Here's how to brand your business and market in tough times with simple and inexpensive strategies

1. To Listen to the audio paste the following into
any browser
http://users.macrobatix.com/msatt/MKTTOUGHTIMES.mp3
Marketing In Tough Times
Mark Satterfield
The How to Brand Your Business Experts

2. Reality of these economic times.
• Difficult to predict the future.
• Most estimates are a minimum of 6 more
months of hard times.
• Options for you?
– Ride it out…but do you have the capital?
– Rely on existing clients and those already in your
own “circle of relationships.”
– Do something new

3. Marketing options
• Investment vs. “No Money”
• “No Money” options
– Networking events
– Cold Calling
• Investment options.
– Activities vs. System
– Easy to invest in activities:
• Sales letter, update website, new CRM system, new
logo, ect ect

4. Where I think you should invest
• Creating a marketing system for how to brand
your business.
• Two parts
– Part 1: Make people aware of you
– Part 2: Ongoing communication to build
trust, credibility and MOTIVATE THEM TO BECOME
CLIENTS.
• This second part is the most commonly overlooked
part. Tendency is to “Just send them stuff.”

5. First step
• Message
• Why should someone work with you vs. all the other
options they have available to them?
• Until you have figured that out don’t waste time
marketing your services.
– You’ll just sound like everyone else.
– http://www.GentleRainBranding.com
– Coaching

6. Targeting your audience
• Not all prospects are the same.
• Identifying the hyper-responsives. Some criteria:
– Those that believe in the ”competitive edge”. They
read the trade publications, members of the
association.
– Who’s doing well? (Industry=Health care).
– Targeted by size/revenues of company.
– Who are the top performers. They probably want to
stay that way. Website visibility=Top performer

7. Most effective way to target…
• Appeal to the Needs & Fears of your target
audience. Make them Care about your solution.
• Fear
• Hope
• These are what your reports & messages need to
focus on.
– Not…What you do.

8. Reaching your audience
• Hard copy letters
– Business correspondence.
– I know from speaking with (people similar to your
reader) that many of them are concerned about (a
particular problem.)
– Why this opening works.
– 3 other key paragraphs…concluding with the call
to action

9. Call to action
• EVERY STEP in the marketing process should
motivate people to take the NEXT step.
• Don’t ask any one step to do too much.
– We did a mailing but no-one hired us. Mailings
suck.
• Letter=Report=Contact
Information=Feedback=More
information=Sale

10. What else works for lead generation?
• But first a word of caution…
• Make sure that where you are sending people
is set up to capture information about who
they are.
• This is NOT a one-step impulse sale.
• Vital that you get contact information so you
can send future messages.

11. What else works for lead generation?
• Email lists.
– Some are actually quite responsive. Tend to be
expensive. How they work.
• Why everyone should have a Google
campaign.
• Banner advertising on association websites.

12. Make your website “sticky”
• Internet is a very fast medium. Goal is to slow
things down.
• Great (and multiple) offers.
– Hover ads
– Upper right hand corner
– Replace the generic pictures with…
• Rotating flash of your offers
• Testimonials
• Rotating messages of Fear & Hope
• Make the visitor feel that YOU UNDERSTAND THEM.

13. Free Information
• Reports are fine…but how about a video…or a
quiz?
• The key is the headline if you want to learn how
to brand your business. What will reading it
enable them to do or know that they don’t
already?
• Be controversial.
– How to break down organizational silos through open
and honest communication.
– Are motivated workforces really necessary? The role
of FEAR as a management tool.

14. Stay in touch
• This is where you succeed or fail
• Frequent communication and then back away
to a 20 day cycle.
• Three buckets
– Helpful & Informational
– Interactive
– Promotional

15. Investment
• Marketing message…Coaching $655/$495
• Website…$1500
• $500-$2000 per month promotional budget
• Mark Satterfield
• 770-643-8566
• mark@gentlerainmarketing.com