But, if you are marketing with benefits, results, and stories, and you bring your audience to that do anything, pay anything point, you get an “A+” and you’re probably nodding your head because your sales reflect that and you’re kicking butt.

Let’s talk about the marketing debate Features vs. Benefits.

In the features vs. benefits marketing debate, benefits will always win. Why? Marketing with features is boring! No one wants to read that. Do you ever get excited to read the owners manual for anything? Doubt it. Do guys ever read the instructions that come with assemble-it-yourself toys or furniture? Rarely.

Your audience wants to know instead how your product, program, or service is going to help them. They want to know how it will benefit them. They want to know “What’s In It For Me?”

For example when marketing with benefits, ask your self, will it:

• Save them money?
• Make them more money?
• Save them time?
• Reduce effort?
• Make things faster?
• Create more opportunities?
• Make them feel smarter?
• Eliminate fear?
• Position them as an expert?
• Grow their business?
• Be more convenient?
• Reduce stress?
• Increase confidence?
• Provide more freedom?
• Eliminate frustration or struggle?

When you only market with features, you’re making your audience do all the work to figure out how it will benefit and help them. When you prospects have to work at making a buying decision, your conversions will be fairly low.

Your customers, clients, and prospects want an easy, no-brainer buying process. They want you to do all the work for them and show them the answer to their biggest question, What’s In It For Me.

But here’s the catch: Usually the benefit you associate with the feature is the assumed or perceived benefit. It’s usually what you think they think is the benefit. This isn’t what your audience is looking for. They want the results. They want to be shown exactly how they will benefit.

So, when you’re marketing your services, products, and programs, you need to be marketing benefits and you need to do it with these three steps:

1. Make sure you really know your audience inside and out
2. Stop thinking like you and start thinking like them. Put yourself in their shoes and get in their minds
3. Write your marketing content based on the emotions felt when they achieve the results and experience benefits of working with you or using your product.

When you can market a business with the emotions-based benefits and results as a priority, you’ll be reaching for the marketing grade of  “A+”

You only have one opportunity to make a first impression, and trust me, you don’t want to risk making a bad impression with an unprofessional marketing piece or confusing your audience with items look like they are from completely different companies.

Each and every piece of branded marketing material, whether it is online or offline, should represent your brand, your promise, and your value authentically and consistently. A cohesive marketing strategy and strong visual brand will not only help you communicate feelings of stability, credibility, and dependability, which are key factors in building trust, but they will also help the recipient decide whether they are going to save your sales piece, or throw it away.

So do yourself a favor, hire Bourn Creative to create compelling, eye-catching marketing and sales materials that will blow your competition away and pull your ideal clients right to your doorstep! Or, if you’re still on the fence, check out my blog post on Why Do I Need to Hire a Professional Graphic Designer?

What Marketing Materials Does My Business Need?

You know you need some professional marketing materials so you can get out there and promote your business, your products, and your services. But what do you need exactly? A brochure, ezine, stationery, folder, flyer, website, blog? With all of the different options you have to choose from, how do you know what to do first and how do you know which is the best choice for your business? And more important, which pieces will get you the biggest return on your investment and bring you the most value?

These are questions I get asked all the time and my answer is always the same. There are three main marketing pieces that every solopreneur, entrepreneur and small business owners must have. They are:

1. A business card
2. A website or blogsite
3. A follow up marketing piece

Check out my blog post on this very topic: 3 Marketing Pieces Entrepreneurs Must Have and learn more about why these items are the top three I recommend and what they need to include.

• They need you to help them by sharing your expertise,
  knowledge, and skill
• They need your services and products
• They need you to market yourself and to market your business

But here’s the problem. No one can do business with you if they don’t know you exist!

You can’t help them improve their life or their business with your products, programs and services if they can’t find you. Marketing your business and yourself is just as much about helping other people as it is about marketing your products and services.

