With more than a decade of experience in marketing, ranking from pay-per-click to direct mail, I’ve seen a lot of failures and far more successes when it comes to marketing.
Today, the art of marketing is far more complex than it once was. However, many of the same basic principles still apply. Too often, professional marketers and small business owners overlook the basic techniques that have separated successful campaigns from those that never turn a profit. Here is my all time list of effective marketing tips.
Know your audience. Successful campaigns get that way because marketers know their audience. They fully understand their needs, how to help meet those needs and how to create demand. Knowing and understanding your audience through proper market segmentation means a well targeted campaign that generates a profitable return.
Focus on the offer. A marketing offer is the driving force of marketing promotions that drive results. In fact, market testing has proven that the offer is the most significant criterion for conversion. Focus on your offer if you want to be successful.
Split test. Never ever run a campaign without testing something. One of the most common is a split test which allows you to simultaneously test two versions of something. It can be a web page, post card, or email. Split testing is essential for improving performance.
Never work alone. The most creative ideas come from working with other creative people. Don’t feel like you need to have all the answers or great ideas. You may start with an idea, but an open dialog with creative individuals will make it better.
Don’t sell on price. I’ve seen so many marketers fail because they sell on price alone. This leads to a discounting war, lower profitability, and often bankruptcy. Rather, focus on creating so much value that the perception of price becomes insignificant.
Consistent messaging. Consider the entire user experience before you launch a campaign. From email to website to offer, is the prospect having a consistent user experience? If they are, your campaigns stand above 98% of others.
Create value after the sale. As marketers, it’s our job to understand our market segment and build relationships, not dump people off at the front door of our store and walk away. Focus as much of your energy on building relationships with customers as you do prospects.
Test. Test. Test. In addition to split testing, you should consider multiple forms of testing in each marketing discipline. For direct mail, test headlines, offers, copy, time of direct mail drop, etc. Consider testing a life long mission.
Integrated Marketing Works Best. You can’t rely on one form of marketing to carry you to success. It’s okay to generate most of your leads or sales through PPC marketing if you will but what happens when that dries out? Use multiple media sources to meet your goals.
Nothing can replace experience. You can run out and hire all of the best consultants in the world, but you still have to do the work. Nothing can replace actual experience. It will make you a stronger marketer and more successful in the long term.
Apply these helpful marketing tips if you want to be truly successful. These techniques and tips are applied by successful marketers on a daily basis. The result is an ever growing success rate of marketing success.
About the Author
Are you looking for marketing tips that will take your marketing to the next level? Visit the marketing tips blog for helpful information, tools, and marketing secrets you won't find anywhere else.
©2009 MarketingScoop.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Watch Out for These Doorstep Scam Artist Tricks
The impending 2010 US Census is just one of several ruses a scam artist might use when he or she knocks at your door. There are plenty more.
From panhandlers begging for money and bogus students selling magazine subscriptions to phony utility workers who want to get into your house or get you outside, these scammers know all the tricks.
Read the entire article here.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
From panhandlers begging for money and bogus students selling magazine subscriptions to phony utility workers who want to get into your house or get you outside, these scammers know all the tricks.
Read the entire article here.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Improve Your Marketing With Social Bookmarks
Generate word of mouth with powerful social marketing tools.
As an Internet marketing professional, I try to keep on top of new marketing avenues and opportunities for leveraging word-of-mouth. In recent years, the method by which individuals get their information has evolved and so have the tools for sharing information from one individual to another. Social bookmarking is now a popular method of communicating among younger audiences and is proving to be an effective marketing tool for increased exposure of products, services, and brands.
Imagine telling your friend about a recent story you just heard. That story could be newsworthy, provide information about a given topic of interest, or perhaps an online video you watched that had you rolling around in laughter. Once you communicated that to your friend, he went ahead and sent an email out to 4 of his friends who then forwarded that email to dozens more – and so the story goes.
