Top 10 Trigger Words That Move Buyers

• Limited: People like scarcity. This applies to companies with a unique product, such as a limited time offer.
• Save/Discount: These terms can be used interchangeably, but “save” is usually more popular. People like to save time and money, they like seeing discounts. Most retail stores raise prices in order to give discounts. For example, a 50% discount is actually only 5-10% off from what they usually charge. They do this because people like to see the words “discount” or “save.” These are trigger words that force or create the sale.
• New: “New” is somewhat similar to “limited.” Products that are new are desirable. For example: LCD and 3D TVs. Some people simply want to have the latest technology.
• You/Your: These words make things more personal. People feel more comfortable when things are personal and are triggered to make the purchase as a result.
• Fast/Quick: When needs can be fulfilled quickly, people are happy. For example, an insurance company could make an offer stating insurance purchased in the next hour will be placed on the plan the following day. These trigger words get people excited and get them to take action quickly.
• Proven/Guaranteed: Drugs approved by the FDA are an example: they are proven to work. Pharmaceutical companies can guarantee that their drugs work. Other examples would be a roadside assistance company guaranteeing that a flat tire can be fixed within the next hour. Guarantees eliminate risk and create comfort, thus moving people forward in their purchasing decisions.
• Easy/Simple: People don’t want complicated purchases. They don’t want a piece of furniture that comes with a diagram of multiple steps that takes 10 hours to assemble. These are great words to use in sales letters and emails.
• Bonus: If a customer buys a coffee table they may get a bonus of a vase. Kitchen appliances may come with bonus item (e.g. a stove top might come with a bonus microwave), etc.
• Free: Everybody loves free stuff. If you give away things for free like free sample platters at a grocery store, you will trigger more responses. There isn’t any risk because it’s free. After trying a sample, they begin to crave it and desire it, and they might purchase the item when it isn’t free.
• Money/Sex: These two words trigger people very quickly, and get them to think about desires and emotions in the moment. For example, a bonus of a lump sum of money that is a limited time offer and guarantees more money is likely to escalate a buyer during the purchase decision.

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So, let me show you the way I break it down and we will do 3-month section in this example but you can do a 6-month, or an 8-month, or a 12-month plan, or what ever your time horizon is for your campaign, then that’s the way you plan it out and you might have multiple campaigns going on at any one time and certain campaigns interlinking with one another at any one time. So keep an open mind that this is just a base structure of how you can kind of look at it in a campaign fashion month to month. So I have it broken down in 3-month span at month one, month two, month three.

Month 1

In each month I put a primary goal. Now you can have a month before this such as you know creating content and information or getting your website up. You know, what ever your goal is, those are the things that I have here in purple. So in this section in month one, we are going to have collecting the assets and by assets I mean things like email address, phone number, regular address, anything that is helpful to get client information or client data.

Month 2

In month two it is going to be all about networking and in month three it is going to be a lot about the launch and the selling side of things. Okay, so in month one what I like to do is you might have a list of things, or tactics, or techniques that you go through with collecting the assets. Okay, so you might do things like give away information, giving away information such as PDF or educational material in order to get an email address or an asset. Then you might have something like referrals, so any time somebody refers another person they will, you will collect their email address and so on, and they get an incentive.

So you might do something with referrals and getting word-of-mouth to spread in that way but again, your goal is to collect new assets, and then you might do something like a contest. You might throw a contest and win a price. It will get new people to sign up for your product, service, or business by throwing a contest and help create new assets. Again, so these are just a couple things that you might do. Of course you can have huge list of things or just do one or two of them depending on the size of your campaign and depending on your goals.

In month two, you are going to do a lot of networking. Again these are just primary goals for this example but you can have any kind of campaign or sequence that you want. But in month two let’s say we are focused on networking and in order to network let’s say I want to focus a little bit on blogging or content creating. You know, in that way I can intermix and cut-connect to other blogs out there depending on the type of website that you have.

And then I might do another tactic or technique which would be creating partnerships. So maybe creating partnerships with other local vendors or companies near my area and in that way when I am ready to do my lunch sequence they can help push my lunch so that is kind of creating partnerships or affiliate programs and connecting with people that way. And then the next thing you can do is create or distribute kind of your social media network, so you are going to grow your social media presence and that is all kind of part in networking. In my eyes, again, you might have more things, you might have less things, and what you focus on is again determined based on the campaign that you are going to have.

Month 3

Then in month three let’s say you have the launch and the sell part. And in here, when you are ready to launch you will have your initial sales that you push through by the assets that you collected. Okay, so all these assets that you collected you go over here and you start doing your initial sales pushing it, either emailing it to people or you are sending it through regular mail, post mail, phone calls, or what ever information or assets that you collected that is your initial sales push, I guess. You can entice it and do a pull technique but let’s just say for now just to keep things simple you do your initial sales push.

