Archive for Marketing

Creating Software To Advertise And Build Value: What You Need To Know

By Lynette Chandler · May 16, 2010 · Filed in Branding, Marketing · No Comments »

As we all get more Internet and mobile phone-centric, you see more and more software built to either promote or add value to a service or product. For example: Nationwide Insurance created an iPhone app for their customers to help them make the task of filing a claim easier. There is Revver who created an official plugin WordPress to make it easier for their users to display videos and earn money. Pizza Hut has an iPhone app that includes a game, ability to order food and receive coupons. And there are countless Facebook apps created by big name companies. I love it. On every project I have, I try to figure ways to build in an app or plugin to make people utilize the product more or spread the word about my web site but there are some issues which I’d like to highlight if you have been considering the same thing yourself

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Creating Software To Advertise And Build Value: What You Need To Know

Common Linking Methods of Affiliate Programs Explained

By Vera Raposo · May 16, 2010 · Filed in Marketing, seo · No Comments »

If you’re a small business owner, an affiliate marketing program is a fantastic opportunity to make a lot of money without having to have a lot of capital or overhead costs.  And if you have a web page, affiliate marketing is a great way to make quick cash without adding a lot of extra work. But just because you find a popular webpage to promote your product or the right product to promote on your page, doesn’t mean it’s going to work.  In affiliate marketing, it’s all about the link.  The kind of link you use and what you link to are going to make all the difference. Here are the most common methods of linking for affiliate programs: Photo Courtesy of Paul O’Connell – Text links These are a good way to put links on your site because they stand out, but at the same time, still look natural and don’t have the appearance of an ad.  When you have a related word in your text, just embed a link in the word to a product or website.  But if you overload your text with links, it will become unreadable or just annoying. – Banner Links These are ads that are usually at the top or side of the page.  They can be plain, but are often catchy to try to get the attention of the reader. Just remember that people who surf the internet a lot see hundreds of banners in a day and ignore pretty much all of them.  If you’re going to make advertisement banners, make something that’s going to stand out and get you noticed.  The more clever and unique, the better. – Search Box Most people are familiar with search boxes embedded in a website that will do a Google or Yahoo search of the web.  You can embed search boxes that will do this type of search, but search a marketer’s webpage instead of the whole internet.  That way people can search an affiliate marketer’s website, sometimes without even knowing it.  And they can find exactly what they’re looking for, even if the marketer has thousands of products

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Common Linking Methods of Affiliate Programs Explained

A Closer Look At Free Local Classifieds

By Bonnie · February 10, 2010 · Filed in Marketing · No Comments »

One of the most popular ways of selling an unwanted household item or promoting a service is by the use of free local classifieds. The ads are known to generate sales for all types of merchandise and services, both locally and nationally. There are a couple of choices when deciding whether to run an ad or not. One of the choices is to use the local newspaper ads or go on line to generate sales. Both can be used for the ultimate result.

Classifieds typically let the consumer advertise anything that needs to be sold or traded. There are limitations to some, so do a little research on the medium you would like to use. Some of the more popular items sold in the classifieds are automobiles, pets, and household appliances. There are many other categories that can be used.

Another popular way of using the classifieds is when someone is looking for employment. Many employers will advertise job openings in the local newspaper to attract those that may be potential employees. The same goes for real estate and rental properties. They are very popular advertisers in the classifieds.

The companies that advertise their products or sales in the classifieds are the people that make advertising in these types of papers, free. For anyone who wants to have more exposure whether it be for selling or buying they will use this to their advantage. The owners of the newspaper will charge business owners a fee to have their company’s sales or rates advertised which helps with exposure for their company.

Some on line classified ads will charge a small fee to view the ads, some do not. Many of the most popular are free to post and read the ads. They are very effective in attracting people to your merchandise that you have for sale. To find out more on the web sites that are devoted to classified ads, check on the World Wide Web.

Free Local Classifieds are the best way to reach people or companies who would otherwise not be aware of what you are looking for or have for sale. Many small business have started their company by using one or more classified ad.

Best Way To Start Home Based Business

By Bonnie · December 27, 2009 · Filed in Marketing · No Comments »

So, you’ve decided to start a home based business. Kudos! & I want to welcome you to the Internet Marketing world. While you need to learn a lot, your attempt will be worth. The thrill of rising your business, the freedom and flexibility to set your own hours, and the possibilities of ever-increasing financial rewards are all wonderful reasons to start your home based business. Learn all this strategies with Reality PPC.

Now you are ready to start your affiliate marketing business, you may be worried “How can I start asap to make money online?” You can take help of this:

1) Set up a separate place to start the business. It doesn’t matter if you got a small room, even you can start in garage, or use a corner in your living room. Its very important that you assigned a space for your online activites. This room will help you take your online business to the next level. Check out our Best Bonus For Reality PPC.