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. With the help of the Internet, this type of marketing has grown in importance and has been accelerated with the advent of social bookmarks.
Popular bookmarking sites allow users to identify, with just the click of a mouse, online content that they deem worthy of sharing. As more and more individuals identify the same content, it receives a higher priority on social bookmarking sites and continues to grow in importance. Social bookmarking sites are like a multi-level marketer’s dream!
The most popular social bookmarking site is Digg.com which has an Alexa ranking of 98 and boasts more than 8 million monthly visitors. Other popular sites like Technorati (1.4M monthly visitors), and Del.icio.us (1.3M montly visitors) illustrate just how big social bookmarking has become. Taken collectively, these sites are continuing to garner more supporters and changing the way consumers share information they deem valuable.
From a marketing perspective, this creates an opportunity for improving the effectiveness of our marketing practices. Word of mouth has always been an effective means of marketing but has been difficult to initiate and manage. Today, with the help of social bookmarks there is now an easier way to encourage and promote the sharing of your information.
Recently, I added a footer on my blog to encourage users to “share” information they deem valuable. This has created an opportunity for users to interact with content and start the viral marketing effect all online marketers seek. When considering the merits of social bookmarking, there are a few guidelines to consider.
1. Your content needs to provide value or be unique. Social bookmarking doesn’t happen on its own. You need to provide content that’s worth sharing. Whether that content is helpful to someone seeking guidance, unique, funny, or just plain novel, it needs to provide value in order to be shared.
2. Make bookmarking easy. Have you placed the appropriate social bookmark icons on your webpage in a place that’s closely aligned with the content you wish to share? Are the bookmarks easy to identify? Make sure your customers and prospects don’t need to work all that hard in order to share your information.
3. Encourage communication. Don’t just paste some social bookmarking icons on your website, ask for support. Common phrases like, “Share this” or “Bookmark us” are a great way to get the wheels of social media moving.
If you’re not leveraging social bookmarking tools then you’re word-of-mouth campaigns aren’t being optimized. Reach more people, more quickly, by leveraging your website’s visitors, prospect, and customers. Ask them to share your information and create valuable content that encourages viral marketing. Utilizing social bookmarking as a preferred marketing medium can help improve awareness of your products and develop a preference for your brand..
*Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert, search engine optimization specialist, and the President of MarketingScoop.com. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and had appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit MarketingScoop.com for further details and more marketing articles.
As an Internet marketing professional, I try to keep on top of new marketing avenues and opportunities for leveraging word-of-mouth. In recent years, the method by which individuals get their information has evolved and so have the tools for sharing information from one individual to another. Social bookmarking is now a popular method of communicating among younger audiences and is proving to be an effective marketing tool for increased exposure of products, services, and brands.
Imagine telling your friend about a recent story you just heard. That story could be newsworthy, provide information about a given topic of interest, or perhaps an online video you watched that had you rolling around in laughter. Once you communicated that to your friend, he went ahead and sent an email out to 4 of his friends who then forwarded that email to dozens more – and so the story goes.
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. With the help of the Internet, this type of marketing has grown in importance and has been accelerated with the advent of social bookmarks.
Popular bookmarking sites allow users to identify, with just the click of a mouse, online content that they deem worthy of sharing. As more and more individuals identify the same content, it receives a higher priority on social bookmarking sites and continues to grow in importance. Social bookmarking sites are like a multi-level marketer’s dream!
The most popular social bookmarking site is Digg.com which has an Alexa ranking of 98 and boasts more than 8 million monthly visitors. Other popular sites like Technorati (1.4M monthly visitors), and Del.icio.us (1.3M montly visitors) illustrate just how big social bookmarking has become. Taken collectively, these sites are continuing to garner more supporters and changing the way consumers share information they deem valuable.
From a marketing perspective, this creates an opportunity for improving the effectiveness of our marketing practices. Word of mouth has always been an effective means of marketing but has been difficult to initiate and manage. Today, with the help of social bookmarks there is now an easier way to encourage and promote the sharing of your information.
