Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Step Right Up

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You’ve probably seen carnival barkers standing in the midway, inviting passers-by to “Step right up and see a sight that will amaze you!” They know that if they succeed in drawing a crowd, even more people will stop to see what everyone else finds so interesting. This technique can work for you, too.

I used this technique when I had a booth at a trade show. I wanted a way to draw attendees to my booth and keep them there long enough to learn something about me and how I could help their businesses. I came up with the idea of offering free five-minute consultations I called “Idea Bursts.”

A large poster next to my booth announced that anyone could get a free five-minute consultation and receive at least three powerful ideas they could use to market their businesses and attract new customers. Lots of people wanted to get their free ideas and, when they saw the crowd around my booth, many others stopped to see what was going on.

My primary goal at the trade show was to get more people on my mailing list, and I easily got the number I had hoped for. The Idea Bursts helped to do that because first they brought people to the booth, then they demonstrated that I had valuable information they could use to grow their businesses.

When you’re working a trade show or other event, remember that there are lots of others competing for attention. Make yourself stand out by offering something unique, fun and valuable.

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Create a Testimonial Card

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Have you considered how to make your comment card a solicitation for testimonials? 

You have probably seen hundreds of comment cards from all kinds of businesses. And, you know that it is important to solicit testimonials from happy customers. Have you considered how to make your comment card a solicitation for testimonials?

First, design the card to elicit the kind of feedback you want. Instead of just a few check off boxes for ratings, give lots of room for customers to write. Ask questions such as: What did you like best about (your product or service)? What do you think (product or service) did for you? How could we make (product or service) better? What would you tell a friend who was considering (product or service)?

These questions will elicit positive comments you can use in brochures, on your web site and other places you use customer testimonials. You will also get suggestions that will help you to make your business better and more competitive.

In order to use testimonials from the cards, ask for the customer’s name (and address or web site, if applicable) and ask “May we quote you?” with a check box for “yes.” You may wish to make the name field optional so that customers feel comfortable making suggestions without identifying themselves, if they wish. However, to be most powerful, a testimonial should come from a real person, with a name and city or company attached.

Trade Shows (Without the Booth)

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Setting up a booth at a trade show can be a great way to get in front of your potential customers, especially if you choose the trade show wisely. But what if you don’t have the money needed (hundreds or even thousands of dollars) to rent a booth and set up an exhibit? 

One possibility is to share a booth with a company which complements yours. Do you have an alliance partner who might be interested in sharing a booth?

Even without a booth, you can still get lots of benefits from attending the trade show. First of all, you can visit the exhibits set up by others and learn more about your industry and your competitors. Use this as an opportunity to do effective research and learn everything you can.

But you can also market at trade shows. Here are some ways you can get attention for yourself and your business, and attract new customers, even without a booth of your own:

Long before the show, inquire about becoming a presenter or panelist at one of the educational sessions often paired with a trade show. Contact the sponsor and sell them on your abilities.  (They might even trade you a booth space for your presentation, if you want a booth.)

Before the show, learn who will be there. See if you can set up opportunities to meet with people who could become customers or might be good joint venture partners. Is there a decision maker you want to meet? Call and invite him or her to have lunch during the show.

Consider having some giveaways, just as the ‘booth people’ will. If you have an appropriate item, imprinted with your company information, it could help people to remember you. Don’t give away junk, just to have something to give out. How many times have you returned from a trade show and tossed toys, key chains, pens, etc. right into the trash? Can you give out a product sample?

Work the floor. Many of the people you meet could become customers or alliance partners. And you never know who is listening.  Once, while asking questions of a vendor I was evaluating, someone overheard me talking about presenting seminars. He turned out to be someone who hires speakers! (Of course, the fact that you don’t know who is listening is a double-edged sword. Don’t bad mouth anyone or give away trade secrets.)

Wear a special name tag, t-shirt or costume to attract attention as you work the floor. Some publishers have had t-shirts printed with their book cover design on them. How outrageous you get depends on you, your business and the nature of the event, but these items make great conversation starters. 

Collect business cards from the people you talk to, especially those who show an interest. Make sure you note on the cards where and when you met the person, and what you discussed. You won’t remember all of the people you met by the time you’re back at your office.

Follow up. Call or write to the people you met at the show. If you promised to send something (such as a catalog), send it. Do it right away, but realize that they are getting letters and calls from lots of other companies they contacted at the trade show. Follow up again a couple of weeks later with a note, additional information, or a quick call.

