Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Dynamic List Building Strategies - Quick Start Marketing Plans

Welcome to Part 2 of the Quick Start Action Plans

Generating wealth through adsense revenue and affiliate programs have become the most popular strategies online. With good reason, earning additional and in many cases substantial income using these methods has become common among online marketers and business persons.

In our first lesson we covered the benefits and challenges of choosing Adsense as a strategy for earning income. I suggested that you begin by starting your own blog, website or social networks as a easy vehicles to begin your online business.

Is it true, that if you "build it, they will come"? Maybe in cliche world but not in the world of online marketing.

Sorry, I just don't ascribe to the teaching that if you start a blog or website, fill it with adsense and offer a great product that masses of people will automatically come.

I do however believe that if you deliver valuable content and take simple steps to attract the right crowd, they absolutely will come. In internet terms, that is called list building or web traffic development.

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Traffic Strategies

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Today, you learn 3 simple ways to drive traffic to your sight. Each strategy is worthy of your undivided attention. To that end, I will introduce all three today and will proceed over the next three days to provide details on how to get started with each one.


Article Writing

After finding a target audience that is hungry for the information that you provide, you now have to satisfy that hunger. There is no simpler or more cost effective way to do that than to write articles that answers their questions and offers new insights.

It won't cost you one penny and you will only spend approximately 1 hour of your time to write the article (that time will decrease as you get better) You can produce a 400 - 600 word article that attracts your target market like flies at a picnic (ugh! okay not a pretty visual but you get the point).

You don't have to be an academic scholar to write these articles. Though they should be grammatically correct you are providing the education and insight in an area that you reader has never been exposed to. You are now seen as the teacher, the educator, the leader for your audience. If you don't have all of the answers, they don't know that. Simply write what you do know in a reasonably intelligent and

After completing your articles you will submit them to free directories, articles submission sites and even link exchanges with other sites. I'll show what you need to do to attract the attention of the search engines and your target audience.

Link exchange

Don't be mistaken, exchanging links with other sites will not get you hundreds of clicks. When your link is posted on a growing number of relevant sites ( I'll explain why that is the NUMBER #1 thing that you have to understand when exchanging links) your popularity increases with the search engines and subsequently your rank increases.

This strategy alone will not drive massive traffic to your site, but coupled with other strategies it will be very effective. Follow the step suggested in the Action Plan below to get prepared to move forward this week.

If I can give you one warning, DON"T sign up with a site that automates this process and promises you thousands of links overnight until you read the post this week.


Viral Marketing

Here's something that you can implement within the next five minutes. If you are a student of online marketing than you are familiar with viral marketing. It is, in my humble opinion, one of the most effective ways to grow your business.

Not only does it have the potential of spreading the news about your great site like wild fire, but because it uses friends to tell friends, readers who are referred

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This can be added to your blog, website or social network within 5 minutes

http://www.tellafriendgenerator.com/

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After you sign up you will get an email that provides simple html code that can be placed on your website. You will have a choice of choosing text or picture links. The picture will appear with a message inviting your visitor to share your page with three friends. The lead email should be filled out if you want to received a list of the emails that are submitted. This will help you to build your list if you want to send them a thank you note for visiting and invite them to subscribe.

To see how this click the picture with the invitation to refer others in the top left column of this blog.

If you want to place it on each of your sites (and you should) you have to sign up for each site separately. You can sign up as many times as you like.I've been looking for a viral generator for several weeks. This is the first free one that I've found that is simple to place and also very effective.

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Action Plan

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1. Register with article submission sites.

  • http://www.submityourarticles.com/
    • Remember, we'll discuss in detail on Monday, how to write articles that demand attention, increase your traffic and position you as an expert to your readers.

      2. Register with a reputable link exchange site

      I suggest that you register with this site but be wise about how you use it. This week, I'll explain the down side to exchanging links and how if you're not careful, it will cause you to be black balled by the search engines.