Then you can notify your partners, the partners that you created or the affiliate people that, “My product is ready for launch. My product is ready for release and my website is ready.” What ever the campaign is revolved around whether to Christmas sale or a Thanksgiving sale, you can now have your partner say, “Okay things are on sale. Check out our partner’s website.” and obviously they will get like a commission, or some kind of incentive, or a future down the road some kind of deal or break. So now all of a sudden you have your partnerships pushing your sales as well. And then finally the referral sales, so all these people that already purchased your initial product if they bring in a referral they might get a commission or something like that and that helps great word-of-mouth.

It generates tons of buzz so and because they are doing word-of-mouth, the sales, the sell-through ratio, or the sell-through rate is much higher than as opposed to just try to find new clients or new assets and push them that way.

Summary

I hope you can see how these all ties together you know, I broke it down in three months again as just as an example. You know, my primary goal for month one let’s say would be to collect the assets and then my primary goal would be within that networking but that doesn’t mean you cannot be collecting assets as your networking, so that’s why I started it first because even throughout this process I can still be collecting assets.

When I get to networking I can still be networking up until my launchers or sell date. Okay so and then when this happens then I have a tons of assets, I have built up my network and I am ready to follow through on the sales, or push my product, or campaign, or my insensitive, or what ever my campaign was structured under. So I hope you can see how these campaigns with the calendar really works and functioned.

Again, like I mentioned you can add a month preceding this or before this and do things related to content or creating your website and again doing the structures if you want to end or put up month between here talking about SEO and gaining recognition with SEO, then that could be a part of your campaign as well. So there’s a lot of ways to restructure this campaign diagram but you can kind of see the benefits that it has as supposed to just putting up a ton of techniques and just kind of shooting, hitting, missing on different techniques. It actually creates a sequence for you to go through versus just shooting in the dark sort of saying.

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Price Juxtaposition

• Cheaper than… You can promote that a product you are selling (e.g. a book) is cheaper than a  price of a gallon of milk, and and in this book you are going to learn 10 tips that will enhance your business. You are juxtaposing a product to something that is tangible. You want the tangible item to be something that is very well known. It should be simple and easy to understand.
• Less than… You could state that you are selling a song for less than the cost of a postage stamp. Juxtapose the prices. When you use this juxtaposition, you are essentially asking your audience, “It is less than the price of a postage stamp, why wouldn’t you buy it?” Most people think that is a good deal, and subsequently go out and purchase the product.
• As much as… This is essentially the reverse of the “less than” technique. E.g. A restaurant could promote that eating at their restaurant is going to offer as much value as eating at a high end restaurant. You are comparing that your product is as good as something else.
• More than… The value that you will get out of this product is going to be more than you would pay for something else. E.g. This mansion is worth more than a high rise apartment in downtown New York City.

The goal is to juxtapose your product to something that others already know well. It should be something  they can easily compare price-wise. Whether or not you use price juxtaposition depends on your sales pitch, your sales concept, and your business model. I highly recommend it for a lot of different businesses. When people don’t know your product, it gives them a sense of its value. Simple number figures (i.e. $3,000 or $50) doesn’t allow consumers to compare the product to something else, or give them a sense of the value they are receiving with the item. If a consumer sees that a product is cheaper than their TV, they can easily ask themselves if it is worth it.

This can also be done on a personal level, rather than only with price. You can juxtapose revenue, gross, any kind of figure or value. For instance, if someone asks what you sold your last website or blog for you can say it was similar to the price of a Ferrari or Lamborghini, without actually disclosing the figures. You can juxtapose it to the value or the price of something else that people can easily comprehend and understand.

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• Maintain Relationship: By sending a gift, you build upon the relationship slightly. It doesn’t have to be a large gift. It keeps the relationship friendly, similar to how you tend to send gifts from time to time to loved ones and family members (e.g. a simple card, a phone call, etc). As a result, the relationship slowly starts to grow.
• Reminder Factor: Not everybody is going to remember your business or company name. Business relationships are different than personal relationships, and people tend to forget. For example, customers might forget what company cleaned their carpets. If a company sends a card or reminder, customers are more likely to remember. If you are consistent with these reminders it will be more ingrained into customers’ minds.
• Enhances Your Value: By sending gifts to your customers, it escalates your business. You will be able to charge higher prices than competing businesses because you have built relationships with your customers. You have raised your value and customers get more out of working with you than with someone else. You are higher positioned in your customer’s mind.
• Shows Humility/Care: Some businesses don’t care that much about their customers and clients. By sending a gift you show that you value them. For example, some dentist offices follow up the day after an appointment with a phone call to check in to see how the patient is doing.  The care factor is substantial when you send something tangible to your client or customer.

These gifts don’t have to be big, they can be simple and can relate to something you know about your customer or client. Know what their likes and interests are, or what can help their business.

