High Impact

Marketing Manifesto

Mike Capuzzi
© 2016 Persistent Marketing, Inc.
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 Introduction

I thought it would be important to de ine High Impact

Marketing right from the start, that way if my de inition doesn’t
resonate with you or you think there is a better way, you can
save some time and stop reading now.
This Manifesto is written with a very speci ic type of busi-
ness owner in mind - the kind I know I can help. My hope is you
instantly recognize if you’re this type of business owner.
If “High Impact Marketing” was in Wikipedia (and who
knows, maybe some day it will be), this is what I would want it
to say:






High Impact Marketing is an alternative marketing ideology.
It’s a prescription for ef iciency, effectiveness and most im-
portantly marketing that works. It’s about creating marketing
that’s memorable, unique and exciting, because life is too short
to do “low impact.”
Incidentally, I am not a pointy-headed ,“Johnny come lately,”
academic theorist. And I’m de initely not some self-proclaimed
“guru” who says and does one thing in public, but a peek be-
neath the surface you see something completely different. Since
1998, I’ve been on the iring line every day, earning a substantial
income helping business owners improve their marketing. I

1
think this important for you to know as you settle in and start
reading.
When you’ve completed reading this Manifesto, which
should take you less than an hour your irst time through, you
will have a collection of proven, High Impact Marketing strate-
gies and tactics to catapult your marketing results to the next
level. If you were to only implement one or two of the building
blocks I’m about to share, you’ve just put money in the bank!
The best advice I can offer as you read this book, is to read it
with an open mind, take notes as you consider these strategies
and your business and then take action. Create an action plan to
implement in order to pro it from the wisdom I share with you.










There’s a saying in Latin - fortuna fortibus favet - which
translates into “fortune favors the bold.”
The question I have for you - are you bold enough to take the
time, read through this Manifesto and begin to implement the
principles and building blocks I give you? For the sake of all the
customers I know you can serve, I hope so.

2
 What Others Said
Regarding What You’re
About to Experience...
“I just inished reading Mike Capuzzi's High Impact Marketing
Manifesto for the third time, and I will keep it close...and
open...as a handy reference point for all my future marketing
campaigns. Wasted motion is the sign of the amateur, and Mike
Capuzzi's High Impact Marketing Manifesto will turn you into a
world-class professional simply by implementing the strategies
he shares.”
Phil Brake ield
“Just read your High-Impact Marketing Manifesto, and I have to
say I normally get bored when I'm less than half-way through
reading stuff like this, usually, it's the same-old jargon only
dressed a little different, however, I have to say I was gripped all
the way through, and kept hearing myself saying, ‘I can use that,
I can use that.’"
Ruth McNally
“As soon as I read, Mike Capuzzi’s Marketing Manifesto I said,
‘Wow, this is me. This is what I believe in. This is the essential
foundations and rock on which to base real world, results driv-
en, direct response marketing on. I can use that.’
“In this easy to read Marketing Manifesto, Mike sets out the
rules of the game for high impact marketing. In it he gives you
the simple, down to earth, rules for success learnt from the
school of hard knocks. This is essential reading for any smart
business owner and marketer who wants to skyrocket their re-
sults and take their business to the next level.”
Alistair Gray

3
“Just as any God-fearing Christian puts massive importance on
the Ten Commandments so should any business owner of Mike
Capuzzi's High Impact Marketing Manifesto. What he lays out
here is to be followed as seriously as any of the Commandments,
that's of course if you want your business to thrive in today's
economy. The twenty-seven, YES 27, building blocks that Mike
lays out clearly and with direction are amazing. Don't be dis-
missive thinking this is another ‘been there, done that’ report.
Even if you have heard of some, you likely aren't employing
them all, and if you are employing some it's likely only when you
have time. This Manifesto is the roadmap to a successful sustain-
ing business that will create a business that most entrepreneurs
only dream of.”
Jeff Giagnocavo

“In a world with constant connections to information and tech-
nology the ability to cut through the clutter and make a differ-
ence is paramount. The High Impact Marketing Manifesto stops
you in your tracks and helps you take a breath - a breath of fresh
air. The ideas are solid and time tested giving a pause to how
you approach your marketing efforts to reach the maximum po-
tential in everything you do. The idea of 'working smarter, not
harder' really comes home to roost!”
Rebecca Bloomquist

4
From the Desk of Mike Capuzzi

Dear Business Owner,

This is book is special.
What you now hold in your hands are my closely-held mar-
keting cornerstones and building blocks I’ve collected over the
past 20 years I’ve been in the marketing game.
During the past two decades, I’ve had the good fortune to
interact and help thousands of business owners improve their
marketing. From the solo-preneur working at her kitchen table
to the Chief Marketing Of icer of a $300 MM software company
and everybody in-between.

“High impact marketing is an activity that creates a “WOW” experience

for a prospect, client, or supplier different than they have experienced
before and creates a raving fan in the process. It's bold, out-of-the-
ordinary and makes a strong impression to take action.”
~ Richard Hauswirth, High Impact Marketer

However it was two recent and rather typical day-to-day ex-

periences, which triggered the idea that has culminated in the
Manifesto you’re now reading. The irst experience came during
a consulting day, with Rich Hauswirth, a successful insurance
agency owner and the epitome of a High Impact Marketer.

5
 During our time together, Rich shared a veritable treasure
chest of highly-pro itable marketing campaigns – many of which
I inspired him to create. As he was showing me the various piec-
es, he made the off-hand comment, “Mike, you help me create
high impact marketing that works.”
My marketing radar immediately detected a golden oppor-
tunity for my business.
At the end of the consultation, as we were packing up, I
asked Rich to elaborate a bit more on his compliment and how
he de ined “high impact marketing.” I wrote down exactly what
he said and share it with you above.
What I admire most about Rich and his marketing is that
he’s what I call a “real-world business owner.” Meaning he’s out
there every day, running his business and helping as many peo-
ple as he can with his products and services. He has an of ice, a
staff, considerable overhead and very real responsibilities to his
customers, his employees and his own family.
Rich is also a lifelong student of marketing and business and
makes the required time and money investments to
ensure his continued success. He’s a classic example of a busi-
ness owner who knows what business he’s really in – the mar-
keting business.
The second experience was a recent get-away with my wife
at a small country inn in northern Pennsylvania. During our
stay, I had several conversations with the inn’s owner, Andrew,
and during each I was reminded how the typical business owner
thinks about marketing.
Andrew was busy running a country inn on his family’s
property where he grew up. Like Rich, he is the quintessential
American business owner, but unlike Rich, his view on market-
ing seemed short-sighted.
During our stay, whenever I bumped into Andrew, I probed

