Having enjoyed reading your
biographical, They
can't take that away from me... I
would love to post your article (for my) course for
seniors entitled Autobiography and Journaling ... and
let them read your article as a good example of what
I call the reader's writer, clearly expressed and easy
to read. (Howell)
The French language has
always appealed to me ... so I enjoyed Lavinia's
experiences en
France! (Di Sullivan, Perth, Australia)
I am an American and an
expat here since 1990. I have been a subscriber to Writing
Tip for a few years now and look forward to the Friday
editions. I archive by creating topics of the tips
relevant to me and often refer. (Mary, Lagos, Nigeria)
WRITERS!
Write
Your Own Best Seller!
This
year, don't just read a best-seller ... Write
your own using the software program that works
in the same way J K Rowling writes her Harry
Potter novels!
Who said Aussies would
bet on two flies crawling up a wall? Now I know
better! (Bill Denham, Chicago, USA)
I enjoy reading your page
every week, Jennifer, it's never boring and there's always
something to bring a smile to my face! (Kenny Dima,
Tenerife, Spain)
Great newsletter -
originally found this site after searching for
clarification on a contentious
point amongst work colleagues. Just had to look at old
issues and now look forward to Fridays (Juliet Wallace,
Manchester, ENGLAND)
Advertising Tips
................................ 27 July 2001
This week
Marketing's Greatest Enemy by Jay Conrad
Levinson
Quick Tip
Greetings,
That virus I mentioned last week
seems to have gained plague proportions - if the email I receive is anything to
go by. Please go to one of the free online virus scan sites to check if you've
been infected.
This week's feature article
discusses one of those issues we sometimes tend to forget when doing business on
the Internet- and that is that we're dealing with people, not just
"Internet users."
It's so easy to get carried away by
all the bells and whistles, that we overlook the fundamental key to success -
interaction on a human level with the people we're trying to persuade to buy our
products or services. Jay Conrad Levinson's article shows you one way to do
this.
The quick tip highlights the
importance of this - there are some surprising (and perhaps, disturbing) new
statistics on web usage.
You can also post any questions
relating to writing on the new forum. Here's the perfect place to go to settle
any office arguments about whether it's 'the Jones' job' or 'the Jones's job,'
how to punctuate your letters, the correct word to use etc etc. http://www.write101.com/letters/fota.htm
You work like crazy trying to attract attention and business,
operating from a marketing calendar, committing to your strategy
and doing everything right, resulting in an influx of customers
-- but you lose them. They never come back. You did your
marketing so well and marketed so wisely that you're almost in a
state of shock at how your customers ignore you.
You treated them well while you were making your business
transactions. You gave them a fair price, knew that the quality
you put into your offering matched the quality they got out of
it. You assured them that service is your middle name. You
smiled and used their name when you said good-bye, thanking them
for the sale. And then, after all that caring attention on your
part, they completely ignored you, never set foot in your
business again.
Do you want to know why they ignored you, why it was so easy for
them to put you out of their minds?
It's because you ignored them. It's because you made the sale
and then made the grave but all-too-common error of thinking
that your marketing job was over. That was a terrible error. But
at least you've got a lot of company making the same terrible
error. Nearly 70 percent of business lost in America is lost due
to apathy after the sale. Apathy is the deadliest enemy of
marketing. A "love 'em and leave 'em" attitude is usually fatal
to profitability.
The opposite of apathy is follow-up. Guerrillas have a "love 'em
and love 'em" attitude, marketing to prospects like crazy till
the sale is made, then continuing to market like crazy to them
after the sale. Apathy never sets in. Customers never feel
ignored. Guerrillas do all in their power to intensify the
relationship with caring follow-up and loving attention. They
know that once they have established a relationship, their
product or service is no longer thought of as a commodity.
Businesses that offer commodities often lose customers due to
competitors offering lower prices. Businesses that form warm
relationships transcend being thought of as a commodity and
maintain their customer relationships with service and constant
contact.
No wonder they don't lose business so readily. People want
relationships, want the businesses they patronize to stay in
contact, want to feel cared for and not ignored. All guerrillas
know that their customer relationships are their most precious
assets. They know that if customers purchased from them one time
and had an enjoyable purchase experience, they are very likely
to buy from them again. And again and again. And to provide many
referrals over time.