Examples of Bonuses

• Books: Send a book about their business, business development, or business enhancement; perhaps a book your are reading. Books are always beneficial for enhancing and growing businesses.
• CD/DVD: Courses, seminars, something you have seen in the past, or something you have found helpful for yourself. This doesn’t necessarily mean music CDs, but that can be decided based on your field (e.g. audio or video production, or something similar).
• Gift Card: These are great if you know what the recipient enjoys. General gift cards such as those to Amazon work well as there are various products to choose from.
• Cards/Birthdays: Cards show that you care, especially if sent on birthdays.
• Flowers/Candy: These are not overly common, but can be helpful when showing sympathy. If you know your customer enjoys a particular type of candy you could pick up quality chocolate when overseas, etc.
• Event Tickets: Something that you can do with the customer works great because it will help to build the relationship further. You can also give a few tickets that they can use with their family or loved ones (e.g. concert ticket, hot hair balloon ride, etc).
• Personalized Items: Any business items that are personalized with a name, insignia, or business name. Examples are binders, folders, a clock, etc. You could also sign the item with your name or business name. These items can be placed on their desk or table and will be a reminder that you gave it to them.

These are the main reasons that I send out bonuses or gifts to my customers. The gifts don’t have to be complicated, they can be very simple. Gifts can be given once a month, every six months, etc, depending upon the relationship you have with that client or customer. The item that you send can be determined based on the type of relationship you have. It can be as simple as a birthday card, or as luxurious as a vacation getaway. Imagine getting that from one of your customers.

Bonuses and gifts maintain the relationship, it reminds them of you, enhances your value in the future, and it shows that you are humble and care about people. Instead of just pushing your business, give them something back for being such a good customer. An investment of $25 worth of flowers might come back to you in $4,000-$5,000 worth of consultations, services, or products that they purchase over the next year or two.

If you don’t currently send out gifts or bonuses, try it. I highly recommend it. You’ll be astonished at the results.

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Basically, upselling and downselling is a way to sell more product/inventory, or service, if a customer or client doesn’t want the initial product or service that is offered.

Upselling/Downselling of Products

Fashion/Shoe

• Downselling: The primary product of a shoe designer or shoe company is shoes.  If the customer doesn’t want shoes, they might want to buy something else of lesser value. This is downselling. You can sell something similar like flip flops, or something much less in value like socks, odor control products, shoe inserts, etc. The goal is to have items somewhat related to your primary product, but of a lesser value. For example, if the shoes range from $50-$200, the flip flops might be $15 and the socks and odor control products might be $5. The point is that the flip flops and other products are of lesser value than the shoes.
• Upselling: With upselling you are thinking of what else you can offer the customers. Upselling is offering an additional product. If you sell shoes, you might also sell handbags. The hand bags can be in the same price range, or at a higher price range than the shoes. You could also sell jewelry and other related items. We start with shoes: If they don’t want shoes, what can we offer them? Flip flops, socks, etc. If they do buy the shoes, what else can we offer them of similar or higher value? Handbags, jewelry, etc.
• Summary: Typically upsells are of equal or greater value to the main product and downsells are of lesser value, and are items that customers can afford. There can be multiple downsells and upsells within one store.

Upselling/Downselling of Services

Photography: Session is $200

• Upselliing: If they purchase the session, an album can also be available for purchase ($100-$200) and/or you can offer a more expensive session in the future (e.g. a wedding session). If they don’t want the album, you can downsell and offer prints.
• Downselling: If a client doesn’t purchase a session, what else can you offer? One option is to offer just prints of pictures they already have ($10-$20 for prints).

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Types of Testimonials

• Text: One of the easiest testimonials to get is a textual testimonial. It can be simple text on your website that states what the reviewer liked, didn’t like, how you helped their company, etc.
• Image: Image based testimonials have the reviewer’s company logo or face behind the testimonial. Visual testimonials are very beneficial now because they create even more trust than just a textual testimonial.
• Video: If someone is willing to go on camera and give a testimonial directly about one of your products or services, this is powerful.
• Personal: This testimonial  is more one-on-one, it is word of mouth. For example, you meet a friend for lunch and give a testimonial about another company. This is also very powerful.

Success Tips for Receiving Testimonials

• Ask for it: Customers and clients don’t come out of the blue and offer to give a testimonial. Every now and then it might happen, but a lot of times you have to ask for it.
• Timing: Timing is critical when it comes to testimonials. If you ask for a testimonial six or eight months after something has happened, people have already forgotten. They don’t remember exactly what happened and they are no longer in that happy, euphoric state. It is important to time testimonials correctly. Ask for the testimonial in the middle or at the end of the job, whatever is most appropriate for your situation. For instance, I don’t often give many photo session anymore, but  I gave one bride a great price to do a photo session, and decided to have fun with it. I offered to do it for 80% off my regular price; it was basically a cost-only session, and they [the bride and groom] were euphoric, and I asked for a testimonial and a referral in return.
• Make it easy: Once you complete a task or a job, send a form or send a few examples of testimonials so that they know what you’re looking for (e.g. a one liner or three paragraphs). Some book writers who ask for testimonials on the back cover, pre-write the testimonials and then send 5-7 of the testimonials to another author or magazine, and the author or magazine will check off which testimonial they wish to use. You can do something similar if it works for your company. It is a way to make it easier on the reviewer.
• Be thankful: Be thankful for the testimonial and the time that was put into it, especially if the reviewer did the writing, sent in a picture, or sent a video. If it is a person with major credibility, you might want to send them a gift as a thank you.

