Our product is ceramic tile. We had two brands, A for high class (20% sales) and B for Middle class (80%). Recently, my boss want to increase sales percentage of A. He will produce A, little higher / same price with B (same quality also with B). Is it OK to do that? What about A brand image for a long term ? Our ads majority on A. Plese your advice. Thank you.

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Jay’s Answer: You currently have two tile brands (A and B), positioned differently for different markets. I’m unclear if the product is different as well, or simply the branding/positioning is different (same product/different wording or different product/different wording).

Here are my thoughts:

• If A & B are different and your boss wants to sell more A, then he needs to increase the positioning benefit of A tiles (“what makes them better than the competition?”)
• If A & B are different and your boss wants to sell B tiles as A, that’s okay so long as you don’t mislabel B tiles (saying they contain a higher % of valuable materials when they don’t) and increase the positioning benefit of A tiles.
• If A & B are the same, and you’re selling to different markets (and not mislabeling), then that’s okay as well.

Where it’s problematic, is if you misrepresent the quality of the products (a lower-quality product is labeled as a high-quality product).

I’m just recently setup a Etsy store to sell handmade body scrubs and I am seeking tips on how to effectively promote an online business to those not on the Etsy site. Could you assist me with promoting and/ or marketing my online business. My perspective customers are that of women, but not limited to. I have found a big marketing arena within the Blog world. Do you think there is a way to expand on that?

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Jay’s Answer: Start from the inside-out:

1) Make sure that you’re first maximizing conversions (people that visit your site become customers): How many of the people that visit your site currently purchase from you? Have you looked at the analytics? How many have started to purchase from you but stopped mid-order? Why?

2) Next, focus on how easy it is to find your store/site. How does your website rank on Etsy and Google? What words do people use to find your type of products?

3) Finally, get the word out. That means identifying specific websites, magazines, newspapers, and/or clubs whose members are likely to be your customers. Not just women, but women of a certain age, demographic, location, who are looking for a specific “edge”. If you’re trying to sell scrubs to anyone, no one will find you. By narrowly targeting a niche (say, women ages 40-50, with 2 kids, also has a day-job, and is looking for something to make her feel special nights/weekends, for example) you can talk to these people in the right way (and find them).

Good luck.

I’m a small business with an artistic product. I sell 2 t0 3 units per years. Ranging from 125k+. My product is in a league of its own and I’ve been called a visionary but my industry is considered small. Upper-class customers contact me to buy my product. I’m the only one in the world to offer this specific concept so they cant go anywhere else to get it. I’ve had 4 sales in the past six months that I haven’t been able to close on. I’m a master at my craft but I seem to have trouble closing/locking in the sale. How do I lock-in the sale with someone that has contacted me but has limited time, expendable funds, and a taste for outrageous, expensive toys?

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Jay’s Answer: Before you begin to try to close, find out what their (emotional) needs are. Why did they contact you today? What will they do with their purchase? Where have they seen one before? You want to engage them to find out their needs but also help them to truly visualize owning it. That’s why auto dealers know that when they ask “what color are you looking for?”, once you respond you’re now emotionally involved in the purchase.

My wife and I opened our own High End Fashion Boutique last week and despite marketing our shop in the local newspaper, sending text messages on their cellphones, setting up a Page and Group on Facebook and inviting almost the whole town – people are still not visiting our boutique…

What can we do to get more people to our store? Do you have any ideas to raise “awareness”? I even want to offer a Louis Vuitton Handbag valued at thousands of Rands for a competition, if it will generate enough funds…

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Jay’s Answer: A simple addition (if you don’t already have it) would be a website that’s SEO optimized for your region. Since everything is one-of-a-kind, you may not wish to make the website a catalog of items that people can order from (worldwide) but you do want people to be able to get a sense from your website the experience that’s “in store” for them.

Before you try to get more people to your store, focus on the people who have already visited. Did they purchase things or not? If not, then having more people come through may not yet be a good idea – you want people to come, buy, tell their friends, and repeat. If people did purchase, then you need to give them a reason to return (regularly). Perhaps a VIP preview of new purses in one month, outerwear another month, shoes etc. Or, give them coupons to gift to their friends.

Have you contacted local clubs whose members might be prospective customers? For example: Mothers’ club, Women entrepreneurs, etc.?

I have been asked by the owner of our company to create a welcome package for our new clients, and the employees in their shipping depart. We build all custom new wood pallets and shipping crates. Our initial marketing has had an awesome response. He would like once they are on board to receive a “thank you” just as memorable, that “I can’t believe they did this for us “and that they feel they made the right choice about choosing our company for the shipping needs. Most shipping departments are happy with the traditional pizza and pop. The problem I’m running into is some of our much larger new clients company’s do not allow this kind of gratuities. I am looking for some creative ways around this so as not to break any of their company policies and still let them know how much we appreciate their business, and something more creative for our new contact person within their company, different than the traditional gift basket.

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Jay’s Answer: Why not send a thank you note, with an signed image of everyone in your company? That lets the other company know there are people crafting the pallets and not machines.

I’m a new owner of existing restaurant that wish to increase the amount of clients . Based on your experience, what would be the best and fastest way to attract customers?
And should I change the name of the restaurant?

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Jay’s Answer: If the restaurant wasn’t doing well, then rebranding it makes sense. Don’t put “under new management” signs up – people don’t care. If the food is good, the word spreads. If it doesn’t, it spreads faster. New management is a plea for trying it again, because there was a problem.

