Not All Digital Content Needs to Be Free

755 people surveyed by Pew Internet and American Life Project generated the figure of 65% of internet users have paid to access or download digital content.  Of course, people may lie about online purchasing behavior, too.

Especially in an online survey about online activity!

Mixing Business and Personal Life

Mixed messages get mixed results. However, there is an overlap between personal and business worth writing about this close to the New Year.

Choosing Promotions for Your Business that Support a Customer's Decision to Buy from You

Here’s an article from http://www.site-reference.com/ that takes a critical B2B marketing eye to thinking through a promotion. The author critiques Vocus here (http://www.vocus.com/) and states that “Vocus is effectively putting itself into the commodity section” because the email promotion’s focus is the gift of an IPod Shuffle in exchange for scheduling a free demonstration.

Learn from this Short Video of Executive Language for Use in Sales Cycle and Copywriting

If you have ever been suckered by the words "trust" in a sales cycle or marketing material but were really being asked to take an unproven and potentially disastrous "leap of faith"...

Beyond a Doubt- Branded Content is Critical to Business Success

A Custom Content Council (CCC) study released in partnership with ContentWise pulls back the curtain on where top companies will be focusing marketing energy in 2011.

This 2010 study reveals that content initiatives are viewed as more effective than other forms of advertising and marketing with the top reason given as driving long-term ROI through customer education and retention.

According to the study, on average, companies spent nearly

"Once you've changed, other things start to follow."

Good, even great ideas are all around us.  Radio, TV, online, songs, movies, theater, games, toys, books.  It's as simple as seeing it for what it is and as difficult as figuring out what to do with it.  How to use it.  I'm not talking about the self-help sales, marketing and copywriting books we all spend time reading either.

I confess enjoying science fiction, fantasy and adventure. The classics like Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, Tolkein and also books from the youth, teen and young adult sections like the Harry Potter series, the Pendragon series, Eragon and the like.  Believe it or not, it's a great source for ideas to apply and implement in business marketing, sales coaching and copywriting.
For example, if every salesperson adopted Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics every prospect and customer would be more trusting and every salesperson would legitimately provide solutions to problems.

Anyway, back to the book I'm currently reading.

In Diane Duane's, "So You Want to be a Wizard" I came across the following yesterday:

"Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being changed. Because you've changed, by believing. Once you've changed, other things start to follow. Isn't that the way it works?"

Okay, the writing is a bit stilted but it is spoken by an energy entity so we'll let that slip and instead focus on the message for the impact this statement has for sales professionals and copywriters.

There is a lot of chatter out there about needing to believe in what you sell or what you write.  The reality is that it can help, but it can hurt just as much.  Here's why.  There are some who take "believing" to the point of being unable to understand what it is the prospect and customer need to believe. 

When you operate from a postulate you operate at a disadvantage.  You come to the table operating with assumptions of truths without proof.  Worse, you cannot begin to imagine why someone listening to your pitch or reading your copy does not simply take your word on faith, immediately accept what you say and write and hand over his wallet or her handbag.

The key to successful selling in person and in copy is to identify what the prospect already believes, wants to believe and needs to believe and address it.  Grab onto a truth, however small and build up to the bigger truths.  Use those truths and beliefs to support the big idea.  The reason the prospect should listen to you.  The incentive for the prospect to keep reading your copy. 

Once the prospect begins to believe, the decision-making process begins to change in your favor.  And once the decision-making process begins to change in your favor, other things start to follow.

For what it's worth, if your prospect operates from a postulate that doesn't sync with what you are selling don't knock yourself out.  Move on.   Alternately, identify from which postulate he or she operates and build your product, service, sales and marketing material building around it. 

Be the Hero,
Mark

How to Eliminate Customer Confusion: Avoid New Brand or Bust Pressure.

How to Eliminate Customer Confusion:  Avoid New Brand or Bust Pressure.

Attention C-suite:  Change isn't always good.  In a recent Mediapost online Travel article "Sometimes It Ain't Broke," Gary Leopold writes about being leery of "blowing up your brand."  What he does, however, is use messaging and slogan examples.  It's worth the read because this is not a concern limited to B2C or travel.  I've seen it too often in the B2B world. 

