Al

The attention battleground – The art of standing out from the crowd

October 24, 2011 by Al

Every moment in time is made up of infinite unique details. As humans traversing our lives we process, categorize and file these moments, but most are discarded because our conscious minds can not make sense of so much information.

With so much information, bombarding our senses, you and I are hard-wired to ignore anything that is predictable, or irrelevant… So we can free our brain to focus on things that are important to us at the moment.

A direct effect of this filtering, is we reduce the memories of our entire lives, to only the truely remarkable moments and highlights.

This excellent video highlights exactly how good we are at ignoring information our subconscious classifies as irrelevant… Even things that are seemingly impossible to miss.

How does this relate to us in business?

Everyday you are exposed to thousands of advertising messages, from posters, billboards, radio, TV ads, and a hundred other mediums. So how many do you remember from today?

Don’t be discarded

If you want to be noticed. If you want to grab attention – you MUST be remarkable. To escape being filtered and discarded, you have to stand out from the crowd.

‘Me too’ businesses don’t win because they become a commodity that’s too easy to ignore.

How to stand out and get attention

There are countless ways to stand above the sameness of the crowd… here are a few to try:

1. Do the opposite of what everyone else is doing

Write yourself a list of the standard practices in your industry. What would happen if you deliberately changed one or more of these standard practices? Can you change the business model entirely?

2. Have a strong (even controversial) opinion

Ever meet someone at a party (or anywhere else) and they agreed with everyone about everything they said. They never have their own opinion because they are scared of saying the wrong thing or offending somebody. Lets face it, people like this are just plain bland.

Heres the thing, you might not dislike them, but there are hardly interesting enough for you want to become best mates with. You can;t be mates with them because you never know who they are.

You don’t have to be liked by everyone. In fact… no matter what you do. someone l won’t like you or you business.

If you take a stand on an issue, some people will disagree and hate you, some will absolutely love you for it, and others won’t care much either way. But no-one will be able to ignore you.

3. Tie yourself to an event or person that is already getting attention

People are always talking about some current event or other, from a change in the seasons, to sporting events and topical news. Clever campaigns to relate your business to these existing conversations can let you share the spotlight.

One more thing…

We also notice people we have a relationship with. When you walk down a crowded street, you always recognize a friend or someone you know well. Enter Content marketing and Social Media. By forming a relationship with people before you sell to them, you gain their trust and attention.

What examples have you seen of businesses standing out from the crowd? Do you have any tips or tricks to stand out from the crowd? Share them in the comments.

Be cool… share this on Facebook, Twitter or with someone that will get some value from it. Everyone else is doing it.

5 lessons in web marketing from a door to door salesman

August 12, 2011 by Al

Imagine traipsing cold dark empty streets in the depths of winter, luring sane people from the warmth of their lounge in front of the fire and trying to convince them to buy… something. This was a period of my life, which though hardly glamorous, was surprisingly educational.

It was my fault. I had deliberately put myself here. I had a theory. If I could sell stuff door to door, then I could sell anything. It was also a crash course to harden the hell up and stop worrying what people think.

I want to save you knocking from having to knock on hundreds of doors (and two or three pairs of shoes), Here are 5 tips I learnt from doors sales, that you can use to market your business on the web.

1. Grab attention in 7 secs

As a door salesman, the person answering the door is already planning how they close the door before you even say hello. You need to grab their attention in 7 seconds or less. You need to have the best one-liner you’ve ever come up with. No second chances. If it doesn’t break their pattern and make them listen to what you are saying.. they will slam the door in your face.. If you are lucky. If you’re not lucky, they’ll let you talk for five minutes before making an excuse to slam the door in your face.

On the web you’ve got the same problem. Your visitors are likely stumbling around the web like cyber-goldfish. You need a jaw-dropping headline that makes the reader stop and think, “wow, that’s exactly what I didn’t know I needed”.

2. Tell a story they can connect with

Telling a story keeps the person engaged and listening to what you are saying. If it is good enough to make them want to know what happens in the end, they’ll let you keep talking.

You need to pull them into the story. It’s really about them. Their problems, their hopes and dreams and their view of themselves.

A story works on the web as well. I know, this seems crazy and completely at odds with the idea of short attention spans and…. for goodness sake, don’t make them scroll. But if the story is good enough, they have to keep reading to find out what happens at the end. and how it all relates to them.

