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How To Sell More Services and Products in 3 Steps

March 11, 2015 By admin Leave a Comment

Sell More In 3 Steps

Recently, I was at a seminar, hanging out near the merchandise table. The seminar coordinator, a little nervous about the lack of product sales, remarked that she wished one of the authors of an in-depth how-to DVD learning product was there to talk about the product. It was already the middle of the week and sales for that series was very weak at this seminar.

I suggested that she play a video on a loop near the product, allowing the attendees to see the author and learn more about the product. She took my suggestion one step further and displayed two videos at different times throughout the seminar, establishing a connection between the audience, the author and the product.

What happened? (Glad you asked…)

Sales of that particular DVD product more than tripled, almost selling out completely. Problem solved…and a huge smile on a very happy coordinator’s face.

How did the two simple video showings compel people to buy? By using a tried and true three-step process:

  1. Establish authority
  2. Demonstrate the product
  3. Use testimonials

Step One:  Establish authority

Using authority as a tool to sell products and services has been around for decades. You have witnessed it in TV and magazine ads:  Michael Jordan selling Nike shoes, Emma Stone selling Revlon products and Barack Obama pushing affordable healthcare.

Lately, though, the whole online marketing world is abuzz with the need to establish authority. And well they should be. With all of the noise and clutter presently on the internet, it is the sites with authority which are garnering all the business. Even Google’s latest releases of it’s algorithms are all geared towards the authority of a website and its content leading towards its ranking on search engine pages.

In my opening example, the author of the DVD learning product is a Roman Catholic priest. His DVD topic? A guide to deepening your prayer life.

By simply presenting two videos that established who the author was, why the DVD was created, users’ testimonials, and the author’s vast experience in matters of prayer, the DVD packages started selling like hotcakes.

This process can work for your marketing efforts, too, whether online or in print. Establishing authority usually includes the following components:

  • Being customer focused – present solutions which are credible and effective
  • Attracting referrals from peers within your community
  • Word of mouth or online social sharing from your customers
  • Use of a structured, confidence-inspiring and ethical sales process

Promoting authority components throughout your website, brochures and other marketing collateral can give your customer the confidence they need to buy your products or services. Authority, though, is not the only step in the process to sell more goods and services.

Step Two:  Demonstrate the Product

A key element in the stellar sales of the DVD product above was an onscreen demonstration of what the customer would receive in the package and an explanation of the benefits to the customer.

A good product demonstration provides visual support and stimulates interest in the product. Some prospects who are more visual learners or hands-on learners will need to see your product or service in action to grasp its full value and potential. Using video or embedded slide presentations on your website will help deepen their interest and lead towards more sales.

Marketing assets like videos, brochures, pictures and the product itself will help to close the sale by providing tangible evidence to support what you are saying to customers when you are trying to sell them on your product or service. Showing what your product or service can do or even letting the customer experience it  will provide the necessary proof they might need to overcome any built-in distrust they may have.

Finally, a demonstration helps you combat product-related concerns by the buyer. If the buyer questions key claims about your product or service, a demonstration can ease their concerns.

In the example of the DVD learning product, many copies were just lying on the table, not generating any interest on their own through packaging or content written on the packaging. But when the video played and the product was demonstrated, then the resources table started raking in the sales.

But demonstration on its own was not enough to sell this type of product. There was one more step needed to get buyers to part with their cash.

Step Three: Use Testimonials

Trying to get conference participants to part with $99 for a DVD program based on the author’s authority and a video presentation was not strong enough to generate sales. What sealed the deal were testimonials from current consumers of the program.

A testimonial is your social credibility. It’s the green flag that waves to your potential buyer telling them that your product or service will work for them just like it has worked for others.

Today’s consumers are used to researching products and services before they buy. The number one thing your potential buyer is looking for is how existing users of your offerings are rating your products or services. Plus, no matter what you are promising a potential buyer, they will believe what others have to say far more than you, especially if you have not established high authority in your market.

A good testimonial from a current customer who has taken the time to convey how your service or product is benefiting them is like liquid gold. Several such testimonials in your demonstrations or on your website will be the wind that pushes your potential buyer to purchase.

It certainly was so for the DVD learning product on prayer. The demonstration was filled with on-camera testimonials of users who had benefited greatly from using that system to deepen their prayer life. Once the video was finished, buyers flocked to the table and the DVDs sold out within hours.

Use Authority, Demonstration and Testimonials to Sell More

Begin today by looking at these three components of your marketing strategy and identify where you can strengthen each.

