Avoiding Marketing Money Pits

Is your business bombarded by sales and other marketing professionals telling you that the products or services they are offering are in the best interest of effective and cost reducing methods to market your organization? Finding your way through the maze of offers, opportunities and avoiding potential money pits highlights the importance for all businesses regardless of size to have a strategic marketing plan that is implemented and followed.

It is a tough market place for any small business and information is the key to making wise marketing decisions and for the survival of any business or organization. The relevance of a strategic marketing plan can not be under stated. It is unfortunate but all to common that people under the disguise of professionals in marketing and sales will boast their products and services as the most effective and cost reducing methods to market your business. Additionally, by writing articles or giving lectures for example, they attempt to give their claims a form of legitimacy. Beware of people making extraordinary claims, a true professional wants to sell you their product or service but also retains the integrity to learn your business and knows when the product or service is not a good fit. The benefit for this type of sales or marketing professional is your loyalty and trust in future business transactions.

A strategic marketing plan helps a business to avoid potential money pits that waste valuable marketing dollars in expenditures that may appear to cost less but have minimal or no measurable results. Simply because something may cost less and other businesses are participating does not make it a solid marketing decision for your organization and certainly does not guarantee successful results. Regardless of the ticket price if it does not produce measurable results and drive business to your establishment it is a money pit.

There are many good examples on the internet of people under the disguise of professionals boasting their products or services as sound marketing advice. One of these claims is that a business could inexpensively build brand recognition through the purchase of low cost promotional items with the organizations name or logo embossed on them; items such as pens, tablets, calendars, magnets, and much more. The problem is that this technique offers minimal to no measurable success in brand building, but more importantly does nothing to draw new customers into the business.

In terms of simple math, if an advertising business were to spend the same money that would be spent on embossed promotional items in traditional media channels such as print, radio, or television for example with an expected 2% rate of return and a minimal exposure of 12,000 individuals gives the advertising business the opportunity for 240 customers for that expenditure. If only 30% of the 2% actually make a purchase that provides the business with 72 new transactions. A business can multiply its average transaction price by 72 to see the real potential income from this one marketing expenditure. Another benefit is brand awareness that would be gained through the advertisement and the opportunity to build customers for life. Furthermore, to entice repeat business and brand loyalty the organization can offer its customers coupons. This method promotes customer appreciation and can be a low cost marketing method.

Moreover, with any marketing expenditure a business should always perform a cost benefit analysis in correlation with its strategic marketing plan. Simply, if it does not offer measurable results, drive new business, and build brand awareness it is a money pit.

Add Internet Marketing To Your Marketing Mix

The importance of internet marketing is continuing to expand. Surveys of all kinds show a major shift in traditional marketing budgets to dollars being spent online to market all types of products and services.

Internet Marketing Defined.
Internet marketing is the use of the Internet to advertise and sell products and services. Within the definition of Internet Marketing you will find mention of pay per click advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing, search engine marketing (including search engine optimization), blog marketing, and article marketing. Each of these subject areas is important to consider prior to planning your internet marketing strategy.

Internet Marketing Provides Many Benefits.
There are many advantages to having a fully executable internet marketing strategy. These benefits include measurability, flexibility, and affordability. Many online marketing tactics provide marketing professionals with the ability to customer acquisition costs. Moreover, marketing professionals are better able to track what marketing campaigns are working and quickly allocate their spending towards higher producing media placements.

Internet Marketing Tactics.
As the Internet has expanded, so have the opportunities for marketing online. Here we will take a brief look at each type of Internet marketing and explain the benefits of each.

1.    Pay-per-click Advertising. Sites like Google offer pay-per-click advertising for anyone interested in getting their message in front of the right segment or prospective buyer. This method is highly targeted and offers one of the best and most popular forms of internet marketing. Marketers using pay-per-click advertising only pay a fee, based on the competitiveness of a keyword or ad title, when a link is clicked on.

2.    Banner Ads. Once the king of Internet marketing, online banner ads have evolved to include animated and flash banners, but the premise remains largely the same. Marketers purchase a specified number of impressions to run on a single site or network of sites and are generally not guaranteed a specific number of clicks.

3.    Email Marketing. Effective among current clients and prospects who have requested information form your company, email marketing is a well established means to communicate and marketing your products. However, be aware of CAN-SPAM requirements and contact preferences of those you plan to reach.

4.    Search Engine Marketing. If you want web browsers to visit your site, than focusing on search engine optimization and search engine marketing is a must. No Internet marketing plan is complete without ensuring that your site is submitted and included on major directories like Google, Yahoo!, and DMOZ. The dollars spent on Search Engine Marketing of any type will pay huge dividends.

5.    Blog Marketing. Getting mention of your site or information related to your products can quickly scale if you are able to effectively tap into the countless blogs that are being created everyday. It is essential that you focus your efforts on blogs covering topics relevant to your product or service offering.

6.    Article Marketing. One of the most important aspects of Internet Marketing, is to improve the link popularity to your site and improve the awareness of your product or service offering. To do so, many companies are focusing on publishing valuable content and making available for other to post to their website’s.

