In PR, You Must Choose Your 'Enemy' Wisely Written by Rusty Cawley
When great Carthaginian general Hannibal was just a boy, his father forced him to declare his undying hatred for Rome. After his father’s death, Hannibal used that rage to propel him in a lifelong battle with emerging Roman Empire.Hannibal crossed Alps with his army and its elephants. He defeated Romans in battle after battle. Unfortunately for Carthage, Hannibal was wonderful at winning battles, but incompetent at winning wars. After Hannibal’s death, Rome took its wrath upon Carthage. The Romans destroyed city, sold inhabitants into slavery and sowed land with salt so that no city could ever rise on that spot again. The story of Hannibal points out two truths about developing a singular identity. First, it helps to choose a well-known enemy. Two thousand years after his death, Hannibal still ranks with Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon as one of most famous generals of all time. (Just as Hannibal had Rome as his enemy, Alexander had Persia, Caesar had Pompey and Napoleon had Wellington.) Second, it is important to choose right enemy. By choosing Rome, Hannibal selected an enemy he could not defeat, an enemy he was force to fight on its home turf, and an enemy that was so ruthless that it wiped Carthage from earth. So what is right enemy? To begin, it’s important to realize there are two kinds of useful enemies. The first is competition. If you are anything less that No.1 brand in your category, then your competitive enemy is whoever is on top. For Pepsi, enemy is Coke. For Oracle, enemy is Microsoft. For Reebok, enemy is Nike. If you are clearly No. 1 brand, then your enemy is No. 2 brand. You can’t declare war on everyone. You must define your enemy to get any use out of your enemy. Always try to define battle as No. 1 versus No. 2., and forget everyone else. The second kind of useful enemy is a public problem. This type of enemy gives you opportunity to define your identity by seizing an issue.
| | Insurance, Financial Services Sales TacticsWritten by Sharron Senter
If you sell insurance, financial services and like, consider following low-cost marketing strategies to help grow your small business. It's important to first acknowledge some of natural barriers to acquiring new clients within insurance and financial services industries. These include, but are not limited to, customers lacking knowledge about your products and, therefore, lacking ability to ask questions, and customers afraid of being ripped off. Unfortunately, insurance and financial salespeople often carry same stigma as used car salespeople. And I'm certain there are some great and honest used car dealers around. It's important to recognize this stigma so you can proactively address it in your marketing plan. Ultimately, to grow your business within insurance and financial services industries you must strive to build an incredible reputation, built on a platform of reliability, honesty and product knowledge. I also encourage you to be very straightforward about your pricing and how you make your money. The fact is, your customer wants to know. Surprise them, and tell them upfront. Here are some marketing strategies I suggest you try. -- First, try teaming up with complementary professionals, such as estate attorneys, business attorneys, financial planners, etc. You'll receive referral business faster from such businesses for two reasons. One, their customers are currently utilizing services for "future" occurrences. Hence, your prospect is already in mindset of planning and spending for future. You now become another product they need to consider for future. Second, there's an implied trust between an estate attorney and her customers. If an estate attorney referred her customers to you, that customer would be more likely to do business with you, than if he/she had simply seen your print ad in a local newspaper. -- Launch a publicity campaign For example, consider submitting a story idea to your local media about, "The Fallacies of Long-term Care Insurance. Who Needs It? What is it? Insider Secrets to Buying Most Comprehensive Plan." I can't stress this next point enough; you must be objective when interviewing for such a story. When being interviewed by media, it's not a chance to "sell" yourself; rather, it's an opportunity to express your knowledge and expertise, and help readers use your knowledge to their benefit. If they like what you have to say, they'll contact you. -- Consider facilitating a bimonthly workshop(s) at your local library or community center called, "The Insider's Point of View to Long-term Care Insurance. Who Needs It, Who Doesn't?" Or, "Age & Long-term Care Insurance, When's The Right Time?" The workshop-tactic is becoming slightly overused. However, I think it's still a very powerful marketing tool. Plus, it's affordable. You simply need to be more imaginative with your topics and headlines. -- Try creating a "Long-term Care Insurance Top 10," fact sheet. It should include detailed content about ins and outs of selecting long-term care insurance, i.e., why, why not? Who qualifies and what are estimated costs? Distribute your fact sheet to prospects, press and various public bulletins, such as library, town hall, Post Office, colleges, doctor and attorney offices, etc. When you're selecting bulletin boards, stick to professional looking boards, rather than just catch-alls. The latter will reduce your professionalism. Some bulletin boards give off impression, "What would she know; she's advertising on a bulletin board." On fact sheet, you're not selling yourself; instead, you're selling benefits/solutions of long-term care insurance with your bio at bottom. If you've done a comprehensive and professional job, readers will contact you.
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