Category: Sales & Marketing

Running a successful company is about bringing different factors together, one of them being the product. So yes, the product isn’t everything. It’s not the only thing that can and will keep the company afloat. But if you look around, you’ll find that some businesses claim that having a great product is enough to succeed, while there are others say that nothing works without proper marketing.

The fact is that there are many huge companies that support both sides of the argument. There’s Google which became one of the biggest brands online with almost zero marketing. And then on the other hand there are companies like Pepsi and Coke that spend a good amount of their corporate budget on feeding their marketing campaigns in order to win the “brands war” and become the leader in their market.

However, there is no denying the fact that having a healthy balance between your product development and marketing efforts can boost your chances of success.But finding the right balance is the difficult part, not impossible though. Companies like Apple have figured out because they not only have a great product but also know how to market it well. They have cracked the holy grail of business success on a large scale, without ignoring the fundamentals.

Now, the question is – can one survive without another in the real world? It’s not difficult to answer this question since it’s clear that both are interdependent on each other. If you build a great product but nobody knows about it, you won’t get sales. The basic marketing rules are the same. The more people know about your product, the more sales potential you have.

The only difference today is that you may just get away with bad marketing if your product is worthy. Why? Because before people would look at ads and buy products not knowing there are better options out there. However, with the advent of Internet customers have gone more vocal. They are expressing their views by writing product reviews and doing their research before buying anything. So even if the product is poorly advertised, it may have an upper hand because of the positive word of mouth.

At the same time, things have changed on the advertising front too. You can no longer get leverage for a bad product by simply throwing money into advertising. Your product will fizzle out in no time because people want quality, and if they don’t get it, your ads won’t do much. The focus of your business should not only be about spreading the word about your product, but spreading it in a good way. And you do that by creating a “customer experience” that is complete in itself.

The conclusion is that as times are changing, you will have to keep up. Company accolades and promotions are great, but they need to be supported by a great product and even greater marketing for the company to really move forward. It may not easy to find a balance between product quality and justified cost of marketing, but once found, the overall business of the company will definitely improve.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Article Contributed by Guy Ascher

Searching, clipping and saving coupons is becoming a national pastime. It’s even becoming an activity parents share with children. According to the Promotional Marketing Association (PMA), more than 90 percent of all consumers use coupons, no matter what their financial situation is. Saving money is a meaningful activity for people from all walks of life and all salary levels. The PMA even suggests that teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 are now becoming coupon addicted. They use coupon codes too. This indicates that we are raising a new generation of smart, savvy and cost-conscious shoppers. To better understand the popularity and psychology of coupon use, let’s delve into the mindset of the different types of coupon users: The Coupon Addicts, Savvy Shoppers, Suggestible Consumers and the Brand Loyal Buyers.

1 – The Coupon Addict

This is the consumer that is in the habit of using coupons for everything. He cuts coupons from the newspaper, magazines, advertisement papers and looks for online coupon codes for any and every item he buys. He uses coupons when buying groceries, clothes, appliances and even luxury items. For this shopper, using coupons is a way of life, a fun activity and offers a significant way to save money on everything.

Most coupon addicts will attest to the fact that they have to search through lots of different coupons to find the perfect option. This coupon user also realizes that he can’t just wait for the best coupon to arrive in the mail or in a free publication; the best place to find the right coupon is online, because all he has to do is search for coupons on Google to get the product coupon he needs.

2 – The Savvy Shopper

The savvy shopper may not be as devoted to coupon cutting as the coupon addict, but he realizes that he could save as much as 50% to 80% on the average retail price of a product if he performs a quick coupon search. This could mean a substantial savings, especially on high ticket items. This shopper watches for upcoming sales and browses through online coupons, to see if there are any special deals on the products he want.

3 – Suggestible Consumers

This is the consumer that is influenced by innovation. He wants to purchase state-of-the-art services and products. Once influenced (through media, advertising or word of mouth), he has a clearly defined need. Still, his sense of urgency is short term.

Even so, the smart suggestible consumer will first look for coupons offering a discount on the product he needs. This consumer is not patient enough to wait out and find the perfect coupon for the product he wants, but often, won’t purchase the product either, if he doesn’t find some type of discount to make him feel better about the purchase. This is where the online coupon system comes in very handy, as most retailers offer some type of discount on the required product. In this case, even a 10% discount offers that “feel-good” aspect to this consumer’s final purchase. 

4 – The Brand Loyal Buyer

This buyer is focused only on a particular brand because he understands the brand competency. He is usually motivated by a particular buying need and wants a particular product made from a certain manufacturer to fulfill that need. Still, in the current economic environment, the buyer is not about to pay full price for a product. He will shop and search consistently until he finds some type of discount coupon on the brand he wants. This buyer will probably forgo looking for newspaper and advertisement coupons, knowing that the coupon he needs rarely shows up here. Under most circumstances this buyer will turn to the search engines and look for coupons for the brand he wants.

Conclusion

The coupon culture has reached the mainstream consumer, from the everyday savvy shopper to those searching for that specific niche product or service. For every consumer shopper there is a discount available, it just needs to be looked for online. The easiest way to do this is by searching for the brand or provider name plus the added term “coupon codes;” This offers great purchasing options. The coupon culture is here to stay, and most businesses are embracing it to promote their products and services to the online and offline consumer world.

