Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Josh Kaufman – Enjoy!
Every business owner knows that attracting the attention of the right client at the right time is an essential part of building a thriving business. But what happens if your tried-and-true marketing strategies aren’t working the way they used to? Or if you’re simply tired of using the same marketing strategies over and over again and are ready to change things up? Here are three marketing tricks you might not be taking advantage of — and why they’ll generate more sales.
1. Give something away
I know what you might be thinking: if I’m struggling to market myself and sell my products, how could giving something away for free possibly help me? But even if the prospect of giving something away seems unnerving, free offers almost always work. Customers love the promise of getting something for nothing, and the giveaway is subsidized by additional sales it eventually generates.
By giving your prospects something of no cost up front, you earn their attention while giving them the opportunity to experience the value of your product. Focus on giving away real value that will attract real, paying customers.
2. Don’t shy away from controversy
We’ve been conditioned to believe that negative attention is something to be avoided at all costs. But if you’re too unobjectionable,
People take issue with the fact that I claim in The Personal MBA that it’s simply unnecessary to get an MBA from a college or university. But every time someone speaks out against my claim or the book in general, people’s attention gets piqued, leading them to seek out the book for themselves.
This isn’t to say that you should write an op-ed trashing a competitor or start a Twitter feud with a dissatisfied customer. Seeking out controversy for the sake of attention likely won’t garner you the results you want.
That said, it’s definitely okay to have strong opinions and take definite stances. Doing so creates discussion and dialogue, which are powerful forms of attention. Remember that controversy won’t help you if you lose sight of the purpose behind your actions. But if you can keep that big picture in mind, creating controversy may entice people into checking out what your business is all about.
3. Make heroes out of your clients
As business owners and marketers, we don’t often think of ourselves as storytellers. But telling stories is a universal currency, and whether we realize it or not, narratives play a key role in how we market products to customers.
Joseph Campbell’s theory of “The Hero’s Journey” provides an outline of the narratives your customers want to experience. Even if this desire is subconscious, customers want to be heroes. They want to admired, respected, powerful, and strong in the face of adversity. They want to draw inspiration from those who have come before them and vanquished a foe.
Telling your customers a story about how others have used your product to solve a problem or enhance their lives encourages them to learn more about what you have to offer. These stories grab prospective customers’ attention and show them a path toward achieving what they want. The more vivid, clear, and emotionally compelling the story, the more prospects you’ll attract, and you’ll likely have an easier time translating these prospects into sales.
Josh Kaufman is the author of the #1 international bestseller The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business as well as the upcoming book The First 20 Hours: Mastering the Toughest Part. Josh is teaching a free, live business course on creativeLIVE this August 8-9. You can stream if for free here. Visit his website http://personalmba.com/ for more information.
