Change, or Reinforce?

Do you know about the distinction - and it's a useful one - between communication that tries to reinforce and communication that tries to get change? If you follow politics you'll already be familiar with this idea: Incumbents send messages that reinforce existing voter behavior, while challengers call for changes. Any thoughtful marketing communication (and political communication is marketing communication) will be strongly influenced by this distinction, which affects not only the content, but also the presentation, and perhaps even the medium. For example, suppose you own a bookstore and every couple of months you send a newsletter to all residences within a two mile radius. Now, if you have good market share and you're profitable, you won't want to rock the boat. You'll want to reinforce existing behaviors (which include buying at your store). On the other hand, if you just opened a new bookstore and need to take market share from other bookstores, then you want change existing book buying behavior. Another example: Suppose your employee safety program has worked well for the past year and you want to maintain the practices that led to this longest-ever period without an accident. Your communication would reinforce. On the other hand, if the safety record was unacceptable, you would try to get change through your communication. In a change situation, we want to upset the status quo, to challenge existing beliefs and ways of doing things. That means the words and style could be somewhat inflammatory. We can do this by making bold claims or allegations: Just listen to, or look at, advertising claims like these: "If you shop at Joe's Bookstore, you may be paying too much!" or, "Drive a bit further and save a lot more at Jane's Bookstore!" Change also might be hurried by painting negative scenarios , as in "Unless we get more efficient, senior management will outsource the whole department." Tactically, change usually demands more communication, as in more often and more words or pages. As you can imagine, it takes more communication to drive change than to stay on the same course. There are also tactics we can use to reinforce existing beliefs or actions. To maintain the status quo we can stress a service record, as in, "Serving you with quality and service for 25 years." or "Your performance has been very good over the past year, Betty. Keep up the good work." Reinforcement does not automatically rule out change; however, it emphasizes incremental and gradual change rather than major and abrupt change. You can also appeal to shared values or experiences to reinforce. Nothing commits us to staying the course like emotional cues that link good times to the status quo. For example, consider the power of an advertising slogan that begins, "Remember when...." It connects a powerful, positive emotion with a product or service. By extension, the product or service offers an opportunity to relive that good time. In summary, make a distinction in your communication between reinforcing and changing. Decide which way you want to go, and then choose the appropriate strategies, tactics, and tools. Robert F. Abbott writes and publishes Abbott's Communication Letter. Learn how you can use communication to help achieve your goals, by reading articles or subscribing to this ad-supported newsletter. An excellent resource for leaders and managers, at: <a target="_new" href="http://www.communication-newsletter.com">http://www.communication-newsletter.com</a>

How to Create Ads that Sell with Little Effort

One of the main problems people find with marketing, is the actual selling. How can you create ads which sell? Well there are tons of articles, and pay for e-books to help you create ad copy, but there is a free and easy way to create your own ads which sell, sell sell. Swipe them I don't mean word for word, not even close, but keep your eyes and ears open to ideas. We are all bombarded with adverts daily, and these are a goldmine to anyone trying to sell something. The hard work's already been done, ad men have been paid small fortunes to make an ad which will sell something, all you need to do is modify it to your own product. Don't feel guilty about it either, even those highly paid advertising companies do it, it's not unusual to see one company using anothers successful campaign to piggy back their own ads onto giving them an instant boost. As someone looking for ads which will make sales you have a myriad of resources to swipe from, just keep your mind open, and if something catches your eye make a mental note (or physical one) and see if you can't adapt it to your own products. Before long you'll find yourself looking at newspaper television and magazine ads in a whole new light. No longer are they getting in the way of your passtime, now they're the beginnings of new ideas for you to use in promoting your business, or products. All the best advertising and marketing men have their swipe files, start your own today. Doug Titchmarsh runs several sites including <a target="_new" href="http://www.cashinonline.info">http://www.cashinonline.info</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://www.titchmarsh.com">http://www.titchmarsh.com</a> and publishes an e-zine for marketers online and off which you can get by sending an email to <a href="mailto:douglastitchmarsh@getresponse.com">douglastitchmarsh@getresponse.com</a>

Nine Power Words To Punch Up Your Ads

As every professional politician and public relations man knows words have the power to entice, persuade and motivate people into a specific course of action. There are certain words that I refer to as "Power Words" that I learned, back in the dawn of time, when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth. For example, if I say to my daughter "clean up your room please" I get a totally different reaction than when I say "clean up your room NOW", even if both phrases are spoken in the same tone. When I use the word now, I know that she will clean up the mess, and that I have at least a 50-50 chance that she will do an adequate job. My first exposure to this "Power" was at the hands of one of my mentors, now long-since dead, sad to say, who told me a story. It seems that a trucker pulled into a roadside cafe in Amarillo, Texas and said to the waitress " There must be a million rabbits out there. I swear I've just squashed a dozen." Compare the reaction when the story goes: It seems a trucker pulled into a roadside cafe in Amarillo, Texas and said to the waitress " I've just run over a bunny" In both cases a small change in wording provokes a different reaction. That's the "Power"of words !! When used in your advertising material, such words can be almost irresistible. Here are 9 "Power Words" for you to try out. 1...Secret (or little-known) used either alone or together (little-known secrets) are both "Power Words" that appeal to the curiosity of the reader. "What does he know that I don't" Few people blame their lack of success on their own efforts (or lack of effort), so they are comforted by the thought that they are failing because they have been denied vital information. 2...System appeals to the desire for simplicity and lack of real effort required. If someone already has a system in place, "all I have to do is put my name on it and plug it in !!" 3...New (or Improved) appeals to the sense of urgency. If something is NEW then you have to get it fast before everyone else does to maintain your competitive edge. Strangely a laundry product has advertised for many years that it was "New and Improved". It's difficult to see how it could be both, at the same time, but it shows the power that both these words have that the advertiser decided to use them together, as re-inforcement for each other. 4...Power is itself a "Power Word" suggesting that if only the reader had the knowledge that you have, he/she would be able to accomplish anything. 5...Magic is almost interchangeable with power, but it also suggests that an objective can be reached without effort. This appeals to both the lazy (like me) and the impetuous who want to attain their goal immediately.There is a natural tendency to assume that any one who makes his living in Advertising and Promotion must know something that is hidden from the rest of the world. Some arcane formula like "ABRACA- DABRA" or "Open Sesame" that magically transforms them into "gurus" or "prophets", that we must slavishly follow. 6...Immediate, of course suggests that something can be done instantly. This again appeals to the sense of urgency, and has a magic-like ring to it. Why wait - have it NOW !! 7...Insider suggests that the writer has information that cannot be known to the world at large, therefore if you will only pay for this you can attain an edge on the rest of the competition. 8...FREE (note: this often appears as FR~E in ads because of the ISP filters that seem to abound today)this word included in any headline will increase acceptance of your message - but make sure that when you say FR~E that you mean FR~E. If you attempt to charge for something that you have advertised as FR~E, you will lose all credibility. 9...YOU The reader is only interested in the potential benefit that he/she will receive from your product. The old advertising maxim is still valid "Sell the sizzle not the steak". Look carefully at your product and think of all the reasons that I, or anyone else would benefit by owning it. For example, if you were selling big, gas-guzzling cars, you would stress the comfort, luxury interiors, prestige, reliability and smooth riding capacity of the car. If you were selling those cars that are so small the driver has to sit with his/her knees against their chin you would stress the fuel economy, zippy sporty ride, cornering and road handling ability of the car, affordable price and ease of parking. At the end of each sales page, or large ad you should also stress your "guarantee"(oops - another "Power Word - I should have titled this piece 10 Power Words. - Ah well !). You will be accepting payment for your product exclusively through credit cards, and the vendors will reverse any credit to your account, if the customer complains. It is far better to make a positive "Money Back ( Another Power Word - that makes 11. So sue me, I can't count !!)Guarantee" than to have a negative " I'll give you your money back if you holler loud enough ". If you're going to have to do it anyway get some extra (that makes 12) mileage out of the situation. I'm sorry that this article ran a little long, but you can consider the last 3 "Power Words" as a bonus (Oh no !! That's 13), make it an added (we can't end on 13 - that's unlucky - make it 14) bonus. In closing, read as many of the ads that you see on-line as you can. You'll see how experienced marketers use these powerful words to motivate their readers, and perhaps pick up some ideas, that I didn't include. All the best in your marketing efforts Martin Cargill ************************************************************ <br>Martin Cargill gives a FREE mini-course on <br>Internet Marketing at his website <br><a href="http://www.millionsbynet.com" target="_new">www.millionsbynet.com</a> <br>This and his newsletter " Independence Day Ezine " are <br>available FREE on an opt-in basis only. <br>************************************************************ About The Author After over 40 years in Direct Marketing, I am trying to come to terms with that "new-fangled" internet. It's a steep learning curve, but I'm getting there. I can offer you the chance to learn from my experience (and mistakes), and the best of the web guest articles and web resources. <a href="mailto:capnblack_ca@shaw.ca">capnblack_ca@shaw.ca</a>