6
him about his marketing and asked many questions and with
every “no” he followed it up with, “but that’s a good idea and I
should do it.” With just a few simple little tweaks, Andrew could
create more pro itable opportunities and have even happier cus-
tomers, all without having to do a lot more work.
For example, at the time of check-out Andrew could have
made us a special offer to return to the inn for a special price.
He already made the marketing investment to get us there, so
why not give us the opportunity to come back at no additional
marketing cost!
Andrew made no such offer - resulting in a big missed
opportunity!
As my wife and I made the two hour drive home, I literally
had her take two pages of notes from all the thoughts running
through my head on how I could help business owners like An-
drew create better and more pro itable marketing (you’re about
to see the result of this stream of consciousness).
Regardless of Andrew’s miscues, he and Rich are the types of
entrepreneurs I love to work with and help create better-
performing marketing. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity
to interact, consult with and help literally thousands of business
owners like them and what I’ve come to realize is Andrew is the
norm and Rich is the rarity, since most business owners have
little knowledge of what effective and ef icient marketing looks
like or how to do it.
Which is why I’ve prepared the High Impact Marketing
Manifesto. I want to help business owners around the world
create ef icient and highly-effective marketing that helps them
connect with more prospects and customers and makes them
more money! I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t and I’ve
distilled the most important high impact marketing cornerstones
and building blocks for all business owners in this valuable book.
The motivated business owner could use this as a blueprint to

7
increase revenues and pro itability over the course of the next
several months.
To help you digest the ideas, strategies and tips I’m about to
give you, I’ve broken the Manifesto into three parts.
Part 1 introduces you to the four cornerstones High Impact
Marketing is built upon. It’s meant to instantly attract the type
of business owner I can best help. It also provides the necessary
foundation for Part 2.
Part 2 contains my 27 High Impact Marketing building
blocks which, when implemented, will help you build new pro it
streams and sustain a successful and thriving business by creat-
ing extraordinary marketing that is distinctive, personal and rele-
vant to a speci ic target recipient.
Part 3 brings everything together and offers us a way to
work together to help you capitalize on my High Impact
Marketing principles. I want you to know right up front - I am
not hiding anything or pulling any punches. One purpose of this
Manifesto is to start a relationship with other High Impact Mar-
keters. If you appreciate the wisdom I’ve shared and would like
to take it to the next level, It would be an honor to serve you,
guide you and instruct you as a High Impact Marketing Member.
I invite you to pull out a pen and highlighter, get comforta-
ble, have an open mind and read, study and take notes. I want
you to thoughtfully consider how you can implement the corner-
stones and building blocks I’m about to share with you. I under-
stand you may have bought into other’s approaches to market-
ing with little to show for it and if that’s the case, I need you to
suspend any doubts and stay with me here because I truly be-
lieve what I’m about to share with you can change your market-
ing, business and life for the better - forever!
Please note, throughout the Manifesto, I use the term
“customer” to represent your client, patient, student, etc. The
meaning is one and the same.

8
 Part 1 - High Impact
Marketing Cornerstones

If you’ve ever been to Times Square in New York City, you

know it’s a multimedia, sensory overload. Thousands of bright
neon lights, billboards and signs bombard you; each trying to get
your attention. Then there’s the cacophony of noise. The sounds
of traf ic, people, and advertising add to the over-stimulation of
your senses and force you to do what everyone else does…
ignore it all!
As a business owner this is what you are up against in to-
day’s business environment and since your livelihood relies on
making sure your prospects and customers don’t ignore your
marketing messages, you must igure out ways to break through
and rise above this information and interruption overload.
No business is immune to it. Not mine and not yours. It’s a
reality we need to constantly remind ourselves of, which is why I
like using the metaphor of Times Square. The tidal wave of mar-
keting messages isn’t new. It’s always been a challenge for busi-
ness owners and entrepreneurs to create messages and adver-
tisements that draw attention – that break through the noise and
most importantly get responded to!

9
 Research shows your prospects are exposed to thousands of
marketing messages every single day. If there’s a space and a
chance for a captive audience, a marketing message is typically
present (I’ll never forget the irst time I saw ads on the fold-
down trays on a plane or marketing placards strategically placed
in the men’s rest room).
This happens every single place your prospect and custom-
ers go. Billboards, radio ads, TV commercials, newspaper adver-
tisements and the Internet is even worse! Banner ads, unsolicit-
ed email messages, pop up videos and “suggested posts” on Face-
book. Your prospects are more inundated than ever before with
requests for their attention and your messages are getting lost.
Yet in order to survive and thrive, we each must ind ways to
break through the noise, grab attention and get the desired re-
sponse. The marketing world is full of tactics and techniques
“guaranteed” to help you improve the results of your next direct
mail, online marketing or social media campaign. Some work.
Most do not.
So how do you get your marketing noticed in today’s noisy
world?

The Answer Is High Impact Marketing!

High Impact Marketing is about moving towards more per-
sonal, “small-batch” marketing campaigns, which are highly tar-
geted, personalized and distinctive-looking. The only way to
break through the noise of Times Square is to speci ically target
one person and have a helpful and relevant conversation direct-
ly with her - helping her solve her problems or helping her
achieve her goals.
To better help you understand what High Impact Marketing
is and how it can help you, I want to describe the four corner-
stones which make up the foundation of High Impact Marketing.

10
 Cornerstone #1: High Impact Marketing Is An
Alternative For Business Owners Sick and Tired Of
The Noise And Hype So Prevalent In The
Marketing And Advertising World.
If you’re like me, you simply shake your head at (and ignore)
most of the marketing going on around you. Since 1998 (and
for four years prior in a corporate environment), I’ve been help-
ing companies and business owners create marketing which
connects with their intended target audience.
When I see what most “marketing experts” propose as mar-
keting these days, my stomach rolls. It’s not marketing –it’s clut-
ter and more clutter with the hope and wish the recipient actual-
ly notices it and does something pro itable with it. High Impact
Marketing is a movement and place for what I call real-world
business owners. Folks like:
• Dr Kevin F. who runs a dental practice.

• Wendy K. who runs a marketing agency.

• Denny S. who owns a martial arts studio.

• Dr. Jennifer B. who owns a large chiropractic practice.

• Jon T. who owns a sign-maker franchise.

Real-world business owners are running businesses with

considerable overhead, employees and other responsibilities.
These busy entrepreneurs don’t have time for marketing
strategies and tactics that don’t work. They’re also sick and
tired of all the hype and b.s. found in the marketing world today.
For example, I received this note the other day from a client who
runs a bricks and mortar business...

11
Mike, in contrast to your approach and in my opin-
ion ‘Mr. X’ does WAY too much ‘marketing.’ It has be-
come enormously noisy for my tastes and is driving
me in the opposite direction. I know that is proba-
bly all well and good for Mr. X, but I think at some
point the crying wolf factor will set in for a whole
lot more folks than just me.”

Obviously I’m not disclosing Mr. X’s real name out of cour-
tesy (and the high probability he’s reading this book). This ra-
ther well-known online marketer is not the exception these
days and is much more the norm.
High Impact Marketing is the place for real-world business
owners looking to leverage authentic, hype-free marketing your
prospects and customers will truly appreciate and respond to.
It’s de initely not the place for opportunity-seekers and the get-
rich-quick-with-little-work crowd.

Cornerstone #2: Do Less Marketing… Better!

