www.poludas.com

So you’ve tried direct mail, advertising, you’ve got a web site, maybe you’ve even tried networking as a marketing strategy. These and many other marketing strategies are all good and if performed properly will most likely bring you favorable results. A word to the wise here though, some of them can run you a fortune in marketing costs. And in my experience, cost has a lot less bearing on effectiveness than one would like to believe. Now being a fan of Jay Conrad Levinson and his concept of “Guerrilla Marketing”, I am always on the lookout for innovative and inexpensive ways to market. And what I have for you here certainly fits that bill.

I believe Napoleon Hill in his 1930’s classic book “Think and Grow Rich” was the first person to coin the phrase “Master Mind” and he defined it as: “Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”

Hmmm So basically it’s building a team that leverages their collective brains and brawn to help one another get what they want.

So let’s not beat around the bush here. Are you ready for the secret marketing strategy? Well here goes It’s quite simple really there is strength in numbers. Two minds are exponentially more capable than one mind alone. In this equation, one plus one does not equal two, it more closely resembles eleven. We’re talking about leverage here. The secret is simply to gain leverage by creating your own mastermind. Not just any mastermind though; One that specifically focuses on marketing - a “Marketing Mastermind” so to speak.

So my proposal to you is to take that exact concept of a mastermind as Napoleon Hill defined it, and niche it to focus primarily on marketing.

So real quick what should this mastermind look like? My suggestion would be 4 to 8 members from different, non-competing industries, meeting weekly to discuss how they can help each other market their respective businesses - Plain and simple.

Now it’s not my intention here to educate you in any detail on how to set up and effectively participate in a mastermind group, as there are plenty of resources out there already that can do that for you, it is simply to share with you what’s possible by leveraging this concept to support your marketing efforts.

Personally, I see this strategy as a phenomenal way for organizations, especially smaller ones with little spending money for marketing, to use the power of leverage to broaden their capability and effectiveness.

While the benefits of doing this could be endless, let me just share with you five of my favorites:
1. Plain and simple, it keeps you in the conversation of marketing.
2. It can provide you with unbiased feedback, brainstorming, and marketing advice based on experiences of what has worked, or hasn’t worked for your mastermind teammates.
3. You will significantly expand your reach and go beyond who you know and tap into who your teammates know. Now depending on what the group agrees to, you may gain access to the client list and/or mailing list of the other members. Additionally, you can explore the possibilities of joint marketing initiatives and joint venture arrangements where multiple parties share in the results.
4. You’ll be held accountable to get done what you say you will get done. This alone inspires people into action and action ultimately leads to results.
5. The list can go on and on and on however, best of all, masterminding is free!

So need I say more? I sincerely hope you’ll take this strategy on and try it on for a while. What do you got to lose? - It’s free. Remember, there’s power in numbers so build your “Marketing Mastermind” and reap the rewards today!

© 2006 Online Marketing Muscle — All Rights Reserved.

Online entrepreneur Dean Mercado, “The Motivational Marketer,” is creator of the acclaimed ‘Pumped Up Networking’ system geared to explode your business through professional relationships. To learn more about it and to sign up for his FREE eZine the ‘Marketing Minute’ - a weekly multimedia eZine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes, visit http://www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com.

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As an entrepreneur, one of your greatest challenges is the
choice of where to put your advertising and marketing
bucks. Who/what/where is my market? How do I reach
them? What do I say to excite them? The wrong answers
can cost a lot of useless expense and time as you learn this
critical field. Many companies have gone under for lack of
mastering these efforts.

TV COMMERCIALS

Have you ever watched a TV commercial and thought to
yourself, “Who on earth would buy that?” If so, you’ve seen
an ad carefully targeted at a group which has different
needs and desires than you do. If your response was, “Boy!
I’d sure enjoy that” or “I’m going to call them tomorrow,” the
ad had YOU squarely in its sights.

SELLING VIA PAIN

Advertising agencies discovered long ago that the fastest
way to move someone into action (buying) is to discover
something that is very painful to them, then disturb that
person about it. If they stirred up emotions about a wound
(i.e., a deep desire going unfilled or an unaddressed fear)
and then showed the prospective customer how to heal that
wound or fulfill that need through a product or service, the
person felt COMPELLED to buy … buying became a MUST!

