10 Things I Learned About Marketing This Week (& How You Can Use Them)

By Susan Dunn
Posted Sunday, November 28, 2004

Most businesses on the Internet fail because they don't know how to market. Here are some strategies you can apply to your business or coaching practice.

1. My grocery store now has a checkout stand immediately inside the front door and beside it is a cooler with milk, orange juice, butter, coffee, bread and the things you'd run into a convenience store for.

MARKETING TIP: Right at the top of your website have a link to your email or your ezine, and some items they can buy immediately with a PayPal link, like a lasar coaching session, or a mini-course.

2. At the grocery, I passed a display with free cooked hamburger samples. If you bought the bag of frozen hamburger patties they said they'd give you 5 items FREE. Those 5 items were right there and would compose a small meal -- diet coke, avocado slices, and (all their brand) -- a bottle of catsup, a bag of buns and a small bag of chips.

MARKETING TIP: Do this for your web visitor, i.e., Sign up for one month's coaching and I'll give you 3 items free: an emotional intelligence assessment, my eCourse on Optimism, and my eBook on Resilience. Click and pay.

3. When I tasted the sample of the hamburger, it was awful. The young woman who handed it to me saw my reaction and said, "I know, it's not good. We cooked it too long in the microwave, that's why. It got dried out."

And there she was standing in front of her microwave which was in front of a bin of hundreds of the frozen patties.

MARKETING TIP: What was she thinking?

4. Today is June 13th. I have a son who's a wonderful father. The 15th is Father's Day, but also the birthday of his daughter, so Father's Day slipped my mind.

This evening I received an email offering me last minute gifts for Father's Day.

MARKETING TIP: Anticipate your consumer's needs, meet them, and make it easy for them to spend their money with you.

5.Today I received a post card from a dentist saying "Since purchasing Dr. Feelgood's practice last year I have not had the pleasure of meeting you."

It went on to offer me an exam and 3 xrays free if I'd come on in.

MARKETING TIP: Keep after possible consumers in a tasteful way.

6.Last week my realtor came over to talk about my house which is on the market. He said, "You got new carpeting, a new roof, it's spotless, it shows well, everything's repaired, best school district, new landscaping ... What else can we do to make it sell?"

COACHING TIP: When a painful conclusion must be drawn (lower the price), set it up so the customer draws that conclusion.

7. I threw out the box my new cell phone came in and then found out I needed that bar code for the $50 rebate. I called the phone manufacturer and they said there was nothing they could do about it. No bar code, no rebate. I said "Then I don't want this phone. Where do you want me to mail it?" She said "Okay, how about if I deduct $50 off your first phone bill?"

MARKETING TIP: She was thinking right.

8.Last week I had a computer problem I needed fixed immediately and it was 10 pm. I emailed computer/web coach Nancy Fenn, and she wrote back, "Call Unbelievable Computer Guy Erol, 1-555-HELP-4U2. He'll fix it from California right away. Emergencies are what he's here for."

MARKETING & COACHING TIPS: (1) If you're a coach, give service and have resources for your clients. (2) If you offer a service be available 24/7. And, (3) Know the name of an Unbelievable Computer Guy who knows how to get inside your computer LD and fix things. They can't do it without your coding them in, and it sure beats waiting for someone to come to the house or carry the computer somewhere. (Like that's an option at 10 p.m.)

9. I visited my physician this week and we got to talking about multicultural, different practices, generations, etc. She said, "Sometimes someone comes in here and I think -- 'What is this? Is this a social call?' " She also mentioned she was going to pay a home visit to an elderly client whose sons weren't taking good enough care of her, "even though they tell me not to do anything I can't bill for." She then took some of my coaching cards and brochures for her clients who needed coaching and wellness support.

MARKETING TIPS: (1) If you really care about your clients, do what it takes. It isn't all about money. (2) Sometimes it is "just" a social call that heals, in medicine, in coaching, in life; and how deals are forged. (3) If you're a coach, contact physicians and psychiatrists and let them know what you have to offer their patients that they can't or won't.

10.I went with my 80 y.o. friend to the root canal specialist to see if her problem tooth was root canal or periodontal. She passed the root canal test. I asked the receptionist as we left, "So what if it's gum disease? What happens?" "They cure it," she said.

COACHING TIP: That's what they call "anodyne (serving to assuage pain; not likely to offend or arouse tensions) therapy." When we go to the periodontist, I betcha my friend's tooth will be okay because she now "knows" they can heal it. Remember the healing power of positive thinking!

About the Author
Susan Dunn, The EQ Coach, GLOBAL EQ. Emotional intelligence coaching to enhance all areas of your life - career, relationships, midlife transition, resilience, self-esteem, parenting. EQ Alive! - excellent, accelerated, affordable EQ coach certification. Susan is the author of numerous ebooks, is widely published on the Internet, and a regular speaker for cruise lines. For marketing services go here.