a really strong guarantee.

The thing is ‘guarantees’ are all about perception rather than reality.

The purpose of a guarantee is to create the perception in the prospects mind of, “these guys must be fantastic or insane if they are offering me that level of guarantee.”

One good way to come up with a guarantee like this is to create a list of your prospect’s biggest fears. Then all you need to do is tell them you guarantee that none of these will come to bear and if they do they’ll get a complete refund.

If you’re still worried about the thought of giving such a generous guarantee just ask yourself how many times have you not delivered on quashing these fears? If the answer is once in a blue moon then you know you can make the offer of the guarantee because you’re going to win more than you will lose.

The upside though is in the numbers and in particularly your sales conversion ratio. As soon as you use guarantees in the way I’ve just discussed your sales conversion will soar and so will your profits.

Marketing Strategy No.6 – Your Call To Action Has To Be Believable And Make Sense

A ‘call  to action’ is one of the most potent marketing strategies available to any business. Your ‘call to action’ needs to combine huge perceived value and limited availability all in the same box. The result is that it makes potential buyers act now!

For example, when Elton John announces a new set of concert dates there is an immediate and natural ‘call to action’ due to the huge value Elton delivers and the limited number of tickets available.

So much of what I’m sent or read lacks a call to action of this nature. And if it does have a call to action it’s most probably something that I don’t believe is true.

You see when someone says they’ve only got 15 copies of a Free Report I immediately think, “that just doesn’t ring true”, because who prints just 15 copies of a report and can’t print another one if it’s needed.

But if they say “For all those that request a copy of the Free Report there is a Special Offer worth over £500 to the first 3 people that respond”, I am much more likely to respond on the hurry up!

Marketing Strategy No.7 – Benefits Speak Louder Than Features

Writing copy for ads and all other forms of media is all about explaining the value of your proposition to your reader.

But in most ads and marketing materials I’m sent to critique or improve upon, the copy is all centred around the company or the service/product. In other words its all about them and how good they are.

This may be true but it’s not what the reader is interested in. There’s only one thing the reader’s interested in and that’s them selves.

So when writing copy you have to think in terms of the problems you’re going to be solving, how you solve them and what the result of solving them will be.

If you’ve got any queries please make a comment and I’ll come right back to you.

Speak soon…

Principles Of Marketing No.1 – Researching your competition, customers or clients and your staff is the easy way to find the gap in the market

Principles Of Marketing No.2 - The customer is always right – so get to know your customer or client

Principles Of Marketing No.3 – Asking your customer or client what they want to buy is the easiest and low risk way to build your business

Principles Of Marketing No.4 - Give your customer or client what they want in a way that’s most convenient to them – not what you want to give them in a way that’s most convenient to you!

Principles Of Marketing No.5 – Creating marketing material to please everybody is antiseptic, anonymous and doesn’t please anybody – instead write personally for the 2 in 100 that desperately want your product or service today

Principles Of Marketing No.6 – Your Target Market is the beginning and most important part of any marketing campaign or plan

Principles Of Marketing No.7 – Your Unique Marketing Message has to separate you in the mind of the prospect and customer or client in a split second

Principles Of Marketing No.8 - Knowing your Lifetime Customer Value is critical if you are to use Irresistible Offers to buy new customers and clients

Principles Of Marketing No.9 - Using multiple marketing media and strategies across all 3 Business Multipliers (see upcoming Hidden Profits post) is essential if you want to attain substantial business growth

Principles Of Marketing No.10 – Educating customers and clients is essential if you want to maximise your sales and profits

Principles Of Marketing No.11 – Brand advertising and graphic design doesn’t sell – headlines, sales copy, guarantees, social proof, offers and calls to action do

Principles Of Marketing No.12 – Brochures sent in the mail don’t sell without a sales letter

Principles Of Marketing No.13 - Failing to follow up continually costs businesses Billions every year

Principles Of Marketing No.14 – Testing every aspect of marketing is critical for ongoing profit

None of the above is complicated and much of it costs you nothing.

All you have to do is go and do it!

Here’s a BIG tip… Just action one of the above Principles of Marketing consistently for 2 weeks in your business and I guarantee you you’ll notice the difference.

Speak soon…

Here are just some of the marketing techniques and strategies that you can use to get instant gains in the response and increased return on investment from your sales and marketing spend…

* Target Market Selection
* Unique Message Creation
* Multiple Media (Routes To Market) To Carry The Message
* Irresistible Offers
* Multi-Tiered Guarantees
* Free Special Reports
* Bundle Deals
* Advanced Payment Programming
* Calls To Action
* Limited Availability
* Benefit Pile Up
* Free Bonuses
* Four Day Sale
* Articulating and Education Of Service or Product Value
* Fixed Price Packaging Of Services
* Explaining The Reason ‘Why?’ You Are Making An Offer or Price Reduction
* Using Social Proof Within All Your Marketing Media
* Headlines
* Using Photos Of Customers And Clients
* Telling Stories About Your Business And Its Products And Services
* Up Sell and Cross Sell Programming
* Always Sending A Sales Letter With A Brochure
* Qualification of All Enquiries
* Customer and Client Penetration Systems i.e. what have they not bought yet
* Customer and Client Incentive Reward Schemes
* Competitions
* Before and After comparisons
* Lifetime Value Calculation (to allow you to decide how much you can afford to spend to buy a customer or client)
* Developing A Conscious Sales Cycle
* Using Small Product Or Service Transactions To Build Trust
* Having A Systematic Follow Up System For All Enquiries
* Making It Easy For Customers And Clients To Buy
* Prospect and Customer and Client Data Capture
* Customer and Client Database Segmentation To Allow Targeted Marketing And Offers

In upcoming posts I’ll cover all of these with examples of how I’ve used them and how you can too to create more leads, more sales and more profit from existing customers.

Speak soon…