      3. Register your blog with feeders and blog directories

      Consider these services your own person "town cryer". These are the tools that will get announce your site and new information each time you update. There are a few keys that I'll point out that many people overlook that will help you to grow even faster.

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      In lesson 4, we will discuss in detail steps to get started, advantages and reality check for writing articles that will quickly build your list.

      Thursday, April 19, 2007

      Quick Start Marketing Plan For Adsense

      Welcome to Part 1 of the Quick Start Action Plans

      These concise quick study marketing plans are designed to jump start your online business venture. Each action plan will focus on one marketing strategy and will explain the basics of the strategy; the advantages of choosing that strategy; and a reality check to dispel any myths & make you aware of special consideration that you have to keep in mind.

      Finally you'll get an action plan that you can use to bypass all of the rhetoric on the internet and get started generating additional revenue.

      ADSENSE

      Unless today is the first time that you've turned on your computer in 10 years, then you are probably familiar with the mega search engine, Google. In one of the most ingenious moves in business history, Google has broken out of the mold of "web search engine model" and has emerged as a phenomenal force in the world of e-commerce and online advertising.

      They literally earn billions of dollars per year in advertising revenue. In fact, they have so many advertisers on their search engine, that they are constantly looking for smaller stations that are attracting large audiences on which to show their advertiser's products.

      This program is called adsense.
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      Anybody can participate - small business owners, work at home moms, online marketers, marketing gurus and college students. Everyone has an equal opportunity to earn passive income with the Google adsense program. _______________________________________________________________

      That is where you come in. If you have a blog, website or even space on a social network, then you have the opportunity to become one of Google's smaller advertising stations. Google is not searching for fortune 500 companies to host their advertisements. They simply want sites that offer quality information to those consumers and businesses.

      Getting started with adsense is one of the easiest online marketing strategies to implement. I discovered this after reading 500 e-books and subscribing to 800 databases (okay, I'm exaggerating again) it wasn't 500 books but it sure was allot of them.

      I discovered a common denominator - the basics are the same, it doesn't matter who's teaching. Sure, if we were discussing the more advanced aspects of adsense and Google's new policies it would definitely matter who you choose as a mentor. Later, I'll introduce you to the best in the industry and show you how to get free training materials from him but for now, let's just get the basics in place so that you can begin making money.

      Here's How It Works

      We'll use Anna's computer shop as an example. Anna realizes that Google is one of the largest and most successful search engines. Believing that it is a smart business decision, to get her business name in front of their large audience, she pays Google to advertise her products on their search engine.

      Google's job is to place Anna's ad before an audience that is searching for her products. This audience is considered a warm market, consumers who are ready to make a purchase. They set out to find the warm audiences.

      You operate a blog and a website giving tips on computer upgrades and repairs. Your list of subscribers is not that large yet but it is growing. You are working diligently to accomplish this by posting relevant and fresh information on your blog on a regular basis. This consistently attracts new readers, gives you a higher ranking with search engines and entices your current subscribers to stay connected.

      You register for your free Google adsense account and the first ad to show up on your site is for Anna's computer shop. Your loyal readers are always looking for good deals on parts and services. When the new ads show on the blog, it is viewed as an extension of the quality information and help that you've always provided.

      In one day 200 people visit your blog. Ten decide to click your new resource links. You are paid for each click. Anna pays Google for advertising her shop and Google shares that revenue with you. On your first day, you began earning money with your free adsense account.

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      The key to increasing revenue using Adsense is
      relevant content and consistent traffic.

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      Advantages

      The advantages of starting or expanding your online business with Adsense are numerous.

