Category Archives: Business to Business Marketing Strategies

Tips for improving your business to business marketing strategies and campaigns.  Learn how to find a market niche, and why having a niche is so important.  There are also posts about finding your ideal client (and why you need that too).  Trying to market to everyone only leaves you “spraying and praying” without actually hitting anything.

These pages also cover common business to business marketing mistakes (made by companies both large and small). If you’ve made one of these, you’ll learn how you can fix the errors you’ve made (and avoid future gaffes).

Need more clients? Or better clients? Check out the posts on lead generation, how to set and negotiate higher fees, and what red flags to look for when prospecting for new work.

Finally, there are posts on creating your brand and your company’s “story.” What you are selling isn’t necessarily what you think.  The way you present your products and services can make a big difference in your results.

What Online Marketers Don’t Want You to Know About Direct Mail

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All Freelance Writing has a post today by Chris Bilbey asking, “Is direct marketing dead or alive?” Internet marketing is so big now, does direct mail still work?
Kaunas-Phone Booth
Chris decided to find out whether direct mail still worked.  He sent out 2,000 postcards to local businesses. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but he’s already gotten nine reply calls, six emails and three brand-new clients.

And, it’s still early.

Does direct mail work?

Yes, it does. It even sometimes sneaks into a phone booth, spins around really fast, and emerges (in a burst of light and pixels) as… internet marketing. Shhh, don’t tell.

Direct marketing is really internet marketing’s secret identity. It works the same way.  The principles are the same.  Find an audience.  Create products or services to help them.  Tell them about it.  Rinse and repeat. The only difference is that you’re writing a postcard that sells (instead of an email).

And direct mail won’t eat your computer.

Refine the results

Now that Chris has some data, he can review his results and refine future campaigns to get even better results.  Maybe he got a better response from a particular type of business. Or, his results might have been stronger from companies that are within 5 miles away.  Or, he might try a different headline.

Have you tested direct mail? Sent any postcards?  What happened?

7 Bad Clients and How to Spot Them

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hurricane flag

Whether you’re a brand-new freelancer, or an established veteran, there are going to be times when you come across a bad client.  They may seem like mild-mannered Dr. Jekyls at first, but then they turn into slathering, dangerous Mr. Hydes.  Here’s a field guide to bad clients (and how to spot the red flags).

1. The Schnorrer (sponger).  The schnorrer loves freebies, and is always trying to get more.  They’ll take a few minutes of your time here, another few there.  It seems innocuous, but pretty soon those few minutes start to add up.

Tell the client you’re implementing a minimum fee structure.  Bill in fifteen or thirty minute increments (if you charge hourly), and invoice the client monthly.

If they want free samples (especially suspiciously detailed free samples: a 500-word blog post with 15 ways students can save on summer travel in Ontario), politely decline and point them to relevant examples of work you’ve already done for other clients.

2. The Waffler: They take up lots of time, want endless meetings, but can never quite bring themselves to sign on the dotted line. If you can’t get them to make a commitment, try the “reluctant rock star close.”  Tell them you want to work with them, but your schedule is getting tight, and want to make sure you can give them the attention and time they deserve  If they’re not ready, that’s OK, but it will mean you can’t turn everything around as quickly. (thanks to Peter Bowerman for this idea).

3. The Cheapskate: Close cousin to the schnorrer, they’ll offer to “buy you coffee” or take you to breakfast in return for “picking your brain.” This can be tricky if it’s a friend. Offer to share a limited amount of time with them. Do it over the phone if possible, and be very clear about what you can and cannot do for free (or for coffee).

If you get the same questions repeatedly, set up pre-written answers, or point people to resources on your blog or an FAQ page.

4. The Guilt-Tripper: (often non-profits) they’ll try to make you feel guilty about turning them down, insist you cut your rates, or even demand that you work for free. If it’s a cause you love, and you have some extra time, or are just starting out, then sure, work for free or cut your rates.

If not, politely and firmly point out that you devote X time to non-profit and have reached your limit, or cannot take on any additional pro bono projects.

5. The Illusionist: It will be the next [Facebook, Twitter]! We’ll pay you in stock! It may be; but it probably isn’t. Don’t do it.

6. The Nickel and Dimers: They question every expense, and every minute you spend working on their project. Get around this by charging a flat project rate, rather than by the hour.

Explain in your contract exactly how many revisions are included, and which expenses will be billed. If they want extra revisions, quote them a fee, ask for a paypal payment and set a start/end date.

(I’ll sometimes do a tweak for free, as a favor: I tell clients that a tweak is changing your shoes; a revision is changing your shoes and putting on a different jacket).

7. The Discounter: related to the nickel and dimer, they want a price cut on everything. If they can’t afford the full package, offer a streamlined version, with fewer revisions or a reduced workload, such as 15 blog posts instead of 25.

Have you had bad experiences with clients? What happened and how did you handle it?
Is there anything you wish you’d done differently?

Has this gotten worse with the economic downturn?

image: NOAA

Marketing Lessons Learned From Netflix

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DVD-Video bottom-side

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been a happy customer of Netflix for quite some time. Being able to watch whatever I want whenever I want, and binging on my favorite shows is great; I feel as if I have my own movie theatre/TV station.

But yesterday, Netflix had an uncharacteristic epic marketing failure. Their subscribers are in an uproar (and rightly so).

