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Send them regularly, but bombarding editors for the sake of it will put them off. If you've missed deadlines, don't bother.

Tips for writing a press release:- Mark NEWS RELEASE clearly at the top - plus your campaign name, phone number and logo.

- Next, put date of issue and mark "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" unless it is embargoed (see below). When publicising an event, make sure the press release is out well in advance.

- Use a snappy headline.

- Include a summary of the main facts in the first paragraph, including WHAT is happening, WHERE, WHY, WHEN and by WHOM. It needs to immediately grab an Editor's attention or will be binned.

- The press release should be short, factual and well-written. Avoid opinionated rants and jargon.

- Use short paragraphs and simple sentences. Keep to one, or two at most, pages.

- Use a quote by an identified person to tell your side of the story. Use pseudonyms if you do not want your name in the paper.

- Write ENDS at the foot of the press release.

Ensure that there is a reliable contact with phone number on the release. This could include on- site mobile phone numbers. If you want the contact details printed in newspapers it must be in the main body of the text. If your press release is for an event, press conference or photo opportunity, include a map or directions.

If you do not want to go into massive detail on an issue in the main body of the text, but think it is of interest, include a Notes to Editors section at the end of the press release.

An embargo is a note at the top of the press release telling journalists not to leak or print the story before a particular deadline.

Follow the press release up with a phone call to make sure that it was received.]]> Social Media Marketing xml-rss2.php?itemid=29 Wed, 7 Dec 2011 06:22:07 -0500 xml-rss2.php?itemid=28
No surprise then that I now own a few businesses of my own. But I made lots of mistakes getting started, mistakes I could’ve avoided if I’d known a few things.

Here are seventeen mistakes that you should avoid:

Sell Something Legal
Selling something legal may sound obvious to anyone in business, but trust me, when it comes to wanting to make money you will likely consider a lot of ideas… some legal, some illegal and some in between.

While still in high school I sold CDs and black boxes. I was only making a few dollars off of each CD, so I turned to the black boxes, which made me a little more money. Unfortunately at that time I wasn’t clear on exactly what was legal or not so I decided to get out of it.

You don’t want to make a lot of money and then lose it all because you are on the wrong side of the law.

Sell Something People Can Afford

Neil Patel
I once took a job selling high-end vacuums. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to convince people that they needed the vacuums, and it helped that I would shampoo and clean their carpets during my sales presentation for free.

But these were $1,600 vacuums and most people couldn’t afford them. I did happen to sell one to an Indian couple, who are known to be frugal, but they returned it a week later!

Find out what people can pay for a product before you design it, and while you won’t get rich quick this way you’ll definitely find it easier to sell your product.

You Must Market Your Product to Succeed
I enjoyed working and finding new jobs because each time I was making a little bit more money. I liked making more money because I wanted to change my lifestyle and eventually help other people do the same.

But I realized it was going to take me forever unless I figured out how to create a $100 million dollar company.

Monster.com’s business model and the amount of money they made fascinated me, so I decided to build a competing model. I called it Advice Monkey.

I spent five grand building the product and watched Advice Monkey go nowhere. I needed to market it or it was going to sink.

I ended up hiring a total of three companies to help me market this business, but all three wasted my money without any kind of return! That’s why I decided to learn Internet marketing.

In time I grew the site to be pretty popular and even created some buzz in the media, but I ended up having another problem: it couldn’t do credit card transactions.

If people don’t know about your great product, then they can’t buy your great product. It’s that simple.

Make Payments Easy
The lesson I learned from Advice Monkey was that if you wanted to make money you needed to make it simple for people to pay you.

Of course you have to provide a valuable product, something people want or need, but if you don’t make it easy for them to pay you, you’re business will suffer and eventually fail.

I’ve learned that whether you are providing a service like consulting or a product like software, you should provide the simplest, most common and fastest way for people to pay.

If you make it hard then you are simply giving people an excuse to delay paying you or even giving them an excuse to go to your competitor who does make it easy. Don’t do that because it could be a million dollar mistake.

Solve Problems Customers Are Facing
My really first successful company was Crazy Egg. It was successful because my business partner and I realized that the best way to build a business was to find some problem people or companies have and try to solve that problem.

Besides, it makes it really easy to close sales when you can show a potential client what their problem is and how your product solves that problem. The best businesses are the ones that solve problems.

Do It in a Simple Way
Have you ever noticed how simple the best products are? You don’t need a degree in rocket science to understand how to use a bicycle, drill or personal computer, nor do you need one to understand how they can help you.

I’ve seen lots of products and ideas fail because they were too hard to understand. They might’ve solved your problem but it cost too much to do it or they took too many steps to do it.

Remember that people want their problems solved in the easiest way possible, so keep it simple.

Be Patient
My business partner and I thought we had struck it rich when we started Crazy Egg. Here was a product that was simple and solved people’s problem. The money should roll in, right?

Not exactly.

We watched the popularity and interest in the company grow, and knew it was just a matter of time before somebody offered us $10 million dollars for it.

It never happened and we eventually had to bootstrap it to keep it going. We didn’t understand why this was happening, but we loved Crazy Egg and so kept with it.

I’m glad we did because about three years after we started Crazy Egg it became profitable. The lesson I learned is you must be patient when it comes to software companies because it takes a few years for them to take off.

Charge More
I think the tendency when it comes to running a business is to keep your fees low so you attract a wider audience. The only problem with that is you will also attract more people who will complain.

Charging premium prices, especially when you are consulting, does a few things for you:

• You appear as someone who knows what he is talking about.