The Benefits of Specific Advertising

The great Claude Hopkins (Author of Scientific Advertising) once said, &quot;Platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck. They leave no impression whatever.&quot; To say, "Best in the world," "Lowest price in existence," etc. are at best simply claiming the expected. But superlatives of that sort are usually damaging. They suggest looseness of expression, a tendency to exaggerate, a careless truth. They lead readers to discount all the statements that you make. --- A Dog & Pony Show It's true that people accept a certain license in 'sales talk.' A person may say, "Highest quality" without seeming a liar, although you realise other brands are just as good. We expect a sales person to 'sell' and we excuse some enthusiastic exaggeration. It's for that reason general statements count for very little. And a person inclined to grand statements and superlatives must expect their claims to meet a healthy dose of scepticism. However, someone making a specific claim is either telling the truth lying. We know advertisers cannot lie in the best mediums, so a definite statement is usually accepted. Actual figures are not generally discounted. Specific facts, when stated, have their full weight and effect. --- Just The Facts Ma'am This is very important to consider in written or personal salesmanship. The weight of an argument may often be multiplied by making it specific. Say that one brand of light bulb gives more light than another and you leave some doubt. Say it gives 354% more light and people realize that you have made tests and comparisons. A dealer may say, "Our prices have been reduced" without creating any marked impression. But when he says, "Our prices have been reduced 27 per cent" they get the full value of their announcement. --- The Pre-emptive Advantage & Specificity In the old days all beers were advertised as "Pure." The claim made no impression. The bigger the type used, the bigger the folly. After millions had been spent to impress a platitude, one brewer pictured a plate glass where beer was cooled in filtered air. They pictured a filter of white wood pulp through which every drop was cleared. They told how bottles were washed four times by machinery. They he went down 4,000 feet for pure water. How 1,018 experiments had been made to attain a yeast to give beer that matchless flavour. And how all the yeast was forever made from that adopted mother cell. Now don't misunderstand ? any brewer might have easily made these claims. They were mere essentials in ordinary brewing. But this one company was the first to tell everyone about them, while the others simply kept repeating the worn out statement "pure beer." This one brewer made the greatest success that was ever made in beer advertising. --- The Art of Leverage Remember, one advertising statement may take as much room as another, yet a definite statement is many times more effective. The difference is vast. If a claim is worth making, make it in the most impressive way you possibly can. All these effects must be studied. 'Salesmanship-in-print' can be very expensive. A salesperson's loose talk matters little when it's simply one-on-one. However, when you are 'talking' to many at great cost, the weight of your advertising claims is important. Remember, no generality has any weight whatever. It's like saying, "How do you do?", when you have no intention of inquiring about one's health. And specific claims when made in print are taken at their value. So the next time you are dreaming up adverts and offers for your business ? BE SPECIFIC! Author: <a target="_new" href="http://www.JamesBurchill.com">http://www.JamesBurchill.com</a> - James is a freelance writer and consultant

Media Savvy - Treat Them As You Would Your Best Customer

The ability to lead, persuade and influence are integral skills for effective managers. The capability of telling a story that inspires, motivates and informs is an essential part of this process. In an age of convergence in the media and increased scepticism over traditional communication methods, a new breed of managers and leaders is emerging that sees the media as an opportunity and not a threat. They use the media in a pro-active way to build their organisation's image, reputation and identity. Business Review Weekly's cover story "Future Leaders" editorial reported "new chief executives must have better presentation skills, for they will be required to perform in the electronic and printed media. Poor presentation will be perceived as a weakness in leadership, and arrogance or condescending attitudes will only be tolerated while the company is on top," (BRW December 14, 1998 P.14). So what is the best way to deal with the media to build and grow your business? Well, I believe you should treat them as you would your best customer or client. All the rules that apply to dealing with customers and providing outstanding customer service should apply when you interact with the media. Remember the media are very busy and the better you can help them by providing information, story ideas and leads the more effective you will be in getting your businesses name or story in the media. My role with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as both a broadcaster interviewing key decision makers and as a manager providing editorial leadership for program makers, allowed me to observe first hand how effective leaders use the media to get their message across. I now share this knowledge and experience with a range of clients to add value, improve performance and build capabilities. Our company has built a reputation for excellence in media strategy, issues management, change management, marketing communications, media training, financial journalism and professional speaking. A practical approach is focused on helping people strategically manage real-life situations. The most effective organisations that manage the media the best are those that take a customer service approach. Here are 10 success tips that will help managers and leaders get the best from the media by taking a customer service approach. 1. Know Your Strengths. What are you an expert at? What is your specialized area of expertise? What unique services or information can you offer? Position yourself as the expert. 2. Clarify your communication objectives? What do you want to achieve? To inform or entertain? To provide information? To build a profile? To influence public opinion? Personal marketing? Marketing or launching a new product or service? 3. Define your target audience? Who is your target audience? General public? Customers? Competitors? Suppliers? What age are they, what level of education, what beliefs and values, geographical location, how do they use the media? 4. Identify the best channels of communication. What is the best way to reach your target audience? TV, Radio, Internet, newspapers - local or Statewide, specialist or generalist, industry publications, community newsletters? 5. What is your key message? Distill what you want to say into three key points. Work out the best time to deliver this message and who will deliver it. 6. Build your case? What are the features, advantages and benefits of your message for your target audience? What evidence and proof do you have? 7. What is the hook? What will make your message or news release stand out from the rest? Be creative. Use a press release to control the information flow. 8. Develop long-term relationships with the media. Visit and meet them face to face. Network and get to know them. 9. Use the Three Golden Rules to Perform at your Best = Know Your Topic, Be Prepared, Relax. 10. Seek Professional Help. For maximum impact, effectiveness and value seek the advice of a media and communications professional. Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries. You can subscribe by visiting <a target="_new" href="http://www.8mmedia.com">http://www.8mmedia.com</a>. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at <a target="_new" href="http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com">http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com</a>.

Advertising Costs Getting Too High?

Everyone knows that advertising is essential to growing a business. One problem that small business owners have always faced is the high cost of marketing. Most, however don't realize that there is an effective way to reduce the cost of your advertising while - at the same time - increasing its reach. Advertising co-ops are nothing new. Usually they are a "perk" offered by major manufacturers to encourage retailers to promote their products. Because the retailer has direct access to customers that would want to buy certain products, it only makes sense that they should do joint advertising. You've seen it - McDonalds mentioning Coke in their commercials, Dell stating that you get a free Epson printer with purchase and so on. The retailer doesn't make the product the manufacturer is providing, but it IS a great match with what they DO offer. Nobody would want to eat a Big Mac without something to drink, and a computer wouldn't do a lot of good without a printer. Now you can use this same strategy to create your own advertising co-op to increase the reach of your ads and drastically reduce the cost, too. --- How It Works Generally speaking, the cost of any advertisements (bulk emailings, ezine ads, banners, newspaper, etc.) would be split equally between all participants. If you and two associates decide to purchase a solo ad, you would each receive equal mentions in the ad and you would each pay equal portions of the cost. So if the solo ad were going to a list of 200,000 and cost $150, each of the three would pay $50. You get to reach 200,000 people for 1/3 the cost you would have normally paid. And, because this ad relates you to other types of businesses, you actually expand your advertising reach. --- Getting Started So who would be qualified to enter into an ad co-op with you? It depends on the nature of your business. Think of others that reach your same target customer and make a list. If you design Web sites, you might approach hosting companies, graphic artists, copywriters or programmers. If your business is landscaping, you could invite yard maintenance companies to join you. Once you have a list of one or more business types, think of current associates you know who belong to those groups. Also, ask others if they know of any reliable businesses that fall into the categories you've outlined. --- Making the Approach When you have a list of businesses to approach, simply write or email them with your offer. Be sure to point out the benefits such as: * a win-win situation * reduced cost of advertising * expanded reach of advertising * larger, more prominent ads for a fraction of the cost Also, be sure to ask about the advertising outlets these businesses currently use. You will likely find new avenues that lead to greater exposure. --- Finalizing the Deal You'll need to work out payment arrangements with your partners prior to placing the ad(s). The best way I have found to handle the finances is for each party to pay me for their portion of the cost with a credit card. I then place the ad order with MY credit card. This way, you are assured of receiving the dollar amount due to you; and your partners have the assurance that - should you default on your end of the deal - they have recourse for getting their money back. Working in cooperation with other businesses can lead to tremendous successes with advertising. When like-minded companies pool their resources to reach one target audience, the impact is doubled while the cost is reduced by at least half. That's the best advertising bargain around today! Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> <a target="_new" href="http://madmarketer.com/diane">http://madmarketer.com/diane</a>

