I just read a post of Dave Trott, very interesting one I must say, title “REALITY IS IRRELEVANT”. In that post he talks about a blind professor at The Columbia Business School who conducted an experiment to see how people reacted to things when they have to make a choice. Her conclusion was that usually people choose what’s in their head not what’s in reality.

What does that mean to you as a marketer

?

I cannot answer that question for you, but for me this article has broadened my perception of the market. As a marketer, now before promoting a product, there are a couple of question that I will definitely answer before defining a marketing strategy for a product or even whether or not to promote that product. Here are the questions that I will be asking myself:

·      Is that product known, does it have any brand recognition?

·      Does that product have a direct competition and how well branded is that competition?

·      What are the major differences between the two brands?

·      How emotional is that market about this type of product?

·      What are preconceived mind set about this type of product?

This article has definitely had a shift in my marketing mind set and hopefully will help me produce better marketing campaign

Read the whole post of Dave Trott here:  http://bit.ly/hAQRZw

Being a small business owner sometimes means that you are a one man show, as such time is of uttermost importance to you. Like most small business owner you may tell yourself that social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or linkedin is just for techky people. On the other hand you may have been in business for a while and you are doing all right and you are telling yourself why bother, you have survive the website craze and sure will survive this one too. In both cases you may be in for a big surprise. Statistically since December 25, 2010 the amounts of smart mobile user have increase by 35%, that’s a dramatic increase of users. Mobile users tend to use their phone more than a computer which translate to accessing their favorite social media site to get quick and up to date information on subject of interest. Well do not feel bad if all these is just mumbo jumbo to you, it was the same for nearly all of us. So grab a drink and let’s see how to tackle the social media world.

As the internet evolves social medial has become an evolving appendage of the cyber medium, like the trilobites which grew legs to be able to walk on dry land. In a lot of ways the internet has level up the playing fields in the business arena between the small business and the big corporation. The only draw back is to keep up with this fast changing medium. The best reason for any small business to jump on the social media wagon is its right price; free. As with many free thing though it requires a little elbow grease and time. Who has time? Well considering what you may loose, I believe it would be time well invested.

Remember the first time you learn how to bike or something similar, the task look daunting and there were so many things to control, but after a while it became easy and I bet you now can ride with hands off the handles. Social Medias are the same, so roll up your sleeves and jump right in.

Fist block a couple of hours and create an account in any one of the most popular one. The best way to understand social media is to experience it, this will give you a better understanding on how it works and then you can extrapolate to your business model. Once you have figure thins out you will fell more comfortable and within days you will be able to start making contact and promoting your goods or services. When you are to the point where you are taking only a few minutes to conduct business then it is time too move on to the next social site.   The plan is to give yourself a couple of months for each site and by the end of the year you will have all major social

sites under your belt. This strategy will put prescription viagra you ahead of most of your competitors.

Remember do not use the ostrich strategy; social media is here to stay. Adapt or die is the name of the game.

If you are a veteran of e-mail marketing you are used to talk at your customer, and the more successful you have been the more natural this is for you. However with the popularity of Social Medias such as Tweeter and Facebook the online crowds are getting more and more used at being engaged in the conversation. Some e-mail marketers may find this intimidating but with the right attitude this situation can be turned into an asset by having the social media complimenting your e-mail marketing. Here are a few tips on how to socialize your emails.

For starter, you already posses an asset that a lot of new social marketers do not have a list; that hopefully you have nurtured. Initiate your social presence using your list. Send an invite to your subscribers to join you on social networks. Do this by including in all your e-mail marketing communication a link to your Facebook, Twitter or which ever social media page you have. Be sure to use your persuasion skill to encourage them, and give them a good reason to do it, also explain how this new experience will be more engaging and different from the old e-mail they are used to.

Make sure that every e-mail sent out can be shared. How you say? Easy, include a Facebook Like and or Twitter button or one of those social share bars in every e-mail or newsletter. If you want to be a little more subtle you can use something like “Forward to a Friend” will allow your subscribers to share your newsletter with one of their friend by using their e-mail. However having social icons at the top of your e-mails will allow those subscribers to actually share it with their whole entourage of friends in their Facebook or LinkedIn networks. This will give you more exposure to highly qualify prospects.

Remember your basic copy technique, use a call to action, well here too us it. You may call it your “Social Call to Action”, in all your e-mail marketing use it. Do not completely rely on the social media icons to get your reader to visit your social media page. Be creative start a hot topic and ask your reader’s feed back on Facebook or Twitter. You can also use contest or survey to attract them to your Facebook page.

