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By Robert Wilkinson

This article is geared towards small and medium enterprises requiring runs of 100,000 pieces or less. The same advice applies to larger runs too, but it's not quite as big an issue. On the larger runs, the high setup costs I mention below are more easily absorbed into the entire costs of the job and may only contribute 10-20% to the job cost. On smaller runs, tooling and setup costs can easily make up over 50% of the cost of envelope production.

Having worked in the direct mail industry for a number of years, I've seen many mistakes made, some avoidable, some not so. I can honestly say that one of the most frequent and most avoidable errors I've seen made is not applying any thought to the envelope until the last minute. A little forward planning in this respect can save a lot of frustration, and ultimately a lot of money. You can also achieve a lot more with envelope design if you have time and some good advice from your friendly envelope manufacturer.

There is a primer on envelope production here, which will give you an indication of why it's a bad idea to leave it until the last minute. In brief though, envelope machines are big! They can take hours to set up, and it's still very much a case of Allen keys and spanners to adjust them. Special sizes can be enormously expensive to produce unless the quantity of envelopes required is very large.

Many disciplines make up a direct mail pack of which envelope production is only one. When compared to other areas, such as copywriting or printing of the inserts, the production of the envelope can seem insignificant. Thinking this way has the potential to be a big mistake.

The envelope may seem insignificant, and in terms of cost, the envelope quite possibly is one of the most insignificant parts of the pack. Realistically though, you can't send the pack without an envelope. Your carefully designed, printed, and copy written pack has very little value until you have an envelope because you can't send it until you have one.

So, when you plan your pack, think about the envelope at the same time and ask yourself a few questions.

Does the size of the pack that you have designed correspond with a slightly larger sized envelope available from a wholesaler? If it does, then good, but you're still not home and dry yet.

If a stock envelope is available, do you need to print it? You almost certainly will if it's a bulk mailing. Overprinting is a cheap option for stock envelopes but is your design suitable to overprint? Some considerations and compromises must be made for overprinting envelopes, and especially for overprinting envelopes in four colors. These are too numerous to mention, but any professional envelope overprinting company will be able to advise on this.

At this stage, you may have established that your envelope design can be overprinted, and that you have a stock envelope easily available. If that's the case, you can rest easy.

You may, have discovered however, that a stock envelope isn't available, or your design isn't suitable to overprint. If that's the case, you need to be thinking about a special making of bespoke envelopes. In this instance, pre-printing your envelopes as flat sheets becomes a possibility and you can also overprint on bespoke envelopes, but the actual making is now a major consideration.

There are two main kinds of envelope production, reel fed and blank (pre-cut envelope shapes) fed. It's unlikely that you will be able to make the envelope from the reel since you have already established that there isn't a stock envelope available, or that you can't overprint. In either of these scenarios, it's likely that you will need to produce an envelope from blanks.

With blank fed production, you need to check for availability of a cutting tool. These are extremely expensive to make, and there can be very long lead times. If you want to avoid the cost of this tooling, then early planning will see you obtaining a list of cutting tools from your envelope supplier, that are close to the size you need. Provided tooling is available, you then need to ensure your envelope is ready in good time.

Again, the simplest advice is to plan. Find yourselves a reliable and knowledgeable envelope producer and ask their advice at the earliest opportunity. If they know their onions, then they will be able to advise how to stay within any budget you may have, artwork specifications to work with, and when you need to think about ordering. Lead times can be surprisingly long in the envelope world, and you don't want to be the unfortunate soul who has to order bespoke envelopes at the last minute. You can bet it will cost you extra to do so.

Robert Wilkinson is the owner of http://www.arhiann.com, a design, print and direct mail company specializing in direct marketing and envelope production for SMEs.

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By Paul Linder

If you are running a business or providing a service, it is most certain that you will be alarmed at the rate, which your competition is growing. Yesterday, it was you and your school chums who were running the online store to sell tattoo designs (or used jeans or whatever) and today you see that two more people have opened up much better stores. Hey, they got all the products you are selling and something more. You are surprised. Tomorrow, it is certain that you will see a few more stores popping-up and you will be, yes, we all know, ALARMED!!

It is time for you to wake up from that comfortable couch and start singing those marketing songs about your business on all the available channels. If you are one among the royal lot, throw those investor backed marketing campaigns to woo your prospective customers. The bottom-fewer purses give you the freedom to experiment and take risks to utilize all media streams for promoting your business. However, if you are serious about each dollar that goes out of your wallet, you will be checking for the right cost-effective mediums for your business promotion, as the first step.

Search Engine Optimization and postings, Link Exchanges, Affiliate Programs, and Banner Advertising are some of those techniques that have been used for this purpose by most of the online business owners for a long time. Though this had been enough for your market presence and brand building a few years back, times have changed and these mediums have become so common that everyone is into it and so are your competitors. It is high time you think of a new way, a niche area for wooing in your customers, a system that helps you to easily express everything about your business and make your customer feel the way you want them to feel.

The answer is in a new system being built to utilize the latest technological advancement in Internet media transfer, Video Streaming. ClipsID (www.clipsid.com) is a new entry into the list of fast growing online video streaming sites. However, this system has been developed to answer the constant yearning in the market for a better business promotional system and the way the system works is a perfect match for anyone wanting to promote his or her business online.

What is ClipsID?

If the system has to be described in a single phrase, the best one would be "The Largest Internet Theatre for Online Video Advertisements". Business Promotion is achieved by automated marketing of promotional videos of businesses currently within the system.

According to ClipsID.Com, "ClipsID is a powerful way of promoting yourself or your business with the aid of video presentations. Upload your videos into the system and the system will assign a unique number to your video. This is your video's ClipsID. It is a simple number just like your telephone number". The uploaded commercial videos are displayed on the system in various areas inviting customer interests. In addition, viewers can search for videos, watch them and invite others. Since the businesses can link their business contact details with the video, the prospective customers can directly contact these businesses, thus providing immediate results.

Currently, anyone can register for a free ClipsID account, which gives a free account with 10Mb video upload space plus access to all business promotional features currently available. All the promotional tools are easy to use with minimum technical expertise.

How to Promote your Business with ClipsID?

Some Power Tools that we will be using are:

Upload Tool
Associate Business Links Tool
Video Banner Creation Tool
Email Signature Tool
Webmercial Showcase
Invitation System

Upload Tool

The first and most important step you need to take in making this new promotion tool to work wonders for you is to upload your promotional content into it. Just make sure that you have an eye catching promotional video of your product, business, or service. Remember, your response would be as good as your promotional video.

Once you have a promotional video, the rest is easy. Create a free account with ClipsID by clicking on the Sign-up button you can find on the home page (www.clipsid.com). All they ask you to enter is your email address (this is your username), a desired password and your first name. It is so very simple.

When you sign-in for the first time, you will be shown a welcome page with a button on it, asking you to upload your promotional video.

Clicking on it will pop-up the Upload Video tool, where in you can upload your promotional video. You have two options for uploading the video, a Quick Upload option as well as a Complete Upload option. I suggest you choose the latter (Complete Upload) option, where in the first step is to provide details about the video/your business.

Note that the first 28 characters of your title as well as the first 64 characters of your description are very important. Please read the Webmercial Showcase section to know more about it.

This upload tool accepts video in AVI, MPG and FLV format only. If you have any other video format, you can use the free ClipsID Encoder tool (available in the Downloads section) to encode it to FLV format and then upload it.

Read the Associate Business Links Tool section for completing the second step.

Once your video is successfully uploaded, the ClipsID system will process the contents and generate a UNIQUE identifier for your video, called ClipsID, which is a simple number just like your telephone number.