New pricing failure

You see,  Netflix just announced a new pricing plan, which essentially increases the cost of the service by 60% (with no new benefits of any kind). They want to separate streaming and DVD viewing into two separate services, with separate fees.

Either you pay more, you give up streaming (convenient, but limited selection), or you give up DVDs by mail (slow, but much larger selection).

Almost worse, the name they chose for the streaming service is… .unfortunate.

Netfilx is a great company, but in this case they’ve failed basic marketing 101

Marketing 101

  • If you increase prices, give more value; especially if the increase is this large.
  • Tell your customers first – then send a press release.
  • Don’t end your blogger (?!) blog post by reminding people they can cancel at any time.  Yep, that’s what I’m going to do, because you just told me you don’t care at all about my business.
  • If you’ve got bad news, don’t pretend it’s good news (or, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining).
  • Soften the blow to your loyal customers by grandfathering them in, or giving them something extra (a better plan at the higher price?)
  • Remember that your loyal customers got you where you are today (don’t get them mad -5000 comments on the blog so far and 32,194 on Facebook).
  • Don’t drink your own Kool-aid – this kind of decision may look good to brokers and bean counters – but the customers pay the bills (no subscribers, no income)

What do you think?  What could Netflix have done better? Do you have Netflix?  Will you keep it?

Update:  Just saw this post by Derek Halpern of Social Triggers on the right way to raise prices.

How to Go Broke With Your Bad Sales Letter

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Empty Pockets

Image by danielmoyle via Flickr

Writing a sales letter is a bit of an art.  You have to grab attention, make your case, and make it clear what people will get by responding.

If it’s online,  you have the benefit of lots of colors, graphics, maybe even video and sound.  If it’s in the mail (no, direct mail isn’t dead) your words will have to do all the work.

Ignore do not mail requests

I recently got a letter from Chase bank, urging me to get a credit card.  Two things, one I’m on the do not mail list (boom, they just violated that).  Second, the reason I don’t have a Chase Visa is because they canceled it. However, back to the letter.

Confuse people

The envelope said “Chase”, but the sheet inside says “Slate” across the top.  I have no idea what Slate is.  Never heard of it.  It’s rather confusing.

Be irrelevant

It offers me savings on gas (oh good, something I never buy).   And more savings if I pay with Full Pay (whatever that is). Also, I can add or change categories at any time (categories of what?).

Bait and switch

There’s also a low APR initial rate (bet that goes up).  And, my favorite part, the opportunity to opt-out of further mailings if I call a toll-free number.  I’ve already asked that (I’m on the do-not-call list too).  Fail!

How not to fail

OK, so my refusal to apply won’t make Chase go broke. But, if you sent a letter that showed such a poor understanding of your audience’s needs and wants, you would go broke (and fast).

Writing an effective sales letter, especially to a new prospect, or for a new product, has to do a better job than that. It needs to:

Tune in tomorrow for Friday Fun. There may be some fireworks.

5 Lies About Niches That Everyone Thinks Are True

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Truth lies

Image via Wikipedia

There are a lot of misconceptions and untruths about niches.

Sometimes, it’s a question of not understanding what a niche really is.

Other times, it’s a bit of bravado.  Some of the biggest lies:

“Having a niche will kill my sales; look at all the business I’m ignoring.”

Actually, the opposite is true.  Once you specialize, you’ll become known for that specialty.  People and businesses will seek you out, because you’re now a recognized expert in that field.

You can also use that specialty to cater specifically to your chosen market.  For example, if you’re an expert on organizing, rather than trying to help everyone, focus on busy  moms.

Then adjust your schedule, and  your services accordingly, offering appointments during the early morning, when the kids are in school.

“It’s OK to combine two different businesses, like office supplies and fitness, under one website.”

Mashing two entirely different businesses together will just confuse your clients and customers.  People who want to exercise have completely different needs and wants than people who need to buy copy paper.

If  you want to run two businesses, set up two different websites.  Actually, better yet, start one, get that going, and then worry about the second one.

“We don’t need to specialize, everyone will want our product.”

This one is astonishingly persistent.  I’ve heard it from software companies, business event planners, pet food producers, you name it.  When you love what you do, or what you sell, it’s easy to think that everyone will want it.

That isn’t necessarily true though.  If that software is written in Chinese, it’s useless to people who don’t speak Chinese.  Yes, many large businesses use event planners, but most small businesses won’t.

You’ll have better luck targeting specific people, or setting your services apart in some way.  How about an event planner who understands both logistics and marketing/budgeting?  Or who specializes in exotic destinations for corporate meetings.

“I’ve got a big list of names, from several career changes, I can earn lots of money from it “

A large, random group of people who you’ve met over the course of several years isn’t a niche marketing list.  If you’ve changed careers or industries from selling accounting software to producing handcrafted guitars, not everyone on that list will necessarily be interested.

In order for a list to be profitable, they’ll need to have something in common, a need for your services (you solve their problems), and the money to pay for them.

“The more I offer, the better. I’m going to branch out.”

There’s a store near me that offers tech support services (fix your PC, troubleshooting and so on).  They also have a sign saying they buy and sell gold.  It doesn’t really make sense, does it. Those are two entirely different areas of expertise.

Figure out what your market wants, and stay with it. Only add something if it complements what you’re already doing, say PC services and Mac services.  Think about it this way, would you go to a fitness expert for brain surgery?  Or would you go find a neurosurgeon?