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The U.S.P Marketing Sins-2

Sin 2   Wasting marketing on the wrong targets

No matter how good your marketing message is, if it is delivered to people who are unable to buy it, it is wasted. That’s the whole basis for demographics and niche marketing---finding people who are predisposed to buy your product or service because of other existing factors.

Thus, before making a commitment to allocate resource to marketing, stop and ask, “ How can I get these messages delivered to the people who are mostly to buy?” Answer that question first and foremost and you automatically enhance your chances of marketing success.

How can a boring subject be made interesting?

Sin 3   Taking your customer’s loyalty for granted

A business that is considered to be “hot” has a genuine marketing window of opportunity that should be exploited quickly. If it instead makes the mistake of assuming customers will always want its product /service, it’s on slippery ground.

At one time, brand-name loyalty and even buy-American loyalty genuinely exist. In today’s markets, however, they are just distant memories. Customers buy whatever is in fashion, regardless of the brand or the country of origin. For marketers, the implications are simple---to continue selling well, you’ve got to keep getting hot again and again.

Sin 4   Letting customers leave angry

It never makes sense to let a customer leave your business angry without first having exhausted every means at your disposal to resolve their dispute. Why? Simply because not only will you lose the business that customer would have done but you can guarantee they will also share their experience with their friends and associates. And to make matters worse, the Internet is full of places an unhappy customer can voice their displeasure.

Therefore, never treat your customers leaving your business lightly. Treat each ease on its individual merits, and do everything possible to turn the customer experience into a positive one. The long-term payoffs can be substantial.

Sin 5   Abdicating control of marketing

Never turn 100 percent of your marketing over to an outsider, marketing consultant or marketing agency. Why? Because an outsider:

☆    Will never be able to understand the complexities and subtleties of your business as well as you do.

☆    Will not have their finger on the pulse of the business like you do.

☆    Will move on to their next project if their marketing ideas with your business don’t pan out as anticipated.

☆    Doesn’t have “skin in the game” like you do.

 A far better approach is to use an outsider as a collaborator. When you combine their experience with your own intimate knowledge of the business, great things can happen. Synergy can be created, and the results generated can be amplified. That won’t happen if you leave everything up to them.

The U.S.P Marketing Sins

Main Ideas

Sin1   Doing something boring

Each day, the average American customer is exposed to at least 100 TV commercials, 35 radio commercials, 202 newspaper ads and between three and ten direct-mail solicitations. And some demographic groups receive many advertising messages daily through telemarketing or magazines.

To break through that background noise and mind clutter, a marketing message has to be interesting. If the message comes across as being dull, ordinary or mundane, the customer won’t even take notice---there’s just too much competition. The challenge for marketer is first and foremost to present messages in truly interesting ways, including elements that will engage the consumer intellectually and emotionally.

How can a boring subject be made interesting?

☆    With before and after photographs showing a dramatic transformation.

☆    Using dramatic, real-life stories of satisfied customers.

☆    By quoting shocking, jarring statistics.

☆    Through the use if dramatic or novel slogans, headlines or statements.

☆    With a physical demonstration of the product or service.

Weapon＃9  Constant change

Every person on the planet loves what’s new. Smart marketers know that. They constantly come up with different answers to the customer’s key question: “What’s new?”

Weapon＃10  Capture the customer details

Every time someone calls your business, you should have a script that allows your staff to capture their details. You can then send them a follow-up marketing offer, which they will be more likely to respond to positively.to make this work well:

☆    Put together a script your people feel comfortable with. In corporate the ideas of your front-line staff into developing the script.

☆    Teach the script to everyone---even those who only answer the telephone occasionally.

☆    Create a reward pool--- for every name, address, and phone number captured. Divide that pool up and pay it daily.

☆    Have a somewhere where the captured customer details are kept for future reference.

☆    Add a telephone upsell offer or a special. Make it rewarding for the people who call your business to come in and see you. This doesn’t even need to come across as being pushly, just helpful. For example: “ Oh, just one more thing. We have a special offer for today’s callers. Would you like to hear about it now?”

