By: Dennis Conner
If your business is like most it could use more customers. More customers equal more revenue and profit and that's what all businesses are after. So how does a business go about finding more customers? You're probably sitting on a "gold mine" and don't even know it.
In this case the "gold mine" is your current customer list. Of course, you could probably sell more to your current customers, but that's not the strategy I want to discuss here. Here, I want to describe how you can analyze your current customers to enable your business to easily locate NEW customers.
Here's a simple five step plan to finding more customers:
1) Start with your own customer list. Normally you'll have lots of information including address information. This address information includes a ZIP code. The ZIP code is the key to finding more customers using this plan.
2) Once you have a ZIP code you can locate demographic data at the US Census Bureau or free. The downside of using the Census Bureau is that it is very time consuming to find the data and put it in a useable format. Most companies purchase inexpensive demographic data that will tell you more information about your customer.
Let's say that you've obtained your demographic data and done an analysis. For example, after looking at the ZIP code demographic data for your current customers you may determine that most of them have incomes that are over $75,000 and the average age is less than 30 years old.
3) So now you have a profile of people that bought your products. You really have a profile of the people in the area they live in, but that data can now be used to find more business.
4) Now that you know your customer profile simply search your demographics database for other areas that have the same profile; incomes over $75,000 and less than 30 years old. This will lead you to many, many other ZIP codes where the profile of the people living there are the same as your customer. Bingo these are the areas you want to target.
5) Now that you know the areas you'd like to target it's a simple matter to either go through your leads list/database or even purchase contact lists for the ZIP codes you identified above. This works for direct mail and email lists as long as the email list has a ZIP Code associated with the email address.
So there you have it. Don't be put off by having to purchase demographic data. This is very inexpensive and it will pay for itself over and over. Also keep your typical conversion rates in mind from emails and mailers. These facts and figures will help you determine how much you can reasonably pay for mail/email lists if you go that route.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
10 Ecommerce Tips and Tricks
By: Ben Halverson, Petdesheddingtools.com
1. Add another “Add to Cart’ button – Screen Resolutions, minimized windows, font size, and several other facts can cause your customers to scroll through product page and when they are ready to buy not have the quick “Add to Cart” button readily available. A great tip for this is to set your screen resolution to 800 x 600 or something similar and add a second “Add to Cart” button below the screen “fold.”
2. Product descriptions should be written as if you were shopping for the product in a store. For example, if you are search for a dog shedding control shampoo, you wouldn’t want to simply write features about the ingredients that the shampoo has. Not many people care about the ingredients vs. their need. Write bullets on how each ingredient will help “stop shedding” or “reduce pet shedding” or “controls pet shedding.”
3. Google Webmaster Tools – If you haven’t already verified your site with Google. Do it soon. Although most of the information may not mean much to marketers, there is enough information to make necessary tweaks based on what Google recognizes as potential issues or areas needing help.
4. Don’t get caught up in reading the Google Toolbar’s indicator of Page Rank. Many ecommerce experts have done research on this tool to know that it doesn’t update often and some have even narrowed it to a quarterly update. Spend more time building quality, relevant inbound links to your site; this is what will help you score big with your page rank.
5. Generic Images are a no no – When you walk into a store to buy a piece of merchandise, you hold it, you size it up and you determine if it’s the right price. If someone looks at your product, realizes it’s a generic image that only partially represents your product, you are not giving your customer what they need to determine their need for purchase. Real images that give as much quality detail as possible will only increase conversions. We have all heard a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, on the web, it could be worth $1000 dollars…in sales
6. Still Waiting….Good by – Test your website load speed. There are numerous free tools on the web that determine how fast your page will load when someone stops by. Keep in mind that this will be determined based on the internet speed connection of your customer but for those with a fast connection expect a fast loading page. You can find out what types of connections your customers have in your Google Analytics. If your load speed is slower than normal, the patience of a customer may run out and turn to the next site on the list. A good page load speed is anywhere from 3 – 5 seconds with a typical cable/DSL connection.
7. Short, Sweet and Descriptive – When writing your product descriptions, know your audience. Are they going to read through a paragraph of text to determine if its what they want? Try testing bullet descriptions, its quick, to the point, and often just as descriptive as a paragraph description
8. What time is it? – When you set up your Google Adwords accounts, pay special attention to when the ads will run. If you are a BtoC advertiser that has products that many cannot shop during work hours, try testing lunch times, after hours, before work. This may reduce unnecessary browsing clicks from those who can’t make a purchase until they are not on the clock.
9. OMG, IDU – Oh my Gosh, I don’t understand! Exactly. When writing content for pages, articles and products don’t abbreviate, use acronyms or slang. First, your customers will surely misinterpret and the search engines will definitely have a hard time figuring out what you are trying to sell. Write out everything, it will help your customers, help your site with the search engines, and give your overall credibility.
