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July 30, 2005
Direct Mail Marketing Video
As a small business owner you should be marketing not just online but offline as well. Offline marketing is also known as "Direct Mail Marketing". Before the advent of the Internet direct mail marketing was arguably to main and cheapest form of marketing available to small businesses.
With the problem posed by email spam and introduction of laws in USA and Europe to regulate the abuse of spam more and more small companies are turning to direct mail marketing.
While direct mail marketing is making a come back you are still faced with the problem of getting the attention of prospect and to get them open your mail instead of trashing it.
Remember, your average prospect is more likely to standing over the trash can as he's opening him mail. If your letter does not stand out and gain him attention he'll trash it in a flash!
So how can you win! The answer is to make your letter lumpy.
How to Make Your Sales Letter Lumpy
First off in direct mail marketing "lumpy" is referred to when you include an object of some kind in the letter for example a pen, cd, video, golf ball or chain. In fact you can make your letter lumpy by using your imagination to come up with objects.
Any object that creates a lump in your letter to get your prospect's attention and curiosity so he'll open the letter.
Watch This Direct Mail Marketing Video
In this video you can learn more about creating and using 'lumpy letters'.
Watch Victor Urbach's free online video on the subject.
The video not only covers using lumpy letters, but is also an excellent example how you as a small business owner can stay in touch with your market and build a following by presenting an informative (and non spam) monthly video message.
Victor Urbach - The Secret of Grabbers
David
Small Business Resource
Posted by David at 9:17 PM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2005
SMALL BUSINESS SALES & MARKETING
Many small business owners are Woefully neglecting many opportunities for promoting their business at zero cost. If you're a small business owner operating on a shoestring budget you can market your business, products or services by keeping your eyes open to news events relating to your niche area. You can get FREE publicity that would normally cost thousands of pounds or dollars (USA).
Dan Kennedy has helped small companies to generate hundreds of millions of dollars and he's prominent on my reading list. In fact I subscribe to his monthly newsletter, a must if you're running a small business and want to generate sales through effective marketing.
This is what Dan has to say about marketing and promotion:
While you're sitting there trying to come up with ideas for your next marketing promotion, you're losing money. You'll get that promotion done faster - and out there pulling in sales - if you get a faster start.
How do you start fast? Simply by having lots of ideas right in front of you!
There are plenty of sources for good ideas that can get you going. One of the best is the news.
Take a look at this morning's paper, and what do you see? Political gaffs ... terrorist threats ... inspirational sports stories ... devastating storms ... medical breakthroughs ... celebrity gossip ... product recalls ... concern over Social Security reform ... the ongoing financial woes of the airlines.
Do you mean to tell me you couldn't find some way to use ONE of those stories in a timely promotion for your business?
I get a ton of mail. For my residences, my office, from local businesses, national companies - and I'm on the mailing lists of over a hundred different organizations. Incredibly, I can't remember the last time a sales letter crossed my desk using any of the above news items.
Every morning, you get up and the nutty world we live in graciously, generously hands you dozens of fine opportunities to promote whatever it is that you promote by entering the conversations already in progress in your prospects' minds ... by grabbing their water cooler, coffee break, lunch counter conversations and using them for your profit.
Every day, politicians, celebrities, other newsmakers, the national media, your local media, even the weather work for you, creating endless opportunities to be interesting, captivating, compelling, and entertaining in order to command the attention of your potential customers.
Surrounded by opportunity, most business owners sleep. Meanwhile, the entire world is engaged in a conspiracy to fuel your marketing and make you into a marketing genius.
But only if you light the match!
Get free Public Relations Guide
Posted by David at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)
July 28, 2005
How To Reduce The Risk Of Blog Copyright Theft
If you're a small business that's using blog to build customer and cement customer relationship you need to incorporate measures to reduce the risk of your blog content being stolen
Some useful advice include:
1. Add a formal copyright line and Terms & Conditions
2. Slim down your RSS feeds
3. Embed an "invisible" copyright line in articles
4. Ask for a hotlink
5. Include preferred attribution lines
6. Tell Google in writing if someone steals your copyrighted materials
See the full article:
Marketing Sherpa
Posted by David at 9:28 AM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2005
The Proof Is In The Promotion - Or Should Be
Nowhere do some marketers think less like consumers than when it comes to proving the claims they make in their promotions. And to the reader, an outrageous claim that is not backed by one single iota of proof sticks out like a sore thumb.
For instance, I was writing a sales letter to sell subscriptions to a magazine covering the defense industry. When I asked the subscription manager what made their product different, she said:
"We aren't usually the first to report on a story. Since we are a monthly, TV, newspapers, and the Internet all beat us to the punch. But we analyze and interpret the news so our readers can make better decisions based on what the facts really mean."
