1. Personal Fundraising letters are about as personal as you can get with a donor without meeting face to face or talking on the phone. Unlike special events, fundraising letters let you have a one-on-one "meeting" with each donor. 2. Can be passed along Unlike personal visits, phone calls and special events, fundraising letters can reproduce themselves. Your appeal on paper has the opportunity to reach more than one donor, potentially doubling or tripling your efforts. Member-Get-A-Member lett More..

Direct Mail Still Works!

Direct Mail Campaigns Despite the proliferation of communication facilitators--mobile phones, faxes, emails, PDAs--the mail still plays a vital role in successful marketing. Direct mail marketing continues to be one of the leading methods for effectively reaching prospective customers because it can be focused, predictable and economical. Direct mail is effective and efficient because it is a pinpointed approach. Basically, the campaign is an arrow shot at one individual at an individual locat More..

Does Your Marketing Plan Need Changing?

Change is good, right? Not always. But when is it bad? Is it a question of good or bad? Sounds philosophical. Maybe it is. Philosophize on this?why would one take something that is going good - no.. great - and change it? Obvious answer is to make it better. Not! In business or in marketing, change is not always good. When you have certain promotional actions that are in place making things happen, or in better terms, making you money - don't change them! Why do I say this? Because I see it ti More..

Promotional Lanyards to Market Your Products and Services

It has become fairly common place to see Id badges dangling from a persons neck on a short cord, and on the cord or small rope itself, is printed the name of a company, or a school or an event on it. When you spot one of these, you can be sure you're looking at a lanyard. Why is that? Well - a promotional lanyard belongs to that bag of tricks a marketing person uses to promote their business. Technically known as promotional marketing products, they can be rather serious gadgets or as silly as More..

Why Pay for Online Press Release Distribution?

We've all heard that "free advice is worth what you pay for it..." Shakespeare put it a little more eloquently in King Lear,when the aging monarch admonished his daughter Cordelia,"Nothing shall come of nothing..." And when it comes to distributing press releases online, I now know from first hand personal experience that "if you're going to play, it's best to pay." But the good news is, you don't have to pay much. In fact, compared to the return you get, your cash outlay is extremely well sp More..

Eleven Reasons Donors Stop Responding To Fundraising Letter Appeals

Donors will stop responding to your fundraising letter appeals for many reasons. Some of which you can manage, but many of which you cannot. Use these findings to retain as many of your donors as you can. 1. They forget I suppose you could call this a case of "poor institutional memory." Donors simply forget your institution. They read your letter, decide to give, put your letter down somewhere, and then forget to mail you their gift. 2. They get distracted Some stop sending gifts because they More..

Small Business Marketing Tip - Focus on a Niche or Target Market

I think selling and marketing today often feels a bit like talking to a brick wall and that in interesting metaphor to help grasp the importance of niche marketing especially when it comes to small business marketing. Imagine for a moment that you are attacking that brick wall with a hammer, randomly hitting it everywhere. What would be the effect? Practically no effect at all. You might knock off a few chips but come back a day or so later, there will be no evidence you were even there. And th More..

Listen To What The Marketing Experts Say

But more importantly, watch what they do. If you do much online shopping, you're sure to have seen some great, and not so great, sales letters urging you to get that oh-so-fabulous product that will solve all your problems right now. Some of those letters probably make you want to whip out that credit card from the moment you start reading. Others -- well your card never sees the light of day. But that's okay. Use it as a lesson for your business. You can learn how to create a good sales lette More..

4 Alternative Ways To Gain Lifetime Customers

You will always have more people that turn down your offer than actually buy. They might not have bought because of your price, payment options, or any other possible reason. You will just end up loosing all these potential lifetime customers. However, there are many ways you can minimize the loss of these prospects. One way is to accept barter offers for your product. Maybe the person can't afford to buy your product. They may have something you could use in your business or personal life. If More..

Be a Smarter Marketer - Learn the L-A-W for Trade Shows

People attend trade shows because they are in a specificindustry and want to learn more. They want to know what'snew and how you will help them. So, you print up lots of fancy brochures, developdemonstrations, have unique gifts or hand-outs - and wantto get rid of it all before the end of the show, so you don'thave to ship it home. If you think your only job as an exhibitor is to GIVEinformation, you are wrong. You exhibit at trade shows because you are in a specificindustry and need to keep More..

Always On Stage - 3 Quick Tips for Trade Show Exhibitors

Do you feel uncomfortable when you're in the trade showbooth? Like folks are looking at you? Like you're on stage?Got as little stage fright? Well, folks are looking at you. Yes, it's like you are onstage.Here are three quick tips to make you comfortablewhen in the booth. 1. Always face the aisle. You need to be able to see whoelse is coming down the aisle. At most turn to a 45 angle,even when giving a demonstration. Never have your back tothe aisle - that's just rude. 2. After the visitor le More..

