Graham McGregor: How to attract ideal new customers

Use Special Reports to attract clients. Photo / Thinkstock

Opinion

Marketing consultant Graham McGregor on why 'Special Reports' work so well to attract ideal new customers.

I'm a big fan of marketing strategies that require very little effort to use yet produce remarkable results when you use them.

A perfect example of this is using special reports to attract new customers. I've personally used special reports for myself and my clients for over 21 years.

Special reports are still one of the most effective marketing strategies I know.

Think of a special report as being a 'how to' guide related to your product or service.

In your special report you will answer the common questions a customer has about your product or service. Your special report will show your customer the steps involved in buying your product or service and also show them the common mistakes to avoid. Your special report will often have insider secrets and special tips that a typical new customer will probably not know about. Ideally it will also have a number of real life examples so the person reading it will understand clearly the points you are making. It should also be very easy to read and understand. So skip the jargon and buzz words common to your industry.

Your special report should have an interesting title and contain a lot of valuable tips and information in it. This means your special report is something that a potential new customer will find very helpful if they are thinking about purchasing the products or services you sell.

The very first special report I ever wrote was called "The seven biggest mistakes that salespeople make every week". At the time I wrote this special report I was selling sales training programmes. I created this special report initially as a free bonus and mailed it to about 50 clients who had purchased my sales training programmes.

My special report was around eight pages long and very plainly presented. It was photocopied in black & white. (I called this my 'Plain Jane' special report because it was definitely very ordinary looking.)

Over a year later this 'Plain Jane' special report was found in an employee's desk by the training manager of one of the largest banks in the country.

This training manager phoned me and told me she really enjoyed the ideas in this special report. She made an appointment to meet with me a few days later and purchased on the spot a large amount of the sales training programmes I had for sale.

We never did find out how the special report got there; because the bank (up to then) had never been one of my customers.

The lesson here is that your special report doesn't have to be perfect before you use it. Just give your special report an interesting title and then decide on a few useful points or ideas you want to cover. Then invite a number of potential clients to order it and you are in business.

Once you have a number of people who have ordered your special report then stay in touch with a dripping tap programme of added value communications. I talked about how to do this in an earlier Herald article - The Added Value Dripping Tap.

I highly recommend you use special reports in your business. They are one of the best ways I know to attract ideal new clients. (And you can order one of my most popular special reports from the link at the end of this article.)

People don't want to be "marketed TO"; they want to be "communicated WITH."

- Flint McGlaughlin

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage Report.' (This is free and has now been read by business owners from 11 countries.) You can email Graham on graham@twomac.co.nz