ANOTHER ONE BUSINESS GUIDELINES

Posts Tagged ‘prospects’

By: George Francis, President / CEO at Alta Vista Insurance Agency

As social media platforms become vehicles for businesses to steer down the vast Internet freeway, the complexities of these once simple applications are growing. It’s no secret that what was once considered “hip” niche marketing has now evolved into a strategy that many businesses are now utilizing. Social media was previously thought of as a tool used by younger generations to interact and network on the web. Now, while remaining that, it has become an avenue for businesses to expand their brand awareness and reach new customers they may have not encountered before—not to mention it allows independent insurance agencies like ours, to be visible and active right where our consumers are.

Brand awareness ultimately is the goal companies have in mind when creating these online accounts and they do this by acquiring as many Facebook fans as possible. But how is this accomplished? How does a business go from 100 fans to 1,000? The answer is simpler than you’d think; although it takes the proper diligence and patience – you can’t expect massive social success overnight. Below we’ve broken down some social media best practices that have proved successful for our agency:

• Call to action for your current fans: The easiest and most direct way to accumulate more Facebook fans is to ask the fans you already have to spread the word among their friends telling them to “like” your business page. Your current friends can do this by using the “suggest to friends” link under your profile in the left-hand column.

• Put links on your website and blog: Make sure your website has links for your Facebook and Twitter in a prominent spot on your homepage while suggesting that they like your Facebook and follow your Twitter somewhere near the links.

• Have fun! Above all, social media should be a fun, refreshing way to interact with current clients and build relationships with prospects. Sometimes it’s good to think outside the box, such as spicing up your social efforts with things like having contests or polls on a certain day of the week. Be creative and make sure you are appealing to the public with news and information you know people will find value in. Sharing information about California business insurance may not seem all that glamorous; but with a little imagination and creativity you can find ways to make the topic exciting and appealing to your audience.

• Be consistent, relevant & valuable: Again, remember that social media success takes time, you really are aiming to build lifelong relationships with your insurance clientele, and that doesn’t come easy. It’s recommended that you post every day on your agency’s Facebook page. Try posting at least once per day, and no more that once every 3 or so hours – you don’t want to over-stimulate and cripple your Facebook Fans with meaningless content. Make sure what you are posting is relevant – does it tie into a product or service you offer? Is it beneficial to the surrounding community? Try sharing links to recent, educational blog posts you may have written or sharing information about an upcoming community event – ask yourself if what you’re posting will or can benefit your consumer in a positive way.

It’s important that you diversify your Facebook account in order to make it more appealing and add more traffic. If you fill it with only insurance related posts, you won’t get much traction. Keep the content informative, interesting, and entertaining and you’ll see your “likes” go up in no time!

A wise man once said “Marketing = Education”. What he meant by that is that you need to use you marketing to educate your prospects. But what do you need to educate your prospects on? You need to educate your prospects on the solution your services provide, your expertise and the value of your services.

Although you can educate your audience through teleseminars, article marketing or your blog, my personal favorite is workshops and seminars. You can invite your prospects to an inexpensive 1 hour or ½ day workshop and teach them about your area of expertise. This does several things:

– It establishes your credibility, because when you are in front of the room, you are instantly perceived to be the undisputed expert. Whether you think you are or not, you are the expert in the eyes of your audience.

– It educates your audience on the solution that your product or services provide. Remember, you never sell just a service, you sell a solution to the problem your audience has. Focus on the problem and educate your audience on how your services provide the solution.

– Clients buy from people they know, like and trust. When you are up on stage, your audience obviously knows you. When you tell your story and share some vulnerability, people will like you. Since you demonstrate your expertise by teaching your audience, you are getting your audience to trust you. So having a workshop is the ideal vehicle to get people to buy from you.

– If people have objections to buying from you, that generally means that they do not have all the information yet. Your workshop should be able to give them all the information they need to make a decision one way or another. Not everyone is a good fit for you, but they will know after your workshop.

– Your workshop establishes the value of your services. Through your success stories and your content, you can show the value of what you do. You can demonstrate through examples the money clients made or saved my using your services. That is a powerful tool and cannot be underestimated.

So take the plunge and start teaching. You will not only educate your audience, you will also market yourself and your services. You will be surprised at the new clients you will attract and better yet, the increase in your bottom line.