About the Author

Guy Ascher contributed this guest post for www.CouponCodes4u.com. Guy is an avid researcher and freelance marketing writer. He’s recently been researching how companies can use couponing as a powerful marketing tool and publishing his findings on various business oriented sites.

What is a product launch?

It’s a step-by-step, repeatable process, that you can implement whenever you want to launch a brand-new product or program, or re-launch a current product or previous program.

It’s much harder to sell something simply by sticking it out there and hoping people will buy it; when you have a launch system in place you will make more sales.

Make sure you’re solving a problem that your target market wants solved! You’ll be well on your way to a successful launch.

The three stages of a successful product launch are:

1. Pre-Launch

This is actually the major stage of your product launch sequence – this is where you do all the planning and strategizing. You want to allow several weeks for your pre-launch stage as it’s during this stage that you’ll be:

• Writing the sales page and creating the back-office systems
• Setting up your affiliates to help you with your launch
• Creating a sub-list of eager buyers
• Hosting a free preview teleclass to officially launch your product or program (optional, but a worthwhile strategy)
• Doing any final research to make sure that your product or program really provides the solution to your target market’s problems.

2. During the Launch

This is actually a very short-time frame, say about two weeks. During this stage you will have officially launched your product or program to your target market, and may be doing additional promotional work to encourage early purchases. This could take the form of additional solo emails, or joint venturing with other business owners to get the word out.

You may also be offering time-sensitive bonuses or discounts, and doing ‘last chance’ announcements.

3. Post-Launch

Once the initial launch phase is over, you want to ensure that you continue to get more sales, especially if it’s for a product that will be available over the long-term.

You also want to put in place strategies to ‘make the sale stick’, i.e. you want people to use your new product, or participate in your new program. If you’ve offered a guarantee, you want to make sure they don’t come back to you asking for their money back because you haven’t done your job in ensuring that they’re happy with their investment.

During this stage you want to:

• Create a sequence of follow-up emails that checks in with your customer to make sure they are happy with their purchase.
• Offer ongoing support so that they get the most out of their investment.
• Send any ‘surprise’ or unannounced bonuses.

You also want to go into normal promotion mode so that you encourage sales for the long-term. This means adding details of your product or program to you website, blog, and making it a regular feature in your ezine.

Your pricing formula (or pricing a product or service)

I recently received a request from one of my blog readers to do an article on pricing your product. He sent me some great articles he found on the net. After reading them I realized he may have been over thinking the pricing issues. To me it is fairly simple. There are only three outcomes to consider:

1. Your product is priced too high and no action is taken (the competition is complacency.)
2. Your product is priced too high and it invites the buyer to buy from someone else (I need to make sure I am getting the best VALUE.)
3. You price your product to low and you introduce concern from the buyer because he wonders what is being missed (lack of trust.)

Pricing your product can be simple if you let it but you must price it from the buyer’s perspective. As a business owner you need to know both your fixed and variable cost and ensure you cover those cost while remembering the buyer is not concerned with your cost. They simply don’t care.

From my perspective, here is what you need to be concerned about. What does your competition charge? This is important if the consumer has a preconceived notion of the value of the product. For example, if I go to a paint store and see a gallon on paint is priced at $50, I might go to another store to see if I can get the same quality (different brand) for a better price. I may have a belief that I am not going to pay more than $30 for a gallon of paint (or $20K for a car, or $3 for loaf of bread, or $1 for a pen, etc.)

The bigger issue for me is the value proposition. I believe people will pay to solve a problem and in many respects they will pay a premium if they believe you are the right and safe choice. Making the buyer understand that you are the right and safe choice is both hard and critical. Understand this is not a universal construct. For example, if I have $1 to spend for pen it may not matter if it is a BIC or another brand as long as it fits my budget. If I have a Rolls Royce for sale and my buying audience cannot afford a Rolls (or do not want it) then price it does not matter.

The hard work is the unique value proposition, helping other to understand your value, where and how to market your product and knowing how the problem you solve will allow you to charge more.

Pricing the product is in fact telling a story about the product. For example, why would I pay $50 for a gallon of paint when I can a similar product for 40% less? If price is not an issue, you can focus on the parts of the products story that are important to a client. The higher price for the paint can be told in a story: it is safer (less smell), easier to clean (important to a busy mother because it save time), last longer (don’t have to do it as often), provide a better finish (looks better), or is easier to apply (saves time.)  If those concepts are not important to your audience, you have a different kind of problem.

Sometimes price is not a consideration. If you are selling to high net worth individuals, they are buying prestige and convenience. The price is secondary. If I am buying a gallon of paint, price is primary.

Finally, pricing is impacted by the demographics of the audience. It is harder to sell your product using “pain” as the value proposition when selling to an older audience because their life experience tells them that “been there done that. This too shall pass.” Pain works better on younger people who have a need for more immediate gratification.

Bottom line is that pricing is an effective marriage between cost to produce, what people will pay, and the story that motivates them to buy.