I’m a strong believer in doing fewer things for more effect,
instead of doing more things with side effects. I call it
“marketing minimalism.” I realize for some reading this, I just
threw a glass of ice water on them and this concept may sound
odd coming from a 16 year marketing-consulting veteran. Oth-
ers may have an intuition the path to better marketing results is
by doing less. Either way, hear me out.
I’m not proposing you work from a grass-hut on an island
(unless this is by choice) and I’m not promoting slothfulness or
laziness when it comes to crafting your marketing campaigns. I
am, however, suggesting you reach your marketing goals by do-
ing less marketing - better. This is not about doing “only a little
bit of marketing” when you need to boost sales, but instead is

12
about ignoring all the things you could do and doing what you
should do.
It’s realizing not all marketing tactics and strategies matter
equally and determining which will enable you to connect with
your prospects and customers best. High Impact Marketing is
about how narrow you can go with a laser-focused message and
implementing speci ic strategies and tactics which create the
most rewards and greatest return on your investment.
It’s about not having to constantly ind new customers, but
rather serve existing customers with more. It’s much more ef-
fective to create and supply more services/products (either self-
created or from a strategic partner) to your satis ied customers
than it is to have to get a new customer.
High Impact Marketing is about the LEAST amount of mar-
keting required to reach your goals. So for example if you want
to generate 1,000 leads for a new product, what is the minimum
amount of marketing you need to do to accomplish this goal?
How can you be as effective (e.g. doing marketing the right way)
and ef icient (doing the right marketing at the right time) as
possible in developing your messaging, media choices and mar-
keting targets?
I’ve built the High Impact Marketing foundation on this “less
can be more” approach. High Impact Marketing:
• Uses the fewest components to produce the most
results.

• Clears away the clutter and rises above the noise

bombarding your audience.

• Is about getting laser-focused on your audience

needs and wants connecting your products and
services with them.

13
 • Creates more value for prospects and customers,
while consuming less of their time to understand your
message and respond.

• Eschews the world of shiny objects and gets you

to focus on the time-tested marketing principles
which will never go away.

High Impact Marketing focuses on helping business owners,

like you, be more effective and ef icient with your marketing.
High Impact Marketers become “masters of exclusion.” They’re
focused on what works and disregard everything else. In Part 2
of this Manifesto, I describe my 27 High Impact Marketing build-
ing blocks, which generate the greatest return with the least
amount of waste.

Cornerstone #3: It’s Not About Clutter.

It’s About Connecting.
Led by self-proclaimed “gurus,” many marketers have pros-
tituted, exploited and taken advantage of the privilege their pro-
spects and customers have given them. The Internet Marketing
world exposes the worst abuse with strategies like gimmick-
illed product launches, daily, often unsolicited emails and hype-
illed offers and promises often pitching a product trying to get
you to emulate the same practice.
Here’s a classic example of what I mean. This is a screenshot
of my inbox showing a number of recent emails I NEVER asked
for from a person I’ve never even heard of before getting his un-
solicited emails. The kicker is I was put on this email list from
another marketer, whose product I purchased and who appar-
ently shared my information. It appears if I opt-out of these
emails, I will not get any future customer-related emails from
the person I originally purchased from, so for the time being, I
allow the clutter to accumulate.

14
 This is the kind of b.s. I’m talking about and rallying against
with High Impact Marketing. Daily and sometimes multiple per
day emails illed with hype and stupid one and two-word sub-
ject lines. I believe this is wrong on so many levels. Marketing
shouldn’t be about how much stuff you can throw at a person
either in their inbox or mailbox. It should be the exact opposite
(for most of us, it shouldn’t be about one-word email subject
lines like “Yo!” or “Dude!”).
Marketing, and High Impact Marketing in particular, is about
knowing exactly who you are targeting and connecting with this
person with a relevant and personalized message. High Impact
Marketing is like writing a letter to a friend in need and helping
him.

Cornerstone #4: Stay Focused On What Works.

High Impact Marketing is not about the latest shiny objects
and fads peddled daily in the online marketing world. It is about
doing the right things and not trying to do everything. It is
about staying focused on marketing that works. This is not to
say there are not products and services which become market-
ing game-changers in and of themselves, but I believe these are
few and far between and not what the emails in your inbox
would have you believe.

15
 High Impact Marketers stay focused on the timeless market-
ing principles which will never change and can only be advanced
with technology. High Impact Marketing takes discipline and
courage to not always be looking for some other widget or gadg-
et to distract you from what you’re truly trying to accomplish -
helping your target recipients improve their life or business with
your product and services.
If you accept my invitation to become a High Impact Market-
ing Member, I will guide you and keep you focused on what
works and in the event a game-changer appears, you will know
about it!
In the next section, I’m going to cover 27 High Impact Mar-
keting building blocks you can use to create new pro it streams.
While not overly technical, it does go deeper than this irst part
and is designed to help the interested business owner with a
proven architecture to create High Impact Marketing.

Speaking of helping interested business owners, in the past

I’ve been asked by Dan Kennedy to speak at three of his highly-
specialized marketing workshops (the one pictured here was a
special workshop for professional copywriters).

I share these exclusive experiences only as evidence of my

experience and insights. If one of the world’s top copywriters
and marketing experts has personally asked me to speak at his
private workshops, you can rely on me to deliver the goods for
you and your business!

16
 Part 2 - High Impact
Marketing Building Blocks

In this picture, I am teaching several hundred auto-repair shop owners

how to create High Impact MarkeƟng!

As you go through this next section, you should take note

and notice the order of the 27 building blocks. While you may
choose not to implement every building block in Part 2, the irst
few form the critical foundation of High Impact Marketing.
As a matter of fact, if you cannot get past the irst building
block and make the fundamental mental shift necessary, save
yourself some time and stop reading. I cannot stress it enough.
The only way to build a thriving and pro itable business is to
know exactly what business you’re truly in. Even for experi-
enced High Impact Marketers, we need to remind ourselves, of
this fundamental truth from time to time.
So get ready to unlock the power of High Impact Marketing...

17
 #1: High Impact Marketers
Know They’re In The Marketing Business.

High Impact Marketers understand they are not in the busi-

ness others think they’re in. If you own a sign store, you’re not
in the sign business - you are in the sign store marketing busi-
ness. If you own a mattress store, you’re in the mattress store
marketing business.

Every High Impact Marketer’s primary job is NOT the thing

they do, but the marketing of the thing they do because without
effective marketing (which converts into sales) NOTHING ELSE
MATTERS!

High Impact Marketers also invest in and devote time to im-

proving their marketing skills. They read, they study and
they’re life-long mental-sponges when it comes to the business
of marketing.

If this concept is new to you, embrace it

and make it your daily mantra. Good,
effective High Impact Marketing must be
your daily priority and you must never forget this vital truth.
Your employees and team members need to understand
this fact too.

18
 #2: High Impact Marketers
Are Creative Thinkers.

Success-oriented business owners tend to always be in con-

stant “go-mode” and rarely give themselves time to pause, or in
other words, simply stop what they’re doing, be quiet, clear their
heads and think creatively.

The process of thinking creatively is both a conscious and

subconscious process, meaning there are things you can inten-
tionally do to think creatively and there are also things you
simply have to yield to, in order to let them happen. Entrepre-
neurial creative thinking is the process of combining:

• Quiet thinking - basking in solitude and allowing

your brain to “air out”

• Big thinking—to see what’s possible

• “Purple cow” thinking - for coming up with remark-

able products and services (thanks to Seth Godin
for this concept in his book “Purple Cow”)

• Analytical thinking - to determine feasibility

• Risk/reward thinking - what’s the worst/best that

can happen?

