The Turnfire Internet Marketing Blog - Learn More, Grow and Compete Online. SEO | Domain Names | Affiliates | Niches

The Bottom Line Series - Part 2: The Secrets that Keep Them Coming Back for More

How many businesses do you know that have failed because they just couldn’t keep their customers coming back?  What do you think they did wrong?  Did they not pay enough attention to their customers needs? Did they neglect their target niche? Well if you’d like to avoid making these same mistakes, feel free to follow the steps below.

The most important thing in any business is its ability to keep returning customers.  This is not to say that a business cannot succeed without recurring customers, but it makes it a whole lot easier.

Imagine you were the CEO of an NHL arena.  Your job is to fill 15,000 seats at every home game… how are you going to do that?  If you had no returning customers, your arena would probably be empty 10 games into the season.

SEO BLOG

So what can you offer as a company to keep the customers coming back?

In the NHL arena example the main niche the arena targets is entertainment.  They offer an action packed hockey game featuring some of the best players in the world competing in front of a roaring crowd.  Not to mention why half the fans go… the alcohol.

All in all it makes for a good night and people seem to enjoy the environment enough to come back for multiple games or even purchase season tickets.

When operating your own business you need to think in the same mindset.  What niche am I going to target to keep customers coming back?

How do I know what niche to target?

Market research is the best tool for finding that target niche.  Survey your customers, research the trends in your industry and decide what the main concerns of your customers are.

If your product was a running shoe, you may want to target the performance niche.  Not just the niche, but also the competitive athlete driven customers you have.  You could talk about how much faster you can run with the shoe, how much higher you can jump and specifically how you will outperform the competition.

Likewise, if you were running a health spa, you may want to target the organic product and healthy living niche along with the regular comfort and relaxation niche most spas target. 
You could show pictures of the organic products, snapshots of your smiling clients and show testimonials from other satisfied customers stating how pleased they were with the service.

Give your customers a reason to keep coming back

Why do most people go to the same groceries stores their whole lives?  I personally go based on the variety of goods and the supply of the goods.

The grocery stores know their target niche and they stick to it.  They make sure to have a wide variety of goods and always try to maintain a large supply of those goods.  They service to their niche completely just like any business should.

This is exactly what you need to do with your own company.  Find your niche, stick to it, and make it your goal to serve the customers in your niche better each day than the day before.

Using the grocery store example; to better themselves they could introduce a new line of products that would make their customers even happier.

Self improvement should always be in the mind any business owner and it should be used to specialize in your niche even more.

What can I take from all of this?

“Instead of walking door to door, give them a reason to come to you”

or in other words

“Why talk to 100 people door to door when you could draw 1000 to you in the same amount of time”

Thanks for reading the second installment of The Bottom Line series!
Hope you enjoyed the article and will read the third part of the series “The Need to Know Reasons Why Brand Imaging Rules”.
Check back soon!

-Jarod Henderson

Why is it that some of the worst ideas in history are the central focus of the public eye while some of the best ideas go unnoticed?

The saying “A lie is halfway around the world before the truth even gets his boots on” relates to ideas as well.  Just because you have a great idea doesn’t mean it’s going to succeed regardless of your efforts.  You need to find a way to make your idea stand out from the crowd and in a sense make it “sticky” so that people will remember it.  Well, in a recent book I read, “Made to Stick” written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath - they do just that.

The New York Times bestseller “Made to Stick” has made a dominant impact on the business world. It was ranked #1 on the Top 10 Business books by Globe and Mail and has been renowned by critics everywhere.

Chip and Dan Heath have done rigorous amounts of research on the marketing community and on business ideas and concepts.  Within every successful idea, the Heath brothers found many similarities and characteristics that were profound in all cases.  Using this information, they compiled a set of principles that they believe everyone should follow while developing an idea.  These principles were transferred into the acronym “SUCCES” which the Heath brothers stand by religiously.  The categories are as follows:

SUCCES

1. Simplicity

Find the core of the idea.  If you’re a lawyer and you argue 10 points in a case, when they get back to the jury room chances are, they won’t remember any of them.  You must learn to exclude things that aren’t the most important.

To make something simple doesn’t mean you need to dumb it down.  The best example for simplicity is “For something to be simple doesn’t mean there is nothing left to add, but that there is nothing left to take away”.

2. Unexpectedness

How do we get readers attention and maintain it? - By violating their expectations.  Something unexpected will throw a readers mindset off and keep them thinking about it in shock.  But after you get their attention you need to be able to keep it.

You can do this by creating interest and curiosity. The best way to do that is by opening gaps in the subjects’ knowledge and filling those gaps.
Example: After you have finished explaining a topic, lead into another topic with a question.  This will cause the subject to keep interest and have them wondering of the answer to the question.

3. Concreteness

How do you make your ideas clear?  This is where many businesses have problems.  When a business may release its Mission Statement, company vision or strategies there is usually so much “noisy” information that the meaning is almost pointless or impossible to understand.

To support a sticky idea, one must use concrete words and images such as “a bright red balloon” or “a steaming cup of coffee”.  Avoid the use of sayings such as “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.  All of the audience might not understand the saying and it may be unclear.

Stick to concrete words and images that everyone understands.

