By Chris Simpson
There are several differences between marketing your business online vs. offline. The first thing that you should do in order to effectively understand the differences between these two modes of advertising is to make certain that you have a sound understanding of what each is.
Offline media sources operate a tad differently than online sources. In many instances, individuals use a fine mix of marketing that is offline, as well as online in an effort to maximize their exposure to potential prospects. Here, you will learn the differences between marketing your business online versus marketing your business offline.
What is Offline Advertising?
There are many different forms of offline advertising that are very effective to many different companies. As a matter of fact, three of these advertising venues are quite popular among individuals who are looking to promote a certain good or service. These include television, radio, and even in print.
Many individuals have commercials created for radio and television, and others may have advertisements listed in classified advertisements. The whole idea behind offline advertising is to acquire the attention of leads that may not know your website is out there. Then, once the potential customers are alerted to your website, they are drawn to visit it.
What is Online Advertising?
Most of the time, when it comes to internet marketing, online advertising is the process in which a particular banner, flash animation, article, or video catches the attention of the potential consumer. The marketing endeavors, or messages, are intended as an attractive lure to the customer in which a particular website wants to attract. These messages typically place a visitor on a "landing page" or a "squeeze page" of a website. There are many different ways in which this can be done:
* Blog Marketing
* Video Blogging
* Social Networking Websites
* Online Classifieds
* Article Marketing
* Email * Rich Media
Online advertising is not just effective in attracting individuals to websites. There are many different businesses that are offline that work to attract individuals from the internet to their business in a certain community.
The Differences?
When it comes to similarities, the goal of both online and offline advertising are much the same - to simply attract business. However, when it comes to differences, there are quite a few. Advertisements online, for example, must be more visual as rich media holds a stiff competition. In addition to this, the process of search engine optimization and other techniques must be considered. In offline advertising methods, one must be creative, but not to the extent of online venues of marketing.
Conclusion
If you are working to ensure that you have a well rounded target audience, it is important to utilize both online marketing and offline marketing in order to optimize your potential for success. By ensuring that you have both components to your marketing strategy, it is much more likely that you will experience a higher ratio of profits to overall losses.
All it takes is a little creativity and a little bit of time, soon, you will have a whole pile of prospects that are seeking out what goods and services that you have to offer!
Chris Simpson is dedicated to helping people find honest and legitimate work at home jobs and home based business ideas. Find legitimate work from home jobs and many other great opportunities to make money online today at: http://www.HomeNetPro.com
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Marketing Automation and Business to Consumer Strategies
By Paddu Govindaraj
Marketing automation is a popular method of using modern information technology tools and internet to automate the marketing process. Marketing planning, budgeting, interaction and management can all be automated to a great degree. Automating the marketing processes can boost productivity by making routine processes out of an otherwise long and tedious manual process, and add more possibilities to the mix, as well. Automating your consumer marketing strategies can have a serious positive impact on your customer base, and help you manage your time much more efficiently.
Effectively marketing to new customers and existing clients are both crucial to the longevity of your business. Consumers are more interested in finding the information they need quickly and efficiently, and aren't willing to waste time waiting for a response. Effective marketing automation tools can respond to consumers immediately, giving them exactly what they're looking for to pique their interest until they can get to a live person.
Perhaps the most appealing aspect of marketing automation is that it can deliver personalized answers instantaneously, something not even a marketing expert can do. Automated marketing can be customized to your company's specific needs, and be used to give certain responses to certain inquiries. Used correctly, consumers may not even be aware that they aren't dealing with an actual service representative.
Automated marketing can also help you maintain and manage your leads and prospects much more effectively. This affords you the opportunity to track and respond to the sales inquiries quickly and efficiently, and flag important leads for further review. This can save you time and money in the process, by saving you from wasting effort on weak leads. Marketing automation can help you weed out leads that aren't worth pursuing, or that don't need you to focus as much attention.
With an automated marketing software system, you can keep your entire team of employees on the same level with regards to your marketing leads. The chances of leads being accidentally ignored, or contacted multiple times, will be drastically reduced by using a good software system. Employees will be able to manage all of your company's leads from one central place on the web, and reduce the amount of time they waste, which will boost your marketing efficiency and save you money at the same time.
Marketing automation solutions are available with a wide variety of features to meet your company's specific needs. It has also become increasingly affordable within the past few years, making it an excellent investment and a great way to improve your current consumer strategies without making a big change to your marketing practices. Marketing automation will allow you to maintain continuous contact with your leads, help you better retain your current customers, and show you where you can make improvements in your marketing techniques. Even the most seasoned marketing expert can benefit from the features that marketing automation has to offer. For the best results, just remember that marketing automation software is by no means a replacement for your current consumer marketing (also referred as B2C) strategies, but rather, a way to increase your efficiency and ease the current struggles that many businesses deal with in regards to sales and marketing operations every day.
Paddu Govindaraj, architect of LeadPro, specializes in Email Marketing, Auto-responder, Lead Management and Marketing Automation Software solutions, tools and resources for Small and Medium Businesses to embrace online marketing. He provides design, consulting, customization and implementation services in Email Marketing and Lead Management areas. He blogs on Sales Lead Management Best Practices, Web Analytics and Email Marketing subjects.
Please take a look at the features of LeadPro to see how it will help you grow your business by visiting the LeadPro Lead Management and Email Marketing services website. Request a free consultation and find out how to use LeadPro marketing automation tool for capturing leads, nurturing prospects using email marketing, and automate lead tracking processes for your business.
Marketing automation is a popular method of using modern information technology tools and internet to automate the marketing process. Marketing planning, budgeting, interaction and management can all be automated to a great degree. Automating the marketing processes can boost productivity by making routine processes out of an otherwise long and tedious manual process, and add more possibilities to the mix, as well. Automating your consumer marketing strategies can have a serious positive impact on your customer base, and help you manage your time much more efficiently.
Effectively marketing to new customers and existing clients are both crucial to the longevity of your business. Consumers are more interested in finding the information they need quickly and efficiently, and aren't willing to waste time waiting for a response. Effective marketing automation tools can respond to consumers immediately, giving them exactly what they're looking for to pique their interest until they can get to a live person.
Perhaps the most appealing aspect of marketing automation is that it can deliver personalized answers instantaneously, something not even a marketing expert can do. Automated marketing can be customized to your company's specific needs, and be used to give certain responses to certain inquiries. Used correctly, consumers may not even be aware that they aren't dealing with an actual service representative.
Automated marketing can also help you maintain and manage your leads and prospects much more effectively. This affords you the opportunity to track and respond to the sales inquiries quickly and efficiently, and flag important leads for further review. This can save you time and money in the process, by saving you from wasting effort on weak leads. Marketing automation can help you weed out leads that aren't worth pursuing, or that don't need you to focus as much attention.
With an automated marketing software system, you can keep your entire team of employees on the same level with regards to your marketing leads. The chances of leads being accidentally ignored, or contacted multiple times, will be drastically reduced by using a good software system. Employees will be able to manage all of your company's leads from one central place on the web, and reduce the amount of time they waste, which will boost your marketing efficiency and save you money at the same time.
Marketing automation solutions are available with a wide variety of features to meet your company's specific needs. It has also become increasingly affordable within the past few years, making it an excellent investment and a great way to improve your current consumer strategies without making a big change to your marketing practices. Marketing automation will allow you to maintain continuous contact with your leads, help you better retain your current customers, and show you where you can make improvements in your marketing techniques. Even the most seasoned marketing expert can benefit from the features that marketing automation has to offer. For the best results, just remember that marketing automation software is by no means a replacement for your current consumer marketing (also referred as B2C) strategies, but rather, a way to increase your efficiency and ease the current struggles that many businesses deal with in regards to sales and marketing operations every day.
Paddu Govindaraj, architect of LeadPro, specializes in Email Marketing, Auto-responder, Lead Management and Marketing Automation Software solutions, tools and resources for Small and Medium Businesses to embrace online marketing. He provides design, consulting, customization and implementation services in Email Marketing and Lead Management areas. He blogs on Sales Lead Management Best Practices, Web Analytics and Email Marketing subjects.
Please take a look at the features of LeadPro to see how it will help you grow your business by visiting the LeadPro Lead Management and Email Marketing services website. Request a free consultation and find out how to use LeadPro marketing automation tool for capturing leads, nurturing prospects using email marketing, and automate lead tracking processes for your business.
Top Ten Opportunities to Use Testimonials to Power Up Your Marketing
By Kathleen Ann
When it comes to marketing, testimonials are as important to your business as your list. There is no substitute for authentic verification from a third party of what you offer. We all know people do business with people they know, like and trust and testimonials provide the perfect vehicle to deliver these essential ingredients in a truly authentic way.
Without testimonials you will have a tough time getting people to sign up for what you are offering or to part with their money.
Treat testimonials like gold. Seek them, collect them and use them at every opportunity.
Here's the top ten opportunities to use testimonials.
# 1 is on your website. Either on a particular page dedicated to testimonials or use the left and/or right margin and fill that with testimonials. Use pictures, audio or video for variety and impact.
# 2 is in a sales letter. Use throughout your sales letter, highlight them in boxes or filter into body copy to demonstrate or emphasise important aspects or benefits.
# 3 is in your newsletter. You could feature a testimonial to support your article or special promotion or simply have a little testimonial snippet. It might just be two sentences or part of a testimonial. Mix it up for variety.
# 4 is on the front and back cover of your information product. This is extremely valuable space as it will support the sale as well as re-enforce the product after the sale because whether shippable or downloadable it will be in the clients hands and read many times.
# 5 is woven into your articles. This is a subtle way to maximize the use of testimonials that will gently resonate with the reader. Weave them into your articles and quote clients to support a particular benefit or point you want to make or as part of a story you are telling.
# 6 is on a postcard or direct mail piece. Whether a solo mailing or part of a campaign, testimonials bring that third party endorsement right into the letter box . Keep it short and relevant and capitalize on this tangible, personal communication.
# 7 is in an email promotion. When you send out a promotional email for your preview call or sales page, you can use a testimonial one of two ways. Either use an outright quote or even better, as part of a before and after story to demonstrate your point.
# 8 is on your free articles page. If you have a dedicated page for free articles or resources, load it with testimonials to encourage people to sign-up to your list.
# 9 is on flyers, brochures or leave behinds. Whether mailing or handing out at networking opportunities a tangible item is a great place to feature testimonials.
# 10 is on the back of your business card. This is prime real-estate and will be read by everyone you hand your card to and most likely will be referred to more than once. Especially powerful place to use a celebrity endorsement.
In a nutshell, you want a testimonial on everything. Every product or service that you offer. Use them whenever and wherever possible and utilize every medium to exploit them to their full potential. You always need them and can never have too many.
Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the "Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs". Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop "7 Steps to Advertising Success" http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com
When it comes to marketing, testimonials are as important to your business as your list. There is no substitute for authentic verification from a third party of what you offer. We all know people do business with people they know, like and trust and testimonials provide the perfect vehicle to deliver these essential ingredients in a truly authentic way.
Without testimonials you will have a tough time getting people to sign up for what you are offering or to part with their money.
Treat testimonials like gold. Seek them, collect them and use them at every opportunity.
Here's the top ten opportunities to use testimonials.
# 1 is on your website. Either on a particular page dedicated to testimonials or use the left and/or right margin and fill that with testimonials. Use pictures, audio or video for variety and impact.
# 2 is in a sales letter. Use throughout your sales letter, highlight them in boxes or filter into body copy to demonstrate or emphasise important aspects or benefits.
# 3 is in your newsletter. You could feature a testimonial to support your article or special promotion or simply have a little testimonial snippet. It might just be two sentences or part of a testimonial. Mix it up for variety.
# 4 is on the front and back cover of your information product. This is extremely valuable space as it will support the sale as well as re-enforce the product after the sale because whether shippable or downloadable it will be in the clients hands and read many times.
# 5 is woven into your articles. This is a subtle way to maximize the use of testimonials that will gently resonate with the reader. Weave them into your articles and quote clients to support a particular benefit or point you want to make or as part of a story you are telling.
