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Friday, 25th March 2011/issue 05
Friday's Fortnightly Marketing/Sales Nuggets

Greetings!

Edition FIVE of Friday's Fortnightly Marketing/Sales Nuggets - with thoughts and ideas to implement in your business for greater success.

Marketing for Professionals:
As a professional you need to communicate your expertise.  This includes giving talks, writing articles and holding seminars as well as using the hugely valuable forum on social media, whereby participating in a discussion gives you a great platform to be seen and heard...  It's all about giving (quality) information.


1.       Never push your product or service by trying to 'sell' overtly

2.       Give out information - not any old information but quality information.  Give out real information that your customers can actually use without buying your product or service; information that solves real problems and provides real education; 

3.       The key to building a customer base is to attract people to YOU.  People buy people - they always have and they always will;  

4.       You need to position yourself as a leader - show that you know what you are doing/saying, that you have the expertise and the 'ology'  - remember those wonderful BT TV ads with Maureen Lipman? 

5.       Remember that people are looking for a SOLUTION - They are hungry for information. This is why we google the net and 'surf' until we find it - unless of course you have already given it out...

8.       Time is precious and the one thing we never have enough of; you can guarantee that your prospect will be busy. Their time is valuable - you need to respect that.

9.   Every day people are bombarded with thousands of advertising messages and they don't have the time to read and/or listen to all of them.  Make yours valuable and readable;

10. Article writing is an obvious example of educational marketing.  But you need to follow the parameters set here; don't revert to a 'sales' pitch.    

11. Plan articles to coincide with important dates in your industry,  eg yesterday would have been a brilliant day for all accountants to have sent out a budget summary to all their clients and prospects on their database.   

12. By doing some of all this, you'll be considered as 'the expert'. 

 

And, for another time, think about all the different places you can submit an article that you have written.  I'm just finishing compiling a list - let me know if you have any that are out-of-the-ordinary. 


So then, have I succeeded with giving out valuable information and not making it like a sales pitch?  Do let me know!

Out and About

Three great networking lunches this last couple of weeks: I hosted the inaugural Bath meeting of "The Womens Business Club" on 15th; do come along next month if convenient....   Then I gave a marketing talk to the WACC business women's group at Bowood Golf and Country Park on 17th March - fabulous group and venue!  And I was invited to the new Bath NRG networking lunch on 22nd at The Priory in Bath by Roger Bourlet of Bourlet Wealth Management.   Roger and I go back to when I was chair of the Bath/Swindon branch of the Institute of Directors and he kindly agreed (or maybe was volunteered?) to join the committee.   CIMA's "Question Time" in Swindon was postponed, so I'll let you know the new date when available.

UWE's Distinguished Executive Address Series - worth checking out - click here

 

New half day audit - if you're wondering whether what you're doing for your marketing is 'up to the mark' or whether you would probably get a 'could do better' then maybe my new half day audit is the answer. I'll come in, listen to as many of your team as are available as to their thoughts, a mini 'SWOT', what is currently undertaken, including social media presence, and then come up with an action plan.  Zap me a mail and I'll send you full details.

 


Industry News


ASA regs:
I've mentioned before the new regs which came into force at the beginning of the month - see "Advertising" articles on my web.   As part of my 'light' reading, I receive the press adjudications following complaints and I attach an example here of the complaint against Quality Solicitors and the result. In this case the complaint wasn't upheld, but it shows that the detail of the wording is hugely important, so do think very carefully when you advertise. 

 

Product Placement: Have you noticed the first of the new product placements on British TV?  Nescafe has reportedly paid �100K for one of its coffee machines to sit on a counter in the kitchen of ITV1's This Morning for the next three months. It just sits on the back counter - take a look! 

Please check out my new look website and let me know what you think...  Not altogether finished yet,  but getting there. 

Also I'm just getting my social media stuff all integrated - at last. Hoorah!  If this is something on your 'roundtuit' then let me know and I can let you have my contact.


Thank you for reading; another nugget in two weeks.

I'm sending you this email as someone I've met, talked to, LinkedIn or tweeted.  However, should you not wish to receive these updates, please just email me here with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. Thank you.


Sincerely,

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Armstrong Beech web site
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Email Debbie