10. Home Page vs. Product Page – Customers searching for products are getting better and better at providing targeted searches. What that means is homepages become less of a landing page and product pages become more of what your customers will land on. It’s important to spend just as much time building a good selling proposition on your product pages as it is for your home page.
1. Add another “Add to Cart’ button – Screen Resolutions, minimized windows, font size, and several other facts can cause your customers to scroll through product page and when they are ready to buy not have the quick “Add to Cart” button readily available. A great tip for this is to set your screen resolution to 800 x 600 or something similar and add a second “Add to Cart” button below the screen “fold.”
2. Product descriptions should be written as if you were shopping for the product in a store. For example, if you are search for a dog shedding control shampoo, you wouldn’t want to simply write features about the ingredients that the shampoo has. Not many people care about the ingredients vs. their need. Write bullets on how each ingredient will help “stop shedding” or “reduce pet shedding” or “controls pet shedding.”
3. Google Webmaster Tools – If you haven’t already verified your site with Google. Do it soon. Although most of the information may not mean much to marketers, there is enough information to make necessary tweaks based on what Google recognizes as potential issues or areas needing help.
4. Don’t get caught up in reading the Google Toolbar’s indicator of Page Rank. Many ecommerce experts have done research on this tool to know that it doesn’t update often and some have even narrowed it to a quarterly update. Spend more time building quality, relevant inbound links to your site; this is what will help you score big with your page rank.
5. Generic Images are a no no – When you walk into a store to buy a piece of merchandise, you hold it, you size it up and you determine if it’s the right price. If someone looks at your product, realizes it’s a generic image that only partially represents your product, you are not giving your customer what they need to determine their need for purchase. Real images that give as much quality detail as possible will only increase conversions. We have all heard a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, on the web, it could be worth $1000 dollars…in sales
6. Still Waiting….Good by – Test your website load speed. There are numerous free tools on the web that determine how fast your page will load when someone stops by. Keep in mind that this will be determined based on the internet speed connection of your customer but for those with a fast connection expect a fast loading page. You can find out what types of connections your customers have in your Google Analytics. If your load speed is slower than normal, the patience of a customer may run out and turn to the next site on the list. A good page load speed is anywhere from 3 – 5 seconds with a typical cable/DSL connection.
7. Short, Sweet and Descriptive – When writing your product descriptions, know your audience. Are they going to read through a paragraph of text to determine if its what they want? Try testing bullet descriptions, its quick, to the point, and often just as descriptive as a paragraph description
8. What time is it? – When you set up your Google Adwords accounts, pay special attention to when the ads will run. If you are a BtoC advertiser that has products that many cannot shop during work hours, try testing lunch times, after hours, before work. This may reduce unnecessary browsing clicks from those who can’t make a purchase until they are not on the clock.
9. OMG, IDU – Oh my Gosh, I don’t understand! Exactly. When writing content for pages, articles and products don’t abbreviate, use acronyms or slang. First, your customers will surely misinterpret and the search engines will definitely have a hard time figuring out what you are trying to sell. Write out everything, it will help your customers, help your site with the search engines, and give your overall credibility.
10. Home Page vs. Product Page – Customers searching for products are getting better and better at providing targeted searches. What that means is homepages become less of a landing page and product pages become more of what your customers will land on. It’s important to spend just as much time building a good selling proposition on your product pages as it is for your home page.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
How You Can Turn $25 into $4,000
By: Joe Gracia, Give To Get Marketing
In addition to being one of the best marketers I know, my wife, Maria, is also an expert organizer. Her Web site, Get Organized Now! is one of the most popular and successful organizing sites on the Web.
Before we moved our organizing business to the Web, Maria used to market her personal organizing services to individuals and businesses.
Using a variety of powerful marketing techniques she grew an incredibly successful organizing business in a very short period of time.
The following is just one example of how she did that.
Maria knew that she would get very little business by merely placing ads in the local media for her services, even though this is what 90% of all small business owners do.
Her marketing goal was to build a prospect list of people who had a high interest in getting organized.
One of the ways she would attract prospects was by holding free workshops.
She contacted a local business who had conference rooms that could be rented out by the hour. Instead of paying for the conference room, she offered the owner a unique proposition.
An irresistible offer
She told the owner that she would be happy to offer one of her 'Get Organized Now!' Noon Workshops to any of her clients who would be interested in attending -- for free.
She made it clear to the owner that she regularly charges $35 per person for her workshops, but that she would be willing to offer this one workshop on a complimentary basis.
She was willing to do this if the business owner would, 1) allow her to present the free workshop in one of her conference rooms at no charge, and 2) would include an invitation to the workshop in her next invoice mailing to her list of clients.
A win-win-win proposition
The business owner readily agreed because she correctly saw this as a win-win-win opportunity. She would be seen by her clients as providing them with added value by offering them a $35 workshop for free, her clients would win by gaining valuable organizing information, and Maria would win by introducing herself and her services to a group of new prospects. This was a perfect Give to Get opportunity for everyone.