How many of us has lived through an expensive and volatile branding change only to live through a poor attempt at reclaiming the intent of the replaced branding.  Seriously, execs- can you really afford a multi-million dollar mistake, employee confusion, and customer and prospect and alienation?

The problem is that someone says the image, or brand, needs updating.  Someone else hears "change."  And frankly, it is relatively easy to persuade a company executive to make a wholesale change when revenue is flat or down over an extended time.  New management feels pressured to show movement in the right direction and making a brand change can buy a couple of years of cover while ignoring or fixing the real issues.

The prudent course is, as Mr. Leopold suggests in his article, that you need to ask if there is any real value or upside to changing a brand image, catch phrase, slogan, logo or primary message.  We aren't talking about updating.  We are talking about full-out, writing big checks change.

Collect and analyze some data.  Tweak and test.  I can almost guarantee you can integrate some split testing into your daily sales activities and marketing material at minimal expense without applying any major changes.

Ask, "Why change?"  Expect responses that support your company mission and reflect your prospect and customer needs.

Ask, "Do we need to change everything or just modify/update those things that support our brand?"

Show your leadership ability and resist the pressure to change just to show employees and shareholders that you are "doing something." 

Sometimes, crossing the road to get to the other side the chicken gets run over by an eighteen-wheeler of reality.  Flattened. Feathers flying.

Instead, take a look at your message, your offer, your proof, your guarantee.  Your brand might be okay and you just need to support it a little differently.

Of course, if your message, your brand, your slogan, really needs changing to convey the right message to the right audience at the right time...  make the change.

Be the Hero.

Mark H. Daniels
mark@mysaleshero.net  | (732) 417 - 0680

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My Sales Hero, LLC
Simply Better Selling
http://www.mysaleshero.net/

Sales Strategy | Marketing Consulting | Copywriting

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For Complimentary Sales and Marketing Tools visit:
www.mysaleshero.net/instanttoolkitaccess.aspx

Why You Can’t Beat a Great Story, a Strong Message and Timely Content

Download the full report here:
http://bit.ly/aJaDax

Assuming there is some level of need, want or desire in play, no matter how small, a strongly developed message can shorten a sales cycle and the number of contacts necessary to accomplish your goal.

A weak message puts you on a treadmill going nowhere until some other factor exerts pressure or kills your chances entirely as the prospect gravitates toward the stronger message.

A strong message can be part of your company name, logo or tagline.

A strong message goes a long way to developing widespread acceptance of your brand. Think IBM®, where they still tell executives deep in the sales cycle and decision-making process that “No one ever got fired for hiring IBM.”

While it may not the kind of message you see on airport billboards, the Wall Street Journal or on television anymore, it is, however, the exactly right kind of powerful message you want to convey to an executive in a competitive situation.

Coca-Cola® gives us additional examples of using two broader appealing messages that positioned the company well: “Have a Coke® and a smile” and “It’s the real thing®.”

Note how the company name does not even have to be part of the message. Also, pay attention to how both messages evoke an emotional response and desire. Who doesn’t want to smile? Who wouldn’t rather have a genuine product instead of an imitation knock-off?

The same principles hold true for your content and stories.

Content is the material you produce and provide periodically (and hopefully with consistency) to your prospects and customers that deal with news they find interesting and important. It positions you as an expert, someone who knows his customer, and someone who cares.

Stories are just that. Stories. Think in terms of “once upon a time.” A story tells of a situation where someone is in distress because of specific problem. He or she suffers through several trials and tribulations until a hero appears with a solution and saves the day.

Done correctly, customer stories, case studies, and testimonials work with customers just like the stories your mom read to you as a child. What was your favorite bedtime story?

What is your favorite customer story? Is it a story your prospect will remember after reading your email or letter? Will he remember it when you leave the room or hang up the phone?

You can see the diagram explaining the power of this relationship in a report available at http://bit.ly/aJaDax.

Be the hero,
Mark

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Mark H Daniels is a B2B and B2C sales strategist, coach and copywriter helping people and businesses present themselves in print, in person, and on the web in a way that has prospects and customers making decisions in their favor and saying “thanks.”
Download the full report “28 days and 28 ways to more consistent revenue- the new ABC’s of selling in the 21st century” here: http://bit.ly/aJaDax

Learn more about why companies seek Mark’s services and what My Sales Hero does at http://www.mysaleshero.net/. Contact Mark by email at mark@mysaleshero.net or call 732-417-0680.