"That's fascinating," I replied, scribbling eagerly. "Can you give me an example?"
Her reply: dead silence.
Imagine. The USP (unique selling proposition) of this publication was that it analyzed military events accurately and in great depth, so people in the defense industry could use their interpretations of the facts to make better strategic decisions.
And no one at the publication could give me a single example to prove it!
Finally, I did get a story from them ... just one story ... and it was a beauty.
One of their editors had analyzed a photo that had been published in the newspapers, and was able to correctly identify the model of an enemy tank in the picture - something the newspapers had gotten wrong.
Why did this matter? Turns out, it was an inferior model. The editor explained: "By knowing that a 'cheap' tank had been deployed, we knew the enemy did not consider that to be a strategically important area ... or else they would have deployed premium tanks there. The enemy's strategy was revealed, and our readers could plan accordingly."
Can you imagine claiming that you could help a general plan a victory in battle ... or help people get better jobs ... or help companies reduce their insurance costs ... without producing even one good story or example to prove it?
Sounds absurd, but dozens of promotions do just that. Often, these promotions have no proof for their major claim because the marketer never bothered to collect it.
If you're going to aggressively market your product through the mail or online, collecting such proof from satisfied customers should be your #1 priority.
It's easy to do:
First, identify the claim that you want to prove or demonstrate. For example: "XYZ is the only product that does [Benefit] for [Audience] by [Method]."
Then, send a simple letter or form to your customers. Ask them:
"Has our product [XYZ] ever helped you achieve [Benefit] by [Method]? We are looking for success stories from customers like you. If you have a success story to share with us, please summarize it below and send this form back to us. If we use your story in our marketing, you will receive a [NAME OF GIFT]."
Offer a nice gift in the $50 to $100 price range to anyone whose story you use. This will be sufficient to motivate people to take the time to think about your product and relay the story of how it helped them.
Do this until you have, ideally, 12 really good stories you can use. Then use them as follows:
1. In an ad, lead-generating letter, or e-mail, you can build your copy around a single compelling story.
2. In a traditional direct-mail package with a multi-page letter, pack your letter with proof. Tell three of the stories in detail, and three to six more in summary.
3. Reprint all of them as a single page of testimonials that you post on your website or include when you mail your sales literature.
The bottom line: The more thoroughly you demonstrate how your product delivers a particular benefit in a unique fashion - and prove that it has done so through user success stories - the more effective your marketing will be.
by Bob Bly
Posted by David at 1:49 PM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2005
Small Business Resource - Book Recommendation
Do you invest in your marketing education?
Everyday I'm reading and learning about marketing, whether it's small business marketing, marketing in general, irrespective of whether it's offline (direct marketing) or online (Internet marketing).
Every small business owner knows the importance of marketing and having a marketing strategy. If you weren't trained in marketing or have not served at the marketing coalface then you have to leverage from the experience of those who have.
I'm currently reading an amazing direct marketing book written by Dick Benson.
As soon as the name Dick Benson came to my attention I quickly made sure of buying my copy. It's an amazing book and it came as no surprise that many people'got' what's an important book.
About this book:
1. This Is A REAL, Hardcover Book. Not An Ebook.
You can take it to the beach, read it under a tree, or keep it by your bed stand. I recommend reading a few pages every morning for 30 days. In a month, you'll know more about the reality of direct marketing than most seminar gurus. No kidding. It's that good.
2. This NOT another 'me too' small business marketing book pieced together from other people's work by an Internet whiz kid. Benson had FIFTY years of direct, front line marketing experience behind him before he sat down to write this book. There is stuff in here you cannot find anywhere else. That's the difference when you get it straight from the original source.
3. Benson's Expertise was In Direct Mail.
This means he paid anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar or more for each and every individual advertising message he sent. Compare this with Internet marketers who can send mail for free. Who do you guess thinks harder, pays more attention and tracks results more closely? The Internet guy who can mail for free or the guy who writes a five to six figure check every time he sends a letter?
4. FACT: Most of the big Internet success stories you've heard about were accomplished by guys who tried marketing by sending physical mail first and then applied the lessons they learned to the Internet. One example, the late Corey Rudl. Corey had numerous paper and ink ventures before he discovered the Internet and he was one of the greatest practitioners of adapting tried and true direct mail techniques to the Internet.
5. Here's a simple way to visualize the difference between the intensity of direct mail vs. Internet marketing. Internet marketing is kind of like a pillow fight. Even if things go wrong, it's hard to get hurt too bad.
Direct mail is like crawling across a battlefield with live rounds whistling over your head. If you're careless, you're dead. Only the very sharpest survive.