Recently, I added a footer on my blog to encourage users to “share” information they deem valuable. This has created an opportunity for users to interact with content and start the viral marketing effect all online marketers seek. When considering the merits of social bookmarking, there are a few guidelines to consider.
1. Your content needs to provide value or be unique. Social bookmarking doesn’t happen on its own. You need to provide content that’s worth sharing. Whether that content is helpful to someone seeking guidance, unique, funny, or just plain novel, it needs to provide value in order to be shared.
2. Make bookmarking easy. Have you placed the appropriate social bookmark icons on your webpage in a place that’s closely aligned with the content you wish to share? Are the bookmarks easy to identify? Make sure your customers and prospects don’t need to work all that hard in order to share your information.
3. Encourage communication. Don’t just paste some social bookmarking icons on your website, ask for support. Common phrases like, “Share this” or “Bookmark us” are a great way to get the wheels of social media moving.
If you’re not leveraging social bookmarking tools then you’re word-of-mouth campaigns aren’t being optimized. Reach more people, more quickly, by leveraging your website’s visitors, prospect, and customers. Ask them to share your information and create valuable content that encourages viral marketing. Utilizing social bookmarking as a preferred marketing medium can help improve awareness of your products and develop a preference for your brand..
*Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert, search engine optimization specialist, and the President of MarketingScoop.com. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and had appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit MarketingScoop.com for further details and more marketing articles.
Monday, December 21, 2009
20 Smart Steps to Stop Repair Scam Artists from "Fixing" Your Wallet
Whether it's in your home, under the hood of your car or deep in the inner workings of your PC, repair scam risks are lurking in the darkest corners of our property.
And they're every bit as troublesome -- and much more costly -- than the gremlins that got them there in the first place.
A quick dip into the YouTube archive, for instance, turns up videos from recent, separate investigations by TV stations in three countries -- the US, Canada and Britain -- that show computer repair scam merchants at work.
Click Here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
And they're every bit as troublesome -- and much more costly -- than the gremlins that got them there in the first place.
A quick dip into the YouTube archive, for instance, turns up videos from recent, separate investigations by TV stations in three countries -- the US, Canada and Britain -- that show computer repair scam merchants at work.
Click Here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Friday, December 11, 2009
STOP REACTING AND START PRO-ACTING TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS C.J. Hayden, MCC
If you're answering calls, replying to emails and notes, responding to invitations, and receiving referrals and leads, it probably feels like you're taking a lot of action to market your business. But it may be that a good deal of what you're engaged in is actually RE-action.
Waiting to hear from the right prospects is nowhere near as productive as proactively taking steps to seek them out. And a stream of incoming communications can take up time and energy, but doesn't always lead to closed sales.
Consider these suggestions for getting out of reaction mode and becoming more proactive in your marketing.
Reactive: Accept referrals and leads as they happen to come to you.
Proactive: Identify likely referral partners and build relationships with them.
Any sort of networking usually produces leads and referrals, but when they're unsuitable, they just take up your time. An interior designer I know joined a networking group and started receiving referrals from other members. But none of them were appropriate for her high-end business. She not only had to spend time responding to these off-target prospects, she also had to find tactful ways of explaining to her networking buddies that she served only wealthier clients.
Instead of just getting to know more people, make sure they're the right people. Intentionally seek out folks who are in contact with your ideal clients on a regular basis, then let them know how your business can help those clients. Targeted networking will turn into targeted referrals.
Reactive: Accept invitations to networking groups and business meetings as they come to you.
Proactive: Seek out the people, groups, and events most likely to lead to your ideal clients.
Where you meet people will influence who you have a chance to meet. My interior designer acquaintance joined that networking group just because someone invited her; she knew nothing about it before joining. When it turned out to not be a good fit, she got smart and began looking for better places to network.
