Website Re-Design/Makeover: Authentic Marketing will review your current site, perform
a thorough competitive analysis, determine the weaknesses, and then work with our
designers to provide website improvements or makeovers that will be more suitable to
your goals.

Complete Website Design and Build: Starting from the ground up we will determine what
you need, and build a professional site that works.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) “Lite”:  Some situations only require a few SEO
components implemented in order to achieve great results.  Our “lite” version is
intended for those businesses that just need a couple SEO strategies, and not the
“fully-loaded” version.

SEO ‘Fully-Loaded”: Authentic Marketing’s “fully-loaded” version is just that.  We pull
out all the SEO strategies necessary in order to get you the ranking and results you want.

Pay Per Click Advertising: Did you know that 55% of Internet users use search
engines to find local businesses? Advertising in the local phone book just isn’t
enough! Whether you own the dry cleaning business or a regional accounting firm,
with our PPC solution you will be able to target customers in your surrounding area.

Social Media Marketing: Identifying the correct social media strategy for your business
can be overwhelming.  We will analyze, set-up, optimize, and monitor the correct social
media strategy specifically for your business. Take advantage of web 2.0, linkbuilding
campaigns, blogs, social bookmarking, and much-much more.

Listbuilding: Building an in-house email list can become one of the most profitable moves
you have ever made.  In fact, Authentic Marketing could choose one marketing strategy out
of the myriad of marketing methods we deploy - this would be it!  A solid and growing list
that you can start and nurture a business friendship with is worth its weight in gold. 
 
Brochure & Postcard Design: We have the ability to create anything from a 3 x 5 postcard
to a 100 page 8 ½ x 11 full color spread.  You think of it—we can design it.  If you don’t
have the photos or the copy we can take care of that as well. 

Fulfillment Services:  Authentic Marketing has preferred vendors that fulfill the most
unique requests.  We can have letters and envelopes handwritten; or send “Lumpy” or
“3-D mail”.  The sky is the limit.

Identity & Image Creation or Redesign: Need a logo, business cards, stationary,
envelopes,etc! Whether we are creating it from scratch or providing you with a fresh
look,the same process occurs.  Want a 3rd party un-biased opinion on the options?  We
can arrange that as well. 

Customer Relationship Management:  In order to maximize the relationship between you
and a prospect or customer you must continue to communicate with them.  We can build
an automatic communication system that involves a variety of distribution mediums;
email, phone, direct mail, video, singing telegram, and more.

Direct Mail Campaign: Authentic Marketing provides a variety of direct mail strategies.
The key is making sure what you want to mail will be well received from your prospects. 
We have tested just about everything that can be done in direct mail.  You benefit from
our experience!

Email Marketing Campaign: We can easily create professional looking emails,
e-newsletters, and online surveys to engage your customers, learn more about them,
and increase sales. All correspondances will be safe, unobtrusive, and SPAM act compliant. 

Training: Our passion has always been helping others.  We continue to provide sales,
marketing, and customer service training to corporations on a limited basis.  Spending
many years in the corporate sales environment, we have a complete understanding on the
importance of 3rd party training. 

Speaking: Need someone to mix it up a little.  As a tag-team we provide a “two heads are
better than one” strategy to speaking.  We keep awake and entertained while delivering
high quality content they can use right away to improve their results.  Topics include
but are not limited to; Marketing, Advertising, Sales, Mindset, and Personal Productivity.

I think Bob Barker was the host for like 100 years and Don Pardo the announcer would also
say “you could win fabulous prizes…If the price is right!”

What about you?

Are You Charging the Right Price?

A question we get asked all the time is “How do I know what to Charge”?

One of the hardest things that Small Business Owners have to is set
their price(s).  How much is enough, how much is too much?

It’s a pretty common dilemma.  The truth is that most businesses grossly
underestimate their price elasticity.