19
 • Target thinking - to consider the wants/needs of my
“who”

• Systems thinking - can it be systematized?

• Gut-check - does it feel right?

Set aside time to simply be quiet and

think. Create a special place that ener-
gizes you and gets the creative juices
flowing - one away from distractions, noise, employees and
other interruptions. Approaching a new idea and running it
through these creative thinking mills helps you create ex-
ceptional products and services. I’ve put together a “How
to Think Creatively” tip sheet all new High Impact Marketers
get as part of their New Member Welcome Kit. You can get
your digital copy today when you join!

My big ideas and action items:

20
 #3: High Impact Marketers
Think Small To Get Big!

If you understand the Pareto principle (typically known as

“the 80–20 rule” - it theorizes that roughly 80% of the effects
come from 20% of the causes) and apply it to your business, you
realize the bulk of your revenues comes from a small portion of
your customers.

This should create a fundamental and important shift in

your marketing approach. You stop thinking about the masses
and focus most of your marketing efforts on your best custom-
ers and prospects (the 20%).

You become much more selective on how you target and fo-
cus your marketing messages and offers and you quickly realize
not everybody is meant to be your customer, client or patient
and you do whatever you can to attract those you’re designed to
serve exceptionally and repel those who don’t it your marketing
criteria.

Deliver exceptional value, services and

products to all your customers, but
spend the majority of your time on the
small percentage of customers who represent your biggest
revenues and profits.

21
 #4: High Impact Marketers
Know “Who’s The Who!”

High Impact Marketers know before they ever begin to craft

a marketing piece or campaign, they must invest the time and
energy into creating a crystal-clear picture of the person they’re
marketing to, including their pains/needs/wants. Read that
again and then think about your marketing process.

Do you take the time and effort to think about your “who”
before creating your marketing? If you’re like the majority of
business owners and marketers, the answer is a resounding NO!
Yet, this should be the very irst thing you do, whenever you cre-
ate a marketing message. I call it identifying “who’s the who”
and it’s about knowing exactly who your marketing message is
intended for and identifying how your product or service will
help them. By personalizing the “who,” you can identify a speci -
ic recipient for your message and directly address their speci ic
pains/needs/wants with your speci ic solutions.

One strategy I have used for years is to place a picture of my

ideal “who” in front of me as I write marketing copy. I even went
to the extent of having a special picture frame created with the
reminder, “W.I.I.F.M?” This stands for “what’s in in it for me?”
and is a reminder to me to craft my marketing around the pains/
needs/wants of this targeted “who.” I guarantee if you try this

22
simple strategy when you write your next marketing promotion,
your results will be better than if you didn’t do it!

What my desk looks like when I am craŌing a markeƟng

message to targeted recipient.

Invest the time and energy on figuring

out who your ideal “who” is. Who are
you best suited to serve? Who do you
want to serve? There’s a high probability you have more
than one who (a.k.a. target market). Check out my “Who’s
Your Who” worksheet in the High Impact Marketing New
Member Welcome Kit.

My big ideas and action items:

23
 #5: High Impact Marketers
Realize Everyone Is Not Their Customer!

This might be a slap-in-the-face, but it’s a truth. While you

may think everybody should be your customer, you would be
wrong and the quicker you realize you and your business are
NOT RIGHT for everybody, it frees you up to focus on those peo-
ple you can truly help (go back to Building Block #3).

High Impact Marketers realize not everybody is meant to be

their customer and they work diligently at attracting those peo-
ple they can (and want to) help and repelling those people they
cannot (or don’t want to) help. This is why Building Blocks #
and #4 are so important and are found early in this Manifesto.
The more intentional and targeted your marketing is for a very
speci ic type of person, the better your results will be. There is
nothing more appealing to a High Impact Marketer than working
with those people he is best suited to help.

Embrace the fact you and your busi-

ness have been put here on earth to
help certain people. You cannot help
everybody, no matter what it is you do and the quicker you
identify your ideal target market(s) and serve them to the
best of your best ability, the more profitable your business
will be.

24
 #6: High Impact Marketers
Always Have Their Marketing Radar On!

High Impact Marketers are always on the look-out for cur-

rent events, news, experiences, examples, people, etc. which of-
fer an opportunity to build a marketing message around. I call
this their “marketing radar” and for the High Impact Marketer,
it’s always on. In our media-driven society, creating a marketing
message or sales promotion around something going on in the
news is a way to get attention, but unless you’re constantly open
to looking for these types of opportunities, you’ll miss them.

So for example, as I am writing this, the Super Bowl is a few

days away and there is a ton of news and media coverage about
this football game. A High Impact Marketer would craft a special
marketing campaign or sales promotion around this event.

The world around you is ripe with op-

portunity and ideas for you, but you
need to condition yourself to “read/
listen/watch FOR what you can use”. A simple marketing
radar strategy to use is to always have a way to jot down
impromptu ideas, whether it’s a simple paper tablet or a dig-
ital device. As you see and think of opportunities, write
them down and then make sure to take advantage of them
before the opportunity passes!

25
 #7: High Impact Marketers
Have a Keen Sense of Timing.

Timing is a funny thing. On one hand it can be an almost ex-

act science and on the other, luck has a huge part to play in it
(e.g. your product may become the hot commodity because you
caught a trend perfectly, even though you might have been com-
pletely unaware of it). Either way, High Impact Marketers have
a keen sense of timing and either make things happen or take
advantage of things happening around them (mainly because
they have their marketing radar on).

Knowing when to send an email, start a direct mail cam-

paign, launch a new product, offer an upsell (or downsell), when
to ask for a testimonial or referral or when to follow-up after a
sale, etc. all have a timing sweet spot and High Impact Market-
ers take advantage of it.

A great example of timing a marketing campaign in a unique

way comes from High Impact Marketing Member, Jim Edholm of
Business Bene its Insurance in Massachusetts.

Jim and his team are small business group insurance special-
ists and he’s the classic example of a High Impact Marketer. One
thing that Jim does that’s unique is he schedules his marketing
campaigns around the time when the target company’s insur-
ance is about to renew. He sends out a multi-step direct mail
campaign and with this careful timing, the recipients are open-

26
 High Impact Marketer, Jim Edholm

ing his mail just at the time when they were thinking about their
insurance renewal.

This perfect combination of timing and pressing certain emo-

tional hot-buttons in his mailings result in a very high response
and conversion rate for Jim - much higher than if he simply sent
out his campaign at random times.

In marketing, timing can be everything!

Develop or enhance your sense of tim-
ing and look for unique opportunities to
get your message across. Are there points in your sales
process when a specific message would be especially
welcomed? Everything from the time an email is sent to a
campaign built around a unique holiday or event can have a
dramatic effect on your results.

27
 #8: High Impact Marketers
Use Multi-Step, Multimedia Marketing.

