Follow Peter Geisheker on Twitter

Hi everyone, you can now follow my on Twitter to see what I am up to.

http://twitter.com/geisheker

Enjoy!

Peter Geisheker
The Geisheker Group Advertising Agency
(920) 471-1638

The stupidity of marketing less during a recession

Marketing is the sole purpose of every business. You market a product or service to attract customers and generate sales. By lessening the amount of marketing you do, you lessen the amount of customers you will attract and the sales you will generate. If you want to stay in business, making your marketing budget smaller during a recession is the worst thing you can do. That is why smart businesses market more during a recession so they can take market share away from their competitors who are stupidly marketing less.

The success of your business relies on your marketing. The more you market, the more successful you will be. If you minimize your marketing, you lose business and eventually your business dies.

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group Marketing Agency
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638

Burger King I like Square butts commercial

Yes, I am going to pick on Burger King again for having the most stupid TV commercials.

Last night I saw Burger King's new commercial where the King likes square butts with "rap video" women dancing with big square butts as this is a commercial to sell SpongeBob SquarePants kid's meals. Doing a remake of Sir Mix a Lot's "I like big butts" video to sell toys to kids at a restaurant is the most stupid advertising idea I think I have ever seen. If your demographics were teenage and 20-something males, maybe, but to children? Dumb idea and poor taste.

Burger King, I like your food but your advertising sucks.

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group Advertising Agency
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638

How start-up businesses sabotage their success

I work with many start-up companies and I see the mistakes they make that sabotage their businesses every single day. Here is a list of the top 5 mistakes:

1. Spending all their money on product development and having very little or no money for marketing. Without marketing, you cannot get customers. Without customers you cannot sell products/services and earn money.

2. No business or marketing planning on how to select and serve a niche market. The norm seems to be "ready fire aim" with no idea of whom to market to and why.

3. Seeing marketing as an expense instead of an investment. Marketing is the most lucrative investment platform in the world and businesses that see marketing as an investment in building their business will succeed.

4. Not understanding how to make a sale. Strong sales skills are incredibly important in running a business. Without understanding how to sell, it is difficult to make money.

5. Trying to compete on low price instead of on quality and service. There is a large market of people who are willing to pay more for better quality and service.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group Marketing Companies
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638

Why I am using PR more and more

Why do I use PR?

Over the past year I have focused much more of my time on PR as a business building tool. In fact, I now consider PR one of my most important duties to ensure the success of my marketing firm.

The reason I am spending so much more time and money on PR is that it has proven to be an outstanding marketing tool. It has provided me and my marketing firm with instant expert credibility, national exposure to hundreds of thousands of business professionals, and it has led to us acquiring several new clients.

Another reason why PR is so important is that if your company is getting more PR than your competition, and it is not that hard to do, people prefer buying from a company that is talked about in the media compared to a company that is not talked about.

Any business that does incorporate PR as one of their most important marketing activities is missing a huge piece of the marketing puzzle.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing agency
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638

Why Competitive Research is the Backbone of Any Successful Marketing Campaign

Businesses, particularly small ones, tend to get caught up in all of their own day-to-day affairs and operations. In the case of marketing, a business owner may be struggling to put together that winning campaign – trying to focus on being clever and memorable. But only looking at your own business is half the marketing battle. You need to be taking clear notes on your competition. That doesn't mean plagiarizing their campaigns, of course. It means taking the time to do some competitive research. Why? Because competitive research shows you how to position your company in the minds of your market.

Research shows you what your competition is doing. That sounds like an obvious statement, but it's an important one. If you look closely at what your competitors are doing, you can see what is working for them. Every business should have a unique approach to their market – something that they can offer that their competitors cannot. By researching what they are doing, you can see how they are positioning themselves in the marketplace. And by evaluating their success, you see what angles are going to bring in business and what angles are not.

As a simple example, let's say you run a struggling office supply company. You have better prices than your competitors, but you are still getting beat. You are positioning yourself as the best-priced office supply company in town in all of your marketing materials. By looking at your competition, you see they have a website where customers can fill up an order cart and have supplies sent right to their office. That tells you that the market wants convenience more than anything else. Now you set up a website and advertise that you are easy-to-use and have the best prices in town. Sales go up.

You also can take a look at what your competition is not doing. This can be valuable if there is a need in your market that hasn't been fulfilled. Back to your office supply company: you are starting to catch up with your competitors, but you haven't gotten there yet. You need to take an angle that will really bring customers in. After looking closely at your competition, you see that their customers log in every week to place orders. You know that it would be much easier on the customer if they could automate those orders. So, you implement a new system that allows automatic reordering of supplies that customers use up regularly. Now, not only are you saving them more money than your competitor, you are also saving them more time. Sales skyrocket.

The goal in studying competition is not just to see what they are doing. Your goal is to see if what they're doing is working. Through competitive research, you gain valuable insight on your market: you see what they want and what they don't want. Using this information can help you take a strong position in the marketplace, filling a need that your prospective customer hasn't had filled before.

How you position yourself in the market is the most important decision you can make in your marketing. Competitive research will help you make the right decision.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing agency
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638

The 10 Mistakes that are Crippling Your Sales Letters

Sending out sales letters to prospective customers or potential clients can be one of the most effective ways to create loyalty and get your market to buy. But so many sales letters are regarded as junk mail by today's consumer – and they are right. When was the last time you opened a sales letter in the mail and actually read it? Why not? Because the bulk of today's sales letters don't entice you, they don't speak to you, and most importantly, they don't give you any reason to bother. Here are ten mistakes that you might be making now that is costing you thousands of dollars:

#1. Your letter doesn't speak to anybody in particular.
Okay, you bought a mailing list and you shipped out a letter. Who is receiving it? Is it a specific gender? Do they have a particular career? How much money do they make?