Predictions for 2010

2005 puts us at the mid-point of the first decade of the new millenium. What will things look like at the end of the 1st decade of the new millenium in the world of advertising? I thought I'd project where the ad industry is headed and what 2010 (or sooner) might look like. This two-part article will take those discussions a few steps further. First, we'll look at a scenario that is likely to be common by 2010 when the heretofore separate worlds of TV advertising, search marketing, behavioral targeting and inventory yield management blend together. If you buy some of this scenario, it's interesting to look at the implications for ad agencies. In part two, I'll speculate on the likelihood of Google being the biggest &quot;ad agency&quot; in world. If you look through the prism I lay out, it will cause you to think differently about where the industry is headed whether or not you agree with some of the specifics. Search marketing, Behavioral Targeting and Yield Management's alchemizing effect on TV advertising The accountability and efficiency of search marketing, behavioral targeting and publisher inventory yield management can look pretty compelling to a media planner compared to the relative lack of trackability of a TV spot today. What happens when you combine the best of these worlds? Let's look at a scenario that might take place when these worlds are combined. It may easy to write this off as the ramblings of a guy who has spent too much time in the technology industry but before you do that, consider the following:<br> ? All major search engines keep a search history indicating your interests, needs, likes, etc.<br> ? Forrester projects that over half of TV households with have a DVR device by 2009.<br> ? Today, most DVRs keep track of what we could be considered a &quot;search history&quot; of everything that your household has watched and what you plan to record in the future.<br> ? With your implicit approval, that &quot;search history&quot; of your TV behavior could be combined with your online search and surfing behavior which would create a profile that would be quite precise regarding your preferences and interests. Whether one company delivers all of this technology (e.g., Microsoft or AOL) or a deal is done between DVR suppliers and search engines, this can easily be accomplished.<br> ? Most people's broadband Internet access is provided by cable companies today. Setting a cookie applicable to both the TV and internet access is relatively trivial.<br> ? Tacoda, a leading behavioral targeting company, has over 80% of the North American Internet audience in their network. They have a wide variety of non-personal demographic information about their users. So let's fast forward five years and look at a scenario with a couple in their late 30's we'll call Mike and Jill. Periodically, they talk about the need for a vacation but have had a hard time agreeing on a location. Jill's idea of a great getaway is a &quot;spa weekend&quot; with mud baths, cucumber bodywraps, aroma therapy and countless other &quot;treatments&quot; that sound like some form of torture to Mike. Meanwhile, what Mike would really like to do is make a trip to a Final Four as his alma mater is in the Top 10 and he's sure they are going to make it a long ways in the &quot;Big Dance&quot;. Whenever he talks with his buddies about the &quot;Big Dance&quot;, Jill is confused Mike has never liked to dance. One thing they can agree on is their enjoyment of watching Alias together although they are watching Jennifer Garner for different reasons. The rest of Mike's TV viewing largely consists of watching ESPN, Fox Sports and ESPN2 so he can be smarter than his buddies when it comes to filling out his bracket. Meanwhile, Jill loves watching the Travel Channel and shows on other networks about &quot;getaways&quot; whether they are about &quot;romantic getaways&quot; or &quot;girls' weekends&quot;. During the week, Mike often eats his lunch at his desk while reading some of his favorite websites (www.foxsports.com, www.ESPN.com, etc.). He's checking out the latest rankings to see where his alma mater is ranked and analysis from experts on the &quot;Road to San Diego&quot; (the site of the 2010 Final Four). He notices one of the ads on the webpage he's reading is about a San Diego vacation. Though he's never been to San Diego, he knows it has a nice climate and gets the bright idea that he could kill two birds with one stone if he suggests that a trip to San Diego would be a nice place for a trip with Jill and another couple friend (the husband of that couple also happens to be a college buddy who enjoys hoops as much as he does). Suddenly, the $500 daily spa fee doesn't sound too bad for Mike if it means he can attend the Final Four. Since Jill had Arizona in mind for a &quot;spa weekend&quot;, he figures he needs to sell Jill on San Diego. He surfs over to his DVR home page to see if he can find some shows that highlight San Diego that he can highlight and record for Jill. It turns out one of the shows is in 30 minutes on the Travel Channel so he's able to record it for later viewing even though he and Jill aren't home at that moment. It also turns out that one of the past episodes of Alias had Jennifer Garner's character incognito at a beach party at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego (she snuck into the private party by swimming in from the ocean in scuba gear with a party dress in stow). Over dinner that evening, Mike brings up the idea of San Diego as a great location for a vacation and that late March is a particularly nice time to visit (failing to mention that the timing happens to coincide with the Final Four). He lets her know that he's marked some San Diego shows for her to watch including the Alias episode since they have a &quot;Season Pass&quot; for Alias (i.e., it records/stores all Alias episodes). Jill is surprised and impressed that Mike has gone to this trouble. Meanwhile, let's take a look at what's going on behind the scenes. The cookie that the cable company has stored is keeping track of various actions that Mike and Jill are taking (sites they visited, shows they watched, searches they performed). This behavior is combined with the ad marketplace system running at Google or the particular search provider of choice. This system is similar to Google's Adwords system or Overture's Precision Match. In the future, it's likely to include &quot;behavioral targeting&quot; attributes as well. In this ad marketplace, millions of similar actions are aggregated and offered up to what by 2010 will be millions of advertisers for sale in a real time automated auction. These marketers will have established their spending levels, behavioral and demographic profiles. In the time it takes for an average search to complete, several advertisements have already been sold against each of the programs recorded for Jill. On the media outlets' sites, they are doing additional optimization (aka &quot;inventory yield management&quot;). This optimization determines what the optimal type of ad to serve is. In one situation it might be a textual advertisement while in other cases, it might be a more traditional form of TV ad. As Jill goes to watch the shows Mike has teed up, the ad delivery system is poised to take action. The way in which the ads are viewed will be dependent on the couple's billing preference with the cable provider (yet another yield management variable). They may have chosen the free cable option that requires them to watch ads at set periods. As the show starts, a number of advertisements appear at the bottom of the screen. A couple of these have a dollar sign next to them indicating that they can reduce their cable bill if they watch them. This is attractive particularly since Jill wants to watch them anyway since they are infomercials for a San Diego area spa. She can choose to watch them now or later. Later on in the evening she checks her email before going to bed. The ad delivery system knows this is the same person who has been watching ads about San Diego area attractions so it serves up some discount offers for packages to San Diego which she emails to Mike with a message about how excited she is about going to San Diego. Who knew that an ad delivery system could enhance marital harmony?! Will these sort of events transpire five years from now? My belief is that they are largely foreseeable. Undoubtedly, the specifics won't take place exactly like this, but it's not a huge leap to get to this place with consumers and businesses that are more than willing to benefit from the experience. If you buy all or part of this scenario, what does it mean for the parties most financially vested in the ad marketplace ? media outlets, ad agencies and marketers? It means further evolution in their business models. Perhaps the most radical impact will be on ad agencies that have already seen their business evolve. In part two, I'll make the provocative statement that Google will be the largest ad agency in the world by 2010. While this potentially ludicrous notion may not seem worth thinking about, viewing the ad agency business through a Google prism should cause ad agencies and their clients to experience profound insights. If you want to have more fun with the previous scenario, you can weave in various other variables that include, but aren't limited to, the following factors:<br> ? Product placement evolution. At one time there was a website that allowed you to buy products that were shown in TV programs. Think about that woven into the aforementioned ad marketplace. This is an evolution of what AdvertisingAge's Madison+Vine regularly reports on.<br> ? User reviews. User ratings of various advertiser products could become another variable determining which ads get served. Amazon-like collaborative filtering can be facilitated thus increasing content consumption. Will Google be the biggest ad agency in the world by 2010?<br> In part one, I laid out a future of how Internet-based advertising models will pervade the TV world. If you buy some of these factors, there are inevitable industry changes that will happen to the ad industry. I will make the provocative statement that Google will be the largest &quot;ad agency&quot; in the world by 2010. While this potentially ludicrous notion may not seem worth thinking about, viewing the ad agency business through a Google prism should cause ad agencies and their clients to experience profound strategic insights. Dramatic industry shifts usually don't happen from obvious places. Ample evidence of that exists if you look at various businesses whether you look at the music business, the encyclopedia business, the newspaper classified business, the retailing business or many others. Companies that too narrowly define their competition inevitably have their business cratered from unexpected places. Aggressive, growth-oriented companies whether they are Google or Wal-Mart don't care about pre-existing industry dividing lines. If it wasn't them, some other organization would gladly eat away at incumbents' businesses even though the leaders of the change are attractive &quot;bogeymen&quot; for those under attack. If you take a step back, the purpose of ads and search are to connect buyers with someone selling what buyers want (even if they don't know they want it yet). In both cases, fees are collected from the people who have something to sell for connecting them with buyers of those items. No one is rushing to categorize Google as an ad agency -- &quot;they're in the Search business&quot;. You don't have to study Google very hard to realize they aren't limiting themselves to the &quot;search business&quot; which is increasingly hard to define in any case. It's important to recognize that Google isn't charging for search; their income is from advertising. As the old saying goes, if it looks and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. If they were considered an ad agency, they'd already be in the top 5 with a much stronger trajectory than any of the top 5 agencies. You may be saying, &quot;wait a minute, they are more like a media outlet than an ad agency&quot; (which is largely true today) but withhold judgment for a moment and some interesting insights can be drawn. To begin with, they are already doing media planning if the business has a high volume of clicks and it's highly likely they are working on ways to make that easier (and thus scale to smaller advertisers). If I walked into most offices of the leaders of the largest ad agencies in the world today and stated that Google/Yahoo/MSN are their competitors, at best I'd get a polite laugh. They may say that I don't &quot;get&quot; the ad agency business. Having been on both sides of the challenger/incumbent equation, I can say unequivocally that not &quot;getting it&quot; is usually an advantage for the challenger. The challenger isn't shackled by the current way of thinking and perhaps more importantly, the current business model. Like virtually every other company (especially a public company), Google and &quot;their competitors&quot; are inspired by what will make them the largest sum of money. Today, Google's revenues are advertising-based, but tomorrow they may have increasingly more characteristics associated with the agency business. Comparing some of the assets that agencies have versus Google is instructive. I'll put these in context of some of the criteria I used to evaluate the ad agencies that I worked with when I held large ad budgets. 1. Efficiency with my budget: When my team owned the relationship/budget with an agency, I counseled them to look for padding and inefficiencies as the model shifted from a commission-based model (which had its own issues) to a salary multiplier that seemed like a fair approach based upon the number of people on the account. Furthermore, it was hard to know how well the agency negotiated with media outlets to get the best CPMs. With Google's Adwords, you bid on how much you are willing to pay for a click which can range from pennies to dollars depending on the term. Google has a great feature where if you bid $1.50 for a click and the next highest bidder is $0.75, they'll adjust what they charge you to $0.76. This looks like a more efficient way of spending my ad dollars and infinitely more trackable. 2. Consumer insight/research: I've worked with some fabulous media buyers and account planners. Their ability to dive into various syndicated research to identify the media properties with the optimal demo/psycho-graphics often impressed me. However when you combine the almost unbelievable volumes of click behavior across many thousand websites that provides a very robust picture of brand motivation and preferences. It's an approach virtually any cold-blooded capitalist selling stuff would appreciate and is unrivaled by other means of capturing actual buyer behavior. 3. Ability to reach my target buyers where they &quot;live&quot;: Google's Adsense offering (i.e., syndication of their contextual search ads) has major implications and makes them look an awful lot like a media agency. Not only does Google serve up ads on their own high-traffic site, they are syndicating their ads to virtually every nook and cranny of the web. As an advertiser, it gives them an efficient way to reach into highly targeted sites that would be impossible to buy in a manual manner. Anecdotally, I'm seeing Google ads on all kinds of obscure and relatively low traffic sites that happen to be highly relevant to me professionally or personally. 4. Ability to service local, regional and international markets: This has at least two dimensions: First, can you run particular ads for people who live in particular geographies whether that is England, New England or Boston? Second, is it easy to localize the advertisements themselves? Particularly on the first point, it's much easier to do this with Google than the machinations an agency has to go through to make it happen (e.g., working with dozens of different media outlets around the country/world). On the second point, it's comparing apples and oranges since localization of text ads is easy compared to localization of ads that involve more than simple text. That said, they cover many languages and countries today so it's a straightforward process. 5. Focus on driving results vs. their ego: Since much of the execution of a campaign on Google is strictly driven by machines, there is no ego involved. From time to time, one runs up against this dynamic with agency creatives where they are more focused on winning awards than selling your product. 6. Creative work: This is an area where it would appear that agencies have a clear advantage if for no other reason that the creative palette is very limited with Google today. If you look at some of the trends outlined in part one combined with increased bandwidth and broadband penetration in the next five years it seems inevitable that the Google creative palette provides won't be so limited. The advantage Google has in this scenario is that the cost to launch and test a new campaign is low so creatives can refine their creative and copy while avoiding the high stakes and slow turnaround of typical campaigns of today that are bogged down by approvals at the client level. This quick turnaround should shift creatives perspective from thinking of how limited their palette is to relishing the opportunity to get immediate feedback on campaign ideas that may be conceived of, executed and killed/expanded in less than a day. 7. Account service: This is an area where agencies should maintain a clear advantage for the foreseeable future as people-oriented service is a core part of their value proposition. As Google and others gain an increasing share of their customers' wallets, there will be an expectation of increased account service for large accounts. In a competitive market, Google will respond if Yahoo or MSN try to offer better service. This factor can diminish the inherent advantage agencies have. 8. Media neutrality: Most agencies like to claim media-neutrality but it's virtually impossible to find in practice. The core obstacle is that the client's budgets aren't media neutral. There are often different teams, let alone different budgets for different media ? print, online, broadcast, etc. This makes it virtually impossible for agencies to be media neutral. The philosophy behind Google's technology is media neutral. It just so happens that it's all executed on HTML webpages right now. Take the notion of delivering ads in the content you prefer to consume, on the device (PC, mobile device, etc.) you happen to be using at the moment and delivering the most relevant ad at the moment you consume it and extend it beyond online. It's not hard to imagine this happening when your TV and radio have their own IP addresses along with your more traditional computing devices (this is already in process). 9. CRM: Marketers and agencies working on their behalf spend large sums of money to create and maintain an accurate customer database that helps paint a picture of their customers' behaviors, likes & dislikes, demographics etc. It's not unusual for a marketer to spend millions each year just keeping their database up to date with basic information such as addresses. Meanwhile, Google's customers do much of the maintenance work themselves as their cookies capture every web search, links you clicked on and when you did it. One area that Yahoo & MSN have a clear advantage over Google is a much larger database of demographic information via their email/IM users (certainly one of the drivers for Google launching Gmail to much fanfare). Combine the demographic information with the surfing and searching behavior, and there isn't an agency in the world who wouldn't die to get their hands on that rich picture of their clients' customers. Conclusion<br> Is Google explicitly out to get the agencies' business? Unlikely. It just so happens that when you look at the natural progression of their activities, it ends up dramatically impacting the agency business. The ironic thing is that they are probably spending significant sales & marketing resources cultivating agency relationships with complete sincerity. Like many other successful businesses, over time they will have more and more channel conflict where parties who were previously 100% complementary start to step on each others' toes. In the end, Google won't look like an ad agency anymore than eBay or Craigslist look like a newspaper classifieds business, but they will capture money from the same customers as the business that they are pilfering. It's the agency leaders that should ask themselves what facets of Google's business do they need to develop or co-opt. Agency leaders would be wise to ensure they don't have blinders on regarding their current business and their partners, or they are liable to be victims of an inevitable force. Dave Chase is a partner with Altus Alliance, which specializes in driving revenue traction for emerging businesses. Before joining Altus Alliance, Chase spent nearly 20 years in the industry with over a dozen years at Microsoft in various senior marketing and general management roles, including his role as MSN's managing director for industry marketing and relations. In that capacity, he was responsible for MSN taking a leadership role within the Interactive Marketing industry to grow Online's share of the overall ad market in concert with AOL, CNET, Yahoo!, Google and other market leaders. Chase played leadership roles in launching several new businesses within Microsoft including Microsoft's entry into the enterprise software and server business which is now an $8B business. Starting at the dawn of the commercial Internet, he was integral in Microsoft's entry into consumer internet businesses that achieved both critical and financial success.

