Marketing 101- Back to the Basics

Regardless of what business you are promoting, brick & mortar, online products, or professional services you still need a marketing strategy that will work. Here are some questions to ask yourself….

Message

• Do you have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? - Why should people choose to do business with you instead of any of the other choices they may have?

• Do you make an Irresistible Offer each time you have your message in front of them asking for a response?

• Are you using a proven sales formula , and have you organized your message to be clearly understood?

• Is your intended recipient interested in what message you are trying to convey, have you addressed what they care about?

Market

• Have you identified WHO is your ideal customer within a target market , and why you are the ideal provider?

• How much do you know about your target customer and what makes them tick? (Such as hopes, fears, desires…..)

• Is your message perfectly and precisely written to match your target audience or is it a generic message ?

Media

• What is your month to month marketing plan to deliver interesting news and information to selected media (local and/or national) to gain favorable publicity?

• Do you have and follow a marketing calendar that takes advantage of holidays, events, or events specific to your industry?

• Have you developed effective lead capture pages on your website to capture visitor information?

• How many different forms of media do you use? Direct mail, e-mail, webinars, pay per click (PPC), newspaper classifieds, social media sites? Diversify to keep the pipeline full.

(Source: Based on the book The Ultimate Marketing Plan)

Please leave a comment letting me know what marketing methods work best for you

Until next time, J.

"Take control of your destiny or someone else will"

Why Direct Marketing Is Like Baseball

Another great article on Early to Rise , by Bob Bly. If you’ve ever used direct marketing in your business - you’ve got to read this!

Please leave a comment about how you test your marketing campaigns.

I heard on the radio a few weeks ago that the Florida Marlins, with 23 wins and 14 losses, has the best record in Major League baseball today.
But that means the best-performing team in professional baseball loses six out of every 10 games it plays.
And remember: That’s the best record in baseball.
What’s ironic is that businesspeople who accept this statistical truth about baseball without a second thought… go bonkers when even one of their marketing programs fails .
Experienced direct marketers know - and expect - a percentage of their test campaigns to under-perform the current control, or even lose money. They accept this fact without despair, because they know that if one test mailing in every two… or every three… or even every five is a winner, they can make a lot of money.
Inexperienced direct marketers don’t get this.
As a result, countless small businesses test direct marketing once every few years. And if they don’t hit a home run the first time at bat, loudly proclaim "Direct mail doesn’t work "… and abandon it.
If you’re a business owner or marketing professional, is there a better way to get direct marketing to work for you? Yes. And it’s nothing more than doing more testing than you do right now.
Let’s say you are planning to mail 5,000 postcards to drive people to a Web page.
You just can’t decide which of two headlines you like: "Tastes Great" or "Less Filling." If you randomly pick just one, your risk of going with the wrong sales appeal - and, therefore, having your postcard mailing bomb - is 50 percent.
A much better approach is to split the postcard mailing into two batches, half with the headline "Tastes Great" and the other half with "Less Filling." Each drives traffic to a different URL so you can measure the click-through and conversion rates. Then you see which one generates the most leads.
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Who is Successful Using the Carbon Copy Pro System

To begin with you need to understand, this is not an "easy money " or "get rich quick " scheme. However, anyone who has a real desire to shake up their lives, and not just settle for the status quo - can be successful using this cutting edge marketing system . Here are some who have changed their lives…..

*****CarbonCopyPRO Field Report*****

Best Day: $5000
As a former small business owner, I now have the freedom to stay at home with my kids, attend their functions, and do the things most singles mom’s only dream of being able to do.
Thank you CarbonCopy Marketing for this Brilliant and Duplicatable System!
-Mona McClelland, Victoria BC

Best Month: $32,000
From twelve years in Law Enforcement making peanuts…
To over making over $30K in a month thanks to the CarbonCopy System.
The key word here being "SYSTEM"!
-Mark Coccio, MA
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Unemployment Rate Jumped to 5.5 Percent

This is the kind of negative news that the general public gets very nervous about reading. It also causes some people to freeze, become immobile, feel like a victim, and bottom line NOT TAKE ACTION to do something for themselves. To reference Trump and Kiyosaki again, they stress that we, as individuals MUST take responsibility for ourselves . In Kiyosaki’s quadrant example he explains why you won’t get rich by "playing it safe" as an employee, or as a self-employed individual because you can’t leverage yourself (and time). He recommends owning a business (current favorite - Network Marketing ), and becoming an active investor .

Here’s some sobering news quoted from an article today on MSN.
"The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May — the biggest monthly rise since 1986.

A trio of crises — housing, credit and financial — have rocked the economy. That’s caused economic growth to slow to a crawl as businesses and consumers have tightened their belts. Spiraling energy costs are another negative force.

“For the average American there is not debate that the economy is in a recession,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “That’s because their net worth is lower, their purchasing power is lower and it is tough to find a job. If you lose a job, it is tough to get back in,” he said." Go HERE to read more.

What better time than now, to do something for yourself and not rely on others. Find your passion and look for a business to support that. Not only could it be the best financial decision you’ve made in a long time, it could also provide you with the freedom and balance in your life you’ve been looking for as well. What do you have to lose?

I’d love to hear your comments about creating your own opportunities in today’s economy.

Until next time, J.

"Take control of your destiny or someone else will"

Buy one home and get a second one free

This article is an example of how creative some realtors and home builders are becoming to move "inventory" from their balance sheet. I found it really interesting…. it certainly is not an easy market for the housing industry. If you are in real estate or the mortgage business you may want to take a peak on the Blogroll (to the left) under Real Estate/Mortgage Professionals for a lucrative alternative.

Also, please leave a comment on how you are being creative with your marketing….

The grocery shopper’s beloved BOGO — buy one, get one (free) — has moved into the realm of home sales. Yes, home sales. In yet another sign of how anxious sellers have become in today’s housing market San Diego real estate developer has offered a free $400,000 row home to anyone who buys one of his estate homes starting at $1.6 million.
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How to Be on Top of Everything (By Michael Masterson)

I came across this article and thought it so worthwhile I’m including it as my post today. Let me know your thoughts, leave a comment.

Since January, I’ve been writing a series of essays in ETR intended to give you tools to help you "master plan" your life. As you put this master plan into action, you will find that you will be able to accomplish more than you ever have before. Much more.

People will notice how much you’re getting done. And, as a result, some of them will come to you for help. Or advice. Or simply to give you more work because you have become your company’s go-to person.

This is all good and fine. It gives you more power. And more options. And more opportunities to advance in your career. But unless you have a system for managing all that extra work, you will soon be overwhelmed. And if you become overwhelmed, the happy movie you have been making about yourself in your head will turn into a horror story. People will be disappointed in you. Then angry at you. Before you know it, they’ll be planning to get rid of you.

You don’t want that. You want to be in charge of how much work you do. And you want to keep track of that work as well as all the work you delegate to other people. Keep in mind that the higher up you go in your business, the more delegating you’ll be doing.
As you get busier, you want to get better too. In particular, you want to:

• Be prepared for all the meetings you go to.

• Meet all your deadlines.

• Answer all the questions you’ve agreed to answer.

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Lifestyle, Travel & Owning Your Own Business

A benefit of owning your own (home-based business ) is the flexibility it provides. If you’re in a business that offers multiple streams of income and is one you can set to "auto-pilot" at times, you can have a lifestyle that some only dream about. If travel is one of your favorite past times you can even be making money while seeing some sites.
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