Most small business owners err on the side of lower prices, and far too
often service providers base their hourly rates on what they were
earning as employees. Neither of these methods is best…

Take for instance the average small business owner that Karry and I
run across.  They believe that they must charge the lowest prices in order
“compete” and attract customers. That seems logical, Wal-Mart sure does a lot of business.
But so does Nordstrom and Saks. 

You don’t have to be the cheapest price, but you do need to offer the best value
for your target market.

So by now you want to ask what everyone else asks “how do I know what to
charge”?

You research and test it!

First: Find out what your competitors are charging. And more importantly
find out what your target market will get from them for that price.  If
you are offering more value then you should price accordingly. If you are not
offering more value…brainstorm ways to give them more value.

NOTE: Competing on price and price alone is an expensive game to be in.  You want to avoid
every chance you get.

Second:  Determine what your target market expects.  If there is an expectation
for higher quality and better service, they probably already expect to pay
higher than average prices.  Cheap prices will likely just push them away like
bad perfume.

Third:  Examine whether you are attracting the right customers. Depending on
your product and/or service the wrong price brings the wrong customers.  The
last thing you want is to attract bargain hunters that take up more of your
time for less money.  This is a slippery slope…so be careful!

Fourth: Do you have enough business? If you are not reaching your sales goals,
and worse not being able to cover the bills.  Chances are your prices may be
too high.  However they could be too low, but you need to test it to know for sure.

Fifth and surely not the final: Do you have too much business?  If you are
dealing with more customers than you can handle then your price is way too
low.  Raising prices may be just what the Dr. ordered.

Follow this formula to find the honey spot for pricing your products or service…
(especially if you are a service provider and you charge by the hour)

Start at the lower end of the price range for a limited number of “X”.

Raise it up a little for the next number of “X”.

Keep doing that until you get consistent price resistance.  Once you see results lowering a
little, then back off the price 5% and you have your price.

Final thought…

Price can be a moving target.  You want to be careful, everytime you move the
target a little you want to make sure you have a good message to support it.

We have found that the majority of price resistence can be overcome through the
crafting of the value proposition.  It’s all in how you say it!

Working with a good direct response copywriter may be the best investment you
could ever make when you decide it is time to change your pricing.

Dedicated To Increasing Your Cash Flow

Chad & Karry

Hey don’t judge… some drink coffee-I drink Diet Coke.

OK back to McDonald’s.

When I arrived at the window I was handed a little rewards card.  You know
the punch card type.

Being in the Marketing Biz, my natural instincts force me to view everything
through marketing goggles (my wife thinks it’s a curse). Anyway, I’m always on the
lookout for ideas that are new, unique, and effective to pass on to you and
our clients.
 

I noticed right away two very glaring problems.

One…The card was for espresso drinkers.  I don’t even drink coffee let alone
these fancy espresso drinks they were promoting, and the young lady at the window
knows this. I’ve seen her Monday thru Friday for the last 4 months and I always order
the same thing. 

Two…There was an expiration date for December 31st of 08′.

So I had to ask.

Why did you feel compelled to give me a card when I never order an espresso, and why
did you give me a card that was expired?

Here’s what she said…Wait for it!

“Last year we were only handing them out to espresso drinkers, but then we realized we
had too many of them so we were told to hand them out to everyone.  And even though they
are expired we are still accepting them.”

I drove away thinking to myself.  Wow!

So what’s my point? Two marketing lessons!

First lesson, Be Frugal but Don’t be Cheap.

In certain situations it’s OK to spend as little money as possible. BUT never give away
something that is going to give people the impression that you are cheap.  Handing out
a card that has already expired screams “I am too cheap to reprint these” and “I really don’t
care if you use it or not”.

If the card works then keep using it, but make sure you don’t give the impression you
are handing out something that people won’t be able to benefit from.

Remember–not everyone will ask, they’ll just assume it’s expired and no longer valid!

The Second lesson, Don’t Waste Your Time and Money–Chasing.

We all know that chasing is NEVER good, poor positioning right out of the gates.