To prepare for the workshop, Maria created a packet of handouts for each of the attendees. The total cost for the handouts was $25.
The business owner included the RSVP invitation to the free Get Organized Now! Noon Workshop in her next mailing to her client list. And she even followed up with a phone call to many of her clients to see if they were interested in attending.
The mailing and calls resulted in 17 people attending the workshop.
Maria's workshop was very well received. The attendees loved the information presented, and the business owner was so pleased with the positive response, that she immediately made plans to hold more free workshops in the future.
Since Maria's main purpose for holding the workshop was to attract prospects for her organizing services, she wanted to get contact information from everyone who attended.
Offer an incentive to get contact information
She did this by offering everyone a free Get Organized Now! Idea-Pak filled with even more great organizing tips.
She passed out sign-up slips for her attendees to fill out.
But she didn't stop there, she also had a drawing for a door prize, and used the sign up slips as the entry form for the prize. This made certain that 'everyone' filled out a sign up slip.
After the workshop a number of the attendees came up to talk to Maria about her services. Maria answered their questions and got their phone numbers so she could follow up with them in a few days.
The first part of Maria's marketing system worked beautifully. She now had 17 new prospects who had already gotten to know, like and trust her through personal contact.
The workshop had also helped to establish Maria's credibiity as an expert in her field. This is something that can't be accomplished through one-step ads.
Getting appointments
Maria's next step in her strategy was to get an appointment with as many of her new prospects as possible.
Of course, she used our 'Give to Get' approach to accomplish this. Instead of simply calling her prospects and asking for a sales apppointment, she instead contacted her new list by mail and then by phone offering them a free Organizing Tips Presentation where she would offer them a few more tips and answer any specific organzing questions they might have.
She also let them know that she would tell them about her services and leave them with some information about her fees.
When she followed up with her 17 prospects, 3 agreed to meet with her for their free tips presentation.
Of those 3 appointments, she secured 1 new client, for a $585 organizing project. Already that was an excellent return on her $25 -- but that isn't where the story ends.
Within a few weeks, Maria received a call from someone who was very interested in her services. She was referred to Maria by an attendee at the workshop. That referral resulted in another immediate project for $475.
That same new client secured Maria's services two more times that year for a total of $1500.
By following up a number of additional times with the original attendees, Maria was able to convert another attendee into a client.
There would be more referrals to come from these new clients.
Within 8 months of the inital free workshop and a one-time $25 investment, Maria received over $4,000 in organizing project fees.
Of course, over the next year or two, repeat sales and additional referrals increased that amount substantially.
This was just one of the marketing techniques that Maria used to grow her organizing business.
It is a powerful technique that you can apply to your business as well.
Notice that she didn't spend a penny on advertising.
Instead she 'gave people what they wanted,' and they responded.
You will always have much more success by using the 'Give to Get' approach to overcome resistance.
Generating a high income from your business doesn't have to be difficult. If you follow the step-by-step instructions from people who have already succeeded in doing it, it can actually be quite easy.
In addition to being one of the best marketers I know, my wife, Maria, is also an expert organizer. Her Web site, Get Organized Now! is one of the most popular and successful organizing sites on the Web.
Before we moved our organizing business to the Web, Maria used to market her personal organizing services to individuals and businesses.
Using a variety of powerful marketing techniques she grew an incredibly successful organizing business in a very short period of time.
The following is just one example of how she did that.
Maria knew that she would get very little business by merely placing ads in the local media for her services, even though this is what 90% of all small business owners do.
Her marketing goal was to build a prospect list of people who had a high interest in getting organized.
One of the ways she would attract prospects was by holding free workshops.
She contacted a local business who had conference rooms that could be rented out by the hour. Instead of paying for the conference room, she offered the owner a unique proposition.
An irresistible offer
She told the owner that she would be happy to offer one of her 'Get Organized Now!' Noon Workshops to any of her clients who would be interested in attending -- for free.
She made it clear to the owner that she regularly charges $35 per person for her workshops, but that she would be willing to offer this one workshop on a complimentary basis.
She was willing to do this if the business owner would, 1) allow her to present the free workshop in one of her conference rooms at no charge, and 2) would include an invitation to the workshop in her next invoice mailing to her list of clients.
A win-win-win proposition
The business owner readily agreed because she correctly saw this as a win-win-win opportunity. She would be seen by her clients as providing them with added value by offering them a $35 workshop for free, her clients would win by gaining valuable organizing information, and Maria would win by introducing herself and her services to a group of new prospects. This was a perfect Give to Get opportunity for everyone.
To prepare for the workshop, Maria created a packet of handouts for each of the attendees. The total cost for the handouts was $25.
