Over the last few years the buzz about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has grown extensively. It seems that every Sales & Marketing executive is talking about it. A study conducted by Jupiter Media Metrix found that U.S. businesses spent more than $5.2 billion in CRM technology software in 2001, a number that is expected to rise to $8.7 billion by 2006. CRM spending has been growing considerably, especially in financial services, retail, and telecommunications. Many companies have invest More..

How to Turn Your Marketing Into a Money-Making Machine - Setting The Stage For Successful Marketing

Powerful Marketing has become elusive to many companies seekingstrong sales results and overall growth. The sad truth is that Marketingcomes across as a rather frustrating process. After all, how do youguarantee the outcome of a campaign when it is unclear what will workand what will not? As someone once said, 90% of Advertising doesn'twork-the question is, which 90%! If we could hone in on that 10% that does work, we would do more of it,right? The good news is that there is a way, and it is t More..

How to Turn Your Marketing Into a Money-Making Machine - Preparing for Marketing That Yields Results

The usual complaint from companies is that Marketing simply does notyield as expected. So much effort, time, and money goes intocampaigns, and yet the frustrations persist: Why aren't sales up? Whyare we not growing? And the truth, sadly enough, is that no one canreally pinpoint what is working well, and what simply is not producinganything (and costing the company!). As with anything else, preparation is key. Without laying a foundation forsuccess, success will not magically appear. Strategiz More..

How to Turn Your Marketing Into a Money-Making Machine - Examples of solid Marketing

As Claude Hopkins presented in his Scientific Advertising manydecades ago, there are scientific ways of tracking your Marketing andAdvertising and determining clearly and unequivocally what works andwhat does not. Without knowing the facts about what is effectivelyincreasing your leads, and subsequently your sales success, you mightas well be throwing money out the window-literally. All you have to do is reflect on your own Marketing to realize the truth inthe old statement: 90% of Advertising More..

Mission Position

Ahh, the mission statement. For some companies it simply describes their purpose for existing. For others it permeates the overall culture of the company. Some see its value, while others neglect to give it even a passing thought. Whatever your position on having a corporate mission statement, you should know that your image is tied to your mission. And companies that don't have a clearly defined image usually don't have a mission statement. All success-bound companies need one, if for no other More..

Read more About Mission Position

Marketing Lessons From Apples iPod

Apple Computer just announced that their earnings from the last quarter more than quadrupled mainly due to robust holiday sales of the iPod digital music player. More than 10 million iPods have been sold since it was introduced in 2001. There are some important marketing lessons to be learned from all this. First of all, Apple has created a product for a hungry market that has the financial means to purchase it even with the relatively high price point. If you find a hot and hungry market, crea More..

An Example of Understanding Consumer Thinking

A church in my community provided me with one of the best examples of understanding the consumer, which I've ever experienced. Once a month a church in my community provides free lunch, open to the public. When you go into the dining area you are initially met by a man who is loud, amiable, and obviously enjoying his position. He greets you with a handshake, making sure you know that, "Everything is on the house". He then orders your meal for you and directs you to a seat. After this someone c More..

Developing the Unique Selling Proposition

The "Unique Selling Proposition" advertising campaign was developed by Reeves in 1961. Reeves proposed that marketers offer products different from their competitor' offerings by developing products that have a special formula, design, or feature. The product or service being marketed must be unique and important to the prospect. Finally, the USP can be an overt statement or implied through different marketing mechanisms. This is all wonderful theory but how does one create and apply the USP? J More..

50 Benefits Of Joint Venture Marketing

What Is A Joint Venture? A joint venture is an agreement in which two or more businesses work on a project for a set period of time. Joint ventures can be long-term, like promoting a product together, or some can be short-term, like bartering (trading) products and services. Joint venture ideas are virtually endless. The Benefits Of Joint Venture Marketing 1. You can build long lasting business relationships. 2. You can increase your credibility by teaming up with other reputable, branded b More..

The Sweet Aroma of Highly Effective Marketing

Highly effective marketing is accomplished when your marketing materials and marketing strategy work together to reliably move your prospects through your sales process. Have you ever caught a whiff of a tantalizing aroma wafting through the air as you walked down the street? With your senses suddenly alerted to something tasty nearby you notice the bakery on the corner. As you draw closer you see the storekeeper handing out free samples of the cake you smell. You happily try the sample and bef More..

Are You Overlooking Your Hidden Profit Centers?

There are other names given to "Back-End Selling". You may think of it as follow through, or maybe VALUE added. Both are good terms. Let's take a quick look and see just how you can profit from this idea. For our purpose today, let's just key in on the benefits of "Back-End Selling". "Back-End Selling" is simply the SELLING you do AFTER the first sale. Your profits come primarily from repeat business rather than from the initial (first order) sale of your product or service. Your greatest COST More..

