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Marketing Information
Attracting Clients With Ease
Whether you are already running your own business, or still thinking about starting your own business, I suspect that deep down you know you have gifts and talents that can really make a difference to others. In an ideal world, you'd spend the majority of time doing the work you love to do, with a steady stream of clients knocking at your door as and when you want them. The reality, however, can be somewhat different, and the whole process of finding new business can be a time consuming challenge full of uncertainty.
Website Promotion Strategies For Targeted Web Site Traffic
If you're looking to drive more targeted traffic to your web site, you'll want to pay close attention to the website promotion strategies presented in this article.
Measuring the Return on Your Direct Mail Investment
In direct mail lore, there's a rule stating that you can measure the success of your efforts by a minimum response rate of 1-2%. In other words, if you send out 10,000 pieces, you'll have a successful mailing if at least 100 recipients respond to your offer. (One percent of 10,000 is 100.)That's one view of direct mailing success. Permit me to offer a different perspective: one from the small business world. Specifically, I'm referring to those small business people who work by and for themselves. Call them "One-Man Bands," "Working Soloists," "Free Agents," or whatever you'd like.To help you remember these two perspectives, let's give them a couple of catchy names:1. The "Playing the Percentages" Perspective. This is the "industry standard 1-2% response rate on your mailings" perspective you've heard so much about. This is the yardstick favored by businesses that are sending large quantities of direct mail to sell mass market products.For example, if I own a pizza parlor, and I'm doing a "use this card for 10% off on your next order" mailing to all residences within a three-mile radius of my business, I might have a mailing list of 10,000 names. You'd better believe that I'm going to watch the overall response rate like a hawk, and I'm going to be looking at precisely where those hungry customers are coming from. If most of them are coming from a handful of apartment complexes next to a college campus, I'll know to send my future mailings to those complexes. 2. The "You Only Need A Few" Perspective. This is the one for those One-Man (or One-Woman) Bands who are selling services that take a fair amount of time to provide. Like marketing consulting, public relations services, graphic design, or customized computer software applications. For these folks, a handful of new or repeat clients from a promotional mailing is quite enough. After all, as the owner of a one-woman graphic design studio told me once, "I don't want to be a victim of my own [direct mail] success."
Postcards: Awareness Tool or Selling Tool?
Are postcards better for building awareness or for selling?In my opinion, the answer to the above question is, "They can do both jobs. It depends on what type of business you're in."My own perspective is that of the Web and graphic designer who must distinguish herself from the hordes of other designers out there. I do this by keeping my name in front of my clients and prospects with postcards. Over the years, this approach has brought me quite a bit of repeat business from my longtime clientele, and new business from the prospects on my list.Since many businesses do nothing to stay in touch with their market, and spend their precious time and resources chasing after new customers, I think that the awareness approach has merit. After all, it costs six times less to sell to an existing customer than it does to sell to a new customer. This has been proven through numerous studies.Now, let's move on to the selling approach. Let's say you're new in town, and, by golly, you need some clients pronto-pronto. Which means that you're not going to send out postcards to build awareness. Rather, you're going to send something that gets new clients ringing your phone and setting up appointments where you sell your design services.In short, different strokes for different folks. And postcards are versatile enough to serve 'em all.
Heres A Robust, Turnkey, Interactive. Best of Breed, Mission-Critical Solution to Kill Buzzwords
Fellow Publicity Insiders, what does this phrase mean?
"We envision a center of excellence where our accelerated changeagents can maximize their core competencies."
Huh? - or - "The company is a global leader in pressure-sensitivetechnology and innovative self-adhesive solutions for consumerproducts and label materials."
Clue: they make stickers.
Pity the poor reporters who have to dig through this pile ofdrivel to find a news story. Free help is here. Bullfighter, anaptly-named software program from Deloitte Consulting, works likea spelling checker program to spot questionable words and phrasesin Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents. Bullfighter can bedownloaded at:
http://www.dc.com/insights/bullfighter/
For a humorous & irreverent look at buzzword bashing thatincludes real-life, buzz-laden press releases and pitch letters,go to:
http://www.buzzkiller.net/default.htm
Have a seamless, win-win day!
A Quick Guide To Finding Reciprocal Links
Trading reciprocal links is one of the best ways to build traffic at your website. A reciprocal link is where two websites agree to host a link to each other on their websites. These usually are placed on a special, 'links page', but sometimes in articles or other areas.
The Silver Bullet For Success: Revealed
Looking for the magic formula or the whiz-bang approach that will unlock your
business success? Are you willing to pay hundreds for it? How about thousands?
Your Marketing Message
Your message is first among your weapons in the battle of perceptions.
Target Your Market
Your market is not everybody, as so many small businesses assume. It is the
people/organizations who need, want, have the money--and the willingness--to
pay for what you are offering. Identifying them can be complicated and expensive,
or it can be relatively painless and cheap.
Nice Guys Finish First
Volunteering your services can be an excellent way to form new business
relationships and raise your business?s profile while lending a hand to a good cause.
However, unless you take care, it can also become all-consuming, with little return
(besides creating good karma).
