June 29, 2008

Infomercials and Direct Response

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 11:56 am

Infomercials changed the way advertisers sell things on television. Previously, product manufacturers merely presented their wares on TV in the most attractive manner they could come up with. They planted ideas, sought to change habits or to create them where none existed. They expanded market share subtly with one common unifying factor - you watched the commercial and if you liked what you saw you went to the store or the showroom and bought it. From now on television would be different. Infomercials and direct response marketing was born. Now if you liked what you saw, thought it was just the right product, idea or concept for you, you picked up the phone, called the number on your screen and ordered what you wanted direct from the manufacturer.

It’s hard to imagine in today’s internet world with overnight deliveries and instantly downloads, but for the very first time you could order something off your TV set without even getting up from your favorite chair. It was unbelievable, magical, and very successful. Almost overnight phone banks sprang up all over the country as the call volume, once numbering in the thousands, surged into the millions. Like Internet domain names today, 800 numbers became a vanity item - the most popular ones disappearing as fast as they became available. Previously only used in magazine advertisements or mail order brochures, the phone business became a very big business with the success of infomercials.

To begin with, infomercials and direct response TV selling give a manufacturer an immediate tool to measure whether or not his product, his pricing and even his approach is working. Previously, manufacturers had to create their product, get it into stores where it would be available for purchase on a nationwide basis and then and only then, launch a costly nationwide advertising campaign on popular TV shows. After that, they would wait a minimum of 90 days, sending out squads of sales personnel or making hundreds of phone calls to find out if their product was selling. If it wasn’t it was back to the drawing board to try to figure out what went wrong and then perhaps try it again maybe next year.

With infomercials and direct response, there was now a way to measure the success or failure of any project in a matter of hours and at a fraction of the cost. If a manufacturer had his own phone bank, he could conceivably sit there after his infomercials were airing around the country and literally count the orders coming in. And almost immediately, he would have an idea if his project was working. This leveled the playing field for new product launches and led to the creation of hundreds of new products each and every year launched and tested as infomercials before ever hitting a retail outlet.

Infomercials Info provides detailed information on exercise, weight loss, real estate, and make up infomercials and direct response (DRTV). Infomercials Info is affiliated with Business Plans by Growthink.

Comments Off

June 14, 2008

Unleash The Power Of Perpetual Marketing

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 10:17 am

I describe perpetual marketing as a large number of
people promoting one web site so they can all receive
the traffic generated by each other.

For example, you decide to create a free ebook that
you will give away to your web site visitors. You ask
a large number of e-zine owners to give away the
ebook in exchange for their ad in the ebook. You can
just ask them to link directly to your web site when
they promote the ebook. You, of course, will have
one of your own ads on that web page.

Let’s say you get 8 out of 20 e-zine owners that agree
to giveaway the ebook. The 8 e-zines total subscriber
base is 75,000.

Now, you can ask more e-zine owners if they would
like to promote the ebook in exchange for an ad inside
the ebook. This time you can say, you already have 8
e-zines already promoting the ebook with a subscriber
base of 75,000.

The next group of e-zine owners you ask will be more
tempted to promote your ebook because there is a
greater chance they will receive a lot of traffic from
the deal. It’s win/win situation!

Do you understand the power of perpetual marketing?
You could have 20 or 30 e-zines promoting your web
site at no-cost, very quickly! You could create a new,
free ebook every month and repeat the process.

This isn’t the only way to use perpetual marketing.
You don’t just have to contact e-zine publishers you
could do the same with web site owners. You could
use a total monthly visitor total as motivation.

It doesn’t have to be just an ebook either. It could be
a contest you’re holding on your web site. You could
place the other web site’s ads on the contest page in
exchange for them promoting the contest.

These are only a few ways to use perpetual marketing.
You could use your own imagination to create new
ways to use perpetual marketing that will increase your
traffic and sales.

About the author:

Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.

Comments Off

June 3, 2008

Multi Level Marketing Facts You Must Know

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 11:03 am

Network Marketing is a vibrant industry offering employment to over 43 million people worldwide with a turnover exceeding $ 75 billion in worldwide sales of products and services as per the figures of the World Federation of Direct Sales Association (WFDSA) a body regulating the conduct of business on ethical lines and all members are bound by this code of conduct.

