Marketing is something that we do to let people know what products we have to offer.
Selling is something that we do to show people that the products we have to offer are of value to them.
In the high tech world of today, much of what we consider marketing is very inconspicuous. Messages are moving at the speed of light, and we are hardly even aware of what we saw or heard that ever made us think eating fast food meant getting good food fast!
Marketing is all around us – from the letters that appear in our mind when our stomach hurts. Yes, we know what spells relief to the jingle in our head when we think of the first and second name we give the meat in our sandwich. We have all done it, ran into the store to buy something, and called it out by the brand…not by the actual product name.
When was the last time you were thinking of something, as simple as coffee, and Starbucks appeared in your mind? This, my friend, is what they call “savvy marketing” and it’s as old as the day is long. The reason that marketing has been around for so long, is that for some odd reason, the more we keep something in the forefront of our mind, the more we inquire, the more we “Google” it, and the more we buy it – it is why we think that we’re wearing Levis instead of jeans.
Marketing is what people do to get us interested in the brand of their product. Marketing is what causes us to dream and imagine and wish. When someone markets a product or service to us, they are helping us to get more familiar with it. They are asking us to be really comfortable with hearing the brand, saying the brand, asking about the brand and eventually, leading us to a place where we find a NEED for just that brand.
Marketing is the first step to a long-term relationship with any product, and the more product a person has to sell – the longer we may find ourselves involved in the relationship. Marketing is the most thought out component of any large selling campaign, because without this one step – the marketing – no-one knows that we’re even there.
The idea that once they know us and we know them (which seems like forever) is when we are able to like what we hear and trust what they have.
Selling usually comes in right about here…the point of purchase. This is where we are helped to find the best solution for us. Selling is fine tuning the brand / product / service to fit our needs exclusively, and this is where some people start to shy away. Selling isnt always up close, but it IS personal. Selling, if done correctly, can create a lifetime of loyal product / service users, and should always be done with the utmost respect, trust and honor. Selling is what helps a consumer to decide if this product that has been marketed to them is really what they need AND if the pain they have is strong enough to get rid of, or if the pleasure is great enough to invest.
Selling is the next step to that wonderful place called referrals, and that cant happen if we havent been able to deliver what we marketed our product to do. Our job when we market our product or service is to create for our client a reason to want to begin a relationship with us. They need to know. just by the sound of our brand, that we are worth pursuing. Not only do they need to be comfortable with what we are sharing, they also need to know that over and over again until they believe it for themselves.
So, as we look at the way we are creating relationships with our future clients, look at the process in having them trust us. If we are skipping step one in relationship building (the marketing) then step two (selling), will be much more difficult – and step three (referrals & word of mouth) is then almost impossible.
We may have the greatest product out on the market today, and it may very well be the one thing that solves all of the world’s problems, BUT, if we havent figured out how to speak to people in a caring and comfortable way, they will never get the chance to know us, and people who dont know us will not buy from us!
Marketing has to be the FIRST thing we do to make our product and relationship with our clients successful. My program Get Clients Now will help you to understand this process by consistently doing something every single day to ensure results. For more information and workshop times please visit: http://www.thekoach.com/business/getclients.html
|
About The Author When you have a limited amount of time to make an unlimited amount of money…Every bit of your Effort should be Effective! Candye Hinton is dedicated to helping other people give wings to their entrepreneurial dreams. She particularly enjoys mentoring coaches and home-based business owners by helping them to develop the habit of being successful. Candye has a thriving coaching practice that focuses on three key areas – business consulting, mentor coaching and personal development. Effective Effort Coaching Like everybody who will ever read this, I get spam in my e-mail. Mine seems to fall into one of three categories. The first is the Nigerian scam about helping some poor, pathetic soul collect megabucks, supposedly from someone who has died and left a fortune. Im not sure what is worse: that there are people desperate enough to believe those messages, or that there are people despicable enough to prey on the desperate. The net result is the despicable con the desperate into sending money which the desperate will never see again. The second type comes from people who sound innocent enough. They have a product or a business or a service or something else that is perfectly legitimate. They surf the web, find one of my sites, find the contact us link, and send me information about whatever they have to offer. I suppose, in their minds, it isnt any different than walking down the street or going through the telephone book writing down addresses, and then sending out bulk business mail with the same offer. They could get the same information for more money and less time by buying a mailing list. THAT is perfectly legitimate. Harvesting e-mail addresses off of web sites is NOT. Spam is officially defined as unsolicited commercial electronic mail. The key word is unsolicited. If I didnt ask for it and you send it anyway, it is unsolicited. When people harvest e-mail addresses off of web sites and then send commercial messages, that, by definition, is spam. I report them to my ISP and you should, too. The third type isnt so innocent. These people, like the second type of people already discussed, surf the web, find sites, and harvest the e-mail addresses from the contact us link. Instead of starting out by sending you what they have to offer, they get devious, sneaky, and just plain under-handed. They send you a message asking for more information about whatever you have to offer on your site. When you graciously respond, it turns out they couldnt care less about what you have to offer. The ONLY thing they want is to confirm your e-mail address so they can start to dump offers on you, hoping you will buy something from them. Nasty trick. Let me give you an example from one that once came across my screen. It seemed to be from a nice lady with homey graphics and nice colors in her e-mail. If my memory serves me well, she even stated that she was disabled and looking for ways to earn a living off the internet. In my mind, thats a hard combination to resist. A great deal of effort was put into this to make it sound as if she had built an internet community around her site and services. Maybe she did; I dont know. Anyway, I was nave enough to respond with the information she had requested. Soon solicitations for this, that So how about you? Are guilty of sending out e-mail to people who did not specifically request to receive offers from you or about a business that you represent? If you go around looking for e-mail addresses to harvest for your own purposes, you are guilty of sending SPAM. Instead, post your offers on your web site and market them legitimately. Its the right thing to do. When people fill out your form, they are giving you permission to send them information. Keep a record so you can defend yourself if they ever forget what they did. If you are on the receiving end of unsolicited offers, go ahead and report them as spam. Dont feel guilty; you are not the guilty party. Just make sure you really didnt sign up for a newsletter or something and then forgot! It is sooooooooooooooo not cool to report spam that really isnt!
|