Getting Paid to Promote Yourself
We all know we can pay a magazine or a newspaper to run ads for us. Businesses do
it all the time. In many cases, you're obliged to advertise to survive. But wouldn't
you rather promote yourself and your company in a number of publications, and get
paid for it?
Good News Travels Fast
This newsletter is full of opportunities staring you in the face. If you don't believe
me, write and tell me so--and by doing that you'd be proving me right.
At the Speed of Light
How many times has someone you've called said, "Why don't you send me some
information on your company"?
The Real Marketing Genius
I spend a lot of my time reading books and listening to tapes about business and marketing. I guess that's understandable.
Avoid the Duds: 10 Strategies for Selecting The Perfect Speaker
Today, more than ever, the success of meetings relies heavily on the strength of program content and presentation. Nothing can spoil a meeting more than hiring the wrong speaker. That?s because speakers do more than just convey the overall meeting message. You look to them to provide insights, awareness, and cutting-edge information in an energetic, motivational, entertaining, and professional manner. What more could you ask for? Well, the right speaker can emphasize an important message, offer inspiration, help people cope with new assignments, and lead the way towards change.
The Perfect Match
Overwhelmed with the plethora of speakers to choose from? You may want to turn to a speaker?s bureau for advice and guidance. A good bureau should act as a consultant and partner to help your event succeed. Even though many hundreds of bureaus are out there, the numbers pale in comparison to the thousands of speakers. A bureau?s sole purpose is simply to make your job easier and provide you with solutions. They want to find the best possible match for your event within your price range. So, where do go looking for one of these bureaus? Here are a few places to start your search: the phone book, chambers of commerce, convention and visitors bureaus, the Internet, industry colleagues, and friends.
A Final Note:
Look for CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) or CPAE (Council of Peers Award for Excellence) designations. Both these are conferred by the National Speakers Association and are considered the speaking profession's international measure of professional platform skill (http://www.nsaspeaker.org).
Armed with these guidelines and resources, your search for the perfect speaker will be more fruitful. And with a little effort and some time, you will connect with a speaker who will fulfill your goals? one that will be both inform and enlighten. Your audience will thank you.
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NTC Marketing signs deal to import fruit from Philippines (The Buffalo News)
NTC Marketing, which imports tropical fruit sold under the Libby's name, has signed a deal to buy pineapples from the Philippines.
OH Logistics Receives Recognition For Global Marketing Campaign (Logistics)
Ozburn-Hessey Logistics was recently awarded twice for their global brand awareness initiative, a Marketing effort positioning the 3PL as an international services provider.
Public affairs, marketing positions filled at Pavilion (The Argus Leader)
Two key positions now are filled by new employees at the Washington Pavilion of Arts & Science: Tyler Sharp, director of marketing, and Michele Wellman, director of public affairs and premiere events, the Pavilion announced today. Sharp, a native of Long Valley, most recently was trade sales representative for the South Dakota Office of Tourism. Wellman, a native of Massachusetts, has worked for ...
IPFW hires marketing firm (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)
In an effort to increase fundraising and awareness within the community, IPFW has entered into a partnership with Nelligan Sports Marketing, a New Jersey-based firm that represents several conferences and more than two dozen colleges and universities.
Chiropractic Practice Marketing Authority Ben Altadonna Gives Away His Porsche Free and Clear to Dr. Keith Currie (PRWeb)
Recently, chiropractic's largest marketing super conference took place where hundreds of the most successful doctors of chiropractic met to learn more unique marketing strategies from Ben Altadonna and his special guests, including the legendary Robin Leach. (PRWeb Jul 4, 2008) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/07/prweb1072874.htm
Do-It-Yourself Marketing Creates Surprising Results (Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo! News)
Many entrepreneurs insist they have no time for marketing. They claim they're too busy running their business to promote it.
Axel Biermann leitet Tourismus-Marketing (FVW.com)
Bis 2010 dauert es nicht mehr lang. Biermann soll die Vermarktung der Kulturhauptstadt Europas vorantreiben. Weit ist der Weg zu seinem neuen Arbeitgeber nicht. Axel Biermann, bisher Geschäftsführer von Tourismus und Marketing Oberhausen, übernimmt die Leitung der Ruhrgebiet Tourismus in Essen.
Morris Crossroads change marketing strategy (The Record)
The owners of Morris Crossroads in Mount Olive ? the largest block of Class A office space in North Jersey ? are shifting their marketing strategy to include finding a college or university to occupy the facility that?s been on the market for two years.
Income Access Conducting Survey on Affiliate Marketing Industry (PRWeb)
Affiliate marketing company, Income Access, is currently conducting a survey on how affiliate marketers communicate, collect metrics, and market their sites. (PRWeb Jul 4, 2008) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/07/prweb1072444.htm
Efficient Frontier wins search engine marketing deal with moneysupermarket.com and travelsupermarket.com (e-Consultancy)
Leading price comparison sites moneysupermarket.com and travelsupermarket.com have today moved their search engine Marketing technology and services to Efficient Frontier. The decision to move to Efficient Frontier was based on its proven technology and knowledgeable account development team. It will...
