A powerful consumer market with annual spending power exceeding $350 billion, Hispanics-or should that be Latinos?-have become the largest minority group in the United States, and a marketplace well-worth looking into and with plenty to see--once you get the labels straight. Is it "Hispanics" or "Latinos"? Hispanics and Latinos have hotly debated that question for years, and apparently, picking one answer over the other means drawing political, social, and generational lines in the sand. I'll More..

What Can Star Wars Teach You About Creating a Buzz for Your Business?

Many people think marketing is some type of mystery that only a few select people know the secret too. In fact if you look at the entertainment industry you will find some of the best models to follow. Let's look at George Lucas and Star Wars. How long before the movie came out did you know it was coming? How many different places did you see an ad for it, someone talking about it, or writing about it? How many different ways does he tie in to advertise his movies that are "outside" the entertai More..

Top Five Tips for Marketing that Gets Results

When marketing your practice, as well as designing your brochure, website, business card, flier, advertisement, or other marketing effort, I recommend investing the time and effort needed to effectively address the following: Tip #1: MARKET FOR YOUR DESIRED PROSPECTS, NOT YOURSELF What looks good to you is not necessarily effective for your desired audience. Do your market research and test your strategies on your target market. Tip #2: CREATE A SYSTEM Design a system for external and intern More..

Making Your Mark With The Millennials

Generation Y--The second-largest crop of young people in America's history, offspring of the Boomers-80 million of them, nearly 27 percent of the U.S. population-are in their late teens and 20s, and already a market force to be reckoned with. The Millennials are here big time! "They're demanding their own music, defining their own trends and starting to matter to advertisers, to retailers, to politicians," chirped a recent Chicago Tribune editorial. What's more, they are (or soon will be) buyin More..

Client Attraction Technique #3: Study the Competition!

One very powerful and cost-effective marketing strategy is to study the competition. This is an important exercise, as essentially it allows you to find out as much as possible about the opposition - how best they operate, what they lack and then how to capitalise on it! Study the Competition Offline Start by reviewing the Yellow Pages, the Thomson Local or even go online to determine what you're up against locally (and if applicable nationally). Make a list of the businesses you need to resea More..

Increase Your Sales By Following-Up

The difference between a successful business and one that just gets by is that the business that is just getting by thinks that the marketing is over when the sale has been made. One of the main reasons customers leave, change suppliers, or stop buying is because of apathy on the part of the company. There is never any follow-up after the sale. Customers often feel neglected. They feel that the company doesn't appreciate their business so they will give it to another company that does. In orde More..

A Perfect Partnership for Business

Too often we small business owners get caught up in our day-to-day bottom line, and miss the needs of the community outside our door. By doing this, we miss an opportunity to include "socially responsible marketing" -or sponsorship- in our yearly promotional plan. Sponsorship is a perfect collaboration, considering the similarities that entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations have in common. We are value-driven, highly motivated and creative risk takers, results-oriented and close to our clie More..

Read Your Markets Mind - 3 Great Market Research Resources

Starting a new online business, developing a new product, launching a new marketing campaign, buying advertising can all depend on how well you are able to research your market. All business is based on demand. The formula and 40 techniques for finding demand we list in "The Ultimate Information Entrepreneur's Success Package" at http://www.infoproductcreator.com show that there aremany ways to discover and test demand. One of the leading ways is to look at magazines, journals, and media sour More..

Generational Marketing

Having run a multi-state franchise company with multiple brands it became obvious to me early on that if one were to properly respond to the needs and desires of your customer base; you must indeed, understand generational marketing. The X'ers have a completely different mindset than the "Boomers" or the "Matures." As I thought about this I also realized that it did not matter if you business was big or small; if you were the franchisee or the franchisor. All businesses must understand who their More..

Read more About Why You Buy, Part Two

Marketing Planning Made Simple - Another Small Business Power Tool

Marketing planning must be really difficult and complex, otherwise why would there be so many books written on the subject - right? Well, I'm just enough of a skeptic to believe that many of these books were designed more to make money for their publishers and authors than to make marketing planning simple and understandable. I spent more than 30 years working with very successful small business people who never wrote a single marketing plan. Why didn't they need complex, 100-page marketing pl More..

Big Ticket Marketing in 28 Minutes

I read an article recently about how many mainstream retail companies are using the standard 28 minute infomercial to more effectively target customers and sell their products. Now, I have to confess, I have never used an infomercial to market a Big Ticket product. But I have purchased many productsafter watching infomercials. The evidence is the Bowflex machine sitting upstairs in our spare room, the Tony Robbins CDsets on my shelf and the ProActiv solution my wife loves. By the way, if you w More..

Simple Marketing Idea - Big Marketing Results!

Have you ever noticed how many times it's the simplest concepts that end up working the best? The same is so true when it comes to marketing. I'm constantly amazed at just how powerful some of the simplest concepts are. I've seen simple marketing ideas that cost next to nothing and really require little to no additional extra work begin to make a company an extra thousand or more a month - every month. Unfortunately, the problem with simple marketing ideas is that many are so quick to excuse t More..

Marketing Plans... A Simple Approach To Get Off The Marketing Roller Coaster

Are You Riding The Marketing Roller Coaster? If you're like many of the small business owners or independent professionals I meet, then running and marketing your business can be like riding on a roller coaster. I'm picturing a roller coaster that mostly goes up and down as opposed to one that flips you upside-down or sends you around backwards. I guess you might call it more of an old-fashion roller coaster. Does this sound like your business at all? When business is good, we really don't ha More..

Using Alternative Media to Generate More Customers

Last week I received a very nice thank you gift from a friend of mine, Eric Ruth, who is arguably the number one marketing coach to the personal fitness trainer industry. Eric, asked if he could interview me about a specific topic and I agreed. After it was done, Eric sent me a bunch of filet mignon steaks from Omaha Steaks (Thanks Eric). But the steaks are not what this article is about. It's what was inside the Omaha Steaks box that I want to talk to you about. You see, two things came wi More..

