Politicians are like car sales people...(c) By Phil Basten and Jane Mark JPE Advertising____________________

By: Jane Mark and Phil Basten - [marketing]
Politicians are like car sales people...

(c) By Phil Basten and Jane Mark-
JPE Advertising

Well, another election has come and gone
in the US and no matter which way you
voted there are some important marketing
lessons to learn.

First, you need to put aside the campaign
rhetoric and focus on the strategy and
tactics and there are a number of clear
winners for both sides.

The Dems and the GOP

On the Republican side. The tactic to
put the question of Gay Marriage as a
referendum in 11 battleground states
was a master stroke. Get people to
vote on the small issue and they will
follow suit on the larger issues.

It's like selling real estate. Top real
estate sales people don't sell houses.
They sell a room and the rest of the
house goes with it. They look for potential
client reactions to a room they see and
zoom in on that. If they sell that room
to the prospect, then question of getting
them to sign a contract on the house
becomes as simple as, Your pen or mine?

How can we apply this to selling a
product or service on the internet?

Look for the most important benefit
you offer and build your heading and
sales letter around that. Sure there
maybe other benefits and you need
to highlight those further down
the page, via bullets, but focus
your sales message on the primary
unique selling point.

As a famous direct Marketer, Seth Godin,
once said, One monkey, One banana.
Most people have the attention span
of an African gnat. Try to get them
to focus on more than one thing at a
time and you will lose them and the sale.

On the Democrat side, the decision to
make the war on a Iraq a central issue
was an equally powerful strategy which
may explain why 55 million people voted
for the Democrats.

It was thought by the pundits that this
was playing to the Republican's strength,
but this was true only as long as they
could make it central to the war on terror.

The moment the Democrats were able to
separate the two and make it a referendum
on Iraq alone, it became a winner for them,
especially in light of the 911 Commission
report, which showed clearly, no wmd and
no direct ties to Al Queda.

What can we learn from this?

Know your competition, know their strengths
and weakness and clearly explain how their
weakness are your strengths.

The way you do this is to create a powerful
USP (unique selling point). Something about
your product or service, or what you do
that makes you stand out in the crowd.
Something that sets you apart from your
competition. Something you do much better
than them.

Focus on this single issue and drive it
home repeatedly to your website visitors,
ezine readers and existing customers.

The other lesson to be learned here.
Don't believe everything you read,
hear and see. Both elections and the
internet are full of people's opinions.
Do your homework, look at both sides
and above all use your mind and think.

Try to analyze your ideal customer.
Picture in your mind who they are,
what they are like, what their financial
status is, have they bought similar
products before. If you don't know
who your target market is, how can
you target them?

In the late 1990's the principle of
the Harvard Business College outlined
his belief as to the reason business exists.

The purpose of business is to:
KEEP and GROW customers.

We looked at this and thought this
definition was too narrow. We felt that
in order to keep and grow customers,
you first had to find them so we added
the word find to the above formula....

The purpose of business is to:
FIND, KEEP and GROW customers.

But this still wasn't enough because
what if the customer was wrong for
your business, that is, they couldn't
afford your services or product?

So we added, the right kind of customers,
and we ended up with a new formula to
work with.

The purpose of business is to:
FIND, KEEP and GROW the RIGHT KIND of customers,
everything else is rubbish.

If you market or sell anything on the
internet, either as a business owner
or a reseller, you are in business for
yourself and you MUST think of it as
a business. Do your homework and your
research. It pays off in ways you only
dream of right now.

************************************************

For further information mailto: jpethanks@jpeads.com
Subscribe to the WebPro Times http://webprotimes.com
Where Professional marketers meet weekly.

Phil Basten and Jane Mark run a well known online
ad agency http://jpeadvertising.com - They have
been helping people succeed on the net for more than
8 years.

****************************************************

For further information mailto: jpethanks@jpeads.com
Subscribe to the WebPro Times http://webprotimes.com
Where Professional marketers meet weekly.

Phil Basten and Jane Mark run a well known online
ad agency http://jpeadvertising.com - They have
been helping people succeed on the net for more than
8 years.

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