One of the hallmarks of a great business person is how they respond to competition, how they rise above the challenges presented by it, and how they make their business stronger and more competitive in the long run.

Know your Enemy

When a new competitor enters your marketplace, the first step is research. Look at what they’re doing, and how they’re trying to take your customers. In any case, the key is to explain why your product is better, not what your competitor’s product is worse. Bad-mouthing your competitors makes you sound childish, and puts you on the defensive. Instead, just explain why you have the best solution on the market.

Just as important is knowing what your competitors are doing – what services are they providing, where are they advertising, how are they trying to reach your customers, and where do your own marketing efforts overlap with theirs. By understanding exactly what the competition is doing, you stand a much better chance of outmaneuvering them and putting yourself into the most profitable piece of the market.

Keeping your Customers

The key to preventing your competitor’s making inroads into your customer base is by building and maintaining relationships with all of your customers. Of course, this is something that you should do all the time, but is especially important when a new competitor is courting your customers.

Customer relationships are built on two pillars – loyalty and incentives. Loyalty is getting to know your customer, and getting them to like and respect both your business and your product. Loyalty can be analogized to the way you might feel about your favorite restaurant – you keep going back because you know what you’re going to get, and you like it.

However, when you’re confronted with serious competition, your relationships need to go beyond this. It also needs to make financial sense for your customers to stay with you. Provide your loyal customers with incentives – free products, free upgrades, anything to make them know that you appreciate their continued business.

Rise above the Competition

The last thing you want to do when confronted with competition is fight them directly. This will only make you look bad, and cut into your profit margins. The key to beating the competition is rising above the competition. Focus on your unique selling point – what makes your product better than everything else on the market – and stick to it.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

First, we need to consider what exactly we are asking of our intended audience when we use QR codes as part of our marketing plans. Firstly, they require a smartphone to download a QR code reader to read the code in the first place. Then we are expecting them to have the phone nearby whenever they encounter a QR code, and on top of that we have to give them the motivation to actually scan the QR code for its information.   

This is quite a big ask really, so the way you approach the use of QR codes really does matter. Many companies are tempted to simply use a QR code in place of a standard web address on their advertisements and marketing materials, but to be quite honest this is a waste of the user’s time, and a waste of a perfectly good marketing opportunity.

Simply directing your intended audience to your website and hoping that they’ll be intrigued enough to browse the site is a futile effort. The key to getting the most of QR code marketing is to use them as a way for the end user to unlock information, rather than just sending them to a web destination and leaving them to find the rest.

So instead of just sending the user to your homepage, why not send them to a lead generation page where they can sign up for a free report or download your latest audio/video content? Or send them to a live forum where they can interact with both your company and other users to help generate discussion around yourself and the business.

Give them a reason to want to access the code in the first place, and give them exclusive access to valuable information they would otherwise not be able to have. Not only does this give the end user an incentive for accessing your code, but it also provides you with opportunities to capture new leads – which is such a better use of a QR code than simply sending them to your homepage and leaving them there!

The beauty of QR codes mean that you can put one on just about any kind of marketing material, and you can even update the information which is stored in a specific QR code so that you don’t have to keep reprinting them every time you want to create something new. 

This gives you the opportunity to be really creative with the information you choose to store within your codes, and how you choose to distribute them – so consider what information is going to be most beneficial to both your intended audience and to your business in order to make the most of QR code marketing.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

(Image by Stuart Miles)

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

To take a simple example, imagine that you were running a hotel. In looking to make your hotel the best one on the market, you could go onto a site like orbitz or expedia, and look at the reviews of your competitors, the other established hotels in your area and price range. However, by focusing on the lowest reviews, you could find exactly what customers didn’t like about the hotel, and find ways for your product to pick up on opportunities that were missed by your competitors.

You can do this in any industry, and with any type of business. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look, and how to properly turn the negative feedback into useful and constructive advice.

Begin by knowing where to look, and what to look for. This depends primarily upon your industry. There are hundreds of industry-specific review websites and social networks out there, some of them better known than others. Twitter and Facebook are obviously great places to start, as are social media sites like Yelp, provided that they are relevant to your industry.

To find additional review sites, just browse through what people are linking to on Twitter and Facebook, or do a Google search for “your industry + reviews.” You’ll be surprised just how many sites there are out there.

Once you find negative feedback, you’ll need to incorporate what you’ve learned into your business. So if you see a lot of customers complaining about a business practice that is common in your industry (even if the complaints are specifically directed toward your company), then you know to change that practice. For instance, if you see a lot of complaints about online marketers sending out too many useless emails, you might want to take a step back and think about whether you’re personally guilty of that sin.

