Boost Your Emotional Marketing Potential

Why do people buy your product? If you stack up enough benefits to outweigh the costs of purchasing it, do you automatically close the deal? It doesn't always happen, does it? Consumers are not calculating machines. They are soft, warm, breathing humans with emotions that assign meaning and personal significance to your products.

How do potential customers evaluate your products (or services)? How do they trade off various factors before deciding? How are their emotions involved in the process? Consumers--whether they realize it or not--use up to six categories of emotional criteria when they decide to purchase your product.

Technical criteria

Technical criteria relate to what your product does. Every product performs a function. It may also perform additional functions or have features that make it easier to operate or use. If your type of product has been around for a while, everyone assumes it will perform its basic function. Marketing battles are fought on the ground of extra features and ease of use.

Does your product perform its core function better, faster, or more smoothly than your competitors' products? Have you enriched your product with additional features? Is your product easier to buy and simpler to operate?

Economic/sacrifice criteria

Economic/sacrifice criteria relate to price. Consumers live in an approach/avoidance world. Your product's benefits are in a tug of war with its price and the effort it takes to purchase it. For most consumers, the psychological cost of paying for your product reduces their enjoyment of it. Several emotionally significant factors influence the maximum price you can charge for your product.

How closely does your product relate to the buyer's needs? How unique is your product? Do you charge a "fair" price? Is paying the asking price socially acceptable for your customers?

Legalistic criteria

Consumers are also guided by what others demand or want. Some potential buyers must obey legal requirements and this loss of control may be frustrating. Consumers also feel obliged to consider the needs and desires of others, like their spouse or children.

Does your product help your customer comply with any legal requirements? Can your product be made more appealing to your customer's children or spouse?

Integrative criteria

How does your product or service fit with your potential customer's social group or personal identity? Consumers belong to social groups. They face potential embarrassment if they don't conform. So they constantly try to strike a balance between group membership versus visibility and self-esteem. Any product or service that increases their self-esteem is emotionally satisfying.

Does your product help your customer express their identity? Can your product be described as "upscale" or "exclusive"?

Adaptive criteria

Consumers want to minimize any risk that they will regret their purchase later. The easiest solution is to avoid responsibility completely and trust the advice of others, preferably an expert. Consumers also lower their risk of future regret by imitating the buying habits of others that they assume are "in the know," by looking for guarantees, or by basing their decision on your reputation.

Are you able to offer endorsements from recognized experts? Do you have testimonials from satisfied customers? Do you offer a strong guarantee? Is it possible to offer a free trial or sample?

Intrinsic criteria

Intrinsic criteria relate to your product's basic nature--how much the consumer "likes" your product. Appeal to your customer's senses. How does your product look, feel, taste, smell or sound?

Curiosity is another intrinsic criterion. Consumers are always looking for something new and different. Familiar products are reassuring, but they are also boring. The trick is to not go too far. Every consumer has an optimal level of novelty and complexity that maximizes their curiosity and their desire to satisfy it. If you push beyond the optimal point, they will return to the familiar.

Is your product "refreshing" or "alluring"? How about "enchanting" or "elegant"?

If you focus only on rational behavior, then you choose to ignore enormously powerful emotional forces that ultimately make your customer's final decision. The rational argument should already be won by your product's high quality design. Creative innovation, savvy pricing, and persuasive presentation will win your customer's emotions.

Book Marketing 101

The most common mistake people make when self publishing their books is to ignore marketing until it is too late. As an author, you want your book to be the best in its category. To make it stand out from the rest, you need to market your book carefully and there are a lot of decisions to make right at the start.

Who are you planning to sell your book to? This is the most critical question you need to answer. Before taking any steps to promote your book you should be aware of who your target audience is. ‘Everybody’ is not the correct answer to this question, although it is a common answer. The more focused you are on your target audience the easier it will be for you reach them. After identifying you target audience, you should try to gather as much data about them as you can. The next step should be to outline your goals and objectives, determine your budget and implement your strategies. From there, you can then determine what form your book should take. For example, the size and weight, number of pages, type of cover, etc.

The best selling books are not necessarily the best books so it depends on how it was promoted. It used to be a common wisdom that the only way to become a best selling author was to go through a major publishing house. However, for many years, many bestsellers have actually been self published and self promoted. When deciding whether to self publish your book or not, you should examine the advantages that successful self-publishers seem to have over their not so fortunate counterparts.

Has your book already been published? You want to make sure you are going to market with something new. So make sure to do some research before putting all your effort into selling something that has already been sold. Your title will be critical in capturing your target audience so choose it carefully. Similarly, your cover should catch your target audience's eye. Think of what appeals to that particular demographic.

As writers have a reputation for being sensitive creatures, it should first of all be noted that those who plan to handle the marketing and publicity aspects of their book themselves should shed this image and possess thick hides. While sensitivity is great while writing your book, you have to alter your approach and become practical when it comes to marketing it. You should not take any negatives situations that arise personally and should feel as if all the setbacks are taking you closer to your end goal.