You owe it to your future prospects, customers, and partners to create a marketing strategy your business. You owe it to them to spread the word about your expertise and skill. By investing in your business and marketing yourself, you are:

1. Doing yourself a favor – you are creating an opportunity to educate your target market on how you, your products, and services can help them change their ways and achieve their goals.
2. Doing your audience a favor – you are making it easier for them to find you, to find your valuable information, and to get help.

STEP 1: Capture My Attention
Start with a captivating, powerful, direct headline that draws me in. Don’t beat around the bush or use cute-sy catch-phrases and don’t speak in jargon I don’t understand. Keep the headlines and the sub headlines strong, clear, and helpful. The easiest way to do this is to write one short sentence that communicates the benefits the article, web page, or blog post, etc. I will get out of the content.

Another great way to grab my attention is with a great photo, graphic or image. You have only a couple seconds to entice me to stay on your web page and read your content and sometimes a killer photo can do that even faster and more effectively than a headline.

STEP 2: Get Me All Hot And Bothered
Once you’ve got my attention, your job is to keep me intrigued, interested, and wanting more. Focus on my needs and how you can help me. I want to know that you “get” me and understand my problems. I want you to arouse my desires and make my emotions go crazy. I also want to know that you have a solution and are the hero I’ve been searching for.

You can keep you reader interested and leave them wanting more with a few simple strategies such as using sub headlines, success stories, images and graphics, testimonials, guarantees, pain stories, and questions.

STEP 3: Make Me Call You
This last step is the most crucial step in the process. Imagine giving a product presentation to a prospective client. You did all of the preparation, your presentation was flawless, and you completely nailed it. But, on the way home you realized that you never actually asked them to buy from you or gave them an offer… Um, FAIL.

In step three, you have to entice me to take action and do something – sign up for your list, buy your product, purchase your services, sign up for your program, or download your free gift. You need to deliver a compelling call to action and you MUST give me a reason to act now. Make your irresistible offer so good, so juicy, that taking action is a complete no brainer.

If your client attraction marketing strategy covers each of these three steps, whether it is online or offline, you will see more sales and more conversions. But, if you forget one of these steps, you’ll more than likely lose me, your prospect to a business that nails all three steps of creating more sales.

Have you successfully seduced your audience? I’d love to hear about it!

Bourn Creative Offers Free Teleseminar Series in January to Help Entrepreneurs Build Their Brand and Market Their Business

Classes Begin Jan. 5 and run weekly through Jan. 26 at 10:00 a.m. PST

Rocklin, CA – January 1, 2010 – A company’s brand is its most important asset. It can be the one thing that makes or breaks a new deal, opportunity, or sale. Therefore, it is imperative that business owners focus on building a strong, authentic brand that connects with their audience, is memorable, and helps them build long-lasting relationships.

Jennifer Bourn, Internet marketing expert of Bourn Creative, is offering a free series of seven informational teleseminars, The Ultimate Brand Building Teleseries in January to help entrepreneurs build their brand and marketing their businesses in 2010. Calls begin January 5 at 10:00 a.m. PST and will run every Tuesday and Thursday through January 26, 2010. To register, visit www.bourncreative.com/free-stuff or call 916-788-1740.

“Entrepreneurs are often misinformed about what activities should be part of a solid marketing plan. They can’t compete without marketing in the current unstable economy,” explained Bourn. “I’m offering this teleseminar series to help educate them about their marketing options so that they can better understand how to promote and grow their business in 2010.”

According to Mark Stevens, Entrepreneur.com expert columnist and marketing guru in a July 2009 interview, “…marketing is the engine for growth. The only valid definition of marketing is the ability to take a company from one level of profitable revenue and continue to do that.”

