Consider using Evergreen Marketing that you can create once and then use for many years. Photo / Getty Images
I'm a big fan of Evergreen Marketing and I highly recommend you use it in your business.
Let me explain:
An Evergreen Tree like a Pine Tree has leaves on it all year round. So it's "Ever Green" if you like.
A deciduous tree loses its leaves in Winter so is not Ever Green all year round.
Evergreen Marketing is marketing that can be used successfully all the time and often for many years.
Evergreen Marketing is also based on sound marketing fundamentals rather than clever tricks or hacks that only work for a short time.
A good example of Evergreen Marketing is collecting a positive testimonial from a client who has enjoyed great results from using your product or service.
If this testimonial is in the right format it can be used for many years when you are promoting your business.
By 'right format' I mean your client testimonial has a 'before' and 'after' picture.
So the results a client was experiencing before they used your business and the results they achieved after using your business.
Here's an example so you can see what I mean by 'before' and 'after' story.
Many years ago I had a marketing client called Doug who sold an expensive business service to large hotels.
Doug needed to meet with the general managers of these hotels to show them his service.
He was finding it extremely difficult to get a meeting with these hotel general managers. Doug would send out large numbers of introductory letters, make numerous follow up phone calls and was ending up with very few appointments.
I suggested to Doug that he implement two very simple marketing strategies that would have the hotel general managers contacting him and requesting an appointment.
Doug had been in business for many years and was initially very sceptical that the strategies I gave him would actually work.
Within a few short months of trying these two marketing strategies here is what he had to say...
"Graham, I wanted you to know that I am delighted with the wonderful sales results I achieved from using just two of your marketing strategies. When I first used these strategies I had a company that sold an expensive business service to the general managers of large hotels. (In the past these general managers had been very difficult to get an appointment with.)I used these two marketing strategies with 100 new prospects and got an amazing 10% response rate. I easily made appointments with the respondees and then converted 50% of these appointments into paid sales for our business service.
The end result was over $137,000 of new business within a few short months. What was great about using these two strategies was that these hotel managers were now contacting me and were very keen to talk about what we offered. In the past we were always chasing them for an appointment and it was very hard work. I have been in professional selling for a long time and would never have thought that such simple marketing strategies would have worked so well to increase my sales." - Doug Callander, speaker, trainer, consultant
Doug went on to tell me that he used these two marketing strategies for a number of years until he eventually sold his business.
Doug said that these two strategies worked regardless of where his prospects were located. He was based in Sydney and many of his hotel clients were based all around Australia.
He got the same response from clients in other cities as he did in his home town. He was even able to get the identical results from hotel prospects located in other countries like New Zealand.
Now I have used this testimonial from Doug for many years when marketing my own services because it has such a compelling 'before' and 'after' story.
Here's my marketing message for this week:
Consider using Evergreen Marketing that you can create once and then use for many years.
"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practised every day." - Jim Rohn
A simple way to use Evergreen Marketing is to collect 2-3 compelling testimonials from your best clients.
Make sure these testimonials include a compelling 'before' and 'after' story about the benefits of using your product or service.
When you do this right you will be able to use these compelling testimonials for many years to positively promote your business.
Remember that compelling testimonials from your best clients are up to ten times more persuasive and believable than anything you can say yourself about your business and what you sell.
They are also a great example of Evergreen Marketing.
About 120 people, including ZB's Mike Hosking and Heather du Plessis-Allan, interviewed.