Regardless of the Internet marketing tactics you choose, be sure to consider an integrated marketing strategy. Be sure that your internet marketing has a specific goal and is supported with a definitive plan and budget. Lastly, be sure to pick up a book, conduct some research, or work with professionals to enhance your Internet marketing know-how.

9 Marketing Credos for a Thriving Business

1. Differentiate or Die! You Must Stand Out From the Pack. DonТt become another Уme tooФ option for your prospects to choose from. When you allow this to happen, you position yourself to compete only on price Ц a tough arena to play in.

2. You Are in Two Businesses... The Business of DELIVERING Your Products and Services AND The Business of MARKETING Them. You're better off being a GREAT marketer and have adequate ability at what your business delivers than have great ability at what your business delivers and be an average marketer.

3. Know Thy Target Audience! Who exactly is your ideal customer? What do they look like? Where do they hang out? What is their decision making process? Keep drilling down until you are crystal clear and can visualize them in your head. Then focus your marketing efforts directly at them.

4. The Internet is Simply Another Medium to Reach Your Target Audience Ц DonТt Be Intimidated by it! You do not need to be a computer expert to market your business online. Nor do you need to go it alone. Help is all around us, we just have to ask for it.

5. Consistency Is Key! This is where the old clichщ УOut of sight out of mindФ really holds true. You must have consistency in the look, feel and frequency of delivery of your marketing efforts. This builds a level of comfort between you and your prospects and helps you maintain Уtop of mindФ presence with them.

6. Apply the Rule of Five to Your Marketing Efforts Every Day. Commit to doing at least 5 things per day to market your business and see your business soar!

7. Have a Plan! Know the 5 WТs Ц Who, What, When Where, and Why of every marketing initiative you take. Add to that a financial forecast for your marketing efforts and you are golden!

8. Diversify Your Efforts! DonТt put all your marketing eggs in one basket. Have multiple marketing tactics going at all times so that you always have a bread-winning marketing tactic.

9. Tap Into Viral Marketing! Get others promoting and selling for you.

7 Key Principles of Relationship Marketing to Attract Customers and Get Them to Stay on Your Life

Most of business owners fail to effectively attract and retain lifetime customers. What they fail to realize is the key principles of relationship marketing, that converts potential customers into repeat clients.

To succeed in your business, your main goal should be to build a responsive email list of lifetime customers from your targeted market who trust you, feel grateful to you and value your recommendation.

A good relationship with loyal customers is worth a fortune. That's the most valuable thing any business can have. The key here is to build your large list of lifetime customers who trust you. Achieve this and you're set for life.

For that reason you need to learn the key principles of relationship marketing to be able to apply relationship marketing concepts to your web site.

What’s Relationship Marketing?

Relationship marketing is the method of gradually turning website visitors into subscribers and leads them from position to position along a planned program to convert them into life time customers.

Think of relationship building as the foundation to your business. It establishes you as a professional, trust worthy and a consistent source.

7 Key Principles of Relationship Marketing.

Building relationship online is more difficult when compared to offline relationship building. The techniques used are almost the same. But, turning a potential customer into lifetime customer offline is easier due to the nature of the process. In online marketing you can’t meet your clients in person like in offline marketing. But, you can deliver what you want if you think of your potential clients in each step you make when building your business. Relationship marketing is a process, not just a one-time commitment. It starts the moment you think about building a business and continue as long as you stay in.

1 - Know your potential customers.

Before you start building your business; you need to determine your targeted market and know your potential customers. Learn how to know your customers to develop effective tactics for delivering your message to them.

You can start getting to know your customers by taking some very simple steps.

- Determine in advance where your potential customers congregate.
- What newsletter they read?
- What forums they visit and post to?
- What else might do while surfing the net?

The best places where you find your prospects are forums, discussion groups and discussion boards. Visit forums of your targeted market and figure out:

- What’s your potential customers’ problem?
- What they are looking for?
- What kind of business they are involved in?
- How they want their problem to be solved?
- What words they use?

Only by knowing your customers' wants and needs you can successfully grow your business and be totally customer-oriented. In order to tailor your marketing and advertising strategies to appeal to the tastes and interests of your market, you must first identify your customer.

Relationship is not only based on knowing who your visitors are, but on knowing your customers’ and prospects’ specific needs.

Note: To attract more subscribers and build a strong relationship marketing the easy way use your prospects words. If you feel their pain and use their words when posting to forums, sending message, etc… they’ll be related to you. You will be one of them; you are not a stranger then they will be likely to trust you and consider your recommendation.

2 - Show your expertise.

The majority of business people, never completely and clearly display their knowledge to potential customers. Show to your targeted market you are the leader in your industry and they will follow you.

People like to learn about your experience. They like to follow the expert's steps to avoid mistakes and reach success the easy way with less investment in time and money.

3 - Start a dialog to establish trust.

Set up a continuing dialog to establish trust. Trust is a vital step to building long-time relationship. This dialog should starts as soon as your visitors submit information along with their email addresses. This explains their interest in your business. In return, you give them what promised when they subscribed and keep contacts at periodic intervals by sending quality information to your subscribers.