# 6 is on a postcard or direct mail piece. Whether a solo mailing or part of a campaign, testimonials bring that third party endorsement right into the letter box . Keep it short and relevant and capitalize on this tangible, personal communication.
# 7 is in an email promotion. When you send out a promotional email for your preview call or sales page, you can use a testimonial one of two ways. Either use an outright quote or even better, as part of a before and after story to demonstrate your point.
# 8 is on your free articles page. If you have a dedicated page for free articles or resources, load it with testimonials to encourage people to sign-up to your list.
# 9 is on flyers, brochures or leave behinds. Whether mailing or handing out at networking opportunities a tangible item is a great place to feature testimonials.
# 10 is on the back of your business card. This is prime real-estate and will be read by everyone you hand your card to and most likely will be referred to more than once. Especially powerful place to use a celebrity endorsement.
In a nutshell, you want a testimonial on everything. Every product or service that you offer. Use them whenever and wherever possible and utilize every medium to exploit them to their full potential. You always need them and can never have too many.
Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the "Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs". Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop "7 Steps to Advertising Success" http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com
The Sales and Marketing Relationship
By Rivers Corbett
Sales and marketing, two parts of business that are so different yet need to be connected to each other and some point or end. Sales people and marketing people are always in different worlds, it's like the jocks and the nerds (I wont say which is which, that's up to you). The school isn't going to be complete without either one missing and your business won't be either.
The job of the marketing people is seen as serious and analytical, they are the people always talking amongst each other, planning and playing with statistics and campaigns. Marketing is the path taken to get to the customers. There are many activities involved in marketing; cold canvassing, brand or corporate advertising, or more targeted types of marketing like direct response advertising and referrals. This is where the particular benefits of the product is explained to the customers. So all these different kinds of marketing are what get to the people, and these people are your leads. Leads are the connection between sales and marketing. Without leads, there is no connection, sales and marketing will never meet and business won't work out.
The sales people now are always on the run, going here and there, on the phone with customers or meeting them somewhere, always trying to grab some big deal that's going to bring the company to greater heights. What get's them moving is the leads they acquire from marketing. Now this doesn't mean sales is under marketing and is less important or is the department that needs a smaller budget. Marketing has no purpose with sales and sales can't occur without marketing. Both need to work together in order to reach maximum advantage.
This all looks so simple, but the bumps occur at the same place where sales and marketing meet. Leads are not all the same, you have good and bad leads. Depending on the leads, sometimes the marketing or the sales approach needs to be different. That's why sales and marketing departments or people always need to be in constant contact with each other. The more you understand the way the other team is working, the more you can use the knowledge to your advantage when getting to the lead.
Following up is an essential part of sales and marketing as well. It can be following up on a potential lead or following up on a previous customer, the communication should not stop after one transaction, it's a continuous process that requires sales and marketing to always be working hand in hand. Here's to your Success!
PS...Award Winning Global Entrepreneur, Rivers Corbett offers entrepreneurs an insight into what prevents most entrepreneurs from experiencing success. Rivers series 13 Fears of an Entrepreneur is must knowledge for any entrepreneur wanting to succeed at any level in business. Click on http://www.DiscoverTheKnowledge.com for more information and also receive his FREE gift of what started him on his global entrepreneurial journey.
Sales and marketing, two parts of business that are so different yet need to be connected to each other and some point or end. Sales people and marketing people are always in different worlds, it's like the jocks and the nerds (I wont say which is which, that's up to you). The school isn't going to be complete without either one missing and your business won't be either.
The job of the marketing people is seen as serious and analytical, they are the people always talking amongst each other, planning and playing with statistics and campaigns. Marketing is the path taken to get to the customers. There are many activities involved in marketing; cold canvassing, brand or corporate advertising, or more targeted types of marketing like direct response advertising and referrals. This is where the particular benefits of the product is explained to the customers. So all these different kinds of marketing are what get to the people, and these people are your leads. Leads are the connection between sales and marketing. Without leads, there is no connection, sales and marketing will never meet and business won't work out.
The sales people now are always on the run, going here and there, on the phone with customers or meeting them somewhere, always trying to grab some big deal that's going to bring the company to greater heights. What get's them moving is the leads they acquire from marketing. Now this doesn't mean sales is under marketing and is less important or is the department that needs a smaller budget. Marketing has no purpose with sales and sales can't occur without marketing. Both need to work together in order to reach maximum advantage.
This all looks so simple, but the bumps occur at the same place where sales and marketing meet. Leads are not all the same, you have good and bad leads. Depending on the leads, sometimes the marketing or the sales approach needs to be different. That's why sales and marketing departments or people always need to be in constant contact with each other. The more you understand the way the other team is working, the more you can use the knowledge to your advantage when getting to the lead.
Following up is an essential part of sales and marketing as well. It can be following up on a potential lead or following up on a previous customer, the communication should not stop after one transaction, it's a continuous process that requires sales and marketing to always be working hand in hand. Here's to your Success!
PS...Award Winning Global Entrepreneur, Rivers Corbett offers entrepreneurs an insight into what prevents most entrepreneurs from experiencing success. Rivers series 13 Fears of an Entrepreneur is must knowledge for any entrepreneur wanting to succeed at any level in business. Click on http://www.DiscoverTheKnowledge.com for more information and also receive his FREE gift of what started him on his global entrepreneurial journey.
Grabbing the Eye is Not All You Need to Do
By Janice Jenkins
What are print posters supposed to do? Color posters are large; they are often colorful with big lettering and large titles and quickly get a person's attention. They have to be, because unlike most other forms of marketing, if you are going with poster printing you are accepting that people cannot take your advertisement home with them.
This is the main drawback to color posters, and the reason why they have to get a person's attention quickly or else your advertising will not have much of an impact on people. But the thing of it is getting a person's attention is far from the only thing you have to do, and you need to consider what message you are sending, and what a person is going to walk away with.
In the quest to form an interesting poster companies have walked down all sorts of different paths. Some go for risqué images that might invoke a certain mood or feeling and will instantly get a persons interested. Others go for very unique images and colors that make a person wonder what that poster is all about. Still others use giant wording to get right to the point so people will be intrigued by what the poster has to say.
All of these things can lead to effective posters, but only if they then follow up with the proper amount of information, or if they give the right message. For some of those risqué posters you might have their attention, but are you attracting the right audience, are you delivering your message in the best way possible? Are you substituting solid information for flashy images instead?
I have seen plenty of posters before that made me look over, but once I was looking I did not know what the poster was trying to say or do. The images did not really convey any kind of specific message, and I was left scratching my head as to why this company paid for poster printing if they did not have something of significance to say with their poster.
Posters need to accomplish two goals, and only the first one is getting a person's attention. It is true that if no one bothers to look over no one will ever read your message, but do not allow that to confuse you into thinking that you need to substitute a solid advertising theme for a catchy image instead.
You might simply run your posters by a group of people to see what they take away from them. Do they understand the message you are trying to push, or are they just seeing the image without understanding why the image is there?
Be sure that both image and message work well together and that both are delivering what you want them to. This is what the best kind of advertisements is always going to do.
Janice Jenkins is a writer for a marketing company in Chicago, IL. Mostly into marketing research, Janice started writing articles early 2007 to impart her knowledge to individuals new to the marketing industry.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Print Posters, Color Posters.
What are print posters supposed to do? Color posters are large; they are often colorful with big lettering and large titles and quickly get a person's attention. They have to be, because unlike most other forms of marketing, if you are going with poster printing you are accepting that people cannot take your advertisement home with them.
This is the main drawback to color posters, and the reason why they have to get a person's attention quickly or else your advertising will not have much of an impact on people. But the thing of it is getting a person's attention is far from the only thing you have to do, and you need to consider what message you are sending, and what a person is going to walk away with.
In the quest to form an interesting poster companies have walked down all sorts of different paths. Some go for risqué images that might invoke a certain mood or feeling and will instantly get a persons interested. Others go for very unique images and colors that make a person wonder what that poster is all about. Still others use giant wording to get right to the point so people will be intrigued by what the poster has to say.
All of these things can lead to effective posters, but only if they then follow up with the proper amount of information, or if they give the right message. For some of those risqué posters you might have their attention, but are you attracting the right audience, are you delivering your message in the best way possible? Are you substituting solid information for flashy images instead?
I have seen plenty of posters before that made me look over, but once I was looking I did not know what the poster was trying to say or do. The images did not really convey any kind of specific message, and I was left scratching my head as to why this company paid for poster printing if they did not have something of significance to say with their poster.
Posters need to accomplish two goals, and only the first one is getting a person's attention. It is true that if no one bothers to look over no one will ever read your message, but do not allow that to confuse you into thinking that you need to substitute a solid advertising theme for a catchy image instead.
You might simply run your posters by a group of people to see what they take away from them. Do they understand the message you are trying to push, or are they just seeing the image without understanding why the image is there?
Be sure that both image and message work well together and that both are delivering what you want them to. This is what the best kind of advertisements is always going to do.
Janice Jenkins is a writer for a marketing company in Chicago, IL. Mostly into marketing research, Janice started writing articles early 2007 to impart her knowledge to individuals new to the marketing industry.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Print Posters, Color Posters.
Business Gifts - Perfect For a Raft of Scenarios
By Imogen Brown
There are various reasons why company executives utilise promotional products. The major one, though, is to enhance or solidify a customer relationship. If you have business dealings with a client that extends over many years, you gift corporate branded business gifts to say thanks to that customer for their loyalty to your business. You might also want to give a business gift when a brand new customer begins to spend money with you. You might also want to distribute a promotional business gift to show your appreciation. In fact, you may even think about passing out promotional business gifts to your staff.
Informing people, including your colleagues, know that you value them and their custom is a major part of the relationship process. It is human nature to want to feel appreciated and it is not really that tough to make someone a long standing customer or employee, just by handing them a token of your appreciation.
So when do you decide to hand out these corporate business gifts? Is there a rule of thumb to help you to determine when you purchase corporate business gifts and distribute them? The answer to these questions is yes, there are some key times when corporate gifting is appropriate. Set out below is a good guide you can use. Promotional gifts are a good idea when:
1. You need to kick off some competition and challenge employees to stretch to make a quarterly or monthly target so you arrange what is universally known as an Incentive Program. Incentive Programs, when perfectly put together create a healthy sense of competition and frequently improve moral. If you peek into Incentive Programs you will find there are in effect two types:
1) you purchase a business promotional gift or reward and it is won by the first employee who meets the target you put before them, and
2) you start a program where each and every employee who meets the target is rewarded the business gift.
The choice of promotional gift(s) you buy depends on how many you are intending on distribute. If you are gifting only a single product you can purchase a proportionally more costly corporate gift; for instance a three - day excursion somewhere or tickets to a concert etc. If you are intending to provide numerous people with the corporate gift, you may need to go for those that are not as costly.
2. An alternative time, when promotional gifts might be appropriate, is during various holidays. You need to do this carefully as it would be culturally insane to offer Xmas promotional business gifts if you have members of staff or clients who are not Christian.
3. Thanking clients and employee birthdays is another time when business gifts can be handed out. If you are handing out a business gift for a birthday to a member of staff, you must make sure that you do the same for all employees. Nothing will lower moral faster than treating one member of staff different than the others. If you are handing out client's corporate gifts on their birthdays, you could consider vouchers for a reduction off of their next purchase.
4. We all like to thank members of staff who are retiring and a corporate retirement product is an excellent way to say goodbye and thanks. If you have a sizable company, you may start up a variety of different types of retirement promotional for various numbers of years served. It would be unprofessional to give someone who had been with the company for 25 years the same keychain that the retiree who has been with the organisation 2 years receives.
Without a shadow of a doubt, there really are no absolute, written in stone, times when promotional gifts should be distributed. It is a matter of what suits what organisation best.
Imogen Brown is the marketing manager for Clickpromogifts one of the UK's premier suppliers of promotional keyrings and promotional keyrings.