To nourish these kind of lasting relationships, guerrillas send
thank-you notes after the sale -- within 48 hours. They contact
customers within a month of the sale to make certain they are
satisfied and have no questions. They get in touch with
customers once again three months after the sale, this time
suggesting new items that may tie-in with the original purchase.
And three months after that, they make another contact. This
kind of guerrilla follow-up not only prevents dreaded apathy
from setting in, but also increases business anywhere from 20%
to 300%. That's because customers, in their hearts, silently
hope for recognition, acknowledgment, information, advance
opportunities to purchase, and new calls to action.
Instead of the kind of apathy that loses customers forever,
constant attention and follow-up results in healthy back-end
sales. This means repeat sales, ancillary sales and referral
sales. And this means big profits to you -- because it costs six
times more to sell something to a new prospect than to sell that
same thing to an existing customer.
These days, all the true marketing experts ask you to calculate
the lifetime value of a customer. If you don't understand the
damaging effects of apathy after the sale, that lifetime value
is pretty small, probably a few hundred dollars, if that. If you
do all in your power to prevent apathy from ever setting it, the
lifetime value of each customer may be measured in hundreds of
thousands of dollars, maybe even more. You'll profit from the
initial sale, from the repeat sales, from the referral sales and
from the long, mutually beneficial relationship. It happens only
when you defeat the most deadly enemy of marketing. And now you
know how to do that.
======================
Jay Conrad Levinson is responsible for some of the most
effective marketing campaigns in history, and his 29 books have
been published in 39 languages. We highly recommend that you
attend his upcoming Guerrilla Marketing Boot Camp that Seth
Godin called "the most important business event of the new
millennium."
Click for details on how you can reserve your
seat:
Here's an interesting little comparison - sent in
by Val :)
Prison Versus Work
For a brief moment, let's compare prison life versus a full-time job.
In prison you spend the majority of your time in an 8' X 10' cell.
At work you spend most of your time in a 6' X 8' cubicle.
In prison you get three meals a day.
At work you only get a break for one meal and you have to pay for that one.
In prison you get time off for good behavior.
At work you get rewarded for good behavior with more work.
In prison a guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
At work you must carry around a security card and unlock and open all the doors
yourself.
In prison you can watch TV and play games.
At work you get fired for watching TV and playing games.
In prison they ball-and-chain you when you go somewhere.
At work you are just ball-and-chained.
In prison you get your own toilet.
At work you have to share.
In prison they allow your family and friends to visit.
At work you cannot even speak to your family and friends.
In prison all expenses are paid by taxpayers, with no work required.
At work you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes
from your salary to pay for the prisoners.
In prison you spend most of your life looking through bars from the inside
wanting to get out.
At work you spend most of your time wanting to get out and inside bars.
In prison you can join many programs which you can leave at any time.
At work there are some programs you can never get out of.
In prison there are wardens who are often sadistic.
At work we have managers.
Chuckle ... hmmm
Quick Tip
comScore Networks and Diameter have just released
their
Internet Traffic Report for June.
The report revealed that on a worldwide basis,
total Internet
traffic was down 1% to 296.5 million unique visitors in June
versus 299.7 million unique visitors in May. In the U.S.
traffic was down 3% to 128.4 million unique visitors in June
versus 132.0 million unique visitors in May.
netScore's Top 50 Property Report showed a slowing in total
Internet traffic on a month-to-month basis, which can be
largely attributed to the decline in traffic from the at-
school audience segment. Predictably, visitor traffic from
at-school computers, which represented almost 8% of U.S.
Internet traffic in May, began declining as summer vacations
started and decreased 40.5% in June compared to May. As a
result, 74% of web properties in the netScore Top 50 report
experienced a decrease in traffic during the month.
"netScore's June data reveals that the decrease in Internet
usage from May to June is most likely linked to the decrease
in traffic from the at-school audience segment," confirmed
netScore's Maurice Boissiere. But, he pointed out, the data
also point to the "slowing of growth in the Internet user
base. Last year, the addition of new online users more than
offset the seasonal decline in the at-school segment. That is
not the case this year. Looking to the future, this trend
suggests that, to be successful, many online marketers must
increasingly respond to the challenge of generating sales in
a medium that is no longer showing explosive growth. This
will likely increase the need for even more creative and
cost-effective ways of marketing."