What are Text Adverts?

Not everyone is aware of what are text adverts? Text Adverts are a form of low cost advertising used by website owners to promote their website and services to a quality targeted audience. Online advertising offers an outstanding opportunity to efficiently and effectively target your desired audience. Even a single impression allows for increased awareness and corporate image. Couple this impact with cost effective exposure rates, and there is a natural equation for success. Text Adverts are a simple, polite, and inexpensive alternative to banners and other online advertising. Text Adverts are inserted into the main pages of a website. Visitors will see a small text box with your link and text within. When a visitor clicks on your text advert link they will be taken directly to your specified web page. Text Adverts provide all of the benefits of other forms of online advertising without the annoying downsides. There has been a considerable amount of backlash by users as many online advertisers have resorted to more and more desperate attempts to capture user's attention. Pop-up ads, Pop-under ads, full-page ads. These are just a few examples of advertising that many users find to be intrusive. So much so that several companies have begun distributing software that lets users block all traditional forms of advertising. Text Adverts, by comparison, are small, effective, and most importantly, respectful of users. Text Adverts are very cost effective means of advertising. You can pay for a text advert by number of impressions, views or simply by a monthly fee. Paying by monthly fee can work out to be the most cost effective as you will only pay a small set fee irrespective of how many visitors you receive. The monthly fee remains the same whether you receive one hundred or one million visitors! Paying for the text adverts can be done by cheque, bank transfer or most commonly by electronic transfer. The one drawback to text adverts is that in order to avoid page clutter only a limited number of adverts will normally be made available per web page and there will only be a limited number of available web pages to advertise on. Text adverts are allowed on a first-come, first-serve basis. You may freely reprint this article provided the author's biography remains intact: John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the <a target="_new" href="http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk/">http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk</a> website.