There are various reasons why company executives utilise promotional products. The major one, though, is to enhance or solidify a customer relationship. If you have business dealings with a client that extends over many years, you gift corporate branded business gifts to say thanks to that customer for their loyalty to your business. You might also want to give a business gift when a brand new customer begins to spend money with you. You might also want to distribute a promotional business gift to show your appreciation. In fact, you may even think about passing out promotional business gifts to your staff.
Informing people, including your colleagues, know that you value them and their custom is a major part of the relationship process. It is human nature to want to feel appreciated and it is not really that tough to make someone a long standing customer or employee, just by handing them a token of your appreciation.
So when do you decide to hand out these corporate business gifts? Is there a rule of thumb to help you to determine when you purchase corporate business gifts and distribute them? The answer to these questions is yes, there are some key times when corporate gifting is appropriate. Set out below is a good guide you can use. Promotional gifts are a good idea when:
1. You need to kick off some competition and challenge employees to stretch to make a quarterly or monthly target so you arrange what is universally known as an Incentive Program. Incentive Programs, when perfectly put together create a healthy sense of competition and frequently improve moral. If you peek into Incentive Programs you will find there are in effect two types:
1) you purchase a business promotional gift or reward and it is won by the first employee who meets the target you put before them, and
2) you start a program where each and every employee who meets the target is rewarded the business gift.
The choice of promotional gift(s) you buy depends on how many you are intending on distribute. If you are gifting only a single product you can purchase a proportionally more costly corporate gift; for instance a three - day excursion somewhere or tickets to a concert etc. If you are intending to provide numerous people with the corporate gift, you may need to go for those that are not as costly.
2. An alternative time, when promotional gifts might be appropriate, is during various holidays. You need to do this carefully as it would be culturally insane to offer Xmas promotional business gifts if you have members of staff or clients who are not Christian.
3. Thanking clients and employee birthdays is another time when business gifts can be handed out. If you are handing out a business gift for a birthday to a member of staff, you must make sure that you do the same for all employees. Nothing will lower moral faster than treating one member of staff different than the others. If you are handing out client's corporate gifts on their birthdays, you could consider vouchers for a reduction off of their next purchase.
4. We all like to thank members of staff who are retiring and a corporate retirement product is an excellent way to say goodbye and thanks. If you have a sizable company, you may start up a variety of different types of retirement promotional for various numbers of years served. It would be unprofessional to give someone who had been with the company for 25 years the same keychain that the retiree who has been with the organisation 2 years receives.
Without a shadow of a doubt, there really are no absolute, written in stone, times when promotional gifts should be distributed. It is a matter of what suits what organisation best.
Imogen Brown is the marketing manager for Clickpromogifts one of the UK's premier suppliers of promotional keyrings and promotional keyrings.
Maximize Marketing Tools For Business Growth
By Joan Marcus
In today's difficult economy, you need to find the most cost-effective ways to grow your business if you want to succeed. When you develop marketing tools, from websites to brochures, electronic newsletters to direct mail, maximize their value. Here's how:
Develop a hard-hitting message. Your prospects and clients need to know three things about your products and services to make a purchase: what need or pain point you address, your solution to their problem or need and what makes your solution better than other options. Summarize these thoughts in a memorable statement of 25 words or less. Use this message in all of your marketing tools as well as in networking situations.
Amplify your story. Your marketing message is the core of what you do and why you believe customers should do business with you. Your message should elicit questions and spark a desire on the part of customers and prospects to learn more. Amplify your story by answering these questions. Use this copy in a variety of ways, such as on your website and in brochures, newsletters, email campaigns, proposals and presentations.
Develop a professional look. At the very minimum, every company should have a professionally designed logo with standardized colors. You should have your logo saved in an electronic format that allows you to use it in email and other programs that you use on a regular basis. Your marketing tools - print and website - should complement one another, in message, style and color. Use the "cringe" test to honestly evaluate your marketing tools. If you cringe every time you need to use your logo, hand out a brochure or send someone to your website, your marketing tools need an overhaul.
Be open to new perspectives. Change is the only constant in life. If you are marketing your company the same way you were ten years ago, you are probably missing out on a lot of opportunities. While your core product or service may be the same, find new ways to tell your story. You will be glad that you did.
Copyright 2008. Joan B. Marcus Communications LLC
May be reprinted with the following, in full: Joan B. Marcus, president of Joan B. Marcus Communications LLC, is a pro in all forms of writing -- from website copy to grant proposals, brochures to electronic newsletters. She helps small businesses and nonprofit organizations achieve their goals by developing and delivering their marketing message with impact. Sign up for a free newsletter and learn more about Joan B. Marcus Communications at http://joanbmarcuscommunications.com
In today's difficult economy, you need to find the most cost-effective ways to grow your business if you want to succeed. When you develop marketing tools, from websites to brochures, electronic newsletters to direct mail, maximize their value. Here's how:
Develop a hard-hitting message. Your prospects and clients need to know three things about your products and services to make a purchase: what need or pain point you address, your solution to their problem or need and what makes your solution better than other options. Summarize these thoughts in a memorable statement of 25 words or less. Use this message in all of your marketing tools as well as in networking situations.
Amplify your story. Your marketing message is the core of what you do and why you believe customers should do business with you. Your message should elicit questions and spark a desire on the part of customers and prospects to learn more. Amplify your story by answering these questions. Use this copy in a variety of ways, such as on your website and in brochures, newsletters, email campaigns, proposals and presentations.
Develop a professional look. At the very minimum, every company should have a professionally designed logo with standardized colors. You should have your logo saved in an electronic format that allows you to use it in email and other programs that you use on a regular basis. Your marketing tools - print and website - should complement one another, in message, style and color. Use the "cringe" test to honestly evaluate your marketing tools. If you cringe every time you need to use your logo, hand out a brochure or send someone to your website, your marketing tools need an overhaul.
Be open to new perspectives. Change is the only constant in life. If you are marketing your company the same way you were ten years ago, you are probably missing out on a lot of opportunities. While your core product or service may be the same, find new ways to tell your story. You will be glad that you did.
Copyright 2008. Joan B. Marcus Communications LLC
May be reprinted with the following, in full: Joan B. Marcus, president of Joan B. Marcus Communications LLC, is a pro in all forms of writing -- from website copy to grant proposals, brochures to electronic newsletters. She helps small businesses and nonprofit organizations achieve their goals by developing and delivering their marketing message with impact. Sign up for a free newsletter and learn more about Joan B. Marcus Communications at http://joanbmarcuscommunications.com
How to Keep an in Sync - Marketing and Product Development
By Kaye Marks
In any company communication can be a difficult thing to achieve, and different departments regularly seem to avoid talking to each other if at all possible. Often this can work just fine, because most departments do not have anything to do with each other, but for marketing, you might be facing some very painful results if you are not careful.
Just to skim the surface, a loosely knitted communication network in the office might cause problems if you promote a new product and send out a huge postcard printing campaign that you start getting inquiries for which you get confused looks from your employees. Do you get the picture?
Nowhere is this more prevalent than when you are introducing a new product, and I have seen so many blunders based on bad communication before and it is rather sad each time it happens. The results can hurt a company a lot and waste them plenty of cash.
The problems almost always come from the development and release of the product being out of sync with the marketing for it. For any new product release, you want to have your marketing out in the public ahead of the actual release, and then another prominent marketing push on the day of the release. You might get a large number of color postcards out to people a month before the product release, and all of those postcards are going to mention the date of the release.
But then the product gets pushed back. The development team needed more time and did not bother to tell the marketing department, so suddenly you have a lot of marketing material that says the wrong thing, and all of your planned marketing pushes for the day of the release need to quickly be scrapped or moved back. You have been boosting up support for a while and you have to turn around and tell your customers they have to suddenly wait.
All it takes to avoid this is to have regular, maybe even weekly, updates between the two sides. Be sure the development team is constantly aware of what kind of marketing pushes are going on, and that the marketing team knows of any potential delays before they send out those color postcards.
This also requires both sides to be completely up front with their progress, and that no one is making assumptions or overestimating the chance of a specific release date.
Really, communication should be a strong part of any kind of department and everyone should be well aware of what is going on in the other departments. I have found that sometimes the reason why a product gets delayed is because one subdivision of the development process is not properly communicating with everyone else.
Sit down before everything starts, get every single person working close to the project together, and make sure all of them have a strong system set up for communicating. Yes, it might take longer to do this, but in the end, you will avoid a lot of nasty pitfalls and have a smooth product release. All it takes is a little communication.
Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in postcard printing or color postcard industry.
In any company communication can be a difficult thing to achieve, and different departments regularly seem to avoid talking to each other if at all possible. Often this can work just fine, because most departments do not have anything to do with each other, but for marketing, you might be facing some very painful results if you are not careful.
Just to skim the surface, a loosely knitted communication network in the office might cause problems if you promote a new product and send out a huge postcard printing campaign that you start getting inquiries for which you get confused looks from your employees. Do you get the picture?
Nowhere is this more prevalent than when you are introducing a new product, and I have seen so many blunders based on bad communication before and it is rather sad each time it happens. The results can hurt a company a lot and waste them plenty of cash.
The problems almost always come from the development and release of the product being out of sync with the marketing for it. For any new product release, you want to have your marketing out in the public ahead of the actual release, and then another prominent marketing push on the day of the release. You might get a large number of color postcards out to people a month before the product release, and all of those postcards are going to mention the date of the release.
But then the product gets pushed back. The development team needed more time and did not bother to tell the marketing department, so suddenly you have a lot of marketing material that says the wrong thing, and all of your planned marketing pushes for the day of the release need to quickly be scrapped or moved back. You have been boosting up support for a while and you have to turn around and tell your customers they have to suddenly wait.
All it takes to avoid this is to have regular, maybe even weekly, updates between the two sides. Be sure the development team is constantly aware of what kind of marketing pushes are going on, and that the marketing team knows of any potential delays before they send out those color postcards.
This also requires both sides to be completely up front with their progress, and that no one is making assumptions or overestimating the chance of a specific release date.
Really, communication should be a strong part of any kind of department and everyone should be well aware of what is going on in the other departments. I have found that sometimes the reason why a product gets delayed is because one subdivision of the development process is not properly communicating with everyone else.
Sit down before everything starts, get every single person working close to the project together, and make sure all of them have a strong system set up for communicating. Yes, it might take longer to do this, but in the end, you will avoid a lot of nasty pitfalls and have a smooth product release. All it takes is a little communication.
Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in postcard printing or color postcard industry.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Business Marketing - The Top 10 "Game-Changers" to Boost Sales in Any Economy
By Taylor Hunt
Need the inside scoop on "exactly" how to market your business? Tap into the professional resource for insider game-changers to market your business, product or service on ANY budget. Join the A-List and other smart marketers -- grab the edge over your competition >>> http://GoldCircleInsider.com
- Over deliver -- In a world filled with businesses who have a "whatever" attitude, if you deliver more than you promise you will stand out. Give a little unexpected bonus or gift with their purchase. You will attract loyal customers like teenagers to an iPod sale.
- Increase customer service -- After purchase follow-up with your customer. Think of your customer service department as a marketing center. How many businesses even send a follow-up email or note to their new customers or check in with them? Do it. Your customers will love you for it. How do customers show their love? The buy, stay and refer other customers.
- Move your marketing budget to measurable methods -- Online marketing can be laser targeted, trackable and provides more bang for your buck. The Direct Marketing Association reports email marketing returns $50.45 for every $1 spent. This means if you only have $100/month to market, you could see sales of $5,045 if you spend it on email marketing.
- Re-contact previous customers -- Failure to follow-up with contacts and customers is the number two reason businesses fail. The average business loses 50% of their customer base every year. It costs 5 times more to sell to a new customer than an existing one.
- Build relationships with your contacts and customers -- When someone contacts your business for information or makes a purchase -- be sure to keep in contact with them. Sign them up for your newsletter, collect their email address and continue to provide them with valuable information to position yourself as the one they talk about when they say "I got a great person for that".
