• Innovative Strategies That Create More Profits

Tag: Revenues

How To Use Your Website to Build  An Enormous eMail List

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

 Encourage visitors who go to your website to signup for your email list and make it easy for them to sign up. In today’s market, you have to build trust before you can convert prospects into customers. One way to do that is with popup displays on one or more pages on your website. It’s easy to do. You can do it yourself and it’s very inexpensive, 

You can use popup displays in many ways, to capture names and email addresses. A/B testing of messages, product or service value propositions, and more. The email signups can even go automatically into your mail program (for example Constant Contact or MailChimp).  

There is also a lot of analytical information you can get from the program. I use OptinMonster and  following are some basic things to think about when designing your program,

 1 Create a clear, very visible call to action (e.g., email address)

2 Personalize your popups (friendly tone and referral source if you know it, or special segment if the source was targeted).  

3. Offer an irresistible incentive (special white paper, informative blog, special price, etc.)  

4 Use a design that stands out (but it should also blend into your site because it is your offer, not some company’s advertisement. 

 There are many different kinds of popup designs and many different ways to use them depending on your needs and marketing strategy.  Ask yourself how you could use these popup ads, and if interested, put a plan together to use them effectively. It does take some time to prepare and develop the materials you offer (blogs, newsletters, white papers, etc.).

You might also want to look at our blog post on how to write effective headlines at https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com/how-to-write-headlines/

If you have questions, you can always go to Contact and email me.

7 Ways To Sell Subscriptions

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

This information is from John  Warrillow’s, book: The automatic customer: Create subscriptions in any industry and from Zuora’s blog,

1 Think 10x vs. 10%

Customers are aware that a subscription is more valuable to you than a one-time purchase. So, to get hem to commit, you need to give then a significant return for their investment., They are unlikely to subscribe to a “Save 10%” but might if they could enjoy 10x the value of the alternative.

Net; “provide a ridiculous amount of value.”

2 Appeal to their Rational Side

The subscription model has gone mainstream, and people are demanding a better value than the alternative. Subscriptions are sold by appealing to convenience — especially B2B.

3 Give Customers an Ultimatum

Most customers would prefer to keep their freedom and buy your product a la carte, on an as-needed basis. YOu might consider making a subscription the ONLY alternative (they have) you sell, You can’t buy one movie from Netflix.

4 Give Them a Freemium Option

Give them a free taste of what they will get from a full-blown subscription. Magazine publishers found it virtually impossible to sell first-time visitors a subscription to an information product (e.g., magazine or membership website) until they have first opted into a free email newsletter to sample the value of the content,

Once they opt into the free newsletter, they convert to paid at a rate of 3% to 30% per year depending on the number of offers are presented and how carefully the publisher manages the list (weeds out undeliverable addresses and those who have opted out.)

In this freemium, you want to leave plenty of value off the tale to instill a sense of intrigue about what the customer will get from subscribing. A good taster gives just enough to access the product but leaven plenty of temptations behind the curtain

5 Offer a Trial

If your product or service is hard to describe or has to be used to be understood, it (the benefits) consider offering a trial subscription. Unlike freemium, usually available forever, a trial has a start and end date.

6 Offer Your Subscription as a Gift

The problem with a gift is that it is forgotten in a few days, but if you give a subscription, it expresses that appreciation over time, Standard Coca offers 1, 3, and 6-month subscriptions. They get a 75% increase in sales for Christmas and Valentine’s day. BUT, gift subscriptions are difficult to renew, but you can use them to top off your regular subscribers,

7 Set Fire To The Platform

One of the best things about a subscription company is it is always on, always available. Customers love it, but it is challenging to sell a subscription if it doesn’t change from day to day, why buy today?

One thing to do is artificially simulate a burning platform that causes the customer to act to avoid losing something (they keep thinking about it but never do it). You could put a compelling offer out there (e.g., buy the first year for half price) through the end of the month (BUT only for those interested but not signed, don’t advertise it, use it discreetly.

 

How To Write Headlines

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

What makes a headline go viral?

Following are some suggestions from Optinmonster.com

People want to share, want to increase the quality of their relationships with others, and want to increase their self-esteem and standing with their peers.

There is a magic 3-word phrase “will make you ____” This states that the topic will have an impact on you and often an emotional one.