Worldwide the Direct selling industry is gaining ground as it helps to eliminate multi layered distribution network and costly advertising. The profits thus generated help in reducing the cost of the product and help Direct Selling agents to make money for themselves and the organization they create.

Paul Zane Pilsner a renowned economist and author of New York Times Best sellers such as ‘Unlimited Wealth’ and ‘The Next Trillion Dollar’ describes Network Marketing as Intellectual Distribution educating consumers about products and services that will improve their lives, products, and services that they didn’t already know existed.

The Network Marketing requires one important criteria-that is to be a product user oneself and then promote the products based on ones own benefits and convictions, unlike conventional marketing where many of the products are never used by a person promoting them.

The Network Marketing is currently a subject of much debate due to some unscrupulous companies exploiting the lack of awareness of Networking Marketing or MLM as it is commonly called. WFDSA has put out detailed guidelines for the network marketing companies on ethical conduct of business. All DSAs that are members of the WFDSA pledge to abide by the World Codes of Conduct as a minimum standard of ethical behavior

They are strictly prohibited from forming pyramid schemes which pull in money from unwary consumers on tall promises of big money and benefit few people, schemes which do not have quality product or services meeting with local laws and paying money for recruitments.

WFDSA also has very detailed guidelines for choosing the right opportunity, the questions to be asked before choosing an opportunity and verifying the antecedents of the company that one wishes to join. There are legal counsels worldwide with whom complaints can be lodged in the event of any malpractices or complaints about the companies. But for all these safeguards to work one must join business opportunities offered by companies which are members of the WFDSA. There are country chapters or associations which are in turn members of WFDSA subscribing to the Better Business Practices. The addresses may be had at the WFDSA website.

Direct selling provides important benefits to individuals who desire an opportunity to earn an income and build a business of their own especially in the current scenario of rampant unemployment; to consumers who enjoy an alternative to shopping in crowded market, difficulties of traveling in congested roads and parking places or the like; and to the consumer products market. It offers an alternative to traditional employment for those who desire a flexible income earning opportunity to supplement their household income, or whose responsibilities or circumstances do not allow for regular part-time or full time employment. In many cases, direct selling opportunities develop into a fulfilling career for those who achieve success and choose to pursue their independent direct selling business on a full time basis.

As in every business this industry is also beset with unscrupulous elements trying to cash in on the new opportunities. The people buying products should thoroughly verify and ask for proof of compliance with local laws, company background, and exhaustive testimonials on product usage claims before buying these products. The quickest way to assess the company is the length of time they have been in business. Any company with over a decade in the business is certain to have met all requirements as otherwise they may not have survived for so long.

Similarly people wishing to join the business opportunity must make sure that the entry into the business is inexpensive and any investments should only be on products and the quantity of stocking should be purely on what you can sell within a reasonable period of time say a 15 day inventory. Stocking should not be done on the basis of income claims or lure of higher positions. It is very important not to be swayed with huge income claims. Please remember that all business can be developed only on principles of hard work ethics, and bringing value to the customers and income can be generated only with good products and not on mere recruitments.

Detailed Guidelines of WFDSA can be read in the respective websites.

R.G. Srinivasan is a Managerial professional, Writer and Author. You can view his home-business resources blog at http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com for online marketing tips, resources,links and business opportunities.

Comments Off

June 2, 2008

Targeting Inactive Customers With Postcards

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 1:57 pm

You probably know that a prospect needs to see your business name an average of seven or eight times before they trust you enough to buy. When you consider the high cost of advertising and the lifetime value of a customer, it makes sense to try to recapture your inactive customers (people who have not purchased from you in the last six months to two years).

Postcards can be an inexpensive means of accomplishing this goal. However, to make your campaign effective, you need the following: (1) a good list, (2) strong offers,(3)an eye-catching creative, (4) repeated mailings, and (5) measurable results (in that order).

Begin with your list. Take at look at each inactive customer. Do they live far away and come to your store once or did they buy from you many times? How much have they spent with you? How long has it been since you have seen them? This can sometimes give you a better idea of who these customers are.