It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You

The relationship between familiarity and trust and getting someone to take a salesperson’s call, read an email or a letter is persuasively strong. The more a buyer knows us and trusts us, the more likely he is ready to take our call, read our letter and open our e-mail.

The less familiar the buyer is with us, the more contacts it takes for his actions to align with our goals. Familiarity is so powerful that a buyer will generally take our call even in the absence of an immediate need for our product.

One of the reasons professional marketers use celebrity endorsements, portray people who look and sound like the prospect in letters and ads, and include testimonials from customers is that it has the effect of increasing familiarity, trust and credibility.

It is also why a referral from someone who knows your buyer well is so much more powerful than a referral from someone with whom your buyer has little or no relationship. Let’s call it “trust transference.” Someone the buyer trusts already did the legwork, developed the knowledge and trust.

Want to get in the door of a business or to build trust more quickly? Figure out who you know nearby of equal or greater status to the person with whom you’re trying to develop a relationship and drop their name into your conversation.

Done correctly, this applies the following complex persuasion tactics in a very simple way.

1. Public Opinion
2. Familiarity
3. Credibility
4. Exclusivity
5. Celebrity
6. Authority
7. Referral

You can download a report showing this relationship and more at http://bit.ly/aJaDax.

Be the Hero,
Mark

*********************************************************
Mark H Daniels is a B2B and B2C sales strategist, coach and copywriter helping people and businesses present themselves in print, in person, and on the web in a way that has prospects and customers making decisions in their favor and saying “thanks.”

Download the full report “28 days and 28 ways to more consistent revenue- the new ABC’s of selling in the 21st century” here: http://bit.ly/aJaDax

Learn more about why companies seek Mark’s services and what My Sales Hero does at http://www.mysaleshero.net/. Contact Mark by email at mark@mysaleshero.net or call 732-417-0680.

Five More SaaS Sourcing Strategies to Consider

Liz Herbert of Forrester Research provides five quick insights for SaaS strategic sourcing in CIO.com.

There's only so much a person can include in a brief article. Here's some additional thoughts from a fan of Forrester, Gartner and other thought leaders as well as a ten-year veteran of HRIT SaaS and administration sales.

1. Except in the smallest of companies, one would be hard-pressed to find any "vanilla SFA and HR" SaaS implementations. Everyone wants to buy "customized." Given the option- go "configurable" whenever possible. It reduces, among other things, potential issues with maintenance, upgrades, training and integration with other applications.

2. Define "fast implementation." Fast is a relative term that can only be determined when compared to the sourcing company's capabilities and resources. It may be better to think about the primary SaaS implementation benefit as being driven by and held accountable to a target live date.


3. Concern about security and disaster recovery is not something "new" in SaaS. In fact it was and continues to be a critical selling point and benefit. Even ten years the first salesperson to bring up and address the subject had, in my opinion, shifted the buying decision in his company's favor by a considerable percentage. And today? Gosh. Can you open up the paper or your home page without reading the word "leak" or "hacked" or "pirated?" The good news is that everyone needs to address the concern when it comes to SaaS.


4. TCO can only be managed well if the sourcing company understands and builds into the budget (and if possible the contract) incidental or as-needed costs of service and if possible a rate card for services. A lot of that depends on what the sourcing company is capable of doing themselves once the solution is deployed, and whether they are willing or have the time and resources to do it. Of course, there are things that only the SaaS provider can manage on the sourcing company's behalf. Both parties need to be clear where the lines are drawn and where the incremental costs start creeping in.
 
5. The biggest implementation consideration missing is change management, transition management, and a communication plan. This has a huge impact on the success of any project. Having a business process strategy is great- especially when a company is using the SaaS implementation as a change agent for process improvement. But it doesn't do anyone any good, and in fact creates a terrific amount of damage when there is no change and transition management plan, training and follow-through in place.
 
You can read Ms. Herbert's full article on CIO.com here:  http://bit.ly/gRdnlL.


Be the hero,
Mark