By Jimmy Krug –

Publicity is a changing game. There was a time when getting a write-up in the newspaper (local or otherwise) was similar to hitting the ball out of the park in the big game. In days of old, newspapers owned the local and national markets. That time has come and gone.

The same was true of TV or radio. With just a limited amount (as compared to today) of stations in existence, getting a radio or TV interview used to be a really a big deal. Today, with the exception of friends and family watching, being on either may not even register a blip on the local radar.

Today, being seen means little. Getting noticed in the sea of “being seen” is the name of the game in 2011 and beyond. Mistake the two as being synonymous and you may be out of business before long. No, in today’s world, masses of products, services and events fly by like a slideshow on fast-forward.  They’re seen and unfortunately, forgotten.

Whatever niche you’re in, it’s great to be known or even a leader among your peers. The problem is, what if your peers aren’t your clients? If they’re just your peers, chances are – they’re not really consumers of your product or service. Being popular among your peers – or even envied by them won’t secure you much more than bragging rights at the end of the day.

If you’re visible in your particular business, more people probably know who you are than you realize – especially if your business has been around for awhile. This is what “being seen” is all about. The problem occurs when the people you’re most visible to haven’t bought a thing from you and in many cases… never will. Simply put, they’re not your clientele.

In my own case, several of my peers became my clients because I had established myself in my niche with higher-profile clients. Some of my peers became clients. That was temporary. Did I make enough money with them to build a solid business? No. They only needed about 20% of the products and services I offered.

“Getting Noticed” on the other hand is an entirely different matter. Getting noticed means you stand out in a crowd – once you’ve been seen. I’m talking about standing out for all the right reasons. This can include but isn’t limited to having a product or service that is –

• Better designed
• Does more things for the same price
• Solves more problems than the competitor’s product or service
• Makes a difficult job easier
• Is easier to use
• Tastes better
• Looks better
• Provides a pleasant escape from boredom, stress, etc.

You get the idea.  That’s just a quick list.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing – you have competition.  People have a limited amount of time, money and attention. You want a percentage of all three to be focused upon you. Just being seen isn’t good enough.

The easiest way to get noticed in 2011 is by having a “marketing message” that really resonates in your niche. The definition I’m using for the word “resonate” is [to evoke or suggest images, memories or emotion]. This is why music is so powerful. It does all three – sometimes subtly… sometimes not so subtly.

Words, images and the images words create are used to create successful campaigns for every type of product and service you can think of. Words can intrigue, or they can bore.

In the most recent taste tests, Pepsi beats Coke continually. And yet, Coke continues to outsell Pepsi. Why? Obviously, there is another type of connection with the product besides taste that’s responsible for the sale.

Whether your business is local, national, or international, getting noticed ultimately means people are responding to your message with their checkbooks. All this happens when people remember YOU before the others out there who are selling or promoting the same or similar things.

This may mean you’re going to have to adjust your business and update your strategies to reflect what’s happening in the present. Today’s battles can seldom be won using yesterday’s strategies. Too much has changed for this approach to be successful (more often than not).

So let’s get right to the heart of the matter. If you’re business is failing, what are the options?

1.       Change your message to meet today’s needs. You current one may be falling upon deaf ears.

2.       Combine other products or services with your current ones to increase your overall “perceived value.”

3.       Change your pricing structure to enable your business to keep moving. If there is no longer “money to be made” where you are, you must determine if it’s worthwhile holding your current position.

4.       Reinvent yourself and reintroduce yourself to your existing client/customer base in a way they’re not used to seeing you.

More on these four methods in upcoming articles.

By Martin Russell.

I just finished speaking with a woman who runs her own studio. She is generating 90% of her new clients from Google Adwords, but times are rough.

Her marketing has been impressive, and has kept her business going for the last 3 years, but with diminishing returns. With the economy falling, and people tightening their budgets, she is scared.

She contacted me because she realized one thing. She has lots of happy and delighted clients, but she isn’t being deliberate about her word of mouth marketing, so…

…She Is Getting ZERO Referrals!

Consider your own business for a moment.

Do you have a word of mouth strategy in your business, and if you do, does it work?

Think about how many hours and dollars you are putting into your current marketing, and then make this 5 point comparison…

1. How much do people spend with you on their first purchase? (Immediate Profit.)

Do they usually buy a smaller product with less options to test you out first, or do they take up your biggest package straight away?

People who are referred to you automatically trust you to a greater degree, because of the trust they have with the person who referred them.

This is probably why referred customers tend to spend more than clients brought in by any other marketing method. They have less need to test you out with a small sale first, just to be sure.

In this economy, how price sensitive do you think YOUR customers are becoming?

2. How often do they come back? (Repeat Sales.)

Word of mouth methods always include follow-up and client retention.

Clients are much more likely to return to you, if only because they are talking again with the person who referred them to you in the first place.

If their experience with you is positive then the discussion about the referral will be a positive one too, perhaps encouraging both parties to want to come back to you again!

3. How often they refer others? (Doing Your Marketing For You.)

Referred clients need much less education on referring others to you. They were referred themselves so they understand a) you accept/want referrals, and b) you will take good care of the person they refer, just like you looked after them.

This measure is so often missed when calculating the value of other forms of marketing, but is absolutely crucial when deciding the lifetime value of what a particular client brings into your business.

4. How effective are the referrals they give you? (Quality Customers.)

Word of mouth clients generally complain less, pay on time more often, and are more enjoyable to work with, when compared to clients coming from any other method.

