The Edge Marketing

The highly entertaining Donald Trump’s search for an apprentice turned into a hit reality TV show captured attention of millions of Americans and week after week delivered great insights into leadership, business and marketing savvy.

In one of the episodes Trump challenged the two opposing teams of apprentice wannabes (Apex and Mosaic) to put together a bridal gown sale.

Each team had to contact vendors, secure inventory, and most importantly, attract qualified prospects to generate the maximum profits. And here is the kicker – they had just 24 hours to do it.

(For more details see the blow-by-blow outline of this episode.)

Mosaic moved very quickly. They…

1. Zeroed in on a specific strategy: give other bridal shops’ opportunity to sell their discontinued designs at drastically discounted prices.

2. Formulated a marketing plan: send 23,000 highly targeted email announcements to brides-to-be for a cost of $1,000

3. Divided and delegated the tasks and got busy implementing their plan.

As a result of a clear and attractive offer Mosaic easily attracted local bridal shops eager to get rid of their discontinued lines.

Meanwhile Apex jumped right into chasing potential vendors and – without a clear and enticing marketing message - endured one rejection after another.

Discouraged, they almost gave up before stumbling onto a helpful local bridal shop owner who managed to point them in the “right direction”.

But just as they had no plan to attract vendors to their gown sale, Apex didn’t give any thought as to who their target market was and where they could easily and quickly find large groups of prospects.

Their marketing strategy of handing out fliers at Grand Central and Penn Station (in New York) was unfocused and unnecessarily tied up team members’ most precious asset – time.

The results?

Mosaic attracted a city-block-long line or eager-to-buy prospects and generated $12,788.94 in profits in one day! Apex brought in only a handful of buyers and a measly $1,060.47.

Wow! By following solid marketing principles Mosaic beat their opponents by generating almost 12 times as much profits as Apex. So what were their marketing secrets? Well, here they are:

1. THINK STRATIGICALLY! Before you get busy peddling make sure your boat is pointed in the right direction. Take time to formulate your strategy and outline a specific action plan and you’ll save a time, energy and money, and create the desired results a whole lot faster!

2. Focus on a SPECIFIC TARGET MARKET! If you remember nothing else from this article – remember this one thing – to be successful you must focus your marketing efforts!

3. Find a “HIVE OF HUNGRY PROSPECTS”! Hundreds of thousands of disinterested passers-by at the Penn Station can’t event compare to the power of a targeted email blast to 23,000 brides hunting for the best deal on their wedding gown. To quickly penetrate your niche find centers of influence and large networks of your potential clients and get your message in front of them.

4. Evaluate PRICE vs. COST! One of most damaging marketing mistakes is deciding which promotional tools and media to use based on price alone. Even though Mosaic chose a seemingly pricey promotion, ultimately it proved to be less costly based on the repose and results it created.

5. Profit from CO-OPETITION! If you choose your target market carefully there is more business out there than you can possibly handle. Don’t fear your competitors – find a way to profit from their business.

Well, there you have it. Go back and read these five points several times. Consider for a moment what implementing these ideas might look like in your business. Make these principles the basis of your business and soon you too will be making money out of thin air – I guarantee it!

(c) 2004 Adam M. Urbanski

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