Smart Marketing

Service marketing tips

What are the #1 and #2 ways buyers are most likely to learn about your service business? Referrals from colleagues (#1) and referrals from other sevice providers (#2).

Now what are the next 3 biggest ways for buyers to learn about you?

• Presentations at conferences or events (75%)
• Personal recognition or awareness of service provider (69%)
• In-person seminar (67%)

These facts, and dozens more like them, can be found in the latest guide from the folks at RainToday.com called How Clients Buy.

If you hve a service business, you owe it to yourself to check out this handy resource. In fact, I found this report so valuable, I'm going to try to post aother set of data next week.

PS - One lesson that can be drawn from the data above is this: If you are a service provider, you must do some form of public speaking to draw new leads.

Agree? Or is there another tactic that you service providers have found particular fruitful?

Brochures - The James Brown of your company identity

A brochure is your company’s James Brown: the hardest working tool in your identity kitbag. Just think of all the ways a brochure is used in this world and you’ll come to appreciate its overall importance to your marketing effort.

A good brochure helps your company:

· Establish credibility in a buyer’s mind

· Build consistency for your visual company brand

· Craft a unique image for your company

· Standardize your marketing messages

· Move prospects along to the next step in the buying process

· Remain in your buyer’s in-basket

· Appeal to those who prefer to read

From acting as a leave-behind after sales calls to a pass-out at trade shows to a download on your website, your marketing brochure is the most versatile and powerful marketing tool there is.

What else does a brochure do for a company?

Color in marketing - A need for contrast

Contrast is created when colors with opposing qualities are used together. The dissimilarity of the colors actually works to benefit marketers. The most basic example of this (and one that I see violated all the time) is the contrast between the background color and the text you want people to read. One job of yours as a marketer should be to always insist upon successful contrast between any background and the text appearing on it.

Look at this page for a moment. What do you see? Black type against a white background; one of the most effective (and popular) contrasts possible. There’s a reason for this: it’s easy to read.

If your objective is to get readers to read what you’ve written, choose readability over creativity.

3 Reasons to position your company

Markets are crowded these days. Too many companies competing for too little share. One good reason to properly position your business is to avoid the “muddle in the middle”. This amorphous lump of competitors usually happens at the mid-price range because higher end products position themselves as “prestige” items, while lower priced ones naturally assume the “low-price” label.

All other mid-priced companies, without properly positioning themselves on a choice attribute, risk getting lumped together in the middle price tier. Not standing out from this “muddle in the middle” is dangerous. Instead, find a positioning that aligns with the true essence of your company. Then, you’ll find your company identity spreading like mushrooms after a spring rain.

Good positioning also helps your company defend its turf.  If you can find a slot in your buyer’s mind, you will naturally be seen as the most obvious choice for that slot. This will help ward off attacks by your competitors who don’t fully understand how to position their companies.

Finally, good positioning can reduce your marketing expenditures. Well-positioned companies enjoy a unique point of difference from their competitors. If buyers and prospects get who you are and why you’re different, then you won’t have to shout so much. That’s a good thing because shouting costs a lot of money these days.

Do you agree or disagree...?