Once you have your ClipsID for your video, you can exchange it with your friends, customers and prospects, who will be watching your video just by entering this number on the ClipsID player.

Associate Business Links Tool

Now, direct all your viewers to your website or online business using the Business Link tool, which is the second stage mentioned in the Upload Video Tool earlier.

Copy your website (or online business system) address (URL), and paste it on the Business Links section appropriate column.

If you go through the various options available, it is now easy to associate any Internet link or email address to your video. Those viewers who are interested in your business can contact you or go directly to the online link where you want to redirect them.

When your promotional video is played on the player, your business link will be displayed as a click-able button on the player bar. The key is that it is really enticing for the viewer to see a button below the video being played that shows something like, "Order Now!" just below a video that shows the promotional video, below a product he would like to have, and not leaving without clicking on it.

When the button is clicked, the user is taken to the web-link you are associating with the video using this tool. The web-link will be opened in a separate window and this can be a direct link to your product details page, ordering page, or whatever.

Video Banner Creation Tool

Banner Advertising has given users a new avenue for putting promotional content as fast-paced advertising matter customized for the online crowd that can take prospective users directly to your online businesses. However, there is a single problem. Most of these ads were BORING!! In addition, making the viewers click on it is becoming hard.

Use the ClipsID generated earlier, for creating your own Video Banners. You can show your promotional video in the banner, and make your advertisement much more interesting.

It is very simple to create your video banner. Click on the "Generate Banner" link that will open the Banner Creation tool.

All you have to do is select your promotional video and ask the banner creation tool to make it as a video banner in the size you want. It generates the code and you can use it wherever you want to place the banner. It is that simple.

Email Signature Tool

Did you even know that your email client is your greatest marketing tool? Not your telephone, not your PowerPoint presentation. Without you even knowing, you are sending many pieces of digital information to a person who is analyzing it and forwarding most of them to others.

According to a research, around 68% of the emails sent throughout the world will have a lifetime of more than three hops from the originator. It means there is an elevated chance that your email might be copied or forwarded for two more people than whom you intended. If you know about the multi-level marketing basics, then you would definitely understand the chances that your emails would be read by people whom you might never have thought of.

Now you can leverage this hidden prospect for your Business Promotion, without much efforts and any irritation on the intended recipient.

Place a small HTML code generated by the Email Signature tool on the signature part of your email client. Each time you send an email, your video's ClipsID is sent as a link when clicked it shows your promotional video on the ClipsID player in a separate window.

Click on the "Generate Email Signature" link and select your video that needs to be associated with all your emails. Once you click on the Generate button, you will be provided with a set of HTML code that can be copied and pasted to the signature section of your email client.

This will be a single word link identifying your ClipsID. If your email client supports HTML content, the signature will be displayed as a click-able link.

Be sure that the majority of your email recipients are going to click this link and once they click, they are going to be shown your promotional video and most of them will want to see a video, which is unlike a promotional text message that will require efforts from their part to read it. So be sure that these viewers will sit back relaxed and watch your video.

Webmercial Showcase

The Webmercial Showcase is a selected catalog of promotional videos that will be displayed on ClipsID Home page, Search Page, Public Video page, and even on the Signature Video Display page. Listing your promotional video on this showcase means exposure to thousands of unique viewers for your advertisement video.

Webmercial Showcase contains a marquee like display of some of the promotional videos that has been uploaded to ClipsID, with part of title and description displayed below the video thumbnail.

To be listed on this Webmercial Showcase all you need to do is inform ClipsID about your wish. They have provided an almost hidden link on the Manage Videos page, where there is a small piece of text on the top of the form area, where in you can fill up your request and send to them.

Normally it takes less than 48 hours for your video to be listed on Webmercial Showcase.

Invitation System

Larger the number of Views for your promotional video, the larger would be the number of prospective customers that would be interested in doing business with you. How can you make some immediate viewer base for your video? The answer is ClipsID Invitation system that would help you to send invitations to your contact base telling more about your video as well as inviting them to view the video.

The process is very easy. Once you have your working ClipsID, create an Address Book of all your contacts and then proceed to the Invitation tool (you can find it in the Manage Videos section) for selecting your video, choosing the address book and for creating a small invitation message, which will be added as a personal note to the invitation. The tool will add the rest of the invitation message and then send it to all on your selected address book.

Conclusion

Therefore, by investing a small amount of time, you can use this innovative marketing system to promote your business to new heights.

It is a relatively new approach and hence it is the right time to experiment with this system. If you are stuck at any point of time, you can rely on the ClipsID support forum for your answers.

By the way, I am also interested to know more about your experiences with this innovative system. Please feel free to contact me at paul.linder@yahoo.com. I would be delighted to hear more about your experiences and share my thoughts.

All rights for the logo, name and other materials mentioned in this document belong to ClipsID.Com LLC (www.clipsid.com).

Paul Linder is a veteran in creating Online Marketing & Promotion campaigns with more than 12 years experience in advising medium to large-scale businesses the strategies for creating successful online businesses. He lives in San Francisco, CA mostly hugging his Dell 700m Laptop or iPod. He is currently working as the Vice President of http://ClipsID.Com and you can reach him at paul.linder@yahoo.com

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By Linda Miller

Anyone can launch a new product. Making it take off requires marketing. However, keeping a product above the crowd requires advertising with all the right elements, including effective copy.

Advertising copy can be as simple as a slogan or as extensive as an editorial. The key is not in how much you say, but what you say. The success of your product rests on effective copy that conveys a clear message about the product. With an obscure message, or no message at all, the product will have very little chance of taking off.

Creating effective advertising starts with knowing the key elements to a successful ad:

The Headline

To be effective, headlines must be clear and bold. A short burst of carefully chosen words has the best chance of being noticed, and will convey a strong and memorable message. These words can be intriguing, dramatic, elegant, dignified, silly or grand. Choosing effective copy depends entirely on your target market or audience. Know your market, and you will understand what words will catch the eye and motive the customers to read on. Your headline needs to convey a very clear message.

* Free Offers: Try grabbing your audience's attention with the "shocking claim" technique. "Half Price" and "Free Offer" are often used to get attention. Just make sure that you are able to follow through on the claim. Do not use the old "Store Closing" technique if you do not intend to shut down. This just causes distrust.

* KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Alternatively, if you just cannot decide what to edit out of your headline copy, you can always add a sub-heading. Be sure that the secondary text improves on the headline.

* Logo: Every successful business has a logo. Develop a logo and use it every time you advertise. Nike could put its trademark "swoosh" on a blank page of paper, with no other copy or graphics, and everyone will still know it is a Nike ad. Logos are effective eye-catchers and give a company an identity. Once your logo is established, people will recognize an ad for your business before they even read the copy.

* Satisfy a Need: Give customers a reason to buy your product of service. Determine what niche your business can fill, and focus your advertising copy on that area. Why should people buy your product rather than go to the competitor? You need to convince your audience they need your product. If created with discretion, your ad can even make them feel foolish for not buying your product.

* Key words: Highlight important words in your text with bold type, underlining and different fonts, or with the use of color. While your headline is most important, you can create effective copy by making key words stand out.

* Toot Your Horn: Do not be afraid to highlight the features, virtues, and attributes of your product or service. Bear in mind the areas that are most important to your clients. However, remember to keep it honest. If your restaurant serves award-winning pie but lousy coffee, advertise your pie. Do not mention the coffee.

* What is In It for You: Remind your customer of unique benefits you can provide. Tell them about free bonuses, money back guarantees, time-limited offers, or special discounts to customers. Use incentives to stretch the pulling power of your ad.

* Keep it Short: Use short sentences. Try sentence fragments. These get attention. Fewer words work with skim readers.