Your Ideal Client

A lot of small businesses make the mistake of thinking that their product or service is good for just about anyone. The logic is "why should I limit my market to a smaller segment of the whole and sacrifice a sale." The problem with that logic is that for most products and services you simply cannot expect consumers of vastly different segments to view you as valuable. Teens have a different lifestyle than single moms. Single moms have different needs than country club executives. Country Club e More..

Read more About Why Surveying Matters

Creating Your Future with a Marketing Plan

Almost everyone who dreams of starting their own business is familiar with the fact that they should create a business plan. However, often that's where many people stop. When you created your business plan, what did you do with it? You actually have the base for the next step, which is creating your marketing plan. Without the plan of how you are going to market your business, the business plan is just an empty jumble of words speaking of dreams and desires. The marketing plan takes those dream More..

Dear Friend: Dont Start Your Non-For-Profit Fundraising Letters As A Stranger

Dear Friend: Don't do it. Don't start your fundraising letters with "Dear Friend." After all, when was the last time you received a letter from someone dear to you, addressing you as "Dear Friend?" Never, right? The days of the Dear Friend letter are dead. So let's bury the Dear Friend letter together. I heard recently of a chairman of the board of a national charity who has given his charity millions of dollars and hundreds of hours of his time, yet he still receives their fundraising appea More..

What Are Focus Groups & How Do They Work?

Businesses and other organizations use focus groups to research consumer and public opinion concerning a variety of issues. Corporations look to focus groups for general help in selling their products to the world at large instead of any type of direct marketing efforts. Focus groups are usually conducted by Market Research companies. Market research companies are hired by the big corporations such as Coca-Cola and Nestle. The reason they do this is because the market research companies have th More..

Wooing Women With Packaging

In just one month three California vineyards have introduced new wine product lines specifically targeted to women. The product offerings are intriguing with names such as "White Lie" and "Mad Housewife" to the latest introduction "Working Girl White." These wine companies are responding to the message: A wine just for women. Interestingly, all three wines have different product approaches. From clever white lies on the corks, to retro chic on the bottle graphics each has its own unique appeal. More..

Have You Tried Cause Marketing?

To help promote your small business or professional practice, consider tearing a page out of the corporate marketing playbook. For years big companies have partnered with nonprofits to co-promote their brands. And it has worked well because they keep doing it. In fact, since 1990, cause related marketing (also called corporate partnering) has grown 800%, according the Cause Marketing Forum. It's expected to reach $1.8 billion in spending in 2005. So, could this be something that might help you More..

Top 5 Kick Butt Marketing Requirements

Cinch your success with 8-second leaders! Step into the saddle and ride to the buzzer - but first, get outfitted for success. Some things are necessary to have on hand in order to be prepared for coming out of the chute. No cowboy worth his chaps would step onto a horse without the right attire. Nor should you step into the marketing arena without the right 'stuff'. 1. Confidence. Never enter the Marketing Zone without your confidence. Open up your mind and visualize success. See yourself as y More..

Ditch Coupons Before Customers Ditch You

Everyone wants to feel like they're getting a good deal. Merchants often attempt to capitalize on this desire through coupon offers, rebates, and "special discounts." Coupons have become the promotional drug of choice to woo more business from new and old customers alike. Unfortunately, coupons can destroy customer relationships almost as fast as they are made. The worst coupon abusers are merchants who set a relatively high list price compared to the competition, and then use coupons or other More..

How Price Gouging Can Hurt Your Business

Price gouging" is an emotional, inflammatory term. Everyone is against it, but only buyers, angry over excessive profit-taking, proclaim it. As a seller, how can you reap the profit rewards you deserve without being accused of price gouging? From a marketer's perspective, attaching a price tag to a product or service is always an agonizing experience. What is the right price? This question is hotly debated in meeting rooms around the world every day. The search for the perfect price may be the More..

10 Simple Ways to Boost Your Sales IMMIDIATELY!

Alright you've got yourself a nice website with a great design and a good steady traffic coming in... After that what are you going to do? Do you really have what it takes to make a website that sells? Or is it just another website? Now what I'm about to give you in this article is the 10 things you can implement in your marketing or business plan, you'll be amazed that changing only a few simple things can have a huge impact on your sales! 1. Build your own credibility. Yes my friend! Credi More..

How to Conduct a Successful Fax Marketing Campaign

1. Focus your fax marketing on one objective Fax is a flexible medium, and is being used by Adestra clients to sell off-the-page, to conduct research, for broadcasting newsletters, for generating prospects and for database cleaning. Avoid diluting your message by keeping it simple and being clear about what you are trying to achieve. 2. Collect clean fax contact data When collecting fax numbers, split out the international and regional code from the main number to encourage accuracy of collec More..

Marketing in Business and Commerce in the New Consciousness

The point is what you give to another you give to yourself; the reason being that there is only one of us. You are apart part of the Universal life force just the same as your customer is. If you want to have any experience in your life, just course another to have that experience, and you notice it showing up in your life as well. We have had the industrial revolution; we are now going through a consciousness revolution. It is getting more and more difficult to Asses, where your consciousness More..

