The Oprah Effect

(as published in The Western Weekender, Feb 25 2011, p 30)

In light of Oprah’s recent Australian “ultimate adventure”, you may have heard people talking about “the Oprah effect”. Usually this refers to the fact that whatever Oprah endorses or mentions turns to gold. Books become bestsellers. Singers sell millions of albums. Careers are skyrocketed. Most of us can only dream about that sort of free publicity!

But there are many things we can learn from Oprah about marketing our businesses:
1. Tell your story
Oprah uses her story to motivate, empathise and build rapport with people. Let people know the “story” of your business.
2. Build the suspense
Oprah has a knack of giving her audience a taste and then building up to the “big surprise”. Be mysterious. Keep your customers guessing and wanting to know more.
3. Give something away
While you may not be in the position to be quite as generous as Oprah, you can still give your customers things that are of value to them, but of little monetary cost to you. For example, team up with a related business to give away their product (free to you, extra promotion for them).
4. Dream big
It would be a fair observation to say that Oprah has never let her circumstances limit her dreams and goals.

In the words of Oprah herself: “I don't believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process…Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.”

Michelle Grice runs Shel Design and is the founder of www.dotcomwomen.com.au

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