There is an excellent example of a woman in the US who sold a baseball on ebay for US$1125.00. And all she did was tell the whole story of how how her kids smashed a light with the baseball kicking off the day from hell. The story was so good because it was something every parent can relate to.

3. Benefits

Back on the doorstep, I needed to give some incredibly compelling reasons why the person to buy from me right then. The best reasons give quantify-able results Otherwise known as benefits.

Your story needs to be packed with benefits. – Using highly specific examples to highlight your benefits makes them more compelling.

4. Everyone else is doing it

Social proof…. I know what you are thinking. How can you use social proof when you are standing in the cold. Alone.

Here’s how it works…
“Do you know your neighbour? Ron, next door? – Yes
He decide to pick up two of these turtle scrubbers. One for himself and one for his son who has just bought his first turtle.

Give them ideas on how they can use your products or a reason to buy them (holidays, birthdays,).

On your website, this is a thousand times easier. Showcasing glowing testimonials on your website is a must. Text, images, audio all work, but video knocks it out of the park.

5. Make an irresistible offer

Selling door to door, you’ve got to get the sale before they close the door or you don’t get paid. Your website has a few more options than that. But even if your website is designed to provide customer support or just information, you need to get your visitor to take some action. You’ve done the hard work, now you need the pay off.

The first rule is to make them an irresistible offer. Either ‘order now and we’ll throw in this unbelievable bonus’, or sign up for this free report. The options are endless.

Assume the sale – They’ve just spent their time finding out more information about your products, and you’ve told them how great they are. Now you need to tell them what you want them to do next.

How many of these tips are you using on your website?

Be cool and share this on Facebook, Twitter or with someone that’ll get some value from it. Everyone else is doing it.

Thanks

Charity Disco for Marlborough Plunket

August 5, 2011 by Al

Karen recently designed this poster to promote a Charity Disco here in Blenheim, to benefit our Local Plunket (Facebook).

As Parents ourselves, we are huge fans of the advice and support Plunket provides to Parents. Particularly in the early, ‘wholly crap we have a baby, now what’ days.

With that said, we’re proud to present what will be a hilarious night of fun and dancing at Drylands Restaurant with DJ Glenn Kirby of Marlborough Light Entertainment.

Disco poster design for Marlborough Plunket

How to put your word-of-mouth marketing on steroids

June 6, 2011 by Al

Everybody in business knows that word of mouth is the absolute best form of marketing for their business.

Having a third party recommend your business is more credible in the eyes of the potential customers. Numerous studies have shown that recommendations from friends and even complete strangers have much higher levels of trust than advertising.

The problem with word of mouth marketing is that it is really hard to instigate, encourage or control. For someone to recommend your business, you need to be top of their mind when they happen to be having a conversation with someone who needs your products or services. Basically the right person needs to be in the right place at the right time, having the right conversation to make the referral.

Enter social media

Social media removes some of the barriers of word-of-mouth referrals and makes it easier for your customers to refer or recommend your services. In fact, it makes it so easy, often times, people don’t even realise they are doing it.

Staying Top of mind

Social media, be it Facebook, Twitter, a blog, or even email, allows you regular contact with the fans and customers of your business. That regular contact is critical to reminding your fans that you exist.

Here’s the thing… The contact doesn’t have to be anything heavy. It doesn’t have to be a sales call, a product offer or any form of ‘marketing message’. In fact, it is better if it isn’t (of course there is a place for promoting sales from time to time).

The point is purely to let them know you are still here. Doing your thing. Helping people.

Make it easy to share and promote your business

Before social media, contacting people was slow and expensive. But now, taking 10 minutes to post a photo or a tip on Facebook, and you’ve made contact with all of your fans who are interested enough to follow you.

The trick is posting something interesting that inspires your fans and followers to want to have their say. To share it with their friends.

It only takes 2 seconds to click the ‘like’ button or send a retweet on Twitter, or a minute to compose a comment. On Facebook, every interaction with your content spreads your idea and the visibility of your business further, to reach a larger audience. Effectively removing the barriers of referring your business.

How to make this work for your business

If you haven’t already, set up your presence on these platforms.

Think about what sort of content would be useful or interesting for your customers, and plan some cool content. Remember, content, can be short text tips, long articles, photos or video.

Get some fans. Spread the word with your staff, friend and customers, and give them all a reason to follow you on these services.

Get publishing. Be cool.

Speaking of being cool. If you found this article helpful, I’d appreciate it if you took a moment to write a comment below or share this article on Facebook.

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