How to Make Your Claims Believable

When you hear claims like? ?Best Lawnmower in the country ?Absolute Lowest Prices In Existence ?Leaves your hair cleaner than any other shampoo ?do you believe them? Or is there a certain degree of doubt in your mind about their credibility? Or whether they are 'hyped up'? Think about it. Everybody expects advertisers to exaggerate their claims. To present them in their best light. Which is the exact reason why general statememts are not as effective as? SPECIFIC STATEMENTS So? Rather than saying &quot;Our prices have been reduced&quot;? instead say? &quot;Our prices have been reduced by 22% to prepare for our end of year stocktake&quot; Rather than saying &quot;More than 20 varieties of Reebok shoes in stock&quot;? instead say? &quot;More than 23 varieties of Reebok shoes in stock&quot; Rather than saying &quot;Our staff are very experienced carpet cleaners&quot;? instead say? &quot;Our team of 12 staff have a combined experience of cleaning carpets for 63 years&quot; Rather than saying &quot;Used all over the world&quot;? instead say? &quot;Used in over 46 countries&quot; Or rather than a cleaner saying &quot;We clean your house thoroughly&quot; why not list every single thing you do One more thing... When you give people a specific number, they tend to believe it must be true. So don't use numbers which are a multiple of 5 or 10. Instead say 4 or 9. It makes it more believable. Even KFC realises this. No. They don't have 10 herbs and spices on their special chicken. They have 11. That's a heck of a lot more believable than 10? or heaps, isn't it? So take a moment now and think about how you can apply what you've learnt and be more specific in your advertising. Warmly, Scott Bywater Copywriting That SELLS <br> Level 12 / 418a Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, NSW, Australia Scott Bywater is a professional direct response copywriter and the author of Cash-Flow Advertising. To get a complimentary copy of his special report '7 Ways To Increase Your Turnover... No Matter What The State Of The Economy' (valued at $29.95) and a free subscription to his "Copywriting Selling Secrets" ezine, where you'll discover how to write ads and sales letters that make people line up and practically beg you to do business with them... visit his web site at <a target="_new" href="http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au">http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au</a>

50 Surefire Business Card Tips

Business cards are one of the most powerful and inexpensive marketing tools you can use. Here are 50 surefire tips to make the most out of your business cards: <ul> <li>Your business card must communicate more than just your contact information. Make sure that your card includes a tag line that explains what you or your company do. </li> <li>Order them in large numbers. By ordering 1000 your cost per card will be significantly lower than if you ordered 500.</li> <li>Even if you can produce your business cards at home using an inkjet printer, have your business cards professionally made by a printing company. Your business card will be the first impression your prospects receive of your business, so let them convey the best possible one.</li> <li>Avoid using standard clip art as your business logo. A logo brings credibility and brand awareness, so before you invest in business cards have a logo professionally made for your business. Nowadays, there are online companies that can produce a professional logo for as little as $25, so there is no excuse for not having one made.</li> <li>Put up a website and use the URL in your business cards. If you don't have a website, people will notice the absence of a web address in your business card and, depending on the business you are in, it may make you lose credibility.</li> <li>Keep all the information in your business card current. If you changed address or phone number, don't scratch the old number and write down the new one by hand; get new business cards. </li> <li>Keep your business card simple. Don't use too many fonts or try to cram too much information in it. Try to use a pleasant layout and make sure that your main message (your tagline or your unique selling proposition) doesn't get lost.</li> <li>If you live in the US, limit your business card size to 3.5" x 2". Anything bigger will not fit in standard card holders and your card may end up in the trash. Business cards in Europe tend to be larger, but so are the wallets and card holders.</li> <li>Make sure that your business card reflects your image. If you are an artist or a graphic designer, it is OK to use trendy colors and fonts. If you are an investment banker, a sober layout and colors such as blue or gray work better.</li> <li>Your business card is an integral part of your brand or corporate identity strategy. It should follow the same graphics standards as the rest of your communications material (stationary, brochures, letterheads, etc.).</li> <li>Find a way to make your business cards stand out. I've seen business cards with one of its corners cut in an angle, or with an interesting texture, all of which makes your business card stand out of the crowd. The best one I've seen is from an interior designer, who used a hologram to show a room before and after a redesign.</li> <li>Make your business card easy to read: use high contrast between the background and the type. Light background with dark type works better.</li> <li>After your logo, your name should be the largest piece of information on your card.</li> <li>Make sure that all the information on your card is printed in a large enough typeface to be easily readable.</li> <li>Run your business card copy through a spell checker and double-check your contact information.</li> <li>Keep your business cards with you at all times. Keep a stack in your car, in your house, in your office, and in your wallet.</li> <li>Leave your business cards in billboards at supermarkets, schools, stores, libraries, etc. v <li>When giving away your card, give two or three at a time, so that your contacts can in turn distribute them to other people. This will not only help you distribute them faster, but will generate a beneficial "endorsing effect".</li> <li>Include a business card with all your correspondence. People may throw away the letter, but will usually keep the business card.v <li>Make your business card go the extra mile: use the back of the card to print more information: special offers, checklists, schedules, etc.</li> <li>Throw in a business card in every product you ship.v <li>Send a business card with any gift you send, instead of just a card with your name.</li> <li>Scan your card and use it as an attachment to emails.</li> <li>Use your business cards as name tags. Get a transparent plastic cover with a pin, and attach it to your lapel. Wearing it on your right side tends to make it more noticeable.</li> <li>Use your business card as a name tag on your briefcase. Make sure that your company logo and tagline are visible. This way, your business card will turn into a "conversation piece" during plane rides, which may help you meet interesting people and good business contacts.</li> <li>Use your business card as an ad: many publications offer "business card size" classified ads. If you design your business card properly, it can double up as an ad in those publications.</li> <li>Don't give your business card too quickly. It may be perceived as pushy. Try to establish a conversation with your prospect first. For example, ask them what do they do. That will usually prompt them to give you their card. That is the perfect moment to give them yours.</li> <li>Don't try to give your card in situations where many people are giving them to your prospect. Wait for a moment when you can capture your prospect's attention span.</li> <li>Another tactic you can try when your prospect is overwhelmed and can't pay you enough attention is to send your card by mail. Pretend you ran out of business cards and ask for theirs. Then, mail them your card and take the opportunity to drop a follow up note.</li> <li>If you have a mobile phone number or a direct phone number that is not listed in your business card, write it at the back of your card before handing it out, and tell your prospect that you are giving them your direct number. This will make your card more important, and less likely to be lost or thrown out.</li> <li>Another way of increasing the chances that your prospect will keep your card is by printing valuable information on the back, for example important phone numbers (local police, hospitals, etc), a calendar, or a football schedule.</li> <li>Offer to hand out cards of complementary (non-competitive) business people in exchange for them distributing yours. An example of non-competitive businesses is real estate brokers and mortgage brokers.</li> <li>If somebody gives you their business card, you should give them yours in return.</li> <li>Always give your business card face up.</li> <li>Take a cue from Far East business people, who hand out business cards with both hands. It helps give the impression that your business card is something very important.</li> <li>If you conduct business internationally, use the back of your card to print a translated version of your business card in your customers' language. Even if they have no problem reading English, it will be a classy touch and they will appreciate it.</li> <li>If you sell different product brands and want to put their logos on your business card, print them in only one color. Using each logo's brand colors could make your business card look chaotic and busy. </li> <li>Create a business card in magnet form. Magnets are widely used, to hold important papers on the refrigerator door at home and on file cabinets at work. They are always visible and always get read.</li> <li>When receiving somebody else's business card, don't put it away immediately. Instead, keep it in your hand for a while you talk to your prospect, or place it neatly over the table, and try to develop a conversation based on the information on the card.</li> <li>Use the back of the cards you receive to write down important facts about the persons who handed them to you. It will help you enormously when you follow up with them.</li> <li>If you are in a profession where relationship selling is important, it may be a good idea to include your picture in your business card (i.e. real estate brokers).</li> <li>Even if your business is a sole proprietorship, you can still use "account manager" as your title instead of "owner" or "president". If you do sales (and we all do) "account manager" is a perfectly appropriate title, and it will give the impression that you work for a larger company.</li> <li>Use logos of organizations that you or your business belong to in your business cards. They are an easy way to provide instant credibility to your business. For example, if you operate a repair shop you can display the logo of the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) or the Triple A (AAA). (Check with them first about the terms of use). </li> <li>If you participate in affiliate programs online, you can still use business cards to promote your affiliate links. Use the name of the affiliate company as the company name, use 'partner' or 'associate' as your title, and the URL of the directory or web page where you have placed your affiliate links as your web address. Just because affiliate programs are online doesn't mean that you can't use off-line marketing methods to promote them. </li> <li>If you need to give cards to different kinds of prospects (for example if you are a student looking for work), make business cards with just your name and contact information, and attach custom made self-adhesive labels at the back with information of interest to each specific prospect.</li> <li>Include an information email address (for example: info@yourdomain.com) that is set in autoresponder mode, that automatically triggers an email message with full information about your product, service or company. This will increase the effectiveness of your business card since you will give your prospect much more information that you can fit in a card.</li> <li>Take good care of your business cards. Keep them clean and crisp in a cardholder. Don't give away cards that are bent or damaged.</li> <li>Try to get a cardholder with two pockets. That way, you can use one for your business cards and the other one for the business cards you receive.</li> <li>Keep all the business cards you receive neatly organized in a rolodex. It will save you time and will provide you with a database of contacts with whom to build positive business relationships.</li> <li>Collect all the business cards you can find, even if you don't need them. Together, they will act as an "idea file" that will provide you with valuable tips that you can use to design your business cards. </li> </ul> About The Author Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest (<a href="http://www.theinternetdigest.net" target="_new">http://www.theinternetdigest.net</a>) an online collection of tips and resources on Internet Marketing and Web Design. You can also visit his Business Card Tips page at: <a href="http://www.accordmarketing.com/businesscards/" target="_new">http://www.accordmarketing.com/businesscards/</a>.

