Guest post by Alexis Bonari

The Fed says we’re in recovery, but there’s no doubt in my mind that there continues to be a great amount of uncertainty about the economy. Looking at various economic indicators like gold futures, gun sales, and home security systems definitely supports this theory. People feel threatened and insecure, and that fear shows up in their spending habits. These are serious considerations marketers need to take into account in order to prosper under these dire circumstances.

We’ve all seen advertising campaigns based in fear, and as much as we may dislike these techniques, they do tend to work. Given the length of time that our current economic troubles have been going on, an increase in consumer awareness, target demographics, and media fatigue this base strategy will not be profitable for every market. A good marketer knows how to make the best of every situation, and what follows is some advice for how to successfully approach these stagnant markets. Continue reading

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I am not a big fan of the act of selling, simply because I am not really sure I actually can be good at it. I can promote a product, a service, put it in the best light and show its benefits to potential buyers, but somehow I see that as pre-sales at best. I am a PR professional and for the longest time I thought having my work being measured in sales was crazy. First of all, there was no easily traceable direct link between my work and sales. And if I said what I did led to sales, the sales people might jump in and say I was wrong, it was their achievement.  I later realized my work actually did help boost sales, although not always directly.

I have seen a lot of conversations between PR pros about measurement. And there are tons of approaches to be taken. But in the eye of the client, it all comes down to sales. You can use whatever measurement you want, if they don’t feel you’re helping their sales, they will look for someone else. Fair? Debatable. True? You bet! Should it scare us? Not really! Continue reading

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When trying to sell a product or service, the hardest part is to convince your potential customers they need it, want it or can actually use it to make their life better. A lot of effort goes into marketing and PR, engaging people, outlining the benefits, making sure what you’re selling pops up exactly when and where they would be happy to see it.

Let’s say this part of the process went really great and the customer is convinced. They would then go to your website, fill out the order form… and you might think there is no way in hell to lose that paying customer right now! Continue reading

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What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

Last week was yet another proof that there are so many wonderful articles being published out there, it’s almost impossible to keep up with all of them. Here’s a quick selection of part of the most interesting ones I ran across last week.

One great business post was published by Jonathan Fields, teaching us a very important lesson – How to Box and Sell Air.

From the never boring and always extremely funny Naomi Dunford, comes a great piece on email marketing – 7 Ways to Make Damn Sure Your Email gets Read.

Maribeth Kuzmeski found a great way to outrun your competitors and published it on WomenonBusiness.com: Killing Your Competition with (Client) Kindness.

Next, let me introduce you to two 5-ers: 5 Ways Your Blog is Undermining Your Business from ProBlogger and 5 Reasons You Absolutely MUST Share Your Vision Early and Often by Liz Strauss.

Following item on our list – a much retweeted and very helpful piece on Social Media Examiner – How to Grow a Following with Other People’s Popular Content.

For those who love some relevant numbers in the HR field and also for all the social media enthusiast, I recommend reading Social Media Recruiting, By the Numbers.

Closing today’s list, a question from ReadWriteWeb that a lot of busineses need to asnwer – Should Your Startup Stay Stealth?

That’s all for today, see you next Monday! Until then, please share the interesting articles you ran across in the comment section!

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When answering a customer support enquiry, when replying a reporter’s email or a fan’s request, when simply sending out a sales offer, anticipating the next move you need to make to help the customer is the secret to your impressive success.  You need to be able to predict what their next question will be and reply to it before they actually ask it.

Let’s consider a few examples to better support my statement: anticipating questions is a PR superpower and by extension a business superpower. Continue reading

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