- Ask current customers for referrals -- You do not have to rely on organic referrals. Ask for referrals. Make it easy. Put a "forward to a friend" link on your website. Put up a sign all your customers see that says: "Know someone else who needs a great _________? Let them know about it and you both get a $50 Best Buy card when they become a customer." This is just an example, you can tweak it. The key is to make it so great your customers start thinking hard about all the people they could refer to get a bunch of those great gifts.
- Joint venture with other businesses to create offers to customers no competitor can match -- What businesses could you team up with who offer products or services that complement yours? If you are a plumber or a home service business how great would your customer feel if you left a wrapped sample brownie from a local baker or a single flower and card from a local florist on the counter when you are done? You could arrange with one of these kind of local providers to get these free or at cost in exchange for leaving their card with the little gift. Might cost you $2 at most per customer. What might that generate in goodwill, future business and referrals?
- Run a contest for customers and contacts -- You can run a contest to draw in customers. Use the joint venture idea above in #7 to get a bundle of prizes from other local merchants and create a win-win all the way around. Build the contest around your business. Own a small retail store or restaurant? Build the contest around your "solutions". Have your customers and contacts interact with what your products and services: a simple quiz about the products you offer, or a recipe contest to create a brand new desert you name after them.
- Write articles to establish you as a expert in the solution your contacts care about -- Use your articles to distribute them on your website, the Internet and in your print newsletters. Over time you build up a reputation, and a bank of quality content you can reuse to create booklets and helpful tip sheets your customers refer to again and again (don't forget to put your business information on them!)
- Give your marketing copy a makeover - Great copy increases sales, period. You cannot go wrong studying copywriting or hiring a professional copywriter.
Need the inside scoop on "exactly" how to market your business? Tap into the professional resource for insider game-changers to market your business, product or service on ANY budget. Join the A-List and other smart marketers -- grab the edge over your competition >>> http://GoldCircleInsider.com
Growing Your Construction Business Through Effective Marketing
By Jassen Bowman
If you are a trades person, then you most likely think that you first and primary line of business is the trade that you are in. However, whether you are an electrician, a plumber, a handyman, a remodeling contractor, or anything else, it is important for you to realize that your first and foremost job in business is being a marketer and a salesperson. This may seem strange, but think of it like this: If you don't make sales, you don't have anything to work on.
So how do you go about doing inexpensive but effective marketing for this type of business? Let's discuss three methods that are inexpensive and will work in any area for any construction business.
Bandit Signs
Bandit signs, or yard signs, are commonly seen items for real estate investors and politicians, but they work just as well for the home repair business of any sort. The key to using yard signs is quantity. When you order yard signs, order laminated paperboard or corrugated plastic signs that are weather resistant. With metal sign holders, you'll spend $5 or $6 per sign. Get yourself 100 or 200 of them. Then, put them everywhere. Put them in the yards of the homes you're working on, put them in friends yards, put them anywhere you can get permission to do so.
Yard signs are what we call disposable advertising, because they will get stolen and destroyed by people. But if you have an effective marketing message on them, you will get phone calls.
Classified Ads
Classified ads are another inexpensive, but highly effective marketing method for construction trades. In particular, check out the service directory section of your local newspaper classifieds. For people that are specifically looking for a handyman or other contractor, they are most likely to look in this section. Also, check out your local Penny Saver, Thrifty Nickel, or American Classifieds. These classified papers are usually published weekly and are very inexpensive to advertise in, but can be very effective for the small contractor.
Business Cards
You may not think of business cards as a marketing vehicle, but they can be used very effectively. In particular, have business cards printed with a marketing message on them, rather than just your business name, address, phone number, etc. You can then use these business cards to network with, but also, more importantly, you can leave them in random places. Leave them on the counter at businesses you frequent. Leave them in telephone booths. Leave them as free bookmarks in home remodeling related books at your local bookstore. Simply developing the habit of leaving them everywhere you go will eventually get you business from this extremely cheap marketing method.
Remember, these marketing tips are only effective if you actually use them. So, start putting together some headlines and marketing messages, and get to marketing to grow your contractor business.
Jassen Bowman is a speaker, trainer, and writer in the field of how to earn extra money. The How To Earn headquarters site provides you with the resources to earn extra money in your spare time, reduce debt, and get your financial house in order. If you are a contractor or handyman, learn more about growing your construction business.
If you are a trades person, then you most likely think that you first and primary line of business is the trade that you are in. However, whether you are an electrician, a plumber, a handyman, a remodeling contractor, or anything else, it is important for you to realize that your first and foremost job in business is being a marketer and a salesperson. This may seem strange, but think of it like this: If you don't make sales, you don't have anything to work on.
So how do you go about doing inexpensive but effective marketing for this type of business? Let's discuss three methods that are inexpensive and will work in any area for any construction business.
Bandit Signs
Bandit signs, or yard signs, are commonly seen items for real estate investors and politicians, but they work just as well for the home repair business of any sort. The key to using yard signs is quantity. When you order yard signs, order laminated paperboard or corrugated plastic signs that are weather resistant. With metal sign holders, you'll spend $5 or $6 per sign. Get yourself 100 or 200 of them. Then, put them everywhere. Put them in the yards of the homes you're working on, put them in friends yards, put them anywhere you can get permission to do so.
Yard signs are what we call disposable advertising, because they will get stolen and destroyed by people. But if you have an effective marketing message on them, you will get phone calls.
Classified Ads
Classified ads are another inexpensive, but highly effective marketing method for construction trades. In particular, check out the service directory section of your local newspaper classifieds. For people that are specifically looking for a handyman or other contractor, they are most likely to look in this section. Also, check out your local Penny Saver, Thrifty Nickel, or American Classifieds. These classified papers are usually published weekly and are very inexpensive to advertise in, but can be very effective for the small contractor.
Business Cards
You may not think of business cards as a marketing vehicle, but they can be used very effectively. In particular, have business cards printed with a marketing message on them, rather than just your business name, address, phone number, etc. You can then use these business cards to network with, but also, more importantly, you can leave them in random places. Leave them on the counter at businesses you frequent. Leave them in telephone booths. Leave them as free bookmarks in home remodeling related books at your local bookstore. Simply developing the habit of leaving them everywhere you go will eventually get you business from this extremely cheap marketing method.
Remember, these marketing tips are only effective if you actually use them. So, start putting together some headlines and marketing messages, and get to marketing to grow your contractor business.
Jassen Bowman is a speaker, trainer, and writer in the field of how to earn extra money. The How To Earn headquarters site provides you with the resources to earn extra money in your spare time, reduce debt, and get your financial house in order. If you are a contractor or handyman, learn more about growing your construction business.
Introduce Yourself to Booklets
By Charen Smith
How much do you know about booklets?
I come across a lot of people who have never really put much thought to this kind of marketing, and I suppose it really shouldn't be that surprising.
It's kind of a catch-22 where not enough people use booklet printing because they don't know about them, and they don't know about them because not enough people use booklets.
Well, let's start discussing booklets.
A booklet is exactly as the name would suggest: they're a small book meant for detailing more in-depth information about something specific to your field. Sometimes they focus more on the industry itself and sometimes they focus more on an individual person. It just depends on who's getting the booklet printing done and what purpose they have with it.
Let's first go over the more personal booklets.
These ones help to show how experienced a person is in their particular field. They usually discuss different details about a person's past to introduce people to who they are, including how they got into their field, and they often go into a bit of detail about what the person knows about their industry.
The purpose is to help a person get to know who the business owner is, and by getting to know them, they're able to trust them.
The next type deals more with general information about an industry, and is often used between different company leaders. Let's say you want to sell your services to another company. You create a booklet talking about what you do and how both companies can benefit from a partnership.
Because the head of a company is going to be on the lookout for ways of improving sales, he'll be more willing to listen to what a booklet has to say, and sit down to read through the whole thing. You can't always be guaranteed that when dealing with the general public.
Another use for booklets is when you have an expensive item and you know people are going to need more details about it before making a purchase. While brochures can be put to good use here as well, sometimes you're going to need more room to talk, especially if you're dealing with something very big.
This will once again probably come in handy more when dealing with another company. If you're trying to sell your services to them the money involved will probably be a lot higher, and the company will certainly be more willing to step back and listen to all of the details.
They aren't as flashy as a lot of other types of marketing, but don't let that fool you into thinking that booklets don't serve a very distinctive purpose. Sometimes you just need to have room to speak, and a brochure doesn't contain enough space to give your full message. That's when you know you need to start taking advantage of booklets to get your next sale.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit Booklet Printing
Charen Smith writes articles about Internet Marketing. She has an extensive knowledge and experience when it comes to business strategies, techniques and business solutions.
How much do you know about booklets?
I come across a lot of people who have never really put much thought to this kind of marketing, and I suppose it really shouldn't be that surprising.
It's kind of a catch-22 where not enough people use booklet printing because they don't know about them, and they don't know about them because not enough people use booklets.
Well, let's start discussing booklets.
A booklet is exactly as the name would suggest: they're a small book meant for detailing more in-depth information about something specific to your field. Sometimes they focus more on the industry itself and sometimes they focus more on an individual person. It just depends on who's getting the booklet printing done and what purpose they have with it.
Let's first go over the more personal booklets.
These ones help to show how experienced a person is in their particular field. They usually discuss different details about a person's past to introduce people to who they are, including how they got into their field, and they often go into a bit of detail about what the person knows about their industry.
The purpose is to help a person get to know who the business owner is, and by getting to know them, they're able to trust them.
The next type deals more with general information about an industry, and is often used between different company leaders. Let's say you want to sell your services to another company. You create a booklet talking about what you do and how both companies can benefit from a partnership.
Because the head of a company is going to be on the lookout for ways of improving sales, he'll be more willing to listen to what a booklet has to say, and sit down to read through the whole thing. You can't always be guaranteed that when dealing with the general public.
Another use for booklets is when you have an expensive item and you know people are going to need more details about it before making a purchase. While brochures can be put to good use here as well, sometimes you're going to need more room to talk, especially if you're dealing with something very big.
This will once again probably come in handy more when dealing with another company. If you're trying to sell your services to them the money involved will probably be a lot higher, and the company will certainly be more willing to step back and listen to all of the details.
They aren't as flashy as a lot of other types of marketing, but don't let that fool you into thinking that booklets don't serve a very distinctive purpose. Sometimes you just need to have room to speak, and a brochure doesn't contain enough space to give your full message. That's when you know you need to start taking advantage of booklets to get your next sale.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit Booklet Printing
Charen Smith writes articles about Internet Marketing. She has an extensive knowledge and experience when it comes to business strategies, techniques and business solutions.
Know How to Grab Someone's Attention
By Kaye Marks
What good is any kind of marketing if no one actually sees it?
Marketing needs to be visual. Here's the thing to know about marketing: people aren't trying to see it.
I don't sort through my mail expecting to pick up a postcard and look at it. I don't go to a store expecting to run into a nice poster I can read through. I'm not trying to find the best flyer to fold up and take home with me, just like I rarely go out of my way to try reading through every brochure that happens upon my way.
Aside from rare occasions like TV commercials during the Super Bowl, people need to be caught by surprise. They're not going to help you out by trying to find your advertisements in order to see what they're all about. All of your color printing is only going to go to waste if you aren't getting anyone to look at anything you do.
Ask yourself what jumps out at you the most. What things have you seen that you just had to stop and look at a little closer? If you want advertising that work you need to be able to answer these question, or know what will work best for your customers.
Great marketing is a surprise to people. It makes them turn their head to see the poster or pause while sorting through their mail to read your postcard. It catches them off guard and makes them want to read more.
There are typically two good ways of achieving this. The first is strong visuals. The right kinds of images are always going to be eye-catching. They're usually colorful or unique in some way, something most people don't see everyday, or immediately interests them. Each person is going to be intrigued by different things, so know your audience before doing anything.
The second thing is a large proclamation. This single statement will likely need to only be a few words long. If you go any longer than that you'll risk having it be too complicated for someone to easily pick up. You need them to understand what it says in only a few seconds, because that's all the time you'll have.
Typically this message will be the primary purpose of your advertising. Save Money or Great Service are both basic, easy to understand messages that anyone can take in quickly. Having a good font or colorful print will always help with this as well.