* Awesome Adjectives: Use attention-grabbing adjectives to your advantage, but stay away from over-used phrases and clichs. Terms like unbelievable, super, ultra, astonishing, and incredible are not that special anymore. Stay away from clichs as well. Intelligent readers feel annoyed and patronized when faced with statements like "You don't' want to miss this sale."

Graphics

Effective advertising achieves the right balance of clever copy and eye-catching graphics.

* Photography: If a picture tells a thousand words, make sure the photograph or illustration you choose puts your product in its best possible light. Provide a high-resolution photo or a professionally created illustration. Make sure your audience gets a clear image of your product, or is intrigued enough to find out more information.

* Proof: If your ad is making a claim about quality, back it up. Use colorful charts, graphs, and other details to support your claim, and satisfy any lingering doubts in your readers' minds.

Other Elements of Effective Copy

* Contact Information: Invite customers to act. Let them know where they can find your product. Provide a website, telephone number, address or retail outlet. Do not assume that people will know where to find you.

* Disclaimer: This is usually located at the bottom center or the bottom right hand of the page. Disclaimers cover the legal aspects of your advertising claims, such as "some conditions apply" or "limited time offer". You will likely want to use a smaller font size for the disclaimer, but do not make it so tiny that it looks like you have something to hide.

* White Space: Sometimes a message that reads loud and clear can say almost nothing at all. White space can be extremely eye-catching, because other advertisers cram as much copy as possible into an ad. Advertisers in traditional media have used white space as a marketing tactic for many years, and now the trend is shifting to Internet advertisers. Allowing ample white space makes your ad easier to read and infinitely more effective.

The first step to making a sale is selling your product. Effective copy and smart advertising techniques are essential in getting attention and establishing an audience. Include the key elements in your advertising, and increase your chances of success.

Linda Miller contributes to several web sites, such as http://wetid.com and http://nugoz.com

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By Kevin Sinclair

You need an article for your newsletter, and you need it now. In fact, you can spare only forty minutes to get the article written, edited, and slotted into place.

Breaking it down, this means, you have to write the first draft in around 30 minutes. Not a lot of time - especially if you do not consider yourself much of a writer. The good news is that you can do it - and do it well. Here is how to generate a 400-500-word article in a short time.

1. Turbo-Outlining.

Give yourself 5-10 minutes for this part of the process. If you already have a topic in mind, you are in front. If not, you have exactly 90 seconds to decide. Presumably you understand where your readers are coming from (if not, you are in big trouble.) Use those 90 seconds to jot down words or phrases that summarize anything that is likely to be causing them a problem. Naturally, this needs to be a problem that YOU can help solve in your article.

From this list, choose the topic that appeals to you most. Now - in three and a half minutes - it is time to outline the article. Use these headers to guide you:

a. State the problem - and promise a solution. (Just jot down quick notes at this stage.)

b. Outline the process for solving the problem. Divide this into 3-5 logical steps. Label each step (this will become a sub-heading in your article).

c. Jot down points you want to make in your conclusion. This can be advice on how to ensure that the problem does not recur, or offer links to resources that can help. End on a positive note that leaves the reader feeling glad that he read your advice.

2. Speed-Writing Your First Draft.

Allow 20-25 minutes to write the first draft. Spend an extra few minutes on the first paragraph. This is where your reader will decide whether to continue reading. Your job is to show you understand exactly what the problem is and to sound confident that you can help them solve it. Do not use long-winded sentences or ramble on about how awful it is - just get to the point. By the end of the first half-dozen sentences, your reader needs to feel connected to read more and find out the solution.

Each of your 3-5 sub-headings should clearly indicate what the following paragraphs contain Remember, many readers skim-read an article to see if it is worth reading. Look at the words you have chosen - can you rephrase these headings to make the whole process sound simpler or faster?

Under each sub-heading, write two or three paragraphs pertaining to the problem-solving strategy you are outlining. Since you are writing this quickly, it is likely you will automatically adopt a forthright, casual tone. If you find yourself writing in overly formal language, stop, and reconsider. The best 'how to' articles use simple language and everyday terminology. Make it as easy as possible for your reader to follow.

The ending is just as important as the opening paragraph. It is vital not to let the article fizzle out in a weak conclusion. You need to leave your reader feeling inspired, energized, and confident that they can follow your advice and fix the problem.

You can:
- tell them how much time/energy/money they will save by following your advice
- Share a 'secret' of some kind that will help them move on to the next step (be more successful, save even more time, etc)
- point them to further helps or resources. (These can be provided by you and your web site, or by others who have a level of expertise.)

3. Tweak and Polish.

After thirty minutes, you should have an excellent basis for your article. If you can afford to take fifteen minutes out at this stage for a cup of coffee or a quick walk, do so. It is always better to take a break before editing your work. If not, just start reading it from the beginning. Check for these things:

a. Spelling and grammar. Your computer should do most of the work here, but a computer can miss typos or offer strange advice when it comes to grammar. You need to read it through yourself for flow and overall impact.

b. Wordy sentences or phrases. Weed them out!

c. Badly-phrased advice. If a sentence does not flow, write it again. Think of how you would explain to someone else in a casual conversation. Does your writing reflect this?

d. Missing steps. When you are familiar with a process, or trouble-shooting, it is all too easy to leave out a step or a small but vital piece of information. Run over the whole process in your mind to make sure you have not left anything out.

Now, you should have a finished article that will prove both interesting and helpful to many of your readers. At worst, it will be competent. At best, it will surprise you with what you can achieve in a short time!

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of http://besuccessfulnews.com, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.

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By Wayne Van Dyck

There are plethoras of things you can do online and you should know how to do this. MARKET YOUR OWN BUSINESS ONLINE!

Now with the incredible power of the Online World to reach millions of people, online marketing is definitely an amazing tool every business should utilize. The simple fact is that advertising can be very low cost and sometimes even practically free. The ability to get the results of thousands of dollars in free publicity is practically unheard of in the business world today. Only recently have more and more people figured out how to utilize the ever-exploding online world to market their business ventures.

There probably is not a business in existence that would not benefit from free publicity! Properly utilizing free and low cost advertising raises net profits to unbelievable levels! Using any or all of the major online services can help you market your business efforts.

Let us begin with plain advertising. For example, on AOL, they will let you place classified advertisements free! They have a variety of classifications and categories to choose from. By placing some of these free ads, you can generate some quality leads that can turn into sales. If you are an excellent marketer, you could sell something straight from your free ad.

Other services offer free advertising from time to time. When they do charge for classified ads it is usually a very low cost, and they still are a great deal, considering how many people may see them. When you place any ads, you should always "track" your ads. This means put something in each individual ad that will tell you, if you get any business from it, which ad it came from. This way, you will probably find that some sections are better producers than others are, and you will want to concentrate on these sections and not the ones that were not making any money.

To track an ad, you could make them request a certain "report" for more information. You should give each report different tracking links for each ad. Such as "ask for report #1tv”, this way you would know that this request came from the ad on television, for sale category, and so forth. If they send you an order straight from the ad, make them give you order #, which would be different for each ad. THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ADVERTISING ONLINE ARE NOT USING THESE AD CODES!!! THIS IS A MAJOR MARKETING MISTAKE!!!

If you do not track exactly which ads are making money, then you are wasting your time by continually placing ads in "loser" categories that do not provide any sales. ALWAYS keep track of every ad you place. Make a note of what it said, where, and when it was placed. You will be pleasantly surprised when you analyze your "ad data" and see some positive trends developing. Just repeat these trends and it will help you to make more money!