Now, you need to find out why they stopped doing business with you. Was it a problem with your product? Service? Price? What would it take to get them back in the door? Telephone surveys are probably the best way to obtain this knowledge. Since most customers don’t complain (they just leave), negative customer feedback is a gift. If you truly believe that and it comes across to your customers, you can probably conduct these calls yourself. However, to ensure the most honest answers from your customers, it’s best to use a third party.

Once your list is cleaned up (you know who to remove and have gotten some useful feedback on what would motivate the rest), you’re ready to create your offers. Remember, inactive customers are very hard to motivate and will not respond as often as your loyal customers. With that in mind, make your coupon or offer aggressive. Spending a little money here is a wise investment: many will not respond and those that do have the potential to become regular customers in the future. Don’t waste your money on the postcards if you’re only going to offer a 10% discount. If possible, pick a coupon that will appeal to a lot of people and gets them back a couple of times. For example, a car dealer may offer: buy one oil change, get the next one free. A free service, a substantial discount (like 20% off), or an added value to a purchase work well. Relating the discount to your product or service gets you the more bang for your buck than a gift certificate to another store.

To keep your piece from going in the trash, make sure it’s eye-catching. Bright colors, bold the offer or use large size font, use an unusual picture, an odd shape, or a clever statement to get attention. Make sure both sides of the postcard are compelling.

Plan to mail once a month for at least three months in a row. If Christmas time is where you make your money, schedule an October, November, and December campaign. People need enough time to respond. You may even want to increase the discount you’re offering for non-responders.

Finally, make sure your results can be measured. A discount code for your website, a coupon that must be brought in to be redeemed, or asking customers what prompted their purchase when they come in are examples. You may even want to split your mailing into two groups and test different wording or incentives. Tracking the results, will help determine what works and where you should spend your money next time.

Written by Alicia McSorley, Marketing Account Executive and Owner of Basket Star Gift Baskets: http://www.basketstar.com

Comments Off

Internet Mortgage Leads: 3 Hidden Sources of Good Quality Mortgage Leads

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 1:05 pm

Have you ever purchased internet mortgage leads? If so, you know
how challenging it can be to find quality internet mortgage
leads.

If you are a mortgage loan officer looking for internet mortgage
leads just keep reading. I’m about to show you how to tap into
three “hidden”, super-abundant sources of good quality internet
mortgage leads (as many as several hundred to thousands)

And that’s not all. Two of the three sources listed below can
generate internet mortgage leads at no cost.

Yes, even if you’re dead broke you can use these techniques to
create a flood of qualified internet mortgage leads and produce
an avalanche of new sales.

So let’s get started:

Internet Mortgage Lead Source #1: Articles

Write articles about your mortgage related niche and submit them
to article directories.

Here are a few sites for your article submissions:

About:

http://sbinformation.about.com/library/blsubmission.htm

ezinearticles.com

goarticles.com

articledashboard.com

searchwarp.com

contentdesk.com

isnare.com

buzzle.com

ideamarketers.com

businessknowhow.com

articlesphere.com

amazines.com

web-source.net/syndicator_submit.htm

Try to include the following elements in your articles:

1) Useful information - a must!

2) A text link to your site

3) A lead generating offer relating to the subject mater in
your article

Provide a link to a web page on your site where the reader can
get a complementary special report or something else of
value.

If you’re not a writer, hire someone to write your article for
you. Just search Google.com for the term “freelance writer”.

If you submit just two articles a week to the sites listed
above, after one year you would have 100 articles all over the
internet. If you publish useful information, these 100 articles
could easily generate hundreds if not thousands of pre-qualified
visitors to your site daily.

Internet Mortgage Lead Source #2: Joint Ventures

Here are a few easy steps to follow in order to generate
internet mortgage leads using joint ventures:

First, you will need to create a bribe. Let’ say you decide to
offer a complementary special report titled “10 quick and easy
ways to finance your home improvements”.

Next, you will need to find home improvement list owners who
publish ezines (electronic magazines) and newsletters online to
give away your special report.

To find home improvement list owners just go to Google.com and
search “home improvement ezine”or “home improvement newsletter”.
Then sign up for the publications.

When you receive the ezines and newsletters, click “REPLY” and
send the publisher an email asking them to give your special
report to their readers as a gift.