High Impact Marketing is all about follow-up and more fol-

low-up. Why? Because very few sales are ever made with just
one contact. For example, an average business owner will run
an ad and when somebody responds to the ad, but doesn’t buy
immediately, they typically stop marketing to that person. They
let a potential customer, whom they just spent a whole bunch of
money advertising to, literally walk out the door!

Few sales are made on the irst try and it typically takes 3-7
contacts to convert a prospect into a customer (typically the
higher the dollar-transaction, the more steps are required).

High Impact Marketers also use multimedia in their

campaigns. Email, websites, video, audio, direct mail, telephone
follow-up, etc. The more media you can incorporate into your
marketing campaigns the better your results will be. Here’s an
example of what I mean by a multi-step, multimedia campaign
(very similar to one I recently designed for a client):

Step 1: Personal letter with specific and deadline-

oriented call-to-action (CTA) sent in the mail.

Step 2: Postcard with CTA sent in the mail to non-

responders.

28
 Step 3: Email to video sales letter CTA sent to non-
responders.

Step 4: Email with CTA sent to non-responders from 1,

2 & 3.

Step 5: Phone call to non-responders from 1, 2, 3 & 4.

As you can see, there are ive steps, each using a different
form of media. At each step, if done right, people will respond
and the person responding at Step 5 needed till that point in
time to respond. Had we stopped, we may have never heard
from her.

Look at your current marketing

campaigns. Are you using multi-step,
multimedia High Impact Marketing?
When you become a High Impact Marketing Member, you
can download my media checklist for reminding you of the
various media channels you should be consistently using.

My big ideas and action items:

29
 #9: High Impact Marketers
“Make A Sale To Get A Customer.”

The average business owner thinks you ind a customer to

make a sale. The High Impact Marketer looks at this assumption
differently and knows the point of making a sale is to get a cus-
tomer. This is a BIG DIFFERENCE and if you’ve never heard it
before, re-read that last sentence again.

Most business owners think in terms of transactions, as in,

“I need to clean 5 houses today,” or “I need to serve 50 dinners,” or
“I need to see 10 patients.” This churn and burn attitude ignores
the potential lifetime value of a customer and what this value
truly means to their business.

The High Impact Marketer realizes a loyal customer is a vital

business asset. As a High Impact Marketer your job is to make a
sale to get a new customer and do everything in your power to
create value and keep that customer for life. When done cor-
rectly, the lifetime value of a customer is expandable, not only
by future purchases, but also by the referral power he repre-
sents.

There is no reason a customer who started with you this

year, cannot still be a customer a decade from now, resulting in
substantial incremental value to your business. In order to

30
accomplish this, you must have complete focus on creating
immense customer value and following the High Impact Mar-
keting building blocks herein.

If you are not already doing it, start

thinking in terms of the lifetime value of
customers (e.g. a prediction of the prof-
its attributed to the entire future relationship with a custom-
er) and how you can maximize it, while giving them what
they need. Look at every new sale as an opportunity to
create a long-term, mutually-beneficial relationship.

My big ideas and action items:

31
 #10: High Impact Marketers
Stand For Something Special!

Successful High Impact Marketers know their business and

brand stand for something special. They’re known for some-
thing they do better than anybody else – in their town or in the
world! High Impact Marketers work hard at being somebody
special. They stand-out from the masses and are known, not on-
ly for their business, but for who they are. They’re polished
speakers and presenters. They’ve written a book. They’re effec-
tive networkers. They’re givers - not takers. They’ve built a plat-
form from which they lead. They’re somebody special, with
something important to say.

If you’re in a highly-competitive business, you need to spend

time crafting a way for you and your business to stand for this
something special. Ever hear of Zappos.com? They are an amaz-
ing online retailer success story. Zappos.com doesn’t just sell
shoes online (anybody could do that). Zappos.com stands for
something special to its customers and sales prove it (over one
billion dollars last year).

What can you do better, faster, slower,

etc. than anybody else in your space
and how can you build a platform on
this bold and unique promise and reach the world?

32
 #11: High Impact Marketers
Know “Good Is Not Good Enough!”

There’s a certain feeling held by many average business

owners that “good is good enough.” I disagree. Your prospects
and customers have plenty of opportunities to spend their mon-
ey elsewhere, you cannot rely on being average.

Extraordinary entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos, Donald Trump

and Martha Stewart exemplify this building block and have built
hugely successful businesses by paying attention to the details.
Your ability to pay attention to the smallest details can set you
apart from your competition.

Consider…

• Your products: Do they look and feel like quality

products?

• Your services: Are you creating an extraordinary

experience for your customers?

• Your office/store/facility: Is it clean, inviting and

welcoming to your target market?

• Your staff and employees: Are they friendly,

polite and knowledgeable?

33
 If you want to maximize pro its and create an exceptional
business people talk about, refer to and buy from over and over
again, know good is not good enough!

Ensure all aspects of your business are

tuned-up and running optimally. Take
time and review everything from the
cleanliness of your place of business, to how your employ-
ees interact with customers, to product and service details.

My big ideas and action items:

34
 #12: High Impact Marketers
Use Automated Marketing Technologies.

Technology is a High Impact Marketer’s friend. It allows you

to stay in touch, create personalized marketing and know exact-
ly how your prospects and customers are interacting with your
various campaigns. It should come as no surprise email market-
ing is an essential marketing tool for every business owner. To
use it effectively, you need a professional-level email marketing
system and you need to capture your prospect’s and customer’s
email information.

At a minimum, I would suggest all business owners send at

least one email/week to customers and prospects with news,
customer success stories, offers, etc. These emails need to be
full of energy, personality and offer the recipient a good reason
to spend their time reading it.

If you intend to do any sort of lead capture or sales via the

web, email marketing, direct mail, follow-up marketing, etc. you
absolutely must make the investment in a professional-level,
behavioral-based automated marketing system. These sys-
tems, when set up properly, allow you to capture and nurture
leads and customers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

By “behavioral-based” I mean you can put people into differ-

35
ent marketing campaigns, based on what they do, what buttons
they click, what emails they read, etc. This is extremely powerful
and allows an amazing level of personalized marketing.

Yes, they can be a hassle to set up and no, they are not
cheap, but once you get past these challenges, an automated
marketing system helps you do extraordinary marketing and
rise above your competition.

If you’re not currently using an auto-

mated email marketing system – get
one. Aweber, Constant Contact and
Mail Chimp are quality service providers. If you don’t have
an automated marketing system, the time may be now to
implement one. Some of the players include Office Autopi-
lot, Salesforce.com, and Infusionsoft. Do your own
research and see what’s a good fit for your business.

My big ideas and action items:

36
 #13: High Impact Marketers
Profit With Prospect And Customer Databases.

High Impact Marketers know two of the greatest assets in

their businesses are their prospect and customer databases.
These de ine the real value of a business and should be treated
as gold mines. Many business owners neglect or use antiquated
methods to maintain these databases and the days of keeping a
database on paper (or in Microsoft Excel) are long over for the
progressive business owner. All business owners should be
using an automated system to grow these vital databases.

Speci ic to building your prospect database, allowing some-

body to leave your business without making an attempt to
collect their name, email and/or mailing address is a wasted
opportunity. You could easily offer a gift or discount to capture
this valuable information. This doesn’t have to be a hard-sell
experience and assuming you’re doing everything else right, a
percentage of people would appreciate hearing from you in the
future and gladly give you their information.