By asking others with a high-end clientele about their networking habits, she discovered a leads group of professionals serving wealthy clients. The group included a financial planner, personal banker, insurance broker, estate attorney, real estate agent, residential architect, and a landscaper. By joining this group, she was in regular contact with people who not only knew clients in the right income bracket, they also were likely to know exactly when they might need design help.
Reactive: Respond to the prospects you've met or heard from most recently.
Proactive: Follow up consistently with your best prospects.
Especially when you get busy, it's easy to fall into the habit of doing only what's in front of you. People you just met, and calls or emails you've recently received, can consume all your attention. But what about the prospects you met last month, or who you talked to a couple of weeks ago? Instead of using a "last in; first out" approach, prioritize your follow-up.
A client of mine with an executive coaching practice felt like he was drowning in possibilities. Then he decided to concentrate his follow-up efforts on just five companies who met all his criteria: he knew they needed his services, matched his industry experience, and could afford to pay. Instead of being pulled in a dozen directions, his focused follow-up quickly led to a contract.
Reactive: Try out the "flavor of the month" as your new marketing approach.
Proactive: Decide on a practical, realistic marketing plan and employ it consistently.
Being overly reactive isn't always about responding to communications. Sometimes it's about responding to ideas. When someone suggests an exciting new way you might get more clients, it's natural to feel drawn to it. But before reacting to suggestions like these, pause and consider whether this new approach will produce better results than what you already have planned.
What will it cost in time and money to change direction? What momentum or opportunities might you lose by not completing what you've begun? What would you have to let go of in order to make good use of a new approach? If you've already put considerable effort into your existing marketing strategy, why throw it out the window now just because someone suggests another approach "might" be better?
Reactive: Start your day by responding to emails, phone calls, incoming mail, and social networking posts.
Proactive: Begin each day by working on your own highest priority.
This one change in how you spend your time can make a dramatic difference in the results you're able to produce. Instead of beginning your day by seeing who has contacted you; start by deciding who you want to contact. Tackle your marketing outreach or other important marketing projects first thing in the morning, before checking email, voice mail, Facebook, or Twitter. By making marketing the first thing you do, you'll also make sure it gets done.
Remember, whenever you react to others, you are usually helping them achieve their goals. But when you proactively set your own agenda, you are most likely working toward yours.
Copyright © 2009, C.J. Hayden
Read more free articles by C.J. Hayden or subscribe to the GET CLIENTS NOW! E-Letter.
Waiting to hear from the right prospects is nowhere near as productive as proactively taking steps to seek them out. And a stream of incoming communications can take up time and energy, but doesn't always lead to closed sales.
Consider these suggestions for getting out of reaction mode and becoming more proactive in your marketing.
Reactive: Accept referrals and leads as they happen to come to you.
Proactive: Identify likely referral partners and build relationships with them.
Any sort of networking usually produces leads and referrals, but when they're unsuitable, they just take up your time. An interior designer I know joined a networking group and started receiving referrals from other members. But none of them were appropriate for her high-end business. She not only had to spend time responding to these off-target prospects, she also had to find tactful ways of explaining to her networking buddies that she served only wealthier clients.
Instead of just getting to know more people, make sure they're the right people. Intentionally seek out folks who are in contact with your ideal clients on a regular basis, then let them know how your business can help those clients. Targeted networking will turn into targeted referrals.
Reactive: Accept invitations to networking groups and business meetings as they come to you.
Proactive: Seek out the people, groups, and events most likely to lead to your ideal clients.
Where you meet people will influence who you have a chance to meet. My interior designer acquaintance joined that networking group just because someone invited her; she knew nothing about it before joining. When it turned out to not be a good fit, she got smart and began looking for better places to network.
By asking others with a high-end clientele about their networking habits, she discovered a leads group of professionals serving wealthy clients. The group included a financial planner, personal banker, insurance broker, estate attorney, real estate agent, residential architect, and a landscaper. By joining this group, she was in regular contact with people who not only knew clients in the right income bracket, they also were likely to know exactly when they might need design help.
