5 Easy Ways To Increase Sales In 5 Minutes

Only have five minutes to spare then use your time wisely and incorporate these 5 quick and easy changes and see your sales and readership numbers increase:

1. Use up to a maximum of 17 words in your main headline to increase readership
2. Use a Drop Cap Letter in your main headline to increase readership
3. Insert order buttons adjacent to your customer testimonial boxes to increase conversions
4. Put a customer testimonial below your P.S. to increase conversions
5. Change your price to end with a "7" to increase conversions

Making these minor changes or taking these five tips into account when writing a new article, web page, sales page, email or a sales letter could see up to a massive 40% improvement in readership or conversions.

'On Demand' Printing Benefits Small Businesses

Digital printing or ‘on demand’ printing, as it is sometimes known is a fairly recent edition to a very old established industry. The arrival of digital printing has revolutionised the print industry and significantly changed the way small businesses are now able promote themselves.

Digital printing has reduced the costs of small run print jobs and significantly reduced the turnaround times. This enables a small business to send their customers highly targeted, highly effective marketing messages.

Short run, full colour litho printing was an expensive option for small businesses. A large proportion of the cost was down to the time consuming and costly process of setting up a traditional 'lithographic' printing press. These set-up costs meant that it simply wasn't cost effective to print a few copies of a document or brochure, so small businesses had to think long and hard about what they would print as many hundreds or even thousands of copies would need to be printed.

The set-up process for litho printing would also mean that delivery schedules would be much longer, perhaps a couple of weeks. You also needed storage space for all your printed documents, as you had so many extras printed over and above your initial requirement, you also ran the risk of them being out of date before you used them.

So to summarize the benefits of digital printing to your small business:

• Ordering your print 'on demand' means that you only order the quantity you want
• Turnaround times for digital printing are faster than traditional printing
• Your literature, information and prices will be more up to date and accurate
• Your offers can be changed more often perhaps seasonally, instead of repeating the same offer several times a year
• You can have specific targeted versions of your literature for each group of customers instead of ‘one size fits all’
• You will get a better response rate the more accurately you target your literature and offers and you can even add scarcity value
• You can test your marketing messages by trialling different versions and then printing larger quantities of the most successful version
• You will be more environmentally friendly as you will have less old out of date literature to throw away

Digital printing has significant benefits to small business owners enabling them to get the most out of their resources and time, both very valuable commodities in the current climate. Being able to specifically target your marketing messages and change and adapt them to the constantly changing environment means you will be in the right place, at the right time with the right message for your prospects and customers.

5 Keys to Mobile Marketing

In these recession led, budget conscious times, mobile marketing may provide a more cost effective solution for your business. The addition of mobile marketing to your marketing mix for 2010 could see you boosting your sales, your prospects database and your customer list.

Before starting you campaign, you should consider the following 5 key elements:

1. Accurately target your recipients – chose your recipients with care, ensure that the audience is applicable to the offer you are making
2. Unique incentive – make a really good offer, whether it’s a discount, a free item or entry in to a prize draw
3. Re-usable option – don’t just send one message to a prospect, build your list for the future with an ‘opt-in’ for future offers option
4. Call to action – make the call to action as easy as possible, make sure they can easily redeem it by a code or click to call option
5. Testing and tracking – track the number of receipts and redemptions of your offer. This enables you to see if it was successful and if you need to make any changes before repeating it or rolling it out to a larger audience. Remember always test, track and refine everything you do and then repeat what works and scrap what doesn’t.

So, put your mobile marketing campaign to work and start promoting your business.

7 Small Business Networking Mistakes

Networking, the hot topic of the moment is vitally important to small businesses. As a small business or a new business just starting out, networking and making the right connections can make all the difference now and in the future.

So when you get involved in networking, don’t be afraid, it is not as daunting as it may seem, here are 5 mistakes you should avoid.