      1. There is no cost to getting started.
      2. You can build a blog, website or join a social networking site and post your ads today.
      3. There is no limit to the amount of money that you can earn
      4. Starting with this forum there is a wealth of free training and information available to help you become successful
      5. You don't have to know html, ftp or any complicated web design language or coding
      Adsense Reality Check


      1. Adsense cannot be used on the free blog service at Wordpress
      2. You do have to take the time to read Google's terms - you don't want to get shutdown by Google for violating terms
      3. You will only make money when people come to your site and click ads
      4. If your site or blog does not contain content that is both relevant and interesting to your audience they won't return, you won't get the clicks and therefore no revenue will be generated
      5. Roman wasn't built in day, neither will your online business. I don't care what the Guru's are telling you, while you definitely can start earning money immediately with Google, give yourself time to earn the six figure income.
      6. Realize that if your goal is to earn a six figure income using adsense, you will probably have to have more than one web site or blog.
      Getting Google setup is relatively simple.

      However, there are more advanced lessons that you will have to learn before generating substantial income. That's where the expert will come in

      Action Plan

      Following these 5 steps will have your new Google Adsense account up and running in a very short time.
      1. Sign up for your Google Account
      2. Choose your vehicle - Adsense can be placed on webpages, blogs or social networks. A good place to start is by signing up for a blogger account with Google.
      3. Read Google's Terms of Service
      4. Begin adding content that meets a need or solves a problem for your target audience - don't forget to importance of consistency
      5. Build your traffic - next week we'll cover traffic building techniques
      These are the basics, enough to jump start your adsense revenue. Watch for extra tidbits that will help you to develop relevant content, find target audiences and tips on choosing how your adsense should look
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      In Part 2 you'll learn 3 quick and easy methods to immediately begin driving traffic to your sites.
      Also coming soon is "How to lesson writing great press releases

      Wednesday, April 11, 2007

      Quick Start Action Plans - Update

      I am working feverishly behind the scenes to complete the free series on building a successful online business using our Quick Start Action Plans.

      As you know, these marketing plans will be concise summaries of the steps that you need to take to generate extra income on the internet. Written for the busy entrepreneur, the Action Plans are summaries of the research, study and review that our team has been involved in for several months.

      Of course, your job will be to take decisive action. If you are like thousands of online browsers who feel overwhelmed by the massive amounts of e-books, newsletters, and programs touting their expertise on online business strategies, these strategy plans will solve your dilema.

      Each lesson will equip you to carve out your own niche and begin building supplemental income. You'll find that we don't believe in "get rich quick" lessons or schemes, but we do believe that there are smart steps that you can take to expedite your success using adsense, adwords, affiliate programs and niche websites.

      The first lesson will be released this week, so if you haven't subscribed yet, quickly do so and you'll be top on the list to receiving your series.

      DaJuan

      Create Your Own Referral Sales Force

      This is the second posts that I've included which I have not personally written. When I started the blog, my intent was to share the strategies that I have been succesful in implementing. However, this article offers such tremendous insight to building a successful referral network, I think every entrepreneur should have it in their library.
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      Surround yourself with a network of competent professionals and add more value to your client relationships.

      Joining referral networks like BNI or local chamber groups can be a great way to help you network and generate referrals. The most powerful way to use this strategy, however, is to grow your own.

      Almost any business can benefit from having a group of trusted providers effectively marketing your business like a referral sales force. When you build your own private referral network your business benefits in two very powerful ways: you experience an increase in leads and you have additional resource to bring to your client relationships. In some cases, this second benefit may produce the greatest long-term impact of this approach.

      How to build it


      The key to building your own referral network is to focus on developing relationships with businesses you can believe in thoroughly. I would suggest that the first consideration should always be - what can this business bring to my client and not what can they bring to me. You might start by identifying the top products and services you know your current clientele need and use.

      There are many ways to build a "formal" referral network. Let me explain the idea of formal. To me that means there is an agreement between the parties that explains what each party will do. There is a process where each party educates the other on the best way to refer each other. There are marketing materials of some form that help each business cross promote. Once this basis framework is in place, creativity can come into play in many ways.

      The one place I see these efforts trip up is when the focus is on compensation. In other words, if everyone in the group is concerned about keeping score, the group is bound to fail. You must focus on the benefit to your clients, if you do that; the universe will take care of the rest. There will always be members that only want to take; you've got to be ready to move them out of your network.