If the restaurant is doing well, then increasing # of customers (or average expenditure/customer) is your goal. Don’t rebrand – do improve the menu, adding some high-priced items (not necessarily to sell these, but it will psychologically cause an increase in the the avg. expenditure/customer). Build a loyalty program to increase the pull to come to your restaurant.

We market a comprehensive IT outsourcing solution and as such am looking for a way to reach C-level execs. The rub is that in many instances the C-level people have little familiarity and thus a low comfort-level in making IT decisions.

Any suggestions on how to go about this or alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

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Jay’s Answer: Based on looking at your website (www.isutility.com), your key benefit is saving money in IT expenditures. If so, your target market would be CFOs and/or comptroller. These people don’t care about the specific IT issues, they care about the bottom line and want to ensure that spending less doesn’t equal getting less. For these people, they need well-written case studies. One of your case studies that I looked at (Wexler Surgical Supplies) describes what you did, but not concrete ROI results. How big was the company (both in # of employees and annual revenue)? What were their expenditures before/after? What were their short- and long-term results?

You’re right you don’t want to target IT directly, since you’re threatening their jobs.

Don’t forget that you can also target government organizations, since their budgets are always stretched thin and their needs are similar to Fortune-500 companies.

Your existing website needs some updating of copy to be more professional and better target your market as well.

Our small, B2B company is trying to ramp up its marketing, and we’ve given ourselves the challenge of making marketing headway for an entire month without hiring any outside services or incurring any outside costs at all, using our elbow grease alone. We’re open to both old media efforts and online footwork.

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Jay’s Answer: Before you try to make headway, spend time to figure out your strategy:

• What market segment has been your largest customer?
• Why have they been buying from you (and not your competitor)?
• Who are your competitors now? (things may have changed)
• What have your customers biggest feedback/complaints have been?

Once you’ve gotten clear on who you have been selling to, spend time to figure out (i.e., brainstorm) who else (i.e., other niches) would benefit from your offering. Notice that you might have to change the language of your marketing materials to appeal to them. [Cost $0]

Next, look at your website. Does it have analytics installed? If not, add it (Google Analytics is free). It’ll provide invaluable information about who’s visiting your site, what they’re looking for, how they found your site, etc. [Cost $0]. Once you have data, see what other pages you can add to your site to specifically appeal to the market niches you’ve identified (above).

Next, segment your customer list (CRM). Have you tracked who’s purchased from you, why, when, etc.? Segment your list based on purchase habits, region, industry, etc. This will allow you to make a more targeted e/mailing in the future, talking to the segment’s specific needs. This will result in a higher percentage of sales if you’ve done your homework. [Cost $0]

Get current in your industry. It might mean due dillegence on competitors, reading journals/blogs/books. Talk to customers (call your own, etc.) to learn what products/services they need (both before using your offering and after). Learn what they need. Become up-to-date about new technology, innovations, and problems. [Cost $0]

Write articles. If you have some new offerings, observations about the industry, case studies, or cautionary tales, write about it. Submit the articles to well-read journals in your field. Also place the articles on your website, mention it on appropriate blogs, and submit to article banks. [Cost $0]

It used to be that only big companies could afford to create a marketing message that was highly visible: newspaper ads, direct mail, television, radio, skywriting, sponsorships, etc. But modern technology allows people to create one-offs inexpensively: email blasts, your own ink-jet printer, local digital printing, or even personal 3D fabricators.

These modern fabrications allow you to more easily create guerrilla marketing messages – putting your message in places people would not have previously considered. Initially, this will be fun and innovative. And as more businesses copy the idea, it’ll become annoying unless the message is well-targeted to the proper audience.

If no one else is doing this in your business niche, lead. If others are doing it, do not simply copy their idea. Do something remarkable. For example, donate to a sponsored charity for everyone that comments on your marketing message. Or, if everyone else is filling banners with lots of words, put up a blank banner with a small message (“Talk is cheap. Watch my actions.”).

Asides:

• Neil Gershenfeld described this phenomenon in a 2006 TED Talk.
• Zazzle.com has a wide variety of products you can customize for do-it-yourself-ers.
• If you need a recommendation for professionals who can help create high-quality custom products at an affordable price, contact me.

I have a new newsletter called the Monday Morning Business Mentor Weekly. I need some wisdom/strategies for getting the word out, getting subscribers. It is a free newsletter, my objective is to help others build their businesses and in turn find subscribers, clients and in the future, users of my services and software.

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Jay’s Answer: From a strategy perspective, I’d first start with your desired subscriber/client. What industry are they in? Where are they located? How big is their company? How much do they make annually? How old are they? Male or female? Will they work with you face-to-face or remotely?

Once you’ve identified WHO, then you need to figure out WHY they need you. What specific problem are you targeting? More revenue? More free time? Hiring? Startup angst?

Then, HOW do you help them solve their problem. What are you offering that’s unique and (ideally) proven to solve this problem? The more proof, the more trust.

Once you have some of these basics, then it’s time to figure out where your target market is. Do they read the same blogs, magazines, eZines, etc.? Do they attend certain conventions, watch same TV shows, webinars, etc.? Where they are is where you want to pitch your newsletter.

Finally, if your newsletter articles are 250+ words, write articles and publish them. Ideally, exclusively publish them in magazines that your target market read. Alternatively, publish them in article banks.