How To Win The Marketing War, Capture Your Prospect's Mind And Make More Sales
By Charles Kangethe
Posted Monday, August 23, 2004
As a marketer you are engaged in a "War" with competitors where the ultimate prize is capturing the mind of prospects and claiming their purchase dollars.
What you are about to read shows you how to create a powerful, automatic weapon for that war that generates relentless, repeating sales.
Step #1 - Get Into Your Prospects Mind.
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Many new netpreneurs forget, or fail to understand, that prospects are individuals.
You must get into your prospect's mind and appeal to them, and them alone, before they will buy from you.
-- Sidebar
With some exceptions, buying decisions are made on the basis of emotional and intellectual reasoning in that order.
--
Winning marketers, are those who successfully appeal to the buying instincts of individual prospects.
As a direct marketer your task is to learn how to capture your prospects' minds, one individual at a time.
Step #2 - Psychological and Emotional Action Triggers
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The holy grail of marketing is unearthing the action triggers that make your prospects take your "Most Desired Action" (MDA).
When you understand the ELBOW trigger groups you will powerfully influence your prospects towards your MDA.
* E - Effort
People are always seeking options that allow them to live life and work with the least amount of effort. Anything that promises a reduction in effort is a powerful call to
action.
* L - Loss
This group covers the most powerful triggers.
For instance fear of loss of :
Health, reputation, material possessions, or justice.
* B - Benefits
Triggers in this group promise non-material benefits or "gains" that originate from actions taken by the prospect.
For instance motivation to greater action often comes from a winning streak at sport or business.
* O - Outer Triggers
This group relates to triggers that promise non-material benefits and gains, for actions the prospect has no control over.
For instance :
- A promise of recognition as an authority by peer groups is a powerful incentive for many people.
- Social acceptance is another powerful motivator. It drives people to make purchases of products and services that will help them improve their social standing.
* W - Wealth
Into this group fall all triggers that promise material gains.
The promise of "Gold in them thar hills", profitable business and income building opportunities are all powerful incentives to action.
Step #3 - Profile Your Prospect In Detail
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As a good copywriter and "Marketing Warrior" you must learn to achieve an intimate level of involvement with your prospects.
You need to understand your prospect's background, her history, education, career, hopes and fears. Use research, your imagination and experiences to build a detailed
picture about her.
As you profile your prospect, have in mind a single individual - do not fall into the trap of trying to profile a group.
--Sidebar
Some marketers prefer to use market research exclusively for this step. This is a valid, but more expensive option to build your prospect's profile.
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Step #4 - List Product Benefits and Features
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Next, list out all your product and service benefits and features.
A feature is "an attribute or quality" of the product. For instance colour, sharpness, or construction material and method.
A benefit is "a service or function" the product delivers to the user. For instance speeding up a process, or making an activity, task or job easier.
--Sidebar
Remember : People do not necessarily buy features. They always buy benefits.
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Step #5 - Headlines
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Now you have all the pieces of your jigsaw start to build your "Mind Capture Weapon".
Headlines can be formatted as :
* Commands - "Dare To Write Good Headlines"
* Questions - "Do you want to write good headlines ?"
* Announcements - "New product writes your headlines"
* Coaching - "How to write good headlines in 7 easy steps"
Write as many headlines as you can, some marketers write 50 or more, and format them in the different ways.
Now let them to "stew" for a 2 or 3 days before reviewing and choosing the best ones.
For software to help you write compelling headlines see relevant resources below.
Step# 6- Write The Copy - Like A Master Storyteller.
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"Using the action triggers that deliver your MDA, weave a personal story for your prospect around your product and it's benefits to them."
Your copy must be persuasive, emotional, and truthful.
Without exception, people love stories.
Use your
* Action trigger list,
* Prospect profile
* Product benefits
to weave a story that captures your prospects mind.
This is the goal you started out to achieve and a story incorporating these features is how you do it.
Story telling is one of many mind motivators that capture your prospect's mind and attention.
A new product about to be released will show you many other magical mind motivators that you must learn to use to capture your prospects mind.
Step #7 - Ask For "Most Desired Action"
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Your "Most Desired Action" may be :
* Getting the prospect to subscribe to a product.
* Getting the sale.
* Getting feedback and comments.
* Getting contributions, donations or other help.
Whatever it is, you must ask for it in clear explicit terms.
Relevant Resources
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* "Win The war Of Internet Marketing" - e-Book, available at (http://www.simplyeasier.com) under "Digital Info Products"
* "Headline Creator Pro" - available from (http://www.headlines-creator-pro.com)
* "7 steps to writing articles people just have to read." article at (http://www.simplyeasier.com/ownarticles.html)
* Mind Motivators product - Available Mid March 2004 from (http://www.simplyeasier.com)
Conclusion
Use the tactics described here to write copy. Then test each detail from action triggers, benefits, headlines, prospect profile, and offer until you have a mind capturing
weapon in your arsenal. Use this in the "Marketing War" and you will have a weapon that sells relentlessly and repeatedly for you.
About the Author
Charles Kangethe of (http://www.simplyeasier.com) is a leading new wave marketer and a published author from England. The "Simply Easier" brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.