On the other side, if you see a lot of people complaining about something that doesn’t exist, then you may have found a niche for your business to profitably expand into.

At the end of the day, it’s always good to know what customers are saying about your business, and the other businesses in your industry. And considering that people are 10 times more likely to post a negative comment than a positive one, looking for negativity is a great way to start.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

What’s more, many of the intended users of QR codes are still unaware of their real value or purpose so in this post I’m going to cover some of the basics and discuss the ways businesses can use QR codes within their marketing plans. 

What are QR codes?

The phrase QR code stands for “Quick Response” Code and in its most basic form a QR code is simply a barcode, in which you can encode many different forms of data which can then be read by a QR code reader.

How do they work?

QR codes are slightly different from barcodes, as although they are both a form of two-dimensional code, barcodes can only store data in a horizontal format (which is read through the spaces in between the vertical lines they are made up of), whereas QR codes can encode data both horizontally and vertically – meaning that much more data to be encoded in a smaller space.

How can you use them?

In order to view QR codes you need to download a QR code reader to your android phone (or smartphone as they are also known), and then use the scanner to take a picture of the QR code, which it will then scan and convert or direct you to whatever data has been stored in that code.

QR codes can be encoded with almost any form of data, which means that they can be scanned to show text, images, videos, maps or the entire content of a webpage.

In terms of using QR codes from a business perspective, there are numerous free QR code generators online through which you can create basic and permanent QR codes which you can then place onto any space you like, including giftware, advertising, clothing, printed products, packaging, signage, exhibition materials, as well as being placed in store windows – as they can even be scanned through glass.

You can also purchase QR code systems which can track the combined total of scans a particular code has received, as well as allowing you to produce one code that can have its data changed time and time again – meaning that you could print one code to be distributed and then update the data of this code every time you had a new offer or wanted to change the current promotion you were running, without having to generate and redistribute a new code for each.

How to download a reader to your smartphone

From a user’s point of view, there are a variety of QR code scanners that can be downloaded to most Android phones such as iPhone, Blackberry and HTC. Some newer models now have QR readers built in as standard as QR codes popularity and frequency of use increases.

iPhone

iPhone has a basic free QR code reader app by TapMedia Ltd, but you can upgrade to a HD version by DDQ for £0.69 and there are numerous other customisable versions to buy and download as well.

Blackberry

Blackberry Messenger 5.0 can read basic QR codes but if you are looking for something more sophisticated you can download either the Mobiletag scanner or the I-nigma app for free.

Mobiletag app allows you to create lists of results, track your decode history and search saved scans.

I-nigma allows you to save up to 50 decode results, which you can then share through SMS, Facebook and Twitter.

Other Android Phones

There is a whole heap of great free QR code readers available for other android phones, so here are some other suggestions:

·         QR Droid – free to use and can read, scan and generate QR codes,
·         Quickmark – fast scans and it reads both QR and Martix codes.
·         Redlaser – free, fast and superbly accurate.

QR codes are slowly catching on, as more and more businesses and users are starting to get to grips with how to use them to their advantage, but we seem to still be a fair way from the QR code becoming a staple of the UK marketing industry.

In future posts I will be discussing the ways businesses can really benefit from using QR codes as a legitimate marketing tool – so stay tuned for that.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

As a general rule, creating interest in your product is among the most surefire ways to drive an increase in traffic, and to ultimately drive an increase in sales. Being interested means showing that you care about your customers, and making every possible effort to engage them and please them.

Be Interesting

While it’s never been easier than it is today to create an interesting product, and to generated natural interest around the product, there’s also never been nearly as much competition as there is now.

YouTube is the perfect example – while the popular video-sharing site has made possible the previously unthinkable idea of creating and distributing a video advertisement with no cost associated except the time that it takes you to product it, it has also driven allowed your competitors access to the exact same set of tools.

The key to creating buzz is indirect advertising. In this age where one can access nearly everything they want, totally free of charge, nobody wants to watch an advert. Instead, create a funny or informative video or article, and just include a link to your site. If you can be interesting enough that people share the article, then you be sure to have some of the excess interest spill over onto your website.

Be Interested

However, it’s not sufficient to just be interesting. You must also be interested in your customers. Thanks to the rise of the internet, its now possible to do this better than you ever could before.

Set up a blog and a Facebook fan page where you can see what your customers are saying, and where you can respond to them directly. Modify your marketing efforts to more accurately target your customers, and change your products if your customers are looking for something different.

