8 Marketers Give Their Best Adviceby Brad Hines 7-8-13 12: 15 am
Jennifer Chhatlani, Director of Marketing for Pacific Resources Benefits Advisors
Don't water it down
I think the best advice I ever heard was from one of my former bosses. She said that if everyone–within a company and externally–likes something you're doing (especially graphically) with a marketing campaign or collateral piece, it probably means it is so watered down that it won't make much of an impact. Some of the best and most impactful work usually isn't universally liked. I think about this every single time I am working on a project, especially when people are asking me to move something to a different corner of the page, change an image to something they (a non-marketer / non-graphic designer) found on Google Images, are de constructing the meaning of every single aspect of a visual, etc.
The best marketing advice I ever received is “Market with Emotion.” Denny Hatch says to get inside the prospects’ state of mind and market with emotion. Every purchase is the result of a buyer satisfying an emotional need.
Before I write a headline, an offer or opening sentence, I decide on an emotional hook. The seven most powerful emotional hooks are…Greed, Guilt, Anger, Flattery, Fear, Exclusivity and Salvation. Every marketing message should include one or more of the emotional hooks.
Trudy Scott Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution
get out and speak
The best marketing advice I ever received was to get out and speak. I heard this from a fellow nutrition professional, JJ Virgin who is now #1 NY Times best seller of “The Virgin Diet”. I started the very same day and have great success with it in my business! I do live presentations on “Food and Mood” to the everyday person looking for natural solutions for anxiety, depression and emotional eating. It allows me to share my message with more people and leads directly to getting clients. Once people hear me speak they are more inclined to want to work with me. I also speak on teleseminars (and host my own) and TV interviews and find this is another great way to meet more people who are outside of where I live. And it leads to more business.
I also do professional presentations on the same topic, to mental health professionals who want to learn the powerful connection between food and mood for their clients. And I get referrals from them all the time. Speaking also sets you up as an expert on your topic, gives you confidence in sharing your message and gets you media coverage if you post events on your website, blogs, magazine and newspaper sites, and do press releases.
I learned this from observing another colleague in the same business as I am
in.
She follows up relentlessly. When she completes work, she meets with the
client for a debrief, even when it is not really necessary. She sends thank
you notes, holiday cards and invitations to her clients to accompany her to
hear interesting speakers.
I realize that most consultants and independent business owners don't do
this. How many Mary Kay consultants have called me after I purchased
something from a party? None in over 25 years! Even my HVAC guy doesn't
call to see if he can perform my annual maintenance check–I have to call
him. And I realized that I fit into this category also.
The best marketing advice I ever got was from Adams Hudson, a genius of a
marketer. (hundsonink.com) He told me to complete my book about PR, which
had stalled. He said "Don't worry about sales. Even if you don't sell a
single copy, it'll be the best $5 business card you'll ever had." He was
right. Wacky Days worked wonders for attracting new clients, speaking gigs,
etc.
Christine Hawkins, President of Jump Start Consulting and CMO of SoMoLend
If you can't measure it, it didn't happen.
What that meant is that we as marketers should not be executing marketing
programs and spending money without the ability and discipline to track and
measure the outcomes. Otherwise, it is like the program never existed and
you just wasted your marketing budget.
Advice From: Gary Stinnett, then VP of Marketing at Cole Vision, *around
1997*
How I applied it: I never spent any significant amount of money on a
marketing/advertising program without being able to track, measure and
evaluate it.
The one piece of advice I find most important is to be
authentic.
I've found that so many small business owners are worried about best
practices and trends and the like that overtime they forget that people buy
from people. The personality/core values & beliefs of the company should
be reflected from online to in-store. If you have a relaxed office
atmosphere where employees have fun, highlight that. If your business
supports local charities, let people know.
Yes there's a need to learn from others and take the best of their tips,
but you should always remain true to yourself too as a business owner.
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About the writer: Brad Hines is the president of YumDomains.com, and the founder of HungryKids.org. He is a digital marketing and social media strategist. A writer as well, he typically writes about Internet, business, and science trends. His best marketing advice is that marketing really comes down to story telling and how well you can do it. He can be followed on Twitter:Follow @BradHines
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