In this age of internet a book that is promoted through the web gains an added advantage over those which are not. Thus, to promote your book online, you should first of all have an exclusive website for it. Here you should display your book’s cover, excerpts, reviews and testimonials on the home page and provide links to distributors that carry your book. Another way to get your book noticed is by including it in a books in print database. Several online bookstores use this database. If you are not building a website for your book then you can use an email promotion campaign for promoting it. First of all, you should send a newsletter to your different email contacts. Inform them about your book and then follow up with a sales letter.

Another way to promote your book online is by creating your own blog. Having a blog has now become one of the most profitable things on the web. On your blog you can add the link to your site and depending on the popularity of your blog it can receive more than one hundred thousand hits a day.

Price is a major consideration in marketing your book. Be aware of your target audience's typical disposable income level. This can make or break successful promotion of your book.

These are some basic tips on how to start thinking about marketing your book. This is an ongoing process and will require constant re-evaluation. Become aware of what works for other authors and incorporate ideas when they make sense. Above all, have fun marketing your book!

Basic Marketing Dope

Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics Ц thatТs true with anything by the way. Here are some tools that are brilliantly simple and with them you really wonТt have to sweat the small stuff.

Hot Dope #1) The more that your potential customers see your name in front of them, the more likely they are to call your number (and not someone elseТs) when they need the services you offer.

Many marketing efforts go unrewarded, not because they were off target but simply because they werenТt given enough of an opportunity to work. Showing your TV commercial one time, running an ad in the newspaper once, or doing one mailing of postcards may not be enough to grab and keep the audienceТs attention.

Get your name out there, do it on a regular basis and people will remember you when they need someone in your line of business. Actually, this particular УHot DopeФ cannot be stressed enough Ц and failure to adhere to it is the #1 reason new businesses fail.

You should also know that taking the time to really see which pieces will generate the response you want will pay off. DonТt just totally give up when a response is low Ц persistence is vital.

Hot dope # 2) Measure your Return On Investment (ROI) in terms of actual MONEY not response rate. An advertising vehicle is working when the MONEY that it brings in has more value than the MONEY and time that is spent on the marketing.

DonТt fall into the trap of becoming discouraged by a small number of callers responding to a large number of pieces. If you spend several hundred dollars to be in the view of a few thousand possible leads, it may only take a few customers responding for you to make enough of a profit for this type of marketing to be valuable. The usefulness of any vehicle can only be determined after the amount of income generated by the promotion has been calculated. If you spend 1/5 of what you generate or generate 5 times what you spend, your campaign was successful.

Hot dope #3) It is much easier to "sell" a prospect once you get them to call or come in to your store. In 2-Step Marketing, step 1 is to get them interested; step 2 is having them speak to a representative to get all the details Ц and get УclosedФ by that representative.

Your design must be eye catching and informative, but donТt try to close the sale by explaining all of the details in one piece of advertising. The details of a business transaction often take many more words to explain than the main concept of what is being sold. For example, if your company offers great prices depending on the quantity purchased, there is no need to list the prices for every quantity that you sell. Simply give examples of two or three different quantities and state somewhere in the advertisement that other discounts are available for other quantities. This will prompt them to call to get the rest of the details once you have gotten their interest.

Marketing can be as simple as 1-2-3 when you know the basics. By no means have I given you all the basics here, but by learning and implementing these 3 marketing fundamentals, you are already on your way to marketing success!

A Great Logo Is A Marketing Must-Have. But Is It Affordable For Small Business?

And is having a logo really that important? My answer to both of these questions is an emphatic YES!

A logo is a graphic or visual representation of your brand. Your brand is your business, product or service and what it stands for. It's whatever you are out in the marketplace selling.

Why do small businesses need a logo?

Why can't they just market using their company name? Logos are expensive, right? Can a small business owner really afford to get a logo? Or at least a good logo? Lots of questions. Some I'm sure you've pondered yourself at one time or another.

I believe ALL businesses should have a logo

You need a graphic element that captures the essence of your business and communicates an idea to your prospects and customers. A mark that can lead the look and feel of all of your marketing materials.

You only have a split second to grab someone's attention

You need to make the most of that time. A good logo mark can communicate a message or intrigue a prospect to want to find out more.

Before you decide you can't afford a good logo

Let me assure you that is absolutely NOT the case. Look, I've been in the ad agency business for 20 years. During that time I've worked with some of the most talented graphic artists and designers in the business. But even I did not turn to them when I needed a logo for my small business. Why? I couldn't. They were simply too expensive for my small business budget. So what did I do? I found a great alternative that's inexpensive, fast and good.

LogoWorks

For $300 to $500 you'll get a variety of logo designs to choose from and you'll have them within just a few days. Plus you'll get several rounds of revisions to make sure you are completely happy with your final mark.

What I like most about Logoworks

They require you to complete a creative direction worksheet that ensures their designs are strategically on target with your brand. This is KEY if you want your logo to be a good representation of your business. If anyone offers to design a logo for you without some form of creative brief or direction worksheet, don't do it!