6. Dick Benson was not just any direct mail marketer. He was The Master. All the big mailers - Time-Life, Boardroom, Ogilvy and Mather, American Express, Polk, Childrens Television Workshop, Encyclopedia Britannica, and many, many more - beat a regular path to his door. They shared the intimate details of the results of their multi-million piece mailings with him and hung on every word of advice he shared on how to squeeze more profit more from every penny spent.
7. If you're looking for a 'warm and fuzzy,' Chicken Soup kind of guy, Benson is not your man. He was legendary for his gruff, 'just the facts'approach to marketing.
But if you want to be able to dip into what perhaps is the deepest well of direct mail wisdom and experience ever collected in one book, I recommend you make getting Benson's book your highest priority. If you've already done so, three cheers. You already know what I mean. Books this good just don't come along very often and remember, this is a new special, limited edition.
Last time, it went out-of-print, it was gone for 14 years. Some good news...
If you had trouble ordering the book from Boardroom's web site, you can get it from the link below.
Note: I have no direct or indirect connection with the owners that are selling the book.
Click here while it's still on your mind:
David
Small Business Resource
Posted by David at 2:28 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2005
News! Google Adwords No More Minimum
Over the weekend, the AdWords folks sent out a pretty important notice: The 0.5% Click Thru Rate minimum is effectively going away.
Also going away: the Normal - In Trial - On Hold - Disabled designations. Instead, they'll either be Active or Inactive. And Google will simply tell you how much more you have to bid to become active.
This is going to do two things:
1) The immensely frustrating experience of losing your disabled keywords 'forever' will change. Instead of getting disabled, the minimum bid price will just go UP. So now you've got more than just 1000 impressions to get that pesky thing up and running. In fact, you've got as longas you need, IF you're willing to pay, as long as you're willing to pay.
2) It means that the difference between stupid advertisers, who have money and no brains - and smart advertisers, who use brains instead of brawn - that gap will grow even wider.
This has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the next few weeks. So, you ask, is this good, or is it bad?
Simple answer, it's good if you're smart and bad if you're dumb. It also means you can make more mistakes and get away with them, IF you're willing to pay.
It means a few other things, too:
3) The 0.5% minimum effectively is no more. You can show your ads at 0.1% CTR, if you're willing to bid enough.
4) The Five Cent Minimum is going away too. You can pay as little as 1 cent, IF your CTR is high enough.
5) There are some categories where you can't get a 0.5% minimum because you're targeting a very unique kind of high value customer, different from the guy all the other advertisers are trying to reach. You may be willing to pay a lot for that visitor. If that's you, this could open up some new opportunities.
How this *really* affects you depends on Google's minimum threshold formula. (They're not saying exactly how it works.) There's all sorts of ways they can cook this thing, and we'll just have to wait and see how things change. I'll be watching closely; I've got a lot of campaigns that run at 5 cents, and I'll be especially interested to see how it affects those.
This does put Google in a position of being able to slowly raise the minimum bids, without ever really telling you exactly what they're up to.
Being that they're a public company now, none of this is very surprising, is it?
Regardless of how the exact details playout, AdWords will continue to be a game where the dumb bloke who just walked in off the street pays through the nose... And the educated guys and gals get the sweet deals. The race goes to the swift - and to those who value education.
Perry Marshall
Posted by David at 5:32 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
Why Small Business Loans May Get Harder
Small and medium-sized business or enterprises (SMEs) could be forced to give personal guarantees in order to obtain business loans, after a recent landmark decision in the House of Lords.
The decision by the law lords in the case, brought by National Westminster bank (Nat West) to clarify a confusing ruling in 2001, will make it more difficult for banks to attach fixed charge to a company's receivables - the money owed to the firm by its customers - and will rob SMEs of a valuable form of security.
The judgment will also push banks with similar forms of debenture down the ranking of creditors to be repaid in an solvency. Banks are now expected to ask for additional security, such as personal guarantees or larger assets, before lending money.
John O'Connor, a litigation partner at Allen & Overy, the law firm that advised Nat West, said "Banks are going to have to reassess the terms on which they'll lend and look at taking further or enhanced security.
"It's an uncommercial decision that's difficult to square with the much-vaunted enterprise culture."
Stephen Alambritis, head of parliamentary affairs at the federation of Small Businesses, said: "We hope the banks won't have a knee-jerk reaction and that they'll look at the risk posed by the individual entrepreneur and small to medium size business rather that seeking a arm and a leg in security."
A fixed charge is secured on an asset that cannot be used by the debtor without the charge-holder's consent, while a floating charge sits over fluctuating assets that the debtor is free to use until the charge owner intervenes.