Testimonials are important in most businesses. Make sure to reply back after receiving the testimonial. If you tell the reviewer that the testimonial is up on your website, they might send it to others. It is a way for you to put viral marketing into the mix with your testimonial page.

The post Understanding the Basic Concept of Testimonials and How to Get Them! appeared first on MarketingKite.

Five Ways to Compete

1. Price

Typically the default is price. It is the default because when there is little information and when people don’t know the product or service, they default to price. If something is a higher price it is thought of as being higher quality [than its lower priced counterpart]. If something is lower in price, it is considered lower quality than the higher priced item. For example, diamonds are not overly easy to learn about: people either default to price or they need to gain education to learn about them.

2. Service

You can compete on service. If your service is much better than another company’s service, you should be able to charge a higher price. The better service and customer relationships you have, the more you can charge your customer or clients.

3. Delivery

The way you deliver or produce the final product or service has a large impact on how much you are going to make on that product or service. For example, if you are going to purchase a Buick Lasabre, or a basic car, you might get a simple hand shake or a thank you. Whereas, if you purchase a Lamborghini or a Ferrari you might get the royal treatment. They might give you dinner before or after, bring you wine, appetizers, etc. The way a company handles and delivers something is very important. For example, the signature blue box from Tiffany’s. The blue box, in people’s mind, makes the delivery that much better, and Tiffany’s is able to charge a higher price. They are able to compete in this area.

4. Sales Capacity

This means that if you are a better sales person, have better marketing, or have a better brand than another company, then you can charge a higher price. The salesmanship of you or your company is that much better.

5. Quality

Think of a Ferrari versus a basic Honda or Toyota. The quality of your product or service will dictate how high you are able to price it.

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1. Prioritize

Many people do not prioritize their tasks. They focus on techniques and tactics, but they don’t prioritize what they need to get done. For example, they perform tasks in the evening instead of in the morning, they are stressed out and overworked. You want to make sure the primary tasks that you need to accomplish, that help grow your business, are done in the morning. You don’t want to necessarily respond to emails and phone calls first thing in the morning. If there is a video you need to shoot, shoot the video in the morning. If one of your primary tasks is  link promotion or track back links, then do that first. If you are a writer and you need to write blog posts throughout the day then do them in the morning and make them a priority. Do it before you get to the computer and interact with a lot of clients.

2. Counter-Intuitive

Do things that are out of the box and out of your comfort zone. If you are constantly doing the same things over and over again, you are going to continue to get the same results. If you prioritize and do things that are a little out of your comfort zone, it is going to help you grow as a person, and it is going to grow your business as well. For example, if you are not very skilled with speaking on video, you should practice speaking on video, or at least speak without the camera on. If you are not strong with face-to-face interactions with customers, you might want to go speak with people at the mall and simply try to start a conversation. These types of activities will help you grow and gain experience, and you can apply them to other areas of your business.

3. Speed of Implementation

This is very important because a lot of people (both clients and customers) say that they want a website, but they are still saying they want a website years later and still don’t have it. When you want to do something and you make it a priority, even if it is hard for you, you are going to do it fast. If you do it fast you are able to try it and see if it works. That is the point of speed of implementation. If you don’t take care of a priority fast enough then it gets prolonged day after day.  Instead, you could do it quickly and test it out. It might work or it might not, but at least you know and are able to try something else if it doesn’t work. If it does work you are able to reap the benefits earlier on.

Prioritize. Do things that are counter-intuitive (things that are out of the box, listen to a mentor, get guidance, something that pushes you to do something different), and finally, do it quickly. Many people struggle with these three things because they are constantly online and checking their email first. They are not making things that are of higher value, that help them grow their business, a priority. They tend to do things that are reactive versus proactive. They like to stay in their comfort zone and 90% of people stay there and don’t change. In order for your business to grow you have to take that step quicker than most people and do things that are counter-intuitive, or difficult for you. I highly recommend that you take a look at yourself and consider how you are prioritizing, if you are doing things that are hard for you, and if you are doing them quickly. If you’re not, take note of this and start implementing these three things as quickly as possible so that your business can grow as rapidly as possible.

