Web Site Marketing - how to be “The Apprentice” interesting article
Donald Trump’s Marketing Secrets Revealed!
Copyright © 2006 Quick Turn Marketing International,
Ltd.
It’s official!
Now in it’s third season, Donald Trump’s killer
television series “The Apprentice” is officially a
“franchise.”
With new seasons in the making, a clothing line that
carries “The Apprentice” brand, DVD’s in production,
and mega-fortunes to be made, it’s no surprise that
the king of real estate… a man who knows a good
thing when he sees it… is involved.
I like Donald Trump a lot.
Mostly because I learn something new from him every
time I watch him in action.
One of the barbs critics aim at Donald Trump is that
he’s a shameless egomaniac who can’t get enough of the
spotlight.
Well, they may call it egomania, but from my
perspective… it’s a brilliant business strategy.
I’ll admit it: I’m a marketer.
My job is to make people sit up and take notice of my
clients (and their products or services), and to
deliver a “brand” message at every opportunity.
That’s exactly what “The Donald” does.
If that makes me him an egocentric,
self-congratulatory target for media pundits, who
cares? Because it also makes him a “household
name”…in households from Bangor, Maine to Bangkok
Thailand.
Brand recognition is the foundation of every marketing
strategy.
If you’re a small business owner, YOU are your brand.
That means you must sell yourself as well as your
product or service.
Trump understands the concept, and what’s why you see
his brand Trump on everything.
You’ve got to be willing to get name out there…
Willing to say, “Hey look me!”… Ready to stand up
for yourself, believe in yourself, and blow your own
horn…
Loudly and as often as possible.
Have you noticed that each episode of “The Apprentice”
includes a segment devoted to a current Trump project?
This as an opportunity for “The Donald” to billboard a
success story.
Week after week, he tells millions of people, “I’m a
great real estate giant and here’s the proof.” Take a
tip from “The Donald”…
You’ve got to be your own full-time marketing campaign
24 hours a day… because nobody else will!
Especially if you’re an entrepreneur.
When you’re the own of a business, especially a new
business, it’s kind of like being a parent.
Before your business can “talk”… before your “little
one” has grown and established a reputation that
literally “speaks for itself”… you need to be the
“spokesperson.”
How long will this last?
You may not want to hear this, but the answer is –
forever. You must always be ready to carry the banner
for your business and your success.
So, before you give Donald Trump “two thumbs done” for
shameless self-promotion, consider how his ego… and
his knack for savvy marketing… is a real asset to
his business empire.
If it’s good enough for “The Donald,” it’s good enough
for me… and YOU, too.
The next time you sit down for the next episode of the
“Book Smarts vs. Street Smarts” season of “The
Apprentice,” open your mind.
Instead of picking at the negative traits of “The
Donald” or his “top guns” Carolyn and George, think
about their success and ask yourself…
What can I learn from this guy? How does he marketing
himself? How can I adapt this concept to me and my
business?
The truth is, if you can’t get at least a handful of
“golden nuggets” from this super-successful
entrepreneur, you may be hopeless.
What I’d like to do is share some of the key marketing
insights I’ve learned from Donald Trump and “The
Apprentice” that you, too, can use in your business.
Before we get to the marketing insights, however,
there’s a bigger business concept that you need to
understand.
I’ll give it to you the way I like best… straight…
“Lok-ed and loaded” to blow your mind:
You have something to learn from people of any age,
any background, any education, and any level of
success.
The candidate on “The Apprentice” can’t hold a handle
to Donald Trump’s success. Yet each week, they pull
rabbits out of hats, rising (more or less) to meet the
challenges presented to them.
Every new task makes them better in business as they
evolve, refine strategies, and respond to what they’re
learning. There’s no better formula for success than
the flexibility and resilience they demonstrate.
So don’t just focus on “The Donald” for your weekly
dose of marketing magic.
Keep an eye on the candidates, too! You never know
who’s got something to teach you.
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Apprentice Marketing Lesson #1 - Too Much Is Never
Enough
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Actually, “too much is never enough” was a successful
slogan from the early days of MTV, but it could just
as easily be the “poster child” for marketing. You
can never connect with consumers too frequently.
There’s a marketing truism out there: To sell a
prospect, you’ll need to make repeated contact.
That’s why most direct mail campaigns use a minimum of
three messages, why magazines put as many as five
subscription forms in each issue, and why “The Donald”
says the word “Trump” as many times as he can in every
episode of “The Apprentice.”
Does it make a difference? Can it make “The Donald”
even more successful?
Definitely.
In the 21st Century, every consumer is bombarded with
advertising messages…up to 3,000 a day for some people.
After a while, they just tune out. Or, if they don’t
tune-out, consumers are often so distracted that they
don’t really hear or see a marketing message.
It’s more effective to send three mailers to 1,000
prospects than one mailer to 3,000though the cost is
the same. Another approach is a “timed” or “sequenced”
campaign.
In this kind of campaign, message #1 is a teaser. #2
is the “guts” and a gift offer. #3 gives ordering
instructions. The sequenced approach allows you to
generate both expectations and recognition.
Prospects look forward to hearing from you.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that
you need to keep hammering away at the eyes and ears
of potential prospects. But the main reason for this
many not be as obvious as you think…
By repeating your marketing message over and over, you
“imbed” that message in the consumer’s mind. Then,
when the consumer needs what you have to offer,
they’ll think of you first… even if aren’t actively
marketing to them in the moment.
The goal is to make yourself the automatic go-to
solution for a problem whenever that problem occurs.
The consumer’s sub-conscious will do the driving.
