10 Commandments of Power Positioning

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF POWER POSITIONING

Magical Marketing Strategies for Creating an Endless Stream of New, Repeat, and Referral Business

Copyright © 1998 Michel Fortin, Ph.D.

COMMANDMENT #7

THOU SHALL SPEAK SOFTLY (BUT CARRY A BIG STICK)

      The following is probably the greatest secret in Miracle-Making Marketing. Now that we've talked about lead generation advertising, the trick to having as many pre-qualified prospects come forward is to have your ad noticed and read by such a specific group of people as much, as often, and as effectively as possible. General publications won't do that and they certainly cost a lot of money... And that's cost-per-lead money.

      Specialized publications, on the other hand, have the distinction of appealing to a specific audience and thus increase the chances of it being noticed as well as read. For example, if one newspaper has a readership of 100,000 but only 25,000 of this number fits into your demographics, where another has a readership of only 40,000 but all of which fits into your demographics, which one do you think will give you the greatest response? In other words, rather than fishing for small fish in the middle of the ocean, you'll be a catching big fish in a small pond. Think of the specialized publication as a sonar that will help you to find the kind of fish you really want.

      This is not only due to the fact that the readership of a specific publication will match your demographics, but also due to the fact that people who buy specialized publications have a tendency to read them from cover to cover. Unlike a mass-published newspaper that will be "sifted" through (i.e., it is bought by many but read in its entirety by few), a specialized publication will be read more intensely and thoroughly than the general one (i.e., it is bought by few but read in its entirety by many).

      Your per capita hit-ratio will dramatically increase than if you would have advertised in a major publication that's too general or too vague. Your little ad can easily get "lost" in such large media or get drowned in a sea of ads. These days, specialized publications exist by the truckloads! Occupation-specific, special interest, or industry-specific publications can include newsletters, trade publications, journals, reports, corporate mail, magazines, specialty newspapers, e-zines (electronic newsletters), catalogues, and communiqués from specific organizations and associations.

      Publications for uncommon or highly specialized topics are out there in some form or another. For instance, if you go to your library, you will find that there are magazines for home-based businesses, newsletters exclusively written for corporate executives, magazines purely about cigars, newspapers strictly published for firemen, and even magazines geared for – of all things – gerbil breeders! As long as the readership logically fits into your target market and, if possible, into your psychographic criteria, this is where you will get the greatest bang for your marketing buck.

      For example, an advertising agent specializing in computer-based firms can advertise an offer for a free report in computer magazines or, better yet, in e-zines in which firms that cater to a same target market often advertise. A medical consultant should advertise a free consultation in medical journals, medical association newsletters, and medical equipment manufacturer catalogues. I'm sure you get the drift.

      By the way, having your own newsletter is also a powerful way to attract prospects. If you haven't yet started one, get on it. Your newsletter may be offered for free or at a nominal cost to pay for the printing and distribution, but the idea is to have the people who read it want more and come forward to get it. As well, you can sell advertising space in your newsletter to firms also catering to your unique clientele (again, this is what I call developing strategic alliances). Conversely, you can buy advertising space in a newsletter written by another firm that caters to your target market. The possibilities here are endless.

      However, it wouldn't be right for me to end this portion of this report without discussing the Internet. With information being one the major shifts the business world has experienced, the information super-highway (the Internet) can help to make your presence known in a much better, much quicker, and much cheaper way. If you're not on the 'Net yet, you're losing out big time! But if you are, your site and e-mail addresses, which should appear in all your business literature, should be made available to everybody you come in contact with, even as part of your signature on any other form of correspondence. E-mail helps prospects to come forward in the privacy and convenience of their own homes or offices, and it also gives you a chance to respond to them immediately. It's truly a dynamic form of communication that, to this day, is still often overlooked.

      If you haven't already, create a Web homepage. Many people think that this is expensive, which for a complete Website it can be, but a Webpage is far different than a Website in that a page can usually be part of a greater Website – a chapter of a book, if you will. These sites are usually called domains. Many servers and Internet providers have domains to which you can have a Webpage linked or on which it can be present. It is a low cost way to be on the Web and it doesn't have to be slick with high-resolution graphics.

      Your page can be strictly information-oriented identical to a book or newsletter. Your homepage can be designed to advertise you, your company, and the products and services you offer. But if your free report is written in a two-dimensional printed format, more than likely you will have it on some diskette somewhere. Therefore, by having it available via the Internet, people can access your free information and print it themselves at home or at the office, without costing any money, time, or postage on your part.

      However, don't make your free report available directly in your homepage. Many people who choose to use the multi-step marketing process I described earlier (which I strongly encourage) want the names and addresses of those people coming forward for future follow-up and direct mail possibilities. In this case, they have a special section of their Webpage that includes their free report, but it is one to which only people who have a password can access.

      If you use this technique and people have seen your ad somewhere let alone your Webpage in which you advertise your free report offer, they can write or e-mail you so to obtain their special, secret, free, and active-for-a-limited-time-only password. Once inside, they can read your report and do so instantaneously. They now have access to super-useful information and feel part of an elite group of educated members. At this point, your e-zine (electronic newsletter or magazine) can also be made available through password protected access. If your newsletters carry a subscription cost, you can charge people in order for them to obtain their password and you can bill them regularly for renewal.

      Remember, you're not trying to advertise with the hope of stumbling onto a trickle of suspects. You want an endless stream of pre-qualified, pre-screened, and pre-sold expects! As this Commandment states, you don't want to scream until your lungs bleed. You want to speak softly but carry a big stick with which you can "clobber 'em" when they're in proximity (the "big stick" here refers to your compelling offer presented only to a specific group of people, namely eager prospects who fit your psychographics). People who go to your site and read your page will hopefully want more. But even when only a small portion do, you know that those who do are much more qualified, which saves you a lot of time and effort than trying to fish in a dried up desert of possible suspects.

      In addition, once you're on the Web there are many more advantages that come with using this medium, such as search engines. Search engines are electronic yellow pages that contain every page and e-mail address available in the world. (However, there are specific ways to use search engines effectively, and we'll come back to this in Commandment #9.) You can also tag or link your page to other pages or sites from organizations or people that cater to your specific market. This is simply another way to advertise through specialized means.

      In essence, it's all part of a lead generating system, and you know what "system" stands for, don't you? It stands for "Save Your Self Time, Effort, and Money!" Yeah. That's the ticket!

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