The rule of being interested also applies to competitors within your industry. Read their adverts, both online and off, to see what they are doing, who they are targeting, and how they are doing it. Read the blogs of industry leaders, comment on them, and share their insights via your Facebook page.

By showing interest in your industry, you’ll not only learn more valuable information, but you’ll ultimately draw more attention to your own site, and your own products. And as we all know – more attention means more sales.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

While the elevator pitch isn’t actually used in elevators (although it could be), the name alludes to the fact that it should ideally take about the same amount of time as a typical elevator ride.

The basic idea of the elevator pitch is to give potential customers an idea of what your business does, why it does it better than your competitors, and how you can translate your past successes into future benefits for them.

Keep it Updated

It’s essential to keep your elevator pitch updated as your business changes, and as your role within your business changes. You wouldn’t air the same commercials year in and year out, would you? Neither should you use the same sales pitch to clients from year to year.

Related to this is the importance of tailoring your speech to different groups of customers. While one subset of customers may care more about the potential cost savings afforded by your product or service, another group may be much more concerned with effectiveness, quick delivery, or any other aspect of your business. Stress the parts of your business that are most likely to appeal to the customer you are currently pitching to.

Nail the Delivery

Like with any kind of face-to-face sales, the key to your elevator pitch is in the delivery. You only really have one chance to delivery your pitch perfectly, which means that you have to understand your customer and understand what they are looking for.

Even more importantly, you have to make your pitch relevant and exciting. Open with an appeal to emotion, with a surprising statistic, or with anything that will catch your potential client’s attention and get him engaged. Once you’ve done this, you  can move into statistics, or the nuts and bolts of what benefits they stand to gain by using your product or service.

Above all, be confident. If you aren’t 110% sure of your product, then nobody else will be either.

Keep your elevator pitch relevant and updated, and when you get a chance to use, make sure that your delivery is perfect. In this way, you can make sure that when you get a chance to speak with a potential customer, you can bring them in every time.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Once your new lead has entered their details and clicked “submit”, they will usually find themselves on a conversion page which will say something like “Thank You, you will receive your report shortly”, confirming that they have been successful in their submission.

Even though these leads will no doubt be followed up through one method or another, for some businesses this is where the importance of the conversion page ends…but should it?

Here are 4 key ways you can optimise your conversion pages to ensure they do much more than simply say thank you and wave goodbye.

Add A “Download Here” Button
These leads have taken the time to fill out your submission form and given you access to their important contact information so the least you can do is give them access to the content they’ve signed up for there and then.

This instant gratification will bode well with some of your new leads, who are very busy and just want everything now. For those who don’t want to have to view and download your content there and then you must, of course, ensure that you email this out to them anyway.

Don’t Just Have A Call To Action – Shout It From The Rooftops!
Your conversion page should already have some type of call to action within it, which encourages your new leads to access further information you have on offer or suggests they enquire for further information – but could you be doing more?

Start by bringing back any navigation on your site which you may have removed to encourage the lead to sign up in the first place – this will give your new leads a chance to have a browse around your site and learn more about the company and your products and services.

On top of this, encourage your new leads to link up with you on your social media sites, and – depending on whether these leads have landed on your company website or your blog – direct them to any alternative sites you may have to encourage further interaction with you.

Make Your Social Sharing Buttons Pride Of Place
The leads which have made it to your conversion page obviously thought enough of the content or deal you were offering to part with their contact details in order to get their hands on it so why not give them the option to share this great offer with their social media followers?

By displaying all manner of social sharing buttons on your conversion page you are allowing your new leads to pass on your information for you BEFORE they leave your site, ensuring that you squeeze this extra advertising from them while they are still enthused about you and your company.

You Have The Gold, Now Make It Valuable
The way you choose to follow up with each of these new leads will be different depending on each company’s current sales and marketing processes, but where possible you should feed all new leads into an on-going email campaign, to ensure that they are consistently being updated with new content and ideas which will make sure they remember you and don’t just take your content and run.

The whole point of a lead generation page is to generate leads so ensure that these are properly monitored and followed up through whichever method suits your company best.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert – Motivational Speaker

Whether you’re embarking on a new marketing campaign, improving your web presence, or simply sending a sales letter to a group of customers, every marketing move you make should fall under the umbrella of your marketing strategy.

Here are a few tips to help make your strategy as effective as possible.

Know the Market

The first thing your strategy should consider is your market. Who are your customers? What do they want? What do they want for free, what are they willing to pay for, and how much will they pay for it?

When you are rolling out a new product, you should have a picture in your mind of precisely who is going to buy it. If you don’t, then you should be doing a lot more research ahead of time.