On the same line start a discussion on your social media and keep the discussion going by sending an e-mail to your readers inviting them to participate. You can also cross post by having your newsletter content on Facebook or Twitter and LinkedIn.

When ever the conversation start to dwindle, repost snippets, this will rekindle the conversation.

Use viagra over the counter your newly found social media crowd to find out what are the trends and topics they are interested in. This technique is known as “crowdsourcing”. Use the gathered Intel as material for new topics in your newsletter. Remember to encourage feedback via your social media. Start new conversation and use both social media and e-mail to keep the conversation going.

As with any new medium you will need to experiment. You will also see that depending on the preference of your list, certain social media channel will be more in tune with them. Do not worry, e-mail marketing is not out it has just got better. Good luck with socializing your e-mail marketing.

In this struggling economic times even big company are slashing their marketing budget, so you as a small business should you do the same. Before answering this question you should look at your marketing budget.

• Do you have one?
• How much is it?
• What percentage of your overall income is it?
• What has been the ROI on those campaigns?

Those questions are important as you need to asses your pass marketing campaign and see where you are and if any variable in your business has change so you can focus your marketing effort in those area that are lacking. Now that you know your position, you will need to see if you are viagra 50 mg going to continue with the same type of marketing strategy or adapt one of the new trends that will be more suitable to your business need.

Here is a list of the marketing trend for 2011 this is not all inclusive but are the one that will definitely make it.

1. Be Outstanding: Look at the area you are strong in and excel in it. This year small business need to focus on their uniqueness and niche. They should position themselves as the expert to go in their relative business; be it for services, product or information. Time for being all thing to everyone is long gone and the specialty trend proven to be a definite winner last year.
2. Have a core of raving Fans: Social media marketing has been around for a while now, however what has transpired from it is that quality is more important than quantity. Let me explain  it was previously thought that have a following of thousand of Twitter followers, Facebook friends or fan, linkedIn connection or blog subscribers was required to build a business has proven not to be quite effective. On the other hand, quality interaction with a little group who is loyal to the business works best in spreading the message of the business.
3. Have quality content: Offering quality content should be an integrated part of your marketing tools. Social Media Marketing can be synonymous to Content Marketing. To year again content will be crowned king. Small business will have to create useful content that will be valuable to the lives of their customers involved in the online conversation. Remember Social Media Marketing is Conversational Marketing, and the web is a noisy place and the only way to make yourself heard is to provide remarkable content.
4. Have good tracking mechanism in place: Since the social media is an open forum it is imperative as small business owner to track the reputation of your business in great detail. With tools such as Hootsuite and Spreadfast, it is easier now to keep tab of what is being said about you in cyberspace. At the same time can develop strategies that will help you nurture your good name online.
5. Diversify social media exposure: Just having a Facebook or Twitter account for your business will not suffice this year since more business will be using these media you will need to found other outlets such as LinkedIn profile, Flickr profile, YouTube channel, LinkedIn profile and a blog should be other channel to exploit to brand as a small business owner. Also remember that you need to brand those media so as to create your brand awareness. Such diversification will also help your customer to interact with your business using the medium they use or are comfortable with. A word of caution though, makes sure that as you maximize your opportunities you do not compromise your content.
6. Adjust Social Media Marketing budget: Increase your social media marketing dollars by moving money from other conventional marketing medium. We have seen this tend last year in a lot of large as well as small companies. There is a definite shift of budgeted fun from radio and print advertising towards social media advertising. Do not reinvent the wheel follow the leaders and have meaningful web presence.
7. Adopt Mobile Marketing: With an increase of 34% in the usage of smart phone since Christmas, mobile marketing will be the buzz word for the year.  Mobile Marketing is still at the developing stage, it has however proven to be effective. As mobile advertising gain ground and with new mobile branded apps surfacing everyday along with marketing app such as Foursquare, consumers are getting savvy and would be expecting your business to have a mobile presence.
8. Put your business on the map: Geotargeting and localized marketing is already a norm in business like Bestbuy, PizzaHut and other big brands, here again follow the leader. During the Black Friday shopping geotargeting was put to the test. With sites like Groupon, which offer local discount, and local review site like Yelp, consumers can easily find the best deal or value in town. So to stand out in your market place targeted local marketing campaign is a must.
9. Create marketing alliance: Since every one is trying to make more with less you should not be left hanging up and dry because you do not have enough cash flow. The new marketing trend that is emerging from this economic short fall is what has been coined as co-marketing. Small complementary businesses are joining their marketing dollars to buy advertising that will benefit both of them. This strategy works by allowing cross-promotion and exposure to a bigger audience.
10. Implement what I call the 3 prong Marketing strategy: The 3 prongs are online, offline and mobile marketing. With a well thought and plan campaign, customers can be lead through the different medium to your product thus providing greater return on your investment.
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If you opt to use one or more of the trends above now is the time as they have not hit the mass yet, have proven that they are effective and you may be the pioneer in your niche. The early birds always get the worms

