First Step Marketing

In franchising, you copy someone else’s business, with their full approval and support, under a licence agreement called a franchise. In this the franchise-giver (the franchisor) allows you to use their trade name, provides training and back-up, and gives their expertise with all its benefits. In exchange, you as the franchisee have to pay the franchisor an initial fee, then ongoing royalties. The major advantage of this method is that you get into business more quickly and possibly with less risk. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Come quickly, I’m tasting stars.’

In neuro-linguistics, persuasive writing is yours for the doing. By incorporating visual, auditory, feeling and some gustatory words into your copy, you can involve all your readers, just as easily as you can when speaking — more easily, perhaps, because you are able to rewrite words for a printed page, whereas it is difficult to take back the spoken word.

‘Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance or a stranger.’

As a useful beginning to using these three or four languages, go to your files and pull out letters, reports, brochures, flyers and even invitations that have been sent out in the past few months. Rewrite them, slipping in the three or four languages that you have learned from the past few pages. See if the copy now leaps off the page. Read the rest of this entry »

The left-hand side of the brain is the analytical side of the brain that deals with detail, facts and figures. The right-hand side is the creative, sensitive, feeling side of the brain. It follows that where you place an item is important so that the viewers will react in the way you want them to. For instance, a contract should be placed on the right-hand side in order to transfer the logic, facts and detail to the left-hand side of the brain, thereby preparing the person to read and understand.

Creative work, such as a new advertising campaign or colour schemes for decorating an office or home should be placed to the left-hand side, so that the information goes through to the right- hand side of the brain, thus getting the viewer in a state of readiness for the creative decisions to be made. Read the rest of this entry »

How do you keep track of who is in your downline? All networkers, when they join a network, are given a personalised number. This number identifies them as belonging to a particular network. You may ask: ‘But how can I keep track of all the people in my downline?’ The answer is that you don’t need to. In network marketing each individual works three levels deep. You are directly responsible for the distributors you recruit (level one), the people they recruit (level two) and the people they, in turn, recruit (level three). That’s not too much to manage. Read the rest of this entry »

In an age in which customers are scarce, any company’s best practices seldom remain proprietary. Business models are shamelessly imitated with inner corporate workings becoming public knowledge. Best practices travel at Internet speed.

People are becoming masters at imitation. If you don’t have a good idea yourself, you can always knock off someone else’s product. An imitation is not necessarily an exact copy. You use details to create a difference: the look, the product extension, the packaging—anything that can make the other company’s idea look less new And this is easier than it used to be. If once you could hold on to a secret formula for years or even decades, now it’s a matter of months or days before your competitors catch up and replicate it. Read the rest of this entry »

Home Depot’s vast assortment of building supplies shows that it, too, knows that customers savor choice. But an even more important reason for its lasting success is that it knows how to capitalize on a customer’s wish to perform a task him- or herself. Home Depot employs our second strategy to attract the searchers, showering them with advice and insight.

This paradise for those who subscribe to do-it-yourself turns modestly competent amateurs into confident renovators and barely competent fumblers into people capable of remodeling their kitchens. Home Depot’s employees don’t do the job for you. Instead, they make accessible the information, products, and people you need to complete it for yourself. You feel capable of improving your own skills, which is exactly the feeling that searchers are seeking. Read the rest of this entry »