What are you doing to build and grow

these databases? If you are not captur-
ing contact information and using it for
follow-up marketing campaigns, start immediately.

37
 #14: High Impact Marketers Segment Their
Databases For Laser-Focused Marketing.

One of the smartest things you can do with your prospect

and customer databases is to segment them so you can send
speci ic and targeted messages to “sub-lists.” Let me explain
with an example.

Let’s say you have 1,000 prospects in your database which

have full contact information (e.g. name, mailing address and
email address). This is your full list. You could then create a
sub-list from this full list based on the town each person lives in
and send out a sales letter with the headline “Special Sale for
People Who Live in XYZ Town.”

This simple, yet effective use of a targeted message will in-

crease response, since the person receiving says, “Hey this is for
me!” The only ef icient way to do this type of targeted market-
ing is by segmenting your database and sending speci ic
marketing to speci ic people.

Start “slicing and dicing” your data-

bases and sending highly-focused
marketing, messages and offers to spe-
cific sub-lists of targeted recipients.

38
 #15: High Impact Marketing
Is “Me To You” Marketing!

High Impact Marketing is all about creating “me to you” mar-

keting, which is the exact opposite of the “me to many” market-
ing most business owners do. “Me to you” marketing is person-
al, relevant and has the look and feel that I am corresponding to
you and only you. “Me to many” marketing is impersonal, insti-
tutional-looking and easy to ignore because it’s not targeted
speci ically to the recipient.

I have a crazy theory and believe if you hand-crafted simple,

relevant and personalized marketing to every single one of your
target recipients, your marketing response would dramatically
improve. Imagine if your prospect felt your campaign was creat-
ed just for her because...

• You create hyper-personalized looking market-

ing that looks like it was sent just to her.

• You hit her emotional hot buttons.

• You used visual grabbers that got her attention.

• You gave her a remedy for her pains, needs and

challenges.

39
 In essence, your marketing becomes a personalized, 1:1 con-
versation between you and the recipient. Do you think if you
could do this for every single one of your recipients, your results
would improve?

Today, you have countless opportunities to create highly-

personalized and customized, targeted marketing. The more
you know about your ideal “who,” the more focused and effec-
tive your marketing will be.

Think outside-the-box and create

marketing that is highly-personalized
and makes the recipient feel like you
are talking only to him/her. Don’t over-engineer this! Simp-
ly think of your target market recipient as a friend who has a
pain or wants something and craft a message to this friend
helping him.

My big ideas and action items:

40
 #16: High Impact Marketing Stands Out!

It’s a fact 95% of the marketing in the business world is

“plain vanilla” and according to the American Heritage Diction-
ary the de inition of plain vanilla is “lacking adornments or spe-
cial features; basic or ordinary.”

Doesn’t exactly sound like a smart strategy

to build a business on, does it?

Plain vanilla marketing lacks focus, clarity and simply looks

boring and uninspiring. It has no personality and does little to
get the attention of your “who.” High Impact Marketing is the
antidote for plain vanilla and you can accomplish this without
the need for expensive advertising and marketing. High Impact
Marketing has nothing to do with fancy logos and branding. In-
stead, High Impact Marketing is about creating hand-crafted
marketing that conveys the feeling of a one-to-one conversation.
It relies less on fancy graphics, branding and design and more
on connecting with your “who” in a personalized, and often
times, fun, quirky way.

In today’s day and age where everything seems to be com-

puter-generated, the use of handwriting and hand-drawn doo-
dles as a marketing tactic is one of the most powerful and often
under-utilized strategies. The speed and ease of computers,

41
word-processing programs and desktop printers has made
handwriting practically obsolete, yet handwriting connects with
people at a deep, emotional level and signi ies a personal con-
nection no technology can replace. By adding handwriting fonts
and hand-drawn doodles to your marketing mix, you can gain
new levels of attention and response (just be careful to not over
-do it).

My advice is to add these enhancements much like you

would add spice to your favorite meal. Your goal is to enhance
your marketing with the power of handwriting and make it look
as real and personal as possible! You want to emphasize the im-
portant parts of your marketing message with hand-drawn doo-
dles and notes to draw the reader’s eyes to important areas.
The use of handwritten notes and doodles in marketing and
copywriting has been around for decades and is a proven re-
sponse-booster, which is why top copywriters & marketers use
them often.

Until recently, it was time-consuming and a technical chal-

lenge for all but the most advanced design layout and computer
experts to add these doodles to one’s marketing pieces. How-
ever, this all changed when I released my own private collection
of hand-drawn doodles to the world in 2007. This is when I
irst introduced CopyDoodles®, which has forever changed the
way marketers, copywriters and business owners add the
unique power of handwriting and hand-drawn doodles to their
marketing.

Read my articles on my blog at

www.MikeCapuzzi.com and download
my 52 High Impact Marketing Examples
Featuring CopyDoodles ebook at www.CopyDoodles.com.
Both of these are excellent resources for unique, personal-
ized marketing campaign ideas. Get access to over 10,000
CopyDoodles when you upgrade as a High Impact Market-
ing Platinum Member!

42
 #17: High Impact Marketing Is Readable!

It’s a fact, if your advertising, marketing promotions and con-

tent is physically dif icult to read, it won’t get read! Pick up any
magazine and try to read the advertisements. The vast majority
of agency-created ads use a font so small and dif icult to read,
most people skip the ad. When one of your readers picks up one
of your sales letters, postcards, newsletters or visits your web
site, are you making it easy for them to read your text?

Never assume readership (even if it’s something somebody

asked for or purchased) and always consider the age of your tar-
get recipient and use a font size appropriate for that person.
Your job is to give your marketing pieces EVERY chance of being
read and acted on. Small type and incorrect font choices are
your enemy because in this age of staring at smart phones and
computer screens all day, a large percentage of the population
needs vision correction and cannot read small print.

If you’re not conscientiously keeping your intended reader in

mind as you design your marketing letters, postcards, advertise-
ments, brochures, books, coupons, web sites and emails, you’re
not getting the best results because a segment of your readers
cannot comfortably read your marketing pieces. If they have
dif iculty reading your materials, the likelihood of them actually
reading and responding goes way down.

43
 Here are four simple and effective tips for helping your mar-
keting to be as readable as possible for all your readers:

1. For printed materials, always use a serif font (e.g.

Times New Roman, Georgia, etc.) for main body
copy. This is what 99% of printed books use be-
cause a serif font is easier on the eye. Serif fonts
are fonts that have the little feet on each letter,
which helps the human eye to see it better. You
can use sans-serif fonts in print materials in limited
amounts (and to set it apart), like these bullet lists.

2. Interestingly, for online body copy, you should

mainly use a sans–serif font like Arial, since the
absence of the little feet on a computer screen
makes this type of font easier to read on a screen.

3. Be very careful of placing any important text on a

dark background (reverse type) since it is harder to
read and discern text. You see often this in maga-
zines and it’s a huge mistake.

4. Always consider the age of your target audience

and use a font size appropriate to their eyes. I tend
to lean on the larger versus smaller side of things
when crafting my copy.