There are five basic types of headlines that go viral

 

1 List posts — 50 Smart Ways To Segment Your Market

2 How to posts — How to optimize your site for the holidays

3 Resource posts — the ultimate guide to a simple option vs a double option — which is better?

4, Question post — How long should it take to earn revenues?

5. Heart-to–heart posts — An open letter to writers struggling with their first book

 

Now, if you add an infectious agent to those headlines your chances of going viral are much greater because they trigger emotion.  For example awe, anger, anxiety, fear, joy, lust, surprise, shock.

Examples

“40 belief-shaking remarks from a ruthless nonconformist”

Type: list post

Infectious agents: awe, anger, surprise, shock, anxiety

Belief-shaking — challenges you by stating its content will shake your beliefs

Ruthless — image of someone who doesn’t care

Nonconformist — someone unafraid and nonconventional

 

“How to hit 1,000,000 visitors in a year by blogging”

Type: How to

Infectious agents: awe, surprise, shock

“1,000,000” who wouldn’t want that. Even if you are skeptical, you will want to check

“In a year” desirable deadline

“Blogging” pinpoints its target audience and their biggest desire

Net: promise the desired result and a timescale for achieving it,

 

“Where to find free images”

Type: Resource post

Infectious agents: Awe, joy

Net: look for common questions or problems that people have, and write a headline that directly answers their question or solves a problem.

 

“On dying, mothers, and fighting for your ideas”

Type: Heart-to-heart

Infectious agents: awe, anger, surprise, shock, fear

“Dying” — strong emotive word, it congers up images in people’s minds

“Mothers” — emotive whatever your relationship with mother 

“Fighting” — emotive, congers up images in people’s minds of struggle, aggression

Net: fighting for your idea suggests motivation and inspiration 

 

“Are you good enough?”

Type: Question

Infectious agents: anger, anxiety, fear, surprise, shock

Net: are you good enough to challenges people. It asks a question everyone asks themselves, Ask a big question that drums up deep, human desires.

 

How to start writing viral headlines

1 Get to really know your audience

2 Know where your audience hangs out (media,etc.)

3 Discover your audiences’ infectious agents (follow them on social media, what are they sharing, any patterns in words and phrases? (topics, headlines, links)

4 Lay in those infectious agents.

The Perfect Value Proposition

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Sarah LaFleur of MM LaFleur knew she had the perfect value proposition. Well designed, quality women’s clothes at affordable prices sold through her online platform. The only problem was that this was her definition of what people wanted. She was relying on direct mail marketing and Instagram. After a year, she was in trouble, She had lots of inventory, and her conversion rate was meager.

Then she started paying attention to customers and found out that while they liked her clothes and pricing, they still wanted to see and feel the clothes before deciding to buy. So, she put together a box, the “Bento Box”  of six clothing items, based on information from earlier email responses and told the prospect to look at the clothes, no-obligation, send back the clothes they didn’t want; and they would only be billed for the clothes they kept. Bingo! Her conversion rate went from 2% to 8%, and she is now doing great.

This may be hard to believe, but every zip code has hundreds of different mindsets, and many may not match yours, and maybe fewer still match mine. 🙂 The way to product-market fit is customer-centric, not product-centric.

 

Positioning: An Important Way To Differentiate Your Brand

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

SaaS companies are no longer unique, and most have many SaaS competitors with similar services.

This makes it difficult to break out and get attention.

Getting attention is similar to the problem marketers had in the ‘70s and ‘80s

when getting through the media noise was almost impossible.

That’s why its time  to take a look at your competitive position in the minds of buyers,

 

Marketing ROIs were getting expensive. Then, JackTrout wrote a book about “Positioning.”

The idea of positioning is to find and take a unique position in the customer’s mind. 

 

For example, many car rental companies were fighting each other at that time. 

Hertz was the acknowledged leader.

Avis realized that service was an essential outcome people wanted and a position no one owned.

So, they positioned themselves in the minds of consumers as being  #2,

because “We Try Harder” propelled them into number 2 and above the crowd.

 

Many SaaS companies are facing that same competitive environment today.

Therefore it’s time to take a look at your competitive position in the minds of buyers,

In an article by Yasmine de Aranda from Martet8, she stated you must ask the critical question, “

Why should a prospect choose you over the competitors”?

You need a compelling reason for them to buy from you.

Remember, they don’t care about your awesome company until they care about what you can do for them.

The right position will increase responses and conversions, a shorter buying cycle, higher retention, and scalability.

