Author Archives: JDostal

Lead with “why?”

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November 20  |  News  |   JDostal

A consistent mistake I see being made by business owners as they attempt to attract customers is they lead with “what” and not “why”. Listen to your local radio. Watch your local TV. Read your local newspaper. You will see business after business sharing what you what they do. A florist telling you they have flowers. An HVAC company telling you they can check your furnace. An attorney telling you they can represent you in court. What you most likely won’t see….”why them”.

My industry attempts to make “creative” the focus when your story is the real focus. Can you explain to my why I should give you my money instead of giving it to your competition? If you can, tell that to me, point by point, in your marketing. If you can’t, you need to step by and perhaps get some outside assistance to uncover what you do that others don’t. You need to uncover why you versus anyone else.

Don’t tell me you have a gym with lot’s of classes. Tell me why I should come to your gym and take your classes.

Don’t tell me you clean teeth. Tell me why I should have you clean my teeth as opposed to anyone else.

Don’t tell me you fix cars. Tell me why I should have you fix my car instead of anyone else.

Effective advertising is not difficult…if you will take a few minutes and determine and then share…..why you!

Remember vs Recall??

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October 21  |  News, Uncategorized  |   JDostal

I had an awesome Criminal Justice professor in college. He never expected any of us to “memorize” but expected us to know where to find the information. All tests were open book and open note. He said in the real world it was not about what you could recall off the top of your head but what you could access when prompted for a response. I liked that professor and that class.

If you are a small business owner working to attract customers or a media sales professional assisting a small business owner it’s important to know that the human mind can only keep track of a few things at a time. Here is a great article to read (http://www.livescience.com/2493-mind-limit-4.html).

The problem we see with most advertising is the perceived desire by the business owner or the sales professional to get as much content as possible into each message. As consumers, we will not be able to follow. We will not be able to keep track of all that detail. Your message will fail to impact us!

Think simple. Think one concept at a time. It allows the consumer to get a clear picture of who you are and how you can help them. It allows the consumer to have easier “recall” when they have a need for your product or service.

I’ll give you an example. We were working with a carpet cleaning/water damage restoration business. At the end of each radio commercial he would say, “and we’re available 24/7”. I asked the obvious question….why?

His response became one of his most influential messages he still shares today. He said, “Jeff, you need to understand that in our part of the country the winters get awful cold. We also have a lot of homes with exposed pipes. If your pipe bursts at 11 o’clock at night, you can’t afford to wait until 8am to call someone and hope they can get to you later that day. You need to talk to someone at 11 o’clock at night. That’s why I have my cell phone with me on my night stand and with me all day long. That’s why we are available 24/7.”

Simple, to the point. One specific aspect of his business that he was rushing over and not helping the consumer understand “why”. Pick apart your story. The more specific the message, the more likely I will be able to remember and recall it!

We find that many businesses have trouble “uncovering” the specifics of their story. It’s what we are experts at. If you’d like to learn more how we can help you with your story, just email me at jeff@marketingfirepower.info, visit our website at www.marketingfirepower.info or give me a call at 402-817-4864.

Consistency is Key!

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October 7  |  News  |   JDostal

 

Priceline and Consistency

Jeff Dostal

Priceline and Consistency

For two weeks I’ve been thinking about a short weekend trip with my youngest son. I’m very last minute when it comes to planning get aways. I need to get a hotel room. I started thinking about it last week. I knew there was a company that used to advertise all the time but I have not seem them lately. The company had the Star Trek guy and the gal from Big Bang Theory. The name of the company was not coming to mind.

I thought surely I’d see or hear their ad soon. Never did. Kept thinking. Kept not remembering. It finally came to me this morning….Priceline. That’s the one I was trying so hard to recall. Here I’ve seen this commercial hundreds of times but I could not recall the name of the company when I wanted to use the company.

Lesson for advertisers? Do not ever allow yourself to get to the point where you believe that “everyone knows who we are” or “everyone will connect with us when they need us”. They won’t! They will FORGET YOU if you let them.

However, you don’t have to let them. Simply be consistent to your most profitable audience and they will use your service or buy your product. If you are having challenges on how to be consistent with a message that impacts your customers, contact me, it’s what we do.

Marketing Makes Selling Easier…….

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September 28  |  News  |   JDostal

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Common sense dictates that the more I know about your product or service, the more likely I will engage your business if what you offer fits my needs. However, in todays “instant” society, many in the world of marketing head right for the “tip” of the Buying Funnel.

We all must take our customers through our Buying Funnel. We have to create awareness, we must then create a comprehension of what we do and how we can help them. Then, there must (or at least should) be a trust created. At that point we have a very good opportunity to make the sale.

Effective marketing will educate the consumer as to the benefits of doing business with you. The mistake most businesses make is they spend their time (and money), marketing features of their business and not benefits to the customer.

So what if you are “locally owned and operated”. How does this truly benefit me.

So what if you have been in business for 50 years. Does that mean you are old and set in your ways…..or does it mean you have seen all sides of your industry and it’s allowed you to stay on the cutting edge?  Tell me. I do want to know.

So what if you are offering 20% off. I don’t know what the regular price is and I don’t know what the regular price should be. So 20% doesn’t mean anything to me.

Tell me why I should give you my money instead of to anyone else and tell me over and over because I will forget about you each time. But, when I need what you offer, if you have done a solid job of “marketing” to me…you will be rewarded with an easy sale as I’ve already been sold!