Fixed-charge holders are the top creditors when repayments are made by administrators but floating-charge holders rank below preferential creditors.
Since 1979 banks have assumed that if they arrange for a debtor company to have its receivables paid into one of the bank's accounts, this will give the bank a fixed charge over the receivables.
But the ruling in 2001 found that this practice gave banks only a floating charge over the assets. As many as 550 insolvencies had been stalled, awaiting the recent clarification.
David
Small Business Resource
Posted by David at 3:00 PM | Comments (0)
July 7, 2005
London: Yesterday’s Shock Was Followed By overwhelming Joy And Today There's Madness And Loss Of Life
Yesterday I was on a high as it was announced that the next Olympic games will be held in London. You see I live only two miles away from where the games will be held. In fact I can see the entire area; stadium and village from my house.
Like 75% of the UK population I believe the games will be good for London and that it'll be a lasting legacy for Londoners, the UK and visitors to London. It was a happy day full of joyous expectations of things to come in the future.
But while the people of the UK was expressing joy at winning its bid to host the games unknown to the masses was the sinister plot that was taking place to bomb London and turn joy into sadness.
As Prime minister Blair was sitting with leaders from the top eight countries at the G8 conference in Gleneagles, Scotland to discuss the important topics of aid for Africa and climate change, terrorist were bombing and killing innocent women and children in the streets of London.
The world has gone mad! Really mad!
We all knew it was only a matter of time before the terrorists would strike so it was not a total surprise however, the reality and bloodiness of it is shocking to the soul.
I pray for the families who have lost loved ones. I pray God will comfort them at this time.
Although the terrorist have temporarily wounded the "Lion" they should remember the history of this country, the lion has been through wars and have sharpened its resolve never to be defeated. Terrorists come and they go but a radiant spirit can never die.
Thirty-three have died and many are injured. Londoners will stop and think, they’ll cry and reflect but it'll be business as usual in London tomorrow.
That’s’ the spirit on Londoners who represent the aspirations, hope and dreams of millions of people form almost every country on God’s earth.
David
Posted by David at 5:15 PM | Comments (0)
July 1, 2005
Small Business Ideas To Generate More Good Ideas
Small business Innovation and the generation of ideas is currently all the rave. But this is not confined to small US businesses. In the UK the government and big companies are also searching for ways to establish a corporate 'ideas culture'.
Small business innovation conjures up images of entrepreneurs taking existing products and tweaking them for a ready market of customers who are looking for just that solution not currently being met.
Contrast this image with corporate innovation that conjures up images of white-coated boffins in laboratories and driven young things in the creative media industries. But some large companies, together with the government, are keen to sell a different image. Innovation they argue is about piecemeal improvements to processes and work organization, a culture of democratic tweaks.
While small business ideas and innovation is entrepreneurial driven and tend not to reinvent the wheel but instead address gaps in established and proven customer demand, large corporate innovation depends on how creative is the workforce.
New research commissioned by Vodafone, the telecommunications company, paints a mix picture. There's good news and bad news. The good news is of 2,000 employees interviewed, 28% say they generate an idea every week. That translates to 27m productive ideas into circulation for companies; based on just three serviceable in any year. More than two-thirds of respondents believe their managers are likely to listen to new business ideas.
Another striking finding is that micro or small businesses (companies with up to five employees) workers are three times more likely to originate an idea every day than in companies with more than 250 staff. Sectors such as media and marketing are much better at generating ideas than others such as transport, manufacturing and utilities.
The bad news is that employers' attitude for creativity is low. More than half of employees say they are not encouraged to come up with new business ideas, while 49% believe they work for organizations that are just no good with new business ideas.
It does appear that the traditional techniques of managing innovation - notable suggestion schemes, brainstorming and away days are regarded with suspicion. Consequently employees keep business ideas locked up in their heads. Furthermore, 79% are offered no financial incentives to generate business ideas, and 60% are given no time.
So while the government and big companies struggle with encouraging innovation and ideas from within, smaller companies are thriving in these areas. The Internet has created a treasure chest of information and successful prototypes to model, copy and enhance. Small Business ideas can be tested on the cheap. If one does not work, move on the the next one at speed. No committee or board decision is required.
There are successful small companies that have built products on the 'coat tail of success' of large companies by researching markets and developing in demand solutions. Why reinvent the wheel and spend vast sums in creating a market when a large company with fat budgets has done all the hard work for you?
So the advice to large companies when it comes to generating business ideas include:
1. It is vital to offer incentives for generating ideas
2. It is important to have a way of capturing and implementing good business ideas
3. It is necessary to realize that creativity cannot b e planned
David
Small Business Resource
Posted by David at 8:52 AM | Comments (0)