The U.S.P Marketing Secret Weapons 賣點行銷的秘密武器-3

Weapon＃7  Good pictures

Pictures are in convincing. Why is that? Because ever since grade school, everyone has told us, “pictures don’t lie”, and “one picture is worth than a thousand words.”  From a marketing effectiveness viewpoint, before and after pictures work best. Good marketers strive to acquire and integrate into their message pictures that show the definitive results of using their products or services. In addition, suitable pictures add interest and make the message become visually appealing. All of which goes towards enhancing the results generated. 

Weapon＃8  Image congruency

Form a marketing perspective, everything about a business counts. Every piece of the puzzle should fit together carefully and strategically to reinforce one single, central image. When that happens, all of the marketing elements contribute to the create of synergy or additional power. For example, almost every business in existence likes to convey the image of being “successful”. Why ? Mainly because customers like dealing with successful businesses and businesspeople. There is the perception in that the business will be around for a long time to provide after-sale service. In addition, the inference exists that success is the result of serving other people well, and therefore the same can be expected. Smart marketers work hard at marketing certain everything comes together seamlessly and consistently.

Weapon＃3  Eliminating assumption

Many novice marketers make the mistake of assuming the public already know they have a genuine and pressing need for the products or services being offered. And because of that, novice marketers usually assume people will be instantly and automatically interested.

Be contrast, good marketers take nothing for granted. They walk customers through all the steps needed to make a sale every time they come into contact with them. Good marketers also take the time to test and optimize every individual element of their marketing message systematically. They never assume the entire package is performing at its optimum level until they robustly test their assumptions in the marketplace.

Weapon＃4  Asking for the order

Marketing lives or dies solely on the basis of the results generated. Smart marketers know this---therefore, they take every opportunity available to ask for the order. Or to put that another way, savvy marketers have the guts to ask for action in every presentation.

Why is this important? Simply because marketers who are afraid of asking for the order whatever reason(like being afraid of offending the prospective client) never generate comparable results to those marketers who present the facts and ask for the action. In marketing, presenting the message well is useful and a great preliminary step, but it’s only in the asking for the order that the real payoff is found.

Weapon＃5  Tailoring the message

Successful marketing is always developed with the target market in mind. In other words, the message is tailored and messaged to match the preferences of the consumers to whom it will be delivered. Which means that marketing doesn’t exist in a vacuum but in relation to the marketplace.

Those business that carefully tailor and then systematically deliver the right message to the right target market will succeed. Different business can and do choose different target markets but the real source of success lies not in the selection of the target market but more in the ability to customize and deliver the right marketing message.

Weapon＃6  Anticipating skepticism

Most customers will doubt anything a marketer says to them. They have been conditioned through experience to be skeptical of everything they hear. The best marketers understand that and don’t try to change the customer’s initial mind state. Instead, they arm themselves with enough evidence to win people over, and then present that factual information carefully and deliberately.

Ultimately, by overwhelmingly the customer with demonstrations of results, credibility can be established. The more variety in those elements of proof that are presented the better, but the simple principle involved is that ultimately, the marketer has to produce so much solid evidence of results that the customer is forced to set aside his or her natural skepticism and accept the results. Precisely how much evidence will be required to achieve this will vary according to a large number of factors, but be prepared.

The U.S.P Marketing Secret Weapons 賣點行銷的秘密武器

Main Ideas

Weapon＃1  A good U.S.P.

A unique Selling Proposition:

＊    Explain how you are positioned against your competition.

＊    Summarizes and telegraphs your key benefits.

＊    Can become a powerful driver of business success.

U.S.P.s come in loads of varies and flavors. For example, a U.S.P can be built around price,

product ingredients, marketplace positioning, color, size, scent, celebrity endorsement, location hours of operation and so forth. The options are wide and essentially limitless.

Some of the history’s most successful U.S.P’s have included:

＊    Fresh hot pizza delivered in 30 mins or less, guaranteed.

＊    When it absolutely has to be there the next day.

＊    The low-price leader.

Weapon＃2  Being clearly understood

The advertising industry is full of clever ideas, characters, and presentations that are tremendously memorable but that failed to generate any additional sales. Why is that? Most often it’s because the advertisers tried to be clever rather than clear. Therefore, if you want marketing that generates results, strive to be clearly understood. Don’t let a few awards for creativity substitute for solid sales in the marketplace. Be simple, be direct and be clear about what you offer the customer.