Stevens goes on to remark that, “(Entrepreneurs) should never stop thinking about marketing. The person who owns the business should always think of himself or herself as the marketer-in-chief. It should be the most important thing he or she does because it’s the growth of the business…”

Bourn Creative’s Ultimate Brand Building Teleseries topics include:

• Expand Your Brand: Ten Techniques to Build Your Brand, Increase Your Visibility, and Conquer Your Market
• Website Secret Weapons: Seven Strategies to Market Your Website, Generate Leads, & Increase Profits
• WordPress, World Success: How to use WordPress to Skyrocket Search Engine Results and Put Your Marketing on Autopilot
• Google Domination: Do-It-Yourself Search Engine Optimization Tips to Increase Your Ranking
• Fill Your Funnel: Secret Strategies for Publishing an Ezine That Converts Prospects into Paying Customers
• Triple Your Traffic: Social Media Strategies You Can Use to Supercharge Your Business
• Online Marketing Demystified: Internet Marketing Strategies To Grow Your List & Build Your Bottom Line

Entrepreneurs who participate in the teleseries will learn:

• Why a strong brand can catapult your business to success
• Step by step strategies for marketing online
• How to use social networking to grow your business without spending hours a day
• Why blogs and blogging will play an even larger role in business success in 2010 and how you can use it for your business
• What Internet marketing really is and what it is used for
• Free and low cost Internet tools that will help them automate their marketing
• Tips to make your website a lead generating machine
• How to drive more traffic to your website

For more information on The Ultimate Brand Building Teleseries Series by Bourn Creative, please visit
www.bourncreative.com/free-stuff or call 916-788-1740.

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Introducing the Ultimate
Brand Building Teleseries
January 5 – January 26, 2010

A ONE TIME ONLY Series of 7 High-Value, High-Content Calls Focused Solely on Helping You Build Your Brand and Market Your Business

Your brand is the most important asset your business has. It can be the one thing that makes or breaks a new deal, opportunity, or sale. It is imperative that you as a business owner focus on building a strong, authentic brand that connects with your audience, is memorable, and helps you build long-lasting relationships.

The problem is, that you need more than a powerful, unique brand. Once your brand is created, you must market your brand efficiently and effectively because no one can buy from you or refer to you if they don’t know you exist. That is where marketing comes in to play.

Every marketing strategy you implement in your business ultimately helps build your brand, and building your brand will help you establish brand equity, credibility, professionalism, security, trust, and more.

To make 2010 your best, most profitable year ever, you need to work on building your brand and marketing your business so you can increase visibility, increase website traffic, generate more leads, make more sales, create more opportunities, position you as an expert, and enjoy more freedom!

If you want to experience explosive success in 2010,
you must register for this FREE teleseries!

As part of the Ultimate Brand Building Teleseries, I will be sharing my best marketing tips, tricks, techniques and strategies with you to help you build a strong, powerful brand. Trust me, this information is so good that my mentors and peers can’t believe I am giving it away and they are urging me to charge for it!

Click here to learn more about this special one time only teleseries
designed to help you build your brand and market your business with ease.

By being upfront and completely honest about your budget with your marketing consultant, you will maximize your budget and save time and effort by avoiding research and time spent on pursuing marketing strategies you are never going to use.

A great place to start is to work with a professional marketing consultant to develop a strategic marketing plan for your business.

A marketing plan describes how you are going to attract and retain customers, how you will compete in your niche, and what resources you are going to use to achieve your objectives. It will also outline how you will use your time and your budget to maximize your return on marketing investment.

While not every marketing plan is the same, here are the basic sections or components of a marketing plan:

• Summary
• Goals and objectives
• Business description
• Target market profiles
• Competitor profiles
• Product or service benefits and unique selling points
• Location and home base either online or off
• Pricing strategy
• Marketing action plan
• Budget

It’s not about you. It’s about them.

But what does that mean? It’s simple really. It means that you need to stop talking about yourself and stop writing what you want to hear said about you and your business.

Instead, focus on what your audience wants to hear, what they want to learn, and what information they need. Then you need to focus on getting it to them as quickly as possible.

Think of it this way, when someone is searching for something online, they more than likely aren’t just browsing with endless amounts of time. Usually they are searching for a specific piece of information, answer to their questions, or solution to their problem – and they are turning to the Internet to find what they need fast.

Your job as a website owner is to research your target market, find out that they want, need, and desire, learn how you can help them, and then deliver it.