Whats The Frequency?

The more things change, some say, the more things stay the same. When it comes to marketing, I tend to agree. Consider the following list of how advertising frequency equates to advertising effectiveness. Thomas Smith wrote this in 1885: * The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it. * The second time, he does not notice it. * The third time, he is conscious of its existence. * The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before. * The fifth time, he reads it. * The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it. * The seventh time, he reads it through and says, "Oh brother!" * The eighth time, he says, "Here's that confounded thing again!" * The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything. * The tenth time, he asks his neighbor if he has tried it. * The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay. * The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing. * The thirteenth time, he thinks perhaps it might be worth something. * The fourteenth time, he remembers wanting such a thing a long time. * The fifteenth time, he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it. * The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it some day. * The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum to buy it. * The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty. * The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully. * The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys what it is offering. Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR, <a target="_new" href="http://www.hoover-ink.com.">http://www.hoover-ink.com.</a> He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Duke Energy, Levolor, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX and Verbatim.

Unlock The Power Of Online Groups

Yahoo Groups: I see countless marketers on shoestring budges turn to traffic exchanges for free traffic. If they would spend the time creating online groups rather than clicking for traffic they would see much more quality traffic. By no means am I saying throw in the towel on traffic exchanges as I use a number of them. Would you rather click a thousand times for 80 unique visitors daily or would you like to receive hundreds or more unique visitors daily. (not mentioning repeat visitors) I thought so... With hundreds of thousands of people visiting the yahoo group directory you can't help but get excited. I have 18 groups, each one in a different business category of the yahoo directory. A great way to get your group noticed is to create a group description consisting of html. Don't worry, there are numerous areas on the web where you can learn basic html. Take a tour and see what kind of resources yahoo groups offer. In addition to the welcome page and links, I encourage you to send a automatic file that goes out each week containing cutting edge marketing techniques and resources. So what are the benefits of owning your own group? Heres a few for example, members who are joining you group to post their business are now part of you opt-in list. These same people come back daily to post their business or product creating residual exposure to your business. Most of the posters are in it for the quick riches which will never happen. With the proper training and exposure, these people will buy into you business join your down line just from the daily exposure of your business on the group. When you start reaching several thousand members you will start working your way up the yahoo group directory since groups are ranked by the number of members you have. You will not only create residual traffic with your members but also with visitors locating your group in the yahoo directory. When you feel comfortable with your ranking open a new group in a different yahoo biz category. You can start your own yahoo group here. Remember to use the principles above to create a massive residual traffic flow. Msn Groups: I would like to introduce another group to you, "msn groups." These group are ranked by group activity which is not hard to achieve with what you have just learned. Take a look at different members groups to gain a feel for whata they are promoting and running things. Once again these groups are very friendly to posting your business or product. As you can see, link structures are setup different from a yahoo group. Links Are Uploaded to a link directory from your computer to the group site. You can get your msn group started by searching for msn groups. You also have the option to e-mail members as much as you like with the msn groups feature. Remember that is important not to spam your members as it will lead to unsubscriptions which leads lower activity lower ranking. I usually e-mail my members twice a month at the most. I have found it very effective to release information on your latest articles and free e-books. Giving away free information will gain you respect and a good reputation which will pay huge dividends later on! Once you get these two groups running you will be able to cross promote them with each group. You will be getting a majority of the same members in each of these groups which will bolster your ranking and create residual traffic. The most effective ways to market groups are to promote them in traffic exchanges and classified ads. Author: Corey Morehouse; Egroup Specialist<br> <a target="_new" href="http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Web_Marketing_Secrets">http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Web_Marketing_Secrets</a>

Offline Advertising Tips

Since most of us are always online and our business is online, we often forget the importance of advertising our business offline. Print advertising can be one of the best forms of advertising for your buck. Why? Well, with print advertising it's in the form of hard copy and is always in view of your potential customers. Thats just one small example. Think about your daily newspaper...try hiding that in your email box! The following are just a few hints and ideas for you to consider before you place an offline advertising campaign. --->Expiration Dates You want to be sure to include an expiration date so that the possible customer sees that there is a limited time BUT don't make the date to end too soon. Why? You want to give an "extended expiration date" on printed material especially because for one thing printed material has a chance to "lie around" longer, it may not be the "right time" for the possible customer OR they may know of someone else that may be interested in what you're offering. Give them time to pass it on or "come back later". --->Track your ads If you have anyway of tracking your ads, use it. A couple of ways you can do this is: 1)Have the customer email/call/mail their orders to you. 2)Have a special code they need to use to receive the special. Use a different code for each advertising campaign you use. If you don't have the ability to use coupon codes you might want to check out PayCodes.com which is a new service developed by PayPal to help you in this situation. --->Types of Ads to Generate Interest Freebies! Everyone loves freebies! 1) Offer the prospective customer a free gift with their purchase. 2) Have them email/call/mail for a free sample. 3) When you send them their free sample, send them a card for another free sample to give to a friend. 4) Have the ad offer free shipping and handling. 5) Offer a "Buy One Get One Free" Promotion. 6) Have them contact you for a free catalog. Discounts. 1) Offer a discount (ex. 10%, 15%, 20% off) for their first purchase. 2) Offer one product at full price and the second ? off. Drawings/Contests. 1) Have them email/call/mail you for an entry to a free contest. Use your products as the prize. (Be sure to offer an additional discount for the winner.) * You've gain interest, now what? Once you've had someone contact you with some interest in your business/products be sure to keep in contact back. * First of all reply to them in a timely manner and be sure to thank them for their interest. * Next, offer them yet another form of a discount. * If they are requesting a free sample, free catalog, entry into a contest or any other form of interest offer them a discount of 10% off their next order. * If you have a newsletter/ezine make sure you ask them if you can add them to your mailing list to receive announcements of discounts/specials/contests first hand. * When you've sent off their free sample/free catalog/order/prize be sure to contact them again in a few days. Let them know that you wanted to make sure they received it and that everything was okay. Ask them for any thoughts/questions about it. Let them know that they can contact you for anything. About the Author<br> Anita DeFrank a WAHM of two and co-owner of DirectSalesHelpers.com which was created specifically for those in Direct Sales. Do you find yourself asking how to make more sales? The above is only a small taste of the wealth of information available at <a target="_new" href="http://www.directsaleshelpers.com">http://www.directsaleshelpers.com</a>. Stop on in if you're serious about your direct sales company and want to know how you can make more sales.

What Makes Advertising Successful?