The business owner included the RSVP invitation to the free Get Organized Now! Noon Workshop in her next mailing to her client list. And she even followed up with a phone call to many of her clients to see if they were interested in attending.
The mailing and calls resulted in 17 people attending the workshop.
Maria's workshop was very well received. The attendees loved the information presented, and the business owner was so pleased with the positive response, that she immediately made plans to hold more free workshops in the future.
Since Maria's main purpose for holding the workshop was to attract prospects for her organizing services, she wanted to get contact information from everyone who attended.
Offer an incentive to get contact information
She did this by offering everyone a free Get Organized Now! Idea-Pak filled with even more great organizing tips.
She passed out sign-up slips for her attendees to fill out.
But she didn't stop there, she also had a drawing for a door prize, and used the sign up slips as the entry form for the prize. This made certain that 'everyone' filled out a sign up slip.
After the workshop a number of the attendees came up to talk to Maria about her services. Maria answered their questions and got their phone numbers so she could follow up with them in a few days.
The first part of Maria's marketing system worked beautifully. She now had 17 new prospects who had already gotten to know, like and trust her through personal contact.
The workshop had also helped to establish Maria's credibiity as an expert in her field. This is something that can't be accomplished through one-step ads.
Getting appointments
Maria's next step in her strategy was to get an appointment with as many of her new prospects as possible.
Of course, she used our 'Give to Get' approach to accomplish this. Instead of simply calling her prospects and asking for a sales apppointment, she instead contacted her new list by mail and then by phone offering them a free Organizing Tips Presentation where she would offer them a few more tips and answer any specific organzing questions they might have.
She also let them know that she would tell them about her services and leave them with some information about her fees.
When she followed up with her 17 prospects, 3 agreed to meet with her for their free tips presentation.
Of those 3 appointments, she secured 1 new client, for a $585 organizing project. Already that was an excellent return on her $25 -- but that isn't where the story ends.
Within a few weeks, Maria received a call from someone who was very interested in her services. She was referred to Maria by an attendee at the workshop. That referral resulted in another immediate project for $475.
That same new client secured Maria's services two more times that year for a total of $1500.
By following up a number of additional times with the original attendees, Maria was able to convert another attendee into a client.
There would be more referrals to come from these new clients.
Within 8 months of the inital free workshop and a one-time $25 investment, Maria received over $4,000 in organizing project fees.
Of course, over the next year or two, repeat sales and additional referrals increased that amount substantially.
This was just one of the marketing techniques that Maria used to grow her organizing business.
It is a powerful technique that you can apply to your business as well.
Notice that she didn't spend a penny on advertising.
Instead she 'gave people what they wanted,' and they responded.
You will always have much more success by using the 'Give to Get' approach to overcome resistance.
Generating a high income from your business doesn't have to be difficult. If you follow the step-by-step instructions from people who have already succeeded in doing it, it can actually be quite easy.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Customer Service in the New Economy
By: Joe Kiefer
Has the recession had the same effect on customer service levels as it has on home values and the stock market? Prior to the recession I had come to expect a certain degree of aggravation every time I had to call my phone company, cable provider and pretty much any financial institution. Purely based on casual conversations at the time, I would assume that my frustrations were shared by the majority of their customers. Outside of those specific companies, however, I came to believe that most companies were putting a good deal of effort into a good customer service experience.
The customer experience, after all, is a key to maximizing the lifetime value of a customer. There is no quicker way to lose customers for life than to provide them with an unsatisfactory experience. And let’s not forget about the lost dollars from all the potential customers they will tell about the poor experience you provided. On the other side, if you give them an exceptional experience you will be rewarded with higher repeat visits and the most priceless marketing method of them all, Word of Mouth.
All companies obviously had to cut back over the last 18 months, but I would argue that customer service should be decreased only out of necessity. Recession or not, customers lost will probably never come back and you will never get a second chance to make a first impression on a new customer. It could take decades to fix a couple of years worth of poor customer experiences.
I don’t want to point my finger at all companies, but I have personally witnessed a noticeable decline in customer service from companies I do business with. I could share stories about airlines, restaurants, hotels and even a golf course. I am not here to name names, although I am tempted in some of these cases.
I would like to point out, however, that the competitors to these companies have a chance to steal customers and market share. Now is the time to increase your customer service and gain customers that will stay with you for years to come. Don’t be short sighted and risk your future success for a small savings now.
Has the recession had the same effect on customer service levels as it has on home values and the stock market? Prior to the recession I had come to expect a certain degree of aggravation every time I had to call my phone company, cable provider and pretty much any financial institution. Purely based on casual conversations at the time, I would assume that my frustrations were shared by the majority of their customers. Outside of those specific companies, however, I came to believe that most companies were putting a good deal of effort into a good customer service experience.