The chasing I am referring to here is when you chase someone that does not fit your
targeted prospect. (Side Note) If you are introducing a new product WITHIN the same
product category it’s a good idea to try some type of free giveaway just to incent your
customers to give it a try.

But back to today’s example…I am NOT and never will be a coffee drinker. I understand you
may not always know your customer or prospect well enough to know if they have an interest in
your offer but it’s really easy to find out.  Just ASK! It would have been very easy for the
nice girl in the window to just say…”Do you like coffe drinks? Know anyone who does? You get the
point. Short of that…it doesn’t make sense to reach out to me with a coffee incentive? It’s
a waste of time and a waste of money.

So if you ever decide to create a reward program or a punch card please remember this…make
sure you target properly and do not hand out something that is expired.

Dedicated To Increasing Your Cash Flow,
Chad & Karry
PS Just for the record this punch card was designed well, so if you are thinking about doing
one–this is a good model.  The First espresso was free, buy the next four and get the
fifth free. <<< there’s more >>>  Keep the card, buy the next five and get the sixth free. 
That is three free, when everyone else is only giving one for the same amount of purchases.
(I especially like the FIRST ONE FREE)

I would be shocked if it was not at least in the double digits.

Usually at the beginning of every year the Multi-Tasking movement
gains some serious momentum.  And why wouldn’t it…

We start the New Year with a list a mile long of things to fix in
our business, goals we need to accomplish, things are spouse wants
us to do, and so on and so on…

No surprise that in January and February we have all good intentions
to allocate adequate time to each item on the list.

But then…

Life happens- the phone rings, the blackberry buzzes, the email chime
on your computer makes you look, and God forbid you get interrupted
by a customer.  We get caught up the minutia and never get to the things
that will make the biggest difference in our lives.

What about you?  Are you constantly in a reactive state throughout the
day?  If you are…chances are this year is going to end up looking just
like last year or worse. 

Here is how to get control and get things done.

Every interruption that occurs takes on average 15
minutes to recover from?  (5 minutes to take care of the interruption,
5 minutes to literally remember what you were doing before the
interruption, and 5 minutes to get back to frame of mind you were in)

Now add ALL those 15 minute interruptions up and it’s easy to see what’s
TRULY causing you not get anything done in a day.

Now to be Authentic I must admit, Karry and I were both this way for
years.  We still have challenges with it from time to time.
 
About a year ago we started paying attention to those that were
successfully juggling multiple clients, multiple businesses, & multiple
projects.

The one thing they all had in common was “CHUNKING”!

Chunking is pretty elementary when you break it down. It is the idea of
taking your day and blocking out “specific time chunks”.  These “time chunks”
are for working on ONE item and that item only!

Your email, phone, blackberry, or whatever can wait until that time is up.

The KEY is NO Cheating…When that time is up you move on to something else.
Don’t keep working on it after the time you allocated is up. 

Remember, if done properly you have also chunked out time for other tasks that are
important to you as well. You are only cheating yourself.

For example, if you are writing an ad’-stop mid sentence. If you are reviewing sales
figures-stop, and even if you are doing something that feels like it HAS TO BE DONE-stop.

You might be asking yourself how is this effective?  If I am in the
middle of something wouldn’t it be best to finish it?  We thought that too.
But following the advice of some very productive people, we committed to
“following the rules” and it has no doubt made a huge difference.

It’s all about uninterrupted FOCUS during your dedicated “chunk”.

The old saying goes…it takes 21 days to make something a habit. After
it is a habit and you need 5 extra minutes to completely wrap up what you
were working on, take it. 

I warn you…do not get in a hurry to cheat the process. 

So, let’s recap…

In order to be an effective multi-tasker you MUST “Chunk” your time, and
stick to it. Turn your phones, emails, and blackberries off.  Put a
“do not disturb” sign on your door.

Dedicated To Increasing Your Cash Flow,
Chad & Karry
P.S.  One thing that always helped Karry and I remember the importance
of “chunking” were ALL the 15 minutes of our life we would never get back if
we continued to allow interruptions to occur.

