Information marketing
BY CHUCK GREEN A savvy salesperson understands that you don't get far if you do nothing but sell. If you offer a service or recommend products, prospects want to know, before they buy, a little about you and if you are a credible source. One way to break the ice and demonstrate your knowledge of your particular field is to infuse your marketing materials with information.
Information marketing is nothing new. Magazines use information in the form of articles to sell advertising. Web sites use information of all kinds—how-to's, checklists, directories, statistics, and so on—to attract readers. But information marketing is not often used in conventional, print marketing pieces such as brochures, fliers, and direct mail.
This presents a significant opportunity. Whether you create a stand-alone piece or add an information component to your existing materials—offering helpful information and organizational tools along side your sales pitch can help cement current relationships and attract new prospects.
For example...
The example shows how a bookkeeping service might use a 7 1/4 by 2 1/4 inch postcard-weight layout to share a checklist. The list defines the records a typical small business is expected to keep on file for tax purposes. It is a simple device that provides valuable information to the bookkeeper's best prospects—startup businesses.
On the reverse side of the card is space for including a personalized note. The bookkeeper might hand the cards out at local events and trade shows, include them with proposals, mail them with a cover letter to new prospects, ask colleagues to distribute them, offer them to visitors of their Web site, and so on.
Adapting the idea to your situation
To create your version, define the information your audience is likely to find most useful. An engineering firm, for example, might offer a collection of conversion tables, a software developer—a list of keyboard shortcuts, or a printer—a glossary of terms. Your information could be statistics, lists, records, names, calculations, formulas, puzzles, Q&A's, checklists or any of a thousand others. Here's how to track down the best topic:
1. Use “reference” information—Define the kind of information your prospect will want to refer to over and over again.
2. Make it universally usable—Use information that is of interest to everyone in your target audience, whether they buy from you or not.
3. The more specific, the better—Printing your logo on a baseball cap can be effective, but providing information that is specific to your market, your profession, your location, and so on, makes your piece memorable.
4. Don't forget the call to action—Be sure to include your sales pitch: “visit our Web site at...,” “call today for a FREE consultation,” or some other specific next step. List all the ways to get in touch—your phone, fax, and toll-free numbers, and your street, e-mail, and Web addresses.
Where to find information
The ideal, of course, is that you author your own unique information tailored to your specific audience. But if you're stuck for an idea, try tapping other sources: Check with the trade organizations you belong to for industry-related information and research. Ask the manufacturers of the products you sell for how-to information. You might even find some interesting tidbits amidst the mountain of copyright-free information the federal government publishes each year. No matter what you decide on, double-check to be sure the information you are using is not copyrighted by someone else.
I use information marketing in the form of a ruler/bookmark to promote my books. On the front is an inch/pica ruler and other desktop publishing-oriented tidbits. On the back is a checklist of for brainstorming ideas, sometimes confused characters, fraction to decimal conversion, and some sample type palettes.
If you'd like a single copy, send a self-addressed, stamped, #10 business envelope to: Chuck's Ruler, 11475 Chickahominy Branch, Glen Allen, VA 23059. If you come into contact with lots of other DTP's through training or a user group, and you'd like some to distribute at your next meeting, click here.)
It works!
I use the same strategy for clients. The ruler below, for example, is for a custom home builder. It features a series of special rulers for reading blueprints, a key to common building terms, abbreviations, and symbols, plus tips on how to choose a custom home builder.
It is offered as a free incentive on the builder's Web site and is distributed to developers and real estate agents who pass it out to prospects in lieu of a business card.
More good news. Just about any commercial color printer that prints postcards (including the online discounters), can print this format—heavy card stock printed black and white on side one and color with a gloss laminate on side two.
Toolbox: Calculator clip art: Cliptoart, www.cliptoart.com; File folder: NVTech, www.nvtech.com; Headline font: Impact
Information ideas
How-to's
Checklists
Directories
Statistics
Measuring tools
Industry-specific
calendars
Common terms
Symbols
Addresses
Phone numbers
Web links
Conversion tables
Keyboard shortcuts
Glossaries
Calculations
Formulas
Q&A's