50 Unbelievable Benefits Of Joint Venture Marketing

Fertilizer For Your Grassroots Marketing

Looking for a great way to drive traffic to your business? No million dollar ad budget last time you checked? The solution may be to harness the power of grassroots marketing. Grassroots marketing is simply taking the unconventional approach to getting people interested in what you offer. It's driven by creativity and energy-the stuff we entrepreneurs have a lot of. And it doesn't require a lot of money-the stuff we have the least of! To get started with grassroots marketing, consider these th More..

A Different Perspective On The No-Call List

The other day I received an e-mail from an internet marketer who was bemoaning the fact that calling people on the no-call list is now illegal and that puts such limits on marketing. He is far and away not the only one with that viewpoint; I find it almost everywhere I look. In fact, it is almost universal among marketers. You know what? I frankly don't understand why they feel that way. If there is one marketing perspective that is more universal than hatred for the no-call list, it is that in More..

The Future of Marketing Part 1

It used to be if you were a small business, you were at adistinct disadvantage with your marketing compared to thebigger companies. No more. Small business owners will actually have an edgeover bigger companies thanks to the emerging marketingmodel. Yes, you heard right. Emerging marketing model. The oldways of marketing are dying. And a new regime is coming ofage. To understand how marketing is changing, it's important tostart with a bit of history. The image most of us have ofmarketing is b More..

Future of Marketing Part 2

In Part 1, I discussed how traditional marketing is no longerworking the way it used to. This is happening for a variety ofreasons -- people have too many mass media choices,they're bombarded with way too many marketing messages,the Internet is adding accountability to advertising, etc. So if traditional marketing is no longer effective, then howwill you get the word out about your products or services? What Internet Marketer Seth Godin, author of the bookPermission Marketing, calls permission More..

Quiz: Where is Your Marketing Message?

Wondering if your marketing message is dancing in thespotlight right in front of your target market or is busycowering by the punch table nowhere near your customerbase? Take this quiz and find out. 1. Overall, you would describe your marketing as: A. Going strong. You consistently get lots of good leads andsales from your marketing efforts. B. Getting better. You're seeing some positive results, butyou're always looking for ways to improve. C. Flat. Your sales are neither growing nor shrinkin More..

Marketing Quandaries

Being in a quandary prevents you from moving forward in developing and marketing your business. When we're in a quandary, we are in a state of perplexity and doubt. We don't know how to move forward to accomplish those things that are crucial to attracting clients and growing our business. One of the first things we need to recognize about being in a quandary is that we are, in fact, in one! There are a number of easy, simple things that you can start doing today to get yourself out of that plac More..

Read more About Marketing Quandaries

Sowing and Growing Your Network

The N-word! We all know the value of networking and we feel we should be doing more of it. Unfortunately, for too many of us the very thought of attending an event where we have to mix and mingle with total strangers is enough to drive us into hiding until it's all over! What a pity we often force ourselves to go to a potentially great conference, but we're so busy worrying about the networking part that we forget to enjoy the event! But networking is like so many other activities in life-it's More..

10 Surefire Ways to Add Sizzle to Your Brochures

Businesses rely on brochures as their front line in communicating their products or services. Yet according to Shannon Cherry, APR, many find them not as successful because they underestimate the skills and resources necessary to publish attractive and effective materials. "Most people forget a brochure is important because it represents you to the world and reflects your image," says Cherry, president of Cherry Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that helps businesses, entrep More..

8 BIG Benefits To Selling Big Ticket Items

Ok, before we get down to the benefits of selling Big Ticket Items,we had better define what a Big Ticket Item is. A Big Ticket Item is any product or service that sells for more than$500 or $1000. Or, at least, that's my definition. The truth is, the definition of a Big Ticket Item really depends onwhere you are starting. Maybe you already sell E-Books or some other product for between$17 and $97. Or maybe you think $200 to $300 is a lot of money. My point is, the definition of Big Ticket More..

Get More Clients From Networking - Follow The Rules Of Dating!

If you're a business owner, you probably spend quite a lot of your time at networking events. In fact, it may be the main way you try to get new clients. But do you ever feel that you could get more from these meetings? Do you actually get the results from your networking to justify the amount of time you put into it? If you don't find you get a lot of interest from the people you meet, it may be that you're going about things the wrong way. You may need a new approach. My own view is that you More..

