| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Discover the Winning Marketing Strategy Secrets of Donald Trump Apprentice Wanna-bes
The highly entertaining Donald Trump's search for an apprentice turned into a hit reality TV show captured attention of millions of Americans and week after week delivered great insights into leadership, business and marketing savvy. In one of the episodes Trump challenged the two opposing teams of apprentice wannabes (Apex and Mosaic) to put together a bridal gown sale. Each team had to contact vendors, secure inventory, and most importantly, attract qualified prospects to generate the maximum profits. And here is the kicker - they had just 24 hours to do it. (For more details see the blow-by-blow outline of this episode.) Mosaic moved very quickly. They? 1. Zeroed in on a specific strategy: give other bridal shops' opportunity to sell their discontinued designs at drastically discounted prices. 2. Formulated a marketing plan: send 23,000 highly targeted email announcements to brides-to-be for a cost of $1,000 3. Divided and delegated the tasks and got busy implementing their plan. As a result of a clear and attractive offer Mosaic easily attracted local bridal shops eager to get rid of their discontinued lines. Meanwhile Apex jumped right into chasing potential vendors and - without a clear and enticing marketing message - endured one rejection after another. Discouraged, they almost gave up before stumbling onto a helpful local bridal shop owner who managed to point them in the "right direction". But just as they had no plan to attract vendors to their gown sale, Apex didn't give any thought as to who their target market was and where they could easily and quickly find large groups of prospects. Their marketing strategy of handing out fliers at Grand Central and Penn Station (in New York) was unfocused and unnecessarily tied up team members' most precious asset - time. The results? Mosaic attracted a city-block-long line or eager-to-buy prospects and generated $12,788.94 in profits in one day! Apex brought in only a handful of buyers and a measly $1,060.47. Wow! By following solid marketing principles Mosaic beat their opponents by generating almost 12 times as much profits as Apex. So what were their marketing secrets? Well, here they are: 1. THINK STRATIGICALLY! Before you get busy peddling make sure your boat is pointed in the right direction. Take time to formulate your strategy and outline a specific action plan and you'll save a time, energy and money, and create the desired results a whole lot faster! 2. Focus on a SPECIFIC TARGET MARKET! If you remember nothing else from this article - remember this one thing - to be successful you must focus your marketing efforts! 3. Find a "HIVE OF HUNGRY PROSPECTS"! Hundreds of thousands of disinterested passers-by at the Penn Station can't event compare to the power of a targeted email blast to 23,000 brides hunting for the best deal on their wedding gown. To quickly penetrate your niche find centers of influence and large networks of your potential clients and get your message in front of them. 4. Evaluate PRICE vs. COST! One of most damaging marketing mistakes is deciding which promotional tools and media to use based on price alone. Even though Mosaic chose a seemingly pricey promotion, ultimately it proved to be less costly based on the repose and results it created. 5. Profit from CO-OPETITION! If you choose your target market carefully there is more business out there than you can possibly handle. Don't fear your competitors - find a way to profit from their business. Well, there you have it. Go back and read these five points several times. Consider for a moment what implementing these ideas might look like in your business. Make these principles the basis of your business and soon you too will be making money out of thin air - I guarantee it! (c) 2004 Adam M. Urbanski Adam Urbanski, the Marketing Mentor, helps Independent Service Professionals and Small Business Owners attract more clients. For more promotional tips and a FREE 32-page marketing guide go to http://www.themarketingmentors.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How Effective Customer Surveys Will Help Innovate Your Business Have you ever wondered why the phones aren't ringing the way they should? Or maybe sales are flat and you're not achieving the revenue and profit targets you set for your business. There's one sure-fire way to uncover the problems to get your company back on track. Marketing Tips 101 - Where Can I Get Clients From? The following tips have come from a wide variety of sources; some from other successful businesses we know, some from our Home-Based and Small Business Support Group meetings and some we've developed by trial and error. Some of the ways to get clients are: contact previous employers; mailing lists; cold call your target market; attend group meetings and seminars for your target market (conventions for doctors, lawyers; computer seminars); attend local Chamber of Commerce meetings; join groups related to your target market; if your target market uses a specific system, for example accountants use the SafeGuard system, contact them and tell them that you are available to teach them how to use the system or you can do it for them. Postcards - Picture Perfect Promotion There is a simple but almost mystical law which governs promotion and marketing and their relationship to the amount of business generated: business will come in to the degree that you get your message out, promote, let people know you are there, advertise, write to people, call people, e-mail people and generally communicate