Articles for Sonnier Marketing & Communications, Inc.

No matter how great your external marketing, if your customer service team isn't upholding your marketing promises or taking advantage of their prime opportunities, you're missing out. Explore this poignant list of questions to determine how well your customer service staff is advancing or muddling up your marketing impact.

Today business really is not just about who you know, but who knows you, and that means getting "out there" through networking. Here are five ways to make those activities more productive. Choose smart venues. If your goal is to build business, go where your prospects and influencers are, not just people you like. The return on your time will be directly related to the prospect quality of those present. Definitely don’t overlook the online networking scene. People are gathering on popular ...

I watch people stress over marketing communications all the time. Whether it's an email, brochure, web page, advertisement, estimate, proposal, or anything else, careful thought must be given to ensure that you're putting the most marketing value into (and getting out of) every communication, large and small. To help me and you improve marketing effectiveness and ease of production in our business communications, here is a simple, but extremely useful tool to get all of us clear on what ...

Marketing is always a critical component of business success, but certainly when times are tight. If you aren't maintaining a smart, aggressive marketing effort, your business will always fall short of its potential, and that can become detrimental or even devastating in a stressful economic environment. Sometimes it takes a few buckets of sweat to kick us into the activities we should be doing all the time. View challenging times as an opportunity to clean up and perfect your marketing act. ...

My family and I put a little magic in our holiday by escaping for a few days to Disney World in Orlando. It was terribly fun watching my 3-year-old’s head explode as she came up close and personal with all of her favorite characters and princesses. I was equally mesmerized with wonderful sights, but of a different kind. As a marketing professional, I’m prone to scrutinize every detail of every place I go. I often remark on where a company missed or hit the mark in finding and capitalizing ...

Lauron explains how to reveal missed marketing opportunities in your business by asking the question, "Does this make a good, bad, or indifferent impression?" Click here to listen!

Sometimes the most difficult target audience or "pot" I have to deal with is the client himself. He will say that he wants to make things happen in his business, but when it really comes down to it, he doesn't want to stir things up. He's nervous, uncomfortable, uncertain, overwhelmed, paralyzed, stuck in the past, and afflicted with many other ailments that hold him back, along with his marketing and business success. Oh, he'll have good reasons to derail a marketing effort, but they ...

I think we all make marketing much more difficult than it needs to be. Send a good message to your target audience on a regular basis. That's essentially what marketing is all about. Certainly we can spend countless hours and dollars refining that message and analyzing our target audience--and we probably should. But, along the way, it's easy to neglect that core principle while we're busy strategizing, masterminding, planning, reviewing, producing, and reviewing some more. The ...

What do you need to share with the customer in every interaction you have? Lauron tells you the 4 key questions you must answer to get you thinking like a marketer in every communication. Click here to listen!

Standing out is about taking conscious, deliberate action to get noticed, get attention, and get your desired results. It's about going from ordinary to extraordinary. It's about shining in a way that helps you thrive. It's about being memorable--in a good way. I could talk for a long time about this topic, and I do in my marketing keynotes, trainings, workshops, and of course in my books where I give you all the how-to's as well. For now I'll share the 4 secrets so you can start ...

The race for a successful finish to 2008 is on! That means marketing should be a big topic on your mind. In truth, you should be thinking about marketing every second of every day. You and everyone in your business should always be asking, "What is the marketing opportunity here?", "How can we make a great impression here?", and several other questions that challenge you to stand out, "stir the pot," and put marketing into action. Right now I strongly encourage you to take a good look ...

Learn what it means to "stir the pot" and why it's the foundation, cornerstone, and almighty secret to your marketing success. Lauron shares how she became wise to the "stir the pot" principle and how it now guides her marketing and marketing teaching.

When your outside image is truly reflective of your identity, you're in an ideal state, one of authenticity, where you can be most effective in promoting and marketing yourself. However, when your image and identity are out of sync, the result is either a misrepresentation of the truth or a lack of marketing of the real you. So how do you get your image and identity in sync? 1. Clarify your vision of how you want to be perceived by others. (e.g. organized, knowledgeable, a "get it ...

1. Marketing doesn't mean sales so don't worry if you're "not a salesperson." The idea of selling invokes great fear in many people, and I have to admit that I don't particularly enjoy it either. But, I love to market because marketing is about making connections between those with a need or want and the person, company, or organization that can meet that need. It's about helping people, making their lives happier, easier, or better in some way by connecting them to my product or service. ...

What Your Target Audience Really Wants to Know It may seem paradoxical that the way to promote yourself or an idea to someone is to focus on the other person, but that's exactly how it works. Your first task is to get that person to listen to you, and that means you have to get their attention. People aren't inclined to listen to others who brag about themselves, share their problems, or constantly talk about themselves and what they need. All the time I hear people of every age, ...

Who are you really selling--your company or your sales team? Do you worry that your salespeople will take good clients with them when they leave? Do you have to work extra hard to save clients when a salesperson moves on? Prospects and customers need a relationship with your entire company, not just their salesperson. Why would you put the entire success of your company in the hands of your sales team? That's exactly what you're doing if you don't have a marketing machine ...

Gaining the confidence of a new customer is a big deal and it should be treated as such with a celebration. Internally, you and your staff should at least let out a good yelp, ring a bell, high-five each other, or do something to signify the success of another customer earned--and to alert everyone that they have a new customer to take great care of. Externally, it's time to show your gratitude and make a huge impression on your new customer. Welcome them in with a bang. Send them a ...

Why questions are your friends Salespeople spend too much time talking and not enough time listening. HR managers use up sacred interview time by doing most of the talking themselves. If you really want to know what to tell customers, clients, and employees, listen to them and they'll tell you what they need to know. This week work on spending more time thinking of what questions you need to ask, rather than what information you need to share. If you learn to ask the right ...

Unfortunately, many companies do not embrace the idea of marketing as they do the theory of "selling." "Sales makes money. Marketing spends money." That's on old perception...one that is dangerous for today's competitive marketplace. Companies that sell on the merits of their salespeople alone are in for rough times and will never realize the sales strength and potential of the company that understands that marketing is crucial to its success. Marketing sells the company as a whole. ...

Talk to one person and you're essentially talking to 52. That's because, when we count it all up, everyone has about 52 people in their circle of influence—52 co-workers, associates, neighbors, family members, friends and others who they can spread your message to and whose opinion they can influence. Everyone has 52 people in their circle of influence. As marketers, that means that with every person we reach, we have the opportunity to communicate to 52 other people ...