7 Tips for Successful Postcard Marketing

Simple low-cost postcards have become a valuable business tool for modern marketers. They can produce a surge of traffic to your web site or a flood of high-quality sales leads. The following 7 tips will help you get the maximum response from postcards at the lowest cost. Tip 1: Focus on the Mailing List Make sure your postcards go to prospects likely to be interested in your offer ...and who also have a proven history of acting on offers that interest them. For example, send them to custome More..

5 High-Impact Marketing Tips

Here are 5 high-impact marketing tips you can use to boost your sales quickly. All are simple to implement and they involve little or no new expense. 1. Promote Only One Thing at a Time Promote only 1 product or service each time you advertise. Many people have difficulty selecting one product when their decision forces them to delay or reject buying something else they also want. When prospects cannot make an easy choice they often make no decision at all ...and you lose the sale. Tip: Offer More..

Uncover Your Hidden Markets

Want a simple, low-cost way to boost your sales? Just uncover the narrowly defined sub-markets hidden in your main market. Then create special versions of your advertising to focus on the specific needs of prospects in these hidden market segments. 1. How to Find Your Hidden Markets Start by evaluating your existing customers. Look for groups of customers with similar characteristics you do not currently cater to in your advertising. Then create new versions of your sales message appealing to More..

Low-Cost Marketing With Postcards

Here's a simple way you can generate lots of sales leads ...or traffic to your web site. Use postcards. They're highly effective and very low-cost. Plus, postcards provide the following 6 unique advantages over most other types of advertising. 1. Maximum Exposure for Your Sales Message Postcards are delivered "ready to read". Even people who usually ignore other advertising will find it hard to avoid looking at your message when it's on a postcard ...especially if you keep it brief. With othe More..

3 Simple Selling Tactics

The following 3 simple selling tactics produce sales by responding to the way customers normally think and behave. They work for any business - regardless of what you sell, how you sell or where you sell it. 1. Pay Attention to Getting Attention Can you remember the last 3 advertising messages beamed at you? Can you remember even one of them? Most people can't ...including your prospective customers. That's because they automatically ignore the steady stream of advertising directed at them. T More..

10 Important Marketing Tips

Each of the following Ten Marketing Tips is based on ahighly effective but often overlooked marketing tactic.How many are you using? How many have you overlooked? Marketing Tip #1: Insulate yourself against the impact of change byincreasing the number of products and services you offer...and by using a variety of different marketing methods.Only a small portion of your total business will beaffected if the sales of one product declines or theresponse to one marketing method drops. Marketing Ti More..

How To Recover Your Almost Customers

You'll always need to find new prospects for your business. But don't overlook the prospects you already attracted. Many are close to buying. Use these four simple procedures to convert those "almost customers" into paying customers. 1. Make A Memorable Impression Create a reason for prospects and customers to notice you ...and to think of you when they encounter a competitor. Many prospects who do not buy from you the first time will come back to buy later. Existing customers will also remem More..

Voice Mail Can Be Your Buddy

Voice Mail is a classy name for "answer Machine". Problem is, people at home had answer machines long before most businesses. When the answer machine industry finally figured how work to their machines into business systems with more than one extension, they called it "Voice Mail" This article focuses on what you say TO the voice mail, not the welcome greeting you might put on your voice mail. You can leave two types of voice mail messages. A message to a person you already have a business rela More..

Three Simple Ideas That Increase Profit? FAST!

Are you spending more time trying to get new clients than actually working with them? If the answer is yes, then these three simple ideas will help you. First, have you ever asked for something and got something different to what you thought you*d asked for? Or have you ever thought you had asked for something and got a blank expression or worse... just got completely ignored? Or even worse, been half-way through telling someone what you do for a living and had it dawn on you that they have lo More..

7 Proven Tips To Market Your Cleaning Business

Marketing your cleaning business is something that you will already have an idea about when you start your business plan. Nothing is better for an emerging cleaning business than a really good marketing strategy. This is when all of your research will work to your advantage. Cleaning business or any other type of service business cannot survive without a proven marketing plan, In order to build a good marketing strategy you must first: 1- Correctly assess your competition and what they are doin More..

Financial Services Marketing Insights: A Marketing Compass

What we now call "marketing" began long before the name was coined. In the mid-1800s, traveling salesmen dressed "snake oil" and other tonics in fancy packaging and extolled their virtues to a gullible public. New marketing applications soon proliferated in the belief that marketing could make many new things possible in virtually any business situation. For more than a century, implementation, experience and ultimately strategy have helped marketing evolve from crude beginnings into today's sop More..