You can also offer to pay the publisher through an affiliate
program as an added incentive for giving away your special
report.

Internet Mortgage Lead Source #3: Pay Per Click (PPC)
Advertising

If you’ve tried to market your mortgage website on pay per click
search engines, you already know how competitive it is on the
net for mortgage related key words.

You can expect to pay $15 or more per click for the popular
mortgage key words on the major pay per click search
engines.

Here is a much less expensive way to get tons of PPC traffic to
your site: quigo.com

This site gives you PPC ads on local and national news paper and
magazine publication websites at a fraction of the cost of
advertising on Google adwords and Overture.

Certainly, these lead generation strategies can be a great
source of internet mortgage leads for your business. But to
insure your long lasting success in the mortgage business, you
will need to create and follow a complete “attack plan”.

Especially if you’re currently relying on only 1-2 sources for
generating your mortgage leads - because they can change and dry
up overnight (they often do).

For a complementary mortgage lead generation e-course that will
show you multiple strategies for generating mortgage leads,
please visit:

http://Mortgage-Marketing.Mortgage-Leads-Generator.com

Please feel free to reprint this article as long as the resource
box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

================================================

Hartley Pinn has recently created the “Mortgage Leads Generator”
Training Course to teach mortgage loan officers 10 proven
strategies for generating more than 71 mortgage
leads per day.

Comments Off

May 23, 2008

How To Win The Affiliate Game

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 12:08 am

Are you frustrated with your affiliate programs?
I used to be. Very frustrated! One day, in sheer
desperation, I wrote to one of my affiliate
programs and suggested that the market was now
saturated with their product - it was no longer
possible to sell it.

The next day I received a very nice reply. “The
Internet is HUGE”, they said. “We predict it will
be five years before the market is saturated with
our product. And long before that, we will have
introduced our next product.” They were right, of
course. The problem was not with the market (the
Internet is huge). Nor was the problem with their
product. The problem was in the way I was
presenting it.

Since then, my affiliate sales have soared. Why?
Because I learnt a few secrets to winning the
affiliate game. Here they are:

1. Choose affiliate programs that relate very
closely to the theme of your website. Let me give
you an example. Of the three affiliate products I
sell from my web site, the one that does best by
a long way is an eBook that shows people how to
generate free Ezine advertising. Why does it do
so well? Because my website is a directory of
ezines and most of my visitors are already
interested in Ezine Advertising before they even
arrive at my website - I don’t have to persuade
them very much.

2. Buy the product yourself! Research across
dozens of affiliate programs shows that at least
70% of sales in any affiliate program are made by
the small percentage of affiliates who actually
buy the product they’re selling. It makes sense
doesn’t it (how can you recommend something
you’ve never used)?

3. Banners - they don’t work anymore, and some
experts believe banners will actually damage your
affiliate sales.

4. Personal recommendation. The human factor is
very important on the Internet - people want to
know that someone else has bought the product and
that it worked for them. But to write a
convincing personal recommendation, you’ll have
to buy, read and use the product you’re selling.

5. ‘Over-selling’ - this is the most common
mistake of affiliates. Keep in mind that all you
need to do to succeed with affiliate programs is
to get your potential customer to click through
to the affiliate website in an ‘open-to-buy’
mindset. If the affiliate program is good, the
affiliate website will make the sale. So don’t
try to sell the product from your website - just
aim to get a click on your affiliate link.

5. Standard Ads. When you join an affiliate
program, you’ll probably be given some standard
ads to use. Don’t use them! Why? Because your
potential customer has probably seen those exact
same ads on dozens of websites and in dozens of
Ezines. And if that standard ad hasn’t led them
to buy the product so far, it probably won’t now.
Something new and original is required.

6. Back-end sales. Once you’re succeeding in one
affiliate program, join another program that
offers a related product and use the technique
that marketers call ‘back-end’ sales. It’s a well
known fact that people are much more likely to
buy from someone they have already bought from.
So when someone makes a purchase from your
affiliate link, send them a nice follow-up
letter. At the end of the letter, tell them about
your other affiliate product and how it can help
them.

Every success to you!

Comments Off

May 16, 2008

Everybody Loves Raymond….You Should Too!

