subject: Bringing Clarity To Reverse Marketing [print this page] Bringing Clarity To Reverse Marketing Bringing Clarity To Reverse Marketing
Seeking answers about reverse marketing is rather puzzling. Researching the topic myself, produced questionable results. I found multiple sites geared towards providing direction for reverse marketing. If you ask five people in business the same question, I bet you'll get five very different responses. It is my belief that the type of business or training an individual is involved with, determines their understanding of what reverse marketing is, being the reason you never hear one simple answer. My objective here is to shed some light on this subject and give you the most common ways in which reverse marketing is actually used.
Myriad of Reverse Marketing Explanations
Since you may hear different answers from various individuals, I decided to list a few of the answers some provide as to what reverse marketing is or how they use it:
Reverse Market To Marketing Aimed At You
Use existing ads to reverse market your product or services to the promoter. In this case, people are suggesting that you don't discard an opportunity to promote to people who are sending offers to you. Example: you receive a postcard, flyer, or mail piece advertising for a business or product. Rather than disregarding it as junk mail, you send that advertiser back an advertisement for your service or product. While some would consider this type of reverse marketing as an unwise use of your time, it can be worthwhile if employed right. You first need to ask yourself what this person or business is interested in gaining by sending you information. Next, consider how you, your products, or services can help them reach their goal. As an example, if the business is related to any products or services you offer, you may respond back with a piece of literature suggesting how you can help them to increase the number of customers or individual transactions. Your response needs to be applicable, or it will be a wasteful use of time, and your offer will also hit the garbage can .
Email can also be used for this reverse marketing strategy. A general rule in using email for reverse marketing is to always promote offers related to what each person really could use. Merely blasting replies to people about your product or service will not yield good results, actually, you'll get the opposite. Don't infuriate people with an impersonal response like "thanks for your information, I thought you might be interested in." Take a few minutes to research what they are doing, and respond with an educated reply stating how or why what you have could actually help them, if it truly could. People will respect you more if you take the time to learn about them.
Reverse Psychology Reverse Marketing
This is another form of reverse marketing where you literally use the opposite of a direct sales pitch to pitch your product or service. It's also known as the "take away" tactic. For illustration, let's say your ideal prospect is men of a certain age group. Your ad campaign directly states "this is not for men between the ages of 34-50." What do you think happens? Because your ad states it is not for them, it peaks their curiosity and they are compelled to look further because you just told them they couldn't have it. If you are looking for a competitive type personality or the type of person who loves to prove people wrong, they will want something more if told they can't do it or can't have it. It is human nature.
Imagine this scenario. You call or text one of your close friends. He or she answers and you tell them you have something huge to tell them, and you can't wait to share it with them. Before you tell them, suddenly something comes up, and you tell them you'll have to explain later and hang up. It won't be two seconds before that person refuses to go until you share with them. If you have something awesome that you can't give or share, it makes people want it more.
Another form of the take away approach is by literally taking away your product or opportunity from a person. This type of marketing is only successful when used with the right personality type, the type of person who will not let people decide for them. Let's say you have a person you are speaking with about your business opportunity who seems interested, yet seems to be somewhat of a maverick. Perhaps it is a person who may have great potential, but needs a little extra encouragement to make them self coachable. Instead of trying to convince them of your system or opportunity, you tell they may not be the best fit at this time. If you've ever refused a "big shot" an opportunity, then you know what comes next. "Wait a minute, what do you mean?" Confidently, you continue telling this person your offer isn't for everybody, and due to the serious nature of your business and the serious compensation involved, you are only looking for a certain type of person. Naturally, the next question will be "what type of people do you mean?" You respond again by letting them know you are looking for people who are willing to be trainable and submit them self to learning your system before going out on their own. This is the point in the process where that big shot starts to convince you that they are exactly the type of individual you should be working with, and they sell themselves on your opportunity. I must stress, if you try this tactic with a person who is not confident or loves a challenge, it will backfire.
Reverse Marketing or Attraction Marketing
My favorite form of reverse marketing is actually attraction marketing. It is a strategy for reverse marketing in which you create the desire in somebody to want to work with you, completely devoid of you having to ask the direct question. Attraction marketing is based on giving of valuable information, tools, or training, without pitching your product or service directly. The objective naturally is to market your product, but it is done in a way that doesn't shout out "I am a salesperson." This form of reverse marketing generally uses options like article marketing, video marketing, social networking, a blog, and SEO content for personal branding. The purpose is to compel potential clients to hunt for you, instead of you seeking them. When someone has gained something of value from you, they are more apt to want to partner with you and reciprocate.
Researching reverse marketing has yielded other types of responses as well, however they are not really marketing techniques but rather market research tactics. Reverse marketing can be a very profitable form of marketing if employed correctly. The key in being successful with any type of reverse marketing is to be on target and relevant to what your target market is searching for. When you solve a problem for people and give first, it opens the door for them to reciprocate.
