Focus your marketing plan.

Are you so focused on your target audience that you forget that your audience is comprised of people?  That’s right your working with people!  Put yourselves in their shoes, think to yourself…  Would I be compelled to buy my product from looking at my latest ad or browsing my website?  Would I be compelled to buy my product after seeing my place of business or interacting with my employees?  Your audience is comprised of people, people who have are feeling the same finnancial pinch as the rest of us, people just like me and people just like you.   What are you doing to make them comfortable enough to open their wallet?  It’s time to take a hard look at all of our marketing plans and ask ourselves if our plan is focused on our customers, the people.  Focus on the essentials, the bread and butter of your business.

I have made some major changes in my own business and I’m seeing a very good response from my efforts.  Some of the ways I have gained more clients in a difficult time.  #1 I lowered my rates.  I know that the “gravy” will come around eventually, right now it’s time to focus on the bread and butter.  #2 I changed my business plan.  Instead of just doing freelance piece work for my clients I now offer them monthly packages where a client can reserve my time for whatever they need done.  No nickle and dimeing just doing whatever is needed for one simple rate.  #3 I focus on essentials.  I make a concerted effort to talk clients out of project that won’t further their business even if it’s something they have done for their entire existence.

Zig when the competition Zags

Not only are we facing a tough economy but we are facing an ever changing and evolving standard for marketing.  Thanks to the advent of the internet and the barrage of advertising we are all subjected to the same tired techniques just aren’t as effective.  Are you using the same tired 3 fold brochure because you have a huge box of them in the store room?  What’s the point of handing something to a potential client that they aren’t going to read and most likely throw away with the rest of the junk they get?  It’s time to think differently, simplify your efforts and do something unique.

Take a look at Jack in The Box’s latest superbowl ad.

Instead of telling about how great their product is they simply do something lutacrist and throw up a simple sub site.  That site was overloaded for hours on superwowl sunday.  I’m sure they had a huge server and a great cashing system and it still took a dive becasue millions of people flooded it.  They did something different, instantly established a huge fan base, then subjected them to a relitivley cheap youtube (Viral Marketing) ad campaign.  The best part is the campaign is still going weeks later and they still have people checking in to get subjected to their products…  I mean find out what’s going on with Jack.  I wish I had thought of that

Get free marketing!

Hopefully you have heard of viral marketing and your already implementing campaigns of your own.  Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, Youtube, Social Bookmarking, Text Message Campaigns and many many others can be a huge help to your marketing efforts.  Why wouldn’t you want your efforts to self replicate and spread like a virus?  It’s a new age of raw and personal advertising.  Let people know who you are and what you do in real time, don’t wait for them to come to your website, meet them where they are!

Please do contact me if you want to come up with your own genius campaigns!

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