MANY INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS COME INTO PLAY MAKING A SUCCESSFUL AD:<BR> <BR>1. PERSUASIVE SELLING COPY. The wording is the single most important element in determining a successful ad. What counts most is what you say and how you say it.</P> <P>2. PLACEMENT IN APPROPRIATE PUBLICATION. This might seem obvious, but it is often neglected. If the right people don't see your ad, they can't respond.<BR> <BR>3. SPACE/PRICE IN PROPORTION. You simply can't sell high priced merchandise from a small classified or one inch ad space. These should be considered as a low cost means of building a mailing list by asking readers to write for more information. If you expect to sell directly from an ad, the size of the ad will have to increase in proportion to the selling price. Two or three inches of space for items selling for 42 to $5... half or full page for items selling for more than $5 up to $20. When the price goes above $20 it is usually best to run inquiry ads and follow up with a printed sales presentation. There are exceptions, but this is a fairly safe rule to follow.<br> <BR>4. TESTING ALL THE ELEMENTS. Unlike institutional advertising (toothpaste, cars, soap, etc.) which must rely on extensive market research, analysis, surveys and a lot of psychology to achieve success, mail order selling has a built-in "watchdog" to guard against waste and loss, and to help assure that every dollar spent will produce a profit...or at least tell you why it didn't, so you won't make the same mistake twice. This method (unique to mail order) is called KEYING. By inserting a number or letter (or combination) into every ad you run, you can tell which ad works in which publication and in which issues it works best. More sophisticated forms of this testing technique can be carried thru by trying a new headline, a different testimonials,guarantees, etc. The testing technique know no limits, but there is also danger in becoming test-happy. To use the testing principle effectively, be certain that the results will justify the time and expense of making the test. If it merely means adding to your paperwork without adding profit or reducing cost,it isn't worth it.</P> <P>Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer <BR>This article may be reproduced freely on the Internet as long as the resource box remains intact. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$<BR>DeAnna is the publisher of the ezine, Prospecting and Presents.<BR>Subscribers get one free ad per week.<BR>Subscribe today by visiting <A target="_new" href="http://www.pnewsletter.com">http://www.pnewsletter.com</A><BR>To thank the publishers/webmasters that use my article, I offer<BR>one free solo ad. Simply fill out the contact form on my contact<BR>page listing the url it was used on or sending me a copy of the<BR>ezine it was used in. Once I confirm the location of the article,<BR>then we can make arrangements for the solo ad.<BR>$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$<BR>Note to publisher/webmaster: Feel free to remove the part about the solo<BR>ad when you get ready to publish the article.

Using The Popularity of Celebrities and Currrent Events to Promote Your Business

In this article, we want to explore the idea of using the popularity of celebrities and current event (news) topics to help market any internet business. <b>The Idea</b> Celebrities and news events are not only popular topics, they are also popular "keywords" in the major search engines. Thousands upon thousands of users everyday search the engines to find the latest info. The idea is to build mini sites that target this market. We call these "pop surfer" sites. It sounds a bit far fetched at first, but with a little strategy, these "pop surfers" can help sell our products - NO MATTER WHAT WE SELL, or at least generate a decent amount of qualified traffic. To get an idea of the type of traffic, have a look at these sites: http://buzz.yahoo.com http://50.lycos.com http://www.wordtracker.com http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html Look at the terms in these lists. I'm sure you recognize most of them, as they are an indication of what and who is "happening" right now. Also, keep in mind these sites (Yahoo, Google, Lycos, etc.) are among the most visited sites on the net. <b>The "Pop Surfer" Mini Site</b> The first step is to develop a "pop surfer" mini site (or sites - the more the better). It doesn't have to be the greatest or prettiest site ever created. Don't put as much work into it as you would your primary site. The key to these sites is to get the popular names and terms on the page so the search engines can find and spider them. When developing your "pop surfer" page, keep in mind that you want a page that will 1) get into the search engines, and 2) grab the pop surfers' attention while they are searching for their favorite artist, news story, etc. <b>The Strategy</b> After we have our "pop surfer" mini site(s) built and listed in the engines, how do we use it get customers to our businesses? There are two models that we will call the Indirect model and the Direct model. Each approach has it's own advantages and uses. In one model we "indirectly" target the "pop surfers", and in the other model we "directly" target them. <b>The Indirect Model</b> This model gives us the most qualified visitors. In this model, we utilize the power of traffic "exchanges". After we start getting our share of "pop surfer" traffic, we use the exposure ratio from these "exchanges" to drive qualified, targeted visitors to our primary business site. This works because exchanges allow us to target our visitors. When signing up for an exchange you are usually asked what category you want exposure in. They often give you a list with such categories as Health and fitness or Business Opportunities. This gives us control over where we want our primary sites' information viewed. Some exchanges have a 1:1 ratio where one exposure on your page is worth one exposure on someone else's page. Others use different ratios such as 2:1 which gives two exposures on your page for one exposure on someone else's. There are several types of exchanges. The more popular ones are: Banner Exchanges, which gives banner exposures in exchange for placing other banners on our site. Exit Exchanges display your whole website, usually as a pop under window when a visitor leaves your site, in exchange for your site being displayed (as an exit pop under window) on someone else's site. The most powerful, however, are: Opt In list exchanges. These are special, because in every marketing circle, the number one rule for promoting your online business is to obtain an opt in list of subscribers. Opt in exchanges deliver the most targeted, and qualified visitors we can get with the exchange model. How they work is when someone enters or leaves your site, a list of newsletter, or business opportunity sign up forms are generated in a small unobtrusive window. When that happens, your newsletter or biz-opportunity is listed on someone else's website - IN THE TARGETED CATEGORY THAT YOU CHOSE when you signed up. Put the exchange code(s) on your "pop surfer" sites, and take advantage of the traffic. <b>The Direct Model</b> The direct model is more of an indirect approach in that we may not necessarily use the "pop surfers" for our primary business but we can still profit from them. How? One way is by utilizing Pay Per Click. Not pay per click in the sense that we bid for our sites' exposure in a search engine, but Pay Per Click in the sense that we place listings on OUR sites and GET PAID for having them there. Every time someone clicks a result in your page, you get a percentage of the bidding amount for that click. If you use pay per click strategically, it can be very profitable. Merchant affiliate programs work well also. Amazon.com, for example, sells books, music, toys, and more. They let you place their products on your website, and you get a percentage when someone buys from you. Several other merchants work the same way. Do a search for merchants who sell CDs, books, video, toys, or clothing, and have an affiliate program. There are many out there. Finally, you don't only have to look for affiliate programs. If you have a business or product that you think might cater to popular culture, target the "pop surfers" directly!! For instance, if you print T-shirts, you could probably sell some with hottest stars' faces on them. Do your research for your pop surfer page topic. You can bet that if a celebrity or topic has recently made news, the traffic is sure to follow. Rony Perry is an internet marketer with a B.S. In Computer Science. He maintains websites on various popular topics. <a target="_new" href="http://www.fasbnet.com/celeb/">http://www.fasbnet.com/celeb/</a>

Advertising Through Moms

Moms have a very powerful influence on what their families eat, drink, wear, do, and buy. Moms are not only the driving force behind their families, but also the economy. Moms Have The Power! Moms have the power to start a trend or &quot;nip it in the bud&quot;. Moms want a reasonably priced, high quality, safe, and reliable product. Do you have such a product? What Are You Sitting There For?: Tap into this market! Advertise to moms in your church, at your child's school, little league games, reading groups, moms clubs, or the gym. The possibilities are endless because, in case you haven't noticed, Moms are everywhere! Don't Be A Pusher!<br> Moms have brains! They can smell a &quot;dead rat a mile away&quot;. You don't have to &quot;push&quot; your product if your product truly is what you claim it to be. Gently offer them the information and let them make an educated decision. Don't over hype or under sell either. Don't use fear tactics or &quot;deal of a life time&quot; approaches. Granted these may work on some moms, but most are pretty aware of &quot;corporate&quot; brainwashing. Moms promoting Each Other:<br> In the Cyber world of today there is an ever-growing community of Moms who are supporting each other by promoting one another. Ever heart of &quot;do unto others as you would have them do unto you&quot;? This is exactly what thousands of work at home moms are doing each and every day. By promoting each other they are doing one of several things:<br> 1. Getting free advertising for their site/business/opportunity<br> 2. Building business and personal relationships<br> 3. Branding their business name<br> 4. Supporting work at home families<br> 5. Reaching out to the community<br> 6. Sharing the wahm/wahd Message<br> 7. Offering discounts and freebies to new and returning customers (which by the way saves Moms money) How Do I Get Involved?:<br> You can join this growing movement by visiting a number of networking sites. Some I have listed in the resource section. You'll need to print off some business cards-Vista Print has an excellent deal--, develop an advertising campaign, track your advertising campaign with a coupon code and then Make Your Packs! 1. Ziplocks/Baggies/Envelopes 2. Cards,coupons,samples,brochures *tip samples and coupons are the best bet 3. Brand IT! With your business name, number, and url. 4. Distribute the packets to local merchants, with your orders, at school functions, etc.. 5. Exchange with other moms so they can advertise for you.. Resources: Mom Packs ? The original &quot;moms promoting moms&quot; group. http://mompacks.com Jessies Goodies ? Yahoo Group http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/JessiesGoodieBags/ Advertising Moms Perks Packs- http://www.advertisingmoms.com/perkpackflyers.html Karma Kards ? http://www.allnaturalme.com Sara Duggan lives with her family in California. You can find her handmade items and shoppe at Mamas Shoppe at Family owned Business. <a target="_new" href="http://sarasshoppe.vstore.ca">http://sarasshoppe.vstore.ca</a>

