Marketing eYe

a biztactics.com blog | by Ankesh Kothari

Also read: Marketing Stories

Subscribe to Business Bullet
Receive blog updates And hidden articles

A few Marketing Sites

David Frey, one of my fav marketers who reveals some pretty profitable and easy-to-implement marketing ideas, just overhauled his website. There is a lot more content over there now (blog, forum, articles). Best of all, David uploaded back issues to his awsome newsletter!

Check it out: Marketing Best Practices

Another cool person whose newsletters are good is Allan Katz of Loyalty Coach.

Robert Middleton has a pretty colourful and insightful marketing website too: Action Plan.

Finally, Mark Joyner, one of the first "internet millionaires" came out with a new website with a social cause. Check it out too: The new Mark Joyner website

Email Post to a friend

Posted on 5/31/2005 | Permalink | |

How to Write Well

A Marketing Hotsheet subscriber asks me today: "How do you write such good case studies?"

The question got me thinking... especially because I never considered myself to be a good writer.

My grammar is bad (I'm lost without those wonderful spell (& grammar) checking tools).
My vocabulary is poor (I don't think I've ever used a 12 letter word. Me thinks - "vocabulary" is the biggest word I know, in fact!)
And English isn't even my first language (although, to be fair, I've been taught English since I was 3. And so, many a times, I even think in English.)

And yet, some very smart people have called me a good story writer.

How did I manage to become a decent writer?

I managed it with just 2 tricks:

1. Writing on good ideas.
Even if you have a very strong grasp on the English language, it won't matter much if you don't select good ideas and concepts to write on. One thing I've learnt is: Its not how you write. Its what you write.

2. Cutting out the filler.
Edit. Then edit some more. Don't write one extra word than is required. Cut out the crap and you'll be able to make your ideas shine through your writings.

Thats it. Follow these 2 rules and you'll be able to write well too.

(There are a few other tricks I've learnt over time too... such as using active verbs, listening to how people converse, writing on only one idea at a time, summarizing the body at the end, using parenthesis (), using short sentences, using unusual verbs, etc - but these tricks are worthless if the 2 major rules are not followed!)

My secret weapon

There is one secret ingredient that has influenced my writing more than anything else. And that is reading:

Perry Mason mysteries!

180 pages on how a lawyer tries to solve murders. In most cases, there are only 2 or 3 suspects. Yet, you won't be able to tell till the last moment who the real killer is! What suspenseful writing! One big idea, one big mystery delivered in short sentences. Very rarely will you find a sentence in the book that is un-needed.

Read Perry Mason mysteries if you want to improve your writing.

Another Resource: Writing Gooder by Timothy Miles

Email Post to a friend

Posted on 5/27/2005 | Permalink | |

Shopping Revolutions

A shopping revolution is building up. People want easy accessibility. They want to be able to find your products easily. And they want to be able to order your products easily.

And the modern technology is making it possible for savvy marketers to provide easy access to people.

2 articles that came across my desk today:

T-Commerce: How people can buy products advertised on TV with their remotes

BuyPods: An iPod like product that allows people to scan the products they want in stores, which will then be shipped to their homes

And, some time back, Fingerprint pay system: How people can pay with their fingers instead of credit cards

You might not be able to implement these cutting edge technologies right away. That doesn't mean you can't improve the accessibility for your products. You can still take small steps like:

Stop asking people to fill in their entire history while they buy
Don't provide a 7 step shopping cart system online
See if you can take your services mobile. Can you make home calls?
Provide a home delivery option for your products so that people don't have to carry all the items they have bought while they continue their shopping

Email Post to a friend

Posted on 5/26/2005 | Permalink | |

Business Card Referral Strategy

Today, I went for cheap lunch: Little Ceasar's $5.30 (with tax) for a large pizza!

While paying the five bucks and change, I noticed a very cool marketing trick (that anyone can use and profit from, but very few actually do.)

At the checkout counter were a bunch of white business cards with some words in blue on it. The business cards had "Little Ceasar's" written on it in bold. But they weren't actually Little Ceasar's business cards!

Instead, the cards were for "Marvelanes" - a bowling lanes outlet!

The card simply read:

Bowl Free Compliments of
LITTLE CEASAR'S
This card good for one FREE game of bowling anytime lanes
are available. One free game per person per day.
Expires September 29 2005
MARVELANES
(Address of Marvelanes)

The back of the business card asked for the

person's name
address
telephone number and
birthdate.

And stated "Above Must be Completed for Redemption"

Thats it.

Lets analyze the business card in a bit more detail:

Marvelanes gave a free offer to attract a new client base
The business card specified that the free offer was conditional and could only be taken advantage of while lanes are available (Marvelanes don't lose any business by giving the free offer)
The business card had a deadline - making people take action and avoid procrastination
Marvelanes asked for peoples names and addresses. Thus, they'll build a big mailing list because of their free offer. And they can generate business anytime in the future by just sending a reminder to the mailing list and probably giving them a discount

And Marvelanes then persuaded Little Ceasar's to place these business cards next to the checkout counter. Little Ceasar's earn some goodwill by giving a goodie to their clients. And Marvelanes wins some new clients - all for the cost of printing a few simple business cards!

What a win-win referral strategy!

Action Summary:

Create business cards that offer free goodies or free samples of your product.
Ask other complimentary businesses to give away those business cards to their clients as a "Thank You Reward"
Make sure you collect the names and addresses of these new clients who take you on the free goodie offer. And then convert them into loyal clients by following up with them.

