Put a Little Joy in Someone's Life

Marketing Speaker Geoff Ramm is on the street hunting down powerful marketing in action. Look how simple this marketing is and listen to the owner's reasoning. I like it. And thanks to Geoff Ramm.







George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
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Reliance Takes Unfair Advantage of the Competition

Good marketing should give you an unfair advantage over the competition. You want your prospects and clients to believe that selecting you over the competition is a clear decision. "Duh, of course we will buy from them."

To gain that unfair advantage you might make enemies with your competition. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

Kudos to Reliance Home Comfort in fighting back against the competition.

Reliance Home Comfort is mainly in the business of renting water heaters. The also sell water heaters but renting is far more lucrative for them so that's what they encourage customers to do. They offer other services related to home heating and cooling.

In the past few years there has been an influx of competitors who have marketed themselves by knocking on doors. Notice that the new insurgents into the market attacked on a different front.

When you want to beat the market leader you must attack on a different level. Never go head-to-head with a stronger competitor. The competition was playing unfair.

Apparently, these insurgents were also unfair to their prospects by being deceptive in how they represented themselves. But, they were hurting Reliance Home Comfort because the giant reacted.

Reliance respond by creating a website and campaign to expose these unscrupulous door knockers. The cornerstone is the website www.BurnedAtTheDoor.com At this website you can find information about water heaters and questions to pose to door-to-door sales people. Reliance also posted notices of "Hot Spots" - communities where the competition was actively knocking on doors.

They even allow you to report current hot spots - tapping into the social media urge.

I'm curious about how the competition will fight back.


George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter

What is Total Value?

Value is not the same as cost. 

In fact, a product's value is almost never equal to its cost. For example, your product might cost you $2 and you sell it for $10. The value to you is $10. 

The value to the customer will usually be more than the selling price. If it was only worth $10 to the customer then they have no motivation to buy. But if the value to them is greater than the selling price, they are motivated to trade their money for something of greater value. It may be worth $30 to the customer. Then they will gladly give up $10 of their money for the product. The greater the difference between the perceived value and the cost of the purchase, the more the customer will want to do business with you.

Always provide value that is greater than the price they pay.

The Value Formula

Take a look at the following formula, then see where you need to concentrate your efforts to create value. Every product and service can be described this way.

Total value = real value + perceived value

Let’s take it apart to understand it. Real value comprises the tangibles. It is relatively easy to measure. Real value can be expressed in this manner:

Real value = function/cost

Function is what the product or service does in mechanical or analytical terms. How much money does it save you or make for you?

Imagine you are buying a new car. If you want to get the best real value, you would get the most function (efficient ground transportation) for the lowest cost.

You could measure the car's function factor by comparing it with the cost of your practical alternatives: public transit, car pooling, taxi, bicycle, limousine, various car models. You might wish to consider the costs of these alternatives in terms of time and inconvenience. What does your new car give you that these other modes of transportation don't?

Having determined the new car's function factor, you can divide it by its cost. Is its function worth more to you than its cost? If so, the new car has real value.

At the end of your analysis you would buy the cheapest car. Right? Not necessarily. 

Remember that what you are willing to pay for your car is based on the total value to you, which is a factor of both real and perceived value. 

So, sometimes without realizing it, you assign value to less quantifiable benefits and buy something that you like. 

Liking is not part of real value, it is part of a product's perceived value.

What is Perceived Value?

Compared with real value, perceived value is harder to measure. It is influenced by emotion, image, and other intangibles - all the benefits you should emphasize in your marketing efforts.

Perceived values are not bad - they are a reality. As long as we are individuals we will think differently, perceive differently, and place different values on things.

Beware of that. Use it to your advantage. When your prospect wants to negotiate price, remember to build up your product's perceived value.

By the way, always deliver real value too.

George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter

Wimpy Braille Burger Marketing Unfair to Competition

In this video, my friend Geoff Ramm reports from South Africa with this example of clever marketing from a Wimpy Burger.

It's an example of how you can take advantage of the misfortune and mistakes of your competitors. Apparently one of the other hamburger chains asked a blind person with his seeing eye dog to leave the restaurant. That story was splashed in the media with lots of bad publicity for that chain.

So what would you do if you were the competition? Would you politely say, 'what a shame', or would you jump on the opportunity to take an unfair advantage over the competition?

Look at how Wimpy took the unfair advantage. Thanks to Geoff Ramm for this video report.





George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter

56 Tips for Increasing Website Traffic - Carol Roth

This compilation on the Carol Roth Blog offers 56 tips for getting more traffic to your site.


Here is my contribution (number 35) to the list:


Funnel Travel Via YouTube


Optimize your videos on YouTube by putting your keywords in the title, description and tags. Put your website URL at the beginning of the video description. Place your keywords as captions in your video. Put your URL on a text page at the end of your video. 


Read the rest of the list here.

George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter

Spring Partnering Promotion - Cars & Dirt

 

This looks like clever marketing. Driving by a car dealership, the yellow bags of soil and compost caught my attention.

Why? Because it's spring and I was thinking about what I should do to improve my yard.

So just imagine if it's spring and you are also thinking about getting a new car. What a clever connection.

One,  the yellow bags catch your attention.
Two, it looks like you get a free bag of soil when you buy a car.
Three, you are likely to tell others about this deal.



George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter

Innovation is Not a Good Marketing Plan

Don't bet your marketing plans on innovation. That's not enough. It's easy to note the success of APPLE and delude yourself into believing that the secret to success is simply to be innovative.

Remember the Segway?

It was innovative. Even showed up in some future themed movies - but it didn't sell. Because there wasn't a realistic and practical market.

Why did the Segway fail?

The name didn't mean anything.

There was no compelling need (imagined or real) being met.

There were major legal issues about where it could be used. (Not on the street and not on the sidewalks)

It was expensive compared to the alternative - bicycles and walking.

When the owner (who signed up to become a dealer) of this Segway described it to me he praised the technology instead of explaining benefits. Clearly the Segway company had emphasized technology instead of customer emotions

Innovative - yes
Successful product - no


George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter

The Best Personal Marketing

Smile

Personal marketing is about marketing your personality.

The number one thing you can do to sell yourself is to smile more. Smile when you greet your clients. Smile when you enter their place of business. Smile at the receptionist when you ask to meet your contact. Smile when you say your name. Smile when they give you the order. 

Smile even when you don't get the business. (That's a tough one, but it's important.) 

Smile when they are talking. Smile when you describe your services. Smile - don't look guilty when you tell them your price. Smile when you are on the phone. Smile when they hand you the payment - don't leer, just smile.

A smile conveys confidence in yourself, your product, and your company. A smile builds trust. We would rather do business with a face that smiles than one that frowns. When I line up at the grocery store, I will go to the checkout with the friendly cashier, even if it has the longest lineup.

In the global marketplace, a smile is the one gesture that is understood in any language, in any culture. And smiles are infectious. When you smile, others will smile back at you. Try it; it's hard to resist. 

When you smile, your brain releases endorphins that make you feel good. Imagine that. Every time you smile, you make yourself and others feel better.

Your smile is your best tool for personal marketing. What could be more personal in marketing you?

George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" Power Marketing on FaceBook Marketing Zoo on Twitter