Pay for Performance Pricing Models for Search Engine Optimization

I do think that it is entirely possible for an SEO and client to work out a pay for performance pricing structure that is fair to both. Logistically, though the tracking involved to this would add additional layers to the total process of ranking and reporting. If both the SEO and the client are willing to take that on and set parameters that are agreeable between them then by all means a fair agreement can be reached. Personally, I would not price SEO services based on performance unless I was More..

The Importance of Business Marketing

Business marketing is one of the most important parts that your business needs to be addressed with careful attention and proactive thoughts. In last decade or so, the importance of business marketing has increased volcanically, as the advent of Internet and online business has ushered a whole new era in business. It should be noted that the competition and urgency among businessmen has increased due to the fact that Internet has rendered a whole world as a virtual world, and you never know when More..

What to Look for in Display Graphics and Trade Show Graphics

Display graphics are graphic images used for illustration or "display" purposes. Display Graphics are usually printed on paper, vinyl or fabric using a "large format" printing device. Normally display graphics are over-sized graphics printed on paper or some other material, and then mounted or hung on a graphic display unit of some sort in a conspicuous place. One-off display graphics are used in vinyl banners, trade show displays, or as backdrops for a convention, press conference, or special More..

Test Marketing--How to Increase Your Direct Mail Marketing Response by Using the Internet to Test

I've discovered a really fantastic way to discover what works best in direct marketing, BEFORE doing traditional direct marketing. Use these internet tools to find what works best, then apply what you've learned to your traditional direct marketing, direct mail, etc. It's fast and less expensive. How to Find What Works in Your Marketplace? Overture provides an excellent tool to find what people are looking for on the internet. For all practical purposes, you can use that to apply to other type More..

Fundraising Letters Are Easier To Write With AIDA

Learn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters. They follow a time-tested format in their sales letters, a format that you can also follow when writing direct mail fundraising letters for your non-for-profit organization. All you need to remember is AIDA. AIDA is an acrostic for the four things you need to do, and the order you need to do them in, to write compelling donation request letters. ATTENTION The A stands for Attention. You need to grab it. Your envelope has to grab attenti More..

2 Little Words That Work Marketing Magic

In his classic best-seller, "How To Win Friends And Influence People," Dale Carnegie's second chapter is entitled The Big Secret of Dealing With People. The secret is summed up in this principle: Give honest and sincere appreciation. Carnegie said there is only one way to get anybody to do anything -- by making the person want to do it. How can you encourage customers to say good things about you and give you referrals? By giving them what they and all human beings crave: honest and sincere app More..

The Testimonial Writing Machine

Almost every small business marketer knows that they should gather testimonials to use in their marketing materials. The problem though is that getting your clients, the ones who know your greatness, to sit down with a blank sheet of paper and crank out a glowing testimonial can be a bit of a chore. It isn't that they don't want to do it; it's just that there are other priorities calling to them as well. I accidentally stumbled on a way to get clients to systematically write testimonials. And, More..

Nine Must-Do Positioning Steps

Every professional or consultant knows that clients typically hire people they know, like and trust. But how do you build trust with strangers? As Ralph Waldo Emerson's 150-year-old essay titled "Compensation" teaches, first you must give if you want to receive. The best positioning strategy for professional service firms is to build trust by giving away valuable information. That's why professional service firm marketing works best when it demonstrates expertise by educating prospects, not ass More..

Has the Internet Killed Off the Direct Mail Baron?

Over the past 30 years, direct mail has been responsible for generating vast amounts of money for businesses and individuals alike, but is it still an effective means of marketing? The short answer, in the short term, is yes. But the Internet has without doubt diluted the power of pen on paper and will continue to do so, until only a few die-hard individuals and the glossy brochure brigade, are left to pick the bones of an industry once plump and ripe for plucking and plundering. Today, the In More..

Lessons Learned at the Harvard Business School

"If God wanted to create a perfect punishment for a high achiever, then He would have that person manage a professional service firm," says Professor John Gabarro of the Harvard Business School. Gabarro is on the faculty of the Leading Professional Service Firms program, an intensive, one-week executive education program taught twice a year at the Harvard Business School. Designed for leaders of professional service firms, the program focuses on management and marketing issues unique to these f More..

Provacative Research Works

If you want to double your business, then you need to get inside your client's head through proprietary research and provocative results. By conducting proprietary research, you obtain special information that prospective clients can't find elsewhere. The foundation of client seduction is to give away useful information that demonstrates to clients you have the expertise to help them. Giving away general problem-solving information is good, but it is not good enough. You need to offer specifics More..

Down To The Wire

When you want to win and woo new clients with national publicity -- and don't have an enormous budget to distribute your message -- turn to the news wires. But first, be sure you're telling a story that's worth printing. The best publicity draws on one of a handful of tried-and-true themes. Newsworthy stories have something that hits you as a reader and makes you more interested than "just the facts."Think about how your company's story might work as part of one (or more) of the following story More..

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