The customer experience, after all, is a key to maximizing the lifetime value of a customer. There is no quicker way to lose customers for life than to provide them with an unsatisfactory experience. And let’s not forget about the lost dollars from all the potential customers they will tell about the poor experience you provided. On the other side, if you give them an exceptional experience you will be rewarded with higher repeat visits and the most priceless marketing method of them all, Word of Mouth.
All companies obviously had to cut back over the last 18 months, but I would argue that customer service should be decreased only out of necessity. Recession or not, customers lost will probably never come back and you will never get a second chance to make a first impression on a new customer. It could take decades to fix a couple of years worth of poor customer experiences.
I don’t want to point my finger at all companies, but I have personally witnessed a noticeable decline in customer service from companies I do business with. I could share stories about airlines, restaurants, hotels and even a golf course. I am not here to name names, although I am tempted in some of these cases.
I would like to point out, however, that the competitors to these companies have a chance to steal customers and market share. Now is the time to increase your customer service and gain customers that will stay with you for years to come. Don’t be short sighted and risk your future success for a small savings now.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
7 Time-Management Strategies For Social Networking
By: Jessica Swanson
Shoestring Marketing
One of the most common problems for small business owners is managing their time when using social media marketing platforms.
Many individuals feel that free marketing, specifically social media marketing (Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, etc), is too time-consuming and overwhelming.
Small business owners aren't sure what to focus on, where to spend their time and how to balance all of their varying marketing platforms. As a result, many individuals end up spending hours and hours every day marketing their small business.
It certainly doesn't need to be this way. Of course, free marketing is going to take some time and energy every day but, it should only take you one hour/day if you work smart and strategically.
Here are 7 time management strategies to help you work smarter, as opposed to harder.
1) Narrow Your Focus
There are hundreds of free marketing platforms to choose from. You can't possibly market on all of them. My rule of thumb is to pick five free platforms and focus your marketing efforts there.
You'll never succeed if you try to conquer too much. Remember, you don't want to be a "Jack of all Trades, Master of None!" You want to master a few marketing strategies well.
2) Spend Time Each Day on "Creation" and "Maintenance"
Every day you should "create" new information. This can be accomplished by writing an article, shooting a video, creating a group (FaceBook, LinkedIn), etc. The new information that you create doesn't have to be long and time-consuming. For instance, you can shoot a 3-minute video and upload it to YouTube all under fifteen minutes time.
In addition to creating information, you should spend time each day maintaining your sites. This can be accomplished by making MySpace friend requests, writing on Facebook walls, adding LinkedIn connections, posting to Twitter, etc.
If you divide your time between creating information and maintenance, you will be working smarter.
3) Set an allotted amount of time for marketing each day.
You want to approach your marketing with a plan. And that includes a plan for how much time you will devote each day to marketing your business.
If you simply "start marketing" without any sense of how much time you will devote, you'll be extremely non-productive.
I generally recommend spending 1-2 hours every day actively marketing your business.
However, you also do not want to spend more time than necessary on marketing. If you log into Facebook and begin "to market" without a plan of action, you might still be there six hours later. So, decide how much time you will spend on marketing and stick to it.
4) Use a Timer
Using a timer might sound silly, but it's certainly a trick that I have always relied on. When I am writing an article, I set my timer for 30 minutes. I give myself exactly 30 minutes to write my article. If I don't finish, then I will have to finish tomorrow.
You'd be surprised how much more efficient you are when there is a timer clicking away in the background.
5) Connect Your Accounts
Make sure that you connect all of your social media and information accounts that you can connect.
As an example, you can add your Twitter account to your article distribution accounts (Ideamarketers, Ezineartices, etc). Then, whenever you publish an article, your Twitter account will be automatically updated with your newest article.
Again, you can add Twitter to your FaceBook account, so that your "Twitters" appear on your FaceBook profile. Take some time to investigate all the ways that you can integrate and connect your accounts together. This will save you valuable time in the long-run.
6) Recycle Your Efforts
Whenever I write an article, I reuse it in many different ways. Here is an example:
Imagine that I write an article titled, "7 Ways To Market On FaceBook." Then I publish that article in multiple article directories.
However, it doesn't stop there. Next, I post that same article to my blog. After that I use the basic concept from my article for a YouTube video. After that, I Twitter about that concept as well.
The point is that when I have a new idea, I reuse that concept as many times as possible.
7) Track What Works and Focus Your Efforts There
You'll soon find that when it comes to free marketing and social networking that it's often difficult to accurately track your marketing statistics. For instance, when using PPC (pay-per-click) it is simple to add a code to your website and find out exactly how many people are visiting your website, opting into your form and making purchases.
This isn't as simple when it comes to social marketing.
However, there are activities that you will notice add to your business success and activities that don't do a thing for your business.
As an example, I found that managing all the "application requests" from FaceBook was becoming quite a chore. So, I decided that I just couldn't take the time to respond to every Christmas ornament, Starfish, etc. that I received. I had to begin to "ignore" those application requests.