      Let me give you an example

      This financial planner created his very own referral and lead network by sending a letter to 10 other professionals that he had worked with and felt comfortable referring business to. This letter informed them that he was creating a unique referral network of 100 of the area's top professional service providers. He invited them to become members and explained that he needed them to recommend 10 others who belonged in this exclusive group.

      He then created a resource directory and website that featured all 100 professionals. The entire group promoted the directory and web site and referred business to each other. As a result, other professionals begged to be allowed into the group. The strategy was so powerful that many of network members did no other form of marketing.

      Once you put your group together there are many ways to take advantage of power of this new sales force.

      Create a blog network

      If ten or fifteen related businesses were to get together and create a blog focused on a specific target market, in a specific geographic location, they could easily create a very valuable local resource. With very little effort this blog would rank very highly for local search engines terms related to the blog topics. Even with the mainstream recognition of blogs this is still a wide open opportunity.

      Interview each member for a teleseminar series

      Host a monthly interview with an expert and feature one of your network members. You can conduct these interviews over the phone and have all the members invite attendees to the teleseminar series. Record each session and you've also created some killer content for other marketing efforts. Keep these calls non sales, high impact, and information rich.

      Create co-branded white papers

      You should be creating and using white papers in your lead generation efforts anyway, so take those educational pieces to other members of your network and let them start offering them to their clients and prospects. Put their logo on the cover with your logo and you've got an instant hit.

      Do endorsed mailings

      One of the simplest ways to promote members of your referral network is to mail a letter to your clients endorsing another member's work. If every member of the group were to do this same thing you could experience an instant flood of new business.

      Put on a group workshop

      Once you have built a strong group you should consider hosting an all day workshop covering the hottest topics of concern to your target market. Each member of the group can present a topic and all parties invite participants. For some groups this could turn into a profit center above and beyond referrals.

      Distribute marketing materials and offers

      It's pretty simple to create little leave behind marketing pieces so that when the plumber makes a house call he can leave a special offer from the heating and cooling and electrical members of the group.

      Bundle each others products and services

      In some cases partnering with your referral network can help you make a much more competitive offer. Putting your products and services together with two or three other providers might give your firm the ability to compete with much larger organizations.

      With some careful consideration and a little effort you could build a referral network that would rival any sales force.

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      John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson.

      He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com

      Monday, April 09, 2007

      How the Big Boys Do Relationship Marketing

      If relationship marketing is just for small businesses, then why do large corporations such as Walmart use it every day. Learn more and how you can create a program of relationship marketing in your own business.
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      Is relationship marketing strictly a tactic used by small businesses? Do you think that relationship marketing is used when companies don’t have a lot of money to put into advertising? Think again.

      Walmart is one of the largest corporations in the world yet this company still uses relationship marketing. When was the last time you walked into a Walmart? Do you remember the person that greeted you at the door? These senior citizens are called, accurately enough, greeters.

      The job of the Walmart greeter is to create a more friendly and personalized experience for the Walmart shopper. The greeter will say hello when you enter the store, provide you with a shopping cart if needed, add a little smiley sticker to any children that may have accompanied you and even say good bye as you leave the store with your cart full of goodies. This is Walmart’s way of letting their customers know they appreciate them. It’s relationship marketing. If you are a frequent Walmart shopper, the greeters may even learn your name and address you appropriately each time you come to their store.

      Other retail establishments are also now offering greeters of a sort. Restaurants have their hosts/hostesses, hotels often have a greeter, even health clubs make sure to say hello and offer you a towel when you enter. All of these places learn your name and use it when you have become a good customer. Have you ever had the opportunity to have dinner in a country club with a regular member? The entire staff knows who they are, what their favorite meal is and what they like to drink.

      What this all comes down to is how these businesses are showing their customers they are appreciated. This process builds loyalty and loyalty brings many benefits.