Attorney Marketing Ц Boosting Revenues With No Added Costs

Attorney marketing can encompass a number of areas. You might have a media campaign; direct mail, educational marketing, PR, Internet or you might focus your legal marketing on building a referral network. Whatever your attorney marketing approaches, you can focus, assure and enhance your positive results with an effective weekly planning meeting and appropriate delegation.

If you start out attorney marketing without any sort of direction or plan, it is also likely you will be wasting money, right? In target shooting it is Уready, aim, and then fire Ц so too with attorney marketing. Well, the trick is to continue this thinking throughout the marketing life of your firm. The need for focused lawyer marketing does not run out like a warranty. The marketplace, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your circumstances change over time and so should your legal marketing stance.

How To Do An Effective Weekly Planning Meeting:

Each week, it is imperative that you sit down with yourself and some paper and get focused on your lawyer marketing. This is your time to think about the practice and where it is going, to consider your mission and goals and what you can do to make them real, and to take a good look at the status of your attorney marketing.

The meeting itself should be scheduled on your calendar as at least a thirty-minute block of time. You should have no interruptions and be able to hold the meeting each Friday towards the end of the day or perhaps early Monday morning. Out of this meeting, you will come up with a fully prioritized to do list as well as a clearer picture of where the practice stands and what you need to do to meet the long term goals of the firm, in your personal life, and in attorney marketing.

How to Make/Prioritize Your Empowering List:

For the first part of your meeting pull out your firm mission and 1, 5, 10-year goals (if you have them Ц if not do make them) and review them. Next put something on your Уweekly to do listФ that will further at least one of your firm one year goals (you can put more of course). Next, put down the items of all types that must (or it would be best if completed) get done during the upcoming week. Now, for each task, you need to rank it using the letters A, B, and C. To do this ranking A = important and must be done by a lawyer; B = less important and does not require a lawyer (although you personally might have to do it); C = not very important and does not require a lawyer (although you personally might have to do it).

Next, among the AТs, rank each item with either a 1, 2, or 3. The items marked with a 1 must be done within two days. The items marked with a 2 must be done in three to five days, and the items marked with a 3 can wait until next week if necessary. Do the same with the Bs and Cs.

For example, if you have some attorney marketing task that needs to be done by Monday, then you would mark it an A1. If you have a client that needs specific information from their file by Friday, you would probably mark it a B2 and delegate that to a paralegal. If you have a doctor's appointment on Friday it would also be a C2 since it does not require a lawyer but you need to do it although you could reschedule it if necessary.

Delegating Tasks:

Delegate any tasks that are B or C level of importance if you possibly can. If you canТt delegate it ask yourself why? No staff? Not enough staff? Not trained the staff? Staff not effective? Fix these issues so you can delegate. Create a form to use that you can give to each team member. Include the following information for each task:

╖ TodayТs date
╖ Due date for task
╖ What is to be done
╖ Who is responsible for this task
╖ Why the task is important
╖ How often to report to you on progress or status
╖ Further instructions

The goal here is to stop doing as many B and C tasks as you possibly can. You make your money doing things lawyers do (associate, partner and managing partner lawyer things) not other things. This will free up your time to do more A tasks, and you can attend to important matters like growing your practice through attorney marketing. If you have associates now you can do less technical work and do more legal marketing that is the lifeblood of any practice.

You should always keep your marketing goals in mind as you prioritize your list and delegate tasks. The success of your attorney marketing will grow as the skill and effectiveness of your managerial and entrepreneurial time and skills grow.

Attorney Marketing Ц Boosting Revenues With No Added Cost

Attorney marketing can encompass a number of areas. You might have a media campaign; direct mail, educational marketing, PR, Internet or you might focus your legal marketing on building a referral network. Whatever your attorney marketing approaches, you can focus, assure and enhance your positive results with an effective weekly planning meeting and appropriate delegation.

If you start out attorney marketing without any sort of direction or plan, it is also likely you will be wasting money, right? In target shooting it is Уready, aim, and then fire" Ц so too with attorney marketing. Well, the trick is to continue this thinking throughout the marketing life of your firm. The need for focused lawyer marketing does not run out like a warranty. The marketplace, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your circumstances change over time and so should your legal marketing stance.

How To Do An Effective Weekly Planning Meeting

Each week, it is imperative that you sit down with yourself and some paper and get focused on your lawyer marketing. This is your time to think about the practice and where it is going, to consider your mission and goals and what you can do to make them real, and to take a good look at the status of your attorney marketing.

The meeting itself should be scheduled on your calendar as at least a thirty-minute block of time. You should have no interruptions and be able to hold the meeting each Friday towards the end of the day or perhaps early Monday morning. Out of this meeting, you will come up with a fully prioritized to do list as well as a clearer picture of where the practice stands and what you need to do to meet the long term goals of the firm, in your personal life, and in attorney marketing.

How to Make/Prioritize Your Empowering List

For the first part of your meeting pull out your firm mission and 1, 5, 10-year goals (if you have them Ц if not do make them) and review them. Next put something on your Уweekly to do listФ that will further at least one of your firm one year goals (you can put more of course). Next, put down the items of all types that must (or it would be best if completed) get done during the upcoming week. Now, for each task, you need to rank it using the letters A, B, and C. To do this ranking A = important and must be done by a lawyer; B = less important and does not require a lawyer (although you personally might have to do it); C = not very important and does not require a lawyer (although you personally might have to do it).