Build Lifelong Networks With Your Own Barter Group

I don't know if you have ever seriously considered bartering. If you haven't considered it, it's probably about time that you did. Why? Well, besides the fact that both parties involved in a barter leave feeling satisfied, it can also build lifelong personal or business connections. Building a network of contacts with other people not only increases the number of acquaintances and friends you have it also practically guarantees success. It is well known fact that networking is a very important More..

Name the Top Cable Network

When Cable began as Community Antenna Television in 1948, all it did was collect over the air TV signals and send them down a cable. When Cable networks began, so did Cable advertising. The fledgling new networks sold (or gave away) ads in their programs. Memories are etched in our brain; The Amazing Slicer-Dicer, and "so you don't forget, call before midnight tonight". Eventually local cable systems were given permission to sell ads and cover up selected Ginsu Knife ads on the networks. Local More..

What Does Your Business Address Say?

If you are operating a business from your home and your post office address clearly indicates a home address, you may want to re-think your marketing strategy. A Rural Route 2 address can plainly say your business might be in a bedroom at home, or worse, in the barn. Does 27 Sleeping Beauty Circle look like a business address to you? If your business is still at home and your address screams it, get a post office box. There are also companies that rent addresses and forward your mail. You coul More..

Whats Your Selling Sentence?

What's your Selling Sentence? If you have a business, you need a selling sentence. Sometimes called the Defining Sentence or the Secondary Statement, the Selling Sentence is the group of words that clarify and refine the the nature of your business when seen or heard with the name or logo of your business. You tell 'em what you do for them' with your Selling Sentence. The Selling Sentence clearly differentiates your business in the eyes of your current and potential customers or clients. "When More..

11 Powerful Marketing Tips

Each of these 11 marketing tips is based on a marketing strategy or tactic proven to boost sales. How many are you using? Tip 1: Your customers buy your product or service to feel a certain way after their purchase. Keep this in mind as you develop your ads, web pages and other sales tools. Use vivid word pictures to dramatize the pleasant feelings your customers experience when they use what you are selling. It intensifies their desire to have it and motivates them to buy now. Tip 2: Continua More..

Top 10 Dos and Donts for an Effective Business Referral Network!

Every business - particularly small, entrepreneurial or professional businesses - must have a powerful referral network. It is very unlikely (and terribly expensive) to "advertise your way to success". Without tons of capital, it can't be done. It is far more effective, and more fun, to create an effective network that sends you clients, supports your business, and makes you money. Unfortunately, most professionals confuse effective networking with passing out business cards and schmoozing. They More..

Unique Selling Proposition - Your Competitive Advantage!

To capture a larger market share and be viable, sustainableand profitable, you absolutely need to differentiate or distinguish your business, products and/or services from your competitors. In other words, you need to make your business special in theeyes of your customers and/or prospects. You can do this by creating what's called an Unique SellingPropostion or USP and then effectively convey that USP toyour target market via your marketing efforts and businessperformance. This is particular More..

Top 10 Ways to Create and Manage Opportunity

Most of us are used to the concepts of risk management or time management. Many of the same principles can be applied to creating and responding to opportunities. Instead of thinking of opportunities as just "coming along", you can actually increase the number of opportunities available to you, and there are specific principles you can use to assess whether a "possibility" has real "probability" and "profitability" for you. In times of rapid change, increasing the number of options you have avai More..

Top 10 Tips To Market & Build Your Professional Practice

More..

The Top 10 Ways to Market your Business or Professional Practice Without Networking

While focused, strategic networking is usually the most efficient way to build your professional practice, there are many other ways to market your business. Personal networking may not be appropriate in some areas, or for certain types of services, and some people simply don't like to do it. The following are the Top 10 methods my clients have used to increase sales and grow their practices without networking: 1. Newsletters. There are many inexpensive ways to distribute your newsletter, from More..

The Top 10 Ways to Market your Business or Professional Practice Without Advertising

Every business and professional practice MUST be in the public eye. You need customers! Folks need your goods and services -- it's a mutual alliance for mutual benefit! But if potential clients and customers don't know you exist, or can't find you, you will go bankrupt! They won't benefit from your services, and you won't make any money. So, marketing is a necessity. Advertising is one form of marketing, but it's terribly expensive. Here are the Top 10 alternatives: 1. Contact 5 past customers More..

Marketing Without Ego

Our ego can get in the way of marketing our business. From our need to be right, to talking about ourselves incessantly; coming from an attitude of arrogance to getting attached to the outcomes of what we do, these are just some of the ways our ego can get in our way. If it's all about us, then it isn't about our customers. It's imperative that we are aware of how we conduct our selves and the impact it may be having on our success. Our ego, however, can serve us as well. Our ego can help us i More..

Marketing Articles

Have Query? Contact Us Now