What Santa Knows About Marketing

Written by Charlie Cook


Continued from page 1

Knows What He Is Selling Santa knows what he is selling, and its not just games and toys. Santa sells hope, whether it is forrepparttar latest video game, a warm sweater or happiness.

How can you market your business more like Santa Claus does his?

1. Clarify how you and your firm are unique, and what it is that separates you fromrepparttar 119991 crowd. You don't need to put on a red suit or slide down chimneys. Define yourself byrepparttar 119992 problems you solve,repparttar 119993 expertise you provide and what your customers say about you.

2. Get media attention for your business, not just during holidays but all year round. Sometimes imaginative stunts like appearing in a sleigh help.

3. Ask your prospects what they want and then provide services and products that give them what they've asked for. The better you understand their concerns,repparttar 119994 better services or products you'll provide.

4. Give something away for free. It could be an article, a report, a book or a workshop. Use your free offer to prompt people to contact you and demonstrate your expertise. It works for Santa and it can work for you.

5. Know what you are selling. Your products and services bring inrepparttar 119995 money, but what do they stand for? What do they represent to your clients? Sell your prospects on achieving their objectives and dreams and deliver with tangible results they can appreciate.

Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, market like Santa and you too, can have many happy clients this and every season, without having to squeeze down a single sooty chimney.

Happy Holidays



2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. - The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing Plan eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business' at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com


The End Of Marketing

Written by Brent Filson


Continued from page 1

Andrepparttar history of business has its examples too: Ford Motor Company ofrepparttar 119990 first decades of this century; IBM ofrepparttar 119991 1950s, Apple ofrepparttar 119992 early 1980s, Wall-Mart ofrepparttar 119993 1990s, Dell ofrepparttar 119994 past few years.

There are three ways to get a motivational growth-strategy.

First, link it to what people feel strongly about. Many leaders wrongly believe that just because they have takenrepparttar 119995 trouble to develop a marketing strategy, that strategy automatically excites others.

If you don't root your strategy inrepparttar 119996 fervent convictions of employees and customers, you don't have a motivational growth-strategy.

Steve Jobs' strategy for providing bringing a powerful, versatile computer intorepparttar 119997 hands of average people aroundrepparttar 119998 world, firedrepparttar 119999 imaginations andrepparttar 120000 ardent actions of his colleagues and, ultimately, customers.

Second, raiserepparttar 120001 stakes. Follow Emerson's dictum: "Hitch your wagon to a star." Distinguish between vision and motivational growth-strategy. A vision isrepparttar 120002 star. The strategy is how you will hitch your wagon to it. When people's vision and strategy provide a higher purpose in their lives, their motivation is of a higher order.

Jobs convinced John Scully to leave a high-level, fast-track position at PepsiCo and commit himself torepparttar 120003 uncertainties of working at Apple by asking: "Do you want to sell sugar water forrepparttar 120004 rest of your life or do you want to changerepparttar 120005 world?"

Third, makerepparttar 120006 strategy simple and short. Growth can be complicated, but people's needs are simple.

Bill Gates wrote a strategy in longhand on a single sheet of paper when he founded Microsoft. He still has possession of that paper and is still following that strategy.

The processes of putting that strategy into action may take comprehensive descriptions. Still, those descriptions should flow from simple, brief motivational elements.

Action: Motivational growth-strategies aren't plans, they're action. Without people taking action, results can't happen.

Rational marketing stumbles because leaders often view such marketing as some kind of magic dust that, sprinkled out, changes behavior. But only motivated people change their behavior. In trying to realize marketing plans, top leaders often get jammed up in middle-manager meatgrinders. Those leaders can usually persuade their direct reports to participate inrepparttar 120007 changes. However,repparttar 120008 far more important task is to persuade middle-managers to lead change. Because traditional marketing ignoresrepparttar 120009 emotional needs of middle-managers, needs that frequently illuminate ways to increase results, those managers can and will make mincemeat of evenrepparttar 120010 best-intended, rationally consistent, and brilliantly-conceived marketing strategy.

Hey, this isn't black hole physics! Getting results is simply about strategy and action: making a simple, powerful motivational growth-strategy happen inrepparttar 120011 many, little actions taken daily by skilled, motivated people.

Because motivational growth-strategies flow out ofrepparttar 120012 hearts of people, rather than rain down from above, those strategies get those people championing actions that get big results.

The end of marketing isrepparttar 120013 beginning of success that can only now be dimly imagined.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He has worked with thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years helping them achieve sizable increases in hard, measured results. Sign up for his free leadership ezine and get a free guide, "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at www.actionleadership.com


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