Knowing what to say is confusing to many in small business. We can help you. Take me up on a free consultation. We’ll talk about your business and I’ll help you uncover some details I bet you are not sharing in your marketing. Details that if consumers knew, they’d become your customers!

Feel free to connect with me at jeff@marketingfirepower.info.

It’s up to you!

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September 25  |  News, Uncategorized  |   JDostal
How To Do Business With You!!!

Jeff Dostal

Entrepreneur – Marketing Expert

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How To Do Business With You!!!

Does your customer truly know how to do business with you? Don’t be too quick here. As small business owners we have a nasty habit of assuming our customers know more about our business than they really do. We may have some customers who buy a few products from us but then make other purchases from our competition. They don’t do that because they don’t like that product you offer, they often do it because they don’t think of you for that product/service.

I was working with an HVAC company who also did plumbing work. They decided to add a water filtration system to their business model. After about a year of offering all three services, the company contacted me in frustration and asked….

“Why do my HVAC customers only use me for HVAC and my plumbing customers only for plumbing and my new water filtration customers only for that?”

I asked if he had ever cross promoted the different services to his customers…he had not. As a matter of fact, he had not even thought about doing that. Why? He assumed the customer knew. You learn everyday the customer does not know nearly a fraction of the information about your business you wished they would.

So how do we teach a customer to do business with us? Educate. Marketing is the work you do upfront to share your story so that the actual selling comes easy (or at least easier). But if the customer does not know…only you are to blame!!!

We offer simple phone consultations all the time to help businesses understand what they are NOT SAYING in their marketing and how it is hurting their bottom line. If you’d like to learn what you are NOT SAYING….message me and we’ll talk. I’m at jeff@marketingfirepower.info.

We try to advertise like we try to lose weight….fast!

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September 23  |  News  |   JDostal
We try to advertise like we try to lose weight.....fast!
Jeff Dostal

Entrepreneur – Marketing Expert

We try to advertise like we try to lose weight…..fast!

I’ve been around two worlds for a long time. Weight loss and marketing/advertising. There is a common theme. When it comes to weight loss, consumers buy into the gimmicks because they so badly want the results. They are willing to believe the pill or potion or gadget will work…because they want it to.

Many small business owners are no different when it comes to attracting customers. They want customers today (right now) and are prone to buy into the too good to be true offers because…they want them to be true. Roy Williams (Wizard of Ads) said it so well…The Cocaine of Advertising. You want customers so you offer 10%…and they come. It was so great you do the same thing next week…but they don’t come. So now we have to move to 20%. After another great event…followed by a not so great event…they jump to 30% and so on. When does it stop.

Consumers make buying decisions for many reasons other than price. When you create value, which is achieved over time, you don’t have to chase price. Besides, do you really want customers who are loyal to only price? Most business owners I know sure don’t.

For successful, long term weight loss success, you have to make changes to your nutrition, add exercise to your time and incorporate a key element…time.

For successful, long term advertising success, you have to determine your value to the consumer, find the place to best share that (I can help you with that), and then incorporate a key element….time.

The majority of great things in our lives have not happened quickly, overnight. Don’t expect your advertising to work that way either.

Create Value

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August 24  |  Advertising, Business, Marketing, Marketing Bridge, News  |   JDostal

It’s important that you realize no matter what product or service you offer….if others are not purchasing it….most likely it’s because you have not created value. Don’t fall into the trap of lowering price to make a sale. Now you just have a product or service that they still don’t value and it’s worth even less because you dropped the price. The value you create, creates the price you can ask.

Are you an entrepreneur?

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April 24  |  Advertising, Business, Marketing, News, Uncategorized  |   JDostal

In “E-Myth” by Micheal Gerber he talks about how many business owners are “technicians who had an entrepreneurial seizure”. Can you relate. Here is a way to see if you truly have the entrepreneurial mindset.

http://www.success.com/articles/1084-quiz-do-you-have-the-entrepreneurial-mindset

Other’s perspective!

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April 17  |  Advertising, Business, Marketing, News, Partnerships  |   JDostal

An old classmate who has become a good friend and client wrote the following in his blog recently. I thought his perspective was interesting and very much appreciated!

Marketing Vs Advertising Vs Prospecting

Posted: 13 Apr 2012 02:01 PM PDT

I know, I have a BSBA in Marketing but until about 4 years ago I did not really follow what I learned in school. What happened 4 years ago?

I reconnected with Jeff Dostal with Marketing Firepower.  Jeff and I went to Norfolk Catholic High School together.  Jeff completely revolutionized what I think about marketing, advertising and prospecting.

Some things I learned.

Building a brand take time.

If you want to succeed you need to dedicate time, money and resources to marketing, advertising and prospecting and they are very different from one another.

These activities are all about consistency

No matter what your budget is you need to have a budget.

You need a plan  and you need a team to help you execute that plan.

You need to constantly remind people, including your current customers, what you do.

You need to reach out and touch your customers often.

If you do not focus on growing your business it will ultimately go out of business.

Jeff has a lot of great resources on his website, check it out at

http://www.marketingfirepower.info/

 

What you already know is the secret!

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August 29  |  Advertising, Business, Customer Relations, Marketing, News  |   JDostal

I was visiting with a new client this morning who recently took his company through out Value Story Discovery interview. I loved his comment because we hear it so often:

“I knew all of this stuff about my business but you put it all in a context that I didn’t realize would be a tremendous way to attract and keep customers.”

Are you still struggling to attract customers to your business. You have the solution right in front of you. We will bring what you know to life in the minds of the consumers. Don’t guess what to say, let us show you exactly what to say to attract the right customers to your business.