Plan＃13   Hire and fire the experts

In the final analysis, nobody knows your business better than you. Never let a “marketing expert” or “consultant” talk you into doing something you feel is wrong. And never delegate 100 percent of your marketing to an outsider—it simply won’t mean as much to them as it does to you.

To hire good advertising or marketing professionals:

＊     Make certain their status comes from hands-on experience, not from theory.

＊    Find out whether they can separate a customer from their money---by how well they sell themselves to you.

＊    Look for someone who considers marketing, advertising, promotion and publicity as a way to generate sales---rather than ends in and of themselves.

＊    Stick with direct response advertising---so you can tell whether or not they are actually generating sales.

Avoid any marketing expert:

＊    Who is more interested in making his or her portfolio look good---rather than generating sales for you.

＊    Who is worried about industry awards.

＊    Who hates long copy with loads of detail

＊    Who loves “white space” in ads.

＊    Who can’t supply a list of satisfied, successful clients---whom you can call and talk to about their experience in working with that marketing expert. Don’t be shy in checking sources, and don’t fall for any confidentiality considerations. The best marketing people are always actively sought after and will have a long list of past clients.

 Key Thoughts

1. Marketing begins not with any particular media or strategy; it starts with putting together the best, most promotable message possible that truthfully represents the goods you’ve got.

2. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to promote, until you get good. Otherwise you just speed up the rate at which the world finds out you’re no good.

3. When you ask a group of businesspeople to list their assets, they quickly write down such items as equipment, furniture, leasehold improvements and inventory. Many never get around to listing their customers. This lapse is often reflective of trouble in their business.

4. Do what you do so well that people can’t resist telling others about you.

5. Every business hits its own times of need when a sales surge is important. It’s always preferable to sell your way out of a financial problem than to borrow or to sell off equity. Often, that can be done.

6. There is only so much you can learn from other people’s experience. You can observe and investigate and research and consider expert advice, but there are some things you’ll never know about for sure unless you try them. Every business should assign some time and money to outright, unashamed experimentation.

Plan＃11   Create short-term sales surges

What are the marketing excuses that can be used to offer an exceptional savings opportunity? There are loads, including:

＊    To reward and recognize customer loyalty.

＊    For first-time customers only.

＊    In response to a candid expression from you: “There is the slowest sales month of the year”.

＊    Because the factory has provided a special incentive.

Once you’ve got their attention, there are also loads of different ways marketers can structure special offers:

＊    Making past clients sweepstakes winners---where they can claim their prize by coming into your business in person and picking it up.

＊    Offering a red tag sale---where normal items are discounted and sold on s first come, first satisfied basis.

＊    Double coupons days.

＊    Offering a free gift that’s truly impressive.

＊    Running a “My accountant thinks I’m crazy” sale because he’s out of town for a week.

＊    Tie in with major sports events like the World Series.

＊    Accepting old equipment as a trade-in or extending especially good payment terms.

＊    In conjunction with a celebrity appearance or some other type of special event.

Plan＃10   Fuel word-of-mouth advertising

There is no better new customer for a business than someone who is referred by a happy customer. Yet, despite that fact, few business have a proactive plan for stimulating referrals, choosing instead to simply take that come along gratefully. There are three steps involved in getting more referrals are:

＊    Earn it---by delivering great and exceptional service to your existing clients.

＊    Ask for referrals---not only directly but also by doing other things like:

1. Conducting referral events friends can be invited to

2. Running special promotions with great incentives

3. Displaying notices that clients are encouraged to refer

4. Handing out business cards and asking for introductions

＊    Recognize and reward those who provide referrals---with free gifts, coupons, certificates, prizes, competition entires, cards, discounts, thank you notes or whatever is appropriate to the circumstances. Remember, the greater the reward you offer, the more passionate your clients will become about referring their friends.

Plan＃9   Maximize total customer value

Customers are the most important asset of any business, and they will leave any business that treats them with indifference or makes them feel like they are not appreciated. To avoid that:

＊    Make everyone an ambassador of customer service---with responsibility to ensure that overall experience is good.

＊    Have a customer-service diplomacy policy in place---which may incorporate commonsense guidelines like:

◎ Great customer as welcome and honored guests

◎ Answer the customer’s questions knowledgeably

◎ Never say that “ that is our policy”. Instead, use empathy.

