If you were asking what people really want from a marketing campaign, most people would say generating high quality leads. 2-step marketing is designed purely to generate high quality leads.

2-step marketing is a good way of establishing your authority. I’m a marketing consultant like 1,001 other marketing consultants that are around, but say, because I’ve written a special report on how to double the sales of photocopiers, if someone in the photocopy industry is particularly interested in that report, I come across as having some authority within that area. I am not just “another consultant” but a consultant who’s written something that is very specific and of interest to that particular business. It is a very good way of quickly, easily and inexpensively establishing authority by producing a reasonably authoritative work which will be of interest to people.

You must remember that this is not about selling straightaway, but about getting a foot in the door. It’s about people raising their hand and gathering the names of people who have said that they are potentially interested in finding out more about what it is you’re talking about. They are not ready to buy but, they are interested.

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2-Step marketing is designed purely to generate high quality leads. By that, I mean people who are in the market for buying the product or service that you have to offer. That is what two step marketing is all about. Even better than that, the leads tend to be quite warm.

Why does two step marketing work so well?

For those of you who haven’t read it, there is a fantastic book I would recommend called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini.  It talks about lots of different factors that influence people and help them make buying decisions. One of the key things that he talks about is something called the law of reciprocity.

An example that he gives is this: there is a temporary member of staff that goes into an office. He works quite hard, goes out to lunch, comes back from lunch, and says to the people who work in office “By the way, I’m running a marathon for charity, would you sponsor me?” He gets some interest from some of the people in the office, but not very much. Another temporary member of staff goes and works in the morning, goes out to lunch, and when he comes back from lunch he buys a bottle of Coke for everybody in the office. He says “It’s very hot outside so I just thought everyone would enjoy a Coke.”  Then an hour later he asks people if they would mind sponsoring him. The results are incredible.

If you give somebody something for nothing, they feel a moral obligation to return the favour in some ways. So it works on the basis of that. If you give somebody something for nothing that is of value and helps them, they feel obliged to return the favour in some way. That might be by passing on a lead to someone else, by writing a testimonial, or it might be by buying something extra from you.

 To find out more about the ideal marketing company, and what we can do for your business contact us on 01858 445 543 or email alastair@idealmarketingcompnay.com

This is one of the ideas covered in the book – “the Marketing Launchpad” by Alastair Campbell available now from Amazon – order your copy today.

 1.  Marketing message is too complicated

It is better to have one strong message that you put across in a direct mail letter, poster or press release rather than half a dozen weaker ones. People are more likely to remember and act upon one strong point as it is more likely to penetrate their busy.

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The research traced it back to kids getting away with it in the beginning. The students would miss a lesson and because it wasn’t detected, they would miss another. Then they would miss one or two more in the week. After that there was a snowball effect. Students found out they didn’t get caught if they skipped lessons, so they would just carry on doing it.

We developed a text messaging-based product that enabled the school, the first time a child didn’t attend registration, to send the parents or guardians a recorded message or a text message from the teacher to report that their child hadn’t attended school that day. They were asked to phone the school office to explain why. The mere introduction of the system had an effect on reducing truancy. Instantly, fewer children attempted to play truant because they knew they were going to get caught straightaway. In some cases, attendance rates rose between 10 and 20 per cent because students knew they were going to get caught.

This is one of the ideas covered in the book – “the Marketing Launchpad” by Alastair Campbell available now from Amazon – order your copy today.

Make your offer as eye catching and imaginative as possible. Make it time sensitive and difficult to say ‘no’ to. Make it believable and above all make it easy to understand. To assess whether you’ve achieved that understandability, show your letter to a stranger; they should be able to say in about five seconds what you are telling them about if you are to have a chance of winning over people with your direct mail letter.

This is one of the ideas covered in the book – “the Marketing Launchpad” by Alastair Campbell available now from Amazon – order your copy today.

Don’t let your specialist knowledge go to waste.  If you understand your prospects’ problems, why not tell them in language and imagery that they understand? Why let all your specialist knowledge go to waste when producing your brochure? By all means, decide on a common layout and theme for the three brochures, but select pictures for the cover that best reflect each market. Write at least the key sections of your text addressing the specific needs of the butcher, baker and candlestick maker.

This is one of the ideas covered in the book – “the Marketing Launchpad” by Alastair Campbell available now from Amazon – order your copy today.

That is one of the great things about niche marketing. You are trying to appeal to those in a buying frame of mind. If you’re able to persuade them to visit your website or shop, there is a much better chance of selling them a washing machine than the wide variety of electrical goods you sell. So you want to make it very clear that you sell washing machines. You’re not trying to talk about all the other things you do, but being specific about the services you offer. In that way, you’ll stand out from all the other people trying to get that buyer’s attention.

This is one of the ideas covered in the book – “the Marketing Launchpad” by Alastair Campbell available now from Amazon – order your copy today.

And that’s not all. In 2005, Google estimated that people would tolerate 15 seconds for a page to open.  In 2009 it was down to three seconds. If your website is badly optimised with heavy load of graphics and takes more than 15 to 20 seconds for just the first page to open, you won’t even have a chance to make the first impression. The potential customers would have gone faster than they came.

This is one of the ideas covered in the book – “the Marketing Launchpad” by Alastair Campbell available now from Amazon – order your copy today.

Its simple theory is that we all need a reason why to buy. The colour, cost and company name may all have an influence on us, but essentially we need a clear benefit TO US – ‘what’s in it for me?’ Make the benefit clear enough and people will buy. Clever words aren’t enough as people can see what you are trying to do. Clever words might impress your friends, but will not in themselves sell. Worry less about clever puns and more about simple benefits. Instead of fluff and generalities, give your readers substance and facts that appeal to their self-interest.

This is one of the ideas covered in the book – “the Marketing Launchpad” by Alastair Campbell available now from Amazon – order your copy today.