Often I spent years waiting for something to be perfect before I would let the world
see it…much to our mentors dismay!

Finally, I got over my pride and my analness and gave action a try.  It was tough
letting go of the perfection gene at first, but in the end I couldn’t believe the
results we received.

Guy Kawasaki says “Perfect is the enemy of good enough.  When you product or
service is good enough, get it out, because cash flows when you start shipping.
You’ll also learn what your customers truly want you to fix.  It’s a trade-off:
your reputation versus cash flow, so you can’t ship pure crap. Butyou can’t wait
for perfection either.”

I witnessed this phenomenon first hand again this weekend, and was reminded by the power of
action. Pay attention, and enjoy the lesson—and if you haven’t paid attention to it
before I am telling you this is proof.

For the last 3 month my sister-in-law has been working on opening a new Cupcake Bakery
somewhere in our neighborhood.  She finally got a space, just 4 weeks ago.

We worked late nights and weekends trying to get the place ready and perfect for
a Grand Valentines Opening…the perfect start to a cupcake bakery.

One problem I was observing, but keeping to myself for obvious reasons, was my
sister-in-law had “THIS VISION”. Unfortunately, “THIS VISION” was not coming to reality
very easy.

Brief back ground on the sister-in-law…I love her dearly but she usually is not
satisfied unless her “VISIONS” are 100% met (house, wedding, 14 locations for the cupcake
passed up because it wasn’t perfect,etc)

I can admit when I am wrong.  She opened a day early, and the store was only about 80%
to par.

All day Saturday we ran out of cupcakes, we ran out of boxes, we had a hard time figuring
out the register, and worst of all IT WAS A BLAZING SUCCESS…

Everyone had a great time, they sold more than expected, learned what worked and what didn’t,
and grabbed some great customers…without being 100% ready.

We can learn soooooo much from “just taking action”

Dedicated To Increasing Your Cash Flow
Chad & Karry

It’s all too easy to make.

Why?

Because business owners are usually good at the “thing”
their business does for their clients.

For Example…
carpet cleaners are good at cleaning carpets,
mechanics are good at fixing cars,
retail shops are good at carrying and displaying merchandise
that people want,
restaurants are good at creating the right atmosphere and
serving great food,
copier sales companies are good at knowing how a particular copier
will help you be more efficient or save money.

You get the idea.

Unfortunately most business owners are not trained in the
art and science of response driven marketing (and don’t have time
to learn it).  So like we did back then - they simply take the
advice of whom they are advertising with (yellow pages, val-pak,
local paper, etc).

Seems logical, doesn’t it?

I’m sure you have had advertising people tell you “You need to get
your name out there so when people think of (fill in your business here)
they call you.” This is the advertising salesperson’s standard pitch.

They want you to put your face on restaurant place mats, on billboards,
on shopping carts, penny saver, on radio, TV, newspaper ads, etc.
It seemed logical to us way back when, so that’s exactly what we did.

The only problem was that it didn’t work.

When I confronted these sales people, I found out that they must get
this a lot since they all had a standard reply, “You got to give it time.
Keep running it and you will get responses.  Remember, the key is getting
yourself noticed and getting your name out there.  It’s all about repetition.”

That’s a load of Bull!!!

Before you judge what I’m saying…let me say that many of those advertising
mediums would/could work if, and this is a big IF they are done properly.

The sad truth however, as much as 90% of these DO NOTHING to bring in
more business.

The reason: Most of these ads are nothing more than a business card.
They give name, address, phone and a little about the company.  Things
like…”10 Years of Great Service to Area Residents”, or “Million Dollar Producer”.

Most all of these ads are ME or Company focused.  Not a good thing
if you actually want someone to respond.

So what’s the big lesson for today?

YOUR ADS SHOULD BE ABOUT A SPECIFIC BENEFIT TO THE PROSPECT!!

NOT YOU OR YOUR COMPANY!   People care about what’s in for them.