  ◎ Handle complaints systematically and well

＊    Threat customer retention as a profit center rather than a cost center for your business---and put your best people onto the customer retention team.

＊    Stay in touch with your customer regularly.

＊    Make it easy for existing customer to do more business with you---through special exclusive offers, customers loyalty programs with great incentives and so forth.

＊    Find new ways to offer existing clients a greater variety of the products and service they like.

＊    Make it easy for customers to refer their friends and associates---with a great referral program which delivers benefits all round.

Plan＃8   Use “Poor boy” marketing

Surprisingly, the most effective marketing strategies don’t always involve huge expense. Some of the most productive types of marketing will cost little, if anything. And yet many business overlook or ignore these opportunities. To generate new business without necessarily spending money:

＊    Train staff better---on how to turn incoming telephone calls into marketing opportunities.

＊    Develop a script---for telephone upselling of additional products and services.

＊    Follow up direct mail with a telephone call---to answer questions and make other offers.

＊    YCDBSOYA---you can’t do business sitting on your ass.

＊    Identify other business to cooperate with--- enhancing the impact of your existing marketing expenditure.

＊    Run small teaser ads---rather than more expensive full-page ads.

＊    Set up “take one” and contest entry boxes---at places where your most likely prospects are likely to be.

The point is that many people have a one-track mind when it comes to marketing---spend

money. Sometimes that’s necessary, but often there are loads of things that can be done inexpensively to enhance the impact of your marketing. Make certain you take up these opportunities first, so then if you invest large amounts of money later, you’ll get the most out of it.

Plan＃7   Start a trend---Become Hot

 Every marketer wants to handle products that are “hot”---in line with the current consumer trends. In practice, there are just seven ways to get hot and stay hot:

＊    Get some prestigious recognition---from newspaper, broadcasters, publisher or industry group.

＊    Release a new product---which is interesting, exciting and offers features never before available.

＊    Start offering a new service---which is new, better and different from what everyone else is doing.

＊    Align with trends and news events----by being aware of the general news environment and attempting to “enter into the conversation already taking place in the prospect’s mind”.

＊    Tie into seasons and holidays ---which is another variation on the idea of getting involved with whatever people will already be thinking and talking about.

＊    Link with the release of movies or entertainment events---which can not only be a lot of fun but can also generate loads of visibility( so long as it’s not for the wrong reason).

＊    Piggyback on fads---by noting what is popular at present and doing something smart. For example, when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were big, a dentist bought a collection of stuffed toys. He displayed them in his office and sent out an offer that each child who came for a special $9.95 exam could take home the turtle of his or her choice free!---while supplies last. The offers can be developed around any fad that may currently be in vogue.

Plan＃6   Generate some free advertising

 In practical terms, free advertising is generated by positive and favorable media attention and publicity. Naturally, free advertising is highly beneficial and desirable. How is it generated? There are several potential ways:

＊    By joining force with a charity

If you carefully choose a charity that is highly visible and aggressive in its promotional activities, by aligning with them you can use them as a lever to generate media awareness.

＊    By having a flamboyant character in a management position

＊    By being an expert source

Commission a poll or survey of some kind and announce the results. Then be prepared to explain and analyze those results in public. Before too long, you’ll come to be considered the expert in your field of business.

＊    Through the use of original and creative promotions

＊    As a guest on radio and TV talk shows

Radio talk shows are always looking for experts to take up some air time. Take advantage of that, and develop a list of previous appearance. With any luck, you’ll be able to parlay small appearance into progressively larger venues.

＊    Through the use of press kits and news releases

This is the bread and butter of the PR industry. The press kit is simply a collection of basic information about your business, product or service. The news release is something topical about why someone should care. Many business have generated millions of dollars of free advertising using nothing more than press kits and news releases.

Plan＃5   Put your best foot forward

 If your marketing is designed to get people to come to your business, take the time to make certain that what the client will see at your store or office is aligned with the image you create through your marketing.

Specifically, a good retail store:

1. Will be staffed by people who are dressed in a way that projects professionalism and order.

2. Conveys a congruent, deliberate message that is appropriate to the products being offered.

3. Present goods in a logical, organized way.

4. Helps the customers think creatively through the use of effective point-of-sale demonstrations that show the products in action.