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I will go over exactly what tactics and campaigns are. A tactic is an item or a technique that you can implement in your business and/or website. A campaign is structured around various tactics, it has a central goal and a central focus based on the results you want to achieve. People tend to move from tactic to tactic with no real focus. The following is an example of tactics that may be used.

Tactics

• Article Writing
• Link Exchange
• Facebook Ads
• Video Creation
• Paid Ads, Pay Per Clicks (PPC)

The list keeps going. There are constant techniques and tactics. A company typically jumps from one to the next when a certain tactic isn’t successful or giving the results they desire. There isn’t a focus around any of the tactics.

A campaign is extremely different. It is focused around a sequence. I typically use three to six month, or one year campaigns for each project I work on with my clients. Here is an example:

Campaigns

• Month 1 – Create Content: Creating content is similar to article writing and video creation tactics, but are focused to the first month.
• Month 2 – Network: Networking and link exchange fall into the same category.
• Month 3 – Collect Assets: This refers to getting contact information of possible clients (emails, home addresses, phone numbers, etc).
• Month 4 – Contribute and Sell: This is similar to the tactic of Facebook ads or PPC ads.
• Month 5 – Re-Contribute and Upsell (or Downsell to people that haven’t purchased yet)

Your campaign might include six or twelve months depending on the results you are trying to get. There are thousands of tactics, some work and others don’t. You might get lucky with some, but they aren’t a campaign–they are much different. Start focusing on campaigns within your business, and start structuring them on a month to month basis. Get a three to six month plan on how to deliver your campaign based on the goal you want to achieve.

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For the first example I will use the search term “wedding photography New York” in Google. I am using this term because New York has a lot of competition in photography. You don’t have to worry too much about the organic listings. I am going to use www.emmacleary.com as an example. One way to check the link popularity is to type in “link popularity checker” to Google and to check the stats after filling out a form; however, this isn’t the most efficient way to check links as the tools are constantly changing. It’s important to check out the website to see how they are actually doing the linking so that it can be replicated. Let’s say that www.emmacleary.com is my competition. The most efficient way to check the link is as follows:

• Type in: “link: www.emmacleary.com/” (make sure to leave a space after “link:” or the results will not be accurate) 23,000 links come up in the search.
• Click on one of these links
• Press ctrl+F and type www.emmacleary.com into the Find search box. This will bring you to the links on the page.
• After doing this, we find that this website has links to Emma Cleary’s site. If we are competitors of her’s, it would be strategic to submit pictures to this website and to ask for a link. Do good things for them and they will give it back.
• The goal is to locate websites that add value to the www.emmacleary.com site and to try to get added to these websites as well. Link directories don’t need too much focus, but they don’t hurt. Top rated websites are important. Collect a list of high quality websites and submit your link to these sites.

I used www.ryanbrenizer.com as a second example. I found a website that wrote about him and linked his website. This is what you are looking for, these are high quality sites and links. He created content and it got posted. You can click the link to see why the person on the website linked to www.ryanbrenizer.com in the first place. After clicking the link, we learn that Ryan Brenizer wrote an article with an interesting title and a detailed review of a camera. This detailed article gets linked back because of its quality content. There are 1,650 likes and shares. He built that content through trust and loyalty. Content plays a huge roll in getting links.

You want to study your competition by searching their URL and researching who and what type of content is linking back to their website. Find out why they are getting the top rated results for that link popularity. Contact these websites and owners, and create similar content on the same level. Make content that is unique, but related to what people are craving.

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Most website are image based and are formatted like brochures or pamphlets that do not have a direct or final call to action. They might have an about page, a home page and product information, but there aren’t specific steps that the user goes through because the site wasn’t thought out logically. In fact, you should have a purchasing sequence that goes step by step: on the first page, build trust; next, teach the visitor something or give them content to view; third, prompt them to take action (call your company, or add your product to their cart); fourth, tell them to make a purchase and checkout. You need that sequence of steps. If you don’t guide buyers through that funnel, typically they will get confused and won’t know where to go next because there isn’t a logical framework to go through in order to get to the end results. Of course you want them to purchase your product, but if there isn’t a step by step guide, how do you expect them to get there? You can’t jump from step one to step four.

I will give you examples. First, I will show you what most people use. Their websites are set up like brochures. 95% of websites do this. Next, I will show you an example of an actual purchasing sequence on my website that is simple to understand. They can get more detailed than the example I will provide, but I’ll show you how it is done our photography site. It is an example of the proper way to set up a purchasing sequence.

Purchase Sequence Used By Most Websites

Example 1

• In Google, I searched for “tennis lesson St. Petersburg, FL”
• I went to the St. Petersburg Tennis Center website (I’m not trying to nitpick a  website in particular, I am just randomly reviewing a website like any company would).
• The central focus of the site, starting at the top and working down, is the logo, contact information and hours. This is basically a brochure website, it gives content in various places and your eyes are unsure of where to go next. The most important thing to note is that there isn’t a specific sequence. If you click on the links at the top of the page, there is information to read, but they don’t prompt the visitor to do anything more.