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 3:58 am

Popular TV Series Provides a Powerful Marketing Lesson

Small Business owners spend a great deal of mental effort and time trying to dream up the next big marketing idea for their business. I’m all for that. It’s a good time investment for any small business owner to think about ways to promote their business. While you’re thinking, keep in mind that some of the most successful ideas aren’t new at all. Just ask Ray Romano.

Romano is the creator and star of the hit series Everybody Loves Raymond. The show is a ratings winner for CBS, and is generally regarded as one of the best sitcoms on TV. Is it funny? You bet. Was it created using a completely new and unique concept? Not at all.

Everybody Loves Raymond is a sitcom about one family’s life in a New York suburb. The twist in the show is that Ray’s annoying parents live right across the road, and his mother’s constant meddling in Ray’s affairs is a primary source of the show’s laughs. It’s a formula that has been used in countless sitcoms dating back at least 30 years. (Remember how Fred Flintstone used to dread his mother-in-law’s visits?)

When creating the concept for the show, Romano didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. He took a tried and true concept and then fine-tuned the details to come up with a hit. He created a cast of characters that were believable and interacted with each other in humorous ways. He added the element of his parents living across the road. But he never strayed too far from the family sitcom formula that had worked for so many shows in the past.

Small Business owners could learn a thing or two from Romano’s approach. When working on your next marketing idea, you don’t have to dream up a new, out-of-this-world concept. Find a proven marketing approach and then tinker with the fine details to come up with a plan that works for your business. Here are some examples of situations in which you can apply this philosophy:

Advertising: Small business owners have all been burned at one time or another by an expensive ad that didn’t pan out. There were plenty of family sitcoms that didn’t pan out over the years, but that doesn’t mean the concept is a poor one. Don’t shy away from advertising because of a bad experience. Instead, revisit the basic advertising mantra of targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time. Then make a few adjustments. Perhaps instead of one large ad you would benefit from 4 smaller ads in a variety of publications. Perhaps you could strike a deal with another small business to share your ad space and together run twice as many ads as you had planned. Giving up on advertising altogether would be a mistake. Fine tuning your approach could make all the difference.

Publicity: Most attempts to garner “free press” by small businesses result in failure. Writing a good news release is hard work, and getting the attention of the right journalist is also no easy task. However, the upside to garnering some publicity for your business can be huge which means you simply can’t afford to walk away from your PR work due to discouragement. Take a look at your news releases, or better yet ask someone else to do it for you. Analyze why they didn’t generate any interest from the media. Take that critical feedback and build another news release, but this time make some changes to your approach.

Did you go for a controversial angle and fail last time? Perhaps this time you should focus on an emerging trend in your business without putting as much focus on possible controversy. Or perhaps you could use the same news release you previously created but this time with a different method of distribution. If you used a newswire previously, how about sending the news release personally to a targeted list of journalists, one at a time. It may be that a customized approach will net you a greater result this time around.

Just like the hit show Everybody Loves Raymond, your marketing can be very successful when based on traditional marketing formula involving advertising and generating publicity. Sometimes it’s not the idea itself that brings you success, but rather it’s what you do with an existing idea that counts.

Article contents © 2004 by marketingyoursmallbusiness.com

“Everybody Loves Raymond” is a trademark of Worldwide Pants Inc.

About The Author

Will Dylan is the Author of “Small Business,Big Marketing” a powerful e-book for small businesses available at no charge through his website www.marketingyoursmallbusiness.com. Will also offers affordable news release writing services.

Comments Off

April 7, 2008

E-mail Whitelist Etiquette

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 9:23 am

A big-time dilemma is brewing online. In an understandable attempt to bypass all that annoying spam, e-mails that onliners want to receive are getting lost in the shuffle. Newsletter subscription requests are not being completed and important e-mails are not getting to their intended parties.

Your “Whitelist” is the list that contains the e-mail addresses of those you do in fact want to receive e-mail from. Some services require the accepted addresses be in one’s address book to be added to the whitelist. While other software/services call this list the approved or allowed senders list and require you manually add those you want to accept e-mail from to your list. Regardless of what this feature is called, it is clearly not being utilized correctly and in many cases, at all.