This discovery has been refined over the last fifty years into
a fine art. The purpose of the following is to introduce you to
this system so that you can discover people’s deepest
needs, wants and wounds and heal or satisfy them with
your product/service.

IT WORKS

Advertisers understand this. It helped AT&T increase their
long distance calls over 500% in certain areas. This is what
helped Dr. Pepper move from the #9 soft drink to #5. Levis
501 Jeans used this information to double their sales in a
six month period of time.

As a result of this information, you will:
1. Be able to determine the distinctions used by advertisers
to motivate our entire nation. You’ll never see a commercial
again without determining its target market(s) virtually
instantly.
2. Be able to create power levels of rapport by
knowing a person’s deepest emotional needs.
3. Be
able to determine who is your actual target market.
4.
Use this information in your direct mail, face to face
negotiations, in and outbound telemarketing, advertising
and marketing campaigns, strategic alliances…and in your
personal life.

FOUR MAJOR LIFESTYLES

There are four distinct lifestyles, the last broken into two
slightly differing types.

1. BELONGERS - 38% of the country.

LIFESTYLE: Hard working, 9-5 types. Midwest values,
traditional, blue collar workers. They DO NOT LIKE
CHANGE. You’ll find no Mercedes in this group, no use of
crystals. These people are NOT out to change the world.
They belong to social clubs, play softball, shop at K-Mart
and Sears. Their primary automobiles are - you guessed it -
Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler.

HIGHEST VALUE: FAMILY (Is it any wonder the major
political parties constantly push “family values,” though they
carefully *never* define what those values are?)

PSYCHIC WOUND: Traditional values are not happening
any more.

KEY WORDS: Picnic, time together, patriotic, family.

Typical commercial appealing to this group: AT&T’s “Reach
Out and Touch Someone” series. They’re warm and fuzzy,
*very* family and friend oriented and appeal to the desire for
connectedness. Family scenes tend to be country and/or
small town oriented with lots of children and grandparents.
Also recall the Kodak Moments series. Can you see how
these ads appeal to this large group? The political ads,
conversely, are aimed at how these things are under attack
or no longer valued. They appeal primarily to fear.

2. EMULATORS - About 10-15% of the country

LIFESTYLE: Young, the 16-38 age range. They model
themselves after successful people. They are money and
business motivated, materialistic and “wannabes.” They
tend to move quickly, feel driven towards success and have
strong sex motivated desires. In cars, their choices include
Camaros, Mustangs, Firebirds and maybe leased late
model Beemers.

HIGH VALUE: Desire to be confident.

PSYCHIC WOUND: Lack confidence (and know it).

KEY WORDS: Someday, I’m going to… I want… Be like…

Typical commercials appealing to this group: Coors Lite.
It’s action driven, sexy, young. ZIMA Malt Drink follows this
pattern. Nike ads, too, featuring Michael Jordan. Cool.
Action driven, often young people in the series doing cool
things. Especially watch for ads which have young, beautiful
and sexy people. Calvin Klein’s ads are targeted to this
group. And just watch Melanie Griffith in her Revlon series
about “Don’t lie about your age…defy it.” Almost all cosmetic
ads are in this group. Notice, too, the driving music behind
these ads.

3. ACHIEVERS - Again, about 10-15% of the country

LIFESTYLE: #1 in their fields, know they’re the BEST.
Economically top performers, $100K+ annually. This group
tends to be 40-55 years of age. Their auto choices? Top of
the line Mercedes, Jaguar, Rolls Royce. And guess what
brand of mustard they prefer?

HIGH VALUE: Being unique, standing out, king of the hill.

PSYCHIC WOUND: Don’t want to be one of the pack, part of
the herd.

KEY WORDS: Unique, decision maker, leader,
international, CEO, prestige, quality, different, take it to the
next level, being in the vanguard.