      So how can you create a relationship marketing program if you don’t have a walk in business?
      Consider ways you would like to say thank you. Don’t think about ways you can increase your business. It isn’t about that. Walmart doesn’t get customers to buy more by having a greeter at the door, they just say thanks! Think about ways you can tell your customers or clients that you really do appreciate their loyalty or purchase.

      Here are some do’s and don’ts.

      • Do send thank you notes or cards immediately upon purchase.

      • Don’t include a discount coupon.

      • Do send random thank you cards or holiday appreciation cards.

      • Don’t tell them about your latest sale or special (at least not in this campaign).

      • Do offer them gifts for referrals.

      • Do make phone calls thanking customers for their business.

      • Do find other ways to refer other businesses when your company can’t meet their specific needs. While this may seem counter productive, a customer will come back and refer more business to you when they feel you have their best interest in mind.

      • Do get to know your customers. Take notes if need be to remind you about birthdays or special events. Keep track of their personal interests and listen to their personal stories. They will look on you as a friend, rather than as a necessary evil.

      Relationship marketing is probably the least expensive way to market your business. It will take time and requires more from you on a personal level but the rewards will be well worth it.

      Are you ready to start building relationships with your customers, family members and friends? Would you like to know how you can do this easily by sending greeting cards directly from your computer? Nicole Bandes is now offering a unique tool to save time and money while building valuable relationships. Try it for free by visiting http://www.ilovesendoutcards.com to learn more about relationship marketing using greeting cards.

      Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicole_M._Bandes

      Thursday, April 05, 2007

      Introducing Quick Start Action Steps

      I admit it. I sounded off quite a bit in my last blog. In fact, I ranted. I went on and on about my condition ( you remember, I self diagnosed myself with " information overload syndrome).

      You lent me both your shoulder and empathetic ear as I shared my symptoms and explained how I became deluged with all of the "help" that is available for people who want to tap into the GOOGLE AdSense, earn a million dollars, reach a million people, work from the beach - not home dream.

      Well I'm happy to say that my prescription is working. I'm making money with Google. I'm not a millionaire yet but I've discover the secrets to generating revenue and now I'll simply keep repeating the steps, duplicating my efforts and cashing my checks.

      Generate online income using our free Quick Start Action Plans

      I promised to give you Quick Start Action Plans to help you shorten your journey to monetary gain. These simple blueprints will be the vehicle that you can use to navigate through the maze of information on the internet. You'll find that there is no rhetoric, no unnecessary jargon, no fluff - just basic plans to jump start your new online business or enhance the one that you have now.

      We'll cover the major income generating strategies including AdSense, AdWords, niche websites- also called virtual real estate and of course what would online business be without affiliate programs. You can expect to read each Quick Start Plan in under ten minutes.

      Here's how it will work:

      Each Quick Action Plan will have

      1. An explanation of each strategy in easy to understand terms
      2. Quick Start Action Steps explaining how to get started earning extra money today
      3. Free tools that you can begin using immediately to make things simple
      4. Resources from proven leaders
      5. Ongoing support and tips that you can use to keep up with changes

      You can get the most out of these crash courses by:

      1. Bookmarking this page so that you can have easy access to all of the lessons.
      2. Download the free software and programs
      3. Subscribe to this forum so that you'll be immediately notified each time a new Actions Plan is published.
      4. Don't procrastinate - Take action

      To Your Success,

      DaJuan

      Curing information overload syndrome

      Have you heard this one - " Success is not a destination, it's a journey".

      Yeah right. I'm convinced that the person who authored this quote was not an online marketer. There is no way that he (or she) could have understood how the journey to build an online empire has become the root cause of a new condition that many budding entrepreneurs are afflicted with called "information overload syndrome". There are massive numbers of "newbies" who have unwittingly contracted this condition. I was one of them and it turns out I'm not alone.