What can be done about this? A little user education and E-mail Whitelist Etiquette is in order!

=> When signing up for an online newsletter, mailing list or Web site service, immediately add their e-mail address or dot com to your approved or white list. This will ensure smooth communications with you and that e-mails will get through with the information you requested or confirmations necessary for you to acknowledge your request.

=> If you initiate the request, it is your responsibility to promptly add the other side’s e-mail address or dot com information to your whitelist. This extra step will reflect that you are courteous and tech savvy! In addition, doing so will avoid those who you have requested information or services from, from having to follow verification e-mail instructions just to get you the information you requested. Besides, you cannot count on everyone responding to those verification e-mailsmany simply don’t or can’t (automated subscription systems).

=> Before getting upset because you perceive someone didn’t respond, check to see if their e-mail was inadvertently deleted or sent to your Trash or Junk folder. Then, upon finding these e-mails in your Trash or Junk folders, add their information to your whitelist straight away. Too many onliners become belligerent about a supposed lack of response when in fact a response was sent and because they didn’t clear the way for the e-mail to be accepted it was diverted to trash or not allowed through.

=> Web sites and newsletters should have a response or thank you page that clearly requests site visitors and subscribers to add the required e-mail address to their whitelist right then and there. If onliners know the address to expect e-mail from, it is much easier to expect that they will add that address to their whitelist and your e-mail will get through.

It is important that every onliner make a conscious effort to become aware of the above issues and integrate these suggestions into their day-to-day activities. Only then can an informed online community use e-mail for the efficient and convenient communication tool it was meant to be.

EzineArticles Expert Author Judith Kallos

About the Author:
Judith Kallos is an authoritative and good-humored Technology Muse
who has played @ http://www.TheIStudio.com for over a decade. Check out her E-mail Etiquette Web Site and Book @ http://www.NetManners.com

Comments Off

April 4, 2008

Email Marketing 101 - What You Must Know Before Starting an Email Marketing Campaign

Filed under: University of Marketing — Admin @ 9:53 am

Before you start an e-mail marketing campaign it is important for you to know what e-mail marketing is, the benefits of e-mail marketing, and whether or not e-mail marketing is right for your business. Once you are educated on the finer points of an e-mail marketing campaign, you will be poised to either learn more and get your campaign going or else find another means of marketing your products.

What is E-mail Marketing?

E-mail marketing is a way by which you promote your business and services to individuals by e-mail. Frequently, people opt-in to receive these types of e-mails so you are not spamming people with unwanted mail. In these e-mails you will provide information on your business and service and information for individuals to contact you if interested in these advertised services. This is a great way to reach many individuals quickly and is very cost effective.

Now that you know what e-mail marketing is you need to learn about the benefits of an e-mail marketing campaign.

Benefits of E-mail Marketing

There are many benefits of e-mail marketing simply because the majority of people check their e-mail every day, if not multiple times per day. This means you have the opportunity to reach people almost immediately. Also, e-mail marketing is a billion dollar business so it certainly has a track record of being effective.

Other benefits of an e-mail marketing campaign includes saving a significant amount of time and money. An e-mail campaign can be started and completed in the matter of hours and then sent out immediately. The traditional method meant designing and printing advertising materials, stuffing and addressing envelopes, and finally mailing them. This included a lot of additional work and time, not to mention money.

You will also see your sales increase with this type of marketing campaign and generally you will receive a response rate of 5-15% with this type of campaign.

Now that you are aware of the benefits, is an e-mail marketing campaign for you?

To decide whether this type of campaign is for you or not you need to ask yourself some questions.

Question #1

What are your goals and how will you achieve them? You need to know what your goals are and what you are trying to achieve from a marketing campaign before you can decide what type of campaign will best benefit you.

Question #2

What resources do you have available to devote to this campaign?
You want to make sure that you have enough time to properly plan and carry out an e-mail campaign, not to mention the money and other skills it will take to create a successful campaign.

Question #3

Are your prepared to handle an onslaught of orders and questions? When you send out an e-mail for products or services, you need to be prepared to handle a lot of orders short amount of time, not to mention many questions. Be sure you are prepared before you start this type of campaign.

Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

Comments Off