Resistances To Marketing a Practice-Part 1

If you are a therapist, counselor, or an alternative or complementary healthpractitioner (naturopath, homeopathetic doctor, massage therapist, body worker,etc.), in all likelihood, you are not only uninformed about effective marketingmethods, but you are also likely to have some negative feelings about selfpromotion and marketing. When it comes to marketing a practice, knowing how to market effectively isessential. However, all the marketing knowledge in the world won't be of use to youif your More..

Profitable Marketing Programs Part 2: Figuring Break Even Point

In Part 1 -- http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/online/profit.htm -- I discussed how to consider both long term and short term profitability in your marketing programs and assumptions that go into conducting a break even analysis. Here in part 2, I will look at three different break even formulas. Figuring Break Even Point To figure the break even point, you should know the program's expected response rate, the program's expected conversion rate, and the lifetime value of a new customer. In More..

Client or Customer? There Really Is A Difference

Some people use the words "client" and "customer" interchangeably or generically. I'd like you to think a little about these important words because there is a significant difference - one that can have huge impact upon your long-term business. According to Merriam-Webster: Client: One that is under the protection of another Customer: One that purchases a commodity or service Here's the distinction: In a client / vendor relationship, the buyer is "under the protection" of the vendor and bec More..

6 Simple Ways to Determine Which Marketing Ideas Are Best for Your Business

Did something catch your eye in a direct mailing this past week? Have you recently gone to a website and encountered something entirely new that caught your attention? Did a friend of yours try out a new marketing idea and generate a few thousand dollars of extra business overnight? As a small business owner, it's all too easy to get caught up in the hype of new marketing techniques that promise quick rewards for little cash. I'll even admit that we copywriters are trained to overcome your psyc More..

Marketing Discipline and the Joy of Success

Discipline Is Important. I recently read an article about why discipline is important to a marketer. The author said that undisciplined people only live for today. He added that disciplined people use a little of their time for pleasure, and then invest the rest of their time in the future. Disciplined people get out of their armchair and do something. This takes effort and willpower. On the other hand, undisciplined people squander their time and their money. It takes discipline to be a succes More..

The Most Powerful Marketing Strategy Available To Small Businesses

Most small business owners want to generate huge profits, with little effort and in the least amount of time. If you fall into this category then joint venture marketing is the fastest, easiest and most profitable way to do that. Joint venture marketing involves two or more businesses combining their resources to work towards a common goal, and create a win-win situation for all parties involved. It's about partnering with another business to leverage on resources that your small business would More..

The Five Most Common Joint Venture Marketing Mistakes To Avoid

Joint Venture marketing has become a highly popular way for small businesses to maximize their profits. When two or more businesses combine their resources synergistically, it creates greater marketing impact and bigger profits than either can have alone. Doing joint ventures has many benefits, but there are also many mistakes that can be made. These mistakes can be costly, not only in revenue, but in credibility with your client base. These are not the only joint venture marketing mistakes ma More..

What The Heck Is An Eponym, And What Does It Mean For Your Brand?

Today I've decided to share with you a new word that recently made a special appearance in my daily life: eponym. It is pronounced (EP-uh-nim) and I have to be frank, but I was somewhat at a loss when I saw it. I mean, I write, communicate and persuade using words for a living?but this one had obviously been hiding somewhere far away because although I could pronounce it, I could not recall its meaning. So I grabbed my dictionary? then I realized that I now reside in the 21st Century? so I put More..

What Is Better Than FREE?

Oh come on! FREE is free. Zero, zip, nada, zilch. What on earth could be better than FREE? I recently told you FREE was the most powerful word in advertising. Nothing has changed, it still is. So what is with the headline of this article? What is better than FREE? Well before I explain, let's recap a little first. FREE is the most powerful word in marketing and advertising world because at its very heart lies the secret of 'risk reversal'. If you recall, in the previous article I was encourag More..

Give It Away Now - The More You Share, the More You Sell!

Give away your knowledge, and you'll make money. How does this work? Isn't this counter-intuitive? Let's think about this. If you get early adopters (Seth Godin would call them "sneezers") on board and they like what you have to say, they'll talk about your ideas. They'll share it with their friends, they'll put it on their blog, and they'll invite others to try it out. Low risk because it's free, except high risk because really you're putting your reputation on the line. The more they talk abo More..

Fundraisers - How to Raise Twice the Money With Half the Sweat

If your members, parents or donors wear clothes, watch t.v. or read books you have the beginning ingredients to a sweet recipe for a great year-round fundraiser. How so? By taking advantage of what's known as an affiliate program or in more common lingo -- partnering. How would you like to partner with the bohemoth Amazon.com? Blockbuster? Disney? or even the giant Wal-mart? Your organization would receive a commission or fee for every paying customer you sent their way. No products to delive More..

Marketing is More Than a Token Process

"Necessity is the mother of invention!" The first time I heard this was nearly twenty years ago when I was introduced to Tony Robbins' material. I was listening to, and applying, information from his thirty day series. I have to admit, the first time I heard this it didn't quite register. However, nearly two decades later, it makes all the sense in the world. In fact, a majority of the things we take for granted were created out of a need. When the need became great enough, someone figured out More..

Design Does Matter

The idea that good design can improve how people perceive your business has long been a part of a designer's sales tools. They try to convince you that by improving your image, maybe creating a new logo or changing the way you communicate with your customers you can somehow improve sales and improve your bottom line. But are they right? Over the years many companies have been sceptical about these claims because of a lack of concrete evidence. Designers struggle to back up their claims with wri More..

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