10 Commandments of Power Positioning-9

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 #9

THOU SHALL SEEK OUT AND SPREAD OUT

      I know that the yellow pages' people will hate me for this, but your yellow pages' ad, although an essential part of your entire marketing machine, doesn't have to be of a large size, in color, prominently displayed, or tied-in with other gimmicks the yellow pages has to offer. In fact, the entire concept of this report is to teach you that top-of-mind awareness (not "institutional" advertising) should be your main marketing goal.

      When people have seen your ad, heard about you, or have a need for your services at any particular time, your contact information may or may not be available to them at that particular moment. Therefore, you want the yellow pages to be a support system, not a full-blown marketing medium. Yellow pages salespeople more than likely don't have to sell you on the need to be in their directory, but where they make their commissions is by making your transaction as hefty as possible by selling you on size, color, and other gimmicks. You don't need it! Your presence is all that matters.

      However, there are some rules you should follow. First of all, the title of Commandment #9 is "Thou shall seek out (support systems) and spread out (among them)." Indeed, I'm a fervent believer in support systems since, when creating top-of-mind awareness, your potential clients may not necessarily need you and respond to you at that moment, but they may do so later when your contact information may not be available to them.

      Whether it's local directories, specialty directories, occupation-specific registries, industry-specific directories, yellow pages, search engines, Internet directories, or trade publications, you should seek them out and list your company in as many of them as you can. The trick, however, is to spread out. Essentially, being there (but also being everywhere) is all that matters.

      Don't be prominent in size or display. You can have a small telephone ad, in black and white, carrying the name of your company, your tagline, your specialization, your "unique" product or service, and, if possible, your free offer (the latter is the most important part). However, spreading out, especially within a directory, is your best bet for a high visibility and a high hit-ratio. For example, if you're a hairstylist specializing in at-home hairdressing, you can have an ad saying: "Meg Kessler of Scissors on Wheels, your in-house haircutter! Specializing in on-site special event hair management, and the creator of Hassle-Free Hair Job.^TM To see how I can make sure that your event has a good hair day, or for a free copy of my report, 6 Ways to Save Money in Buying Hair Care Products, call..."

      Now, the yellow pages people might tell you to be in only one particular location of their directory. Don't. Try to be in as many locations that logically relate to your firm or your service. Your ad can be small but it should appear in as many sections of the directory as possible. For instance, beyond the obvious "Hair" section of the directory, it can also appear in "Weddings," "Event Planning," "Image Consultants," "Modeling Agencies," "Conference Planners," "Color Consultants," and even "Senior Citizen Services."

      This also applies to the Internet, with search engines like "Yahoo," "Lycos," "Web Crawler," and "Alta Vista." You should not only try to be on as many search engines as possible, but try to spread out as much as possible among them as well. For instance, a search engine is one in which you conduct a search based on a "keyword," a word that you want the search engine to look for. It will search the entire World Wide Web and find as many Websites that contain your keyword.

      You might register your homepage according to a specific keyword, but if you register it under numerous keywords, your hit-ratio will increase dramatically. And this is not limited to words that directly relate to your page or its content (let alone your firm and the services you provide), but should comprise of any word that may indirectly be tied to them. (Keywords can also be incorporated within your Web site, which are also known as "meta-tags," so that the engine indexes your site with as many keywords as possible.)

      For example, a baker specializes in baking cookies. She not only cooks many different kinds of cookies but also creates different shapes, sizes, designs, and arrangements with them. One of her many creations are little cookie baskets with bows and lettering for, among other things, weddings, bridal showers, and baby showers. So what does she do? She registered her page on search engines under the keywords "Cookie," "Wedding," "Shower," "Baby," "Bride," "Groom," "Party," "Church," "Gift," "Family," and so on.

      Another support system that is often ignored is the answering machine. Your answering machine should not be regarded as a means of taking your calls and messages. Turn it into a support system as well. In fact, turn it into a salesperson working for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Does your message invite people to just leave a message? Or does it invite them to place an order for your free report?

      Phone companies usually offer multi-choice or multi-mailbox services. This is when the caller has the choice to either leave a general voice-mail message or press a number to leave a message for a specific recipient in another voice-mailbox in the system. There's also the option to choose the number of boxes you wish to have available on your phone. However, mailboxes don't need to be associated with an actual person. Here's a sample message: "Hi! You've reached Craig Jones of Investment Mastery Inc., where people learn how to be wise with their wealth. To leave a message, press 1. To order my free report, Money-Making Magic: 8 Sure-Fire Strategies for Making Money in Stocks, press 2..."

      Ultimately, the object of "seek out and spread out" is to find as many support systems as possible. You want to be there, in front of your prospects, when they have come to decide to buy from you or at least to hear what you've got. In other words, spread yourself thin. Don't be big. Be small but be everywhere!

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