DIVADIGEST: JANUARY '06, ISSUE 26

Lead Generation: Planting Your Flag on Mt. Success

There are many ways in which a small business can become successful, and each of them takes a great deal of hard work. In many cases, not enough energy is put into high-quality marketing, and new business owners are called upon to gain a great deal of expertise in this area, if they hope to succeed. Establishing and maintaining a new business is hard enough - especially for the small business owner - but the added pressure of effective marketing can be overwhelming to some.

The ability to generate solid leads is where it all begins. In order to realize success, your business has to show a profit. Without qualified leads that result in a solid client base, that won't happen. Your business will only flourish if you consistently develop a list of prospective clients. Repeat business is great - and necessary - but limiting yourself to the same small client base will limit your income potential and stifle your growth. Only by reaching out to include a larger portion of the target audience will your business prosper.

Except for, perhaps, those who are truly compulsive buyers, consumers will only seek to purchase those things which they feel that they need. With that in mind, the best approach to take is to bring attention to your company through eye-catching marketing materials. Wording is very important, since it's what will ultimately draw potential customers to your door. You'll need to convince clients that you have what it takes to meet their needs. With the right wording in your marketing materials, you can attract potential customers more quickly and increase your sales in no time.

Supposing that you're the owner of a small magazine that has the need for a small band of good writers, you can include the type of information in your marketing material that will attract the sort of audience that most interests you. For instance, rather than restricting inquiries to only those individuals who have firmly established themselves in the literary field, make it clear in your advertisement that you're willing to give a chance to those who are new to the field. You'll be surprised by the number of inquiries that come your way and, through the use of test articles or writing samples, you can weed out the good from the bad. Once you have some qualified writers on board, then you can use their work to generate more income.

Don't limit yourself to advertising through only one publication. Choose two or more for the placement of your ads so that you'll be able to establish guidelines for what brings you the most sales. By restricting yourself, you'll never know whether or not you might have realized far more success in some other newspaper. For the same amount of money, you might very well have done better to advertise in one of the rival papers. Without testing the proverbial waters, you're condemning yourself to small amounts of income through a narrow avenue of sales vehicles.

After a bit of experimentation, you should be comfortable with which types of marketing materials are the most effective, as well as which publications have resulted in a greater lead generation. Armed with this information, you can pour your resources into those which offer you a higher rate of success.

Your company's website is a powerful marketing tool, and the ability to use it effectively is a jewel in your crown of leadership. When you think about it, the very reason that websites are created is to generate leads - or provide the advertisement of products that will do the same. It's critical, then, that your website is easy to navigate and that there's sufficient contact information available to potential clients, as well as the necessary encouragement to contact you if they should have questions or need assistance. Availability and the willingness to help are two significant characteristics of a successful business.

Don't be afraid to combine your efforts with other businesses. Cross marketing is a very effective strategy for boosting sales, and some of the most successful business people use this method of attracting new customers. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, cross marketing is simply the act of working with another company that sells products which will complement what you're selling. For example, if you're in the business of marketing CD players, then it would be in your best interests to become involved in cross marketing with a company that offers the latest CDs. In order to listen to their favorite tunes, customers will need to buy the device on which to play them, so you'll end up benefiting from the other company's client base.

Which advertising methods you use isn't necessarily the issue. The important thing is to generate interest in the products or services that you're offering for sale. Whether your approach consists of paper or online advertising, remember that your focus should be on presenting your company's ability to solve whatever problem that consumer may have. This is often accomplished through the use of creative questioning.

If you happen to be a cosmetics consultant, for instance, you'll want to ask questions such as, "Are you suffering from splotchy skin?" or "Do you use the best colors for your skin tone?" This is a far better approach than, "Do you need a cosmetic consultant?" By utilizing a clear - but sensitive - approach to the situation, you can encourage potential customers to think about their needs and realize that your company has what it takes to meet them.

Effective marketing and advertising takes a special breed of talent and vision in order to help your company to realize its profit potential. If you're in need of assistance in these areas, there are a number of excellent firms out there who can bring your ad campaign into focus and generate a series of winning marketing strategies that will put your company on the proverbial map. Among these, one of the most successful is DivaDesignWorld of Portland, Oregon. The staff members - under the direction of Monique Danielle - are creative visionaries who are backed by education, experience and an attitude of customer loyalty. DivaDesignWorld can offer your company the best chance of success without a high price tag.

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Business Tips: The Guide to Client Retention

Acquiring clients is the first step toward realizing business success - but if you can't retain them, then your business will flounder and fail. Once a strong client base has been developed, you have both the potential for repeat sales and for new clients through word-of-mouth referrals. That being the case, nurturing your existing clients is a critical step toward sales growth and stability in today's highly competitive market.