Next, among the AТs, rank each item with either a 1, 2, or 3. The items marked with a 1 must be done within two days. The items marked with a 2 must be done in three to five days, and the items marked with a 3 can wait until next week if necessary. Do the same with the Bs and Cs.

For example, if you have some attorney marketing task that needs to be done by Monday, then you would mark it an A1. If you have a client that needs specific information from their file by Friday, you would probably mark it a B2 and delegate that to a paralegal. If you have a doctor's appointment on Friday it would also be a C3 since it does not require a lawyer but you need to do it although you could reschedule it if necessary.

Delegating Tasks

Delegate any tasks that are B or C level of importance if you possibly can. If you canТt delegate it ask yourself why? No staff? Not enough staff? Not trained the staff? Staff not effective? Fix these issues so you can delegate. Create a form to use that you can give to each team member. Include the following information for each task:

    TodayТs date
    Due date for task
        What is to be done
    Who is responsible for this task
    Why the task is important
    How often to report to you on progress or status
    Further instructions

The goal here is to stop doing as many B and C tasks as you possibly can. You make your money doing things lawyers do (associate, partner and managing partner lawyer things) not other things. This will free up your time to do more A tasks, and you can attend to important matters like growing your practice through attorney marketing. If you have associates now you can do less technical work and do more legal marketing that is the lifeblood of any practice.

You should always keep your marketing goals in mind as you prioritize your list and delegate tasks. The success of your attorney marketing will grow as the skill and effectiveness of your managerial and entrepreneurial time and skills grow.

Article Marketing & Free Publicity For Your Website

An increasing number of website and business owners are turning toward a new approach to advertising and, best of all, it’s free. Article marketing, as it is technically known among webmasters, is achieved by translating expertise into a written article and effectively promoting it across the web. This can be achieved by the use of blogs, content directories and direct agreements with webmasters to publish your article in exchange for a link back to your website.

Article marketing is somewhat new in its technique, but is very effective if done properly. Free publicity is achieved as the article circulates more and more across the web. If you post your article to content directories, other webmasters may pick up your article and post it to their website with the only requirement being proper credit for the work. At the end of the article, the author’s name is shown, along with their business name and a direct link to their website. As the work circulates onto new sites, more customers will have the opportunity to read the article. If it is interesting and successfully grabs their attention, they will be likely to visit your site in search of more information.

The key to successful article marketing and free publicity for your website is to possess a certain amount of knowledge about your subject. Your expertise will show through in the work that you do and will entice others to want to read more. By sharing what you know with others, customers will respect you and appreciate your willingness to help. For instance, if you operate a home improvement website, perhaps you would write an article detailing some home improvement tips. Try to avoid the commonly known hints and direct your article toward lesser known tips. If you share the rare information that you know, and it works, customers will be so happy with the new tips that they have learned and your business will be given instant credentials in their mind.

The best part of article marketing is the fact that it is free and it generates free publicity for your website. Once you get a new website up and running, you will still have to find a way to spread the word about your new venture. By enlisting the article marketing technique, you will be saving a lot of money on advertising costs. Print publications and other conventional advertising methods can end up costing a bundle of cash and, since many new businesses struggle just to stay afloat in the beginning, it’s a good idea to save as much as you can.

A final thought about article marketing and free publicity for your website is to make sure that your articles are informative, thought provoking and rich in keywords relating to the topic of your website or service. The articles should reflect your website or service in some way and should always be relevant to the product that you are selling.

An Overview of Network Marketing

The term network marketing has two different meanings. In generally it is a synonym for multi-level marketing and often by mistake considered the same as a pyramid scheme.

The idea of "network marketing" is often used to describe a marketing concept that emphasizes on the inter-connectivity of market players and transactions and can be observed as the application of systems thinking to marketing. According to network marketing premise other marketing schemes see the discipline as constant dyadic relationships such as one buyer and one seller. Network marketing tries to rise above this constraint by looking at transactions and relationships from the perspective of all those concerned.

These outlook initiated in industrial marketing, also called B2B marketing, where multiple contact points are distinctive. It is not rare to have a number of decision makers in a company's "purchasing centre". Likewise, the marketer can be planned into a "selling team". With multiple players on each side of the transaction, a complicated network is created. This paradigm is further intricate by resultant players like information gatekeepers, influencers, business promoters, advertisers, and middleman. This network can expand over time as more people get engaged.

The network-marketing phenomenon considers marketing as a structure of social networks where the associations between each of the links must be tacit, simultaneously counting potential feedback loops; the system must be realized as a whole.

Instead of using the regular distribution course that moves from manufacturer to warehouser to wholesaler to retailer to end customer, Network Marketing companies use a network of self-governing marketers to pass the products directly from the manufacturer to the end customer.