Would you like to have a name list of several hundred (or even a thousand) people who might be interested in the particular product or service you are selling based on their jobs or interests? That would be great!? Well, you can! Moreover, the Online Services supply this service as a part of your regular membership.

This little unknown tool is called the "Member Directory!" You can do searches in the directory for other users with certain characteristics. For example, if you were selling fishing equipment, you could do a search by "fishing." All the people registered in the directory and listed fishing as one of their hobbies would show up on that search list. You could now send each one of those people an e-mail message telling them about your product or service, it is just like using a mailing list, but you have no postage! (*Make sure you check with your online service to see if they allow unsolicited email.)

The bottom line is that you "test" and record the results of your Online Marketing efforts. Then just repeat the steps that are making you money and expand on them to reach more people. You should conduct split testing on your site. Methods were, you have two different pages, performing the same function but with different copy, so you can tell which one is converting better.

You will also find hundreds of articles on the World Wide Web. By searching one of the WWW search engines like Webcrawler, you can find all the information you can read. Use search strings such as: "online marketing", "internet advertising", "selling online", and so on.

You can also find many books on the subject at your local bookstore or being advertised online.

Wayne Van Dyck is a former venture capitalist and builder of offline technology companies. He is the founder and developer of Simple Money Machines. Simple Money Machines is all the money making technologies in one, easy-to-use, hosted application… enabling non-technical people to set up online businesses in less than 30 minutes. It is made for people with 9-5 jobs, retired folks, stay-at-home moms and college students. To get a FREE copy of "STARTING A HOME BUSINESS MADE SIMPLE", go to: http://tinyurl.com/ykyoqx.

]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/homebiztips/HBT_MS_6532/user/index.php How Can a Piece of Article Boost Your Marketing Efforts?

By Wan Assad

Have you ever thought how a simple article has gigantic capability to boost your marketing effort? Most marketers assume articles are nothing except a tool to highlight specific content for public viewing and better left for the public to judge. However, if you spend your time, judging from another point of view, you will soon realize that an article represents your form of business, in a preliminary way.

An article contains uncounted valuable information either on general topics that we read daily in our local newspapers, or articles directed to specific readers. These articles contain specific information related to health, fitness, properties, religious etc. These forms of topics have their own readers that share the same interests, wishing to expand their knowledge further pertaining to particular issues. These are your targeted clients – in the form of global clients.

You as an individual, psychologically write articles related to your interest. A farmer will not argue among themselves on issues related to medical instruments and/or a mechanic will not be interested to read how to sell digital products. Articles written by you will have a direct correlation with your business nature and the content in your web sites. The same concept applies to those readers. Whoever reads your articles are interested to know more about the topic highlighted by you. Fortunately, most of these readers will become your qualified targeted visitors who will register for your newsletter, and more importantly, buy your products.

How can a portion of an article help you market your business further? Generally, you will not produce articles just to be part of your web contents or part of your portfolio. However, you are inclined to distribute it to as many readers as possible. The fastest and most effective method of reaching these potential readers is by submitting your articles to directories! Since most directories do not impose a single dime on you, your articles can form your content as a virtual brochure. In addition, what does it mean? Free advertising, of course! By publishing your articles, these are the great benefits you, as webmaster, will achieve in return:

- Getting visitors that are more qualified.
- Better exposure towards your web site.
- Increase search engines popularity.
- Increase your reputation, not only as an author, but also as webmaster.

Do you know that your qualified visitors tend to visit your web sites after reading partially and/or fully your articles? This is due to the nature of humans, who are influenced more by words rather than pictures. Present your most valuable information in the way they want it, and eventually, they are one of your regular customers.

Therefore, you provide the reader with the most useful, fascinating content. How are they going to visit your web site? Include your web address at the bottom of your articles to enable them to find your web site to learn more about your products or services. Not inserting your web address is the biggest mistake made by any author.

“Oh, I heard this fact somewhere but it’s all rubbish!” Well, not really. To prove this fact, take a piece of paper, start writing an article pertaining to something unique, valuable, and precious related to your business. Include your web address, as well, and you will observe how it helps you. You will be surprised that not only you are getting more visitors but also the search engines start to love you more!

Hold on a minute, please. Did I hear you said, “search engines”? How can articles boost search engines popularity? The answer lies on the web address you included at the bottom page of your article. The URL will eventually produce ‘one way links’ to your web site – one of the most crucial factors of getting your link accepted among search engines, especially Google. By globally publishing your articles, you are by no means, creating your network with other web sites.

Now, have you realized how a portion of an article can boost your marketing efforts without paying a dime? Start writing your articles now!

Enjoy promoting!

Copyright © http://www.directpins.com

Wan Assad is the administrator of http://www.directpins.com – a place for web beginners to start their web development process. More articles including those from other reputable webmasters can be found at http://www.directpins.com/article_index.html. This article is allowed to be reproduced but no alteration is permitted.

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By Eugenijus Sakalauskas

The following article covers a topic that has recently moved to center stage--at least it seems that way. If you have been thinking you need to know more about it, here is your opportunity.

Since the advent of the information technology, the Internet has been a valuable commodity to most people. Here, they find ways on how to earn more money without having to spend more capital to build a business.

Nowadays, many business people are realizing the importance of email marketing. Through emails, an online business can market their product directly through their customers.

Generally, the main purpose of email marketing is to reach their target audience as quickly and as directly as possible. They need to reach their target market to promote their products and services that would benefit their customers.

However, some businesses use email marketing in order to maintain their contact and relationship with their customers.

The reason why email marketing has grown at such an unprecedented rate is that people in the virtual community are always hungry for information. They subscribe to information they are interested in.

On the other hand, not all people are willing to subscribe to such information. They may be interested in your products once, but may no longer show an interest to buy. When you continue to send those emails, without their permission, they can accuse you of spamming.

Today, spamming is a serious offense, especially in the world of information technology. Because the Internet is such a wild place, most authorities regard the privacy of each person as valuable and they continue to uphold this thinking even on the Internet.

With this, the creation of an opt-in list has gained tremendous acceptance. Because of its viability and feasibility to most online businesses, many people have realized how important opt-in lists are in email marketing.

Opt-in lists refer to the list of email addresses of people who have agreed to subscribe to your mailing list. In this way, you can freely send emails that entail promotions, brochures, new product announcements, and every aspect of your marketing campaign.

I hope the information presented has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

When you build an opt-in list, you increase the probability of being successful in email marketing, and boost your sales and profits as well. This is because building an opt-in list will give you the chance to stay in contact with your customers by getting their email address.

In this manner, you can continue to promote your products and services, which they are interested in because they have opted to subscribe to your mailing list. Hence, whatever it is that you feed them, chances are, they will most likely respond positively.

In reality, building an opt-in list is actually letting the people realize the charisma and magic of email marketing. In this way, spam will be avoided, if not eliminated, and will not ruin the positive image of email marketing.

With spamming, email marketing becomes a disgraceful activity in the Internet. However, with opt-in lists, online businesses can continue to boost their businesses through email marketing without having to worry about accusations of spamming.

In building an opt-in list, there are two types to be considered. The first one is the single opt-in and the other one is the double opt-in or the confirmed opt-in.

In building single opt-in lists, online businesses would simply use a “sign-up tag” in their web sites so that every time a person visits their website, he or she can opt to subscribe in the business’ email list.

On the other hand, a confirmed opt-in list or double opt-in entails a confirmation message after the customer has subscribed to the particular web site’s email list.

Usually, the confirmation takes place by replying on a system-generated message that asks for a confirmation of the subscription or by clicking on a link, that entails the confirmation of the customer.

Whatever type of opt-in list you prefer, each has its own pros and cons when it comes to email marketing. However, both are designed to give your online business the best solution possible in order to generate emails and permissions without having to get into trouble.