You'll need to make the same decisions.
Remember, free marketing works. In fact, I truly believe that free marketing often works better than paid marketing.
However, if you're going to optimize your free marketing plan, then make sure to implement these seven tips to help you effectively manage your time and energy.
Shoestring Marketing
One of the most common problems for small business owners is managing their time when using social media marketing platforms.
Many individuals feel that free marketing, specifically social media marketing (Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, etc), is too time-consuming and overwhelming.
Small business owners aren't sure what to focus on, where to spend their time and how to balance all of their varying marketing platforms. As a result, many individuals end up spending hours and hours every day marketing their small business.
It certainly doesn't need to be this way. Of course, free marketing is going to take some time and energy every day but, it should only take you one hour/day if you work smart and strategically.
Here are 7 time management strategies to help you work smarter, as opposed to harder.
1) Narrow Your Focus
There are hundreds of free marketing platforms to choose from. You can't possibly market on all of them. My rule of thumb is to pick five free platforms and focus your marketing efforts there.
You'll never succeed if you try to conquer too much. Remember, you don't want to be a "Jack of all Trades, Master of None!" You want to master a few marketing strategies well.
2) Spend Time Each Day on "Creation" and "Maintenance"
Every day you should "create" new information. This can be accomplished by writing an article, shooting a video, creating a group (FaceBook, LinkedIn), etc. The new information that you create doesn't have to be long and time-consuming. For instance, you can shoot a 3-minute video and upload it to YouTube all under fifteen minutes time.
In addition to creating information, you should spend time each day maintaining your sites. This can be accomplished by making MySpace friend requests, writing on Facebook walls, adding LinkedIn connections, posting to Twitter, etc.
If you divide your time between creating information and maintenance, you will be working smarter.
3) Set an allotted amount of time for marketing each day.
You want to approach your marketing with a plan. And that includes a plan for how much time you will devote each day to marketing your business.
If you simply "start marketing" without any sense of how much time you will devote, you'll be extremely non-productive.
I generally recommend spending 1-2 hours every day actively marketing your business.
However, you also do not want to spend more time than necessary on marketing. If you log into Facebook and begin "to market" without a plan of action, you might still be there six hours later. So, decide how much time you will spend on marketing and stick to it.
4) Use a Timer
Using a timer might sound silly, but it's certainly a trick that I have always relied on. When I am writing an article, I set my timer for 30 minutes. I give myself exactly 30 minutes to write my article. If I don't finish, then I will have to finish tomorrow.
You'd be surprised how much more efficient you are when there is a timer clicking away in the background.
5) Connect Your Accounts
Make sure that you connect all of your social media and information accounts that you can connect.
As an example, you can add your Twitter account to your article distribution accounts (Ideamarketers, Ezineartices, etc). Then, whenever you publish an article, your Twitter account will be automatically updated with your newest article.
Again, you can add Twitter to your FaceBook account, so that your "Twitters" appear on your FaceBook profile. Take some time to investigate all the ways that you can integrate and connect your accounts together. This will save you valuable time in the long-run.
6) Recycle Your Efforts
Whenever I write an article, I reuse it in many different ways. Here is an example:
Imagine that I write an article titled, "7 Ways To Market On FaceBook." Then I publish that article in multiple article directories.
However, it doesn't stop there. Next, I post that same article to my blog. After that I use the basic concept from my article for a YouTube video. After that, I Twitter about that concept as well.
The point is that when I have a new idea, I reuse that concept as many times as possible.
7) Track What Works and Focus Your Efforts There
You'll soon find that when it comes to free marketing and social networking that it's often difficult to accurately track your marketing statistics. For instance, when using PPC (pay-per-click) it is simple to add a code to your website and find out exactly how many people are visiting your website, opting into your form and making purchases.
This isn't as simple when it comes to social marketing.
However, there are activities that you will notice add to your business success and activities that don't do a thing for your business.
As an example, I found that managing all the "application requests" from FaceBook was becoming quite a chore. So, I decided that I just couldn't take the time to respond to every Christmas ornament, Starfish, etc. that I received. I had to begin to "ignore" those application requests.
You'll need to make the same decisions.
Remember, free marketing works. In fact, I truly believe that free marketing often works better than paid marketing.
However, if you're going to optimize your free marketing plan, then make sure to implement these seven tips to help you effectively manage your time and energy.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Eliminating The Three Major Obtacles Between You and Your Prospects
By: Joe Gracia
Give to Get Marketing
Obstacle One: Confusion
Your prospects are often confused about what they should do about their problem.
They may not be sure about what solutions are available, and which solution would be the best for them.
They are also confused about which companies provide these solutions and which company would provide them with the best solution, best service and best price.
To Eliminate Confusion . . .
You can help to eliminate your prospects' confusion by being one of the few company's that provides free, helpful information about their problem and possible solutions.