Vibrant colors and words should always be the focus of any color printing you need to get done. Break through a person's attention and make them want to read what your marketing has to say. You have to give people something interesting if you want them to take the time to read what you have to say.
Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in the color printing industry and its benefits for small to medium-scale businesses.
What good is any kind of marketing if no one actually sees it?
Marketing needs to be visual. Here's the thing to know about marketing: people aren't trying to see it.
I don't sort through my mail expecting to pick up a postcard and look at it. I don't go to a store expecting to run into a nice poster I can read through. I'm not trying to find the best flyer to fold up and take home with me, just like I rarely go out of my way to try reading through every brochure that happens upon my way.
Aside from rare occasions like TV commercials during the Super Bowl, people need to be caught by surprise. They're not going to help you out by trying to find your advertisements in order to see what they're all about. All of your color printing is only going to go to waste if you aren't getting anyone to look at anything you do.
Ask yourself what jumps out at you the most. What things have you seen that you just had to stop and look at a little closer? If you want advertising that work you need to be able to answer these question, or know what will work best for your customers.
Great marketing is a surprise to people. It makes them turn their head to see the poster or pause while sorting through their mail to read your postcard. It catches them off guard and makes them want to read more.
There are typically two good ways of achieving this. The first is strong visuals. The right kinds of images are always going to be eye-catching. They're usually colorful or unique in some way, something most people don't see everyday, or immediately interests them. Each person is going to be intrigued by different things, so know your audience before doing anything.
The second thing is a large proclamation. This single statement will likely need to only be a few words long. If you go any longer than that you'll risk having it be too complicated for someone to easily pick up. You need them to understand what it says in only a few seconds, because that's all the time you'll have.
Typically this message will be the primary purpose of your advertising. Save Money or Great Service are both basic, easy to understand messages that anyone can take in quickly. Having a good font or colorful print will always help with this as well.
Vibrant colors and words should always be the focus of any color printing you need to get done. Break through a person's attention and make them want to read what your marketing has to say. You have to give people something interesting if you want them to take the time to read what you have to say.
Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in the color printing industry and its benefits for small to medium-scale businesses.
Follow Up - Administrative, Provide Information & Sales
By Jody Gabourie
There are 6 main areas, or reasons, to employ follow-up tactics in your day-to-day business life: thank you; personal; gather information; administration; provide information; and product and service sales.
In a previous article I talked in detail about the first three and now I'm going to examine the remaining three areas of follow-up. I've listed the marketing strategies you can use under each key area and also examples of the type of content for each of these follow-up tactics.
1. Administrative
There will be many times that your follow up communications will deal with administrative information. Don't dismiss these opportunities - they provide you with a reason to touch base with your list and show your attention to details and support for their success.
Examples of follow-up regarding administration:
Provide Details about Upcoming Events --> when people have signed up for mastermind groups, membership groups, workshops, teleseminars, client meetings, etc. your follow-up will include details about phone-in lines, private email addresses, passwords, dates and times, and the like.
Confirm Sign Up --> use a follow-up email to confirm a person's sign-up (to teleclasses, groups, mastermind calls) and use the opportunity to insert a quick tip to reinforce that you are an expert and they've made the right decision to sign up.
Reminders of Deadlines --> a great follow-up marketing tactic is not only necessary (to remind busy people about important deadlines) but also a chance to re-iterate all the reasons why they should meet the deadline - for things such as: ending of special sales and promotions, registration is closing, send in their answers to a survey, last chance to participate in a fun contest, and so on
2. Provide information
In addition to providing administrative details to your list, you should also make a point of consistently following up to provide information that helps people solve their problem or issue. You want to ensure that all of your follow-up provides valuable and need-to-know stuff, but this is where you can really demonstrate your expertise and build respect and credibility with your prospects and clients.
You need to be constantly on the look-out for great things that you can share - whether it's from you or other reputable companies and people. Use your follow-up marketing to give your list no-charge, indispensable and relevant information such as:
3. Product and service sales
Of course talking about follow-up marketing strategies wouldn't be complete if we didn't talk about sales follow-up.
Many companies only follow up with their prospects and customers when they want to sell them something. I hope that after reading all the material prior to this section that you realize that follow-up needs to be so much more than that.
How often do you think people want to be contacted and asked to buy something? How about a big fat zero! But people do want to be kept informed of your offerings so that if they decide to purchase a product or service, they have all the details.
So when you're sending out sales follow-up communications forget the hard-sell and view it as just another opportunity to give people on your list valuable and important information.
Below are a few of the reasons you would follow up with prospects and customers regarding products and service sales:
Up-Sell --> Let them know about a great add-on to the product they just purchased - and offer a special price or bonus for them if they buy it.
Cross-Sell --> Tell them about a new service, product or VIP program that builds on the knowledge and expertise they've gained from the previous offerings they purchased.
Affiliate Products and Services --> Keep your list in-the-know about other people's products and services (your affiliates) that may be of assistance to them.
Contests --> Keep your list engaged and show them your fun side by holding cool contests that provide an opportunity to win something if they demonstrate what they've learned, provide the best testimonial, refer 3 friends, answer a quick survey and so on.
Check in with first-time customers --> Use follow-up to find out if they're happy with their purchase and to see if they have any questions or need anything else - of course, don't forget to tell them about another products they might like.
Bonuses --> Why not surprise your list with a follow-up that holds a surprise bonus for them - something like a digital goodie, bonus report, online coupon, resource list, consultation, and the like.
Special Promotions --> Let your prospective and current clients know about any special promotions or sales you are having - in honor of Christmas, 1st day of summer, your birthday and so on...be creative.
Take some time today to look at where you could fit some of these follow-up strategies in your business and marketing activities. Utilizing follow-up marketing can make a huge difference in your success.
Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, teaches simple, innovative and powerful marketing strategies to help business owners find and keep their most profitable clients. To learn more about how she can help you take your business to the next level, and to sign up for her FREE special report, ezine and articles, visit her site at http://www.JodyGabourieMarketingCoach.com
There are 6 main areas, or reasons, to employ follow-up tactics in your day-to-day business life: thank you; personal; gather information; administration; provide information; and product and service sales.
In a previous article I talked in detail about the first three and now I'm going to examine the remaining three areas of follow-up. I've listed the marketing strategies you can use under each key area and also examples of the type of content for each of these follow-up tactics.
1. Administrative
There will be many times that your follow up communications will deal with administrative information. Don't dismiss these opportunities - they provide you with a reason to touch base with your list and show your attention to details and support for their success.
Examples of follow-up regarding administration:
Provide Details about Upcoming Events --> when people have signed up for mastermind groups, membership groups, workshops, teleseminars, client meetings, etc. your follow-up will include details about phone-in lines, private email addresses, passwords, dates and times, and the like.
Confirm Sign Up --> use a follow-up email to confirm a person's sign-up (to teleclasses, groups, mastermind calls) and use the opportunity to insert a quick tip to reinforce that you are an expert and they've made the right decision to sign up.
Reminders of Deadlines --> a great follow-up marketing tactic is not only necessary (to remind busy people about important deadlines) but also a chance to re-iterate all the reasons why they should meet the deadline - for things such as: ending of special sales and promotions, registration is closing, send in their answers to a survey, last chance to participate in a fun contest, and so on
2. Provide information
In addition to providing administrative details to your list, you should also make a point of consistently following up to provide information that helps people solve their problem or issue. You want to ensure that all of your follow-up provides valuable and need-to-know stuff, but this is where you can really demonstrate your expertise and build respect and credibility with your prospects and clients.
You need to be constantly on the look-out for great things that you can share - whether it's from you or other reputable companies and people. Use your follow-up marketing to give your list no-charge, indispensable and relevant information such as:
- Articles
- Ezines
- Links to other Sites
- Case Studies
- Link to Ebooks
- Success Stories
3. Product and service sales
Of course talking about follow-up marketing strategies wouldn't be complete if we didn't talk about sales follow-up.
Many companies only follow up with their prospects and customers when they want to sell them something. I hope that after reading all the material prior to this section that you realize that follow-up needs to be so much more than that.
How often do you think people want to be contacted and asked to buy something? How about a big fat zero! But people do want to be kept informed of your offerings so that if they decide to purchase a product or service, they have all the details.
So when you're sending out sales follow-up communications forget the hard-sell and view it as just another opportunity to give people on your list valuable and important information.
Below are a few of the reasons you would follow up with prospects and customers regarding products and service sales:
Up-Sell --> Let them know about a great add-on to the product they just purchased - and offer a special price or bonus for them if they buy it.
Cross-Sell --> Tell them about a new service, product or VIP program that builds on the knowledge and expertise they've gained from the previous offerings they purchased.
Affiliate Products and Services --> Keep your list in-the-know about other people's products and services (your affiliates) that may be of assistance to them.
Contests --> Keep your list engaged and show them your fun side by holding cool contests that provide an opportunity to win something if they demonstrate what they've learned, provide the best testimonial, refer 3 friends, answer a quick survey and so on.
Check in with first-time customers --> Use follow-up to find out if they're happy with their purchase and to see if they have any questions or need anything else - of course, don't forget to tell them about another products they might like.
Bonuses --> Why not surprise your list with a follow-up that holds a surprise bonus for them - something like a digital goodie, bonus report, online coupon, resource list, consultation, and the like.
Special Promotions --> Let your prospective and current clients know about any special promotions or sales you are having - in honor of Christmas, 1st day of summer, your birthday and so on...be creative.
Take some time today to look at where you could fit some of these follow-up strategies in your business and marketing activities. Utilizing follow-up marketing can make a huge difference in your success.
Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, teaches simple, innovative and powerful marketing strategies to help business owners find and keep their most profitable clients. To learn more about how she can help you take your business to the next level, and to sign up for her FREE special report, ezine and articles, visit her site at http://www.JodyGabourieMarketingCoach.com
4 Ways to Leverage Your Marketing Effort
By Andrew Carlson
In today's competitive economy and globalisation, we must be better equipped to create successful businesses. Consumers nowadays, armed with the internet, are more informed than any other periods in human history. Therefore, for any business to succeed, understanding how to deal with these market changes are essential skills to learn and the following are some recommendations as to how small businesses can thrive in this economy.
1. Branding of the enterprise. Many small companies are great at branding their products and services but not enough is done on a macro scale. They must evolve their companies into brand names so as to have a much more powerful market presence.
2. Use the internet as leverage to advertising, reducing costs and reaching to new markets. What you can do is to set up a mailing list to put your products to potential and existing customers.
This not only creates loyal customers who like your products or services and come back for more but also reaches out to new customers who might like what you offer. At the same time, you are strengthening your brand name and public recognition.
3. Re-furbish your homepage. A new and improved homepage creates the impression that your enterprise is growing and constantly improving as time goes by and not falling back. Also, take this opportunity to fix bugs and other technical issues because a homepage full of bugs will lead to people not to want to deal with you and increases their annoyance so they will not visit again.
4. Collect information such as customer feedback and click through rate of your website. Are you wasting virtual space on redundant products? Looking at the click through rate will tell you that.
Are your products or services inferior to competitors or is very hard to use? Use customer feedback to find out about that. You can also consider setting an automated system to collect all these information so as to reduce costs.
Sredael.com scans the internet for smart business ideas around the world. We bring inspiration for entrepreneurial who are looking for an idea to start a business or small business owners who wants to change the way they run the business. On top of that, we also include How-To Guides to grow your ideas and turn them into a money making machine.
In today's competitive economy and globalisation, we must be better equipped to create successful businesses. Consumers nowadays, armed with the internet, are more informed than any other periods in human history. Therefore, for any business to succeed, understanding how to deal with these market changes are essential skills to learn and the following are some recommendations as to how small businesses can thrive in this economy.
1. Branding of the enterprise. Many small companies are great at branding their products and services but not enough is done on a macro scale. They must evolve their companies into brand names so as to have a much more powerful market presence.
2. Use the internet as leverage to advertising, reducing costs and reaching to new markets. What you can do is to set up a mailing list to put your products to potential and existing customers.