Indeed, email marketing is such a profitable business in the Internet. However, it would not be complete and will never succeed without the help of the opt-in lists. These two must always go hand-in-hand in order to be successful in the virtual world of Internet marketing.

As your knowledge about email marketing continues to grow, you will begin to see how email marketing fits into the overall scheme of things. Knowing how something relates to the rest of the world is important too.

Eugenijus Sakalauskas is an established ezine publisher and direct marketer on PNP.com Subscribe to my FREE e-course "Power up Your Profits by Packing Your Email Marketing with More Punch" Send blank mailto:pnplistbuild@getresponse.com or visit http://www.pluginnetproefit.com and get 18+ free bonuses.

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By M.Planet Lubowa

Every successful online marketer says this is the bar-none, top-of-the-list, number one-way to guaranteed success for any online venture.

What is it?

Any marketer knows that nothing beats word of mouth advertising. It is simply the most powerful and cost effective advertising ever known. Even before the days of the Internet, word of mouth advertising got every business where it is today.

Many entrepreneurs never have and never will spend money on advertising. Their entire business comes from people telling other people about their product or service. Could you imagine never spending money on advertising, but always having a steady stream of customers on your doorstep begging for your product or service?

This word of mouth is what we call viral marketing.

However, word of mouth does not come easily. There is one catch to running a business only on word of mouth advertising. You must be selling an outstanding product or service. If you sell crap, the only word of mouth advertising you will have is negative.

I am sure you have heard the expression before. A satisfied customer will tell three people about your product or service, an unsatisfied customer will tell ten.

If your customers are not happy, you will have to work ten times harder and spend more money on advertising to sell your product.

You can benefit from positive word of mouth two ways. These are:

1. It is free advertising. This is self-explanatory. The less you have to spend on advertising, the more money you can put in your pocket and back into your business.

2. People are endorsing your product or service. Having someone endorse your product puts you at a greater advantage. When someone tells their friend about the positive experience they have had with your product, there is instant trust. People trust their friends. If a friend says your product is it, they will instantly trust you. Trust is a huge barrier to break down when it comes to selling anything, online or off.

The one way I have found to work well with positive word of mouth is list building. List building by referring ten people from your own efforts, and then these ten will go on to build your list up, to a big size.

To give you an idea of how powerful word of mouth advertising can be in helping you to build your list, look below. Your list can grow exponentially without you ever even having to lift a finger again. This is a completely new way to LEVERAGE your efforts into a MEGALIST of monstrous proportions!

Let us say you enroll SEVEN people from your paid advertising or any other form of advertising. Seven is still conservative for a completely FREE program... In addition, let us say each of those seven told seven people and enrolled them and each of those enrolled seven people and so on…

That would look like this:

YOU
1x7 Members =7
7x7 Members =49
49x7 Members =343
343 x7 Members =2,401
2,401x7 Members =16,807

TOTAL: 19,607 Members

That is 19,607 subscribers you get to mail to! In addition, you only referred seven subscribers yourself!

Want to run the example with 10 referrals each? (That would be a whopping 111,110 subscribers!) Or 20? I will not even do the math on that one, because frankly, you would not believe the numbers!

You get the idea. More and more people just keep learning about your business all through friends and associates. And it is all free advertising!

If you think, the above numbers are a bit of an overstatement think again. Go to http://Google.com right now and do a search on Autoresponder Magic. Autoresponder Magic is an eBook that was written by Yanik Siler several years ago. More than 80,000 web sites advertise his Ebook on their sites right now FREE!

When Yanik started out several years ago, he did not even know what an Ebook was. Today he has more traffic coming to his site in a day than most web sites do in a lifetime.

That is how powerful viral marketing is. Do not skimp on using it. You can set up your viral marketing system to build your list by using ebooks, writing free articles and others.

Visit Lubowa. M. Planet viral Internet marketing websites. For Marketing Visit: http://www.conqueryourniche.com/forum/planetlubs For List Building visit: http://www.most-important-marketing-tools.com/marketing.html For 127 marketing software visit: http://www.most-important-marketing-tools.com.

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By Inder Saini

Putting up a company, would of course require many things, to get straight to the point, you need capital. To make money requires money. With the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find to help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites do not have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site. You do not have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset, and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do the hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent. Many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in how to generate traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you do not need to speed a single cent, it may take time, to say honestly, I am not going to beat around the bush with you. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to tell you.

Take advantage of online forums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss many things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

With online communities and forums, you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what excites you and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject. You can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.

You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic.

Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You do not have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts that both sites do will benefit both sites. All traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site. This works especially well when both sites feature the same niche.

Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles, they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there is a great probability that they will go to your site.

Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your own, but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.

Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.


All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man-hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.

http://www.digitalinfostore.net/cb/freepublicity/index.htm

Inder Saini always had a great passion for the internet. Active affiliate marketer since 2000 and has done deep research on the affiliate and internet marketing. Has helped hundreds of small internet business owners in many ways.

http://www.DigitalinfoStore.com

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By Laurie Brown

Maximize the Profit Potential of Your Retail Customer

Let us be honest. It is getting harder and harder to make a decent profit from our retail customers. The internet abounds with articles such as ” “ “ “ etc. Our customers are coming in and telling us how much over invoice they are willing to pay. So how can we maximize their profit potential?

1. Build value

A Purdue University study showed that when the customers perceived value exceeds the price, meaning that customers felt that they were getting more than they were paying for, eight of ten would buy. So where do we build value. Look to build value in each of the three p’s…Product, Place, and Person.

PRODUCT

Know your product inside and out. Find the interesting details that customers might not be aware of. When doing your walk around, it does not just spout off features. Make sure you tie features to your customer’s hot buttons. Use the phrase (or something like this) ‘and what that means to you is’…. It is best to talk about an average of three features per walk around position . It may seem like “more is better”, but studies show that customers tend to get overloaded and can have a negative reaction to too many features. Spend at least 15 minutes a day on a Power break, learn something new about your product, read owners manuals and articles about your product, walk the used car lot, talk to a mentor in your dealership. Do what it takes to be an “expert.”

PLACE

Then ask yourself “what sets my dealership apart?” Have we been in business for 40 years, are we a family business, are we a “no hassle” dealership, do we have more inventory than our competitors? How are we distinct? Once you have answered the questions, make sure your customers know it. Does your dealership have a mission statement? Do you know what it is? Talk about the goals of your dealership with pride.

PERSONAL

However, the most important place to build value is doing business with you. First, it is the only thing that you have to offer that they cannot get anywhere else. Your willingness to “go the extra mile”, be patient, be well informed, help a customer buy a vehicle, rather than “sell them” will go a long way towards setting you apart from your competitors. The world is changing fast, make sure you are aware of new technology that will help you stay connected to your customers.

Check your “bad attitude” at the door. Your customer is making an impression of you in the first 90 seconds that they are spending with you. Your smile, eye contact, warm handshake, and enthusiastic greeting will prove to them you are someone they want to do business with, repeatedly.

2. Follow-up! This is the place most sales consultants fall down. We are so busy dealing with ups that we forget that our best and easiest customers are the ones that have already bought from us. Get a customer contact program such as ACT and use it. Call your customers within 24 hours after the purchase to make sure, if everything is ok. If not, move heaven and earth to fix the problem. Write a handwritten thank you note. Then check in (with their permission) via a phone call, email, or newsletter at regular intervals. Make the contact personal. Use the information you learned when you were building rapport to continue that process. Ask how Johnny did in little league. Congratulate them on Becky’s graduation. The more personal the conversation, the more effective it will be. There are sales consultants who make their clients service appointments. The goal is to add value and have your name be on the tip of their tongues. In addition, be assured that they will come back to you when they buy their next vehicle.