1. Not being prepared, take lots of business cards or leaflets
2. Not rehearsing your sound bite, you need to be confident and make it flow
3. Do not attend a networking event and sell to those you meet
4. Do not just collect details for the sake of getting your numbers up, spend your time wisely and talk to people where their is mutual benefit for both parties
5. Do not pretend to be something you are not, be honest and genuine and people will reciprocate
6. Do not forget the network of people you already have, do not become solely focussed on building a new network, expand the one you have
7. Do not be selfish, remember its not all about you, people will help you if you offer them help, but not if you just take, take, take.

Now you are armed with your business cards, strapline and sound bite, so go off and network like crazy!

Recession Busting Tips No10 - Stay Focussed

Staying focussed and not panicking are vitally important, you now have a list of things you can do to help yourself and your business enjoy a better year ahead.

Work through the list gradually, some things you may already have done or perhaps have been meaning to do, so this is a timely reminder. You may already be following a similar process, well great, whatever position you are in; you are helping yourself to a better 2010.

Wishing you much success, happiness and health for 2010.

Recession Busting Tips No9 - Remember Your Regulars

Your existing customers are very, very important, they are the reason you are still in business, so whatever you do to get new ones, do not loose sight of your existing customers and their value to your business.

Do not take them for granted, or assume they will always be there. Everyone is in the same situation and feeling the recession to a greater or lesser degree, so make them feel special and valued. It does not have to be something big or a grand gesture, just the fact you have remembered them in some small way will be enough to reassure them that they are important and valued by you.

Do not let another supplier step in and take one or more of your regular customers away, make them feel valued, provide good products and services, keep your promises and live up to your USP.

Recession Busting Tips No8 - Promote

Firstly, Happy New Year to all my readers; here's hoping that 2010 is a good one for all of us small business owners.

So to continue with the recession busting tips theme.....

Promote the good things about your business.

What is it that sets you apart from your competition, if you do not know what your USP is, then find out quickly and put it in place and make sure everyone knows, staff included.

Now you have a USP that sets you apart from the competition, something that your customers like and the reason they choose you. You must now promote your USP like crazy, if some people like ‘it’ then lots more will also like your product or service, but remember you must keep your promises.

Shout about what makes you different from all the rest, commit to a level of customer service and keep to it, have an unbeatable guarantee and give your customers confidence in you and your business.

Recession Busting Tips No7 - Be Visable

It is vital in times of recession that you and your business are very visible to existing clients and potential new customers.

In a recession a steady stream of marketing is the lifeblood of your business, this puts you head and shoulders above your competition, be seen on the web and in print and get chosen.

Marketing is a vital tool in this current climate not a luxury, so ensure your profile is out there.

7 tips when using email in your business

7 things you must know about using email in your business. As a new business you have many things to learn and it’s easy to make mistakes when you are rushing around trying to do too many things at once.

You may see email as an easy and cheap way of communicating with prospects and customers and you would be correct, but you must do it well. There are a few things to remember, do not be lazy because you think it’s not the same as a letter.

Here are some good disciplines to get into early on and then it just becomes automatic.

Spelling and Grammar
Spelling and grammar are very important in all your correspondence, so remember to spell and grammar check everything, don’t risk losing a potential customer because of a poorly written email.

Reply Quickly
Always respond as quickly as possible to an e-mail. Even if you do not have all the answers or have to investigate the question or complaint, at the very least acknowledge the email, preferably the same day, saying you are looking in to it and will reply within 24, 48 hours whatever time frame necessary. If for some reason that is then not possible, don’t leave the person in the dark, tell them what you do know and what you are doing about it, keep them informed every step of the way. Recommit to solving the problem within a new time frame and make sure you do so, they won’t wait forever.

Re: Subject
Make sure you always complete the Subject box; you do not want them to guess or delete it because they don’t know what it is. Don’t mislead people with the subject box either, it should be about the content of the email.

Recipient
Use the recipient’s name, it is much more professional and personal to address the reader by their name, it makes them feel more valued and important, it show you care about your customers, little things matter.

Format
The format of the email does not have to be as formal as a business letter but should still be similar in style and must be grammatical, not text speak, not written in all CAPS or all lower case and do not ramble on without punctuation. It should cover all the necessary points from their email, don’t gloss over things or miss them out completely.