Example 2

• Next, I  Googled “horse back riding lessons in Tampa,” and went to the Horsepower For Kids website
• Their site lists events, a thank you message for visiting, and the focus of the site is the link to “click here for the calendar”. There is not a sequence. Once you are done with the calendar, then what?
• If I start with the links at the top of the page and work left to right, there is information on deals, an about page, etc.
• After viewing these sites, you can get an idea of what I’m talking about: the lack of a step by step sequence.

Now I will show you an example of a correct purchase sequence on one of my websites.  My photography site is very simple to understand, so I like to use it as an example.

Correct Purchase Sequence

Example: dakovphotography.com

• There are links across the top: “about,” “services,” “portfolio,” etc, and there is an eye-catching banner.
• Just under the banner is the first thing the viewer should do. In a yellow box is the text: “Don’t book any wedding photographer until you watch our FREE recorded video message. Click Here.” It tells them (the visitor) what to do. It doesn’t say “do you want to watch it?” or “if you want to watch it,” there aren’t any questions involved. It tells them, “Click Here.” Be specific, tell them what you want them to do.
• Under the yellow box is a bit more information. This isn’t necessary to read, but will be helpful if the visitor decides not to click to see the video message.
• After the added text is an additional prompt to watch the video. It is in red, bold lettering. The prompt of what to do next is in two locations.
• If/when the visitor clicks on the link, it takes them to the video with a prompt that says “Press Play.” There is a recorded video message that goes step by step. It is a five part video course series that discusses the photography and videography services and options based on the clients’ needs. There are a lot of videos, but if people are interested,  they will watch it. The videos are long, but it isn’t about the length, it’s about the content. As Joe Polish says, people will watch the content if it’s interesting. It’s interesting or uninteresting; it’s related or unrelated. The visitors are my target market, they are interested in the content. The amount of time that a bride spends planning and researching for the wedding is more time than most people spend learning their marital roles and in marriage counseling. The [wedding planning] process is extensive and the brides will watch it.
• By the time they get to the videos there is about a 99% conversion ratio.
• They start at the home page, they click to view the video, they go through an intensive course, and by the time they are done with the videos they can see exactly how I deliver my product (e.g. CDs), why my prices are higher than other photographers’; they understand how to fill out the contract (there is a video specifically on filling out the contract, it saves me time and energy), they call me, and their wedding gets booked. It’s about a 100% conversion ratio if they go through the sequence. That is what a buying sequence is, it is a step by step process. If you compare it to the other websites I showed you, you’ll understand that theirs is a plethora of information, and you have no idea what to do next.
• Let’s say the visitor didn’t go on the homepage, but was interested and went to my portfolio. If they go to the wedding packages under the “services” tab, the number one thing I tell them is to click the link to the sequence in the yellow box at the top of the page.   Once the visitor goes through the sequence, you want prompt them to do whatever it is you need them to do: call you, add a product to their cart, etc.

Tell them to take an action. Predetermine what the action is, think out your process, and create a website based on your plan. A lot of people don’t think about that and simply create a website where you end up seeing things like “thank you for visiting our website.” That statement pretty much says goodbye, in my opinion. Create a step by step process that you want your buyers/visitors to go through so that you can convert the sale over, and have a higher conversion ratio.

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With buying domains and choosing a name, I typically like to use alliteration, the same first letter used in every word in a phrase (i.e. Block Bluster or Dunkin’ Donuts). A name with alliteration that creates a mnemonic device works well. You can view our other section on choosing names and business name development for more information.

I alwyas purchase a dot com over an other extension. Definitely try to purchase a dot com because it’s already ingrained in everyone’s mind. Choose a dot com whether it is an organization or a network of businesses. People always default to a dot com so that is why I always recommend it. Another question I always get is whether I should purchase the dot nets and dot org of the same domain name. I would say don’t worry about it, especially if you are a small business. It isn’t necessary unless you are trying to protect your brand or image very specifically, like Coca-Cola for example. Also try to keep the domain name under three words. I say three because three is easy to remember; however, try to focus on two if possible. It is okay to use a weird or wacky name (think of Google and Yahoo), it’s unique, but you won’t have the keywords that will boost your rankings in the search engines. Take all of this into consideration when choosing your domain name.