3. Ask for referrals, your happy customers are your best salespeople. Let their great experience be a story that they tell repeatedly. In addition, if you have done an exceptional job, do not hesitate to ask them to recommend you to their friends, co-workers, and family. If you explain that you build your business by positive word of mouth, they most likely will be happy to help you out. Do not forget to thank them for their referrals. Again, a hand written note is essential. Some states allow bird-dogging. IF yours does not, you could “thank them” in a variety of other ways. A dinner at a local restaurant, or free oil change will tell them that you are grateful.

Following these simple steps will allow you to maximize the profit you can get from your customers. Remember it makes better sense to work smarter, not harder.

Laurie Brown is an international speaker, trainer and consultant who work to help people improve their sales, service, and presentation skills. She is the author of The Teleprompter Manual, for Executives, Politicians, Broadcasters, and Speakers. Laurie can be contacted through http://www.thedifference.net, or 1-877.999.3433, or at lauriebrown@thedifference.net

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By Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi

Niche marketing is a simple concept that can help your business gain an advantage, even in very competitive online categories.

You know that 20 percent of buyers consume 80 percent of your product, so the idea is that you could sell more products with less effort if you can identify that 20 percent and find others like them.

People, who are interested in and consume your product, become a market niche.

Therefore, the idea behind niche marketing is to target, communicate, sell, and obtain feedback of your best customers.

Consumers are each day becoming more demanding because their choices tend to expand in this global economy that we live in now.

Therefore, the idea behind niche marketing is the need to satisfy and keep that part of the market that really wants your product or services.

However, not any niche market will be good for you, you need to estimate the size of your target or niche market.

It should be big enough to sustain your business year after year. Once you have identified your niche market, you need to have information about your niche market's size. The numbers you need to know are the total size of the niche market, but also, the size of the niche market that is interested in your products, and also the size of the niche market your company can reach with advertising, and then distribution.

When you decide to pick a niche market, you need to be sure you are going to have enough sales volume and profitability. You need to know how strong your competitors are to attract your niche buyers away from your products.

In addition, you need to have an idea of how many competitive products you are going to offer to your potential niche marketing prospects.

You might think that niche marketing was invented to help the new or small companies, but even the large ones have embraced the niche marketing idea, and keep on trying to divide their market and target it with different offers.

In addition, you know why? Very easy to answer!

If you were interested in buying a dog, would you care for a shampoo advertisement?

You need to offer dogs to the people that want dogs, and shampoo to the ones that want to wash their hair. You need to make niche offers to your niche market and then you will maximize your selling chances.

Those that repeatedly use your products, your "heavy users" are the niche market that you should try to dominate.

You should divide the whole universe of your potential buyers, into different segments, based on different factors.

Your can divide them by age, by family size, by gender, by economic status, or by geographic locations.

It all depends on: what are you going to offer them?

All these niches need, or are interested, in different goods and or services. In addition, the question is: Do you expertise or have a special knowledge in a certain niche?

For example, you might be an expert at selling used cars, of fixing bicycles, or writing articles, etc.

No matter what niche market you can cover, you can always attract that specific kind of people to your web site and that is exactly what you have to do.

If you are trying to sell mass articles, unless you are so creative that have a unique approach to the products, it can be very tough to market them

This is an interesting point, you can have a very special niche article OR a very special niche approach to an article.

The result is the same: look for much-targeted traffic to your web site and you will sell well.

The same that happens to mass articles happens to some niche markets: they are tough to reach.

So you must narrow the focus of your site, the more narrow the focus, the easier will be the niche marketing.

There should be tons of opportunities in your field of interest, if you narrow your focus.

However, if your business is broad based, then niche marketing is not for you, you should develop a good affiliate's program, and then thousands of affiliates can work the search engines, reaching for their particular niche, and then offer your goods or services.

Theme based content sites are perfect for niche marketing and for making good profit from the search engines.

If you sell dogs, then it will not be difficult to find a niche for dog's food, dog's shampoo, dog's brushes, etc.

Once you define your niche you must look for the most profitable keyword for that niche, then determine the demand, and the supply for that niche market, and this will give you the profitability of each keyword (How to Sell on The Web teaches you how to do it).

When you have chosen the most profitable keywords for your niche market, you only have to start writing good content web pages.

My last words: before starting your niche marketing business, make sure that your niche market does exist on the web, that is big enough to produce continuous good profits, and that is within your reach.

Dr. Roberto Bonomi is a successful e-book writer that shares his home business experience at: http://intmarketing.easy-home-business.com and you can post-free your own articles, or find free articles for your web site or ezine at http://articles.drbonomi.com.

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by David Weeks

I remember back in the mid 90s when I was "in between" jobs, in debt, and broke. My "in between" job status at that time for a period of one year was a car salesperson. Now, I know what you are thinking. Why? My answer...hmmmmmmmm. Anyhow, it happened and as it turned out, it became quite a learning experience. What I experienced as a car salesperson in my very brief career by choice, was rather disturbing. This is by no means an article on selling cars. This is what salesmanship is and is not.

I was in the car business, and virtually taught the wrong way to be a salesperson. When it comes to shopping for a car, it becomes a rather unpleasant experience for all parties involved.

Here is a typical day in the car business: You awaken in the morning, dress yourself in the shirt and tie, on a hot July day in Florida, 100 degrees with high humidity. You get in the car; drive to work asking yourself, why......why..... because you know there is going to be an unpleasant experience waiting somewhere around the corner. You arrive at work getting ready for the morning "meeting abuse", which always ends up, “we are terrible salespeople and we need to sell cars!” Really? We need to sell cars? Ok! After the meeting, we all leave the room with bruises and bumps. We are ready to practice the art of being a salesperson.

For those of you who do not know, when a person arrives on the lot to car shop, he is referred to as an "up" in the car business. Usually, all the salespeople are lined up outside like vultures waiting for an "up" so we can swoop in and turn on the lame salesperson charm. Now, you meet the customer. "Hi, my name is Dave" (smile). Then, the customer replies "We are just looking." Of course they are just looking. By the time we get through with you, you might be running out the door and never look back.

I follow the "We are just looking" people around the lot because if I do not, I will be yelled at by the ‘powers that be’. The potential customers I am with do not want me near them, at this point. Car shopping and/or buying is the equivalent of going to the dentist. It can be a painful experience.

Now I ask the ‘nice folks’ on the lot all types of questions, trying to create trust and learning something about them that will help me sell to them. This is an ok method for the car business, because this is the way it has been taught. Now the problem from the "get go", is most customers were from the ‘old school’. To them, car buying was rolling up your sleeves and get ready to do battle. That is not the way I want to make a living, but that is what it was.

So, what do you really have from this? You have uninformed people at all angles. First, customers come onto the lot thinking their "trade-in" is worth a fortune, and it is not. They did not do research on their "trade-in". Second, they do not know what they want. They want to spend ‘no money’ on a car they cannot afford to begin with. Again, they did not do their research.

As a salesman, another problem is, if you are going to make it in the business of selling anything, you have to rise above everyone else and figure out a strategy to attract people to you automatically without being annoying and pushy from the start. I noticed that most of the salespersons on the lot were not doing anything but waiting for something to happen, and unfortunately, I was one of them. Because I was also unaware.

When I could not close someone, here comes the sales manager thinking he has 'the be all to end all', and that the "hammer them" into the car technique is going to work. You see the philosophy behind most selling in the car business, as an example is, if they leave here without buying from us, they will never buy from us.