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Don?t Put All Of Your Eggs Into One Basket
I vaguely remember a particular story from my childhood. It had something to do with transporting eggs to market. The main character, a little girl who thought she knew more than she really did, put all of the day's eggs into one basket, and when she tripped and fell on the way into town to sell the eggs, all of the eggs broke. It seems that her grandmother (the voice of experience and wisdom) tried to tell her not to do that, but she wouldn't listen. If she had divided them up into several means of transportation some would have been lost, but not all of them. It was a difficult lesson to learn.
Strategic Marketing and Tactical Marketing Know The Differences And Profit
Most people mistakenly assume that when you talk about marketing, you're automatically talking about "Tactical" marketing - placing ads, generating leads, sending out mailers, attending trades shows, creating brochures, implementing a follow-up system, and so forth.
Market Planning -- Getting the Word Out
"There are those who get things done and those who think about getting things done."
--Col. Wesley L. Fox, USMC (Ret)
The Importance of a Marketing Plan
There aren't many things in life that you would get into with out a plan. Marketing is no different. Your overall marketing plan should cover about a six month period, and should be made up of weekly and monthly marketing schedules.
Reasons Why People Usually Dont Buy Again
There are many psychological reasons why people will buy
from the first time and why they do not buy from you again.
There are books on many of these reasons. Many of these
reasons are totally out of your control.
Test Marketing--How to Increase Your Direct Mail Marketing Response by Using the Internet to Test
I've discovered a really fantastic way to discover what works best in direct marketing, BEFORE doing traditional direct marketing. Use these internet tools to find what works best, then apply what you've learned to your traditional direct marketing, direct mail, etc. It's fast and less expensive.
Postcard Marketing Done Right
Say it with a post card. A well designed, colorful, high impact postcard in the mail box of your prospect is your best ticket to a new customer. For your existing customer, a marketing campaign which includes frequent post cards is the perfect start to new sales - this is one of the key small business marketing strategies.
Five New 5 Ps!
NO! When I say "5 P's", I'm not talking about the big 5 P's of marketing everyone's familiar with.
Focusing Your Marketing Efforts
One of my favorite quotes is often used to describe goal-setting -- but it applies equally well to your marketing efforts. We start with Alice lost in the woods in Wonderland, where she comes upon the Cheshire-Cat...
Postcards ? Picture Perfect Promotion
There is a simple but almost mystical law which governs promotion and marketing and their relationship to the amount of business generated: business will come in to the degree that you get your message out, promote, let people know you are there, advertise, write to people, call people, e-mail people and generally communicate to existing or potential clients.
Customers Are Like Vampires
No, customers aren't bloodsuckers (well, maybe a few are!) and they don't come out only at night. According to legend, vampires don't come in until they are invited. And that's true of customers, too.
What Does Your Business Card Say About You? - Making A Great First Impression!
Interesting article in USA Today that I read this week that I've also read about on Scott Ginsberg's blog. Think about this: What does your business card say about you? If you work in a company that requires you to conform to the corporate standard, obviously you don't have much choice. For the rest, what are you doing to stand out in a crowd of many?
Client Attraction Technique #1: Niche Marketing
When asked "what business are you in" many business owners often identify an industry, for example, "I'm an accountant" or "I run a beauty salon " or "I own a restaurant." But claiming to be part of an industry is not what attracts customers. Customers come to you because you offer a specialty.
For example, which advert are you mostly likely to respond to:
Promotional Products
As a promotions director for a lot of super markets, one of my key responsibilities was finding promotional products for the events we make. I worked with distributors to order, design and customize these items to promote the super markets image to the general public.
Direct Marketing: Overlooked, Underappreciated, and Unstoppable
Every business needs customers, but more importantly every business needs to maintain those customers while constantly retaining new ones. The only successful way of doing this is by learning everything about your customers, including who they are? What do they have in common? Do they share a hobby, an age range, a life stage, or a geographic community? Can you break them down into groups? The answers to these questions hold a wealth of information for you. Although direct marketing can be overlooked by many businesses, here are statistics proving the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns over the years.
Making Your Mark With The Millennials
Generation Y--The second-largest crop of young people in America's history, offspring of the Boomers-80 million of them, nearly 27 percent of the U.S. population-are in their late teens and 20s, and already a market force to be reckoned with.
A Tool For Selling New Ideas!
Imagine tossing a pebble into a crystal clear pond on a still day, & watching the ripples make their way to the shore. A tiny cause has a massive effect.
The M-Word (Marketing) Phase 2
Last month we looked at what you need to do before you spend money on marketing brochures, a website, advertising or even go out to network. During Phase 1, it's all about crafting your message. Key steps include getting clear about your market niche, developing a clear message about how you solve your target clients' problems, articulating what makes you their best choice, packaging your services so clients will buy, and demonstrating why they should trust you.
Testing Your Way To Prosperity
I have always enjoyed talking to a Realtor friend of mine about his Father-in-laws business. His business is Gold Mining and he has been involved in it full time for nearly his whole life. My friend has a good relationship with his Father-in-law and often spends time helping him in this business and has learned a lot about prospecting and mining and the other facets of this extremely risky industry.
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