Media Savvy - How To Manage Your Time To Gain The Best Media Coverage

Did you know generating positive media coverage is four times more effective than advertising? Getting exposure in the media is far-reaching, utterly credible and free. As an added bonus you may well attract an audience that you never anticipated. But talking to reporters can be risky and threatening for first timers. You can say too much and lose control of the interview. You can say the wrong thing and damage your reputation. You can say "No Comment" and miss an opportunity. The only way to build your profile, brand and image is by learning the secrets of how the media works. How can you do that with limited time? Here are 5 Tips. 1. Know Your Strengths. What are you an expert at? What is your specialized area of expertise? What unique services or information can you offer? Position yourself as the expert. 2. Clarify your communication objectives? What do you want to achieve? To inform or entertain? To provide information? To build a profile? To influence public opinion? Personal marketing? Marketing or launching a new product or service? 3. Define your target audience & identify the best channels of communication to reach them? Who is your target audience? General public? Customers? Competitors? Suppliers? What is the best way to reach your target audience? TV, Radio, Internet, newspapers - local or Statewide, specialist or generalist, industry publications, community newsletters? 4. What is your key message? Distill what you want to say into three key points. What are the feature and benefits to your target market and what examples can you give to provide evidence and credibility to your message? 5. Be brief when contacting the media. The media are very busy and under a lot of pressure to meet deadlines. Don't waste their time. Target who is covering stories in your area, contact them and make your pitch of a story idea brief and to the point. If they want more information have a 1-page media release with the details ready to fax or email to them. Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries. You can subscribe by visiting <a target="_new" href="http://www.8mmedia.com">http://www.8mmedia.com</a>. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at <a target="_new" href="http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com">http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com</a>.

Top 9 Reasons To Advertise

Advertising is not for every company. But some require it because their market is big and constantly changing and evolving. Consider this, up to 30 percent of the people in the US move each year. Or, you may be locked into a battle with a competitor. People do business with companies they know and trust. Advertising can help build awareness, so that eventually consumers will trust your offer. I firmly believe that advertising is an excellent tool for rapidly building awareness of a company, its products or services. I believe equally firmly that you build a brand through public relations, not advertising. A brand is the sum of all interactions a customer has with an organization. Most of those interactions are with employees, or the product or service itself. If those interactions are positive, then customers, allies and the media will tell others. This is PR. There are times when you need a rapid shot of marketing adrenaline that only paid media can provide. So, if you find yourself in need of that boost, check out these nine reasons for advertising: 9. Boost employee morale 8. Create industry buzz 7. Create, build or maintain a positive image 6. Test new products and/or services 5. Retain existing customers 4. Reinforce personal sales calls, direct mail 3. Maintain consistent, controlled customer communications 2. Gain new customers, particularly hard-to-reach ones 1. Position or reposition your company, products or services. Harry Hoover is managing principal of <a target="_new" href="http://www.hoover-ink.com">Hoover ink PR</a>. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Focus Four, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX, Verbatim and Youth Link USA.

How to SAVE Yourself from Spending too Much Money on Advertising!

How much money have you spent in Advertising, Promotion & Marketing? If you're like most people you've probably spent over $1000 or more. Many individuals and companies have spent $2000 to $50,000 in Advetising within a course of 1 Year... Ouch! We all know that in order to succeed in business, we all have to do a lot of advertising right!... However why are we spending so much on advertising? "Could it be because others are doing the work for us?" I have a clear answer to the question, read on... So why are we spending so much on advertising? After all we are in the 21st century and we need all the advertising that we can get to compete with our relentless competitors. But the reason why were're spending so much is because others are doing all the work for us and this means they can charge us as high as they feel... Many of us are also always trying to compete with the large companies who are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on advertising. Small business need to stop doing this. Consider yourself, as a small business, luckier than the large businesses, because you don't have to worry about losing money when you do Advertising... Why because the only advertising you should be doing is low cost advertising like Ezine Advertising, low cost opt-in email advertising, low cost pay per click search engines and low cost classified advertising. My favorite would have to be a Solo Ad in an Ezine or Online Newsletter, it has always given me excellent (ROI)Return On Investment. Don't try to compete with the large companies with the fancy graphics and expensive advertising. Let them spend all they want in expensive advertising, many of them don't realize that it's extremely risky or if they do know that it's risky, they simply don't care. Take Television Advertising and Banner Advertising for instance... Many companies have spend millions of dollars on it, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and many have failed. Now don't get me wrong you can still make profits from other people handling your advertising, but please understand that if others are doing the work for you all the time, you wouldn't be taking full advantage of the Internet's Technology. Understand that you too have the same potential as others. So these are what you need to do that will be totally Critical to Your Success and save you from spending too much on advertising... - Generate tons of Traffic (visitors) to your Business! - Put together a Powerful Presentation for your visitors! - Learn How to Advertise for FREE! I really want to introduce you to some powerful FREE Tools that will let you do all 3 and also allow you to have the same potential that others large companies have when it comes to Advertising and Marketing. Please do not be afraid to "educate yourself" about how to use free tools and resources to generate massive traffic to your web site and still compete with the large companies, small businesses are rising at the speed of light. This is your turn to get the "free knowledge" you need to compete. I'm not saying that you should stop spending money on Advertising, if your advertising is making you money today... continue doing what you're doing, just use the free resources as a Powerful Supplement to your business for FREE Advertising!... Even if you have to use Bulk Opt-in Email Advertising. You should take advantage of any Email Marketing software that does that... Copyright ? 2005 by Koffi Amouzouvi Koffi Amouzouvi is the "author" of a FREE Newsletter called "Specialized Info Newsletter" to help customers use the Most Powerful Marketing Software in 2005. <a target="_new" href="http://www.gemini3style.com">http://www.gemini3style.com</a>

Media Savvy - How To Lead, Persuade And Influence

The ability to lead, persuade and influence are integral skills for effective managers. The capability of telling a story that inspires, motivates and informs is an essential part of this process. In an age of convergence in the media and increased scepticism over traditional communication methods, a new breed of managers and leaders is emerging that sees the media as an opportunity and not a threat. They use the media in a pro-active way to build their organisation's image, reputation and identity. Business Review Weekly's cover story "Future Leaders" editorial reported "new chief executives must have better presentation skills, for they will be required to perform in the electronic and printed media. Poor presentation will be perceived as a weakness in leadership, and arrogance or condescending attitudes will only be tolerated while the company is on top," (BRW December 14, 1998 P.14). My role with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as both a broadcaster interviewing key decision makers and as a manager providing editorial leadership for program makers, allowed me to observe first hand how effective leaders use the media to get their message across. I now share this knowledge and experience with a range of clients to add value, improve performance and build capabilities. Our company has built a reputation for excellence in media strategy, issues management, change management, marketing communications, media training, financial journalism and professional speaking. A practical approach is focused on helping people strategically manage real-life situations. Getting positive exposure in the media can be more powerful than any advertising campaign. It is far-reaching, utterly credible and free. As an added bonus, you may well attract an audience you had never anticipated. But talking to reporters can be risky and threatening for first timers. You can say too much and lose control of the interview. You can say the wrong thing and damage your reputation. Or you can say "no comment" and lose an opportunity. The only way to build your reputation is by learning the secrets of how the media works and we can help you do that. 10 Tips These are 10 success tips that will help managers and leaders get the best from the media. 1. Know Your Strengths. What are you an expert at? What is your specialized area of expertise? What unique services or information can you offer? Position yourself as the expert. 2. Clarify your communication objectives? What do you want to achieve? To inform or entertain? To provide information? To build a profile? To influence public opinion? Personal marketing? Marketing or launching a new product or service? 3. Define your target audience? Who is your target audience? General public? Customers? Competitors? Suppliers? What age are they, what level of education, what beliefs and values, geographical location, how do they use the media? 4. Identify the best channels of communication. What is the best way to reach your target audience? TV, Radio, Internet, newspapers - local or Statewide, specialist or generalist, industry publications, community newsletters? 5. What is your key message? Distill what you want to say into three key points. Work out the best time to deliver this message and who will deliver it. 6. Build your case? What are the features, advantages and benefits of your message for your target audience? What evidence and proof do you have? 7. What is the hook? What will make your message or news release stand out from the rest? Be creative. Use a press release to control the information flow. 8. Develop long-term relationships with the media. Visit and meet them face to face. Network and get to know them. 9. Use the Three Golden Rules to Perform at your Best = Know Your Topic, Be Prepared, Relax. 10. Seek Professional Help. For maximum impact, effectiveness and value seek the advice of a media and communications professional. Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries. You can subscribe by visiting <a target="_new" href="http://www.8mmedia.com">http://www.8mmedia.com</a>. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at <a target="_new" href="http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com">http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com</a>.