The self-governing marketers bring in a percentage of the profit in each sale they make. While it's possible and highly recommended to make an income by selling to end customers directly, the real clout of Network Marketing is that you are allowed to build a layer of other independent marketers below you, and make a percentage of their combined sales.

There is limited amount of time for a person can spend working. By having a sub layers working with a marketer, he can multiply that time. Imagine having sub layers of 100 people each putting their effort and only an hour a day in five days a week. In one month 20,000 hours of work would be done. It would take one person 10 years to produce the same amount of work.

Affiliate Marketing means take action now

Internet marketing is really possible for anyone to do. The cost of having your own website is about $10 a month, after you buy a domain name for about $15. So, the first month is about $25, then $10 each month thereafter. The only output that is required of you is your time. And that is where most first time affiliate marketers make their biggest mistakes. They do not really appreciate that old, time is money, adage. Most new marketers are hell bent on being able to say that they spend only $10/month and they want to insert $10,000/month as profit. That would be great, of course, and it can happen, but it's going to take a lot longer to do if you don't invest a little bit to get started in the right direction.

    There are $100 guides and tutorials that can get you started in the right direction much faster than if you floundered around forums for months trying a little bit of this and that. This is not an article that attempts to sell you anyone of these things. This article is selling the concept of time is money. Would you rather spend $100 on a set of video tutorials that taught you how to how to make $100/day in a month, or spend $0, and search and search forums for a year before you were able to make $100/day? The answer is pretty clear to me, I would spend the $100 immediately so I could become profitable in a much smaller time frame. However, many people say that they know they can find the information for free on the Internet, and there is no need to spend money on information that can be found for free. And they are told that this mindset is correct by forum owners. Forum owners who stand to profit more when beginners stay searching their threads hopelessly for hours on end.

    The information is probably in these forums somewhere, but it will take you months to piece together everything to become profitable. And the harsh reality is that the most successful marketers don't sit in forums giving away all their best secrets. The only way you get one on one advice and coaching is by paying for it. This is not necessarily a bad thing at all. It saves you tons of time with minimal financial outlay. Time is money, so the sooner you learn the right information, the sooner you will start to profit. Of course, you are going to want to ask around or do your homework about programs that are worth the money. But do this research and just buy something good. Forums will waste your time all day long. No one is going to answer all of the 5,000 questions that must be answered to get started for free. You need to pay for that, but the cost is in the hundreds of dollars, not 10s of thousands or 100s of thousands like a college education. Take action. Just don't sit in forums, it's death.

Affiliate Marketing - The Basics

Imagine that you could earn commissions on a popular brand-name product just by placing a link on your website or in your email. That, my friends, is "Affiliate Marketing"!

OK... So it's not quite that simple, but it doesn't have to be much more complicated either.

Let's start with a few definitions. An advertiser, or merchant, is the company who is selling a product. An affiliate, sometimes referred to as a publisher or partner, is another person or company who assists in the promotion of the product and earns a commission for doing so. (That could be you!) In between is the account management service that partners the advertisers with the affiliates and keeps track of the sales and commissions.

If you want to become an affiliate, you first need to choose either a product you want to sell, or an account management service. You will end up with both, but the choice of one will determine the choice for the other. If you choose the product first, the advertiser will direct you to the account management service that they already work with. If you choose the account management service first, they will provide you with a list of merchants that they do business with.

To see if your favorite product or company offers an affiliate program, go to their website and check the menu bar or the bottom of the screen. Look around for the word "affiliate". Click on that link, read about their program and requirements, and fill out their application. Some companies require specific types of websites to place their links on. They will email you all you need to know to get started.

If you don't know what specific product you would like to promote, or if you want to promote several, I recommend browsing the participating merchants on the account management service's website.

Try to stick to products or ideas that you are familiar with and passionate about. It will be much easier to market to your visitors if you can add value to the link you want them to click on. Personal recommendations or stories will get way better results than just a banner or solo text link. Give them a reason to "click here".

Welcome to the world of Affiliate Marketing! Good luck with your new venture!

Adventures in Xtreme Marketing and Networking

There are some things in life that are sure to happen. Yesterday was March 21, the Spring Equinox. On this day of the year there is a strange phenomenon that occurs. It is the same every year, on this day you can stand an egg on it's end for several hours. Every year for many years, I have been able to count on this as I have amazed people by doing it. It never fails, and it doesn't really work any other time of the year. In fact, later in the day, the egg will fall over after standing for several hours.

It also never fails that a networking or marketing opportunity can present itself when least expected.

On one Saturday, as I drove through downtown Atlanta on my way home from a morning networking function, I passed a downtown hotel that had a line of people around it a city block long. There must have been over five hundred people in line, all dressed in business attire. So I immediately looked for a parking space and rolled out onto the sidewalk to find out what was happening.

It so happened that a very popular television reality show that was on every week called The A--------- was holding auditions in Atlanta. I did not spell out the name because I am not sure about trademark issues.

When I found this out, I went deep into my pocket and pulled out my AtlantaEvent.com pocket billboards (small flyers with info on them). I walked around the corner to the front of the line and began handing out cards to everyone in line. Rather than taking time to network with everyone, I said to them, "This is the number one business site in Atlanta, be sure to check it out."