I came across this site while surfing it’s http://www.i-allow.com , It a new site just launch in Europe with the aim of protecting consumers date from marketers.  “ALLOW” as it is called is the brain child of Justin Basini and Howard Huntley. Recently Launched in Great Britain it has had some followers already.  The premise behind the quick success is the promise of freedom to consumers from junk and unsolicited marketing communication of all sorts.

Allow, which is a free service, will act as the go-between in an advertising campaign. The consumer will register and then opt in for the kind of advertising they are will to receive, it can be very targeted up to the brand allow if I understand correctly. ALLOW will them contact the advertisers who can then sent their ads to that person for a predetermine period. The consumers will also have the opportunity to opt out any database so as not to receive any king of solicitation.  This would work in both the electronic and hard copy communication; a little like a broader no call list.

On the site Basini state that the European Convention on Human Rights enshrines individual privacy as a right that must exist in civilized culture and right now on a daily basis that right is being infringed upon and burdened by unwanted advertising. ALLOW will advise consumers on how their “data” is being 100 mg viagra used thus giving them control of their personal lives without any more intrusion.

On the site it also state that in the current situation regarding personal data information, the consumer, the owner of the data does not really known where their personal data are stored and who have access to them. Furthermore with the apparent inexhaustible computer storage, the ease of use of advance data analysis software and the apparent simple action as using Facebook, Twitter fall in the gray area of information exploitation at the detriment of the data owner. All this is supposed to be only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to monetization of “data”.

In an interview Basini said “This concept of data storage is universal, the next big revolution of the Internet is connectivity of data, and it can either happen with consumers in control or out-of-control.”

So what does that mean to us marketers? Is this the beg inn

ing of a new era in marketing?  As we each try to answer these questions and stat having some strategic planning, I believe we should also look at the man behind this concept.

Who is Justin Basini? In Europe Basini became notorious when at the head of brand marketing at Capital One Europe, which he let in June 2009, he had the brand move from direct mail customer’s recruitment to digital marketing. During his tenure it is reported that over 2 millions of e-mail -this sound a little like spamming to me- was sent out to recruit customers. Well this 36 year old seam to have always follow up aggressively on his action and succeeded.  

Well I think I have just found another angle on this train of thought….well, I am digressing, draw your own conclusion!

The realm of Tweeter

A alternative to viagra few years ago I was at a social gathering at a friend’s house and one of the guests asked me that question. At first I thought I misunderstood the question and since he had had few beers I was sure he misspoke. But when he reiterates the same question. I did not know what to answer. Thinking it was a joke I pucker my lips in an attempt to imitate a bird chirp and he crack up in such a laugh that he fall off his chair and had everyone in the vicinity looking at us in awe.

After regaining his composure he explain to me that Twitter was a somewhat new social media where people would sent small messages call tweet. He went on explaining that this was the new fad of the internet.

Well, do you Tweet?

If not, you may consider doing it. When done right it is a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal. One of the folk legends in cyberspace is that President Obama won the election mainly because he extensively use twitter during his campaign. As to if this is true or not I let you be the judge, but this is how powerful this 140 characters message can be.

As a marketer, you should give it some thoughts before you tweet, I you really want to be effective do not do like nearly every one out there is doing. Do not put your links about your affiliate program or your new product every time you send out a tweet.

Also refrain from telling the world about that “babe” you saw at the beach or how you can gulp up a six pack in one minute flat. Remember you are using twitter for business here. Your financial success is relative to the image you are projecting.

First start by opening an account, this process is very simple and straight forward. Next is to read all the term of use and make sure you abide by them. Twitter will suspend your account if you do not follow the rule and it can be a real pain to negotiate the reinstatement of your account. Trust me I know. I just got my account suspended because I was using software to automatically post some tweets. If you intend to use any of those services make sure you understand the risk.

For those of you who are want to learn more about basic tweeting go to the link below and get this e-book. Don’t worry it’s on the house.

Free twitter guide for Beginner  Enjoy !