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Apprentice Marketing Lesson #2 - Sex Sells, But Too
Much Sex Repels
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The candidates chosen for “The Apprentice” are
uniformly attractive, articulate, and the kind of
people that most other people enjoy looking at.
The producers of the show — including Mark Burnett
who produces that other mega-hit “Survivor” — know
that sex sells on television.
Sex sells in marketing, too.
During the second season of “The Apprentice” when “The
Donald” pitted the men against the women, tasks were
routinely won thanks to sex appeal… women’s AND
men’s.
(You may recall that the men’s team used one of their
attractive members to flirt with and win over a table
of gay diners during a restaurant challenge.)
But if you weren’t watching closely, you might have
missed the episode where sex didn’t sell — big
time… and THAT is the point of this mini-lesson.
In one of the last episodes of the second season,
candidates were challenged to sell candy.
On one team, two blonde women donned matching red
leotards and flashed — their smiles only — at male
prospects.
Sales were brisk because, as we all know, sex sells…
and for most men there’s nothing sexier than a leggy
blonde.
The other team was struggling, so with just minutes to
spare before the end of a task, one team member
offered to drop her skirt as a way to convince male
passersby to buy her candy.
They bought… in droves.
They weren’t buying candy, of course, they were buying
sex… just like the guy who finds a car suddenly
irresistible because of the leggy swimsuit model
that’s advertising it at the Auto Show… and just
like the guys who bought from the blonde “twins” on
the other team.
The problem with the “buy my candy and you can see my
buns” approach is that it was over the top.
As “The Donald” pointed out in the boardroom, the
candidate wasn’t selling candy… she was selling sex
literally, with a candy bar bonus.
That, my friends, is why so many marketers are
referred to as prostitutes… and why the candidate
who dropped her skirt was dropped from the show at the
end of the task.
As “The Donald” put it so eloquently: You’re fired!
The skirt-dropping candidate was fired despite the
fact that she had fulfilled her mission — to make
money. Why? By over-selling sexuality, she left a
negative over-all impression.
Sex is powerful stuff…use it wisely and sparingly.
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Apprentice Marketing Secret #3: Cross-Promotion
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I’ve talked about this concept until I am blue in the
face, but I still meet prospective clients who
stubbornly say, “My product is such a winner that I
don’t need to partner with other businesses and give
away any of my profits.”
That’s insane!
Or more delicately “No man is an island”…and no
business is either. There’s not a company on earth
that can survive without a constant stream of
qualified prospects coming through the door.
So it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or what
product/service you make available, whoever you are…
Tying your product to another popular product,
service, business, or person is always a winning
marketing strategy.
“The Apprentice” has featured cross-promotions with
Burger King, Pepsi, the Planet Hollywood restaurant
chain, and other well-know, extremely successful
businesses.
If these super-corporations benefit from
cross-promotions, doesn’t it seem logical that your
business can, too?
The biggest trend in high-end marketing today is film
and TV cross- promotions. Ever since E.T. gave Reese’s
Pieces a huge boost, marketers have aggressively tried
to get their products “placed” in films and television
shows.
Having a good product or service is NOT enough…
although it’s certainly “Job 1.” Quality and value
bring your customers back for more. But how the heck
do they do how wonderful your stuff is if they haven’t
even bought from you yet?
In order to make a sale, you need someone you can sell
to. To achieve that you need effective marketing
systems to get these people in your funnel in the
first place.
Cross-promotion is the key.
Customers who are already “sold” on the business your
partnering with become, essentially, pre-sold on you.
And cross-promotion allows you to expand your
marketing reach without spending any additional
marketing dollars.
Can you imagine how much Burger King would have to pay
for a 15-second spot during “The Apprentice.”
By appearing within the show in a carefully negotiated
cross-promotion, Burger King gets all the gain (aka
the audience) with none of the pain (advertising
expenses)
What did “The Donald” get out of all of this? In
addition to finding a company willing to let his
apprentices take over their business for the day,
consumers will now “think Trump” when they purchase
one of the burgers promoted on the show.
Clever, huh?
You’re Fired… Fired-Up, That Is
I’ve “distilled” the essence of just three of the
effective marketing concepts that Donald Trump has
accidentally shared on “The Apprentice.” They’re the
same strategies he uses in his own business, but he’s
let the cat out of the bag and now his secrets are
YOUR secrets
If you’re inspired by what you’ve read here and would
like to go deep into Trump’s mind, “The Donald” has
written several powerful books filled with stories,
anecdotes, secrets, and amazingly effective techniques
for making it to the top… and staying there through
thick and thin.
*Trump: How to Get Rich
*Trump: The Way to the Top
*Trump: Surviving at the Top
*Trump: The Art of the Deal
*Trump: The Art of Survival
Did you notice that each book leads with the word
“Trump”? He never misses an opportunity to promote his
brand.
I told you “The Donald” was a master marketer!
And consider this: if you can beg, borrow, or steal
just one or two ideas from a man who’s sitting on a
billion-dollar empire… ideas that could jumpstart
your business empire… wouldn’t it be worth 20 bucks?
(Less if you get a second-hand copy on Ebay).
This is your chance to be “The Apprentice” of Donald
Trump… to learn from the master… without worrying
about getting fired on national television.
Dan Lok
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A former college dropout, Dan Lok transformed himself
from a grocery bagger in a local supermarket to a
multi-millionaire. Today, Dan is one of the most
sought-after business mentors on the Web, as well as
a best-selling author. His reputation includes his title
as the World’s #1 Website Conversion Expert.
To find out what Dan is up to now, visit him at:
WebsiteConversionExpert