No matter what industry you are in, when creating your marketing plan, you have make your business stand out as much as possible. In any niche, most players look the same. Their marketing is in “a sea of sameness” making most of them practically invisible.
Now in standing out in your marketing strategy, your plan has to contain six important ingredients which I have come to term as my “wow manifesto”. So without further ado, here’s the super marketing recipe.
1. Who exactly is your target audience?
This sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it? Why then do so many businesses spray bullets with their advertising money and spend a fortune communicating to everyone? Just determine who your most profitable customers are, what they look like – and then go looking for more people who look like them!
2. Be the expert!
We all want to deal with that one person who is seen as the industry leader, whether they are a chiropractor, lawyer, accountant, landscaper or hairdresser. So if you believe you are the best in town, then let everyone know! Just like Steve Irwin, Don Burke and the MasterChefs, you need to position yourself as the go-to-person in your industry.
3. Create the “wow factor”
As consumers, we are reportedly exposed to over 3,000 advertising messages a day, so to stand out of the screaming crowd, you have to inject a “wow factor” into your marketing recipe. McDonald’s have the toy that comes along with their Happy Meal while Woolworth’s and Coles have their hugely popular fuel discount program.
If you are a hair salon, why not give a free 10 minute scalp message? If you are a car mechanic, why don’t you wash and vacuum your clients’ cars? You can also check out a fuel discount program I have designed that works very well even for SMEs, fuel discounts are not just for the big chain stores you know.
4. Point out the problem, present the solution
One of the most powerful ways to solicit an instant response from prospects is to highlight their problem and then show how you solving it. I call it the “Panadol Formula” for obvious reasons; if your client has a headache, give them the quick solution! The weight loss industry uses this formula exceptionally well, but sadly, not many other businesses have picked a leaf from them.
5. Dump your boring website now!
The vast majority of business websites are just woeful. Most business owners had their website created by a tech-head who didn’t have an ounce of marketing skill in their body.
Your homepage is the most important section of your website and yet most businesses fail here. If you don’t capture visitors’ attention on the homepage, they are not going to look further into your website! Your homepage needs a solution headline, compelling graphics, a free report to capture data, a welcome video and client video testimonials.
6. Build repetitive trade
You don’t want one customer and one sale. You want multiples of each and the way to do this is to create an incentive for clients to return over and over again, becoming loyal advocates. So why not consider creating a simple loyalty scheme for your own business?
The simplest one I’ve seen is where cafés give you a loyalty card – and after nine coffees, you get the tenth one for free. People are naturally creatures of habit and once you get them into a repetitive visitation pattern, there’s a good chance they will simply continue coming back regularly.
In a career spanning over 30 years, John Dwyer has worked with more than 27,000 businesses across 58 different industries, with his marketing ideas generating over $15 billion dollars in revenue. His clients include KFC, Caltex, 7-Eleven, Westfield and he has worked with high profile celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld, for the Greater Building Society’s advertising campaign. Dwyer is currently travelling Australia speaking at seminars and conferences inspiring businesses. For more information about his marketing methods, please visit www.wowmarketingaccelerator.com.au or www.theinstituteofwow.com