Some information you will need to create your positioning:

  • Who are your potential customers?
  • What outcomes are they trying to achieve?
  • Why are your competitors unable to achieve these outcomes?
  • How will your solution make your customer’s life better?

 

Don’t just write down the answers. Ask your customers for the answers.

We help turn ideas and startups into businesses by working with you as a consultant or

by guiding you through the development process with our online ClickVisor subscription-based platform.

Positioning: An Important Way to Differentiate Your Brand

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

SaaS companies are no longer unique and most of these companies have lots of SaaS competitors with similar services, This makes it difficult to break out and get attention.

Getting attention is similar to the problem in the ‘70s and ‘80s when getting through the media noise almost impossible. Marketing ROIs were getting expensive. Then, JackTrout wrote a book about “Positioning.” The idea of positioning is to find and take a unique position in the customer’s mind. For example, there were many car rental companies at that time, all fighting each other.   Hertz was the acknowledged leader. Avis realized that service was an essential outcome people wanted, so they positioned themselves as being #2, so “We Try Harder,” which propelled them into number 2 and above the crowd.

Many SaaS companies are facing that same competitive environment today. Therefore it’s time to take a look at your competitive position. 

In an article by Yasmine de Aranda, from Martet8, she stated you have to ask the key question, “Why should a prospect choose you over the competitors”? You need a compelling reason for them to buy from you. Remember, they don’t care about your awesome company until they care about what you can do for them.

The following are some questions you need to create your positioning statement.

1 What data collection and monitoring procedures have you designed to help you get and analyze customer information? Don’t rely on your instincts to generalizations. You will need this data to help you test, adjust and validate your assumptions as you create your positioning statement.

2 Get a detailed understanding of your customers and the outcomes they want. What different outcomes do they want? Have they tried alternative solutions? What concerns do they have? With this kind of data, you can begin to profile the customers you want.

3 Look at your competitors through your customer’s eyes. Look at both competitors and indirect competitors. Look at their positioning and strategy. What outcomes, if any, are they touting?

4 Measure your positioning strategy by sales results. For example, the number of leads per month, the number of qualified leads per month, the time to close, churn rate changes, the average cost to acquire customers and average lifetime value.

 Don’t just write down the answers. Ask your customers for the answers. The right position will get you increased responses and conversions, a shorter buying cycle, higher retention, and scalability. 

 

Customer-Centered: How Can I Help You?

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

In today’s world, most people realize that you must put the customer first, not the product. ?

But does that mean that you accept everything the customer tells you? NO, 

But it doesn’t hurt to be customer-centered and ask how can I help you.

 

According to David Stucer, in a Sales & Marketing article, you believe the customer when

he is talking about his issues. You do want to pay attention when they tell you their needs

when they tell you what’s broken in their lives, when they tell you why where they are hurting?

 

A customer comes to you or wants to do business with you because he wants you to solve his problem.

Therefore you have to show him how you can solve his problem or issue.

 

As David would say: “We hear you, we can help you, here is how.”

This is easier said than done, however. You can grasp the problem conceptually,

but most people have difficulty conceptualizing the solution.

Make it easy for them to see how you can solve the problem,

 

People often jump to talking about their company and their product or services.

That’s certainly not customer-centric. The customer doesn’t want to hear about your business;

they want to hear about how you are going to solve their problem.

 

You  will get a better reception if you focus on how your business can help him improve his business,

As David would say, “People are far less concerned with doing business with an awesome company

then they are about whether the company can solve their problem”,

What you want to do is consistently tell the story in every media,

about how you solved this problem and that problem related to their problem, market, or industry.  

 

 

Jim Zitek/Harbor Capital Group 

https://https://harborcapitalgroupinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Braintopview-1.jpg.com 

 

 

How Empathy Improves Marketing Results 

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

We have the technology to reach massive audiences. But, this technology also gets in the way of connecting with those audiences. Potential customers know when the purpose is to help the salesperson rather than help them solve a problem or meet their needs. Empathy is critical to all sales. People make decisions using emotions, not just logic. 

From an article by Brian Carrol in Sales & Marketing, he explains that sending email after email through an automated system, most get deleted. To get the recipient to read them, you have to address their emotional side (needs, wants, desires). 

How do you get empathy? First, you have to shift your mindset to focus on the customers. Then, you can focus on various tactics to enlist empathy and develop a relationship with the customer.