This not only creates loyal customers who like your products or services and come back for more but also reaches out to new customers who might like what you offer. At the same time, you are strengthening your brand name and public recognition.
3. Re-furbish your homepage. A new and improved homepage creates the impression that your enterprise is growing and constantly improving as time goes by and not falling back. Also, take this opportunity to fix bugs and other technical issues because a homepage full of bugs will lead to people not to want to deal with you and increases their annoyance so they will not visit again.
4. Collect information such as customer feedback and click through rate of your website. Are you wasting virtual space on redundant products? Looking at the click through rate will tell you that.
Are your products or services inferior to competitors or is very hard to use? Use customer feedback to find out about that. You can also consider setting an automated system to collect all these information so as to reduce costs.
Sredael.com scans the internet for smart business ideas around the world. We bring inspiration for entrepreneurial who are looking for an idea to start a business or small business owners who wants to change the way they run the business. On top of that, we also include How-To Guides to grow your ideas and turn them into a money making machine.
The Secrets of Successful Marketing Campaigns
By Andrew Carlson
The secret of a successful marketing campaign is to do a proper testing of the market. It can help you identify the other essential factors of the campaign, such as the timing of the campaign, the deliverance of the message across etc. One can find the answers through rigorous market testing.
Testing requires a study of previously done campaign and evaluates the effectiveness of each. Is an email campaign useful? Can an SMS campaign reach the market effectively? Is putting ads on the newspaper good enough? Will advertising on TV achieve what you want? Once you decide on your baseline, continue to test the results. Is the wording of the campaign ok? Will it cause controversy? Only then can you define what is it that you want to be included in the campaign.
After designing a campaign and deciding which medium to use, you can go on and experiment on subject lines and how different subject lines will impact the success of the campaign. Subject lines are important because they are usually the first and most prominent thing that viewers see. A strong subject line will lead to strong sales! Remember that the data you record must be of a big number so as to increase the accuracy of the results and that even this does not guarantee anything because everyone has their own tastes. However, the variance can be reduced by testing a lot of times.
Another thing to note for email campaign is to make sure that your links are working so that the customer can reach you easily. A spoilt link creates the impression that your credibility is low and leads to people not wanting to buy from you. Also, there must be technical support provided so that your customers will not be driven off because of technical difficulties.
Sredael.com scans the internet for smart business ideas around the world. We bring inspiration for entrepreneurial who are looking for an idea to start a business or small business owners who wants to change the way they run the business. On top of that, we also include How-To Guides to grow your ideas and turn them into a money making machine.
The secret of a successful marketing campaign is to do a proper testing of the market. It can help you identify the other essential factors of the campaign, such as the timing of the campaign, the deliverance of the message across etc. One can find the answers through rigorous market testing.
Testing requires a study of previously done campaign and evaluates the effectiveness of each. Is an email campaign useful? Can an SMS campaign reach the market effectively? Is putting ads on the newspaper good enough? Will advertising on TV achieve what you want? Once you decide on your baseline, continue to test the results. Is the wording of the campaign ok? Will it cause controversy? Only then can you define what is it that you want to be included in the campaign.
After designing a campaign and deciding which medium to use, you can go on and experiment on subject lines and how different subject lines will impact the success of the campaign. Subject lines are important because they are usually the first and most prominent thing that viewers see. A strong subject line will lead to strong sales! Remember that the data you record must be of a big number so as to increase the accuracy of the results and that even this does not guarantee anything because everyone has their own tastes. However, the variance can be reduced by testing a lot of times.
Another thing to note for email campaign is to make sure that your links are working so that the customer can reach you easily. A spoilt link creates the impression that your credibility is low and leads to people not wanting to buy from you. Also, there must be technical support provided so that your customers will not be driven off because of technical difficulties.
Sredael.com scans the internet for smart business ideas around the world. We bring inspiration for entrepreneurial who are looking for an idea to start a business or small business owners who wants to change the way they run the business. On top of that, we also include How-To Guides to grow your ideas and turn them into a money making machine.
Building Upon Your Marketing
By Janice Jenkins
The best kind of marketing is the type that works in conjunction with other marketing efforts you embark on. If you play your cards just right, you will be able to improve each form of marketing by playing the different forms of marketing off of each other, and thus getting stronger results.
While this can be done in a variety of forms, I am going to focus on one area in order to explain exactly what I am talking about here.
Ok, say the focus of your marketing deals with improving your image as an expert in your field. You work in a service industry and you need to prove to people that you know what you are doing and can be entrusted with their time and money.
You have two good ways of accomplishing this. The first is through booklet printing, where you create booklets that deal with you discussing your experience in your field along with the different things you can do for people.
The second way is by going to various events and giving speeches. This can be at local organizations or this can be things you organize through your company. It does not really matter where it is, but rather than it gives you a chance to let people see what you know in a way that can grab their attention.
People going to an event like this will be inclined to have interest in what you have to say; after all, they chose to come, which by default means they had interest.
Now you combine these two different formats in order to gain stronger results from both of them.
Before going to those conferences or seminars to give a speech get your booklet printing taken care of. Be sure that the topic of your booklet is similar to the topic of what you'll be discussing at the conference.
Now when you give your speech you can also pass out a booklet to everyone there. Maybe you can have them on a table for people to take on the way out. What this does is gives your booklet an added air of credibility. Furthermore, because people have just listened to you speak they will be more inclined to read carefully through your booklet, which will expand on the ideas you were discussing in your speech.
What you have done is improve both forms of your marketing by combining them together.
While I am using booklets and speeches as a good example of this, these are hardly the only ways you can go about making your marketing stronger by combining multiple forms of it. Look at the various marketing campaigns you have planned and see which ones might be improved if you work them together.
Sometimes two things that might seem completely different work wonderfully together and improve your message. Take a hard look at your marketing, and see what you can accomplish.
Janice Jenkins is a writer for a marketing company in Chicago, IL. Mostly into marketing research, Janice started writing articles early 2007 to impart her knowledge to individuals new to the marketing industry.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Booklet Printing
The best kind of marketing is the type that works in conjunction with other marketing efforts you embark on. If you play your cards just right, you will be able to improve each form of marketing by playing the different forms of marketing off of each other, and thus getting stronger results.
While this can be done in a variety of forms, I am going to focus on one area in order to explain exactly what I am talking about here.
Ok, say the focus of your marketing deals with improving your image as an expert in your field. You work in a service industry and you need to prove to people that you know what you are doing and can be entrusted with their time and money.
You have two good ways of accomplishing this. The first is through booklet printing, where you create booklets that deal with you discussing your experience in your field along with the different things you can do for people.
The second way is by going to various events and giving speeches. This can be at local organizations or this can be things you organize through your company. It does not really matter where it is, but rather than it gives you a chance to let people see what you know in a way that can grab their attention.
People going to an event like this will be inclined to have interest in what you have to say; after all, they chose to come, which by default means they had interest.
Now you combine these two different formats in order to gain stronger results from both of them.
Before going to those conferences or seminars to give a speech get your booklet printing taken care of. Be sure that the topic of your booklet is similar to the topic of what you'll be discussing at the conference.
Now when you give your speech you can also pass out a booklet to everyone there. Maybe you can have them on a table for people to take on the way out. What this does is gives your booklet an added air of credibility. Furthermore, because people have just listened to you speak they will be more inclined to read carefully through your booklet, which will expand on the ideas you were discussing in your speech.
What you have done is improve both forms of your marketing by combining them together.
While I am using booklets and speeches as a good example of this, these are hardly the only ways you can go about making your marketing stronger by combining multiple forms of it. Look at the various marketing campaigns you have planned and see which ones might be improved if you work them together.
Sometimes two things that might seem completely different work wonderfully together and improve your message. Take a hard look at your marketing, and see what you can accomplish.
Janice Jenkins is a writer for a marketing company in Chicago, IL. Mostly into marketing research, Janice started writing articles early 2007 to impart her knowledge to individuals new to the marketing industry.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Booklet Printing
Putting the Marketing Basics in Place (Part 1)
By Helen Dowling
The other day, I was working with a client and talking about their marketing. All the questions that I asked, they were able to answer and I realised that they had all the marketing basics in place and they were ready to move onto the next level. That gave me an interesting thought - THEY might have the basics in place, but do I - do you?
So, I thought I'd write this two page article about the basics of marketing to see if you've them in place in your business - and it also makes me think about whether I've got them in place too.
And by the way, I'm sure everything I've listed below you're already aware of. But do you really apply it to your business? I think there's a real difference between knowing things and actually doing them - and even if you checked something when you first started your business, things might be completely different now!
So, let's look at what the basics of marketing are:
1) Who are your customers?
When I ask you this question can you tell me exactly who your customer is; their likes and dislikes and everything about them or is your answer "anyone" or "everyone"? The first basic of marketing is for you to be able to say in detail who your ideal customer is. You see, you can't possibly appeal to "everyone" - they'll always be someone who won't be interested in what you do. So, why waste your time trying to find people who don't want your product or service?
Wouldn't you rather find people who want your product or service and want to buy it now? If the answer is yes, who are these people? What can you tell me about them? Nothing? Well, you need to go and find out!
2) Why people buy
Once you've defined who your customers are, the next step is to work out why your customers buy. And the reason THEY buy might not be the reason that YOU think they buy. Let me give you an example. Let's say your company sells printers. Why might customers buy printers? Now as a customer, I probably won't buy a printer unless there's something wrong with my current one. I might:
• Not currently have a printer and decide that I need one
• Find my current printer doesn't work with my new computer
• My current printer may have broken down and I've decided to replace it
• My current printer may have broken down and I've tried to repair it, but can't
In other words, there's a reason for me to go and buy a new printer now, as opposed to last year, last month, last week. It's not that I WANTED a printer; it's that I felt I NEEDED one and this is what prompted me to act.
So what makes your customers buy your product or service? What makes them act now (as opposed to last year, last week or last month)? Understanding this is vital so that you can push the right buttons and find these customers and is the second basic of marketing.
3) What do you do?
I've lost count of the number of businesses that I've met who tell me they do x, and they also do y and sometimes that they also do z too. Usually these products or services are all different from one another too. Now as a potential customer, how do I know what you really do and how you can help me and also why should I have the confidence that you can do a job really well for me, if you're not confident enough to tell me that you specialise in just one thing? If you're currently running two or more different businesses, you need to look at this and come up with ONE thing that you specialise in.
The main problem that people find with this is that you'll need to let go of some of the areas that you've built up and there's a real fear that one business won't give you the income you want or that you won't have enough clients.
Actually, the opposite is true - if you focus on just one business, you'll find that you get more customers and more income because you'll be spending all of your time concentrating in one area and customers will see and respect that. Plus, they'll be able to refer customers to you because they know what you do!
Next week, I'm going to talk about the other three things you need to have in place in order to know your marketing basics. See you then.
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides support and advice on marketing to small business owners and help to set up a new business.
The other day, I was working with a client and talking about their marketing. All the questions that I asked, they were able to answer and I realised that they had all the marketing basics in place and they were ready to move onto the next level. That gave me an interesting thought - THEY might have the basics in place, but do I - do you?
So, I thought I'd write this two page article about the basics of marketing to see if you've them in place in your business - and it also makes me think about whether I've got them in place too.
And by the way, I'm sure everything I've listed below you're already aware of. But do you really apply it to your business? I think there's a real difference between knowing things and actually doing them - and even if you checked something when you first started your business, things might be completely different now!
So, let's look at what the basics of marketing are:
1) Who are your customers?
When I ask you this question can you tell me exactly who your customer is; their likes and dislikes and everything about them or is your answer "anyone" or "everyone"? The first basic of marketing is for you to be able to say in detail who your ideal customer is. You see, you can't possibly appeal to "everyone" - they'll always be someone who won't be interested in what you do. So, why waste your time trying to find people who don't want your product or service?
Wouldn't you rather find people who want your product or service and want to buy it now? If the answer is yes, who are these people? What can you tell me about them? Nothing? Well, you need to go and find out!
