Of course, that type of advertising does appeal to a certain class of men and if that is your targeted market, more power to you. Unfortunately, what it says to an upscale gent is that you think so little of yourself that you are willing to put up with or even WELCOME being treated like a piece of meat.

When you advertise to everybody, in a manner that appeals to the lowest level of taste, you risk attracting less than appealing, or even dangerous, clients. There is room for, and a client for, every level of escort from the BP Babes to the High Dollar Hotties, you just have to decide which of them you want to be and act accordingly. If you want to be treated respectfully, you must advertise to attract the type of client that will treat you that way.

It’s just that simple.

Well-to-do, or upscale, clients are the backbone of the service industry. If we’re honest about it, the “upscale” client is the one we’re looking to attract. The upscale client us less likely to treat us disrespectfully. While there are exceptions to every rule, the behavior of the upscale, or affluent, client is quite different from that of the haggler, bargain-hunter or tire-kicker.

Upscale clients are willing to pay for exclusivity, quality, satisfaction and top-notch customer service. Upscale clients are more likely to read your website and treat you with the respect you deserve.

You cannot use one-size-fits-all advertising to appeal to affluent clients; it’s important to project the right image to the clients you want to reach. If you want to attract a better class of clientele, you have to upgrade the quality of your advertising.

Of course, many of you are diligent about advertising and making sure that the right viewers get to your website, but having a blog (active, changing content) is something to think about if you’re wondering about your position in the search engines and wishing it were higher.

The content on your website is very important for the search engine spiders. It does no good for you to have a blog if you’re not going to update it. The experts recommend that you add to your web site frequently.

Search engines want to see FRESH INFORMATION on websites. As they visit your site and see that there is active content, they will continue to visit, index pages and rank those pages.

Some of you are diligent bloggers; some of you have no interest in ranking high in the search engines (preferring to remain UTR), but for those of you who DO want to rank higher in the search engines, consider updating the blog you already have or converting your site to WP so that you HAVE a blog.

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A few words about mobile sites …

I recently received this via email from SiteTribune.com:

2011 is the Year of Mobile!

Every year for the past three years I’ve heard, “This year is the year of Mobile!” Every year, Mobile marketing becomes bigger and bigger, but it has still yet to explode. Well, 2011 will be the year.

The reason why Mobile marketing hasn’t taken off in a significant way is because of one really simple reason: Mobile internet usage. Only a small percentage of users accessed the Internet on their cell phones. Most feature phones can access the Internet, but it’s slow and tedious.

To really be able to use the Internet to its full potential, you need a smartphone; yet smartphones have been too expensive for a large portion of the population. Now with the explosion of Android phones, smartphones can be had for less than $50, which is less than the price of some feature phones.

According to the Nielsen Group, sales of smartphones will surpass feature phones in Q3 2011.

This is the year we’ll see an explosion in Mobile advertising and marketing—from apps to location-based services to the Mobile web. If you are yet to take a look at Mobile, now is the time to start. Whether you need a Mobile-optimized website, application, or listing on Foursquare will depend on your individual business … but one thing is for sure—you need to do something!

Something to think about.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Just because you can drive a car, doesn’t mean you should race at Talladega.

Just because you have a Waterpik®, doesn’t mean you can pull your own teeth.

Just because you can use a sewing machine, doesn’t mean you should make every item in your wardrobe.

Just because you have a computer and a free website design program doesn’t mean you should create your own website.

Unless you actually create websites for a living, you should leave web design to the professionals. Web design isn’t one of those things that you can teach yourself to save some money. If you’re not a professional designer, your self-designed site looks exactly like what it is – unprofessional and homemade. If you think your potential clients won’t know the difference, you’re dead wrong. Potential clients do notice the quality of your website; if your looks unprofessional, they’ll think your services are unprofessional too.

A website has to be more than pretty pictures and a bunch of links and text. When designing a site, especially one that is supposed to make you money, keep in mind that the site should use properly sized fonts and optimized images; it should be easy to read and fast to load. A well-designed website is viewable in all current major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome).

Like your photographs and your wardrobe, your website distinguishes you from your competition. If your site is a clone of thousands of others or if it looks self-done, don’t fool yourself, you are likely out of the running. The providers who spend hundreds of dollars on luxurious lingerie and professional photography do so because they can’t make LaPerla® panties and no matter how nice their camera is, they will never be Santillo.

Photography, lingerie design and web design are things best left to the professionals; they have the skills and the experience to represent you in your best light and make you look your best.

At some time you’ve lost a potential client because of R-E. Somebody, somewhere has found you interesting, clicked your website link, got an eye-full of “F*CK A LOCAL GIRL” and promptly clicked the little “x” in the corner because those banners don’t fit with the description “classy and sophisticated“. If you spent a nice little chunk of ching on your photos, your photographer is wondering why his work of art has been reduced to those little tiny, grainy thumbnails and is plastered over with that god-awful, tacky “watermark.”