Preparing to Purchase a Domain

• The first thing I do when choosing a domain name, is search for a list of nouns and compile a list of them in Excel.
• Next, I do the same thing with lists of verbs and adjectives.
• If you have a word you know you want to use, for example “tennis,” place the word “tennis” in column A, your list of nouns in column B, and “.com” in column C in Excel. This way you can view several possible domain names all in one place. If you decide to change the word “tennis” to something else, for example “fitness” you can sub that in instead.
• Once you have narrowed down your choices and have compiled a list of all possible domain name options, visit GoDaddy.com. You will see a link for a “bulk search.” Copy and paste your list into the bulk domain search.
• Before copy and pasting your list directly into the bulk domain search, paste it into any word processing program (like Microsoft Word, WordPress, etc) and be sure to use ctrl+F to find unnecessary spaces. Use the “replace all” function to quickly eliminate all unwanted spaces. The domain search will only work correctly if unnecessary spaces are deleted. The bulk domain search can search up to 500 domain name possibilities at one time.
• Once the spaces are deleted and your formatted domain name list is ready, paste it into the bulk domain search box and click “go.” This will show you all of the domain names in your list that are available.
• Copy and paste this list of available domains and save them for your records. Now you are free to work through the list and weed out domains you do not want to use. For example, try to eliminate domains with triple letters, such as: fitnessstretch.com

Using GoDaddy.com

• The first thing I do when choosing a domain name is search for a list of nouns and compile a list of them in Excel.
• Next, I do the same with lists of verbs and adjectives.
• If you have a word you know you want to use, for example “tennis,” place the word “tennis” in column A, your list of nouns in column B, and “.com” in column C in Excel. This way you can view several possible domain names all in one place. If you decide to change the word “tennis” to something else, for example “fitness” you can sub that in instead.
• Once you have narrowed down your choices and have compiled a list of all possible domain name options, visit GoDaddy.com. You will see a link for a “bulk search.” Copy and paste your list into the bulk domain search.
• Before copy and pasting your list directly into the bulk domain search, paste it into any word processing program (like Microsoft Word, WordPress, etc) and be sure to use ctrl+F to find unnecessary spaces. Use the “replace all” function to quickly eliminate all unwanted spaces. The domain search will only work correctly if unnecessary spaces are deleted. The bulk domain search can search up to 500 domain name possibilities at one time.
• Once the spaces are deleted and your formatted domain name list is ready, paste it into the bulk domain search box and click “go.” This will show you all of the domain names in your list that are available.
• Copy and paste this list of available domains and save them for your records. Now you are free to work through the list and weed out domains you do not want to use. For example, try to eliminate domains with triple letters, such as: fitnessstretch.com
• Once you work through your list, you’ll have a much smaller selection.

This is a very effective and efficient way to check domain names.

Using Domains Bot and Dot-O-Mator

There is another way to check domains. It is called Domains Bot (domainsbot.com). It is similar to the GoDaddy.com search box, but it will provide additional suggestions that are similar to your original search term. There is also a domain generator for wacky, unique names. This is called Dot-o-mator (dotomator.com). Simply visit the site  and click “generate name” and it will give suggestions of unique names such as “jabberdrive,” “oyondo,” “digifeed,” “jumppoint,” etc. Many of these are a combination of two words. This is the reason I like to choose domains based on one keyword and one noun.

I hope these tips help you to purchase a domain quickly and help you to think through the process. If you are looking to use your own name you can simply search for your name on GoDaddy.com to check if it is available. Again, I highly recommend using a dot com as that is what people default to when searching for websites.

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For example, let’s say you don’t know what to look for when purchasing an airplane. Typically, people think, the higher the price of the airplane, the better it is. The same thing happens with cars. People perceive more expensive cars (e.g. a Ferrari or a Maserati) to be better than less expensive cars. The same thing goes for items on a lower value scale (e.g. toilet paper or tooth brushes). Customers think the better product is the more expensive product. A lot of people are afraid to raise their rates and prices in their own business because they feel they need to compete on price. That is not the only area you need to compete in. There are many other factors that you can use to be competitive, you do not have to rely on price only. The perceived value that people get from higher rates is actually a great thing for business owners. If you raise your rates you can begin catering to higher end clients and bigger corporations. Target those people instead of worrying about lower end clientele. They will be more willing to purchase your product because they will feel that you have a sustainable product that will give them decent return on their investment.

Don’t be afraid to raise your prices and rates. Remember that the perception of value is determined based on the belief that higher priced items are usually better; it is natural to think that way even though that might not always be the case.

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For example, when you buy a computer, you can purchase a package complete with a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. The total of the package is less than if you bought all of those items individually. If you are the seller in this circumstance, you are actually making a higher revenue. Even if you are only making a little more on the mouse and the keyboard, you are still turning over more inventory and earning more. Packages are also common in the photography industry because u sing an a la carte style with photography can get confusing due to the multitude of options.

Here is an example of a bundle in the fashion industry: a customer purchases shoes, a scarf, a bracelet and a dress all for $500, rather than purchasing each individually for $700. The total package is more expensive than purchasing only the dress and the shoes ($200), but now the customer has an incentive to spend more. Packages help you to earn a little extra revenue from each sale that you make.

Let’s say you have created a few different packages: A, B and C. Typically, most people choose the middle package. They don’t always want the most expensive package, but they don’t want the cheapest package either.