2) Why people buy
Once you've defined who your customers are, the next step is to work out why your customers buy. And the reason THEY buy might not be the reason that YOU think they buy. Let me give you an example. Let's say your company sells printers. Why might customers buy printers? Now as a customer, I probably won't buy a printer unless there's something wrong with my current one. I might:
• Not currently have a printer and decide that I need one
• Find my current printer doesn't work with my new computer
• My current printer may have broken down and I've decided to replace it
• My current printer may have broken down and I've tried to repair it, but can't
In other words, there's a reason for me to go and buy a new printer now, as opposed to last year, last month, last week. It's not that I WANTED a printer; it's that I felt I NEEDED one and this is what prompted me to act.
So what makes your customers buy your product or service? What makes them act now (as opposed to last year, last week or last month)? Understanding this is vital so that you can push the right buttons and find these customers and is the second basic of marketing.
3) What do you do?
I've lost count of the number of businesses that I've met who tell me they do x, and they also do y and sometimes that they also do z too. Usually these products or services are all different from one another too. Now as a potential customer, how do I know what you really do and how you can help me and also why should I have the confidence that you can do a job really well for me, if you're not confident enough to tell me that you specialise in just one thing? If you're currently running two or more different businesses, you need to look at this and come up with ONE thing that you specialise in.
The main problem that people find with this is that you'll need to let go of some of the areas that you've built up and there's a real fear that one business won't give you the income you want or that you won't have enough clients.
Actually, the opposite is true - if you focus on just one business, you'll find that you get more customers and more income because you'll be spending all of your time concentrating in one area and customers will see and respect that. Plus, they'll be able to refer customers to you because they know what you do!
Next week, I'm going to talk about the other three things you need to have in place in order to know your marketing basics. See you then.
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides support and advice on marketing to small business owners and help to set up a new business.
Proven Formula For Setting Your 2009 Income Goals
By Karen Scharf
I just finished up my business plan for 2009 (and if you haven't updated your 2009 plan yet, I urge you to get started soon!) and I'm working with several clients to update their plans also. One of the roadblocks many of clients run into is the difficulty of setting concrete goals and objectives. It's easy to say "I want to earn $350,000 in 2009" but breaking that down into actionable steps is where most of my clients struggle.
I use a very simple system with my clients that has proven to be successful. It's not unique; in fact, I think many goals setting programs teach a very similar approach. But I want to share it with you today anyway so that hopefully you can get started planning for 2009 while this information is still fresh in your mind.
You've probably heard of SMART goals - that's the idea that all of your goals need to be:
Here's how I work through this with my clients - let's take the $350,000 annual income as an example:
First, we break that goal into its smallest parts. So a $350,000 annual income would become a $6,731 weekly income. I'm using 52 weeks a year to make the math quick, and I'm factoring gross income, not net. You'll need to adjust for vacation time and taxes, if you'd like.
Now we run through the SMART system. Is $6,731 weekly income specific? Seems pretty specific to me. And it's definitely measurable (numbers make great goals since they are so easy to measure).
Sure the goal is attainable. Plenty of people are currently earning $6,731 each week, so we know it can be done. I've heard it said before that there are no unattainable goals, only unattainable timeframes. Which brings us to the next criteria - and here is where most of my clients struggle...
Is a weekly income of six thousand plus realistic? Obviously, this is going to be subjective, but here's a good rule of thumb that I like to use: Take a look at your current income and add 20%. By making several very easy tweaks to the current operations and marketing program, most entrepreneurs can realistically expect to increase their income by 20%. So, if you're earning $5,609 per week in 2008, you can realistically earn $6,731 in 2009.
But what if you're not earning $5,609 right now? What if you're only earning $4,000 each week? Here's where it gets a bit tricky.
To go from $4,000 to $6,731 would require more than a 68% increase in your current income. By making "normal" changes, you can expect a 20% increase - so how would you earn a 68% increase?
Here's a formula that I've found to work in most cases: for every 20% increase in income, you need a 20% across the board increase in successful marketing activities. For your 68% increase, you need to do almost 70% more of what you're successfully doing now (successfully doing is the key here.)
So, if you currently attribute a sizable portion of our website traffic to article marketing, and you're currently distributing 20 articles each week, you now need to distribute 34 articles each week.
And if a good portion of your prospects are coming from your speaking engagements, and you're speaking twice each week, you'll need almost 4 speaking engagements each week.
If you are now selling 50 info-products each week, you'll need to sell 85 info-products in 2009.
And on and on and on. Run these numbers for all of your successful marketing activities and decide whether or not they're realistic.
If you haven't been keeping good track and measuring along the way, it might take some time to look back through the year and figure out what was actually working for you. But don't skip this step! There's no point in increasing unsuccessful activities. If you've sent out 20 articles each week and saw no traffic from them, why would you waste your time sending 34 articles?
Keep in mind, we're looking at income only here. This does not take into account expenses and profits. Don't be surprised to find that an income increase actually reduces profits as your expenses go up also. You need to run an entire cash flow and P&L projection in order to verify that your goal is actually desirable.
Hope this helps as your put your 2009 plan in place. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to business and marketing plans. Don't forget your mission and vision statements, your target market profile, your marketing message, etc.
Now, go find some more clients!
Karen Scharf is an Indianapolis marketing consultant who helps small business owners attract and retain more clients. Karen coaches and trains website owners on various tricks and techniques that have been proven to increase website conversion. She offers coaching programs and a Marketing Makeover to turn your ineffective advertising into a profit-pulling system. Grab your FREE checklists, whitepapers and reports at http://www.ModernImage.com And learn the professional secrets to successful web site marketing at http://www.SuccessfulSiteSecrets.com
I just finished up my business plan for 2009 (and if you haven't updated your 2009 plan yet, I urge you to get started soon!) and I'm working with several clients to update their plans also. One of the roadblocks many of clients run into is the difficulty of setting concrete goals and objectives. It's easy to say "I want to earn $350,000 in 2009" but breaking that down into actionable steps is where most of my clients struggle.
I use a very simple system with my clients that has proven to be successful. It's not unique; in fact, I think many goals setting programs teach a very similar approach. But I want to share it with you today anyway so that hopefully you can get started planning for 2009 while this information is still fresh in your mind.
You've probably heard of SMART goals - that's the idea that all of your goals need to be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Timely
Here's how I work through this with my clients - let's take the $350,000 annual income as an example:
First, we break that goal into its smallest parts. So a $350,000 annual income would become a $6,731 weekly income. I'm using 52 weeks a year to make the math quick, and I'm factoring gross income, not net. You'll need to adjust for vacation time and taxes, if you'd like.
Now we run through the SMART system. Is $6,731 weekly income specific? Seems pretty specific to me. And it's definitely measurable (numbers make great goals since they are so easy to measure).
Sure the goal is attainable. Plenty of people are currently earning $6,731 each week, so we know it can be done. I've heard it said before that there are no unattainable goals, only unattainable timeframes. Which brings us to the next criteria - and here is where most of my clients struggle...
Is a weekly income of six thousand plus realistic? Obviously, this is going to be subjective, but here's a good rule of thumb that I like to use: Take a look at your current income and add 20%. By making several very easy tweaks to the current operations and marketing program, most entrepreneurs can realistically expect to increase their income by 20%. So, if you're earning $5,609 per week in 2008, you can realistically earn $6,731 in 2009.
But what if you're not earning $5,609 right now? What if you're only earning $4,000 each week? Here's where it gets a bit tricky.
To go from $4,000 to $6,731 would require more than a 68% increase in your current income. By making "normal" changes, you can expect a 20% increase - so how would you earn a 68% increase?
Here's a formula that I've found to work in most cases: for every 20% increase in income, you need a 20% across the board increase in successful marketing activities. For your 68% increase, you need to do almost 70% more of what you're successfully doing now (successfully doing is the key here.)
So, if you currently attribute a sizable portion of our website traffic to article marketing, and you're currently distributing 20 articles each week, you now need to distribute 34 articles each week.
And if a good portion of your prospects are coming from your speaking engagements, and you're speaking twice each week, you'll need almost 4 speaking engagements each week.
If you are now selling 50 info-products each week, you'll need to sell 85 info-products in 2009.
And on and on and on. Run these numbers for all of your successful marketing activities and decide whether or not they're realistic.
If you haven't been keeping good track and measuring along the way, it might take some time to look back through the year and figure out what was actually working for you. But don't skip this step! There's no point in increasing unsuccessful activities. If you've sent out 20 articles each week and saw no traffic from them, why would you waste your time sending 34 articles?
Keep in mind, we're looking at income only here. This does not take into account expenses and profits. Don't be surprised to find that an income increase actually reduces profits as your expenses go up also. You need to run an entire cash flow and P&L projection in order to verify that your goal is actually desirable.
Hope this helps as your put your 2009 plan in place. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to business and marketing plans. Don't forget your mission and vision statements, your target market profile, your marketing message, etc.
Now, go find some more clients!
Karen Scharf is an Indianapolis marketing consultant who helps small business owners attract and retain more clients. Karen coaches and trains website owners on various tricks and techniques that have been proven to increase website conversion. She offers coaching programs and a Marketing Makeover to turn your ineffective advertising into a profit-pulling system. Grab your FREE checklists, whitepapers and reports at http://www.ModernImage.com And learn the professional secrets to successful web site marketing at http://www.SuccessfulSiteSecrets.com
Health Club Marketing and Attracting and Keeping Members
By Chris McCombs
When it comes to health club marketing, all too often personal trainers and business owners make the grievous mistake of spending too little time in this department, if any, and as a result, their business inevitably suffers. Don't keep your club's services a secret any longer by making it a point to vamp up your marketing efforts and start enjoying the plentiful rewards.
Here are a few simple, but rather important health club marketing strategies you won't want to overlook in your own business endeavors, whether you're just starting out, or you're looking to expand and increase your existing revenue.
Direct Mail
Marketing via direct mail should be one of the top marketing strategies just waiting in your arsenal for you to put everything into motion. Simply include a brief letter or flyer stating what your club is all about, the type of equipment it has, the hours of operation, and of course, the location and contact information.
If you aren't exactly comfortable looking to your current clients for referrals directly, starting a direct mail campaign is always an excellent way to achieve the very same results.
Reconnecting With Previous Clients
Pull up the database of previous clients and get to work inviting them to reacquaint themselves with the club. Consider offering an incentive, such as a percentage off their membership renewal fee, or a free week to ease them back into the idea being a paying member once again.
Hopefully you'll have made updates since the last time most of the members were there, giving them yet another reason to sign on again.
Increasing Presence Within the Community
Nearly every town, large or small, has some type of festival, fair, or annual gala with local merchants coming together to increase their awareness in the community. Sponsor a booth at your next local event and provide people with information about your business, perhaps even handing out promotional materials such as pens, notepads, stickers, and key chains. Or, even better, water bottles printed with your company's name, address, phone number, and web site listed.
Remember to introduce yourself and network with other merchants and propose a brochure exchange in which each entity displays flyers or brochures about other respected businesses in the area.
Besides making an appearance at community events, consider running a small advertisement on your local community television statement that lists public service announcements. Or, take out a small ad in the local Yellow Pages, small because although many people do still search for new businesses and services this way, a growing number rely upon the vastness of the internet for finding what they need.
When working to increase your presence within your local community, don't overlook the all important aspect of doing the same thing in the online virtual world in your health club marketing plans. Developing a web site that provides pertinent information about your club as well as useful tips and facts about health and exercise that prospective clients can use is an invaluable way of promoting your business as a reliable and knowledgeable source in the health and fitness industry.
If writing isn't your forte, hire someone to craft articles and information that you feel clients, current and future would find useful and also send out press releases announcing special discounts, new equipment, a reopening, or anything you can think of that's newsworthy and will draw people in.
While it's certainly true that successful health club marketing will indeed take some effort on your part, the outcome is worth far more than initially invested, in both terms of time and money. Businesses don't market themselves, and although word of mouth from existing clients is always needed, it's not enough to remain lucrative in the competitive world of today.