2) Stock your working space with materials. This sounds basic, perhaps, however you just need some tools to be a successful online marketer, materials, and some other resources you require. It would save lots of your time if you could have everything close by, this is a great time management strategy that lots of online marketers use, too.

3) Talking about time management, your next step is to find out the parameters of your online business. What days and hours will you work? When would you advertise? When exactly you would start providing products or services to your clients? The best way to keep all this straight?

4) Balance action with planning. One of the most common pitfalls to winning entrepreneurship is getting too caught up in processing without decent planning. Express some other way, this means that you confuse “being busy” with “working on important projects.” The strongest plan of attack is to plan your next couple of ends and then study backwards to produce step by step action plans to reach them. Once you have the plan, then it’s time to take the action.

5) Network like crazy. One of the fastest ways to grow any business is to make connections with other people. Be sure to share your passion and enthusiasm with others at every opportunity. Let people know who you are and what you offer. Remember, it will be difficult for you to sell if people dont know what you are selling.

6) Give a white-collar image. If you desire to be processed professionally, give a professional image. Start a new account for your online business. Install a separate phone and fax line. Create professional marketing stuffs. Be courteous & nice in all your client facing interactions. Essentially, be someone people want to do business with.

7) Automate your online business as much as possible. Granted, you are just one person (right now) and might have a lot of extra time to take care of all the details. This will work now, but won’t work into the future as you get busier and busier. It’s best to set up automated systems and procedures right from the start to clear up your time to focus on the almost lucrative activenesses.

These seven tips will get your home business started (and growing) in the right direction.

How Can Skytyping Get Your Message to the Public?

By Bonnie · December 18, 2009 · Filed in Marketing · No Comments »

The sky itself has been a successful surface on which to advertise in unique ways. Two of these methods are banner ads and skywriting. A banner ad is a streamer or billboard that is pulled behind an airplane or helicopter over a mass of people. Skywriting contains no printed material but is a message written in smoke against the sky.

Skywriting involves injecting a paraffin oil into the exhaust of the airplane. This causes a dense, white smoke to form. When it is turned on and off at the right times, this results in letters being formed and, from the ground, a message conveyed. The letters are a mile tall at times, and somewhere between 7000 to 17,000 feet in the air.

A unique form of skywriting is called, among other things, skytyping. Five or six planes fly in unison over the selected area. A computer on the lead plane decides when each plane is to make smoke and for how long. The result is a series of dashes in a straight line. When viewed from the ground, these dots or dashes of smoke together form parts of letters and eventually an entire word or sentence, much like the dots on a computer screen form a word or picture.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each technique. The advantages to skytyping are as follows: The message is made much quicker and thus can be longer. While it takes a plane 60 to 90 seconds to form one letter in skywriting, the letters are formed in a few seconds with skytyping. This means the entire message is still visible when it is finished. With skywriting, a long message will mean the first letters have drifted away by the time the message is finished.

Also skywriting requires extra skill to maneuver a plane to form letters. He is somewhat of an artist making the message uniform and attractive. On the other hand, the skytyping pilots only need to fly in a straight line. The computer decides when to make the white smoke that will form into letters.

On the other hand, skywriting can be done with one or two planes which is much cheaper than hiring a whole fleet of planes to make one message. Geico insurance is famous for the skytyping messages, forming their name with dotted lines in the sky.

Both methods have things in common. First, the preparation is simple. No need for printing or color design is necessary. The skywriting pilot plans how to write his message backwards so the people below see it frontwards. The skytyping pilots simply enter the message in the computer and let it do the work. Second, the message in both cases is environmentally friendly. The paraffin smoke is harmless to nature.

Skywriting, skytyping, and aerial advertising have something in common as well. All of them use the canvas of the sky, presenting their message to an audience without competition. Dollar for dollar on skywriting costs, advertisers are learning that this is an effective way to make their message known.

The Various Advantages Of Promotional Gifting In Business

By Bonnie · December 16, 2009 · Filed in Marketing · No Comments »

Promotional gifts are considered as a token bequest of everyday use to clients, to an advertising item that becomes a star draw at the local fair, or a present to employees as part of an inducement program, promotional products live up to their name, and do their job best- which is promotion. Promotional products, as the name suggests, are products disseminated among people with the aim of encouraging a product, service of company name in wide-ranging. They make controlling marketing tools in business increase.

Advantages of sending out promotional products

The most direct purpose of spreading promotional donations

Symbolize appreciation and love- Sending out promotional products to prospective and regular client, makes them feel valued and creates a positive bond between the company and its clients.

Is of course the advertisement value- All promotional products will carry the company’s name, logo, and website address that interested people will log on to. Even unconsciously, the brand name gets registered in the target audience’s minds and is the first step in influencing their choices. By definition, endowments

What forms corporate gifts?

