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Marketing Information
7 Cheap & Easy Ways To Get Prospects
Here are some quick techniques you can put into place on your web site or in your advertising to gather new prospects. There is practically no cost for most of these strategies yet they have proven to be extremely effective in any number of different venues. Use one, two or all of these strategies for a quick shot in the arm.
Are Keywords Destroying the Flow of Your SEO Copy?
With all the shuffling that?s been seen in the search engine world within the last year, the issue of obvious optimizing has become a hot button. The current line of thinking is that most engines (especially Google) are on the lookout for sites that purposely make an effort to optimize their pages in order to get high rankings. While this theory has not been proven, I agree that obvious optimization is not a good thing. Not exclusively because of what Google might think, but because of what your site visitors might think.
The Power of Thank You
Sometimes we loose site of the small things in life that are incredibly important. As a child growing up in America, most people are taught from a very young age to say Thank You in appreciation of a courtesy extended by someone.
Why Your Sales Copy Should Be Written As If It Will Never Be Read At All!
What is enthusiasm?
Explode Your Sales With Free & Exclusive Content
Offering free and exclusive content to ezine publishers and webmasters is one of the best ways you can increase exposure for your products and services. There are several effective methods you can use to employ this marketing tactic and subsequently boost your sales.
Five Tips to Make Your Marketing More Creative
Same old same old just doesn't sell anymore. To make your marketing stand out, you need to get creative. Below are five tips designed to get your creative juices flowing. Some are brainteasers or are what Michael Michalko in "Thinkertoys" calls Linear Thinkertoys. Others fall under intuition or Intuitive Thinkertoys. Some tips may appeal to you more than others. My suggestion is to try them all. Even the ones you're not drawn to may still open some doors that wouldn't have opened any other way. These tips will work whether you sell a product, a service or both. 1. Find the "second right answer." Roger von Oech talks about this in A Whack on the Side of the Head. Don't be content with the first good idea you come up with. Take the time to think of a second, or third or 50th idea. Quantity counts ? the more ideas you have to choose from, the more likely you'll discover an excellent or even a brilliant one. Remember, Thomas Edison discovered thousands of ways a light bulb didn't work. 2. Change the question. If you change the question, you're probably going to get a different answer. You say you want to sell more products? What if you changed the question to how can you make more money? Well, there are other ways to make more money than to sell more products ? maybe you lower the cost of making the product or you raise the price of the product. Now you suddenly have new avenues to explore rather than just going down the same tired path. 3. Ask your product or service how it wants to be sold. Now we move into more intuitive techniques. Start by getting yourself into a relaxed state. Take a few deep breaths or practice some relaxation techniques. Imagine your product or service in front of you. Now ask it questions. Who do you want to be sold to? How do you want to be sold? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Who do you think you can help? Why do you want to help them? You can also do this technique as a journal exercise. Write down the question and answer. See what bubbles up onto the paper. 4. Paint a public relations campaign. What would a press release look like if you painted it? Or sculpted it? How about a dance number? A collage? Take any part of your marketing that troubles you and turn it into a piece of art. By combining two dissimilar acts, you may discover your answer. Or you may not come up with anything at all, but just the act of "playing" and "creating" could jolt something loose. Hours or days later your idea may suddenly end up in your lap. 5. Walk away from it. If nothing is working, then stop. You can literally walk away by taking a walk, or just quit thinking about it. This is especially important if you find yourself getting frustrated or discouraged. Give your subconscious time to mull things over. The idea may just suddenly appear to you. Or, after a few days, try another exercise or two. That may be the catalyst you need. The most important tip of all? Make sure you have a blast. Being creative should be fun. Keep it light and fun, don't struggle too hard with it, and see how many ideas you're rewarded with.
Three Ways to Put Fresh Spins on Old Marketing Concepts
Are you struggling to find a new twist for old advertising or marketing campaigns? If you're a small business owner or a copywriter/coach/other creative professional, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Having to come up with new ideas for a long-term client (or even your own business) can be overwhelming. As much as you love those long-term clients or established products, because of their longevity, it gets harder and harder to come up with the next brilliant product. But never fear. Here are three ways to get those creative juices (and new ideas) flowing. 1. Study other ads. Flip through a magazine or turn on the television, except this time focus on the ads and not the content (I know, I know, this is counter to what you usually do). Which ads do you like? Why do you like them? Is there something that those ads are doing you can modify for your campaigns? The key word is modify, not copy. I don't want anyone committing copyright infringement. What I'm talking about is using an existing ad to jump-start your own ideas. Maybe you really like the use of an evocative photo with a single caption. Or the use of repetition in Mastercard's "Priceless" campaign. Or the idea of turning the "money can't buy everything" on its head (which is essence of that campaign). Can you use that concept in your campaign? Another resource for great ads is Communication Arts Magazine. Each issue showcases some of the most creative and beautiful ads found anywhere. 2. Check out what a completely different industry is doing. For instance, let's say you sell software products to computer professionals. Techy market, right? So, pick up a yoga magazine. See how that industry communicates with its audience. Now try selling your product using the same language and concepts. Take it a step further and brainstorm ways your software product is similar to doing yoga. This is a very powerful way to jolt your own thinking and start your muse down a completely different path you might never have discovered before. 3. Force a connection. With this idea, force a connection with a random object rather than an entire industry. You ask yourself, how is your software program similar to a stuffed dog? Write down everything you can think of, no matter how silly or foolish. Sometimes the foolish ideas are the ones that lead to the great ones. A final note: If at all possible, don't rush this process. Give your muse some time to ponder and play with these techniques. I know it often seems like ideas pop into your head out of thin air, but usually that's because of the hard work you've put into it. You've given your muse the necessary tools and "incubation time" to make ideas happen.
5 Steps To Help Fail-Proof Your Growing Service Business
Business startup and failure rates are scary...
How A Tiny 10 Year Old Girl Can Throw A 20 Stone Man - 3 Key Lessons In The Gentle Art Of Business
Half my immediate family trained in Judo and excelled in competition. I was always fascinated by the way in which my younger brother and sister (who were small for their age) were able to throw much bigger opponents with seemingly little effort.
19 Ways To Attract Higher Paying Clients
Some people have little difficulty attracting and maintaining clients who have higher discretionary funds to spend for solutions. Others can't get to first base. If you are one of those and want clients that can pay more and you currently aren't attracting them, here is a list of 10 barriers that might be interfering.
Creating Assets: Spark Your Thinking With These 16 Comprehensive Questions
Here are some questions to get your thoughts and cash flow moving that will also keep your product creating aligned and focused.
Knock, knock. Whos There? Your Target Market, Are You Listening?
Have you ever had a conversation with a person who wasn't listening to anything you said?
One-Two-Three Punch Marketing
Printed material is just as important today as it was before the Internet. With sp*a*m getting out of hand, it?s a wise choice to rev up, update or create printed material, ads, catalogs, direct mail, press releases, letters, templates and the like.
Slogans: Creating and Using Them In Life, Career and Business
Information is coming at us from all directions nowadays. This pace requires us to demand that we receive it fast and predigested in order to inch ahead of the game. This also requires a new filing system method for storing the bites and bytes.
The 10 Cornerstone Principles of Marketing
There are four parts to a marketing system and they rest on ten cornerstones.
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