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Improve

I am sure when you were in high school or college you have heard of the F.I.T. principle from one of your coach. For those of you who never been involved in sport at a high level the F.I.T. principle is an acronym used in training. It stands for the three factors that can be change during the training session to see improvement the performance of an athlete.

 F.I.T. stands for Frequency, Intensity and Time. So for an athlete to progress, he will either have to train more often, harder or for longer time. Well this is the simplify version as sport training is more complex; however this is the universal rule for improving in any sport.

 You may be thinking by now that I have either lost my mind or you are n the wrong blog. Relax you are in the right place and we are still talking about marketing. The analogy of the fit principle is to show you that in most instant there is a universal time proven approach that if followed will provide predictable outcome.

 Now let’s step back a little and see why we market? What is the fundamental reason a business, be it a fortune 500 or a mom and pop store, advertise?

-My answer would be without a doubt to increase sale.

 Now if the function of us marketer is to increase sales for a business we need to have a close look what are the element of the sale process that when change, i.e. increase, will also increase sale.

 The obvious answer to even a neophyte would be to increase the number of person we sell to. A more advance marketer would perhaps answer increase the amount of time that a customer buy and the veteran marketer point of view may be to increase sale at the point of sale.

 Well you start to see the pattern here?

•  Increase the number of time that someone buys. (Frequency)
• Increase the amount that a customer would buy. (Amount)
• Increase the number of new customer. (Customers)

 Now for each of these elements above, there is a specific marketing strategy that will work. So, as a marketer, we need to first know which of the three elements we want to manipulate to increase sales; then focus on the appropriate strategy during the campaign to accomplish just that. In my opinion, if a campaign focus on only one element at a time, that campaign would be more effective.

simple marketing

Have you ever seen a good carpenter not owning a hammer or a painter creating a masterpiece without a brush?  It’s unlikely that you will ever come across a mechanic fixing a car without organic viagra a wrench, then as a marketer, particularly an internet marketer; you definitely want and need the proper tools for your trade. In this industry opinion abound and every guru will tell you something different, however I am pretty sure they will all agree that my previous statement is true.

Before we go into the detail of finding the proper tool for a marketer, first let’s find out what exactly a internet marketer does. Again there is two line of thought here, one that you outsource all your work and concentrate on the marketing aspect only. I on the other hand is within those that think that it is important to be proficient in all aspect of the business. The rational behind my thinking is that one of those days you will need to do something quite mundane and need it like yesterday and there will be no one available to do it for you. Albeit you will never be an expert in any of them but like in any business you need to know all the component of the business. The other reason that you want to be able to perform most aspect of your business is money, particularly if you are beginning and is operating on a shoe string budget.

Ok! Enough rambling. The main functions of an internet marketer are:

• Webmaster and designer
• Graphic designer
• Copywriter
• Market researcher
• Advert copy writer
• Search Engine Optimizer
• List builder
• Article writer
• Product creator

Even these skill sets may seam overwhelming they can be learned and fortunately for us there are software

available to help us with those. Given that some of the software required, like Photoshop, a standard for most graphic designers are quite expensive, we still need software to perform most of the listed function above.

Fortunately for us there are people who believed that software should be available to everyone and these fellows has created what is known as open source software. Open source are a blessing for every internet marketer. As a matter of fact there are even web base software that can be used to perform all the functions of internet marketing. If it happen that you don not have a lot of space on your hard drive or RAM on your computer then web base solution are the answer. Currently there are a big selection to pick from, each with its own limitation or capability.  

Personally I like the software on my hard drive. As such I have settled for open source. Even if you decide to outsource all your work, you still need to communicate in writing, so word processing software is imperative. You can install Microsoft word, which you have to buy or download a whole suite that mimic Microsoft Office for free. Currently a student version of office cost about  $149.00, on the other hand the Open Productivity Suite from  Open Office can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.openoffice.org/  For website editing there are several free wysiwyg editors available on the internet. The most recommended, crossed platform Web Authoring System is NVU, however I use Kompozer which is aversion of NVU debugged. Kompozer can be downloaded from http://kompozer.net/ .  For my image manipulation I use Gimp, a GNU software. It can be downloaded from http://www.gimp.org/  

I will not argue that these free software other than open office do have some bugs but most of the time they get the job done and in the end I have saved thousands of dollars that can be use in different area of the business.  

I really cannot put all the resources that are available on this post, however a fellow marketer Jesse Regan has taken the time to compile some valuable web base resources and most of them are free. Click on the link and get your copy. It is my way of saying thank you for stopping by. Ultimate Collection of Free Resources.