      Here's my story. A few months ago, I began my journey to learn how to build a profitable online business. I approached this task with the same excitement, anticipation and zeal that my children did on Christmas mornings when they opened their presents. Of course I want to make "oodles" of money but equally important was the thrill of learning new systems, expanding my way of thinking and capturing a way to reach thousands, even millions of people who need help with marketing strategies and building business credit. The thought of joining the ever growing community of online success stories was intoxicating.

      I don't quite remember how I began my search - I think I just googled a word. It wasn't long before I was inundated with online tele-seminars, free e-books, affiliate offers, programs and of course consulting services. I literally felt like I was in a room filled with gifts, wrapped in bright colors and beautiful bows and wouldn't you know it - it was all mine for the taking.

      I set out to conquer it all. Needless to say, it wasn't long before I realized that I was getting tangled up and needed to reassess my activities. You see the information just kept coming. Every time I thought I was equipped with the skills to intelligently approach the task ahead, I would receive a new offer informing me that I was missing a vital link. So I kept reading, and downloading and listening to tele-seminars and joining email lists. Gosh, I just wanted to do it the right way.

      Now I felt like a child sitting under the Christmas tree, surrounded with wrapping paper and bows - exhilarated but also overwhelmed. That's when reality hit me. It wasn't an intellectual moment, rather it was the appearance of several symptoms that led to the self diagnosis of my syndrome. As Oprah would say, I had an aha experience.
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      Do you share in my symptoms?
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      1. I found myself consistently spending money upgrading my free programs to "gold versions"

      2. After being told by so many gurus that I needed yet more tools, my confidence begin to dwindle. What if I really wasn't ready

      3. I was subscribed to so many lists that I didn't have time to read them all - much less implement them

      4. I was collecting quite an impressive library of e-books that individually were all very good - but collectively I couldn't seem to develop a cohesive system


      5. I realized that I had it - the paralysis of analysis - I was spending so much time "learning" that I wasn't "doing"

      I diagnosed myself with "information overload syndrome' and set out to find a quick cure. Amazingly, the answer came just as quickly as the gurus and systems did. I just had to get focused, get organized and get moving.

      I found my cure. I chose three successful and reputable teachers and decided that I would commit to following their systems until I was successful. It's not that I don't believe that other systems would lead to my success. But let's face it, we only have so many hours in one day, so we have to choose the tools that are most effective.

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      Here's my prescription for healing.
      ____________________________________________



      1. Get focused - Narrow down what you want to accomplish. Do you want to build a large list so that you can create a warm market to sell products to? Do you want to generate additional revenue? If so, do you want to use google adwords, adsense, niche webpages or all of the above.

      2. Get organized - Now that you know what you want to accomplish, choose your tools. You can do this by choosing the mentor/teacher, investing in their materials ( use all of the free information first) and dedicating yourself to following ALL of his/ her advice.

      3. Get moving - Recognize that you will NEVER stop learning about online marketing. There are new tools, gurus and systems being introduced on the internet everyday. Also, the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo are constantly changing After you've focused, set your goals and chosen your mentors, it's time to follow Nike's advice and "Just Do I"
      I heard a quote (on a tele-seminar of course) that said "You don't have to be perfect, you just have to get started". In the next three articles, I'll help you to personalize each of the healing steps by providing simple action plans that will also get you simplify the process of moving forward.

      Success may be a journey but we all want to reach a destination point that produces both monetary and personal results. Let's just do it - together.

      Tuesday, January 23, 2007

      KISS - Before You Invest Your Money


      KISS is a well known acronym for keep it simple simon (some say stupid - but that's not nice). In marketing the most effective strategy is often the simple one. Before you spend thousands of dollars on marketing services, shiny new computer programs and gurus who promise the stars, be sure that you have carefully evaluated the simple strategies that have been used to generate unlimited customers and millions of dollars.

      Have you ever heard of guerilla marketing strategies? You know, the marketing ideas that you can implement for little or no cost while reaching a large audience? I remember many years ago being in awe of the creator and teacher of this method. I thought it was just genius. Jay Conrad Levinson taught us to use common sense, every day encounters and basic messages to reach the masses.
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      Simple but powerful marketing that got results.