Halfway down the block, I was accosted by a very large gentleman who advised me that I was not allowed to hand out flyers to the people in line. He was there working with the show (he had a special badge). Now if you consider the types of things that the participants of this show are expected to do, I should in reality be on the next show! But here he was telling me I could not do it.

So being the extreme networker that I am, I went to the back of the line and began to work my way to the front. Each time the hotel security came by I would stop and act like I was waiting in line. As soon as they walked away, I resumed my process.

Now wait a minute. Was what I was doing illegal? NO. I was doing exactly what the people in line were doing, I was handing out my card to people standing in line? Does the hotel own the sidewalk around it? NO. The sidewalks are owned by the city. Was what I was doing risky? Yes, although there was no illegal activity, I could have been physically removed from the area and detained against my will until they decided to let me leave.

Was it worth the risk? YES. The people in that line were my target market. More than 500 people who want to be successful in business and I have just the tool to help them, AtlantaEvent.com.

So what is the point of this article?

The point is that sometimes it is worth taking a risk to achieve our goals. To be safe in all that I do would have deprived me of an opportunity to reach hundreds of prospects and people who can benefit from using the web site.

Are you taking risks in your business to achieve your goals? Do you find yourself doing the safe things? I want to leave you with a quote that I have read and heard frequently recently. I wish I knew who said it so I can reference them, but here it is anyway.

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.

Take some risks and watch your business take off!

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 Small Business Marketing Tips

Here are 7 low-cost but highly effective marketing tips to help any small business find customers and generate sales quickly.

1. Don't Advertise Like a Big Business

Big businesses advertise to create name recognition and future sales. A small business can't afford to do that. Instead, design your advertising to produce sales ...now. One way to accomplish this is to always include an offer in your advertising - and an easy way for prospective customers to respond to it.

2. Offer a Cheaper Version

Some prospective customers are not willing to pay the asking price for your product or service. Others are more interested in paying a low price than in getting the best quality. You can avoid losing sales to many of these customers by offering a smaller or stripped down version of your product or service at a lower price.

3. Offer a Premium Version

Not all customers are looking for a cheap price. Many are willing to pay a higher price to get a premium product or service. You can boost your average size sale and your total revenue by offering a more comprehensive product or service ...or by combining several products or services in a special premium package offer for a higher price.

4. Try Some Unusual Marketing Methods

Look for some unconventional marketing methods your competitors are overlooking. You may discover some highly profitable ways to generate sales and avoid competition. For example, print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. A small ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your website or generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.

5. Trim Your Ads

Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads for the same cost. You may even be surprised to find that some of your short ads generate a better response than their longer versions.

6. Set up Joint Promotions with Other Small Businesses

Contact some non-competing small businesses serving customers in your market. Offer to publicize their products or services to your customers in exchange for their publicizing your services to their customers. This usually produces a large number of sales for a very low cost.

7. Take Advantage of Your Customers

Your customers already know and trust you. It's easier to get more business from them than to get any business from somebody who never bought from you. Take advantage of this by creating some special deals just for your existing customers ...and announce new products and services to them before you announce them to the general market.

Also, convert your customers into publicity agents for your business. Develop an incentive for them to tell associates and friends about the value of your products or services. An endorsement from them is more effective than any amount of advertising - and it is much cheaper.

Each of these 7 marketing tips provides a simple, low-cost way for any small business to find customers and generate sales quickly.

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.

5 Tips On Making Your Business Card A Powerful Marketing Tool

When used effectively business cards can be a great marketing tool. In this article we will discuss 5 of the most effective ways that you can use your business cards everyday.

1. Be Creative.

Be creative in the design of your business cards. Business cards do not just need to be bits of paper with your contact details on them. Be creative and give your business cards a use and purpose. Make them a powerful marketing tool in the promotion of your business.

Your aim is to make your business card something that the receiver will want to keep and make use of. This is the difference between a well thought out and designed business card and a piece of paper with your contact details on it that will probably be thrown into the trash.

Give the recipient of your business cards a special offer. For example if you are a school/training centre you may offer 'first lesson for free with this card' or if you run a shop maybe you will offer '10% of any purchase over $50'.

Whatever your business, there is a creative way to give your business card real value to the receiver. If you can think and implement these new creative ways before your business does, you will have an instant advantage in that area of business, and should definitely see a rise in business if you have promoted you cards correctly.

2. The 1 minute rule

The 1 minute rule basically says, if you talk to a person for longer than 1 minute they should already have one of your business cards in their hand.

This means in conversations you need to find a way to talk about what you do, and be in the position to be able to offer one of your business cards to the person you are talking to in the first minute of conversation. This can be likened to a conversation you may have with someone at the bus stop or on the elevator. The conversation will end in a very short time and you only have a very short time to get your message across, or in this case get your business card to the recipient.

The 1 minute rule is basically just practice to get your business card out there as much as you can. Many people go through all the trouble of ordering business cards just to let them sit in a corner of their office. To use business cards effectively you must be giving them out at every opportunity that you have.

