| Paul Elliott and Fractal I-Marketing specialize in marketing for small and medium sized businesses. The psychology of the target customer is one of the foundational platforms of our programs. I practice and teach my clients how to think like their customers and use and test their products or services as their customers will. . . . And test EVERYTHING! My original training and direction in marketing, as well as the development of my love of marketing, was under the influence of the world's #1 marketing expert, Jay Abraham, nearly twenty years ago. |
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| Q: Could you tell me a bit more about what exactly you specialize in? A: As I mentioned, the psychology of the target customer is one of the foundational platforms of my programs. I practice and teach my clients how to think like their customers and use and test their products ore services as their customers will. ...And test EVERYTHING! I then deploy the programs looking for ways to take advantages of guerrilla marketing principles first described by Jay Conrad Levinson. Q: Do you also practice copy writing? A: This is one of my fortes. It is general in nature with emphasis on the psychology of the customer applied to copy writing and design of the printed piece and web page. This includes not only body text but formatting, headlines, subheadlines, bulleting, colors, graphics, backgrounds—everything involved. ...And testing EVERYTHING! Q: Do you design a marketing-plan? A: That is an essential part of the foundational effort. Q: In which fields does your marketing expertise lie? A: I design a complete marketing program with many different avenues which can be implemented quickly in sequence and which can run simultaneously. This allows multiple streams of income each of which can be refined and expanded as desired. I also design them to shut down with a minimum of damage. This will become clearer below. Previously I have emphasized that any business must have an Internet site. I encourage my clients to think of their Internet sites as simply another storefront, usually without looking like one, but offering access to the nation and world. Nowadays I am working more with businesses that are solely Internet based. My anticipation is that the marketing efforts I design for them will be easier for them to focus on and easier for me to implement merely with their permission reducing my exposure solely to their willingness, interest, and ability to deliver. I look for organized self-starters who are also self-finishers. Of course, those people are in the minority, but I also look for those who have staff and consultants who complement their abilities. When I find the right mix, I design the program my client and I feel will be manageable. I say "manageable," because my programs frequently produce an unmanageable amount of response. I also design programs that lend themselves to scaling—scaling BACK. One of the worst results I can produce it too much success. An unmanageable amount of business is worse than too little business. When a business has a line around the block, it runs the risk of having many dissatisfied would-be customers. Bad news travels very fast! It takes ten people speaking good of a business to counteract one speaking disparagingly of it. Therefore, any good marketing program should be scalable up or down. If properly implemented, eighty percent of my programs have to be scaled back to avoid an unpleasant result for my clients. Q: You mentioned "guerrilla marketing." Please describe what this means. A: Guerrilla marketing is conceptually different from traditional marketing. Traditional marketing, until recently, has been the only sort taught in most colleges and universities. Guerrilla marketing has been mostly taught and learned "in the trenches." Jay Conrad Levinson published his book Guerrilla Marketing in the 1970's. It was the first definition and description of the principles some of which are excerpted below. Traditional Marketing Principles vs. Guerrilla Marketing Principles TM: Designed for big businesses GM: Designed for small and medium-sized businesses TM: Get as big a budget as possible GM: Use time, energy, and imagination TM: Measures effectiveness with sales GM: Measures effectiveness with profits TM: Based on experience, then judgment involving guesswork GM: Based on psychology--the laws of human behavior that determine buying patterns TM: Recommends increased production, then diversifying by offering allied products and services GM: Recommends maintaining standard of excellence, then diversifying when one can create synergy that helps sales without lowering quality TM: Stimulate linear growth by adding new customers GM: Stimulate exponential growth by using service and follow-up to create more and larger transactions, and referrals from present customers TM: Advocates destroying competition GM: Advocates cooperation with competitors to create win-win opportunities TM: Belief that one marketing weapon alone can work Belief in the synergy of a combination of weapons TM: Counts receipts to determine number of sales GM: Counts number of new relationships because each can generate many receipts TM: In past, avoided technology as complicated, expensive, and limited GM: Has always embraced technology as simple to use, reasonably priced, and limitless in potential TM: Identifies a handful of marketing weapons that are relatively costly GM: Begins with a base of 100 weapons, more than half of which are free, and urges creation of others TM: Intimidates small-business owners enshrouding marketing in mystique and complexity GM: Removes mystique putting small-business owner in control Marketing Secrets 1. Commitment: You must make a commitment to your marketing program. 2. Investment: You must think of marketing as an investment in your future. 3. Consistent: Your marketing must be consistent. 4. Confident: You must make potential customers confident in you. 5. Patient: You must be patient with your marketing. 6. Assortment: You must use an assortment of weapons to ensure the success of your marketing. 7. Subsequent: You must base your promotion on the belief that real profits come subsequent to the sale. 8. Convenient: You must run your business so it is convenient for those you serve. 9. Amazement: Put an element of amazement in your marketing. 10. Measurement: You must use measurement to judge the effectiveness of your weapons. 11. Involvement: Create and sustain involvement between you and your customers. 12. Dependent: Learn to be dependent on other businesses and encourage them to be dependent on you. 13. Armament: You must have the armament of guerrillas--the technology and the skills needed to promote your work. 14. Consent: You must gain the consent of those to whom you want to market. |
| ©2004 Fractal I-Marketing, World wide rights reserved. Paul Elliott, 207 N. Service Rd. E, #213, Ruston, LA 71270 |