Of course, you would also include information about your products and services too.
Since few businesses go out of their way to help their prospects or customers eliminate their confusion, your business would stand out from the crowd.
Obstacle Two: Skepticism
With all the exaggeration and distortion of facts in the media today, it's natural for consumers to be skeptical of many marketing claims and promises.
Will the product really do what it says? Will I get what I pay for? Will it be worth the price? Will the company stand behind its products and services?
When prospects are skeptical . . . they don't buy. How can you be sure your prospects will not be skeptical of your promises?
To Eliminate Skepticism . . .
Make sure that you stand behind your products, services and promises 100%.
Do everything you can to let your prospects and customers know that you are an honest and ethical company to do business with.
A strong, money-back guarantee on your products and services will go a long way in gaining your prospects' trust.
Obstacle Three: Fear
What are your prospects afraid of? Same things you are when it comes to buying products and services.
They're afraid of sales pressure.
They're afraid they may look dumb, if they don't understand.
They're afraid of making the wrong decision--a decision that may cost them a fortune in lost time and money.
To Eliminate Fear . . .
Let them know up front that there will be absolutely no sales pressure.
Let them know that there will be no obligation.
Let them know that you will help them to understand your product or service in easy to grasp terms. No jargon.
Let them know that you are here to provide the information they need to help them solve their problem.
Replace the Three Obstacles . . .
Your prospects will buy from you if you can replace each of the three obstacles with the following . . .
Replace Confusion with . . . Certainty.
Replace Skepticism with . . . Trust.
Replace Fear with . . . Confidence.
Give to Get Marketing
Obstacle One: Confusion
Your prospects are often confused about what they should do about their problem.
They may not be sure about what solutions are available, and which solution would be the best for them.
They are also confused about which companies provide these solutions and which company would provide them with the best solution, best service and best price.
To Eliminate Confusion . . .
You can help to eliminate your prospects' confusion by being one of the few company's that provides free, helpful information about their problem and possible solutions.
Of course, you would also include information about your products and services too.
Since few businesses go out of their way to help their prospects or customers eliminate their confusion, your business would stand out from the crowd.
Obstacle Two: Skepticism
With all the exaggeration and distortion of facts in the media today, it's natural for consumers to be skeptical of many marketing claims and promises.
Will the product really do what it says? Will I get what I pay for? Will it be worth the price? Will the company stand behind its products and services?
When prospects are skeptical . . . they don't buy. How can you be sure your prospects will not be skeptical of your promises?
To Eliminate Skepticism . . .
Make sure that you stand behind your products, services and promises 100%.
Do everything you can to let your prospects and customers know that you are an honest and ethical company to do business with.
A strong, money-back guarantee on your products and services will go a long way in gaining your prospects' trust.
Obstacle Three: Fear
What are your prospects afraid of? Same things you are when it comes to buying products and services.
They're afraid of sales pressure.
They're afraid they may look dumb, if they don't understand.
They're afraid of making the wrong decision--a decision that may cost them a fortune in lost time and money.
To Eliminate Fear . . .
Let them know up front that there will be absolutely no sales pressure.
Let them know that there will be no obligation.
Let them know that you will help them to understand your product or service in easy to grasp terms. No jargon.
Let them know that you are here to provide the information they need to help them solve their problem.
Replace the Three Obstacles . . .
Your prospects will buy from you if you can replace each of the three obstacles with the following . . .
Replace Confusion with . . . Certainty.
Replace Skepticism with . . . Trust.
Replace Fear with . . . Confidence.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Transactional Email: Have You Considered the Opportunities?
By: Mia Papanicolaou
Striata
When it comes to email marketing we often overlook some of the less-obvious touch points because we are so focused on the bigger campaigns.
We compile brilliant email newsletters, to which we dedicate substantial amounts of time and energy, ensuring that the branding is exciting, consistent and aligned with the CI, while still providing relevant content. It goes without saying that we want our customer communication to be fantastic.
You are however probably unaware that some of your email communication to customers is poorly structured, almost never updated and usually not tracked at all.
Consider the following very important question: when was the last time you gave any serious consideration to your transactional email strategy?
We define transactional email as that which is automatically generated in response to an action. Examples of such messages are ‘thanks for subscribing' or ‘your details have been updated.'
Transactional email provides fantastic opportunities for you to engage with your customers again, within an environment that is totally acceptable to them. And the word fantastic doesn't overstate it. By applying a great design and accompanying the message with complementary messages -- about new products, upcoming events or special offers-- you create brand new opportunities to connect and sell. Coupled with transactional messaging, that includes tracking, you can also measure your upsell opportunities on these mediums, which could yield better results than traditional marketing mediums.
Examples of transactional email can be found everywhere. Browse a product set at Amazon.co.uk and you will be sent an email detailing specials and other options, based on the product category you were looking at. These emails usually consist of a single line of text, in a simple, text-based email though - when you think about it, that's a massive opportunity lost!