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      Since that time I have learned methods, tips and strategies from many of the great gurus of our time. Though these names may not be familiar, if you have an opportunity read articles or study the programs of Robert Middleton, Armand Morin, Yanik Silver or David Frey it would be time and money well spent - or should I say invested. These men have all contributed brilliant ideas and methodologies for building your client base while leveraging your money.

      To get started, here are a few ideas that any entrepreneur can implement:

      1) Write a press release - Here's an opportunity to introduce your company to a very large audience at no cost!

      2) Form a joint venture - Form a relationship with a company that services your target market. Example, if you are a landscaper, form a joint venture with a general contractor. If you own a daycare, form a relationship with the local uniform shop. One simple technique to jumpstarting this is to have your partner agree to write a letter to every client in his/her database recommending your services. Be sure to include a few testimonials in the letter and your contact information. You can tap into a brand new database of potential clients and do it with the endorsement of someone that they trust and all for the price of a stamp and stationary or time at the computer! Now that's leverage.

      3) Sponsor a local charity event - First, choose a charity that you personally would endorse. Then choose a method that would help promote the event to the community. Examples would be paying to have flyers printed, purchase door prizes, putting together a team of volunteers to help at the event and of course cash donations are always welcome. An idea that is often over looked is offering introductory discounts to the organizations supporters. In return, your business name and services can be listed as a sponsor on all of their marketing materials, given an opportunity to display banners or be recognized at public events, not to mention, you now have access to their supporters.

      4) Join your local chamber of commerce or networking organization - Members are inclined to patronize the services of other members

      5) Start a blog - this is not only an article by itself --- it's a series. But if we stick to the basics. Begin by visiting blogger (dot) com or Wordpress (dot) com.

      Remember, marketing isn't an exact science, what works for one business may not produce the same results for another business. The key is to be persistent, personable and passionate.

      Start your new year with a commitment to always KISS - before you invest.

      To your marketing success,

      DaJuan Tircuit

      Sunday, December 10, 2006

      Where's the "marketing" beef?

      Do you remember the Wendy's commercial years ago where the elderly lady would bite the hamburgers and ask in a really deep voice "Where's the Beef'? It became a household slang, even used in a major political campaign. Basically, the message was that the competitors offered very little substance.


      Great marketing move for many reasons. First, if I were a betting person, I would say that an overwhelming majority of people ( those 30 and over :)) reading this remembers the slogan. Second, the words were not merely words, they painted a clear picture for prospective customers. Whether they realized it or not, people who remembered the slogan were subtly indoctrinated with the thought that Wendy's hamburgers were always bigger. Third, it was entertaining. The humor, the visual image and play on words inspired people to remember it. Last, it was viral, a major politician adopted it, people were repeating it.

      What does your marketing message communicated about your business? If I said your business name to one of your customers, what would be the first thing that they remember about you?

      _________________________________

      That is marketing in the purest sense.
      __________________________________

      I don't mean selling. I mean painting a picture in the minds of your target customer's that help them to easily identify your strengths over your competitors.

      So what's a simple way to develop your own picturesque message?

      Try this exercise for quick results:


      1. Make a list of your business strengths, your unique qualities and narrow your list down to the most important quality;

      2. Next choose an image that can easily be associated with that strength and that will be familiar to your clients;

      3. Now as you begin to promote your product or service, place emphasis on this quality;

      4. Before you send the new message out to the general public, test it by polling a smaller group of current or prospective customers. Ask their opinions;

      5. Don't get discouraged if your great idea doesn't go over well. Remember not only is marketing not an exact science, your marketing messages are not written in stone.

      Why does this work? Often, the driving force behind a customer's decision to choose your product or service is not the cheaper price, rather, it's forces that are far more connected to our human nature. When you properly connect to these human traits, you will win life time clients.


      What do you think they are? Post and let us know.

      Partnering with you for growth and success,


      DaJuan Tircuit