Reactive: Respond to the prospects you've met or heard from most recently.
Proactive: Follow up consistently with your best prospects.
Especially when you get busy, it's easy to fall into the habit of doing only what's in front of you. People you just met, and calls or emails you've recently received, can consume all your attention. But what about the prospects you met last month, or who you talked to a couple of weeks ago? Instead of using a "last in; first out" approach, prioritize your follow-up.
A client of mine with an executive coaching practice felt like he was drowning in possibilities. Then he decided to concentrate his follow-up efforts on just five companies who met all his criteria: he knew they needed his services, matched his industry experience, and could afford to pay. Instead of being pulled in a dozen directions, his focused follow-up quickly led to a contract.
Reactive: Try out the "flavor of the month" as your new marketing approach.
Proactive: Decide on a practical, realistic marketing plan and employ it consistently.
Being overly reactive isn't always about responding to communications. Sometimes it's about responding to ideas. When someone suggests an exciting new way you might get more clients, it's natural to feel drawn to it. But before reacting to suggestions like these, pause and consider whether this new approach will produce better results than what you already have planned.
What will it cost in time and money to change direction? What momentum or opportunities might you lose by not completing what you've begun? What would you have to let go of in order to make good use of a new approach? If you've already put considerable effort into your existing marketing strategy, why throw it out the window now just because someone suggests another approach "might" be better?
Reactive: Start your day by responding to emails, phone calls, incoming mail, and social networking posts.
Proactive: Begin each day by working on your own highest priority.
This one change in how you spend your time can make a dramatic difference in the results you're able to produce. Instead of beginning your day by seeing who has contacted you; start by deciding who you want to contact. Tackle your marketing outreach or other important marketing projects first thing in the morning, before checking email, voice mail, Facebook, or Twitter. By making marketing the first thing you do, you'll also make sure it gets done.
Remember, whenever you react to others, you are usually helping them achieve their goals. But when you proactively set your own agenda, you are most likely working toward yours.
Copyright © 2009, C.J. Hayden
Read more free articles by C.J. Hayden or subscribe to the GET CLIENTS NOW! E-Letter.
7 Tips on How to Use PCs to Protect Yourself Against Scammers
Using the Internet and PC tools to Protect You
The Internet is teeming with sites that claim to help you avoid scams. But you have to be careful because many of those same sites are either out to trick you into thinking you're already a victim or to charge you for services you don't need.
But there are 7 failsafe Internet actions and PC tools you should be using to limit the risk of getting scammed.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
The Internet is teeming with sites that claim to help you avoid scams. But you have to be careful because many of those same sites are either out to trick you into thinking you're already a victim or to charge you for services you don't need.
But there are 7 failsafe Internet actions and PC tools you should be using to limit the risk of getting scammed.
Click here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Thursday, December 3, 2009
10 Celebrity Scam Tricks That Lurk Behind the Names of the Rich and Famous
The celebrity scam, which uses the names of famous people from the worlds of entertainment, sports and politics, is a common way of trying to hoodwink the public.
Mostly, names are used to make the scams seem more believable. If a star's name is attached to a story or product, it must be genuine, mustn't it? Or so the thinking goes...
Many of these tricks also fall into other well known scam categories, like supposed lottery wins, with the tricksters hoping use of a star's name will lower your natural skepticism. Others are less well known.
Click Here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
Mostly, names are used to make the scams seem more believable. If a star's name is attached to a story or product, it must be genuine, mustn't it? Or so the thinking goes...
Many of these tricks also fall into other well known scam categories, like supposed lottery wins, with the tricksters hoping use of a star's name will lower your natural skepticism. Others are less well known.
Click Here to read the full article.
©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
Subscribe free to Internet Scambusters at
http://www.scambusters.org
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