Email Post to a friend

Posted on 5/24/2005 | Permalink | |

Customer Service Gold Standards

I came upon a tid-bit of information... Ritz-Carlton chain of hotels has a rule for their employees: "Escort guests rather than pointing out directions to another area of the Hotel."

Wow. That is a simple idea. And so very revolutionary - hardly any hotel does that. I began wondering if Ritz-Carlton, which is so famous for its customer service, has any more such simple rules.

And found not one, but 19 other rules. Some more tid-bits include:

Whoever receives a complaint will own it.
Each employee is empowered. For example, when a guest has a problem or needs something special you should break away from your regular duties, address and resolve the issue.
"Smile - we are on stage." Always maintain positive eye contact.
Use Ritz-Carlton telephone etiquette. Answer within three rings and with a "smile."

You'll enjoy reading all the 20 Golden Standard rules of Ritz-Carlton

Email Post to a friend

Posted on 5/22/2005 | Permalink | |

Brilliance of the Brain

I am fascinated by the human brain. And if you are interested in the topic of persuasion, you should be interested in the brain too. Because if you can understand people and their emotions, you can better persaude them.

Some weeks back, I read an internet ad about a new quarterly magazine by "Scientific America". The ad seemed very interesting to me and I shelled out $19.95 for a yearly subscription (4 issues a year).

Today, somehow, I received its first two issues together. And I've spent last 5 hours reading the 2 issues from top to bottom. Its some very interesting stuff.

The magazines name is "Scientific American Mind." It has the latest stuff on psychology, neuroscience and human behaviour. If you are interested in the human brain and such stuff, you might want to check them out:

http://www.sciammind.com/

Resource that can help you unlock the hidden secrets of your consumers' mind

Email Post to a friend

Posted on 5/13/2005 | Permalink | |

Elephant Constraints

Vivek Paul, the CEO of Wipro, one of the biggest IT companies based in India says that he got the best advice in his life from an elephant trainer:

The best advice I ever got was from an elephant trainer in the jungle outside Bangalore. I was doing a hike through the jungle as a tourist. I saw these large elephants tethered to a small stake.

I asked him "How can you keep such a large elephant tied to such a small stake?"

He said "When the elephants are small, they try to pull out the stake and they fail. When they grow large, they never try to pull out the stake again."

That parable reminds me that we have to go for what we think we’re fully capable of, not limit ourselves by what we’ve been in the past.

Joseph Sugarman, one of the masters of copywriting had naratted a similar story in his book "Advertising Secrets of the Written Word." Elephants never forget. And as a baby elephant grows older, she never forgets the failure of freeing herself from being tied down. She remembers the pain. And so, even when she grows up and finds that she is anchored to a spot again, she would think that its impossible to become free, and not even try to break free!

The problem is, every human is also affected by some such "elephantal constraints." They have emotional barriers that stop them from crossing an invisible chasm.

Don Alm knows this. Don Alm, a master salesman, uses the "elephant constraint" psychology while hiring salespeople.

He says: "People have a tendency to reach a certain income level and stay there" and so "If a person made $100,000 selling ANYTHING...he could make $100,000 selling MY program!"

Don noticed that one guy who used to make $2,000 a month, once made $2,000 within 2 weeks. And suddenly, after those 2 good weeks, his production came to a halt. The guy started finding all sorts of excuses to not sell anything for the rest of the month!

Don noticed this time and time again.

So, now Don trains others to sell his ideas and products based on their past income generation history. If they made $100,000 a year, Don would take them on - even if they don't have any prior sales experience.

Action Summary:

2 things to take away from this post:

Hire employees who have generated a higher income in their past and they will do a lot better for you, even if they aren't familiar with your industry.
Determine if you are facing any mental barrier that you can't cross. And then cross them. Determine "what you can't do." And then do it. (Think you can't dance well? I'll tell you: thats hogwash. A good dance teacher can train you to dance like a pro in no time. But first, you have to get rid of your mental barriers. Crush your elephantal constraints. Break away from the invisible stakes and ropes. Then find a good teacher who can guide you.)

Email Post to a friend

Posted on 5/10/2005 | Permalink | |

Shoeshop Marketing

A shoeshop owner was dismayed when a competitor selling similar shoes opened next-door to him, displaying a large sign proclaiming:

"Best Deals"

Not long after he was horrified to find yet another competitor move in next-door, on the other side if his store. It's large sign was even more disturbing:

"Lowest Prices"

After his initial panic, and concern that he would be driven out of business, he looked for a way to turn the situation to his marketing advantage. Finally, an idea came to him. Next day, he proudly unveiled a new and huge sign over his front door. It read:

"Main Entrance"!

Action Summary:

hmm... I'm still thinking about one. Better access to your product or store beats better advertising?

(btw, my Hungarian friend and marketer - Wolf Gábor - first narrated this joke to me. If you read Hungarian, check out his interesting site)

--

(I am behind in my emails, in my readings and even my blog posting! What have I been upto lately? I just moved apartments. And am also working on a new project - digging a well - sort of. Will tell you more about my exciting new project in a few days time. In the mean time, I've lined up a guest author to blog over here. And will also post something interesting on Monday.)

Email Post to a friend

Posted on 5/08/2005 | Permalink | |

biztactics.com quick & effective small business marketing tactics

Marketing eYe:

Can see the hidden tactics that made other products profitable
Will reveal those tactics to you on this blog

Click "CTRL + D" to bookmark the marketing eye blog

RSS link

What is RSS?

Top 5 posts
Read these first - The essential Marketing eYe Posts

Sponsors

Previous Posts

Archives

Links

Marketing Blogs

Show your Support
Give a child an education for less than what you pay for one meal in a restaurant

CRY -- Child Relief & You