Is subliminal advertising the silent enemy dictating your thoughts and actions?
If you are into self improvement, you’ll know that there are many ways to control your subconscious mind – so have at it! If not, I highly suggest you start with Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich to get you off to a running start!

The GREENER other side?

Would potential clients consider YOU (your company, your product, or service) to be their GREENER alternative?

I’m not talking specifically about being the more environmentally friendly choice, but if that is applicable, I certainly would suggest it too.

What we should be looking at is whether we are actually providing a better ANSWER to the needs of potential customers than the current market offering – making US the GREENER side of the fence which consumers always dream about experiencing…one day.  So, what do we need to do?

5 EASY STEPS to MARKETING GREENER PASTURE MASTERY:

1. Make sure you are acutely aware of the ACTUAL target audience‘s needs (not the superficial ones) – to effectively create the marketing pastures to which they will flock.  There are many strategies for this, but the most simple and effective is to place yourself in the “shoes of your customer” and envision what they want and why they want it.
2. Make sure to tailor the best personalized MARKET OFFERING, based on the findings from 1.
3. Go shout it from the mountains (using all the means you can muster) – to let your target audience know that the GREENER PASTURES are there, and ready to be experienced.
4. Make it EASY for them to move onto your GREENER pasture. Do whatever you can to facilitate and EASY transition for the customer – to make them HAPPY with their move as soon as possible.
5. Be INNOVATIVE, and continuously expand your business pastures to even GREENER pastures – so your customers can just move along for the ride – and love the WIN-WIN lifelong-customer journey with you!

SUBJECT LINE: Your Chance to Shine: Guerrilla Marketing Ideas Competition
“Dear Employees/Friends/Countrymen
Lend us your guerrilla marketing strategies!
We will confer the title of “Guerrilla Marketer Extraordinaire” to the person/s who can come up with an INCREDIBLE low-low budget marketing idea that offers TREMENDOUS mileage in terms of growing our business – fast! This is a 3-DAY ONLY contest, and everyone MUST submit an entry (only because we value your input greatly). Please respond to this email, submitting your BEST idea.
We look forward to lavishing all AWESOME ideas with praise.
Best of luck
YOU/SENDER”

What we are talking about here, is luring your fish or customers, with an irresistible free offer – a gift (the BFW).

Now that you know what to look for, you’ll notice that there are TWO types of BFW Marketing Strategies:

A.   BFW Marketing Strategy, with a concealed, sharp and rusty hook
B.    BFW Marketing Strategy that focuses on long term relationship-building and the VALUE of a lifetime customer

Let’s look at both, starting with the one I don’t like: A.

For BFW Marketing Strategy A, the focus is on making the fish SO excited and happy about his or her FREE, Big Fat Worm, that he or she fails to notice the sneakily concealed hook. The hook takes the shape of a credit card number that is given to cover “shipping” (or admin fees or something small), but then also in the fine-print enlists you in an automatic deduction scheme: typically membership based or a product shipment service.

From an entrepreneurial vantage point, one can see that this system would be lucrative from a “suck-your-once-in-a-lifetime-customer-dry” perspective. Especially if you keep in mind that on average customers will only take the time to cancel such a “service” after 3-4 months.  You might WIN short term, but you’ll probably lose the customer and your credibility. The whole feel about this system, is just WAY too sneaky for me.

If you are confident that you will be providing value, then come right out with it – DON’T HIDE the fact that you’re setting the customer up with an automatic deduction.

NOW FOR THE POSITIVE. The Big Fat Worm Marketing System can be a GREAT system. Let’s look how option B, focusing on the VALUE of a lifetime customer can provide endless entrepreneurial possibilities.

Imagine offering a whale a FREE whale-sized-BFW as a BONUS REWARD for signing up to your monthly BFW delivery(no hook, these worms are boxed like pizza) service. Since whale is a mammal, he or she instinctively knows a good deal when he or she sees one, plus, he or she will love the convenience of your monthly offer, and then take you up on the deal. WIN-WIN!

In scenario B – you are set up with a lifetime positive WIN-WIN relationship with your customer – plus the accumalative income from monthly service/product billing, plus the feel-good factor for providing a BFW of such trememdous value that all of waledom is flapping their tales about it (and building your Product or Service Brand, and your Credibility in the process). The BIGGEST WIN, is the building of a mutually beneficial lifetime relationship with your customer, who will recommend you, and buy from you again and again.

Make sure you PICK the RIGHT Big Fat Worm marketing stategy for your business – and you’ll have your customers eating out of your hand! (and/or the worm-pizza boxes mentioned above)

1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion

Nice. Now we’ve done the formalities – a great start, but what now?

FIRST: make sure that the 4 P’s are in place. Then we can move into the P-P-POW Marketing Zone!

P-P-POW Marketing is about synergy, exceeding expectations and offering an opportunity for the customer to be part of something magical. Offering a unique experience to be had again-and-again through you, your product and/or your service.

The POWER  of the P-P-POW Marketing System, lies in the focus on:

• PACKAGING: Packaging must be branded and appealing to the customer, while supporting your marketing goals. Vanilla to keep costs at a minimum (never forfeiting quality) – OR – Exceptional and unique, to enhance customer experience(with less concern about cost).
• PARTNERSHIPS: The quickest way to increase your customer base, is through partnerships. Set up WIN/WIN relationships with non-directly competing companies to grow your businesses together. Compliment each other, learn from each others’ strengths and find further opportunities for synergy.
• PIGGYBACKING: Piggyback on events and/or trends that make your product or service more relevant and desired. Positioning yourself/your product in the slipstream is key here. You want to be seen as the right thing, at the right time – the perfect time – which is NOW!
• OUTSTANDING: Outstanding advertising (and branding) is essential. Embody the solution the target audience is yearning for, and be available right then and there for them when they are looking for “it”. Scratch that itch of their “longing-for-something-better-deeper,-or-more”. Hook them honestly, and they will stay with you for the long haul.
• WOW: Provide the WOW factor for customers. Let them experience the thrill of being part of something special – your brand, your product, your unique experience, your affiliation – the whole package. The key to success, is customer focus. Give them WOW VALUE, and they’ll reward you with loyalty and addict-like consumerism.

There you have it – key P-P-POW Marketing variables to drive UP your sales – whether you’re increasing margins or pushing volume.

Work the power levers of P-P-POW Marketing System, and the results will be outstanding and POWERFUL!