Duct Tape Marketing
Homestead is partnering with some of today’s most popular and well-respected small business experts to present a series of interactive small business workshops offered exclusively to Homestead customers. In June the first workshops were led by John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing and a veteran marketing coach whose blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for small business. The workshops took the form of three one-hour live webinars specifically designed to help businesses succeed in today’s changing marketplace.
Customers who enrolled also received free copies of these important business reference works:
• Why Headlines Fail by Sean D’Souza of Psychotactics.com
• How Clients Buy: The Benchmark Report On Professional Services Marketing and Selling From The Client Perspective from RainToday.com
• The Yellow Pages and Online Local Search by Alan Saltz
For those who couldn’t participate, here’s a summary of what was covered:
Discovering Your Ideal Target Market
• Learning how to narrow your focus
• Discovering the value of niches
• Creating the picture of your ideal client
• Developing a system for collecting information about your clients
Finding and focusing on a market that values what you have to offer is an essential marketing step, as is defining who your ideal clients are and how to find them.
Creating Your Unique Message
• Finding ways to increase your appeal to your market
• Developing systems for discovering what your core message is, and for receiving ongoing feedback from clients
• Creating the message that shapes your marketing
• Learning the best way to present your company and your story
Customers often think businesses are more alike than different: all accounting firms do the same thing, all electricians provide the same service, etc. As long as this perception exists, you are left to compete solely on price. Consequently, it’s critical to your marketing strategy that you master the art of differentiation by finding out how your business is unique.
Giving Them an Image – It’s all about the Package
• Auditing your existing brand elements to bring them in line with your core message
• Creating ways to make your products and services more memorable and more valuable
• Developing an introductory offer to make you the provider of choice
• Discovering ways to package your products as services, and services as products
The success of your business often comes down to the experience your clients and prospects have with your company. The image of your company portrayed through your marketing is critical. It’s the key to communicating why your business is unique, and why it should be the customer’s obvious choice in your industry.
They were great sessions, and more are on the way! If you’d like information on future seminars we’re planning, please send us an email at editor@homestead-inc.com