to existing or potential clients.It isn't a fact that registers easily and it almost takes faith to follow this dictum until you have seen it work over and over in all sorts of different businesses and organizations (as I have). Ready, Fire, Aim! You probably read my headline and thought, wait a minute, isn't that backwards? Isn't it supposed to be "Ready, Aim, Fire?"Well, a year ago I might have agreed with you. But not anymore. Getting Ideas for Your Postcards If you're going to do postcard marketing on an ongoing basis, it's a good idea to have a collection of cards to inspire you. In advertising and marketing circles, this is called a "swipe file. 6 Things I Know About Postcards That You Don't In my plethora of experience tucked away between these ears, I have managed to cull out for you what I consider the "best of the best" - in other words, I took the most proven details about postcards that were significant to you starting a postcard campaign and really winning at it. So here goes the most incisive higlights about postcards. Postcard Direct Mail Marketing Works (Its Cheap, Quick, Affordable and More) Used the right way and with the right audience, postcards often outperform their mailbox "competitors" in money saved and revenue generated (the competitors are sales letters, self-mailers, unaddressed flyers, dimensional mailers and catalogs). Here's why postcards are so effective. 9 Highly Effective Marketing Tips Here are 9 low-cost but highly effective marketing tips to help you boost your sales and profits fast.Tip 1: Look for some low-cost ways you can enhance the perceived value of your product or service. The Magic of Keep-in-Touch Marketing Yesterday I received a phone call from an acquaintance that I've met once or twice but haven't seen in over a year. She wanted to let me know that she was referring me to a client of hers who needed help with his Web site copy. Set Your Business Apart With A Unique Selling Proposition Unless your company has absolutely no competition now or in the forseeable future, you're well advised to find and develop a unique selling proposition (USP) that differentiates your business from all of your competitors.For you to succeed, you have to identify and understand what you or your business does or can start doing for your prospects and customers that provides them with a result that is superior to the competition's. The Biggest Needle In The Haystack Hello everyone! Have you ever been curious about something, and wanted to learn about it? If you're like me, I am a pretty curious fellow, I really like to learn.Where is the best place to start finding the information you are looking for? My choice for information gathering is the Internet!Where do you start your search for information? I use search engines, my favorite is Google. Postcard Direct Mail Marketing: 15 Ways To Grab Attention If you use direct mail postcards to generate leads or sell a product or service, you need to create postcards that grab your prospect's attention. The place to do that is Side A, the side that doesn't have the stamp and address on it. The Greatest Business Tips are FREE The best way for someone to hang on to a tip is on a business card.Do you remember seeing the TV commercials of OSH Hardware stores, the ones where they give out time saving tips on things like squeaky floors and a host of other common household problems? The tips are well received and they are getting their name associated with "the answers are out there". The Magic of Using Booklets for Tradeshow Giveaways Candy, squeeze balls, pens, and key chains -- these provide questionable value to anyone visiting or staffing a tradeshow booth. More and more meeting and marketing professionals are considering something a little different - booklets. Marketing Is A Long-Term Investment "Dig your well before you're thirsty" is the title of a wonderful book by Harvey Mackay. It is smart advice for investing your money, "Save your money before you need it", or growing your business, "Market today for tomorrow". Packaging Made Frozen TV Dinners Possible I was saddened to hear of the passing of one of the food industry pioneers Gerry Thomas, One of our unsung heroes credited with invented a "package" the frozen TV dinner that literally changed the way we eat. Never mind that it was considered by nutritionists as a step backwards, his invention still made a major shift in the food and food services industries. Are Your Prospects Walking Out on You? After 11 years in sales, I've put together and delivered more sales presentations, briefings, and demos than I care to remember. But the nice thing about repetition is that after a few dozen presentations you get very good at reading body language. Mortgage Marketing - Viral-Email, Referral Marketing Strategy This is a devastatingly powerful way to extend your marketing reach. For this to work right you need a website that promotes your business. Hermey Wants To Be A Dentist December marked the 40th anniversary of the original broadcast of the classic "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer"©, network television's longest-running, highest-rated holiday special. From my earliest childhood memories, watching Rudolph has been a tradition, one that continues today with my own family. For Ongoing Success, Make Marketing a Habit Make Marketing a Must, Not a MaybeWhen business is booming, it's easy to put marketing on the back burner. Why focus attention on getting new customers when you already have all you can handle? The reason is simple: when things slow down, you want to have new clients in the pipeline.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