Typical commercial appealing to this group: Lincoln
Continental. Note its tag line: “Make Your Mark.” Cadillac
also targets this group, as do the DeBeers diamond ads
which often speak of 25th wedding anniversaries. See how
they go straight at this age and financial range?

4. SOCIETALLY CONSCIOUS - (Two types)
10-15% of the market, fastest growing segment in the US.

LIFESTYLE: Not money oriented, tend to be college grads,
grew up in the 60s, don’t trust government programs.

Type A: Never left the 60s, long hair, not into career,
sandals, Tie-dyed T-Shirts, Grateful Dead concerts. They
often prefer used cars, VW vans.

Type B: Got into the system, cut their hair (not always) or
trimmed their beards neatly, some wear suits, believe in
“change-the-system-from-within.” Their car choices are
Volvos, Saabs and Subarus. (From direct observation, it
would seem that Berkeley, CA, is the Volvo Capital of the
US!)

HIGH VALUE: Intelligence, Integrity

PSYCHIC WOUND: Being seduced or manipulated by the
system in any way.

KEY WORDS: Mission, change the world for the better,
natural, balance, nuturing, good person, outdoors,
environmental, poor, homeless, global warming, recycling,
pollution, etc.

Typical commercial appealing to this group: Chevron
“People Do” ads showing scenes of environmental purity
next to refineries. Coors Regular with cool, clean flowing
streams. Ads which are low key and which stress “You
Already Know What’s Right,” or “You Can’t Be Fooled.” So
even though this group detests being manipulated, they, like
everyone else in the world, can be approached
psychologically.

GENERAL CATEGORIES

Note that these are all general categories. People are not
totally one thing or another, so individuals can be part of
more than one grouping. Often you’ll see commercials or
ads which are targeted toward more than one group using
mixed words and images. The viewer simply picks out
those which appeal directly and rejects the others…or
doesn’t even see or respond to them.

So observe the advertising going on for awhile, see how it is
put together and then go forth and do likewise. Find YOUR
target market and aim all your advertising, marketing and
promotional energies and dollars specifically at them.
You’re bound to have success!

Mr. Eric Barnes is President & General Manager of Capital
Funds Group Ltd., a Canadian based consulting firm
specializing in Putting Companies and Money
Together. They also work with non-US companies
to take them public rapidly and inexpensively, then getting
them funded. Visit our
Web Site

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Levels of New Market Development

A. Passive

Passive here means broad spectrum media ads which stimulate the front runners - who are the gasoline for the engine of the movement of any new product from “new” market development until it becomes a commodity. These are the TV or newspaper ads that stimulate enough people to act. This stimulus/response takes a little selling, but, is a lot easier than direct sales, and is a little harder than merchandising commodities.

B. Active

This is direct sales. Direct sales means that you called (or mailed to) them directly and went for a “yes” or “no” without them being predisposed in the first place. Direct sales is the most difficult to achieve, but is also the most rewarding when successfully accomplished. Because price is not an object.

For example: Media ads for new windows - Once there is an inquiry, a professional sales person is sent to “close” a sale. This is a skilled and highly paid professional. But even harder and more high-paying is the non-response selling of a new product or service. Getting an appointment on a new product (generating leads) is a chore in itself.

Secondly, sales of perceived value are lower in close rates than media response leads, but the control of the number of responses and sales is much greater. You are not dependent upon as many exterior conditions being favorable (seasons, inflation, etc.).

Mail order also falls into this last category. To be “good” at marketing any one of the above levels does not necessarily mean much with the other categories. Do you have inexpensive “passive” promotions? If you are selling an unknown product or service, are you describing what “problem” you are going to solve, or, how you are going to enhance their life from the status quo?

Daniel Wadleigh is a nationally published marketing consultant and has programs for start-up and existing businesses including effective web sites, e-mail/database, other non-internet ways to drive them to your website, and low cost ways to get more new customers.

Go to: http://www.more-new-customers.com to get free copy of “Marketing to Men vs. Women- the 8 different responses” and a Free copy of “Market Research- 7 Questions to Ask to Start-up and 7 to Ask to Improve Any Business.”

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