Soft Marketing Strategies
Whether you are marketing on-line or off-line, your potential
customers are scared, scarred, and skeptical. Consumers, today,
are quite resistant to sales messages.
In the mid 70's, a store could run a "10% off" sale and people
would flock in. Then the big stores got into the discounting
mentality. Now it is common to see "70% off" sales - especially
in jewelry. The consumer is not too long a fool. These
promotions do not produce the wanted response anymore.
Repeated, high powered sales events create a downward spiral.
Eventually you cannot offer a big enough "deal" to get the
public excited. The big three car makers played this game for
three years. By January 2006 they found themselves in deep
financial trouble. They had borrowed customers from the future
by offering a bigger, better sale every couple months. It is a
deep grave from which to crawl out.
Successful businesses, now and in the future, will be practicing
what I call "soft marketing". To make sales today, marketing
efforts have to come in under the consumer's sales-pitch radar.
Many of the big companies have known this for some time because
of their on-going marketing analysis. You can take advantage of
their research for free.
Look at Coca-Cola for example.
Coke was famous for their flashy, high-powered TV ads. Today you
seldom see such ads. Have they cut back on their marketing
expenditure? No. In fact, they are now spending more using soft
marketing techniques. Most people do not even realize they are
being advertised to. That is the beauty and power of soft
marketing.
Here are two ways Coke is using a soft marketing approach to
build profits and market share.
1. You may have seen Coke products displayed on TV shows and
movies. "American Idol" is a popular TV show, with about 35
million viewers. The three judges are a big part of the success
of the show. In front of each judge is a tall Coke cup. These
characters, in effect, are recommending Coke to their viewers.
Coke pays a lot of money for this and sells a lot of product
based on this endorsement type advertising.
2. Coke brings new loyal customers in the "back door" using
nostalgia products. Coke collectibles are a huge market today.
And once caught up in the hobby of Coke collectibles, a person,
and the whole family, become avid Coke drinkers. And Coke is
being advertised to everyone who enters that home.
Coke's soft marketing techniques have made them almost
bullet-proof in the soft drink market. They have built an image
of being the most popular soda. Since it is human nature to want
to be on the winning team, swarms of new customers are joining
the group every day.
Here are three powerful soft marketing tactics you can start
using today.
1. Become known as an expert. Credibility and trust are the two
most important ways to succeed in any business. Write and submit
articles and press releases. If you cannot write, hire someone
to do it for you. There are several good writing service web
sites on the internet. They are very cheap. Also, you should
join a "Private Label Rights" content site. They provide already
written articles that you can put your name on as your own. This
is pure gold for on-line or off-line marketing.
If you have a business on Main Street, your local newspaper
should be your best friend. Do whatever you can to develop a
relationship with them. You may or may not be able to get your
news articles and releases printed for free, but even buying the
space will return big dividends.
2. Give away a free report on the topic of your product or
service. Your local newspaper will probably give you some free
editorial space in the beginning if the report is of interest
and free to their subscribers. A real life example is a realtor
in this area that offers a free report - "10 Ways To Get Top
Dollar For Your Home". It reveals what is valuable, and what is
not, when getting your home ready for sale. With this he becomes
the expert in the consumer's mind and a person who cares about
them.
You can get a book or report written for you for a few hundred
dollars by the same on-line companies that ghost-write articles
and press releases or from your "Private Label Rights"
membership site. This realtor has been using the same report for
over ten years now. It is estimated this report has generated
about $1.6 million in profits.
3. Partner with related, non-competing businesses. One dry
cleaning operation partnered with clothing stores in the
community. The store, when selling a garment, would give a gift
certificate to the customer. The gift certificate was good for a
free first-time cleaning and pressing of that new garment.
The customer thought the store was paying for the dry cleaning.
The fact is the dry cleaner was giving the service for free. The
customer saw the store as being a "hero" and the store saw the
dry cleaner as being a "hero". Both stores gained a load of new
and repeat customers.
Use these soft marketing strategies or think up your own to fit
your product or service. Have some brainstorming sessions with
other energetic, savvy business people, like you. The resulting
ideas will amaze you, and your traffic and profits will increase
as if by magic.