You don’t have to blow your marketing budget to have a successful trade show experience!

Finding Profitable Niches

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One of the problems many new Internet marketers face is figuring out what niche they are going to operate in. It is hard enough to find a profitable niche. Finding a profitable niche that is not overrun with competitors may seem nearly impossible.

The secret to finding a profitable niche? Going deep to find sub-niches that are popular but have little competition. You want to find a niche: (1) that gets a significant number of searches, (2) where it is possible to create web pages or websites that rank well in the search engines and (3) where it is possible to make a profit. 

Let’s say that you are interested in the travel niche. That is a popular and competitive topic. Even sub-niches, such as hotels, air fare, and vacations, are highly competitive. There are lots of people searching on those topics, but there are also many competing sites.

Your next step might be to drill down further into the niche to find long-tail keywords where you can be competitive. Think of long-tail keywords as those that do not get the same number of searches as the top level keywords, but still get enough searches to be profitable. For example, “discount air fare” or “Costa Rica air fare” or “discount Costa Rica air fare.”

Another advantage of many long-tail keywords is that people searching for these terms may be more likely to be ready to buy than those searching for top level keywords. As an example, who do you think is more likely to buy right now: Someone searching for “digital cameras” or someone searching for “Canon Digital Rebel XSi”? Anyone who is searching for a broad term such as “digital cameras” is probably just starting to gather information. On the other hand, someone looking for a specific model of camera has done their initial research and they are much closer to a buy decision.

Another group of likely buyers are those who are facing an urgent problem. Someone who is in pain (physical, emotional or financial) will gladly pay for a solution to their problem.

How can you find out how many searches are done for the keywords you have identified, and what the competition is for those keywords? There are lots of tools that can help you. The Goodle Keyword Tool can show you the number of searches done for keywords, but it will not give you specifics on how many other pages are competing for those keywords. A tool I have found useful for determining both the number of searches and how many competing pages there are is Micro Niche Finder. Although it is a paid tool, it can save you a lot of time and help you identify profitable niches.

By targeting a specific, narrowly-defined niche, you do not limit your profitability, you attract exactly the right customers. Be a big fish in a small pond by seeking to dominate a tight, profitable niche rather than trying to be all things to all people.

Karma Marketing

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Being good to people is good karma and, according to John Fischer of StickerGiant.com, it’s also good marketing. 

John credits what he calls “karma marketing” for helping to build the small business he started out of his basement in 2000 to one of the most popular online sites for all kinds of stickers, including political stickers, custom bumper stickers, laptop stickers and more.

So what is karma marketing? According to John, karma marketing means looking for ways to change people’s lives in meaningful ways. StickerGiant does a lot of traditional marketing, such as sponsoring events, but they also go beyond the traditional to engage with customers in ways most businesses do not. Here are some of the principles of karma marketing, as practiced by StickerGiant.com:

Giving freely. StickerGiant has given stickers to dozens of bloggers and organizations, both large and small. Many of them have become evangelists, helping to spread the word about StickerGiant.

Committing random acts of kindness. John went to Twitter and registered the names of his top competitors. Then he sent the account information to them so they would own their brands on Twitter. Is that second part not what you expected? That’s exactly the point. Do you think his competitors were surprised by this, too?

Going beyond customer service. In one case, a new customer made a spelling error on a custom sticker order for her employer, and was going to have to pay for the reprint out of her own pocket. StickerGiant reprinted the stickers at their expense, saving the customer hundreds of dollars. John explains that StickerGiant breaks the mindset that says, “If I did this for everyone, I would go broke,” and provides extraordinary service, particularly in extraordinary circumstances. They couldn’t afford to reprint every custom order at no cost, but they don’t have to do it for every customer.

Saying thank you. Every custom order gets a handwritten follow-up post card. When is the last time you got a handwritten note thanking you for your business?

Asking for feedback. And really listening. Customers are often shocked to learn that not only did someone read the comment card they filled out, StickerGiant took action on their suggestion.

Karma marketing means treating customers as you would like to be treated, but it is more than that. It means going beyond the expected and doing good even without the expectation of a direct payoff.

How could you implement karma marketing in your business? Look for ways to make the lives of your customers, vendors, employees—and even competitors—better. Some may cost money in the short term, others will not. Will it make money for you? Probably so. People like to do business with people they like.

Karma marketing is about building a business that does good in the world. If you make a genuine effort to do the right thing for others, it will be noticed. And we can all use some good karma, right?