  • If you are lacking in authority, seek out some referrals from peers or ask to guest blog on their websites.
  • If you are fielding a lot of questions about your products or services, consider improving your demonstration through videos or slideshows.
  • If your customers are leaving your site or store before making the purchase, consider boosting their confidence by providing more testimonials.

A few well-thought out tweaks to your marketing may be all you need to take you from mediocre sales to booming sales this year. Just get started.

Filed Under: Sales, Small Business Marketing, Zappy Tips Tagged With: authority, marketing, online marketing, sales, testimonials

Have You Heard? Traditional Advertising is Dead!

May 2, 2012 By Sven Markert Leave a Comment

Recently, Robert Bruce of Copyblogger wrote an interesting post about the demise of traditional advertising.  He proffered that the days of throwing money at ad agencies to make brand placements on national television are over.  I could not agree more.

Today’s new dawn of advertising takes place in the social media sphere and on your very own website.  You must educate your customers, inform them, and give them something they can sink their teeth into regarding your product or service.

Advertising in today’s economy takes place in:

  • inbound marketing using well-written copy for your website, direct mail and blog posts
  • informative e-books conveying your expertise to the masses
  • word-of-mouth advertising created through stellar customer service
  • guest appearances on video casts, podcasts, webinars and blog posts to share your knowledge with a new audience

Don’t believe me?  Read Marcus Sheridan’s story about taking an ailing pool company (yes, a pool company) from tanking to over $2 million dollars in sales through a blog on his company website!

As Robert Bruce wrote:

If you had enough money, the good old days of brand advertising were truly good, like shooting fish in a barrel. Those days (and that world) are long gone, but the opportunities of the world we now live in dwarf the past.

Today, with a little ingenuity and a lot of sweat equity, you can make a big, positive impact in your bottom line by stepping outside of the norm in your industry and positioning yourself as a knowledge leader through your own in-house advertising.

Traditional advertising is truly dead.  So, how are you going to promote your organization today?

Filed Under: Inbound Marketing, Zappy Tips Tagged With: advertising, blog, blogging, brand, copywriting, customer service, e-book, inbound marketing, social media

5 Things You Can Do To Build Website Traffic Fast

April 10, 2012 By Sven Markert Leave a Comment

Web Traffic Increases Using SEO

Online, one of the most significant keys to success is getting website traffic. The more visitors you have, the better your sales and profits. Presumably you have a niche and you know your keywords, and regularly conduct keyword research to stay on top of what’s popular. Based on those assumptions here are five quick and easy tips to get website traffic fast!

Tip #1: Make sure you’re actually tagging your keywords

Do you spend a lot of time optimizing your content and then neglect to tag them on your webpage? Tags are where search engines look and if there are no tags they’ll pass right by your web pages. Here’s a quick brief on tags.

There are a number of tag types, including:

* Title tags. Title tags are quite possibly the most important place to situate your keywords. Here’s what they look like – <title>Primary keyword phrase here. </title>

Your title tag is where you place your primary keyword or keyword phrase. The sentence will describe your business in less than 90 characters.

* Header Tags. Header tags are next in order of importance to search engines. They’re ranked in order of importance and look like this – <h1>Primary and/or Secondary keywords here</h1>

The “1” designates this header as the most important header on the page.

* Meta Tags. Meta tags provide the small descriptive text found underneath the title tag on the search engine results page. Like title tags these should be kept brief, informative and up to date.

* Alt Tags. Alt tags are used to provide a text description of a graphic. Each graphic on your site should have a description and an alt tag.

Tip #2: Add content to your site daily

Content is essential for traffic and a top search engine ranking. Content is what search engine spiders look for and index – without it there’s nothing to index or rank. Give visitors and search engines a reason to visit and index your site. Make a commitment to provide daily, optimized content and your traffic will soar.

Tip #3: Procure valuable and relevant incoming links

The more websites which link to your webpages the more valuable search engines perceive you to be, though not all links are created equal. Search engines give more leverage to links from sites which are popular and credible and from sites which are relevant to your website topic.

There are different types of links.

– A direct link looks like a basic website address, for example, www.yourwebsite.com

– A text link occurs when the webpage address is embedded in the text. Readers simply click on the link and are redirected to a new website page.

– If the link is to an internal web page, for example an article published on a website, rather than the home page, it is called a “deep link.”
You can encourage linking to your website by:

* Adding content to your site.
* Submitting to article directories.
* Publishing press releases.
* Blogging and participating in social networking forums, chat rooms and social networking sites.