Another example of bundling can be found at fast food restaurants. For example, McDonald’s makes a huge revenue off of using the phrase “together.” They ask “do you want fries with that?” and create small packages, also known as value meals. It is becoming increasingly common for fast food restaurants to have packages, but consumers aren’t conscious of this fact until they get into the business mindset. Hopefully this explanation has given a bit of insight into creating packages for your customers. Go ahead and test it out, bulk your services or products together and track your results.

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Most people do not determine prices by using the best method. Typically, when most people determine their price points, they go to their competition to see what the competition is charging, and they go up or down from there depending on the quality of their product/service. For example, if you are offering tile floors and you research how much other companies are charging per square foot for tile floors, you’ll take that base price (say it is $500 per sq ft), you’ll adjust your price a bit higher if you feel your quality is better, and you’ll go a bit lower if you feel you are not as professional as the other company. The same goes for photography, web design, etc. It is relative to any type of product or service.

What You Should Be Doing

What you should be doing instead, is looking at the value you are presenting to the customer. Imagine you are the top in your industry, but are undercutting yourself. If you have a lot of clients and sales, your delivery will suffer because you have to cater to so many clients. If you raise your rates by two or three times then you might only have half as many clients and your end monetary value from that will be exactly the same [as if you had more clients at a lower price point]. There are only a few things that can happen when you raise your rates: either sales stay the same, sales go up, or sales go down. Sales can go up because of the higher perceived value (some customers will think the product is better than the competition).

How to Determine Prices

When you are determining your prices, look at your prices and see where you stand. Don’t compare and contrast your price points to other companies’ price points at the beginning. You can do that to do research, to do your due diligence, and to understand where the price points are, but don’t determine your own price points for your products/services based on that information. Just because someone is charging $1,000 for their product, does not mean you need to be charging $1,000 for yours. Don’t be afraid to get what you are worth. Typically most people get what they deserve, not what they are worth.

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Two Main Factors of Who You Should Sell To

1. Have a central focus

Typically, business owners create a product such as a fitness DVD that has multiple claims (e.g. improves dance moves, viewers are able to do the video by themselves, etc). This is like trying to sell a car that does everything (e.g. can be used on a race track, can pull a horse, can go four wheeling, etc). The fact of the matter is that not everything can be done with one vehicle. Products need to be specific and direct for the customer base, rather than trying to make one product that fits all. Businesses tend to feel that if their product suits everybody, more people will by it. In fact, that is a misconception because the buyer tends to feel that the product isn’t made for them. Consumers want products specific to them, they need to fulfill a desire or solve a problem.

2. Sell to people who have more money than you

If you are selling an instructional DVD course about trading on the stock market that costs $995, and you are trying to market it to people who make less money than you and only make $10-20/hour, typically that will not be effective. That group of people cannot afford a product like that. They’re not in the demographic that you should be targeting.

Making connections is an additional benefit of selling to those with more money than you. As you build those connections and enhance those into referrals, your business has the ability to grow exponentially. A lot of people simply try to sell things to their friends and colleagues, but that market is usually on the same level. Focus on people that are outside of that circle that you currently have. Go outside of the box and try to sell to different people. Selling to people with more money than you will create better association.

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Direct Marketing

• At a glance: A way of getting results.
• Direct Marketing has a specific focus. You are focused on telling people, “go to our website and purchase our products,” or “go to our website to read more.” After the customer reads more, there is a prompt telling the reader to call the company.
• You are going directly after the consumers you want in order to enhance, promote, and gather people to take action in the way that you want (whether it is to purchase your services, to set up a consultation, etc). Focus on direct marketing if you want results.

Image Marketing

• At a glance: Promoting and placing images or logos in print space.
• Creates an image, it doesn’t say much, and has a branding feel to it. You are making a promise to the customer that you are friendly and trustworthy. Banks and television companies often practice image marketing. For example, a local TV station says “today we’ll make you smile” and shows their logo. There isn’t a direct response, they don’t say “sign up here,” or “go to our website,” etc. There is not further action required. It makes you feel good, but it’s not very effective, especially for business owners who are just starting out and trying to get sales.
• Personally, I am always focused on closing a sale and getting customers to take action. If you don’t have that in mind and are simply making promises and promoting your name, you won’t get results. You might be popular, but you aren’t going to get any results with it. That is the problem with image based marketing.

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Examples

Indirect

• “If you’d like to learn more, go to our website at www.dekpresentskeywest.com.”

Direct

• “Purchase these products at our website www.dekpresentskeywest.com. That’s www.dekpresentskeywest.com.”
• “Purchase these products and make every day a getaway by going to our website www.dekpresentskeywest.com.”
• “For a limited time only, until the 25th of this month, go to our website www.dekpresentskeywest.com to buy three scarves and get the fourth free.”

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