Companies fail to get to know their market, and it cripples not just their sales letters, but their marketing in general. Take some time to study your target – what makes them tick? Then you can craft a sales letter that speaks directly to their wants and desires.

#2. It's missing a headline.
Sales letters need to attract the eye. Without a headline, a sales letter is just a block of words that can easily be ignored. Just look at the headline of this article: it speaks directly to YOU, doesn't it? It speaks in the present tense, and it implies that there is information in this article that you need to read now (and it's true, too!). That's a big reason why you are reading this, isn't it? Motivate your readers to keep reading!

#3. You don't know the difference between FEATURES and BENEFITS.
This is the biggest, most common mistake that companies make in their sales letters. If somebody writes me a letter and says, “Hey! Look at what we've got! Look what we've done! Aren't we great?!?”, I'm going to throw it away in a heartbeat.

What do people want to hear about? They want to hear about themselves. It's simple human nature. We all have egos, and they need to be stroked. So talk about them: “Hey! You know that problem you have? This is how we can help you out...”

If you are writing about your business, you are writing a FEATURE. That's not what you're supposed to be writing. If you are writing about the consumer, you are writing a BENEFIT. That's what people want to hear about – what's in it for me?

#4. Give them a reason to respond.
If your response rates are down, you may not be giving your market enough of a reason to contact you. Where's the offer? If the consumer reads your entire sales letter, but they are not motivated to take action IMMEDIATELY, you did it wrong.

Give them a discount or some form of special offer for responding to the letter. You need to motivate them.

#5. You are assuming they'll take your word for it.
You need proof. That means statistics that show it works. That means testimonials from people who have enjoyed the benefits. People won't just listen to you based on what you say – show them what others are saying.

#6. Your letter is unpleasant to look at.
Beyond the headline, how have you formatted your letter? Is it just a bunch of words? Then forget it. You might as well have mailed them a 700-page Charles Dickens novel, because that's what they will relate this to. You don't have to put in pictures necessarily, but at least put in some sub-headlines or lists. They need something they can easily scan to get the gist of the letter beforehand. It will increase the odds of them reading the whole thing.

#7. You didn't break down the barriers.
Barriers are things that keep the consumer from buying from you. Most of the time, this refers to risk: they worry that they are investing their time or money in something that won't work. You need to guarantee them that it will be worth it. Offer them a 30-day, money-back guarantee. Give them a reason to take the plunge, risk-free, and there's a good chance they will.

#8. You don't have a “P.S.” at the end.
The “P.S.” is a great way to hit the last few skimmers – people who aren't reading. Sum up your biggest benefit, combine it with your offer, and throw it in as the last line in your letter. Watch those response rates grow! For example:

“P.S. Stop wasting your time resharpening those old knives! Order your complete set of 6 Revolution Steak Knives and use them for 60 days at no cost!”

#9. Nothing makes you stand out.
Who are you targeting and why? You need to position yourself as something unique. If you are just like the others, then no one will buy. Remember that when you make your offer and explain your benefits. They need to have something different about them to motivate your specific target market.

#10. They're not even opening the envelope.
If your letter comes in a plain white envelope, you're going to lose. Put a killer headline on the outside of the envelope. Consider hand-addressed envelopes. Or, as many companies do, take advantage of the “lumpy mailer”, where you put something in the envelope that makes it feel bulky – so people will tear it open just to find their free gift. Your envelope needs to stand out from the rest of the mail in their mailbox. How is your sales letter standing out?

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group Advertising Agency
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638

What is Positioning and Why Do You Need to Know?

There is an information overload problem in today's society. Consumers are blasted with advertisements coming at them from all directions. How do you make yours stand out? How do you get the consumer to notice YOU?

The answer is positioning. Positioning is a tool you can use to reach your target consumers in today's crowded marketplace. Because of this high volume of information, the average consumer generally only accepts what they are familiar with, based on prior knowledge and experience. This makes it difficult for a new business to reach its market.

But this is where the beauty of positioning shows itself: consumers oversimplify the information presented to them, and they only accept things based on their perceptions. This means that, as a business targeting that consumer, you just need to present a simplified message that is consistent with what the consumer already believes. Instead of focusing on your product, you focus on serving the perceptions of the consumer. In basic terms, it's about them, not you.

What's the easiest way of doing this? Be first. If you are the first-ever in a category of products, good for you. If you are not, that's okay too. Find a unique position that you can claim, and be the first one to it. People rank brands in their minds, so if you aren't number one, relate yourself as an alternative to the number one brand. For example, 7-Up was number three, behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi. So it marketed itself as the “Uncola”. That's smart positioning – and it worked.

Attacking the leading brand to dethrone it is usually a mistake, particularly in the short-term. Instead, try to grab some of their market share by presenting yourself as a smart alternative. If you're not the first in line, then you need to find a unique, unoccupied position in the minds of consumers. Here are a few different ways you can reposition yourself as a unique brand to the consumer:

• Target a specific, under-served age group
• Target a gender that the others are missing
• Offer a quantity that the others are not
• Offer a particular price point that your competition is not

It's often said that when you try to please everyone, you please no one. This statement couldn't be more true for your marketing. Find a unique target, don't try to make your product appeal to the masses. If you try to be everything for everyone, you will wind up being nothing to everyone.

This does not stop at products: anything you plan on selling, including services, need proper positioning. And it takes time – but it is time well worth the trouble. That position that you settle on will influence your entire marketing mindset. Hammering the consumers with your unique position will carve out a place in their minds for you and your brand.

Find that angle that makes you special, and craft your marketing around that idea. When you find that angle, you've found your position in the marketplace. Focus on it, and the consumers will take notice.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group Advertising Agency
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638