Niche marketing has always been a discipline of rules and principles. In fact, the success or failure of a niche marketing strategy can be predicted based on fundamental principles. Failure could also be predicted based on how many principles were not applied and how many outdated rules they kept doing.

But unlike principles or laws, rules are subject to change. For example, rules often change in sports, politics as well as marketing. Better rules are created to adapt to changing times, technologies and circumstances. As the saying goes, “man was not made to serve rules, but rules were made to serve man.” This also applies to niche marketing.

A fundamental under-the-radar shift in niche marketing has happened. The changing economy has also changed the way successful businesses market to consumers. Social networks, mobile marketing and computer software has changed the game forever.

Keep in mind, the principles of niche marketing hasn’t changed but the rules have. As with any rules, the ones who master them first will win the biggest share of the market. The last ones to apply the new rules often finish last or not at all.

Here’s 3 niche marketing rules you should avoid in 2011.

1. The More Unique The Better:

Many niche marketing books have stressed the importance of uniqueness in a product or service. However, this is a major risk, especially in a slow economy.

The secret now is to offer what people are already buying with a slight uniqueness or twist. Because of technology finding out what people are buying is now easier to do than ever before. Experience proves risk can be reduced by following this new rule and avoiding the temptation to reinvent the wheel so-to-speak.

People are creatures of habit, we have a tendency to make similar purchases at similar prices and at similar times. By remembering this and avoiding the risk of trying to be too unique can increase the chance of success.

2. The Less Competition The Better:

One of the hallmark rules of niche marketing was to find a section or area of the market that had little or no competition. Now the key is finding markets with competition, the more the better. Why? Because this always signals a vibrant market with people who are spending money. Having an exclusive market does little good if no one is spending money.

The key to finding a market where people are currently spending money is to look for competition. Why? Because 9 times out of 10 people are spending money. After the vibrant market is discovered next apply solid niche marketing principles that separate your business, product or yourself from the competition.

3. Narrow Target As Much As Possible:

Excessive targeting can result in running out of prospects quicker, especially in a slow economy. That’s why good judgment must come into play when deciding how narrow to target prospects.

It’s better to cast a big net and narrow it down as time and sales increase, as opposed to narrowing target prospects too much and too soon. The key here is moderation. Beware of going to the other extreme and not targeting prospects enough. This can give worse results than over targeting.

There are two strategies you can use to market your small business: (1) Market Research; and (2) Target Marketing.

Let’s focus on market research so you would have a better understanding of this strategy.

Market Research
Having a market research is a great help for small businesses as it provides you information on what your industry is about, as well as what your prospects are looking for that is still not being offered in the market. By knowing this information, you will be able to position yourself in a way that you will be offering exactly what your target clients are looking for. This way, you will be able to customize your marketing tools such as your poster printing or print posters into materials that generate leads every time.

Here are the questions you need to answer when market researching:

1. What kind of goods and services will provide you with the most interest? Would your products and services be better off alone or offered in combinations?
2. What makes you different? What is your advantage over the others? Is it the price? The quality of the product or service? Do you have faster turnaround in delivery and shipping?
3. What should you highlight about your business? What are you an expert on?
4. What’s your history as a business?
5. Can you really compete with the rest of the businesses already in the market?
6. Who is your competition? What’s their edge over you?
7. Who would be most interested in what you have to offer? Who would most likely buy your product or service?
8. What would be your benefits? How can you make your business more interesting and exciting in the eyes of your prospective clients?
9. How do they want to respond to your marketing collaterals? More importantly, what types of marketing materials do they find interesting?

After gathering all the information you needed to answer these questions, you should then be able to determine the following details:

1. What does your prospect look for? What do they need and want? Where would you be able to get more profits?
2. How can you improve on what is already out there? For print posters for example, how can you make yours more interesting and effective generators of clients?
3. How can you compete? How can your competition stop you from gaining success?
4. How can you gain customers? How can you lose them?
5. What should you do so your product offer doesn’t become outdated and outmoded?
6. What are the trends in marketing that can affect your small business?
7. What new ideas can you get from your research? Who can help you implement your ideas?

As a final rule when doing your market research, the information you culled from it would determine the efficiency and effectiveness of your research. When you have high quality and reliable information, you will be able to have a successful business as a result.