Graham McGregor is a marketing adviser. You can get his free marketing guide ‘The Plan B Sales Solution’ at simplemarketinganswers.com.
OPINION: I’m a big fan of keeping things simple in all areas of my life.
So here are two simple McGregor Marketing rules that you should find useful: Get noticed and get remembered.
Let’s take a quick look at each rule.
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Get noticed
This rule just means you do things regularly to get your business noticed.
Most of us in business have a lot of competitors offering similar products or services. So, we want to stand out and get noticed.
Here is one thing you might like to try.
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Graham McGregor says one should do things regularly in business to make it positively memorable.
Have an unusual title. A PR consultant I interviewed many years ago called himself a “mediaologist” as he was an expert at helping clients get positive publicity in the media.
And I still remember this title years later.
My good friend Tom Poland calls himself Chief Leadsologist as he helps thousands of businesses to generate qualified leads to talk with.
A client in the United States told me she saw a truck that had the title “Equine Podiatrist” on the back. That was a very interesting business title that caught her eye.
Dean Salakas is the owner of The Party People in Australia. The Party People are the largest Party Supply store in the country and Dean calls himself “Chief Party Dude”.
A while ago I asked him to comment on his unusual title and here’s what he told me:
“The nickname ‘Chief Party Dude’ was an idea I just came up with one day early on as a CEO. I wanted to have a fun title. It wasn’t originally meant to be anything other than a bit of fun. Then my graphic designer did a caricature of my as an Indian chief for my signature, and then it just stuck.
“As our business grew I started to work on my personal branding and so the name ‘Chief Party Dude’ became something I ran with. Its very media friendly and fits my brand and the company brand well so adds value and gives me a unique identity. I appeared on Channel 10’s Shark Tank and used it in my introduction and since then, I am now widely recognised as the ‘Chief Party Dude’.
“Certainly being catchy is important, but the key is to do things that align with your brand and who you are. I go to dress up parties and dress up, I have fun, I hit the dance floor when the music plays and I do all the things people would expect from someone called ‘Chief Party Dude’. So essentially I just be myself and people can relate to that because it’s genuine. So in short, don’t hold back with things like your job title, have some fun, be who you want to be and love your work.”
Get remembered
This rule means you do things regularly in your business to get it positively remembered by people who already know your business (like happy clients and key referral sources).
A key concept to keep in mind to get your business remembered is AVSIT Marketing.
AVSIT (Add Value Stay in Touch) Marketing means you stay in touch with three groups of people on a regular basis.
Group one is your past and present clients and customers. Group two is potential clients who have made contact with your business but have not yet spent money. Group three is key “centres of influence” who can potentially refer large numbers of new people to your business on a regular basis.
AVSIT Marketing is very simple to use and works like magic to get your business remembered. And it creates delighted raving fans and a huge amount of easy repeat and referral sales.
Here’s a good example. I interviewed a top-selling real estate sales professional called Tim a while ago, and he told me that 66% of his business each month comes directly from referrals.
He gets all these referrals by using a super simple (yet amazingly effective) AVSIT Marketing programme.
He has a small database of only 250 people. And each month he sends these people a one-page snail mail letter and a four-paragraph email. (He also phones each person and speaks to them briefly three times a year.)
In his one-page letter, he says hello and mentions a local business that he has used recently and can highly recommend. It might be a great café, excellent tradesperson, helpful professional person etc. He gives the full contact details of this business and explains exactly why this business is so good.
He then sends a short email the following week that is the key to his AVSIT Marketing programme. The email says something like this:
“Hi John, just wanted to let you know that the XYZ business I mentioned last week in my letter has now been popular with some of my clients. A number of them have tried it out and really like it. I also want to take a moment to personally thank Fred Smith, Jane Evans, George White, Mary Brown and Elizabeth Green for giving me referrals over the last month. I really appreciate their thoughtfulness. Have a great month and if you have any friends or colleagues who are interested in buying or selling a home I’d love to be of service. Kind regards. Tim.”
And every month he does the same thing.
He mentions a business he can recommend in a short snail mail letter. And he mentions the same business and thanks everyone who gave him a referral in a short email.
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He does this month in and month out and gets 66% of his business every month as referral or repeat business.
You’ll notice he uses both email and good old-fashioned snail mail as part of his AVSIT Marketing programme.
And I recommend that you use a variety of different ways to communicate with the three groups of people that I recommend you use AVSIT Marketing with. AVSIT Marketing takes three to six months to start working consistently, so it is not a quick sales fix.
However once it is set up and working well you start making some very easy repeat and referral sales.
Action Exercise:
What interesting title could you give yourself in your business to get noticed?
How could you use AVSIT Marketing in your business to get it remembered?
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