3. Make them keepers

Once you have given your business card to someone what is going to keep it from being thrown in the trash or forgotten about. Unless you are selling necessities it is probably fair to say that most likely they do not need the product/services you are offering at the present moment. Hopefully though in the future will come a time when they are looking for that product/service and that is when your business card still needs to be in the hands of the person.

Why does someone want your business card? If you cannot answer that easily, maybe it is time to think about a new business card design.

Does your business card have valuable information on it? By valuable I mean a map, discount, calendar, measurements, charts or anything relevant to your industry? If it doesn't, you may want to think about adding a value feature to your business card.

4. Leave them everywhere you go

During a number of trips around a number of businesses in my local area I have noticed piles of business cards on the counters of various businesses. For example a recent trip to my accountant I noticed they had a few piles of business cards on the counter for mortgage lenders, home loans, etc.
This can be likened very much to link swapping that goes on with webmasters looking for business referrals from similar businesses.

Every place that you frequent, you should ask if they mind you leaving a stack of you business card there for their customers. You could try this at your doctors office, your dentist, accountant, lawyer, beauty saloon or hairdresser.

For similar businesses (e.g. accountant > lawyer or money lender) maybe you can arrange to have a stack of their business cards displayed at your business when they offer your business cards at theirs. This can be a very effective way to use you business cards and can have great returns.

5. Ask for an opinion

'Do you mind if I ask you a quick question? I'm looking for opinions on my new business card'. After asking the question and bringing the topic up hand them a business card. Make sure that they keep it, even if they try to hand it back to you tell them that you have thousands printed already.

Thank the person for their time, and if they ever need the product or service that you are offer that your contact information is on the business card. Even if that person may not directly contact your business, there is always a chance that they may pass your card or business name onto another party.

Even in the worse case they may go home and tell their friend how a nut just came and talked at the bus stop and handed them a business card for his lawn mowing service. That friend may say, 'I've been looking for a good lawn mower'. 'Here's the business card I got'. And there is a situation where you may still even get business out of handing your business card to a stranger and even a disinterested stranger.

By following just one of the above five ideas each day, you can turn your business card into a great marketing tool, and see an almost instant increases in business.

3 Popular Niche Marketing Misconceptions

Specializing in Niche Markets has never been as crucial as it is today. Long gone are the days when you can target general, broad markets and make money from them.

To make money in today's Internet Marketing environment, one must specialize in well defined niche topics.

Lets examine a few misconceptions when it comes to niche marketing.

Misconception #1: You do not have to be an expert in the Niche field you choose!

Everyone says you should only choose a Niche that you are an expert in...nonsense!

The Internet is so impersonal that you can easily appear as an expert and not know anything about that particular niche topic. The key is to appear as an expert. How? You can outsource, build niche sites with no interaction such as blogs, purchase resale rights to an ebook in a particular niche. You see, you can choose to profit from any niche you like.

Misconception #2: Choose one niche market and stick with it.

Not true! Once you establish yourself in one niche and develop a profitable system, choose another one and run with it. You can even choose a pen name if you like, it's common practice to do so.

Niche marketing is a numbers game. Once you find a profitable niche put it on auto-pilot and choose another niche market to get into.

Misconception #3: The best way to make money in the niche game is to promote niche products as an affiliate.

Wrong again! Sure, becoming an affiliate and promoting niche products can be very profitable, but if you are doing this, you're not maximizing your income.

You need to promote your own landing or squeeze page where you collect the e-mail address of the visitor, and then sending him or her to the niche product you are promoting. You should also send out an e-mail course with informative information pertaining to that particular niche market to gain the visitors trust. Since your subscriber now trusts you, you can recommend products in that niche again and again, knowing your recommendation holds a lot of weight.

Those are three popular misconceptions when it comes to niche marketing. Follow the tips above, and you will be more likely to succeed. Remember, it is important to find a profitable niche, set it up so it is on auto-pilot, then move on to the next niche.

Not all niche markets will be a slam dunk, so don't get discouraged.

Even if one out of ten become really profitable, sit down and smile, you've hit the jackpot.

3 Marketing Tactics That Will Send Your Sales Through The Roof

When the tide comes in, all boats in the harbor go up... the tough part is figuring out how to bring the tide in. Booming economies come and go and bring surges of profit increases, then ebb to leave behind shortages and tough times. Regardless, there are some business that just seem to weather the tough times with grace, not really affected by recessions. It's almost as though they have a secret source... maybe they do... customers.

Hey, customers always buy... in the good times and in the bad times. They still have needs and still make purchases. When you understand their needs and wants, you have the keys to keeping your business afloat when others are grounded. Implement these three tactics successful marketers use, and you're set for success.

1. Just One
Customers can be like a two year old in a candy store... they want it all. Yeah, sometimes it's hard to make up your mind about what you really do want when everything looks so good. That's why it pays to promote one product over the others. It spells out loud and clear... I'M THE BEST DEAL. That will be the deciding factor in most cases.