As marketers, we're always looking for great opportunities to extend our brand. How exciting to discover that you may have many unexploited ones in your portfolio right now.
Striata is a global eDocuments, eBilling and eMarketing software application developer and services specialist. Striata's Secure eDocument Delivery and Email Bill Presentment & Payment (EBPP) are solution sets that deliver an enhanced customer experience, rapid reduction in operational costs and quicker payments.
Striata
When it comes to email marketing we often overlook some of the less-obvious touch points because we are so focused on the bigger campaigns.
We compile brilliant email newsletters, to which we dedicate substantial amounts of time and energy, ensuring that the branding is exciting, consistent and aligned with the CI, while still providing relevant content. It goes without saying that we want our customer communication to be fantastic.
You are however probably unaware that some of your email communication to customers is poorly structured, almost never updated and usually not tracked at all.
Consider the following very important question: when was the last time you gave any serious consideration to your transactional email strategy?
We define transactional email as that which is automatically generated in response to an action. Examples of such messages are ‘thanks for subscribing' or ‘your details have been updated.'
Transactional email provides fantastic opportunities for you to engage with your customers again, within an environment that is totally acceptable to them. And the word fantastic doesn't overstate it. By applying a great design and accompanying the message with complementary messages -- about new products, upcoming events or special offers-- you create brand new opportunities to connect and sell. Coupled with transactional messaging, that includes tracking, you can also measure your upsell opportunities on these mediums, which could yield better results than traditional marketing mediums.
Examples of transactional email can be found everywhere. Browse a product set at Amazon.co.uk and you will be sent an email detailing specials and other options, based on the product category you were looking at. These emails usually consist of a single line of text, in a simple, text-based email though - when you think about it, that's a massive opportunity lost!
As marketers, we're always looking for great opportunities to extend our brand. How exciting to discover that you may have many unexploited ones in your portfolio right now.
Striata is a global eDocuments, eBilling and eMarketing software application developer and services specialist. Striata's Secure eDocument Delivery and Email Bill Presentment & Payment (EBPP) are solution sets that deliver an enhanced customer experience, rapid reduction in operational costs and quicker payments.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Newsletter Advertising - 3 Simple Tips to Successful Ezine Advertising
By: Ladan Lashkari
Free Newsletter Ideas
There are many powerful ways to get targeted traffic to your website and ezine advertising is on the top of that list. What follows are a few tips to help you boost the results of your ezine advertising efforts.
Tip #1 - Before you do any type of ezine advertising, you should always subscribe to the list first. This way you can do some research such as find out how many ads if any are in each email, how many times they send out during the week, how many subscribers are on the list and the price of advertising in the ezine.
Tip #2 - You should try and place ezine advertising in publications that contain only two or three ads maximum per issue.
Always start off any ezine advertising with the most affordable spot first. If you get good results, then you can go for the higher priced advertising once the ezine has proven itself. By the way, you can get a great up to date listing of thousands of ezines at "directoryofezines.com".
Tip #3 - Make sure that you never try and sell directly from your ezine advertising. Your ads should have one purpose and that is to capture the name and email address of as many visitors as possible.
To accomplish this, you should offer a free report in your ads, then have the traffic go to a short web page where they can sign up to get the freebie. This way you are building your opt in list and will be able to your results by one thousand percent or more.
One other thing you should also do is set a comfortable monthly ezine advertising budget. Make sure you are getting a good return on your investment before sinking a ton of your hard earned cash into ezine advertising that doesn't provide you the desired results.
Free Newsletter Ideas
There are many powerful ways to get targeted traffic to your website and ezine advertising is on the top of that list. What follows are a few tips to help you boost the results of your ezine advertising efforts.
Tip #1 - Before you do any type of ezine advertising, you should always subscribe to the list first. This way you can do some research such as find out how many ads if any are in each email, how many times they send out during the week, how many subscribers are on the list and the price of advertising in the ezine.
Tip #2 - You should try and place ezine advertising in publications that contain only two or three ads maximum per issue.
Always start off any ezine advertising with the most affordable spot first. If you get good results, then you can go for the higher priced advertising once the ezine has proven itself. By the way, you can get a great up to date listing of thousands of ezines at "directoryofezines.com".
Tip #3 - Make sure that you never try and sell directly from your ezine advertising. Your ads should have one purpose and that is to capture the name and email address of as many visitors as possible.
To accomplish this, you should offer a free report in your ads, then have the traffic go to a short web page where they can sign up to get the freebie. This way you are building your opt in list and will be able to your results by one thousand percent or more.
One other thing you should also do is set a comfortable monthly ezine advertising budget. Make sure you are getting a good return on your investment before sinking a ton of your hard earned cash into ezine advertising that doesn't provide you the desired results.
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