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I put together a short list of things I need to remind myself from time to time. These are just a couple of examples that make business, marketing and products all the more better when done right.
1. Marketing is made much easier with a product.
So many times people jump the gun on marketing and forget to develop a good product in an attempt to cash in on those marketing dollars. Marketing and products go hand-in-hand. To have a successful campaign in affiliate marketing, the local mom and pop store, selling shoes or whatever the case might be requires a balance between product and placement.
I know this seems very logical, but I know from my own experience that I can get very excited about things and tend to overlook some of the small details. This is when having a plan of attack and sticking to it helps. If you develop a worth-while product that people truly can use, the marketing can be much easier provided there is synergy. Develop a plan and think things through before acting them out. In the end you will save a lot of time and energy.
2. Not all products have to be useful, but the marketing has to be truthful.
People sell things all the time that no one has a use for, but they are fun, quirky, silly, bizarre, colorful, you name it. As long as the marketing that surrounds that product is telling the truth, then there is no issue with how or what is being sold. On the flip side of the coin, you can’t make people believe your product does something it doesn’t (not ethically at least).
It goes without saying that people will buy anything they latch onto at any given time. I have a friend who still buys Hot Wheels at a drop of a hat. He likes to collect Hot Wheels and views them as a neat way to splurge. But if a product is misrepresenting itself or claims to do things that it can’t, word will get around eventually that either the product or the creator cannot be trusted.
3. Market to the talkers
People in general love to talk, especially about things that have captivated their attention, are unique, highly useful and so on. People will also talk about things they didn’t like or find useful. How many times have you been in the store contemplating which item you are going to buy when a stranger out of nowhere appears and recommends one product over the other? I am sure this happens to me or someone next to me at least once a month. You want to get your product in the hands of the people like that who are doing the talking.
If your product / service is good, they will be sure to let you know also the reverse is true as well. Then it is a matter of you enabling them to talk and share with others about your product or finding a way to channel that input into bettering the product. Yes, that is correct, even bad comments and remarks are a good thing. This probably explains why software always has a never version or release. Could you imagine if we were all still running Windows 98?
I recently saw an ad on TV about some Microsoft experiment that was letting people try Microsoft’s newest operating system Vista under a different name. Then after all of the good comments and ooohs and awwws they told the participants it was Vista all along. I have to admit I was one of the ones who refused to switch to Vista until hell froze over. After being forced to use it I don’t have any notable complaints other than being on a learning curve. I am sure in the end I will adapt to the software and the software will adapt to me.
Anyways the list can go on and on forever, but ultimately it is up to you as a marketer and producer to establish what your baseline for service and quality will be.
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I’ll upgrade to vista when I’m forced to but for now xp is still getting updates for a couple more years so all is good.
You definitely need a product to market if you want to sell stuff. I think most pick too many to promote and dilute themselves and get no sales what so ever. Find a great product and promote the hell of of it and achieve success
Here’s a question. What if you are charged with marketing a product that you don’t believe in or you don’t believe will sell? Do you pass on the work or do you proceed?
@Andy, that is a good question all I know is how I would respond. I would be more inclined to turn the job down or neogciate the terms to not mislead anybody. Warran Buffet once said, “it takes a lifetime to build up a good business and onlu 5 minutes to destroy it.”
Market to the talkers… what can I say? Spot on!
Nothing beats getting free exposure through other people.
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@Lucas, Plus even if they dont like your product or service you can figure out ways to improve it by their input. They feel like they matter and will probably talk about it even more.
I’ve never had a problem marketing other people, only myself. It’s seems to be so much easier to push the services of others. Great post.
…oops “It seems” I hate when that happens.
@Jacqueline, Thats fine, I will have to touch on that topic a little bit (marketing yourself)
Well said for the second point. Telling the truth is important in selling.
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@wiehanne I agree with you. Truthful is important!
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Yeah, it define someone’s branding and so on.
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If I am going to buy a product I would consider if I really need it. For instance I already have water filter, I don’t think I will need to buy another one. But still people will still want to sell me one which said is better and more expensive. I don’t think I need that.
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lol. yea, they always want you to upgrade to a better and more expensive one.
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And the annoying thing is, no matter how many time you tell them that you already bought one, they will still buzz you. ugh.
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It´s all about finding the target market.
A good blogg-marketing strategy:
“All you need to do is hunt down the stories that will resonate with your audience, or find a way to tie in a particular story to your niche.” - Miguel Alvarez, copywriting guru.
We are really on to something here. The difficult part is to understand what kind of stories your target market is interested in. Well, first of all, you have to find out who your target market are. This is the most important issue in any marketing, offline or online alike. It is first as you know who you are talking to, you know what to say and how to say it. The worst thing you can do is to try to reach everybody. This is a golden rule in marketing: “If you try to reach everybody, you´ll reach nobody.” The more targeted you market, the better. If you are able to describe your target down to one person; on everything from what his social status is, what kind of car he drive, does he have culture or economic recourses. What I am talking about is peoples habitus. When you understand this, you can translate this to products and services, and then you need to put it in to a system. This system is called “Sosioraster”
Now we know what “hot” news to look for..