Your best customers can be educated to help you maintain and even improve the quality of customers you get.  Therefore, when your very finest clients refer people to you, you end up receiving incredible clients as a bonus, and your overall business goes up a level.

5. The overall profit per customer? (The Life-Time Value Bottomline.)

Just on the basis of the first 4 measures alone no other method of marketing will produce as good a return on your investment as word of mouth referrals.

And… here’s the extra kicker!

Even though “Word of Mouth Magic” covers many referral marketing methods that require money to get started with, many of them can be done without even spending a single, solitary cent more!

At its simplest, you just need to adapt what you are already doing. For instance, add to your written information on letterheads, emails, website and even invoices, something that lets people know that you get, want and appreciate referrals. Planting the seeds for a harvest of referrals can often be done at no cost at all.

The woman running the studio knew her current marketing wasn’t giving her as good a return as referrals.

How well do your current marketing methods measure up against word of mouth?

_____________________________________
Martin Russell

www.WordofMouthMagic.com

By David Breth. (If you missed the first part of this article, please click here)

Create a buzz

…”your press releases should contain several “hooks” for the media. of course, the more hooks you have the better.”

Not only hooks but you also need to MAKE SURE you have your press release proof read for grammar and spelling… fact is the media and public works with you on different levels based on how “intellectual” you “sound”.

As a business owner you CAN use press releases to create a buzz for your spot before you arrive and after you leave. Using them before you arrive allows you to create a crowd who may see your buzz in the news on and or off line and show up to catch your next “newsworthy endeavor”. After your “newsworthy endeavor” you can place actual testimonials from people who “experienced” your “newsworthy endeavor” then alert those in a new area where you will be next this helps create local buzz even before you deliver your next “newsworthy endeavor”.

Plus, bloggers will start to use RSS feeds and Google Alerts to know where you are and this helps you create a free “street team”!!!

REMEMBER: A press releases is a newsworthy piece… NOT an advertisement!!!

Get to the point !!!

PS Please feel free to swipe and deploy (Not steal…but swipe my templates – - they are effective).

(Part Five)

NOTICE: This one (http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release-rss/maryland-entertainment-agency-launches-new-website-for-party-event-planning-133692.php) is not long and drawn out just a straight to the point “Announcement” … after all I am giving “NEWS”… though it becomes an advertisement it is not structured like I am “just” advertising… it is educating people about something “new”.

Every-time I add new links or information on any of my blogs and web sites I submit a press release telling the world I have launched a new site, link, option, pictures, etc..

Guess what?

Also note for online press releases I usually start the headline with the area I am targeting… this way the search engines see this word then the next … so if someone types into Google: maryland kids magicians … guess what?

Go ahead give it a try. Use my proven press release methods for small business owners in good wealth… your bank account will love you for it!

I even found a book…

“David, why do you put so much emphasis on social proof?”

The Cold-Hard Truth

The cold-hard truth is it t is so easy to give advice… however giving advice you are actually doing in the real world is different than just giving advice built on what you think, heard or read and feel it is the best thing to do. You see I will only give you insight based on my real world experience.

There are MANY teaching about using press releases… I even found a book in the library several years ago and after some communication with the author to my “surprise” this person only wrote the book about press releases based on what they learned in college and they themselves never personally used press releases… NO NOT EVEN TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF THEIR PRESS RELEASE BOOK… Well this type of thing does not sit well with me.

So in a nut shell… I only write about what I know to be concrete facts!!!

_________________

David Breth

Small Business Profit Strategist

“Weekly Press Release Planning Made Easy:

52 attention getting press release ideas, writing tips, templates, and more”

http://www.davidbreth.com/PressRelease

PO Box 1037

Abingdon, Maryland 21009 – USA

(443) 866-2758

By David Breth.

What is the MOST powerful marketing and advertising for small business?

(Part One)

The Answer: Properly Constructed Press Releases!

Hey Gang,

Get Free Publicity!

If you want some of the most cutting-edge free publicity for you, your services and web site using press releases is a sure fire way to create a “celebrity” type status for you which of course gains great “expert status” exposure for you and also opens doors which can get you more solid bookings.

PS Savvy internet tip is to also submit your press release online and this will also rank your web site extremely high in the search engines and is a SUPER “brochure” when people ask about your press kit… you see the “perception” is when you are broadcast by the media you “must” be good to great!

What Next???

(Part Two)

Once you write a SOLID press release (Remember a press release is NOT an advertisement about you but a credibility piece about you) you can type “free press release submission” into Google and a plethora of options will open… start submitting your press release on at least three (3) of these sites (some will try to up-sell you on “guaranteed” packages – - that choice is totally your call).

If your press release is “keyword rich” when the Google “spiders” crawl the web they will find your press release to be to their liking and your web site or blog will rank high each and every month organically.

I rank in the TOP 10 of the top ten in all the major search engines (and have for over 4 years) all organically (natural / free) with almost all my major key words… this of course has been one of the major life bloods of my magic business…people will not call or email to book your act if they can not find you.

Offline press releases are another way I stay in the eye of the public MONTHLY (free).

_________________

David Breth

Small Business Profit Strategist

“Weekly Press Release Planning Made Easy:

52 attention getting press release ideas, writing tips, templates, and more”

http://www.davidbreth.com/PressRelease

PO Box 1037

Abingdon, Maryland 21009 – USA

(443) 866-2758