Marketing Conversion Strategy Series: A Common Sense Approach to Turning Prospects into Paying Customers

By Dean Mercado

"I have learned to imagine an invisible sign around each person's neck that says, 'Make me feel important!'" -- Mary Kay Ash (1918-2001) American businessperson, founder of Mary Kay Inc.

It’s one thing to attract an abundance of leads or prospects to your business, it’s quite another to be able to convert those prospects into paying customers. It takes some trial and error… it takes patience… it takes persistence… it takes practice… lots of it to really get good at it.

Fortunately for us, many of the core skills required for successful conversions can be classified as what some may deem as common sense. One such core skill is nurturing. Nurture your vegetable garden and it will grow. Nurture your children and they will flourish. Nurture your target market and they will buy. Your ability to nurture effectively starts with your clarity in understanding exactly what it is your target market both wants and needs to not only survive but thrive. One such want that we’ll discuss in this conversation is to feel important… to feel needed… to feel wanted… to feel special… to feel that they matter.

So let me ask you a point blank question. Does your marketing make your target market feel important? Try asking some of your existing customers whether or not your marketing had this effect on them. You just may be surprised with what you hear.

So how exactly do you go about making your target market feel important? Well here are three steps to doing just that:

First… in order to do this, you must clearly understand who you target market really is. Who are you really serving? Continue to drill down on the specifics of who your target market really is until you get a very clear picture in your head of someone who best represents the perfect customer… your perfect customer. This is who you target.

Second… you must know a bit about what makes them tick… study them… get to know them… hang around them… what’s important to them? What are their emotional triggers that you can pull to get them to buy? This will give you the ammunition you need to be able to connect with your target market on a deeper more genuine level.

Third… consistently communicate your clear understanding of what’s important to them in your marketing messages; Showing them that you’ve taken the time to really understand what’s important to them will go a long way. In their eyes, this puts you in a different class than much of the competition vying for their attention. And it’s that respect that will make them pay attention to YOU.

So in closing, understand your target market and pay them proper attention and they will respond. Don’t be afraid to show signs of kindness, compassion, and empathy as they will help fill that void in your target market to feel important. You know why? You know why you should do this? Because they deserve it! Don’t we all? We all deserve to feel important because we are! Practice that and I guarantee you will see results!

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then check out Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' at http://www.MotivationalMarketer.com. Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute', -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Marketing

Hear ye hear ye… The recession is coming, the recession is coming. Well let me ask you, is a recession coming? Is a recession really coming? How do you know? I tell you what, if you believe it’s coming for you, you’re right, it is coming for you. Alternatively, if you believe it’s not coming for you, you’re right again, it’s not. How could that be? Well I firmly believe that your beliefs, one way or the other, act as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your beliefs will guide your thoughts; which in turn will dictate your actions; which ultimately will shape your reality.

Now as a marketing guy I love the media however I have to caution you, be wary of them perpetuating your fears with the belief in a recession because where attention goes, energy flows. The more people that listen and buy into this fear, the more likely it is to become reality – at least for some. And for the media, doom and gloom gets ratings and sells papers so why wouldn’t they perpetuate it.

Now I’m not saying be uniformed or ignorant, or that the media is evil or something. Just be careful what you feed your mind. Keep looking for a recession, and you’ll find it.

In my opinion there is a right way and a wrong way to circumvent or if needed, navigate through a possible recession.

First, the wrong way... The word starts spreading of a recession looming in the near future. Panic starts to spread like wildfire with the majority of small businesses tightening their belts in anticipation of the tough times to come – for the most part, they will unjustifiably go from business building mode to survival mode. And one of the first things they’ll do is cut spending. Now unfortunately for most small businesses the first line item they seem to cut is the one that provides their sustenance and momentum – the marketing. As a result, the pipeline of prospects quickly starts to dry up and their fear of a recession becomes a reality – for them at least anyway.

Now the right way… The word starts spreading of a recession looming in the near future. Panic starts to spread like wildfire with the majority of your competition cutting their marketing efforts to try and save money. In turn realizing it or not, they’ve just cleared a path for you. They’ve uncluttered the airwaves making it easier for you to stand out from the pack and get noticed by, you guessed it… your target market. So while your competition’s sales pipeline quickly dries up, yours explodes with an abundance of new prospects. Hey, your target market will listen to whoever is doing the talking. And if you’re not doing the talking, someone else will… and that someone will most likely be one of your competitors.

So in closing, trust that opportunity and abundance surrounds all of us all of the time… even amidst the possibility of a looming recession. Let your competition bow to fear. Be bold… be unstoppable… don’t let anyone or anything other than you dictate your reality.

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then check out Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' at http://www.MotivationalMarketer.com. Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute', -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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