Find your Niche

Every product and service on the market should be there as an answer to some need or problem. Moreover, what differentiates your product from your competitors’, and why should your potential customers choose you. Your marketing strategy should attempt to answer these questions.

Define your Goals

This is perhaps the most significant part of your marketing strategy. When you’ve identified who you are going to sell to, and on which basis you’re going to promote your product, you need to define a plan to move people from conviction to action.

In other words, convincing your potential customers that your product is the best product on the market is one thing, but how are you actually going to get them to open up their wallets and buy your product?

There are a number of ways that you can do this, including directing customers to your website, or getting them on the phone so that you can drive them to action personally. Whatever option you choose, it needs to be defined in detail beforehand. All the advertising in the world won’t get you anywhere if it doesn’t leave people with a definite channel through which they can buy your product.

Test your Results

Testing is the final key to any marketing strategy. You will never get everything perfect ahead of time. Your marketing roadmap should ideally be in a constant state of flux. As you implement new marketing campaigns, you should be testing what works and what doesn’t work. Improve on the good, and get rid of the bad.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is the new SEO and it can do wonders for your business in terms of generating more leads and increasing awareness of your brand – so how can you optimise your corporate social media accounts to get the most out of them in 2012?

Well, there are two basic components to any good SMO campaign. Firstly, you need to link your social media sites to your website and blog content through the likes of social media share buttons. By adding a Facebook “like” button, a “Tweet This” button or Google Plus’ “+1” button to your content your audience can easily share your content with others and give recommendation to your work, which any visitors to your site will be able to see through the number of likes and shares each your posts or pages have had.

The second component to a successful SMO campaign comes from the contributions you make yourself – by providing high quality content which continuously engages your audience, then sharing this to all of your social media platforms yourself so that all of your followers have regular updates to keep them interested.

It is also very important when creating improved SMO for your business that either you yourself, your marketing team or your company as a defined brand itself interacts with your audience directly, through posting comments on your own sites, interacting with your followers and engaging in discussion and debate on other relevant blogs and forums. Simply plastering your content all over your social media platforms is not enough – you need to engage your audience and interact with them in a way which drives discussion and sparks further interest.

In basic terms, in order to be successful with SMO your content needs to be engaging and up-to-date, and it needs to be made easy for your audience to share this content across as many social media platforms as possible.

SMO is just as important for your business as SEO has been, as not only can it drive traffic to your sites, creating increased lead generation and in turn boost your sales, but it is also aimed at increasing your direct contact with your current followers – which in turn will push your online reach out across your targeted markets and allow you to engage with more and more potential clients.

The main downfall with pursuing an SMO campaign is that it can be very time consuming, and if you don’t have a dedicated team to push SMO it can be very difficult to maintain a strong online presence for your business – so look out for future posts about some great online tools which can help streamline your social media efforts and increase SMO in one foul swoop.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert – Motivational Speaker

If you’re interested in taking your email marketing to the next level this year, consider these simple tests before you hit the send button.

Apply the Scientific Method

Treat your explorations in email marketing like scientific experiments. Apply the scientific method, so that you can be sure that you’re learning from everything you do. Do this by establishing a meaningful hypothesis, taking test samples, and taking accurate measurements.

If you can remember back to junior high school, a hypothesis is an educated guess of what you expect will happen. For instance, you could hypothesise that doubling the frequency of your email will drive your click-through rates from 20% to 50%. Or you could hypothesise that doubling your email frequency would cut 20% from your subscriber list over 2 weeks (in this case, you shouldn’t complete the experiment).

Test samples are a crucial part of the email marketing process. When you want to implement a slightly new strategy, you should never be sending it to your entire subscriber list at the same time. Instead, take a small sample, one who you think will be most receptive to the change, and send it only to them. Based on their response, you can then implement whatever changes in frequency or content you’ve made to your whole list.

Lastly, make sure that every change you’re making to your email marketing campaign is being measured for optimisation. This means that if you make a change in the frequency that you’re sending out emails, then you should be measuring the effects on click-through rates (hopefully higher) as well as the effect on subscriber rates (if too many people are un-subscribing based on a change you made, you may want to think about changing it back).

Add Value

The golden rule of marketing is doubly true over email. Only send your readers something if it is of value to them. And don’t forget the corollary to that rule – don’t send anything to you subscribers if it doesn’t have specific value to them.

The readers of your website, and the people who gave you their email addresses and asked you to send them information did so because they are interested in you, your information, and the products and services that you provide. Take that information and use it wisely. They want to be sold to, but only if you have something of value.

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker