Archive for Marketing + Selling
July 31, 2008 at 8:05 pm · Filed under Marketing + Selling
The Internet is a new marketing medium playing field for any
business wishing to get acquainted with its potential. Understanding the power of the web and its mechanisms is important to the growth of your business.
If you think that traffic is the only thing you should focus on to make more profits, then you’re wrong. Of course traffic is important as it means visitors for your website, but there is one more important thing you need to focus on: converting that traffic into buying customers.
To succeed in this operation you need to attract the attention of your visitors, and you can do that if your web content is used correctly.
- Speak to your visitors about their needs and wants.
Your prospects’ primary concern isn’t that you’ve been in business for 25 years. They search internet because they need something and you must use the content to identify at least one common problem of your prospects and the benefit of using your product or service.
- Use strong keywords.
Think and make a list with words that define better the needs of your customers. Use them to make a strong message so people who read your content to know how you can help them.
- Move prospects to action.
If you want to prompt prospects to visit your web site to buy or to contact you, include an offer that motivates them to do so.
- Ask prospects to contact you for more info.
That way your prospects will provide you with their contact information and the problem they want solved. Use the web, email, and the phone to follow up and close the sale.
- Ask for testimonials.
Ask your customers to give you testimonials and put them on the website. Do not post only positive comments, offer a real, but positive image of your business.
Valerian Dinca is a freelance writer specialized in internet marketing items like making money with home business
July 31, 2008 at 5:20 am · Filed under Marketing + Selling
Many people have a $100.00 radar detector to alert them of speed traps. But realize the authorities are in need of more budget money and they are going to get it from you and I anyway they can. The Tax revenues in many states has dwindled, cities which rely on a contribution of property taxes and sales tax are finding problems in areas which have lost population base or the economies are just doing the best they can locally. This is why you will find states trying to increase their revenues for their Transportation Departments much like the British did when we decided that we were going to throw some tea in the water. Popeye the famous cartoon character was always frustrated by these taxes, fines and fees.
Well America, they are going to get their money some how and probably from you and I. At the CES Show this year there was a seminar that listed between 15-22 million Americans have some sort of radar detector in at least one of their vehicles. Average American has 1.8 cars in metro area and subs and 1.1 in rural areas. About 20,000 X-Band radar units are installed in police vehicles in the US, which a small $90-100 radar detector can detect. But more than half are those of K-Band requiring a more sophisticated unit. And of course the latest Ka-Band with about 30-35 %. A cool book to read is “Fast Driving-without tickets” By Mr Peterson, available at Wal-Mart. He has a web site called
http://www.RadarTest.com
And as if the game of cat and mouse is not enough there is a group that does a cannon ball run in the US with exotic sport scars every year from San Francisco to Miami. Usually racking up $25,000 in fines and this year four impounded cars and 6 arrests. 30 cars in all. There is a users group on the Internet rec.auto.driving where sports enthusiasts go and discuss these issues. What few are understanding is that the troops using X-Band can sit and wait and then turn on their X-Band radar at the last minute and the driver would have no chance to slow down, even those with scanners for finding the other radios on will not work if the policeman turns off all electronics. This works well catching vehicles on highways in the middle of nowhere, where actually there is little risk of harming anyone, it is basically a way to raise revenues.
So forget being sneaky, just slow down and enjoy the fact that you have freedom and you can exercise it out on the highways and byways of America.
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
July 27, 2008 at 8:55 pm · Filed under Marketing + Selling
* Do you waffle your way OUT of business?
* Do you drone on about how great you are; how great your services are?
* Do you focus so much on trying to get your message across that you don’t listen?
If you even think this might be you on occasion - read on!
Your clients and your potential clients are bombarded with information. Your clients and potential clients are surrounded by products, services, knowledge and people all trying to persuade them to part with their time, money and soul!
So how can you be different and what will enable you to get the business on your client’s terms?
Here are 3 factors to consider - Clarity, Connection and Specialism
Clarity
“…the most persuasive evidence of people’s expertise is the clarity with which they communicate” Harry Beckwith
When you are speaking with a client/prospect, be clear about what you are about. Be clear about what differentiates you and be very clear about the results you can deliver in line with the problems they need solving.
Speak in language that is non-jargon, non-clichéd and is clear and to the point.
Speak in stories and pictures sometimes as you describe successes you have had in the past.
Speak in linear terms as you describe a process you will carry out.
Speak in terms of the emotional needs that you can address.
In whatever manner or medium you communicate be clear. To do this effectively, all the time you need to clear yourself about purpose, message and outcome from the meeting/phone call/marketing collateral. If you don’t have clarity it’s certain your prospects and clients won’t.
Connection
Create a connection with your clients. If you woo them then ignore them you may have short term business but not a long term relationship. Simple things to stay in touch are not expensive or time consuming but they are effective and help your clients feel valued.
* A short “how’s it going” phone call - when you don’t have anything to sell!
* A quick “thought you may find this article interesting” email
* An invitation, introduction or complementary gift goes a long way to keeping you in touch with your clients, maintaining the relationships and if and when new opportunities come up who do you think they will most likely talk to?
Specialism
As more and more consultants set up their business the competition gets bigger. For independent or small consultancies the ability to win great business consistently means getting known. How do you get known? - by being a specialist. By being great at one or two things. By being THE consultancy that does X. Specialism is the way forward. If you try and be all things to all people a number of things happen.
1. prospects get confused about what you do
2. prospects are not sure what you are REALLY good at
3. prospects find it harder to choose
4. prospects have too many messages to cope with
5. you get less business
If you try and offer too many services or say you can to too many things, there is a danger that you do nothing well and spread yourself and your resources thinly as you try to cope with every demand as you become desperate for business. Desperation shows.
Whilst it may be hard to turn down business it shows you know what you are about and your prospects will recognise that. To complement your specialism you need to collaborate with other specialists that can support what you do or take business that you are not a specialist in. Forming strategic alliances is a good way to manage this.
“Consultants must first recognize that they are selling a relationship rather than competence and advice. You must win the person to win the business, and you must keep winning the person to keep the business.” Harry Beckwith
So put some focus on how you can win new relationships through clarity, connection and specialism.
Beverley Hamilton works with independent business consultants to help them grow a profitable consultancy and still have time for their life.
You can get my Free Ecourse Discover the 5 Most Common Incorrect Assumptions Independent Business Consultants Make and a complimentary subscription to Quickstart, the newsletter specifically for consultants. Go to One Step Further for more instantly accessible resources. Your future Your choice
|
|
July 26, 2008 at 8:14 pm · Filed under Marketing + Selling
The role of marketing in business may surprise you. Many books and seminars on marketing begin on how to develop the Marketing Plan. I believe this to be a mistake.
You shouldn’t begin thinking how you are going to market something until you first determine if you have something to market. You also need to have the ability to develop and service your product; will it work the way you say it will work; are there no adverse legal ramifications? Finally, can you sell of offer it for a profit?
Finding your Niche Market
To begin, you need to find a product that people need. Think back in your life. Was there any problem that you felt was not resolved completely? Was a solution presented to you that could have been more complete? Still no ideas?
Then seriously contemplate and record the following:
- What kind of things are you interested in? Tennis, Books, Music…..
- Do these interest border on Passion? Football, Writing, Collecting…..
- Where is your Knowledge base? Is there any subject or topic that you know a lot about?
- Are you the person people come to for answers - asking your advice or opinion?
Answer the above questions. Consider each point carefully; don’t be afraid to consult with friends, family and colleagues. And be completely honest. When you pursue a business that you are passionate about, something you really like to do, your chances of success in business increases dramatically.
Finding the Hurt
The product or service you wish to develop should be related to something you are interested in. By promoting your interests, it will feel less like work, and more like fun. After all, wouldn’t you rather “work” at what is fun?
Many people make the mistake of developing a product first, then trying to find a market. That is backwards. You must first find the demand, and then fill it. This will guarantee the success of your product, as people are already looking for what you are about to develop. By filling this need, you can actively focus your energies on marketing to the audiences that will provide the highest sales profit.
I. Finding the Right Markets:
Examine your list. You now must research and find markets that relate to your list of interests. Brainstorm a list of general, potential markets for each of your interests. Do not be concerned if your markets seem too broad or general. Utilize friends, family and the Internet - searching keywords related to your interests.
II. Research the Competition:
Now that you have your list of specific markets, it’s time to examine the competition -both online and off. Research businesses that cater to the specific markets on your list.
For Example: Artists might be segmented into oil painters, watercolor artists, sculptors, advertising. Examine how existing businesses cater to these markets. What approach do they take to the ceramic artist? Are they offering fr*e advice, selling it, providing products?
Finally, take a look at how well these businesses are marketing themselves to the market segment. How organized and professional looking are their sites?
Two great tools to compare companies is Alexa and Marketleap. Alexa is comparatively accurate, and can give you details for a site including:
- Traffic Ranking
- Related Links
- Link Saturation
- Contact Information
- Site, User Reviews
While most of the information is accurate, it can be abused. I have found several Reviews coming from competitors with less than flattering remarks. The comments were unfounded and only used to try and reduce the credibility of the actual site. I also found Contact Information slow to be updated. On the whole it is a great tool and worth utilizing.
Marketleap will help you compare sites showing Link Popularity, Search Engine Saturation and Keyword Verification.
Their Link popularity check is one of the best ways to quantifiably and independently measure a website’s online awareness and overall visibility. Simply put, link popularity refers to the total number of links or “votes” that a search engine has found for that website.
Search Engine Saturation simply refers to the number of pages a given search engine has in its index for a website domain. Not all search engines report this information but enough of them do to create some meaningful benchmarks for search engine marketing campaigns.
The Keyword Verification Tool checks to see if a site is in the top three pages of a search engine result for a specific keyword.
III. Meet the Market Demand:
Now it’s time to find the greatest need. There are several ways to research this:
1. Research Keywords
To narrow down your niche market utilize tools such as:
- WordTracker
- Overture Term Suggestion - gives a list of related searches and how many times those terms were searched in Overture during the previous month.
Search for terms that are frequently searched for by your target market - but are not being used effectively by your competition. This competitive analysis will expose untapped needs and help you avoid marketing to heavily saturated markets.
RULE: When competing in a saturated market, define and maintain a tightly focused niche market for your business.
If you find there are many web sites marketing a similar product and not enough people are actually buying to make your product idea profitable, it is better to find out before you launch your Marketing Campaign.
2. Newsgroups, Discussion Boards,Chat Rooms
Be still, and listen. People will TELL you what they like and don’t like; what they’re looking for. These forums are frequently visited by people seeking advice. By monitoring these discussions you will discover the “hurts” that need to be filled.
This is a great way to find potential products or service ideas. If the same question is repeated, there are probably hundreds and, perhaps, thousands of people wondering the same thing. Some good places to start:
- ThreadWatch
- Webmaster World
- CashKeywords
- Google Groups
A search in any of the major search engines will provide several good boards and chat rooms.
3. Customer Use
If you already have an established customer base, send out an email survey. 80% of your continual sales come from 20% of your client base. Statistics have shown that up to 36% of your current client base will purchase form you again if you have something similar to offer.
4. The Reviews Are In
These sites are used by people to either rave or complain. This makes it a gold-mine of information of how the public perceives the competition.
- Cunsumer Review
- Consumer Search
- Epinions
5. Competitive Analysis
What exactly is your competition offering? What solutions are they offering? Where are they vulnerable? To beat the competition, you need to understand the competition.
The purpose of Competitive Analysis is t to determine which business strengths are needed to be competitive in the market. You also need to determine how the competition will react to your strategies BEFORE you implement them.
Your competitors could be your greatest source of inspiration. Once you have chosen your area of interest - start a thorough market research.
To analyze the competition, gather information on:
- Their Competitive Market Share
- Their Current Strategies
- Future Goals
- Where they are vulnerable
- What will provoke retaliation
- copies of all their marketing materials
The more you find out, the better you’ll be able to find a weakness, and then develop a strong Unique Selling Proposition. Make your product better, faster, easier, safer, and more cost-effective. Do whatever it takes to entice customers to buy your product or service over your competitions.
IV. Customer Analysis : : How Accurate Is Your Research?
At this point, determine if your research is accurate? Talk to members of the market and confirm it.
- How big of a problem is it for them?
- Is it a minor nuisance, or is it something they would pay to obtain a solution for?
- How much is that solution worth to them?
1. Validate your information; get on the phone, run surveys, chat in newsgroups. Do research to see if anyone else is currently offering a solution to this problem. If they are, what are they charging and how good is the service?
2. Customer Interest: Find out if customers are interested in the product or service. It may be that there is already enough products in that niche, but it lacks in services to help use the products.
3. Determine the general price range. Can you offer a price advantage? Determine the price-sensitivity of your future, potential customers. If the competition is constantly cutting costs to gain new customers, this is a warning flag.
4. What gender is your potential market? What is their income level? What level of education do they have? Their geographic location? These are important factors in order to determine how lucrative your market will be, as well as how to best approach and advertise.
5. Most importantly, What motivates the market to buy? Do they react to a price drop? When you understand your audiences’ motivation, you’ll be able to appeal to what motivates them to buy.
Conclusion:
Remember to find the problem before you try to develop a solution. It is much more lucrative to find out what your potential market is searching for and then filling that need.
- Choose a niche market from your interests
- Research keywords to find what the market is already searching for
- Research existing niches and improve on existing products
- Survey current customers for potential products
Your business success hinges directly on choosing a product that the public already wants and then providing it.
_______________________________________________________________
About The Author
Suzanne Fyhrie Parrott owns and operates OneWay Advertising and Design, and is co-owner of TrafficGeni.us. Established in 1988, OneWay is a full-service Christian Advertising agency providing marketing, advertising and graphic design services for on and off the Internet.
July 25, 2008 at 4:49 pm · Filed under Marketing + Selling
What if there was some way to tap into the ever-growing popularity of world-wide sport that could turn the gambling factor of sports betting into an investment vehicle producing sustainable results over the long-term such as equity trading?
Sports Trading was conceptualized and bridge between conventional sports betting and real-world stock trading was built.
Please note: generalizations are used in this article because sport trading exchanges can differ in nature and offerings.
What is Sports Trading?
You may immediately associate sports trading with that of card trading but until fairly recently, sports trading has taken on another exciting meaning.
Although the actual definition of sports trading may differ exactly depending on the type of exchange in question, it is essentially the act of investing in virtual sports issues or contracts (i.e. sports teams, players or markets).
Sports trading is not to be confused with sports betting (betting against a bookmaker) or some other form of fancy gambling, sports trading runs along the same investment lines as trading on a conventional stock market exchange (e.g. Wall Street).
Participants of:
- Fantasy sports games
- Stock trading simulation games
- Sports betting exchanges
will identify a commonalty with a typical sports trading exchange.
Although sport trading is still somewhat dwarfed by the sports betting and real-world trading industries, there is no question of the future popularity for this concept as people from all backgrounds are coming together to trade be it virtual stocks or issues or real contracts for real money on any sports related market, offered by the online sport trading exchange.
Sports trading exchanges are developing sophisticated technology, commonly employing a proprietary trading platform and in most cases, with a Level II type trading interface.
It is typical of a global sports trading exchange to offer around-the-clock (i.e. 24/7) trading as exchange members are not inhibited with limited or set trading hours so are free trade anytime, from anyplace around the world.
Advantages over Sports Betting
Sports trading has the thrill of sports betting but without the inherit risk of gambling that sports betting produces.
Some notable advantages sport trading has over conventional sports betting are (trading exchange dependant):
- Far less risk; eliminates the ‘all or nothing’ situation
- Can still profit even from an event loss
- Capital appreciation
- Dividend income
- Not solely competing against professionals
- Greater chance of success (not limited to above reason)
- Can be invested with minimal effort
Sport trading eliminates the gambling factor associated with sports betting; traders seldom lose their total investment in a stock holding (i.e. they have the ability to trade out to prevent further loss), the sports bettor loses their entire wager with an incorrect guess.
The sports trader is not competing solely against professional bookmakers whose job is to get the better of you - more often. Sport trading exchanges are about people-to-people interaction so you are pitting your skill, judgement and knowledge against fairer competition. Learn to be savvy and you end up with the edge.
Once invested, the sports trader can theoretically sit-back and monitor their investments passively; the sports bettor must normally wager every time to potentially make money and therefore, incur greater risk on each and every bet.
Advantages over conventional stock trading
Participants of stock trading already will find other useful benefits from a typical sport trading exchange such as:
- Lower trading fees due to being solely online trading
- Greater participation from a wider audience
- Not being exclusive to professionals
- Around the clock trading (no set trading sessions)
- Wider-economy independence
- Readily accessible sport information for all
- Global trading stock exchanges
The global online sport trader is conveniently afforded time-zone irrelevant trading from an online trading environment that typically does not shut for trading.
With the world-wide following sport increasingly enjoys (activity is seldom subject to prevailing economic factors that affect conventional trading exchanges) and the substantial amount of publicly available information not subject to a privileged few, sport traders can finally compete on fairer terms with other traders.
Online sports trading on virtual trading exchanges provide a wonderfully unique cross over between conventional sports betting and real-world stock trading in essence; they combine many of the advantages of the two, in a single investment product.
The opportunities that exist on these virtual exchanges and the resulting advantages are too long to detail here but it is the hope of this article to spread further awareness and the investment advantages of sport trading because this is a viable form of investment worthy of promotion.
The Sports Trading Investor - games of strategy and skill, markets of excitement and opportunities. Providing informative resources to help make you become a winner!
July 23, 2008 at 10:05 pm · Filed under Marketing + Selling
Even if the decision to buy appears to rest elsewhere, women frequently have a major influence on whether or not the sale is made. It’s easy to consider the car industry as predominantly male-driven. The majority of salespersons, journalists and mechanics are male, and published statistics of new car sales are weighted toward men.
For example, in 2002, almost 850,000 new cars were sold in Australia, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. It is estimated that sole female car purchases represent between 20 and 48 percent of this figure, but female influence on those same purchases is around 70-80 percent.
This takes us back to the basic marketing concept of remembering that the decision-maker is not always the person who pays the bill, a rule frequently forgotten by administrators of hotel loyalty cards who do not allow points to be collected by guests if the bill is being sent back to the company.
Another area often considered to be a male dominion is that of technology. Looking at DVD sales, for instance, we find that in 2002, only a third of women claimed to be their family’s primary DVD purchaser but by 2004 that figure had increased by more than half.
What is interesting here is not so much the size of the market, but the speed of its increase. Therefore, companies that have traditionally geared their marketing to men and continue to do so because the male market has always been their main source of custom may be guilty of backward thinking.
Another aspect flagged up by the speed of change is how challenging it can be for companies to stay ahead of the game when marketing to women. Factors that affect women’s desires and purchasing power such as levels of education, income and independence are all increasing at a more rapid rate than those of men.
What women want that’s different to what men want
The lives of the majority of women today are infinitely more complicated than the lives of their male counterparts. It is the woman in the relationship who will generally be looked to when it comes to the multi-faceted operation of the home. The woman is likely to be the one who keeps the environment clean and organized, ensures the family or partner is clothed and fed, shops, irons, recycles, handles the help, ferries the kids and keeps tabs on everyone’s social diaries. On top of this, she’s very likely to be holding down one of more jobs or developing a business or career.
So the entire running of the household is likely to have the female as the lynch-pin. This often includes the handling of the household finances and yet the majority of financial products, along with cars and technology, are still considered male-gender specific.
How women make the decision to buy
Frequently, when seeking solutions to problems, women will have conducted research online and be extremely well-prepared prior to placing themselves in line for a sales pitch. Any company that does not acknowledge this and insists on wasting a woman’s increasingly valuable time is likely to trigger a negative response as she can feel patronized by a “step-by-step, start from the beginning”, approach that may be unnecessary.
With such complicated lives, women seek simplified solutions. When looking at your product, consider how your marketing can also be simplified to avoid adding to an already stressful life. Is it possible for your entire product and its benefits to be presented in such a way that it solves problems for over-stressed women? Does your marketing show how your product will support her busy lifestyle?
It is not even as simple as the traditional method of asking questions and identifying what she wants because she will make purchasing decisions based, not only on her own needs, but also on the needs of her family. The first consideration should always be an acknowledgement of the complications in her life.
So she needs to know that you understand the problems she faces. Can your sales force show that they identify with her?
Women are three times as likely to learn about a new product from another woman. It is likely that women purchasers assume that another woman can more easily understand her challenges than a man. If a woman is presenting your product and is able to show how your product or service makes sense in the world they both occupy, the purchase is a natural progression.
When the sale is made in this manner, your female purchaser feels valued and acknowledged and knows that she has been offered a solution, rather than having been pushed into a sale which she will inevitably cancel.
Maria Davies is a Professional Sales Presenter who specialises in “Pull Selling” - a method that works particularly well sellling to women. Using techniques that lead the customer to a natural purchase conclusion without the traditional hard sell and resultant buyer remorse, she achieves outstanding results in platform sales and teaches others to replicate her success. Contact her at http://www.laddersofsuccess.com to have her present your business or product or train your sales presenters in her persuasive techniques.
July 22, 2008 at 1:40 am · Filed under Marketing + Selling
When buying baby clothes parents are suddenly inundated with multiple choices that can become quite confusing. How many cute and adorable outfits does little Bill or Hillary need? How many “Onesie” body suits are enough? For little people that grow so quickly there are certainly a wide variety of clothing options, how does a new parent know what to get?
To help settle the dilemma and answer these questions, parents need to keep in mind a simple “rule of three.” Babies need three kinds of clothes. Clothes are needed for daytime wear, for going out, and for sleeping. The baby sleepwear will likely outnumber the other varieties since sleeping is what babies spend most of their time doing, but the numbers of each outfit will vary in direct relation to the number of times the parents are willing to do laundry.
Baby Daywear
The clothes you have for your baby to “hang around” in should be comfortable, easy to access for diaper changes, and simple. These are the articles that your baby will spend most of her time in and they’re bound to get dirty. When the baby spits up, spews strained beets all over the place, crawls around on the floor, or does any of the other relatively messy and somewhat disgusting things that babies do, these clothes are going to bear the brunt of the abuse. As such, you probably don’t want these things to happen while baby is wearing the beautiful Baby Dior outfit that Aunt Edna gave as a shower gift. The best clothes for these day to day needs are simple body suits with snaps at the crotch. Onesies are a brand name of these items, but the term has pretty much entered the language to mean any such article designed this way. You’ll probably want anywhere between five and ten of these on hand.
Baby Sleepwear
Clothing for sleeping should meet some of the same specifications as the baby daywear in terms of comfort and accessibility. Obviously if you live in a colder region or it is the middle of December you’ll want heavier articles than if you live in Phoenix and its July. Babies can still be messy when they sleep, but are usually nowhere near as messy as when they’re up and around. In warm enough climates the same style of Onesies that are used for baby’s daytime activities can double as sleepwear, but if the temperature is cooler you’ll want heavier knit PJs or similar sleepwear.
Dressing up Baby
The outdoor baby wear is where the parents really get to shine. Here is where you can utilize the cute and adorable stuff that was given as shower gifts or that you just couldn’t resist picking up during a routine trip to Wal-Mart. These items should still be examined for practicality, making sure that straps, snaps, bows and such do not interfere with diaper changing or cause discomfort to the infant, but you’re a little freer to show off. After all, everyone wants to coo over an adorable baby. When the adorable baby is adorably dressed, the cooing is that much sweeter.
Kirsten Hawkins is a baby and parenting expert specializing new mothers and single parent issues. Visit www.babyhelp411.com/ for more information on how to raising healthy, happy children.
July 8, 2008 at 3:08 am · Filed under Marketing + Selling
I sent my e-zine out last week and I received a copy of it back. It had been forwarded to me by a subscriber. In the subject line was a two word sentence; since most publications and websites frown upon vulgarity, obscenity, and profanity, I have spared you the exact wording. Be assured, however, that Miss Manners would definitely not approve.
It is understandable the frustration that people feel when they are inundated with unsolicited commercial e-mail. I myself get more than my fair share.
Despite my Internet Service Provider (ISP) enabling a spam filter and in spite of configuring my own e-mail program filters, I still get spam.
However, the situation with my subscriber is different. He opted in and confirmed his subscription. I use an outside service to handle my mailing lists, in part, to protect myself from false spam complaints.
There are a number of possibilities here. Perhaps my dear subscriber forgot that he subscribed and honestly believed that he received spam.
Another possibility is that he didn’t enjoy the content. The correct response when someone offers you something you don’t want is “No, thank you” not “Expletive deleted”.
If you are offered dessert after dinner by your host and you don’t want any, simply say “No, thanks.” If you accept one piece of pie and then you’re offered another, you may either accept or decline.
My subscriber could simply have unsubscribed. Instead, he retaliated (either because he believes I’m spamming him or he doesn’t like the newsletter).
He said “yes” when he subscribed; he can always say “no” by unsubscribing. Again, “No, thank you” not “Expletive deleted”.
Related to this rudeness is the ignorance some America Online, Inc. (AOL) subscribers show. By ignorance, I mean that they may not even realize they are doing anything wrong when they report e-mail they don’t like as spam.
AOL makes it very easy for their subscribers to report spam. I would say they make it too easy.
Just click the button “Report Spam”. Unfortunately, there is no notation near that button that says “If you subscribed, just unsubscribe.” No, simply “Report Spam.”
And they do. Rather than unsubscribe, some AOL subscribers will report your e-zine as spam. They opted in and subscribed. They confirmed their subscription by e-mail. Their name, e-mail address, IP address, and date and time of subscribing have all been recorded. But, they are reporting you as a spammer.
This, to me, goes beyond rude, as it could affect the reputation and livelihood of the one being reported.
I wish I could say that receiving obscenities or threats by e-mail is rare. Sadly, this is not the first time for me.
Among the many messages I receive are some that say that the e-mail I tried to send (from some strange or nonsensical name at my domain) was undeliverable or blocked and is being returned to me. Of course, I never sent that e-mail in the first place.
Occasionally, I receive rude (sometimes threatening) e-mails from people who thought I sent them some of these spoofed e-mails. This is the equivalent of swearing at and threatening someone who you believe allowed his dog to defecate on your lawn. The only problem is that the man doesn’t have a dog.
Again, I sympathize with those who are irritated by spam. I just wish they would direct their indignation at the spammers instead of me. In fact, Miss Manners would have reminded us all that there is never any excuse for rudeness.
J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years. To learn more about autoresponder services and other profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit: www.yenommarketinginc.com/autoresponders.html
June 24, 2008 at 9:42 pm · Filed under Marketing + Selling
Perhaps the most daunting challenge any budding exporter faces is to find buyers for his/her products. Selling in international market has never been simple - with diverse language, geographical distance, cultural difference and lack of market knowledge posing real challenge to any manufacturer/ exporter.
However, given right homework and planning, selling in overseas market today is easier, simpler and less expensive than it was a decade ago. There are many silver linings in the forms of positive Govt Policy, favourable international climate, less tariff and non-tariff barriers and above all easy and inexpensive access to an incredibly powerful and all-encompassing medium like Internet. Never before in the history of human civilization so many people from so vastly different places and societies freely interacted with each other as we witness today in Internet.
So, how do today’s exporters take advantage of this favourable business climate and become successful ? The answer lies in thoughtful planning, effective implementation and perseverance.
In fact, large number of exporters have used these advantages successfully as reflected in unprecedented export growth witnessed over last 10 years.
How To Find Buyers
To put it simply, there are only two ways you can find buyers of your products - either you find the buyer or buyer finds you. Your sales strategy must take into account both the factors and plan for effective use of both sources.
Some of the ways to locate buyers are :
- Searching directories, trade literature etc.
- Using buyer-seller meets organized by trade associations
- Conducting Market Research
- Employing Commercial Agent/ Representatives
- Subscribing to information services etc.
Some of the ways of attracting buyers are:
- Advertisement
- Promotion (e.g. direct mail)
- Trade Shows
- Web-sites
- Search Engine Marketing
etc.
How Important is the Internet in your Marketing Strategy ?
10 years ago - buying agents and trade shows were the two most popular avenues for selling in international markets. Participation in overseas trade shows was, and still is, prohibitively expensive for most small and medium exporters. Internet has not only made available new avenues for sellers, it has also drastically changed distribution pattern. Today, conventional distribution channel of seller to large importer to distributor to local stockiest to retailer is severely disrupted as small retailers from USA and Europe regularly visit foreign web-sites and order directly. This is a win-win situation as both buyer and seller stand to gain substantially by transacting directly without middlemen. It does add to business risks but profit margins also become very impressive by going direct.
In coming years, we shall see more and more buyers coming through the Internet route. To be successful - you should be able to make best use of this opportunity that was not available to your predecessors even 10 years back.
Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15 years in various capacities like Research and Information Analysis, Market Development, MIS, R&D Information Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce venture in 1997. He writes regularly for Great Indian Bazaar - export import trade point & business directory serving exporters, importers, manufacturers, buyers and sellers since 1997 You may find more articles by Amit at FAIDA - Newsletter Articles on Export Import Trade Over Internet . Visit Amit’s Blog at http://ez-import-export.blogspot.com/
May 27, 2008 at 10:56 pm · Filed under Marketing + Selling
If you have to part with your hard-earned money for some goods or services, who would you rather trust: a novice provider or an expert one?
The answer to that question is what makes branding so much important. Branding is the process, nay, the art, of stamping a seal of professionalism and reliability on products or services that are related to you. It’s the core of every business and the heart of every successful trade.
Donald Trump has made a living out of branding. He has established for himself a reputation for producing quality goods. Since his name has been attached to this perception, he has extended the same to all his products. Today, people choose his offerings because of the Trump name.
The same principle can be applied online. Brand yourself as an expert in a certain field and people would go to you whenever they’ll have needs relevant to your specialization. It’s the best advertisement there is: a public perception of your indubitable expertise.
The Internet has taken this a step further with the formulation of a strategy called viral branding. The trick here is to allow the spread of your expertise is such a way that the number of people who would view you as a bankable provider would grow exponentially. Contrary to popular belief, this is quite easy to pull off.
Here are some ways to brand yourself and allow the word to spread like wildfire. Soon enough, your reputation would be synonymous with excellence.
1. Write about something you know by heart. Words convey your expertise, so you better use this avenue well. Write an e-book, or a special report, or an article even. Make sure it is informative and helpful for anyone who chances upon it.
2. If you don’t have the time to write, hire a ghostwriter. There are a lot of them on the net. Some charge high, while there are those who have reasonable rates. Find someone you could trust, and who would be able to present the topic you have in mind in the most interesting way possible.
3. If you have written, or have caused the writing, of an e-book or a special report, you have to distribute it with enough incentive for the reader to spread it in his network. Usually, a quality work would do the trick. But to be sure, give it away for free, or bundle it with other products. Explicitly state that the reader can give it away to his friends and family members. This would make your work go viral.
4. If you have written, or have caused the writing, of an article, submit it to as many free articles sites on the web, with your name and website prominently displayed in the resource box. Encourage the readers to republish the article for as long as they maintain the resource box.
5. Publish your own eZine. An eZine, or electronic magazine, would be a consistent venue you could use to show your subscribers your reliable business plan. Encourage them to ask questions, and answer these queries in your eZine. One person’s question would then become everyone’s concern, and broadcasting your answer to all of them could only reinforce your good reputation.
6. Provide excellent after purchase service. No matter how good your product is, the buyer won’t remember your name unless you give him something extra. A good post-purchase service, i.e. technical support, eligibility for freebies, etc., would assure you that your clients will remember you instead of merely remembering the product.
7. Establish relationships. Treat people well and chances are they will treat you just as nice. Every online acquaintance is one person more to your network, and that one person has a separate network of hundreds more. Having good relationships with the people you deal with is the best way of getting the word out that your name means good business.
Cedrick Reese is the webmaster of http://www.eclectic-info.com, Start an easy Home-Based Business through Affiliate Marketing and Adsense. Other sites include http://www.Your-RealEstateCourses.com and http://www.PremeirHosting.com
« Previous entries ·
Next entries »