5. Takes the opportunity to educate the customers as appropriate-through videos and live demonstrators.

6. Utilizes all the resource available---such as well as space---to promote, advertise and educate customers.

If the in-person experience of interacting with a business differs markedly from the impression created by the marketing materials, customers aren’t very likely to encourage their friends to have the same experience. Similarly, smart business also make a point of being seen as good corporate citizens. They align themselves with non-controversial, non-political, and highly respected nonprofit or charitable organizations. By doing that, they enhance their visibility and create a profile that is in line with the marketing approach they use or want to use in the future.

Plan＃4   Prove your case

 Whether you like it or not, most people won’t believe anything you tell them while marketing. The best marketers understand the natural tendency and address it by providing a “ preponderance of proof ”--- so much evidence that ultimately the customer gets won over.

How do you achieve that? It usually requires a mix of:

◎    Personal endorsements or testimonials from past clients who are happy with the results.

◎    Pictures that show definitive proof of the results---preferably in the “before” and “after” configurations.

◎    Extended testimonials that not only describe the benefits of the product or service but that also provide some background information so customers relate and empathize.

◎    Testimonial of real people rather than celebrity spokespeople who are paid to say something good.

◎    A large number of existing clients. The sheer number involved will cause customers to think something must be going right if so many people are using that product or service.

Plan＃3   Pick the right targets

Even if you have a target marketing message, it won’t generate results until it is presented to people who are in a position to buy. That’s the essence of targeted marketing ---to deliver the message to the right people rather than delivering it to everyone and hoping the right people find it. The three best ways go target-market are:

1. Geographic targeting

 Select a zip code and advertise only in local newspaper or other advertising that reaches that zip code and possibly the adjacent zip code. You can enhance your results by having salespeople working for you who live in that same area and by totally dominating whatever zip code works for you.

2. Demographic targeting

 If you collect information about your present customers, you’ll be able to identify factors all your customers seems to have in common. You can then approach mailing list brokers or publishers to rent lists of people who have those same demographic factors in their profiles. The better you know your customers, the more demographic factors can be used in future marketing.

3. Affinity or associating targeting

Identify all the trade associations, business, or civic groups or community organizations your clients belong to and rent their mailing lists. You can then out together a very specific package that will appeal to the people normally found in that group. This is particularly effective if you personally are in these organizations and understand what common concerns and challenge are.

Plan＃2   Present your message

A productive marketing message:

1. Is well organized

  Before anyone will take action, they have to be led through five distinct steps:

a.       Become aware of a need or desire

b.      Learn what will fulfill that need or desire

c.       Find a source for that solution

d.      Accept the price asked by the source

e.       Find a reason to act immediately

Good marketing walks customers through those steps.

2. Ignites the interest of the prospect in some way

    In other words, present the information in ways that are interesting and attention getting. There are numerous ways this can be done: with before and after pictures, through dramatic stories, by quoting shocking statistics, etc.

3. Asks for action

  Good marketing not only asks you to take action but also provides a rationale and reason why you should not delay taking immediately action.

4. Touching all the bases every time

 With marketing messages, results are achieved only when the entire package comes together. There are no shortcuts, just every element every time.

製訂一個賣點行銷計畫總共包括13個主要觀念，17個秘密武器，以及5個要避免的錯誤！有興趣的人就跟我一起學英文跟知識嚕！

The U.S.P (Unique Selling Proposition) Marketing Plan 賣點行銷計畫

1. Main Idea主要觀念

Plan＃1   Put together the right message

A good and effective marketing message will always have at least three key elements:

1. A Unique Selling Proposition (U.S.P)---which explains your positioning against all competitors and summarizes your product’s chief benefits.

2. An answer to the one question every prospective customer will always ask---“ Why should I choose your business/product/service instead of one of your competitor’s similar product or service?

3. An irresistible offer to take immediate action

    One way you can develop your marketing message is to use a modular approach. Take some blank 3”x5” cards and put one fact, feature, benefit, customer promise, offer component or marketing idea in each card. Once you’ve written out a number of ideas, organize them in order of most likely importance to your prospective customers. Then select the top three to five, and work out how you can incorporate those ideas into your marketing message. As you do that, also bear in mind what your direct competitors are already doing. Choose elements or components that will enable you to stand out from competitors.