4. Credibility

What is the key to making people believe your ideas? Having credible information is a big part of an idea.  If you were to state “ This song is great” or to say “This song was rated #1 on the America Top 100 charts for 2 weeks in a row” people would be more apt to listen to the second song because it is credible with a third party testimony.  People trust information that has credentials and they can test for themselves, kind of like a “test before you buy” concept.

Most people think using numbers and statistics is the best way to gain audience approval when in reality, name dropping and simple statements usually work the best.

An example of this was in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was running for president.  He could have used a pile of statistics to show the poor economic state of the economy, instead he said “Before you vote, ask yourself if you are better off today than you were four years ago”.  That had credibility.

5. Emotions

How do you get people to care about your ideas?  Tying a persons’ emotions into an idea is a great way to keep their attention.

An example used in the book was with health enthusiasts trying to stress to the public how unhealthy movie popcorn is for you.  Saying “Movie popcorn has 37 grams of fat in it” doesn’t mean much to people.  But if you show a picture of medium game of movie popcorn and show one bag has as much artery clogging fat as a bacon and eggs breakfast, a big mac and fries lunch and a steak dinner with all the trimmings it really gives an image to the idea.

People then can relate their emotions to all of that bad food rather than a statistic of 37 grams.  The same case is for the world aid ads.  The commercials don’t show a nation in need but instead show individual who have a name and a face.  A person is more inclined to give a donation to a single person instead of a country.

As you can see, tying peoples’ emotions into an idea can drastically improve its chances for success.

6. Stories

How do you get people to act on your ideas? You tell stories.  Another example used in “Made to Stick” is the stories of firefighters.  After a fire, firefighters naturally swap stories.  By doing this, firefighters build a database of different situations that they may encounter as a firefighter.  They can then use their database of situations to be better equipped for their next fire.  Research has shown that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when encountered with the situation in real life.

So, tired of having your great ideas fail once again?  Well look no further.  After reading the entire book, these 6 principles (also known as “SUCCES”) have “stuck” in my mind. I found them to be extremely helpful when developing ideas and I use them constantly in day to day work.  For anyone who wants to learn more about making their ideas sticky- Check out the book.

-Jarod Henderson

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Imagine having a single tool in your marketing arsenal – more powerful than the rest. You can use this skill to capture new clients in minutes, build awareness wherever you go – and ultimately gain confidence in your own campaigns.

You can probably guess from the title that I’m talking about elevator pitches – but what the heck is a elevator pitch, and why do I keep hearing that it can be the most effective marketing tool?

Wikipedia defines an elevator pitch as:
“An overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds and 100-150 words).”

Let me redefine it for you.

You’ve pitched something before, whether you know it or not. If you have a business, generate ideas or if you’ve marketed anything in your life – then you have a brief idea how to pitch something.

Now the key step: refinement.

Master your pitch and learn how to hit the hot topics with your audience in about the same time it takes to go from the 1st floor – to the CEO’s office on the 15th. That’s the key; it’s about knowing it so well that you can lay out the most persuasive and drawing benefits of your concept – that means you know what needs to be said and what doesn’t.

Are you convinced yet? It’s easy to read this and say – “that’s a great point,” but half of you are probably thinking it’s a bit too much to get into. Well don’t worry, because I’m not going to let you leave here asking yourself how to make your own elevator pitch.

So let’s take a look now, what makes an elevator pitch that will have your prospects jumping with anticipation?

Pretend you’re walking up to your new prospect and you’ve got that pitch ready and memorized. It’s going to be about 90 seconds of high-adrenaline, benefit packed pitching and you’re more than ready. You take a quick glance over your pitch points, and can’t help but smile because you know your pitch meets the important criteria. You remember back to that one blog post you read, recalling the key points that make your pitch so effective:

First, Your Pitch Is Complete and To-The-Point
The most important benefits and points of the concept are explained. Leave the prospect with more answers than questions.

Second, Your Pitch is Really Easy to Understand
Cut the tech talk and industry related jargon – save it for the boardroom. Your pitch is meant for more than a discussion about your ideas, it’s meant to persuade and inspire action. So keep it simple enough to pitch both your great nephew and your grandmother, you only have 90 seconds and there’s no time to lose focus on your goal.

Third, Your Pitch Connects With the Audiences Emotions
In most cases you’ll be appealing to your prospects greed. Who doesn’t want more money, more assets or a better lifestyle for themselves, hit those hot-buttons. You can also appeal to emotions like social responsibility, or happiness.

Fourth, Your Pitch is Absolutely Irrefutable – Everyone Wants’ a Piece
When you walk away from your prospect you’re going to know you did everything because you made your pitch as irrefutable as possible. Make the prospect feel as if they are giving something incredible up if they don’t pursue it.

Your pitch should be fresh, let it change with your business and your views – but keep it powerful and refined. Practice is more than important here because if you decide to make the elevator pitch your secret weapon – then you’ll need to practice it at every chance. Pitch to your friends, your family, your co-workers and anyone who will tolerate it – but don’t just walk away unsatisfied, gauge the reactions and learn how to present to the audience in front of you.

Give it a shot, write down a quick couple points right now, and pitch them to yourself (the potential client) in the mirror. Try and pitch those points to one new person every day until you’re comfortable and then I’ll be waiting to hear it myself.