Who are you?
Always include all your contact information, preferably below your signature. You can mention in the email “please contact me if you require further assistance, see details below” or similar just to reassure the person that you are not a faceless, nameless entity. You should add your full name, title, company, address, telephone, email, fax, web address, everything they may need without having to contact you again to ask for it.

Their Message
When you respond to someone and are answering their questions or complaint either include the previous e-mail, or be very specific and include their questions/complaint when answering. This will enable them to quickly relate to what you are saying, we are all busy people and don’t have time to waste trawling our emails to find the one to which your answer refers.

Using email is an effective ways of communicating with all your prospects and customers, but remember in all communications be accurate, honest and professional and put your customer first, offer valuable, useful, informative content and you will reap the rewards.

Who is your prospect in your target market?

Having taken into account the 7 key areas, which I discussed in more depth the previous blogs, listed here as a quick reminder:

1. Worries
2. Age
3. Gender
4. Education
5. Relationship/marital Status
6. Income
7. Location

Now it is time to construct a specific profile for your target market and make it really personal, this will then provide you with a picture in your mind, you will now be talking to one specific person and we all know its much easier to talk to just one person, than stand up in front of an audience of thousands.

Your reader will also feel like you are really just talking to them, and them alone, you know their circumstances, you can empathise with them, you are on their wave length, speaking their language, understanding their needs and wants.

Now imagine how well you message will be received, you are appealing to their emotions, they want what you have to offer.

So, bearing all this in mind get started with generating your person, give them: a name, age, gender, marital status, occupation, home, location, children, pets, hobbies etc

Some examples might be:

John is a 22 year old single, care free, no responsibilities, university student, who lives in a shared flat with two other guys. He lives a short distance from university and uses his bike to get to and from lectures. He is into facebook, twitter and the internet and only opens his post if it’s vital and important, conducts his life online and on the phone. Is into sports and fitness, goes to the gym, plays football and cycles. Plans to go around the world when he qualifies in 4 years time before starting work as an accountant.

Sally is a 35 year old married working mum with two children, a 5 year old boy David and an 8 year old girl Jane. She and her husband Paul have their own business in landscape gardening, Paul does all the gardening and Sally runs the office, so she can be around for the kids. They live in a small house in town, run two cars and go abroad once a year in the school summer holidays. They have a cat, a dog and two rabbits. All the family use computers and the internet regularly for work, pleasure and school work, Sally books the summer holiday online every year.

You can expand your prospect profiles with as much detail as you feel is suitable to enable you to picture this person in your mind’s eye; I hope you find the two examples useful and a good starting point to get your thoughts flowing.

You can quickly see from the two examples above how different your messages would need to be to make them interesting and attractive to either John or Sally and her family. You can also see how sending a message that suits John would be a complete waste of time and energy if it was sent to Sally, more importantly Sally may be turned off from one of your products or services in the future because she has already received something from you that is of no interest to her. However had you sent out the correct profile message you could have kept her interested for something in the future.

7 Things you need to know about your prospects in your target market – Part 7

Their location, where do they live, in a flat or house, in the town or country.

This is not the same as income related i.e. big house in the country, again this is about what they will need and want, a lawnmower is no good if you are living in a flat.

You also need to be aware of both cultural and regional differences, whether you plan to sell across the world or just across the UK ( or your own country) you will still have differences you need to be aware of, possibly even offering different language options.

Values can change widely from north to south and east to west, so be aware of this and target your message accordingly.

These 7 key areas to consider when writing your target message to your prospects will ensure you come away with a much more specific message targeted to and written for YOUR audience at that time.

Also, an added benefit, having done it once, for one , you will find it easy and quick to target the same offer with a new focused message to a different audience when applicable.

In the next blog (part 7 bonus) I will write more about your specific target market profile and how to develop one for all you marketing messages across the web, email, sales letter whatever you use to talk to your prospects.

7 Things you need to know about your prospects in your target market – Part 6

Their income, this is not a rich or poor scenario, as both may have a need for your product or service, but there may be different levels of service you can offer, or an entry level product with accessories as extras, rather than everything you need purchased at the same time.

……….to be continued