Always consider your readers, their

age and your marketing design to make
sure it’s as readable as possible!
Remember if your marketing cannot be easily read, there’s
a high probability it won’t get read!

44
 #18: High Impact Marketers
Create Irresistible Offers!

Weak, wimpy ordinary offers cannot be expected to produce

exceptional results. In today’s age of ultra-competition, it’s un-
reasonable to believe boring and typical offers will get attention
and response. Yet many marketers put forward mundane offers
day-in and day-out and then grumble about disappointing
response and results.

Whether you are creating a lead-generation offer, product or

service offer – whatever – you must invest in the creative think-
ing process to come up with an offer that stands out and gets
noticed and makes the person receiving it say, “I’d be a fool if I
said no to this.”

The legendary ad-man, David Ogilvy once said, "It takes a big
idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy
your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will
pass like a ship in the night. I doubt if more than one campaign in
a hundred contains a big idea.’’

Ogilvy’s insight is important to you and your business. Your

marketing and offers need to be wrapped around a big idea that
will get noticed and make people take action. You should work
at making your offers irresistible.

45
 Here are a few smart questions to consider, regarding your
target recipient, as you craft your irresistible offers:

• What’s keeping them awake at night?

• What are they mad about?

• What are their daily frustrations?

• What do they desire the most?

• How can you align your business as a remedy?

Think about your own experiences…

what has motivated you? What has
gotten you to say “yes” and take imme-
diate action? Think outside-the-box and craft offers which
rise above the typical ones and gets your target market to
take action.

My big ideas and action items:

46
 #19: High Impact Marketers
Always Ask For A Response!

High Impact Marketing is rooted in traditional direct mar-

keting principles, which may be a different style of marketing
than you typically use, studied in school or have seen on TV or
in print. The fundamental principle is to always give the recipi-
ent a reason to respond now. No marketing message ever goes
out without a reason to respond in some type of fashion within
a speci ic time-frame. If you don’t ask for a response… 9 times
out of 10 the person you’re marketing to will ignore you.

In every High Impact Marketing effort you create, give the

recipient a good (or better yet, several good) reason(s) why he
should take immediate action, and then make sure you offer
him different ways to respond, including:

> Telephone > Mail

> Email > Web site
> Fax > In-person

Remember, always ask for a response

and give multiple ways to respond. By
doing this one quick and easy thing,
your marketing results will improve.

47
 #20: High Impact Marketing
Always Has A Deadline!

“An offer without a deadline is not a good offer.”

Having a deadline in your marketing offers is a fundamental

principle you must always keep in mind. In today’s crazy-busy
world, everybody is too distracted and you must do what you
can to get them to take action now! Deadlines create a sense of
urgency and helps break through inertia, which is why you
always want a deadline when you make an offer.

Here are a few deadline ideas to consider.

• Have a specific deadline date and let people know

what happens after this date.

• Have a deadline for parts of your offer and/or specified

bonuses and/or discounts.

• Create “act now pricing” which offers a discount

and where prices go up on a certain date. This is
common in event marketing.

• Offer bonuses for the “first x-number of buyers.”

48
 • Create real, limited quantities of your product or
service.

• Create "fear of loss by delay" in your offer, such as:

"Every day you wait to buy a new mattress, your sore
back will remind you”.

Always create urgency in all your

marketing campaigns by including a
deadline. Inertia and procrastination
are very real human traits. By not having a deadline, your
response will be lower!

My big ideas and action items:

49
 #21: High Impact Marketing
Removes Perceived Risk!

Let’s face it… doing business these days is not easy. We’re all
up against more resistance and skepticism than ever before and
we need to make sure every tool in our marketing is working to
its potential. Your guarantee should be one of the foundational
components of your marketing and business strategy. Remem-
ber, guarantees aren’t optional!

Maybe at one point in time having a guarantee was not man-

datory, but those days are long gone. As an ethical and value-
oriented business owner, you need to develop a strong, compel-
ling guarantee to help prospects and customers feel safe and ful-
ly-protected when investing in your products or services.

The whole point of your guarantee is to remove as much

perceived risk from the purchase of your product or service as
possible. I say “perceived” because even if you believe there is
absolutely ZERO risk, it doesn’t matter because it only matters
what your prospect, customer, client or patient thinks.

By removing as much of the risk as possible, you’re letting

people know you’re a reliable and ethical business owner, who
truly has their best interests at heart and will stand by whatever
it is you’re selling.

50
 As you work on your guarantee(s), You know you have a
good one when it makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, because
you think it’s “too good.” While you may experience a few
more returns because of a good guarantee, the fact you’re get-
ting more sales due to its presence typically offsets any in-
crease in returns or refunds.

If you don’t have a good guarantee -

you need one. If you do have one, this
is the perfect time to revisit it to ensure
it’s doing everything you need it to do (including getting
noticed). Get my “How to Craft a Powerful Guarantee” tip
sheet as a new High Impact Marketing Member!

My big ideas and action items:

51
 #22: High Impact Marketing
Offers Opportunities To Allow People To Happily
and Willingly Spend More.

This is a biggie and is over-looked by many business owners.

By adding this one simple tweak to your marketing mix you can
generate more pro itable sales. Before we get into the details, I
want you to know there are many different ways to do this. The
way I suggest is somewhat low-key in comparison to the rather
ridiculous examples you see online and offers real-world busi-
ness owners a simple and authentic strategy to increase sales. I
understand some reading this may have some apprehension
with “upsells” and “upgraded offers,” but consider this…

There’s always a percentage of buyers who want the best

of what it is you have to offer and are happy and willing to
spend a bit more to get it!

Not a big percentage, but it’s there and you should create
pathways for these people to get what they want. You’re not
selling them anything. You’re giving them what they want. They
want your best product or service, options, etc. and if you don’t
have some way for them to get it, there is frustration on their
part (even though it may not be vocalized) and your sales trans-
action is smaller than it needs to be.

52
 I want you to create opportunities for the person looking
for more and iguring out congruent and authentic strategies to
present them. None of these strategies are in-your-face, over-
the-top, bait-and-switch tactics (for the 80% of the people who
don’t want something more, these opportunities are ignored,
but for the 20% who do want more, these opportunities con-
nect and allow these people to say yes to more).

If these pathways do not exist, there is pent-up demand in

the customer and un-realized revenue potential for you.
Neither is desirable.

Look at your product or service offering

and your sales process. Is there a way
to create additional opportunities for
certain people to buy more from you? Can you bundle in
special access, special hours, bonus gifts, etc. to create
higher-valued and higher-priced offers?

My big ideas and action items:

53
 #23: High Impact Marketers
Offer Specialized Programs.

High Impact Marketers create specialized programs for their

customers, including membership clubs and loyalty and rewards
programs. If you don’t have these in your business, there’s a
good chance you’re leaving “money on the table.”

Going back to Building Block #3 and realizing a majority of

your sales comes from a small group, wouldn’t it make sense to
offer this group some type of “continuity program” giving them
more of what you offer in a special and exclusive way? A mem-
bership program is an example of a continuity product/service
and is something the customer pays for on a monthly or annual-
ly recurring basis.