2. Make Them Feel Good
Customers buy because they want to enjoy the benefits of the purchase. A lady might buy a dress because she wants to feel sexy, or a man will buy a saw because he finds pleasure in creating things. Emotions are the key element that drives purchases.

Use word pictures to stir up the emotions that will instigate the sale. Let them "feel" the benefits, and they'll be more apt to head for the cash register. Put them where you want them.

Selling a riding mower? ... the birds are singing, Easter lilies are blooming and kids are flying kites in the wind... spring has arrived. Yep, it's time to get out that mower and fuel it up for the summer ahead. How many springs have come and gone since you promised yourself a riding mower? ... It's not hard to paint mental pictures that whet their appetite for the product you are advertising.

3. Make Contact
Following up with a customer who didn't buy can be the determining factor between and "almost sale" and a satisfied, loyal customer. Simply contact them afterwards and let them know the product is still available or offer them further information they may find valuable.

Internet marketers can offer free newsletters or reports that consumers find useful and marketers find profitable. Not only do you keep your product in front of the customer on a regular basis, you get email information to stay in contact. Both parties win!

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.

2 Little Words That Work Marketing Magic

In his classic best-seller, How To Win Friends And Influence People, Dale Carnegie's second chapter is entitled The Big Secret of Dealing With People. The secret is summed up in this principle: Give honest and sincere appreciation.

Carnegie said there is only one way to get anybody to do anything -- by making the person want to do it. How can you encourage customers to say good things about you and give you referrals? By giving them what they and all human beings crave: honest and sincere appreciation.

The Two Magic Words

The big secret of dealing with people (or customers) is often overlooked or forgotten. It's simply saying "thank you" consistently, personally and, above all, sincerely. These two words work marketing magic because customers want to feel important.

Saying "thank you" is an act of kindness, besides. But don't say "thank you" for the sake of flattery. It must be sincere. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "You can never say anything but what you are."

"Thank You" Promotes Referrals

The uncertainty of referrals can be disconcerting. Can you control them? No. Can you influence them? Absolutely.

First you must provide a valuable product or service for customers. (You're already doing this, right?) But perhaps you can make an even bigger difference in their minds by your continued interest after you've delivered the product or service.

Each customer has a different level of satisfaction with your products and services. However, all customers to whom you say "thank you" are satisfied that they're important to you. This can determine whether you'll continue a relationship with them and get referrals.

"Thank You" as Direct Mail or E-mail

If you've never used direct mail and are considering it, start a thank-you correspondence program. If you've used direct mail or e-mail but haven't sent thank-you letters or e-mails, start now.

The thank-you letter or e-mail to your customers is targeted (you know them, they know you), personal and effective. It's guaranteed to receive a positive response.

Furthermore, it's a pleasant surprise if it's snail mail. They see your envelope. They think, this must be something for me to review, to sign, or worse a bill. Surprise! They're appreciated; they're important. And you're the one telling them so.

Write a thank-you letter or e-mail at every opportunity. But don't send one with an invoice or other correspondence. Always send it separately.

Writing the Thank-You Letter or E-mail

The thought behind a thank-you letter or e-mail may seem simple, but writing one can be tricky. Here are 9 tips for writing a winning thank-you letter or e-mail:

1. Keep it brief. A half dozen lines (or fewer) are sufficient.

2. Make it sincere. This is crucial. If you aren't careful, it can sound awkward, even when you're trying to be sincere.

3. Start with "thank you." Dear Ms. Johnson (or first name, if appropriate): Thank you for ...

4. Make the tone warm, but professional. Be friendly, but keep it businesslike.

5. Reinforce a positive. Jog their memory of a positive aspect of the relationship.

6. Offer your continued support. If I can help, please call ...

7. End with "thank you." Thanks again for ...

8. Use an appropriate closing. Sincerely, Best regards.

9. No ulterior motive. Make it a pure "thank you," otherwise sincerity is jeopardized.

Remember: Saying "thank you" is part of building strong customer relationships over time. Use these two magic words consistently and watch your repeat business and referrals grow.

20 Power Marketing™ Tips

Use these powerful yet simple tips from the national best-seller, "Secrets of Power Marketing: Promote Brand You" - the first guide to personal marketing for non-marketers.

 Create and grant an annual award.

 Send hand written congratulations and thank you notes.

 Send greeting cards for some occasion other than Christmas.

 Send postcards when you travel and even when you are at home.

 Give a good book to special clients. Always sign it with a positive message.

 Build relationships with the media before you need them.

 Associate with winners - attend awards functions.

 Build and maintain a database of clients, prospects, and key influencers.

 Earn certifications and win awards from your associations - and tell everyone.

 Ask happy customers to write testimonial letters for you.

 Recruit your suppliers as marketing agents. They work for free.

 Join and be active in your chamber of commerce.

 Write tips sheets for your customers.

 Write and send articles to magazines and newspapers.

 Send a news release to the media every three months.

 Do something crazy and newsworthy at least once a year.

 Send photocopies of your news coverage to your clients.

 Build and maintain an informative and interesting web site.

 Sponsor a cause, event, charity or community group.

 Volunteer for your association, charity or community group.