Although the acquisition of new customers is something that every business owner strives for, it's even more important to cultivate the relationships that exist with current clients. Your marketing strategies should be focused in this area, and that means the willingness to go the extra mile. When you think of the time, effort and expense that you put forth to gain their business to begin with, it's only logical to continue to tap into that potential sales pool. The company who makes their customers feel as though they're special in some way is the company who will, ultimately, become successful.

One of the things that customers appreciate most is consistency. They don't, for instance, want to give their patronage to a company that treats them like royalty in order to gain their business, only to push them to the back burner once they've made the commitment to a purchase. No repeat sales can be expected from such treatment, and a true professional would never do business in that way. In order to retain clients, you need to show them that your company is dependable, reliable and truly concerned with their personal satisfaction.

All too often, customers - or potential customers - will seek information from a company, only to be forgotten. Follow-up is an extremely important part of customer service, and consumers will simply give their business to your competitors if they're made to wait overly long or feel that they've been ignored. Although you may scoff at the thought of having to be reminded of this, you might be surprised by the number of companies who are guilty of doing this very thing.

One of the reasons that small, family-owned businesses tend to thrive for generations is that they tend to become personally acquainted with their customers. Big businesses could learn a thing or two from these smaller enterprises, since the bottom line for a lot of consumers is that they'd like to be appreciated on a personal level. In other words, learn how to connect with them and gain an understanding of who they are and what needs and goals they're looking to have met.

If you're scratching your head, trying to figure out how to satisfy your customers, pay a visit to the nearest Chuck E. Cheese. Why? Because the key to making your customers enjoy working with you is to provide a fun, casual atmosphere. The staff at this particular pizza chain becomes so involved with their customers that they dance and sing with them. In short, they know how to have fun and, as a result, do a booming business. Don't make the mistake of thinking that, as a business owner, you have to be stiffly professional in order to get the job done. That's not to say that you have to don a goofy costume and romp around the showroom, but you'll have greater success by providing a bit of levity.

Clients appreciate ongoing support. By establishing an open door policy and communicating that they can come to you at any time - regardless of the amount of time that's passed between business dealings - they'll be much more inclined to seek you out in the future for additional business. They'll see you as a sort of safety net in the business world, and will appreciate that type of special consideration. As a result, they won't be easily lured into doing business with a competitor.

Every now and then, you may receive a note in the mail - or even an e-mail - asking for your opinions regarding the type of service you've received from a particular company. This is actually a very good customer retention strategy, since the average consumer appreciates the fact that their opinions have value. Customer feedback is an important part of soliciting continued business, and helps to cement the relationship with your clients. Be sure to give them the opportunity to make suggestions for improving future business dealings, and engage in regular input scenarios that will allow you to keep your finger on the pulse of your target audience.

Sometimes, it's smart to go beyond the confines of your own business in order to meet the customers' needs. For instance, during casual conversation you may discover that he or she has been looking for a particular type of gift for an upcoming occasion, and you just happen to know a place that carries such a product. By passing on that information to the client, you're developing a more personal relationship with them and expressing the attitude that they're more than just another bookkeeping entry in your company's financial software application. This type of approach is one that will ensure a sense of customer loyalty that will lead to solid customer retention.

Regardless of the fact that you're a business owner, you're also a consumer. We all make purchases on an ongoing basis, and you - just like every other customer - enjoy the benefits that come as a result of being a long-term client. That's why companies which initiate reward programs have much less trouble maintaining a solid client base. Examples of this would be the upgrade in their membership status (such as a "Gold Card Member"), a 10% discount on future purchases or a generous coupon that gives them a significant reduction on the next item or service that they buy. After all, who wouldn't appreciate being rewarded for their loyalty?

Progressive thinking and ongoing education are two critical tools in the endeavor to ensure customer retention. Those who tend to stay with the traditional, tried-and-true methods of practicing business are often outdone by their more contemporary rivals who know that customers will respond much better to a creative approach. That's one of the reasons why the phrase, "Think outside of the box," represents such a successful philosophy. If you can't adapt to that type of mentality, then your business probably won't last long enough for you to worry about it, anyway.

One of the best examples of the "think outside of the box" approach is DivaDesignWorld of Portland, Oregon - specializing in marketing and advertising. They've developed this concept into a fine art and, as a result, have built a solid reputation as one of the best in their field, and have enjoyed a great deal of success. Due to their pioneering methods, visionary concepts and the energy and willingness to go the extra mile for a client, customer retention will never pose a problem for them.

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Ten Ways To Be Creatively Successful

Everytime you have an idea, you are using creativity. In business, it is important to learn how to be creatively successful. Creative success means that you are able to see the difference between a good idea and a bad idea. It also means that you are able to make a good idea the best idea possible.