There is a large sort of corporate gifts which can be chosen according to the occurrence. These can be anything from things of everyday use like key chains, t-shirts, caps, wristwatches; to desk objects like pens, mugs, calendars or folders; to home bits and pieces like bottle-openers or umbrellas etc.

Latest vogue in corporate gift giving is the eco-friendly collection of stuff- recycled pen, eco note pads etc. Eco-friendly bits and pieces strike the right note with the recipient, as it communicates company’s sensitivity to larger issues facing the community, and helps the company to create a bond with the goal audience.

Thus, growing business ties has never been undemanding. With expert gifting companies available with their gifting products and affording solutions, one can continue meeting point on the core issues of that forthcoming client meeting, or local fair, and worry less on whether the watch you concept of as the souvenir to you esteemed clients would work its charm. Business was never so award-savvy!

Customer Testimonials: How To Use Them To Benefit Your Business

By Vera Raposo · August 5, 2009 · Filed in Marketing · No Comments »

People buy for a number of reasons.  We buy because we like the personality behind a product or company.  We buy because the product or service taps into an emotional need and we buy because experts tell us to – credibility and authority.

Customer testimonials can help tap into all of these buying behaviors and they’re much more effective than sales copy because they’re coming from an outside, presumably unbiased, source.  Testimonials are worth their weight in gold!  Here’s how and where to use them to their fullest.

Website real estate

One of the popular locations to place your most powerful testimonials is right on your home page. Many website owners situate them in a sidebar so they stand out from the rest of the content on the page or they place them in the midst of the content in a call out box. Your most powerful testimonials will be the ones: Provided from notable personalities or names in your industry.

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Customer Testimonials: How To Use Them To Benefit Your Business

Unique Experience 101

By Giovanni · March 25, 2009 · Filed in Marketing · No Comments »

A few years back I was hosting a workshop at the Four Seasons in Dallas.  I’ll never forget my experiences there.  EVERY business should go to Four Seasons Customer Service University. I remember walking into the hotel restaurant for breakfast.  Half asleep, the lady at the front asked for my name and room number, then sat me at my table.  Within a few minutes, a waiter came by and said “Hello, Mr. Marsico.  How can I help you?”   5 minutes later, a gentleman came out from the back…not sure of his position, but he was cleaning tables, and said “Oh hello, Mr. Marsico!  I hope your breakfast is great today!”  It took 3 people to use my name before I fully woke up and realized that they had never met me before!!  Such a small thing that made a HUGE difference. Later that day… I was in the workshop room and ran out of sharp pencils for the attendees.  I leave the workshop room with a bunch of dull pencils and there was a random caretaker walking by…saw that I was a little flustered, he asked if he could help.  I told him I needed sharp pencils and he said “No problem.  They’ll be right here” and he took care of it for me!  I’m sure that’s not his ‘role’, but what an amazing experience. We could all learn a thing or two from the Four Seasons team.

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Unique Experience 101

Facebook advertising

By Giovanni · March 22, 2009 · Filed in Marketing · No Comments »

I’ve been studying my habits when it comes to Facebook ads….almost 90% of the time I will: a) be attracted by the IMAGE b) read the headline and then if I’m interested c) read the copy d) click on the ad Seems to be the case over and over again.  Just curious if you’ve had the same experience, because if that is the case then its the image that’s most important (strictly for getting attention…I don’t even think the photo has to be totally related to the rest of the ad…and more importantly….the entire ad doesn’t necessarily have to be related to the webpage where you are being directed…it just needs to get the ‘right’ people to click!) The beauty of Facebook advertising is that you can target people based on who ‘they’ are….and not based on ‘what’ you are offering (as in the case of Google advertising).  So as long as the ‘right’ people are clicking, then your chances of conversion are pretty good! I’ve had some interesting results with clients advertising on Facebook.  Hope you do as well.

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Facebook advertising

Supersizing case study #1

By Giovanni · March 16, 2009 · Filed in Marketing · No Comments »

As part of my coaching process I teach my clients to find ways to ‘Supersize’… The term comes from the geniuses at McDonald’s who realized that there is HUGE profits and margins in simply asking clients if they want more of what they’ve already ordered. (Smiles are free….and asking your customers to ’supersize’ doesn’t cost anything either!!) This morning I was filling my gas tank like usual.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  As I go in to pay, the lovely attendant says, “Hi sir!  Did you know the lottery jackpot is $17 million?!  How many tickets would you like?” And I thought…”Wow.  Finally!  Someone who gets it”  After buying a lottery ticket she asks, “Would you also like a cup of hot coffee?  We just brewed it fresh…” A $40 gas fill-up turned into a $50 purchase by the time she was done with me, and all it took was a couple of questions.  Cost?  $0.  Return?  25% increase on the spot. Genius.

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Supersizing case study #1