Your goal is to create long term relationships marketing with your subscribers. To do that you must invest time to gather available sources and high quality information and put it at your prospects’ disposal to help them succeed. Remember, maintaining customer enthusiasm and creating customer loyalty is your key to success.

4 - Follow up

Dialog leads to follow-up. Hook your subscribers with your follow up messages series. Set up a series of follow up messages to send quality information to every new subscriber. Professionalism is the key to successful relationship.

The main purpose of follow up is to remain visible to your subscribers so, when the need arise and your prospect wants to make a purchase, your product will be the first one the subscriber thinks of.

If you want to make good money your mission will not cease at selling your product. Going after one sale is worthless. Following up with your customer after the sale is made is a great tactic. This important step will help you strength your relationship, decrease the refund proclamations and keep your customer baying from you again and a gain.

Keep following up; don’t stop and be creative. Don’t send your customers only sales messages. From time to time send free useful product they don’t find elsewhere that can help them make money and/or save time. Send special offers with discount for loyal customers only. Keep them up to date and to the point with latest news, etc…

5 - Offer good customer service.

Some people will start an online business and only focus on what services or products they can sell to make good money. They are not worried about establishing good relationship with their customers and potential clients.

- Answer your prospects’ requests as soon as you receive them.
- Replay to every email within 24 hours with the needed response whether it is a question, concern or simply someone looking for more information.
- Treat your customers right. Even if you offer the best products or services, most customers will evaluate your business by how they were treated while doing business with you. For that reason, it's important to take care of your customers and give them the best product or service they want.

By providing great customer service to the people you do business with, you will get customers coming back to you again and again to buy your products or services.

Note: If you want to stay in your customers’ minds serve them better. You can do this by collecting information from your customers’ feedback. Having a contacts page on your website with a comments or feedback form will keep you informed about your customers’ wants and problems. If you publish a newsletter, you can also accomplish this by asking for feedback from your subscribers.

This is a great way of making your audience know you care about what they have to say and how important they are to you. When you show interest in your customers you will build credibility and loyalty.

6 - Educate your subscribers.

Put at your customers disposal manuals, frequently asked question (FAQ) web page, articles, etc… to help them learn how to use your product or service perfectly. Educate your subscribers to help them build interest and loyalty for your business.

Lifetime clients want you to be their trusted advisor. The more you educate your customers by offering them a variety of options, the greater your chance to earn their lifetime business. Education strengthens relationship marketing with clients.

7 - Sell or recommend only quality products.

Sell quality products that have value, plus offer a guarantee and stand behind it. One of the quickest ways to destroy a business relationship is selling poor quality products and not standing behind what you promise.

If you want to promote other marketers’ affiliate programs from your website, take the time to investigate the companies you advocate. Promote only products from legitimate companies with solid Internet presence. Remember the companies you suggest will have an impact on your business reputation.

Relationship marketing is the corner stone of every business. If you follow these key principles of relationship marketing, you'll be on your way to building a responsive opt in email list which will lead to more and better sales.

3 High-Impact Fixes For Your Marketing Woes

How many times has your competitor gotten one over on you? The feeling of being left behind just eats away, until you do something about. The problem is that we often feel that we've got to come up with some grand plan in order to get our business skyrocketing again. Don't be fooled! Getting back on top of the market isn't as tough as it seems with these high-impact, easy-to-use fixes.

1. The Magic Number - 1
Implement a "advertise 1 item at a time" motto for your advertising strategy. Does that mean you can't SELL more than one item at a time? No... but wait until AFTER the sale.

When a customer sees more than one of a product offered at unbelievably low prices, he's confused. Which one is the better deal? Which one does he prefer? These questions encourage procrastination - one of marketing's greatest thieves. Instead, offer the consumer a product that compliments his purchase in a nearby display... or even at the register. You'll make extra profits instead of losing a sale.

2. Outsmart Your Competitors
Your competition is looking for you in all of the usual places. Don't go there. Quietly look for new methods of advertising and new markets to target.

Niche markets provide the perfect sneak tactic for reaching new clients. Here's they key... sub-divide your current market into smaller, more specific niche markets. Familiarize yourself with the needs and concerns of the niche, then present yourself as the pro in their corner. Leave your competition in the dust with the intensity of new prospects that will come your way.

Modernize an old marketing technique that still carries a wallop - postcards. Yeah, these small, inexpensive marketing tools still carry a personal message that is quick and easy to read, but with new high-impact colors and designs that capture the attention of readers. Your competition won't even know that you're using them!

3. Encourage Communication
Communication is crucial to understanding your consumers. Encourage questions before the sale, during the sale and after the sale. Make it easy and comfortable.

Provide convenient contact information on all of your sales materials, including Websites. If you find yourself overloaded with questions, create a frequently asked question page where clients can get the answers they need without claiming as much of your time.

Confused customers, tough competitors and communication mishaps won't steal profits from your account when you fix things up with the 3 quick tips.