I believe there is unexploited opportunity here for most

business owners to set up some type of continuity product
or service a percentage of your existing customers would
love to have.

Instead of simply making a one-time sale, your irst sale

leads to a stream of monthly or annual sales (depending on your
membership model). An exclusive membership program target-
ed to your best customers will keep them connected to you and
coming back (or using what you sell) over and over again. In its

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most simple form, a membership program is a bundle of prod-
ucts or services that when totaled are worth far more than the
monthly or annual membership fee you are charging.

Rewarding loyal customers is a smart strategy you can lev-

erage with a simple loyalty program. While there are many loy-
alty-program service providers available to you, you can easily
create your own program to encourage repeat business by
printing a simple “punch-out card” that gets punched every time
a customer makes a purchase. Then after “x” number of pur-
chases they get a reward from you.

You can also create a digital rewards program, where you

capture their email and/or cell phone information and send
them frequent incentives to return to your business.

Coming up with a membership program

may take some serious “creative think-
ing” on your part, but it can be a huge
game-changer for your business. I’ve seen lawyers, den-
tists, retail store owners and restaurant owners create
hugely profitable membership programs. If you don’t have a
loyalty or rewards program, start one. For many, a simple
paper, punch-out card is sufficient. It doesn’t have to be
complicated!

My big ideas and action items:

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 #24: High Impact Marketers
Always Stay In Touch After The Sale!

The High Impact Marketer knows the irst sale is the begin-
ning of a mutually-bene icial relationship and she is proactive
about staying in touch with her customers.

• High Impact Marketers send out valuable emails

• They send out a printed customer newsletter

• They host special customer-appreciation events

• They send birthday cards and/or emails with special

offers

High Impact Marketers stay “top-of-mind” with all their cus-

tomers long after the irst sale with valuable offers and helpful
information their customers look forward to receiving!

It’s not your customer’s job to look for

reasons to stay in contact with you. It’s
your job to stay in contact with them.
Many business owners forget this and leave too much mon-
ey on the table, simply because they’re not staying in touch
with their customers. Stay in touch!

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 #25: High Impact Marketers
Ask For Testimonials & Reviews!

Social proof that reaf irms your product or service does

what you say it will do, is mandatory these days. Just about
everybody does some sort of research before they visit a res-
taurant for the irst time, hire an electrician or buy a car. This is
why sites like Angie’s List™, Amazon Reviews and Google+ are
so popular these days.

High Impact Marketers create systems to ask for and use

testimonials and reviews in their business. They use of line and
online strategies to capture these valuable marketing assets
and use them throughout their marketing. Typically the best
time to capture a testimonial is when the customer is happiest
(e.g. at the time of purchase, product delivery, etc.). If you are
not doing this today, you’re missing an important opportunity
to have your customers help you market your business!

Collect testimonials and reviews and

use them in all your marketing – offline
and online. Create a testimonial book
and leave copies around your office or store. The effort you
put into this will come back to you exponentially.

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 #26: High Impact Marketers
Create a Referral Culture In Their Business!

Walt Disney said, “Do what you do so well – and so uniquely –

that people cannot resist telling others about you.”

Studies have shown one of the easiest types of sales to make

is the referral sale, whereby a prospect comes to you based on a
reference from an existing customer. I don’t know about you,
but I like easy sales.

The strategy for getting referrals is much like the testimonial

strategy I outlined. Ask existing customers, vendors and busi-
ness partners for referrals (and let them know you’ll recipro-
cate). The irst step is the biggest - just getting started. Second,
you need a simple and easy-to-maintain system to ask for and
reward referrals.

Create a “referral culture” in your busi-

ness and let your customers know you
appreciate (and expect) referrals.
Create a rewards program and award prizes and always
recognize customers who do refer. Done right, a referral
system is a sales machine for your business. One of the
best at doing this is Dr. Brian Bergh. Get a copy of an inter-
view with Dr. Bergh (including his examples) as a new High
Impact Marketing Member!

58
 #27: High Impact Marketers
Are Life-Long Students.

High Impact Marketers know they can never know enough

about business, marketing and the world around them. In es-
sence, they are life-long students and are always on the lookout
for opportunities to improve, grow and help others do the same.
After having interacted with literally thousands of business
owners and a smaller sub-set of High Impact Marketers, here are
a few qualities I’ve seen of the latter group, time and time again.

• High Impact Marketers never think they’re the

smartest person in the room.

• High Impact Marketers subscribe to quality paid sub-

scription business newsletters (like my High Impact
Marketing Report newsletter).

• High Impact Marketers attend marketing seminars

and workshops.

• High Impact Marketers read one or two marketing/

business books a month and are always looking out for
good book recommendations.

• High Impact Marketers network with other smart

business owners.

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 • High Impact Marketers don’t whine when other busi-
ness owners market and sell their own products and
services - instead they look for ideas they can copy
and use in their business.

• High Impact Marketers study the marketing greats

of yesterday and today and don’t shrug off what
worked in the past, simply because it was used in
the past.

• High Impact Marketers know their job is to serve their

ideal target customer in the best, authentic and integ-
rity-based way possible while maximizing their own
profits.

Strive to be a life-long student. Create

your own marketing and business book
library. Read, study and network with
other smart business owners and you’ll be amazed at the
difference it will make in your business.

My big ideas and action items:

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Part 3 - Bringing It Together!

Are you excited by the potential of what High Impact

Marketing can do for you and your business?
Do you feel energized to begin implementing a few of the
strategies I’ve shared?
I sure hope so!
I believe to my very core, if you implement just a few of the
27 High Impact Marketing building blocks, you will see tremen-
dous results! I know because I use them in my business and the
business of my clients pro itably! I would love to hear from you,
so if you have any questions or comments regarding this book,
please email me at info@mikecapuzzi.com.

The End or a Beginning?

What I’ve shared with you in this Manifesto can either be
the end or a beginning. If you found this information useful. If
you resonated with my cornerstone principles. If you want to
igure out how to implement High Impact Marketing strategies
in your business, then I invite you to take advantage to learn
more about both my training resources (http://
www.mikecapuzzi.com/store) and the Capuzzi Private Client
Group, which offers you unprecedented one-on-one access to
me and my decades of experience. (http://mikecapuzzi.com/
private-client-group).
I realize these may not be for everybody, but if you’re a pro-
gressive-minded, success-oriented business owner, who is
always looking for a slight edge - these two opportunities may
be just what you need to get to the next level. Thank you and if I
can be of service, please let me know.
Mike Capuzzi

61
My Private Client Group was founded in 1998 and since
then, I’ve worked closely and personally helped hundreds of
business owners and organizaƟons improve their markeƟng
results (click here to see a few video tesƟmonials).
Today, CPCG is geared for the small to medium-sized busi-
ness owner, located anywhere in the world, who wants to
leverage my 21 years of markeƟng experience and 9 years of
informaƟon-markeƟng experience to grow their own busi-
ness. I work closely with each member via private consulƟng
calls, email reviews, and 1:1 consulƟng days.
Visit hƩp://mikecapuzzi.com/private-client-group to see a
video presentaƟon and to receive my CPCG info-kit.

62