However, let us not forget. In the world of sales, let the salespeople do their job by giving there potential customers all of the information they need to make a well informed decision. If they do not buy today, let them remember you and your salesmanship and whatever great strategy you came up with for them to make the buying process easier. Believe me, after they have been everywhere else, they will remember you. The "in your face" approach does not work anymore.

David Weeks writes articles on marketing, personal finance, and network marketing. He also has a free course on network marketing "The 5 Phases Of Network Marketing" located at http://www.the5phasesofnetworkmarketing.com.

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By Michael Fleischner

Okay, so your marketing has paid off - you have new customers. The key to growing your business is to effectively communicate and leverage these new customers into advocates for your products and services and purchasers of additional services.

Do this in a variety of ways. Follow some basics steps to ensure retention. Here are some tips you can use to develop long-term relationships with newly acquired customers.

1. Proactively shape impressions about your business. Whether you are sending a welcome message, making the first contact via phone, or sending a letter, be sure to position you company for the long-term. Often times, individuals buy products without knowing a whole lot about the company where they are buying.

A popular tactic is sending a welcome kit or an overview letter that introduces your company, your values, and the additional resources you have available for your customers including a support email address, 1-800 number, and so on. This lets you control your company's image among newly acquired customers. Otherwise, your customers are free to form their own opinion without any guidance whatsoever.

2. Categorize your customer. Is your customer a high potential? Are they a transactional buyer that will likely never buy from you again unless you offer the lowest price? By segmenting your buyers based on your existing database or known behaviors, you can develop customized communication plans to retain them for years to come. Some communication plans focus on up-sell while others may only focus on retention. Base the communication plan you implement on the proper categorization of your customer.

3. Show your thanks. Once you have acquired a customer, do not forget to thank them. This may seem trite. However, done properly, this goes a long way. Often a hand-written note or personalized email from a company president can do the trick. The real key is to make the customer feel good about the purchase they have made and the company they have chosen.

4. Provide consistency among all touch points. Once you have acquired a new customer, you must make sure that you provide a consistent user experience. For example, if the prospect contacts your technical support rep the first day after they have purchased a product and received an answer to their question, then they call the following day only to receive a different answer, they are going to lose faith in your company's ability to provide consistent and reliable support.

You can benefit greatly by developing procedures that can be documented and delivered consistently - meeting customer expectations. This builds trust in your business and can minimize defections. If the consumer knows they can count on you to give them what they need/want, they will be willing to forgo a better price or promise of a better deal elsewhere.

5. Share customer testimonials on future marketing pieces. Many marketers believe that testimonials are only for prospects. The truth is that testimonials can help retain customers, especially new ones, with exposure to positive experiences of individuals just like them. In addition to sharing testimonials, it is always a good practice to ask newly acquired customers (within 30 days of purchase) for their feedback/testimonials.

The benefit of reaching out to your customers is that if a problem exists, you can react to it and if they have something positive to say about your product or business, it is useful to reinforce your brand. (Note: be sure to get permission to publish a customer’s testimonial).

These techniques are very effective for maximizing lifetime customer value. By shaping the image of your company, providing a consistent experience, and sharing testimonials for similar customers, you can develop a positive, lasting impression with your marketplace.

Most importantly, keep it simple. Do not overwhelm your new customers with tons of email, or direct mail. Develop a well thought-out communication plan that has a definite purpose. In addition, most importantly, remember to thank your customers for choosing your company, product or service.

Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert with more than 12 years marketing experience. He has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. For more free marketing articles like this one, visit http://www.marketingscoop.com.

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By Diana Goolsby

The mind is such a powerhouse. We do not honor and use that power to its true potential. We over look who we really are...we become such busy bodies of how others are succeeding in the MLM world.

From the minute that we are invited to join a network-marketing venture, we are asking, "Is this working for you?" "How many people are you bringing into the business?" "How much money are you making?" In addition, on and on we go. Attend to your business and quit comparing yourself to others. One of the biggest setbacks to your success is concentrating on and asking yourself, "Why is this networking business not working for me? Why is it taking me so long to get what I want?" "What am I doing wrong?" Doubt! Doubt! Doubt!

It is not because:
• You are not intelligent enough
• You do not know the right people
• You are not worthy enough
• Bad karma
• You got into this MLM too late
• You do not have a good networking team

You have to quit imagining and creating the negative images. Realize the reason you have not already received what you desire. You are holding yourself in a vibration holding pattern that does not match the vibration of your desire. You must start stimulating the creative imagination. "What is that?" you ask. Good question. You do not recognize it within you because you are in that 'feel stuck' mood. You have been acting like a couch potato instead of utilizing the mindset of a marketer and have become weak through INACTION.

Get out of your our way; recognize and release the resistant thoughts such as fear, doubt, envy, resentment, low self esteem, etc. Break the bad habits and thoughts. You begin to recognize the baggage attached, and what it is holding you down. Release your resistance and forge forward to hold the highest levels of imagination, visualization, and creative powers. The greatest achievers have always exercised these powerful secrets to achieve their personal targets/goals in life. They use a four-step thought pattern that leads to the habit of persistence:

• A Definite Purpose Backed By A Burning Desire For Its Fulfillment.
• A Definite Plan, Expressed in Continuous Action.
• A Mind Closed Tightly Against All Negative And Discouraging Influences.
• A Friendly Alliance With One Or More Persons Who Will Encourage You To Follow Through With Both Plan And Purpose.

View yourself through the window of opportunity. Tell yourself and put action behind the words that describes who you would like to be and do. Putting power words that move you forward and allowing the choice of strong words to bring worth back into yourself will shift you into a vibration that is closer to your desires. The most important way to shift that vibration is the enthusiasm you feel in setting your pace, but persistence will carry you through to your target. "I will persist until I succeed."- Og Mandino

Remember, other people do not determine your possibilities. Who told you, you did not have the potential? Who told you, you were small? Who told you that no one succeeds in network marketing? Shake off the disappointment and let those negative vibrations roll off you like water off a ducks back.

Do not fall into the doubts; they rob us of our dreams. From out of our greatest rejections come our greatest directions. When one door closes, always know that another one opens. In addition, (not to be cut off due to discouragement of the network marketing scene), look for the windows. They are also great openings that bring in the light.

Someone said, "few things are certain in life, that people rarely fail...the only failure that does not lead to success is the failure that makes you stop". People tend to have no patience, and view their networking as if it is going to be an overnight success. If you examine those overnight successes closely, you will come to find that it took many years of preparation.

Your MLM business is like building a home; it requires a strong foundation with the patience to see it through its completion. Systematically, lighten the burden you have placed on yourself. The best targets to aim for are those you can handle in the next week, the next day, the next hour, or even in your next step. Reach a target and you will realize the next one is right around the corner ready to begin. You are the only one that has given this nasty illusion its limits. Begin to understand that you are not on a destination; you are on a journey of self that never ends and that is unlimited.

Diana Goolsby is a home school mom with three fantastic kids and husband. She is a certified mentor in the art and science of marketing through a marketing company headquartered in Phoenix, AZ. She is also a worldwide-certified spiritual motivational life coach and resides in beautiful Idaho. To learn more about Diana Goolsby and her mentoring and coaching, she can be contacted at diana@goolsby.myrf.net or 208-837-6578.

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By Diana Goolsby

Hey! This is not one of those 'rah-rah' marketing approaches that we are used to listening to in the network-marketing scene. The time has come to step up to the next paradigm for network marketing...and the change is rapidly being made!

One of the greatest points for network marketing is the attractiveness of the proposition model. Who does not want to have a glamorous residual income? Many of us struggle to make any progress of this MLM game. Eventually, either we quit or fail or worst of all, some of us become MLM junkies, jumping from MLM to MLM.