Chris McCombs is a health club marketing specialist. Chris teaches Internet marketing to personal trainers, health club owners and fitness entrepreneurs.
When it comes to health club marketing, all too often personal trainers and business owners make the grievous mistake of spending too little time in this department, if any, and as a result, their business inevitably suffers. Don't keep your club's services a secret any longer by making it a point to vamp up your marketing efforts and start enjoying the plentiful rewards.
Here are a few simple, but rather important health club marketing strategies you won't want to overlook in your own business endeavors, whether you're just starting out, or you're looking to expand and increase your existing revenue.
Direct Mail
Marketing via direct mail should be one of the top marketing strategies just waiting in your arsenal for you to put everything into motion. Simply include a brief letter or flyer stating what your club is all about, the type of equipment it has, the hours of operation, and of course, the location and contact information.
If you aren't exactly comfortable looking to your current clients for referrals directly, starting a direct mail campaign is always an excellent way to achieve the very same results.
Reconnecting With Previous Clients
Pull up the database of previous clients and get to work inviting them to reacquaint themselves with the club. Consider offering an incentive, such as a percentage off their membership renewal fee, or a free week to ease them back into the idea being a paying member once again.
Hopefully you'll have made updates since the last time most of the members were there, giving them yet another reason to sign on again.
Increasing Presence Within the Community
Nearly every town, large or small, has some type of festival, fair, or annual gala with local merchants coming together to increase their awareness in the community. Sponsor a booth at your next local event and provide people with information about your business, perhaps even handing out promotional materials such as pens, notepads, stickers, and key chains. Or, even better, water bottles printed with your company's name, address, phone number, and web site listed.
Remember to introduce yourself and network with other merchants and propose a brochure exchange in which each entity displays flyers or brochures about other respected businesses in the area.
Besides making an appearance at community events, consider running a small advertisement on your local community television statement that lists public service announcements. Or, take out a small ad in the local Yellow Pages, small because although many people do still search for new businesses and services this way, a growing number rely upon the vastness of the internet for finding what they need.
When working to increase your presence within your local community, don't overlook the all important aspect of doing the same thing in the online virtual world in your health club marketing plans. Developing a web site that provides pertinent information about your club as well as useful tips and facts about health and exercise that prospective clients can use is an invaluable way of promoting your business as a reliable and knowledgeable source in the health and fitness industry.
If writing isn't your forte, hire someone to craft articles and information that you feel clients, current and future would find useful and also send out press releases announcing special discounts, new equipment, a reopening, or anything you can think of that's newsworthy and will draw people in.
While it's certainly true that successful health club marketing will indeed take some effort on your part, the outcome is worth far more than initially invested, in both terms of time and money. Businesses don't market themselves, and although word of mouth from existing clients is always needed, it's not enough to remain lucrative in the competitive world of today.
Chris McCombs is a health club marketing specialist. Chris teaches Internet marketing to personal trainers, health club owners and fitness entrepreneurs.
Promotional Sweets - How Sweet it Is!
By Matt Franks
Everyone knows that people like to eat sweets and that is why a lot of companies are ordering promotional sweets as part of their advertising campaign. But they are also looking for new and different ways that they can promote their business with promotional sweets instead of simply giving them out.
Here are some new ways that a company can use promotional sweets to get their business noticed.
Coupons
This is something that a lot of stores do around Christmas time. They give out promotional sweets, such as chocolates, with discount coupons inside the wrapper on certain days. It gives the person a discount up to 100% off their purchase. This is especially a good idea to send to people who are new to the area - a piece of candy with a coupon attached. You send them the promotional sweet with the coupon in it and you get a new customer.
Prizes
Remember the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory? The same thing can go for promotional sweets. If your company is having a function such as a picnic, or you are sending a representative to an expo, you can use promotional sweets to give out prizes. There can be a system, such as bars with certain coloured stickers on them get a certain level of prize.
Advent calendars
There are advent calendars that have promotional sweets in them. These can be given out to employees when the advent season begins and that way they can have a chocolate each of the days that are leading up to Christmas. They are also a great item to present to the children of employees to help them mark off the days that are leading up to Christmas.
Simply because your name is put on promotional sweets, it doesn't mean that you can't be creative with the way that you use them. They are a great item that you can use to welcome new people to the neighbourhood and to get your company and products noticed. They are also a way to entice people to come back to a booth when you give them out a conventions and expos with the possibility of winning a prize.
Promotional sweets are an item that you can use to promote your business in many different ways and to make people excited about your company and products. It's true that you can hand promotional sweets out, but everyone does that. People who do something new and different with their sweets are the ones that get noticed and remembered.
Promotional sweets are something that everyone likes and enjoys. Use your company's sweets the right way and you will find that the time and energy that you spent on thinking of new ways to use them will be well spent.
Seal your next business deal with a kiss - a chocolate kiss that is, and you will find that your customers keep coming back for more. Promotional sweets can lead your company to a lot of sweet deals and sweet dreams.
Matt Franks is director of Fluid Branding, the UK's leading online supplier of promotional sweets and other Promotional Products. You can also find a wide range of Eco Friendly promotional products, including Recycled, Organic and Sustainable items at Eco Incentives.
Everyone knows that people like to eat sweets and that is why a lot of companies are ordering promotional sweets as part of their advertising campaign. But they are also looking for new and different ways that they can promote their business with promotional sweets instead of simply giving them out.
Here are some new ways that a company can use promotional sweets to get their business noticed.
Coupons
This is something that a lot of stores do around Christmas time. They give out promotional sweets, such as chocolates, with discount coupons inside the wrapper on certain days. It gives the person a discount up to 100% off their purchase. This is especially a good idea to send to people who are new to the area - a piece of candy with a coupon attached. You send them the promotional sweet with the coupon in it and you get a new customer.
Prizes
Remember the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory? The same thing can go for promotional sweets. If your company is having a function such as a picnic, or you are sending a representative to an expo, you can use promotional sweets to give out prizes. There can be a system, such as bars with certain coloured stickers on them get a certain level of prize.
Advent calendars
There are advent calendars that have promotional sweets in them. These can be given out to employees when the advent season begins and that way they can have a chocolate each of the days that are leading up to Christmas. They are also a great item to present to the children of employees to help them mark off the days that are leading up to Christmas.
Simply because your name is put on promotional sweets, it doesn't mean that you can't be creative with the way that you use them. They are a great item that you can use to welcome new people to the neighbourhood and to get your company and products noticed. They are also a way to entice people to come back to a booth when you give them out a conventions and expos with the possibility of winning a prize.
Promotional sweets are an item that you can use to promote your business in many different ways and to make people excited about your company and products. It's true that you can hand promotional sweets out, but everyone does that. People who do something new and different with their sweets are the ones that get noticed and remembered.
Promotional sweets are something that everyone likes and enjoys. Use your company's sweets the right way and you will find that the time and energy that you spent on thinking of new ways to use them will be well spent.
Seal your next business deal with a kiss - a chocolate kiss that is, and you will find that your customers keep coming back for more. Promotional sweets can lead your company to a lot of sweet deals and sweet dreams.
Matt Franks is director of Fluid Branding, the UK's leading online supplier of promotional sweets and other Promotional Products. You can also find a wide range of Eco Friendly promotional products, including Recycled, Organic and Sustainable items at Eco Incentives.
Personal Trainer Marketing Tactics
By Chris McCombs
Why is personal trainer marketing said to be a vulnerable area of proficiency, where mistakes are committed more often than not? The mistakes are such that you can make a list of all those and jot down using a pen and a paper.
To begin with, let's start talking about the first of those mistakes; the general trend that is being followed these days is the ownership model of running a business. A business that is entirely reliant upon the owner, where he keeps every responsibility to himself, the owners do feel the heat for working all the seven days of the week and finds himself fully engrossed, unable to take time and mind off his work. The result is there to be seen, weariness creeps in and the owners lose their focus on the job at hand. It's important that you keep yourself rejuvenated; a fresh mind always comes across new ideas. He is more likely to achieve desired results.
The second prominent mistake that you will see is irrelevant marketing strategy, the personal trainer marketing industry has suffered because of the fact that, the concept of promotion has been misunderstood for the word 'marketing', where fitness owners had the notion that attaching popularity to their businesses will guarantee them a success. Personal trainer marketing is not one of those campaigns where advertisement works; it has finer working details and those could be found out in fitness related websites.
Third, most of the owners these days live on the belief that profits only originate through sale. It could be true to an extent but there's something more important than sales, it's your existing client, keeping him happy is part of a foreseeable business plan. One must look to add value to each of your clients, if you have a superior product or a service, you could charge a resounding fee and people will readily cut their pockets deep, in other words they would be willing to pay an added extra for an improved service, that is a quality way to earn quality profits because many of these guys are on a look out to get their problems solved and they could shell any amount of cash to get it flat.
People who are not willing to pay higher fees, are the one's difficult to deal with, they are a nagging lot who are on a look out for a cheap price, they just don't value the significance of service. Therefore it is advisable to pick your clients carefully, only those people should be accepted who are hassle free payers because fitness trainers need payments on a continuous monthly basis, they need to be paid properly so they could focus on the job at hand. You could bring in a selling technique, for instance, those being followed by big food joints where if you want a cheese and a coke, they will ask you to go for a bigger one on a discounted price.
Then there's another prominent blunder that gets committed more often by business trainer marketing, you will find business owners putting in a lot of onus on hard work without desired results and that should be attributed to mismanagement of time, time management techniques should be roped in and combined with energy management plans to continue his business operations.
Finally, most of these business owners lack basic knowledge of how to achieve the desired results they intend to, and plans should be put in place to manage things on a daily basis.
Slacker Chris McCombs is a fitness marketing expert and a personal trainer marketing specialist.
Why is personal trainer marketing said to be a vulnerable area of proficiency, where mistakes are committed more often than not? The mistakes are such that you can make a list of all those and jot down using a pen and a paper.
To begin with, let's start talking about the first of those mistakes; the general trend that is being followed these days is the ownership model of running a business. A business that is entirely reliant upon the owner, where he keeps every responsibility to himself, the owners do feel the heat for working all the seven days of the week and finds himself fully engrossed, unable to take time and mind off his work. The result is there to be seen, weariness creeps in and the owners lose their focus on the job at hand. It's important that you keep yourself rejuvenated; a fresh mind always comes across new ideas. He is more likely to achieve desired results.
The second prominent mistake that you will see is irrelevant marketing strategy, the personal trainer marketing industry has suffered because of the fact that, the concept of promotion has been misunderstood for the word 'marketing', where fitness owners had the notion that attaching popularity to their businesses will guarantee them a success. Personal trainer marketing is not one of those campaigns where advertisement works; it has finer working details and those could be found out in fitness related websites.
Third, most of the owners these days live on the belief that profits only originate through sale. It could be true to an extent but there's something more important than sales, it's your existing client, keeping him happy is part of a foreseeable business plan. One must look to add value to each of your clients, if you have a superior product or a service, you could charge a resounding fee and people will readily cut their pockets deep, in other words they would be willing to pay an added extra for an improved service, that is a quality way to earn quality profits because many of these guys are on a look out to get their problems solved and they could shell any amount of cash to get it flat.
People who are not willing to pay higher fees, are the one's difficult to deal with, they are a nagging lot who are on a look out for a cheap price, they just don't value the significance of service. Therefore it is advisable to pick your clients carefully, only those people should be accepted who are hassle free payers because fitness trainers need payments on a continuous monthly basis, they need to be paid properly so they could focus on the job at hand. You could bring in a selling technique, for instance, those being followed by big food joints where if you want a cheese and a coke, they will ask you to go for a bigger one on a discounted price.
Then there's another prominent blunder that gets committed more often by business trainer marketing, you will find business owners putting in a lot of onus on hard work without desired results and that should be attributed to mismanagement of time, time management techniques should be roped in and combined with energy management plans to continue his business operations.
Finally, most of these business owners lack basic knowledge of how to achieve the desired results they intend to, and plans should be put in place to manage things on a daily basis.
Slacker Chris McCombs is a fitness marketing expert and a personal trainer marketing specialist.
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