Not about your years in business, or awards you’ve won, or really anything
else—except what value you can bring to them.

You can always tell them later about your years in business and the
awards you’ve won.

But this I am pretty sure of…if you start there you will never get
the chance to help them with your product or service because they most
likely never respond to your advertising!

Dedicated to increasing your cash flow,

Karry and Chad

Has this ever happened to you?

I remember walking into a local computer sales shop (I try to
support local any chance I can), looking for a new laptop.

I was greeted by the owners son with a “hello can I help
you find something today?”  I simply replied “yes, I am looking
for a new laptop”.

For the next 25, or so, minutes I received a condensed PHD in
computer science, storage, RAM, Chips, and more.

Overwhelmed-bored-frustrated, I simple thanked him for the info.
and left.

Business owners tend to focus inward, on products, on services,
on the business itself. The challenge is to focus outward, on
consumer/client/user interests, thoughts, conversations occurring
in their minds, and the way they make decisions.

So - how do we go about doing this?

First, you need to make sure EVERYONE in your business is on the
same page and ready to follow your lead.

Next, everyone should shelve their internal knowledge and old
habits of just spewing information.

Finally, and the real meat of this, create a list of 3-5 questions
that everyone can ask a customer BEFORE making any assumptions.

Example of what should have taken place when I arrived at the
computer store: (after exchanging pleasantries)

1) Do you currently own a computer?

2) What is the most important feature you want from this new purchase.

3) What would you be using this computer for?

4) Anybody else using this computer, and what would they
be using it for?

Bonus:
If someone says “I don’t know”.  Try this…”I know you may not
know, but if you did know …what would it be?”

You will be shocked at the results this little question
can make.

In short, true understanding of the customer’s thoughts and
emotions is far more important than anything else.

Understanding your customer may not be easy. But that is your job.

Which is why you must read what they read, watch what they watch,
hang out where they hang out, listen as they talk, shop where they
shop.
Dedicated To Increasing Your Cash Flow
Chad & Karry

We understand our luggage is going to be lost once in
a while, there may be the occasional malfunction in
our dinner order, or a product you ordered get’s damaged
beyond recognition through the mail.

However, the one thing that chaps our hides is to see businesses
lose loyal customers because of rigid, poorly thought out RULES!

Don’t get me wrong, we are not talking about rules, or principles
that are critical to business success.

This is about…return policies, change policies, sales policies, etc.

Now that you understand what I am referring to let me
tell you about a recent situation that cost me an hour and
half of my life I will never get back…all because of some RULE!

Setup:
A month ago I purchased from Travelocity, two airline
tickets AND hotel rooms for Eben Pagans Mastermind meeting
in Los Angeles.

A week before the trip one of our coaching clients called and
asked us for some one-on-one time in Phoenix.  He also wanted to
introduce us to a friend of his that was in some desperate need of
marketing help. So we decided to fly into Phoenix the day before we
were scheduled to leave for L.A.

I have changed airline tickets many times before.  No big deal, right?

WRONG!

Travelocity has a RULE, a rule that states ANY combo
reservation package is considered a “Vacation Package”
and the ONLY change a “Vacation Package” can make
is a date change.

I understand the spirit behind the rule…

You block out hotel time–they want to make sure you use that time.
They want their money.

The problem was we were NOT changing our Hotel reservation
we were still going to be there to use those rooms.

All we wanted to do was change the first leg of the trip to
Phoenix and make it a day earlier.  We would then get a
one-way ticket from Phoenix to L.A. to finish out our trip
as planned.

They couldn’t see that.  Their rigid view was we were
trying to break a rule.  A rule they were not willing to
step out of the box and say “hmmm does this rule really fit here”.

Needless to say after 1 ½ hours and 4 people telling me NO,
I finally found someone that was willing to get a three way
call with Alaska Air and confirm that as long as I kept the
hotel the same—they would gladly take more money from me
in order to accommodate our travel plans.

Lesson:
Rules are great when they are used to create effective marketing
campaigns, HR Policies, etc.

