We experienced some excellent and yet incredibly subtle marketing this week - when out for a pre-Christmas dinner, which we combined with a leaving (the country) party for one of our friends. The restaurant in London is apparently quite well-known, although I'd never heard of it, and the service was absolutely superb. For example, wines were recommended according to food selections, and we were never left with an empty bottle! Anyway, what really stuck in my mind was the subtle difference in the way that questions were being asked by the waiters... We were asked 'what vegetables would you like with that?' and 'what starter would you like?' Subtle, but I watched as even my head dropped back down to the menu to choose my vegetables and my starter! It's completely different to asking 'would you like....' You're being asked to choose, rather than given the option to say yes or no... Subtle, but very powerful... And you can use this method with your online business as well. You see, when people are in the buying mood (or hungry for a particular product, solution or service), you should offer them a similar product to compliment the product they're in the process of buying. For example, we were hungry for food and were ordering food... The waiters simply pointed us to complimentary 'vegetables' and wines (which we then bought). If online, you could do this by adding something to your order confirmation screen, a pop-up box, or after the sale has been completed with a screen that simply says 'Congratulations! You've just bought x, and we'd like to offer you an immediate discount if you buy y'. An offline business can do this verbally or, as I also experienced this week, with a leaflet within your boxed goods. Subtle, but very powerful forms of marketing... for both online and offline businesses. People buy what they WANT, so if you simply offer them more of what they WANT, there can only ever be one result... If you're not making the money you thought you'd be making at this point, then it's probably because you're not following up with your customers or you're not offering additional complimentary products to help them... And it's important that the products you're offering help people, or solve problems in some way for people. This is all I do - I find certain things, services, products, and sometimes just contact details to help people... and this is how I make my living... by simply helping people with their problems or needs. I do this mainly with online internet marketing and the use of e-mail, but you could implement this offline as well. And, importantly, everyone has some knowledge, interest, story or example of something they've done or achieved that people would not only like to know about, but would be more than willing to pay to hear, read or even be shown first-hand... In this information-age that we live in today, I urge you to make the best use of your knowledge - if not for monetary gain, but to help others in their quest for knowledge... Best wishes, Chris Cobb |