When you have an idea, write it down, and use the following ten exercises to manipulate the idea to make sure that it is not only a good idea, but that it is the best idea possible. These are the techniques we use at DivaDesigns to better serve the marketing needs of our clients. Using these techniques, we achieve fabulous results for our clients.

View the idea from the perspective of people who have different roles than yours, such as teachers, lawyers, doctors, homemakers, children, men, women, etc. If you don't know how they might view your idea, simply ask them. Know what others think about your idea. Listen to how they might implement it, or change it.
Be critical. Think about your idea, and make a list of all the problems that might arise from it, or in trying to implement the idea. Come up with as many solutions as possible to the potential problems. If possible, slightly change your idea to completely exclude the problems.
Can you make your idea simpler? Try minimizing the idea. Can you make it less complicated?
Make your idea bigger. How can you expand on it? What can be added to it?
Think about other ways that you can change your idea. Can you change the title or the place that the idea would be implemented? What other things can you change about your idea?
How does your idea effect the lives of people? Does it fullfill their needs? How will it improve their lives? Can the idea be modified to better meet the wants and needs of the general public?
How can your idea be more valuable to people? Can you add components to further enrich lives or to make the product more valuable? Can you add guarnatees or free future upgrades?
Have others already implemented this idea, or one similar to it? Was it successful? What made it a success? What made it fail? How can you improve on another persons similar idea?
Think about the field that your idea relates to. Does it fall in the category of fine arts or science? Does it relate to a specific country? What other fields or countries does your idea relate to? Can you expand on the idea with ideas from the field or country that the original idea relates to?
Use your gut instinct. Do you feel comfortable with your idea? Have you done enough research to know that your idea is the best one that it can possibly be? If you do not feel sure or comfortable, keep asking questions and manipulating the idea until you are comfortable.

To learn how DivaDesigns can help you become more creatively successful, visit us at: www.divadesignworld.com.

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The 10 Most Common Advertising Pitfalls

Finding the right advertising mediums for your business can be a difficult process. Different types of businesses need different types of advertising. Advertising mistakes are costly. Choosing the right advertising methods and mediums the first time will save you time and money, and get you great results.

Monique Danielle, of Diva Design World ( http://www.divadesignworld.com ), works with her clients to help them choose the right avenues for their businesses. She knows what works and what doesn't. Here are the top 10 advertising mistakes that business owners make before coming to her for help.

Failure to get the maximum exposure out of the advertising budget. Don't limit yourself to one medium for advertising. Use as many different avenues as your budget allows, and work hard to get the best buy for your advertising dollars, without compromising quality.
Promising more than can be delivered. This is also known as false advertising. People are turned off by this, as well as claims that sound too good to be true - even if they are true. Make sure you can back up every claim that you make in your advertising.
Choosing the wrong media. For many businesses, all types of media work. However, you should be working with the media that works best for your business. For instance, you spend half of your advertising budget advertising on television, and the other half advertising in the newspaper. It is cheaper to advertise in the newspaper, and it seems that you get more results from the newspaper as well. You only get two or three responses to your television ads, but you are getting 20 - 30 responses from each ad in the newspaper. Pull the television advertising, and invest that money in more newspaper advertising.
Using ineffective ads. Your ads should not only be attention getting, they should also tell the potential customer how they can benefit from using your product or service. The text, verbalization, colors, and graphics all need to work together and get results. You can have visually attractive ads, but if the message doesn't pull, the visual effect is worthless to you.
Choosing the wrong day of the week to run the ad. Many people have just as many different theories on which day of the week gets the best results. The truth is that different products and services need to be advertised on different days of the week. Determine which days work best for your product or service. The media that you have chosen effects this decision as well.
Choosing the wrong audience to advertise to. Failure to identify your target market is very costly. You must know who you are trying to get your message to before you can determine what avenue of advertising will work best for you.
Using the same ad over and over. While you do want to brand your product or service with advertising that is memorable, using the same ad over and over simply bores people. Coca-Cola knows this. Pay attention to their commercials. Their jingle is memorable, but the theme of the commercials change often.
Failure to track advertising results. If you know which ads in which media are pulling in results, you can spend your advertising dollars more effectively. Failure to track your results can be costly.
Failure to turn interest into a sale. Often, the advertising works. The purpose of advertising is to get people to your store or your website, or to contact you for further information. The sale is made once they get where you want them to be. Is your store or website prepared to make a sale?
Failure to set yourself apart from your competitors. You must distinguish yourself from the rest, and prove that you are the best. Use your advertising to let your potential customers know what sets you apart and makes you better.

Getting your advertising right takes time and work. If you need help, visit www.divadesignworld.com. Let Monique Danielle and her staff find out what works best for your business, and you will find that you are getting great results for your advertising dollars, without having to go through the agony and the cost involved in trial and error.

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