But ALL Rules that pertain to dealing with customers/clients
should be measured against common sense and ultimately how
they make the customer feel about you and your business.

So ask yourself this question about your business…

Are there procedures/processes in your company that are
preventing you or your staff from doing the right thing for
your customer?

Never forget that your customers have more choices than ever before.

I challenge you to take a minute to review your sales process,
your return policy, and your customer service policy.

Challenge every RULE you have in place to see if YOU
would be ok if it was you on the other side.  Your goal should
be to create “WOW” experiences with every customer interaction.

If you don’t–you risk losing them forever!

Case in point–I will NEVER use Travelocity again!

Will I let them know of my decision, NOPE!

I will just take my business and slip away—while
telling others so they don’t make the mistake of
booking that “VACATION” they thought was a business trip.
Dedicated To Increasing Your Cash Flow,
Chad and Karry

So here is a quick tip with a twist!

Gary Halbert, one of the best copywriters of all
time was famous for saying “All I need is a
starving crowd.”

You may have heard the same saying tweaked a
little, but in case you ever wondered where it
came from…It was the late Mr. Halbert.

Now, one thing I heard this weekend that was
a little more profound to me was originally
from John Carlton, another great copywriter.

John said, “All I need is a bleeding neck.”

On the surface it seems the same, but dig a
little deeper and you will realize it’s not.

What are both of these men trying to say?

Stop trying to provide something YOU think
people want or need, provide them with exactly
what THEY are looking for.

A starving crowd is great, but a bleeding neck takes
things to a different level.

If you’re hungry or starving, you still have time to
find some food.  Time is important but the situation
may not be urgent enought yet.

But if someone has a bleeding neck you know exactly
what they are looking for…ANYTHING that will
stop the bleeding RIGHT NOW!!

Closely examine what your business really sells and
ask yourself…

How can I identify the starving crowd of people who
are already searching for what I have to offer?

Now how can I drill down even deeper to locate the
people with bleeding necks?  That is where the low
hanging fruit is!

All of your marketing messages should be directed to
these two groups.

Make sure your ad headlines are benefit driven and
specifically directed to the starving crowd/bleeding
neck groups and you will have created a sure winner!

Quick headline example:
Just Released! The 3 Step Method to STOP the Bleeding
From YOUR Neck in 60 Seconds or Less!

Dedicated to Increasing Your Cash Flow,

Chad & Karry

P.S. Here’s another quick lesson you can learn
from this post:  I have heard Gary Halbert’s
saying more times than you can imagine.  Upon
hearing John’s I was moved again.  The same thing
said slightly different can make a huge difference
in your response rate.

P.P.S.  If your business is bleeding customers and cash during
these tough times.  Give us a call.  We’re here to help.
503-573-4259

Many people that we talk to think his gift was in public speaking,
some think it was his leadership, and some think it was his big
heart for people in general.There is surely no wrong answer.

We believe that if you look closer into Mr. King’s abilities
there are two specific skills that business owners could
incorporate to increase their results drastically.

Mr. King had the innate ability to mentally and emotionally
place himself in the shoes of others.  This allowed him to
communicate on a very personal level, persuasively presenting
solutions to problems people wanted solved.

So how can this help you in your marketing or your business…

It comes down to knowing the difference between your prospects
wants and needs.  People ALWAYS buy what they want but don’t
always buy what they need.

So make sure you are selling to their WANTS!

Every year millions of drills and drill bits are sold to people
who did not want them.  What they wanted was hole!!  Are you
mistakenly selling drills in your marketing when you should be
selling holes?

By communicating that you understand their wants, you become
the obvious choice to fulfill them.

Finally, and this one is a biggie, you must tell them exactly
how to get it.  We are talking simple to follow instructions.
If you want them to call then you must tell them to “pick up
the phone and dial your number,” then give them your number –TWICE.

May your Martin Luther King Jr. day be filled with joy and peace.

Dedicated to Increasing Your Cash Flow

Chad & Karry