Additionally, r-e doesn’t (and CAN’T) offer the peace of mind working with a real, caring individual does. I’ve been in the web-design business for nearly ten years and I intend to be doing this long after some design “companies” have moved on to their next big money making venture. Designing for SPs isn’t just a “quick” job, for me. I make a point of learning something new in regard to my business every day, and I’ve make an extra effort to learn and educate myself on ways that I can help my SP clients do their job in the safest way possible. It is my goal to present the women who choose this line of work in the most-flattering, least dangerous light possible.

It’s never been my aim to alienate or insult anyone who’s chosen to advertise with r-e, but I’m aware that I probably have done both and for that I apologize. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for free … I REALLY am. I HONESTLY don’t have a problem with free. But NOT if it a) doesn’t help and b) potentially HARMS someone. What is the POINT of having a free website if it alienates your potential clients and puts you and your business in a bad light?

You get what you pay for and “free” isn’t always “free”. In the (paraphrased) words of a hobbyist: “If an established SP who charges a substantial hourly amount is using a FREE website, it makes you wonder.“

Sure it is, but there are just some luxuries or extras that people will not give up.  For me it’s a daily Cappucino and my tabloid mags – gotta have ‘em.

And here’s the thing – cappucino and tabloids haven’t gone down in price because the economy is “tanking”.

So … have your dropped your prices, even “temporarily”?  How is that working for you?  Are you aware that once you drop your prices, the odds of being successful at returning to your previous price are very low?

In a down economy it is necessary to increase the value of the service you offer without lowering your prices.

Lowering your prices, even for a short time, also means you may have to work harder (more clients) and it MAY mean having to deal with those potential clients that you don’t WANT (the “frugal” client who is always looking for a deal).

Keeping your prices the same (or even RAISING them) and offering added value for that price prevents the possibility of losing your current clients.

Look at your marketing efforts, look at what you’re offering for the value – has it helped or hurt you?  Are you working harder and making decisions that you really don’t want to in order to keep your head above water?

Is that what you really want to do?

In today’s economy we’re all trying to figure out how to attract more clients, persuade them to purchase our services or products and increase our income. Marketing is the same no matter what you’re trying to sell, whether it’s a personal service or a product.

In this article I’ll address how to know who your targeted client/customer is, know what they want and figure out the best way to catch their eye and convince them to purchase your product or service.

The best way to increase your income, obviously, is to get more customers, and once you’ve got them, to convince them to spend more money. But it’s not just a question of attracting more clients, it’s a question of attracting  the right type of client.  You wouldn’t advertise a bluegrass festival in the free ad paper of a college town in Seattle, Washington nor would you put up fliers for a free pedicure with the purchase of a manicure in a body shop.

You MUST reach out to and attract the attention of the people who are most interested in your services.

So exactly how does one go about doing that?

• Know the type of client you want to attract and what THEY want
• Make your product or service appealing to them; convince them that they not only WANT your product or service, but that they NEED it
• Price your products and services according to your targeted market
• Deliver above and beyond what the client expects

While the following tips and tricks can be applied to ANY product and service, I’ll be using the nail technician and the services she would offer as an example.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO SELL TO?

Let’s address the first point: What type of client do YOU want and how hard do you want to work?

The nail technician has many choices of targeted clients.  The bride-to-be, the businesswoman, the high school girl, the society matron are just a few … the levels of targeted clients can be endless and each one would respond to a different type of marketing strategy and price level.

The bride is a one time client, but she is a big-money client. Every bride want her wedding day to be special and most are ready to spend whatever it takes to achieve that goal.  The nail tech would do her research for this client by reading the wedding and engagement announcements of her local paper; she would then create an eye-catching advertisement and place it not ONLY in the service area of her local paper, but in local bridal salons, tanning salons – anywhere that a bride to be might see it. The ad would offer a special bridal package of all of the services the nail tech offers.

If the tech is affiliated with providers who offer similar services, so much the better.  Join with those providers – hair salons that don‘t offer nail services, tanning salons, estheticians, etc – to offer a spectacular package deal. They might even be interested in sharing advertising costs for a bigger newspaper ad.

The business woman would respond to a completely different marketing strategy: she’s in a hurry, she has money but not time, she needs to look good, she may or may not have a tight budget depending on her profession. To attract her attention, you might place your appropriate advertisement at the dry cleaners, the gym, etc.

Offer the business woman a quick service that can be fit in on her lunch hour.  She would also be a great candidate for a package deal of a different type – purchase nine manicures at a reduced price and receive the tenth one PLUS a paraffin dip for FREE.

Let’s look at the high school student – Prom, Homecoming, Spring break are all events where the student wants to look her best.  Unfortunately, the student’s budget can be tight.  You’ll have to alter your pricing accordingly and perhaps be willing to do her appointment at odd hours.  Word of mouth, however,  goes a long way in high school, so you may get a lot of referrals from the student.

Last, meet the society matron. What does she want, what does she expect?  The VERY BEST.  You will have to perform to her exacting  standards and you may even have to kiss up a bit. However she is willing to pay for it and she WILL brag about you to her friends and acquaintances.

One appointment with the matron will likely bring you the same amount of income as five business women or even ten students – in the same amount of time. PLUS, if you go above and beyond what you advertise, she will be a return client.

Now compare the four customers above with the similar customers who you are trying to sell  YOUR service/product to, decide how hard you want to work and market accordingly.