How Do We Break The Bonds Of Failing In MLM?

• Be realistic stepping into a MLM business. Expectation and targets for the average distributor should be $400 - $500 per month as your supplemental income.

• Change your mindset and know that the company you chose to distribute for is ONLY the manufacturer. You are the business owner and creator of your business enterprise.

• Bond and lead with the product, not with the allurement of the instant riches promised by leading with the opportunity. Let go of the opportunity concept. You will attract those individuals, who have a want, need, and desire; and that will deeply become involved with the quality of the product. They will discover the company's integrity, its management, and vision. This will unmistakably make the difference in capturing targeted individuals to join your business, making it a very appealing venture.

• Be understanding, and a bit 'foot loose and fancy free'. Taking yourself too seriously sabotages the creative side of you. Your MLM business takes time to build. Nurture it as a living entity, as a member of your own family. Realize that it is a long-term investment. Tactfully managed, it will produce true fruits of your labor.

• Do not fall into the trap that MLM is easy money. Consider the facts that you must have whatever it takes; mentality and attitude. You must know your product and be certain of your companies' vision. Most of all, understand what the needs are of your customers. Comprehend your leadership position. Implement and empower your down line to learn the art and science of marketing the product. Inspire them to replicate the ultimate purpose of leadership so success is brought to the table: 'all for one, and one for all'.

• Be aware that like the rest of nature, which follows the line of least resistance, we tend to procrastinate. We make excuses after excuses to avoid what must be completed. Og Mandino once said, "If a business day is a social success, it has been a business failure." How convenient to put things off instead of placing yourself in a forward motion to work. Thomas Huxley put it so straight forward, "The most valuable result of all education is to make you do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be learned. And however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly." Therefore, do not put things aside Go, Do, Be, and Have.

• Biggest mistake; "sitting around". Feed yourself. I am not talking about devouring bon-bon's as you sit. I am saying, "Be PRO-ACTIVE," making choices based on principles, not reactive choices based on emotions. Keep the momentum by applying something of substance into your business each day. As your business begins to generate profits, reinvest a chunk into your business of recruiting and selling. One of the wisest best-spent money that you will ever spend on yourself and your family will be to INVEST IN A COACH. This is necessary. This requires thorough investigation so you get the very best for your educational investment.

Could My MLM Business Have a Deliciously Magical Mysterious Agenda?

Absolutely, keep in mind; it is through our life that life is given. As you besiege yourself in your networking business, comprehend that this is a journey of self. Learning of the true power that we have within us, and yet we have not unlocked the doors of our true being.

Realize that you will venture into many brick walls and unopened doors. You will tackle these situations with frustration, anger, disappointments, thrills, competitiveness, etc, thinking that these are just trials of the trade in mastering your business success. However, you have just stepped into the world of illusions. These illusions are meant to offset, bewilder, and make life complicated. The simplest way to untangle and improve the quality of your life is to identify what this game, (your game), in life include. To find what is our true fundamental view of our own human nature, we must first bring alive the basic needs that motivate all people which is love, courage, strength, and wisdom. A quote that resonates within me says, "People are like sticks of dynamite. The power is on the inside, but nothing happens until the fuse gets lit." Focus and listen to the voice within that leads you to the spark that will light the fuse to your dreams.

The most powerful truth and tool for transformation is to investigate the Universal laws and principles of life. Here is a little taste of one of these important gems. You will have to do your due diligence to uncover them for yourself. Know that the principle of patience and discipline gives you persistence. Persistence will carry you through the highs and lows of your business giving you the strength to take your targets/intentions to completion. Learn that process: patience and persistence are your keys to unlock the doors to any destination. You will not find the answers to your life at the end of your journey; they are tucked, interwoven among, and gifted and rewarded to you along the path of each stepping-stone you encounter along your journey. Do not be ignorant and overlook these laws; understanding is to use them.

You made a decision to venture into the MLM world, do not give up, support your decision and know that this is your time to explode the power within you. Never mind where you have been, watch where you are going, and so get out there and get it done! There are fabulous tools of support and training to help you through your network marketing problems, and some with no more substance than cotton candy. The path of your journey will open before you where before there grew weeds and darkness.

You will learn, as I have, that if you keep the doors open, the greatest treasures are the best friends, the people, the joy, respect, and care that will come into your life through your network marketing. What I have enjoyed, shared and experienced have far surpassed the bounds of the network-marketing world. So be inviting to open the door that is knocking. See clearly within you that life is not only about getting what you want, but also learning that the standard of success is absolutely feeling the exhilaration in what you get. Permit your unlived network marketing to live, thrive, and achieve that which you once thought impossible.

Diana Goolsby is a certified mentor in the art and science of marketing through a marketing company headquartered in Phoenix, AZ. She is also a worldwide-certified spiritual motivational life coach and resides in beautiful Idaho. To learn more about Diana Goolsby and her mentoring and coaching, she can be contacted at diana@goolsby.myrf.net or 208-837-6578

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By Akhil Shahani

A well thought out game plan is a winning strategy in any battle! Your business is no less than a battle. Every moment, your competitors are trying to outsmart you. To win this war, you need a game plan for your business. In other words, you need a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a highly researched, well-written document, which details all marketing actions necessary to achieve business objectives. It could be for a product, service, brand, or a product line. From time to time, you need to stand back and see if your plan is working, and whether your day-to-day activities line up.

So let us begin with the basics of writing a marketing plan:

1. Title Page - This must include the name of your company and the management team, which is instrumental in developing strategies.

2. Executive Summary - This is a quick overview of the main points in your plan. Although the summary comes first, it is best to write this last. This will ensure that you have not overlooked something and that your plan makes sense.

3. Current Situation - Here, you need to analyze both the macro environment, as well as, the current market situation. The macro environment analysis will give you an insight into the economy, and larger legal and technical aspects that can affect your business. The current market situation will throw light on the potential market segment, competitor landscape, industry structure etc.

4. Consumer Behavior - Present an analysis of your customers' demographic profile and buying habits, talk about key motivators, loyalty segments, and similar issues.

5. Company Analysis - This is your chance to do some 'blah-blah' on your company. Just kidding! Analyze the internal situation of the company in terms of its vision and mission, long-term business objectives, short-term goals, resource position, etc. This is also an appropriate place to do a thorough SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. This will help you identify the sustainable competitive advantages of your company, and understand the key success factors for your business.

6. Market Research - This chapter describes the process of data collection, method of analysis, and key findings.

7. Marketing Strategy - Step 1 - discuss product mix, product life cycle management, brand name, brand image, etc. Step 2 - analyze market share by products, customer segments, and geography Step 3 - it is all about money, honey! This is where you talk pricing strategy Step 4 - share your advertising and promotion plans Step 5 - put down your ideas about how you will distribute your product.

8. Implementation - discuss the nitty-gritty here. Chart out resource requirements, key deliverables, time frame, and other issues related to implementation.

9. Financial Summaries - include projections of income, break-even analysis, and payback period. List assumptions clearly.

10. Outlook - this contains predictions for the future and plans of action for alternative scenarios, if any.

11. Appendix - include all supporting material, tables and data.

Generally, a basic marketing plan will run into 30 - 40 pages. While you could abridge your report, make sure you do not overlook any important aspects.

Finally, we will leave you with a thought - if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail!

Hi, I am Akhil Shahani, a serial entrepreneur who wants to help you succeed. Over the years, I have run many successful businesses & made many mistakes on the way. I have created http://www.aykya.com to help you benefit from all I have learned on my journey. Please visit us & download our special 'Freebie of the Month' as a thank you for your visit.

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