Raw 03 - November 2008 - (Page 46)

RAW THE DESIGN LOFT The Secret to Outshining Your Competition and Increasing Your Market Share – even on a small budget s the owner of a new business or indeed a business which has relied solely on referrals and word of mouth for leads it can be a daunting task to build your name in the local business community. Of course we all place the usual adverts in the free press and such like but then again, so do our competitors. Add to this the fact that most small businesses are working with a limited marketing budget and suddenly the task of building your brand becomes a bit worrisome. So we have to ask ourselves, what makes us different? Why are we better than our competitors and if I was a potential customer why would I choose us? Over at The Design Loft we know that the key to translating your hard earned pounds into useful, effective marketing materials is to get inside the mind of your potential clients. Think how they think, see how they see, talk how they talk and feel like they feel. It may sounds a bit crazy I know, but believe it or not it’s a theory that works and I’m hoping that this article will help you to get to grips with it. At this point you’re probably thinking “Ok, sounds straight forward but how on Earth do I go about doing that?!” Introducing: “The Consumer Decision Making Process” Also known as “The Psychology of the Buyer” this is a process that we are all Are you, like many other business owners in your industry, wondering how you can develop a profitable marketing campaign without breaking the bank? A portrayal of how we think it flashed me straight back to buying my first shiny flat screen TV and the 4 days I spent going through this rigmarole to get it! So how can you cash in on his inherent, habitual thought process to help you develop cost effective marketing that actually works? 1. Need recognition This is you as a business owner getting to understand what your prospect needs and identifying with that need quickly and effectively. In fact you only have a 7 second window to grab your prospect’s attention so you need to make sure your marketing message presses the right buttons instantly. already highly familiar with even if we aren’t fully aware of it. This is the process that everyone, even the most spontaneous of us, goes through when thinking about spending our hard earned money on something we really fancy. It’s not as complex as it sounds and in fact there are only 5 simple stages to the process: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Need recognition Information search Evaluation of alternatives Purchase decision Post-purchase remorse 2. Information search Ok so you’ve pressed the right buttons and the prospect is interested. Now what? Now it’s time to let the prospect know that you can provide them with exactly what they need in a way that will benefit them. At this point it’s imperative that you get a little creative with how you present your products or services; a simple list of features for example would probably disengage the prospect and make them look elsewhere. It’s illustrating the benefits of your products or services to the prospect that will really keep them reading. 3. Evaluation of alternatives Now your prospect knows that you Recognise the symptoms yet? The first time I came across this surprisingly accurate 46 millionimpossible.com http://www.millionimpossible.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Raw 03 - November 2008

Raw 03 - November 2008 Contents Bradley Chapman Rachael Elnaugh Linda Klassen-Brown Heidi Weir Mark Asquith Emma Thompson Chris Wright

Raw 03 - November 2008

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