Attract more clients, attract more customers, and attract more prospects.

Once you begin to tailor your content right to your target market and deliver the information they need, you will begin to attract more clients, attract more customers, and attract more prospects.

You will also to see your webiste traffic increase, which means more people are seeing your message, experiencing your brand, and hopefully taking action.

Getting your website visitors to take action is a huge part of why you want to get them there in the first place. Understanding what action you want them to take and focusing on making them want to take that action is the key.

So remember, when developing your website and it’s content, it is imperative that you focus first on delivering quality content your audience that they want and need, and second on making your offer so irresistible that it becomes a “duh” action or a no-brainer.

Also don’t be afraid to test different headlines, page designs, colors, or calls to action to find just the right combination of elements that will maximize your conversions, and in turn, your website profits.

Do you have any other ideas? Let me know below!

Here are seven tips to increase online sales and get your prospects and customers to take action:

1. Offer money back guarantee.
Your guarantee can be a 30-day, 60-day, 90-day, year-long, or lifetime guarantee. The longer the guarantee you extend your guarantee, the more successful it will be.

2. Give away bonuses and free stuff.
When your customers purchase something or take a specific action, reward them with a free gift or some extra bonuses of value. Sweeten the deal to catch more conversions.

3. Add a video message.
Video helps people connect with you and your product on a more personal and emotional level and can help them feel more confortable with their purchasing decision.

4. Set a deadline.
Make your offer a limited time offer or give it an end date to create a sense of urgency. This will encourage them to buy now and not put it off until later (and eventually forget).

5. Use customer testimonials.
Testimonials, especially ones with photos or video add credibility to your business and help you gain the trust of your prospects faster.

6. Provide free shipping.
If your product needs to be sent via snail mail, offer your customers free shipping for orders over a certain amount, or for a limited time.

7. Provide a special deal.
Offer a buy one get one free deal, a discount on another product, a sample of a new product, or even free tech support.

Remember, your goal is to sweeten the deal and make it an absolutely obvious decision to purchase or invest in your product, service or program – I call it the “Duh” decision.

Do you have any other ideas that have worked for you to increase your sales or opt-in conversions and make your offer irresistible? I’d love to hear about them below!

Let’s just say I wasn’t very surprised when not a single person in the room raised their hand. These eWomenNetwork entrepreneurs understand that you don’t just market your business for the customers you have right now, but for the customers you want to attract in the future.

For example, the signed contracts that are coming in to my office almost daily are results from contacts made and relationships built over the last three to six months. Likewise, the marketing I am doing now will fill my business in the future.

So, if you’ve been hiding from your marketing lately, get your butt in gear and start marketing so you can attract more prospects and attract more clients now and in the coming months.

Here are a few tips to help you attract more clients with ease:

• Write articles, blog posts, press releases and more to help establish yourself as an expert in your industry.
• Be the go-to resource for valuable information your target market needs by publishing a high content newsletter.
• Turn your website into an invaluable resource for your prospects and clients and continuously update it with new, fresh content that they want and need.
• Work on your business and not just in your business. This will help you stay on top of your marketing and will show your customers that you value your business and are committed to not only helping them grow, but helping yourself grow as well.
• Get yourself a support team who can help lighten your load and get the stuff done that you dont want to do. This will free up more of your time to do what you love, aming you happier and making your business more fun.
• Create multiple streams of income. Yes, this will help you add to your bottom line, but it will also allow more poeple to work with you or sample your products or services. Maybe someone can’t afford to hire you, but they can afford to buy your do-it-yourself handbook. Or maybe someone can’t come to your workshop, but they can buy the audio recordings.
• Build a quality list. Work on building your list and adding people to your database, so you grow your audience of hot prospects who have already said they want to hear from you and learn more about your business!
• Create the content your audience wants and deliver it to them in multiple ways. Provide written articles or reports, videos, or audio recordings and make sure that you are speaking or writing directly to the reader for added impact.

Do you have any comments? Other ideas for attracting clients? Please leave your comments below.