7 Questions to Ask Before You Advertise
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Promotion and Marketing
by Michele PW
Most business owners and managers keep a fairly close eye on their marketing budgets.
And nothing throws a budget out of whack faster than advertising.
Advertising, or paying good money to get your message in front of your target market, still has a place in your marketing mix, although it’s not quite as effective as it once was.
If you’re going to advertise, you need to be smart about it — or you can quickly find yourself with a blown budget and not much to show for it. Below are seven questions to ask yourself before writing out that check. Read more
5 Tips to Get More Results from Your Marketing Materials
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Promotion and Marketing
by Michele PW
The moment I decided to specialize as a direct response copywriter (which means you get a response directly from the marketing materials, there’s no middle person involved, like a sales rep), I knew there would be one thing that would determine if I would be eating steak or eating mac and cheese.
And what’s the one thing? The results I got for my clients.
Therefore, improving results became a pretty big focus of mine. You might even call it a passion. (Some people who aren’t nearly as nice have called it an obsession.)
Regardless, here are 5 tips that can help you improve the conversions of your marketing materials: Read more
3 Reasons Why You Better Know Your Customers…or Else
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Starting Your Work-At-Home Mommy Biz
by Michele PW
Which statement sums up how you define your customers?
1) I have a very specific customer in mind — very specific and very narrow. I only want to sell to this specific customer; I’m not interested in attracting anyone else.
Or
2) If they have a pulse, they’re a potential customer.
Okay, in case you were wondering, number 1 is good and number 2 isn’t.
Yet, I can’t tell you how many business owners I run into who are closer to number 2 than number 1.
I know, it’s difficult to think you might be turning away potential business. But trust me, your life will be much easier once you’ve carefully defined your potential customer (also known as your target market). And to further convince you, here are 3 reasons. Read more
10 Income Streams You Can Add to Your Business (And Increase Your Bottom Line)
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Running Your Business
by Michele PW
In a nutshell, multiple streams of income means your business has more than one way to make money. For instance, you sell products and you sell services. Those are different streams of incomes. But that’s just the beginning. Below are 10 ideas of different income sources you can use to increase your business’s bottom line:
- Sell a variety of services. Or you can bundle your services into packages depending on what your typical client is looking for. But be careful about this one. Don’t spread yourself too thin. You want to offer a few different services or a choice of packages, but you don’t want too many options because it’s very difficult to market yourself effectively.
- Sell your own products. These can be information products (books, home study courses, CD’s, special reports, etc.) or they can be physical products. You can also group similar products into product lines. Then you can upsell, downsell or cross-sell products to different customers on your list.
- Sell other people’s products (or services). Here’s where you become an affiliate. Basically how it works is once you’re approved to be an affiliate, you get your own link. Anytime someone uses that link and buys a product, you can get a percentage of the sale. That percentage can be anywhere from 10 percent (mostly for services) to more than 50 percent. Read more
Low Cost Marketing For Businesses On A Budget
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Promotion and Marketingby Allan Katz
As most other marketing experts will also tell you, it’s time to start a more aggressive marketing campaign. Now is the not the time to stop marketing. That’s what your competitors are doing . . . . nothing!
However, don’t do what most businesses do. The local newspaper or radio station salesman shows up at your door trying to sell you a “package,” which will tell everyone in your city how wonderful you are. That’s sounds really interesting, but now is the time to cut costs. One way to cut costs is to fine tune your targeting. Make sure you understand who your best customers are and find more like them.
Here’s how . . .
Partner With Complimentary Businesses
Bensinger’s Fine Cleaners in Memphis, Tennessee printed gift certificates with the logo of three prominent men’s clothing stores offering anyone who bought a shirt from any of those stores, 2 free cleanings. The stores were happy to give away this value added service to their upscale clients. The dry cleaner was thrilled with all the new customers. Read more
Kick Out Clutter and Make Room for More Money
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Running Your Businessby Debbye Cannon
I spent last week working in Texas and Arizona with two fabulous creative women business owners. Both, although at different business stages, aspire to bigger and better things both business wise and personal lifestyle wise.
Every client I help makes it more and more clear just how seriously clutter clogs up the pipeline of abundance. After all, in a way you already have too much abundance (aka stuff/clutter/overscheduling) to allow ROOM for anything you are seeking to even squeeze in the door.
Just pause a minute, right now– not tomorrow–not next week, and gaze around you. What are you seeing that is no longer useful in your current life? Espeically if you are in transition from another business or life stage to your new dream busienss and life, it’s probably more than you realized. Read more
What Marketing Can Do For You
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Promotion and Marketingby Michele PW
I thought I would clear up some misconceptions about marketing in this two-part series: What Marketing Can Do For You and What Marketing Can’t Do For You. We’ll start with the positive.
Over the years, I’ve had dealings with some business owners who have a rather skewed perception of marketing. They think you throw a few ads out there, get a couple of press releases printed and voila! You’re a big success.
Oh, if it only were that easy. (Although if it were, I probably wouldn’t have a job.)
But there’s no getting around that to have a successful business, you need a solid marketing plan.
So what CAN marketing do for you? Increase your business — no question about it. You need to be marketing if you want to grow your business. Read more
12 Ways to Thank Your Customers: Client Appreciation Strategies You Can Use Year-Round
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Running Your Businessby Stephanie Chandler
One of the biggest mistakes a business can make is investing the majority of marketing efforts in attracting new customers and forgetting about past customers. Your current and past clients are the foundation of your business because without them, your business would not exist. It also costs far more to acquire a new client than it costs to generate business from an existing client.
Showing appreciation for your clients can set you apart from your competitors, increase loyalty, improve retention, inspire sales and even build relationships that last a lifetime. Reaching out to your clients is also an opportunity to remind them that your business exists. Effective marketing relies on repeat exposure and showing appreciation is an affordable and effective way to keep your marketing wheels in motion.
One note of caution: some companies and industries have strict guidelines about accepting gifts. This is especially true of media professionals and government workers. Gifts can be construed as bribes so when in doubt, ask your clients if such policies exist or stick to sending items with no monetary value. Read more
Delegation is The Secret of Prosperous Entrepreneurs
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Running Your Businessby Michele Hanson-O’Reggio
Entrepreneurs are called upon to perform a wider range of activities as their businesses grow - many outside of his/her skill set: office administration, marketing, sales, bookkeeping, customer relations, working with technology - it never ends! They become overwhelmed by the increasing demand on their time, losing their drive and passion for their business. They work harder but find it increasingly difficult to produce results.
Fifty-six percent of new businesses do not survive at least four years according to the Small Business Administration (SBA). The number one reason for business failure which accounts for 61% of failures, according to Dun & Bradstreet, is “Managerial Incompetence: the skillful use of resources to accomplish a purpose.” “Unbalanced Experience” accounts for 22% of failures — not being skilled or having access to a variety of skills. Read more
Creating High-Leverage Marketing Assets
December 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under Promotion and Marketingby Adam Urbanski
The single biggest, non-renewable asset you have is your time. There are only three things you can do with it: waste it, sell it, or invest it. As an entrepreneur or a service professional, what you do with your time acutely impacts how much money you can make.
If this year you want to make clients come to you, earn a six-figure income, become the expert in your chosen field, positively impact lives of many people, gain fame and earn respect of your peers — you have to invest your time into creating marketing assets!
Just like the wealthy invest in assets that continuously appreciate and generate more money — like real estate, the savvy entrepreneurs invest in creating marketing assets that grow your business with no additional expense. What are those assets? Here is just a short list: Read more