To shift your mindset, don’t let your biases get in the way. 

Put customers at the center of your focus. Don’t treat them like sale leads, treat them like humans who have a problem, need, or opportunity. 

Analytics and machine learning are insightful and make us smarter, but customers are getting smarter also. They can tell the difference. And remember relationships don’t scale.

Also, you have to keep reminding yourself that you are not the target audience. Keep your biases in check, Have you done enough research on your clients to know what they think, what their mindset and preferences are?

Then, you can implement an empathy-based approach to your marketing. 

You have the answers, so listen carefully to the questions (why did they reply? what did they respond to?) and be sure to help them get a solution to their problem. The key is to listen.

Don’t use all your time telling them what you do, tell them what they want to hear, give them answers. This information also allows you to begin building a relationship with the customer.

In the book “The Passion Conversation,” the authors talk about how marketing problems are people problems and how marketing materials are communications tools can lead to word of mouth advertising, But, this approach takes more time than an automated response. 

But, relationships don’t scale, and if the information is not relevant, they will unsubscribe.  

 

Are You Open To New Ideas?

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

 

Since the industrial revolution, the business model of companies has been to build a “hit” product and then sell as many units as possible. The more product you sold, the more you reduced fixed costs (the factory was key), so you could compete on margin and maximize profits. The goal was profits this quarter and this year.

In Tien Tzuo’s book, “Subscribed,” he outlines how everything has changed since the internet, the cloud, and the platform.

Now, we can have a direct relationship with the customer, and consequently, the business model must change as well. Today, we have to start with the needs and wants of customers and create a service that delivers ongoing value to those customers.  

Companies need to turn customers into subscribers and develop recurring revenues rather than a one time or occasional buy. Financial attitudes have changed, as well. Because of scalability, rather than quarterly or yearly profits being the measure (looking backward), today’s financials are forward-looking. Use “profits” to scale the business and focus on growth. 

Customers have changed also. Today’s digital customers are also moving from products to services. They want to buy what the product does when they need it, not necessarily the product. They prefer outcomes over ownership. Think Uber. About 30 percent of millennials do not own a car but use Uber. Even Catipiller has a subscription option.

This internet-of-things (IoT) or Subscriber Economy is just beginning. If you want to be successful at it, you have to start with the customer, not the product,

 

 

Outbound Marketing – Its Importance and Benefits

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Advertisements come in all sorts of formats and delivered to the audience through many different methods. You see them on TV, billboards, newspapers, magazines, flyers, e-mail campaigns, banners, and website pages, or perhaps you hear similar things on radio and
podcasts. And then there are direct calls from salespeople. These advertisement formats are parts of sales strategy, commonly referred to as outbound marketing. Outbound marketing is meant to be interruptive as the audience is involuntarily exposed to the advertisements. These advertisements are directed at particular audiences as opposed to large, more general audiences.

Why It Is Important for Business
The main objective of outbound marketing is to acquire as many sales leads as possible. For startups looking to get on the map, there are very few (if any) marketing strategies that can reach more targeted people in a shorter amount of time. Small businesses generally don’t have the budget to buy advertisements on primetime shows, but they can reach their target audience via email or direct messaging. It is an affordable yet effective outbound marketing strategy anyone can use.

Outbound marketing, despite its antiquated status in the modern business landscape, remains essential for both new and established companies. For new companies, outbound marketing is vital to spread the word of their existence and what they have to offer. It helps companies develop “first contact” with potential customers. The more-established businesses also utilize the same method to introduce changes or new products to customers.

In the old days, outbound marketing mostly happened on print media, including newspapers and magazines. Now that people rarely, if ever, buy newspapers anymore, emails have become the prominent medium of choice besides TV. However, the former is much more affordable, and the result is almost certainly more measurable.

Advantages of Outbound Marketing

Familiarity is a valuable benefit of outbound marketing. People of all generations have grown accustomed to product advertisement broadcast at regular intervals on TV and radio. The audience knows that there are going to be advertisements in the middle of a broadcast. To some extent, people understand the companies behind the products provide the money to fund the show itself. In a world of social media, direct messaging and email newsletters are even more useful. Social media acts like channels to bring targeted customers to one place. People follow your account because they are interested in what you have to offer. Moreover, direct message and email always carry a personal touch, which is an indispensable element in any marketing effort.