Tip #4: Be Social!

Now more than ever before, internet marketing is about building a community. Whether you offer a forum on your website or you participate in social networking sites, social networking is a valuable traffic generating tactic. Sites like Facebook and Twitter can be powerful tools for generating links and traffic to your site – create a profile and then post comments, links to your site and ideas which generate conversation.

Get involved – many chat rooms and forums are industry specific, find those which cater to your industry, and begin participating. Speak to and connect with a highly targeted audience.

Tip #5: Advertise for more exposure and traffic

Advertising, when handled strategically, can be used to promote your content and products or services. PPC advertising is often the tool of choice because you control the advertising budget on a daily basis and have the tools to test and track your advertising efforts. Once you’ve honed your PPC ads the return on investment can be phenomenal in terms of traffic and purchases.

For maximum results, create a traffic and SEO strategy. Outline your plan and your goals and then take the necessary action. Take advantage of these five traffic and search engine tips to boost your business.

Filed Under: Online Presence, Zappy Tips Tagged With: advertise, content, keywords, links, online presence, optimization, seo, social, social media, tags, traffic, website

5 Things You Can Do To Enhance Your Online Presence

November 22, 2011 By Sven Markert Leave a Comment

Being found on the web is a numbers game.  The more places you show up, the more likely you are to be found.  Here are five things you can do right now to ensure that your online presence remains fresh and relevant, and easily located:

1. Update your website

Update your website with fresh images and content. Visitors to your site want to be engaged with new information and experiences. A static, non-changing website means certain death to your traffic flow.

Do not have a website? Get one. If you have a business, sign up for a domain and put up a site (even if it is a “canned” package site – some presence is better than none at all).  If you do not have a business, put up a personal site with a <your name>.me domain.  About.me is a great place to put up a free one-page site about yourself.

2. Create a Facebook Fan Page

Facebook currently has over 800 million users, with the average user being connected to over 80 community pages, groups and events.  This is a huge market for anyone who has a product or service to sell, a story to tell, or a call to evangelize.

The best way to showcase your product, service or cause is to create a Facebook Fan Page.  A fan page allows you to get your message out to the millions who use Facebook daily and encourage them to “like” your page so that the message spreads to their base of friends.  The basic fan page is free with hundreds of options to enhance your page by using third-party software.

3. Create a Google+ Page

Google Plus is a relatively new player in the social network services game.  However, in its short existence, Google Plus has already amassed 44+ million users.  The Google Plus claim-to-fame is its ability to allow you to divide your community of friends or contacts into “circles”, so that you can target specific messages and content to certain groups of people (e.g. friends, business contacts, association members, sports clubs, etc.).

By placing your business, organization, or your personal profile on Google Plus, you increase your likelihood of connecting with others by moving up in the Google search rankings, giving you another platform on which to be found on the web.  Best of all, like Facebook, Google Plus is free to use.

4. Create or enhance your LinkedIn Profile

A LinkedIn profile is an absolute must-have if you are a business professional or team member of any organization.  With over 100 million users on LinkedIn, you are bound to network with other professionals who share your interests.  Plus, LinkedIn allows clients or colleagues to write and post referrals on your work, giving you instant credibility for other members who might have an interest in working with you.

Since LinkedIn is a professional networking site, you have the opportunity to list all of your accomplishments at work, in civic organizations, and from school.  LinkedIn is an online resume of sorts.  Google does rank your profile and you will turn up in search results.  By adding certain keywords and location words, you can increase your visibility on Google.

5. Join professional or association sites

Professional and association sites are a great way to enhance your online presence.  Many of these sites allow you to post a profile about yourself or your business and allow others to rate your work and your expertise.

Look for professional sites with your industry.  For example:  if you are a lawyer, you might consider joining LawLink or Legal Onramp;  if you are a doctor, consider joining AVVO;  if you are a real estate agent, consider joining ActiveRain.  All of these sites are geared towards showcasing your expertise and increasing your search rankings.

Where to start?

Choose one of the above action items and get busy creating your page or profile.  Remember, being found online is a numbers game, both in quantity of locations and quality of content.  By updating your website, coupled with joining social networking sites and professional or association sites, you will enhance your online presence.

Filed Under: Online Presence, Zappy Tips Tagged With: associations, facebook, google, google plus, LinkedIn, networking, online presence, professional, website

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