• You will hear fewer complaints. People and companies who have the money to afford you won’t usually make snarky comments about how much they are charging you.

• You can work harder for one person rather than work mediocre for a lot more people.

• Your reputation will grow as your provide excellent customer service.

Know what your competitors are charging so you can price yourself right. You may be surprised at what people are willing to pay.

Go After the Big Guys
One thing I like to tell people is to offer to do the work for a small paying client for free if they can make an introduction for you to a large paying company.

Does doing work for free scare you? Think about it this way, if that small company is paying you $5,000 a month, but that large company can pay you $100,000, you will make $95,000 more.

That’s a huge increase in income, so think big and go after the big guys!

Conserve Cash
I understand I am young, but I have experienced a lot of bad times in the business world, and the number one thing that I learned is cash is king.

If you don’t have cash coming in, you will not survive. And if cash is coming in, especially a lot of it, you need to learn how to save, both for the business and for yourself.

Because the economy is like a rollercoaster you could enjoy a few years of making a lot of money. But trust me when I say there will come a time when you will not make very much money.

Resist the urge to pay yourself handsomely and buy expensive office furniture. Your business will weather any financial storm and your employees will thank you!

Never Stop Closing
One of the most important things to remember when you are building a business is that you must always be looking for clients and ways to get them to work with you.

Never get comfortable because you have a handful of clients locked down or you have momentum with your software product.

It’s so important to constantly network, look for business and sell people on working with you. And if you get in a situation where you can’t handle the extra workload, hire temporary help to handle it until you can justify bringing in more people.

Focus
Boy, was I all over the place during the time I was learning all of these lessons about business. And I think that hurt me because I was spreading myself too thin.

One of the reasons Steve Jobs and Apple were so successful was they focused. They didn’t have a bunch of products, even though you might think they did. They had only a handful.

That allowed them to do several things very well:

• They could listen closely to what their customers were saying.

• They could create the products to meet the needs and desires of those customers.

• They could make those products the best in their category.

If you are not focused you will not be able to do a good job on your business. Find the things in your business that make you the most money and focus on them. Eliminate everything else!

Always Find Your Passion
When I was doing Internet marketing for companies I was making a lot of money. I was very grateful for that and I was very grateful to the people who helped me build that company.

But it wasn’t very much fun. It felt like a job, and I knew that if I was going to be successful long-term I needed to find what I really enjoyed doing.

Why is this important?

I work 70 hours a week on my businesses, and I’m sure most entrepreneurs work that hard. Some may put in more hours, some may put in a few less.

But I don’t really think of it as work because I enjoy what I do. I really have a passion for it. If you’re not passionate about what you do, stop right now and think about what you really want to do.

Learn, Learn and Learn Some More
Even when I was in high school and working on my own business, I was taking classes at the community college. My uncles had taught me that entrepreneurs never stopped learning.

I loved learning so I kept doing it.

Learning is hard work and I can’t say that I’ve always enjoyed working so hard to learn. And sometimes I even felt like I knew everything about a certain business or topic, so didn’t need to learn anything.

How wrong I was!

I encourage you to keep the mindset that you can learn from anybody no matter who they are, and that in the end you don’t know everything. If you do this I’m certain you will grow wise in the ways of business.

Good Help Costs Money
When I was starting out I didn’t pay much attention to who I hired. Sometimes I’d hire people I knew or I’d hire someone based upon a recommendation from a friend.

I learned that was not the right approach to hiring people. Some times people are just looking for a job and need a paycheck, and soon they take you for granted they don’t work as hard as when they first joined.

Spend time finding good help and don’t be afraid to pay them good money. Think of it as an investment, where you need to figure out your ROI on that person. And then measure their success.

Do this and I’m pretty sure they’ll turn out to be a great benefit to you.

Emotions Rule
It would’ve been really great to know that people buy things based upon emotion when starting out. What I mean by that is the purpose most people buy a product is because of a feeling they have, like fear or pride.

For example, people buy car insurance because they are afraid of losing all their money if they get in a wreck. Parents send their children to Ivy League schools because they want to brag to their friends.

What you have to do is figure out what emotions will resonate with your customers when it comes to your product.

And don’t let people who say they don’t make emotional decisions about money fool you. Even the most analytical accountants or engineers make decisions with emotions.

Listen to Your Friends and Family
Starting a business can suck up all of your time and energy. It becomes your life and that will not end well if you don’t listen to advice.

I have the best family and friends not because they are fun to be around, but because they also care about me and want to help me when I’m making a mistake.

Unfortunately because I was so busy I would ignore them, only to have my problems come back around and bite me. If I would’ve listened to them in the first place I would’ve never had that problem to begin with!

If you don’t like what they have to say, that’s fine. But at least give them the benefit of the doubt and hear them out.

Conclusion
I hope that by sharing these experiences with you that you’ll be able to avoid some of the mistakes that I made. I can’t promise you that you won’t make some of your own mistakes, but if you do, I encourage you to learn from them.
]]> Marketing Plan and Strategy xml-rss2.php?itemid=28 Mon, 5 Dec 2011 05:33:46 -0500 xml-rss2.php?itemid=27
The average overall unique open rate* at the end of 2010 was 11.4%, up 0.2 percentage points from 11.2% a year earlier.

Though factors such as image blocking, rising use of smart phones, and list fatigue are often cited for open rate decline, another element influencing open rates is the increasingly large volume of emails that subscribers regularly receive, according to the report.

Below, additional findings from the July 2011 edition of the Email Marketing Metrics Report, including the best day to send email and open and click rates by industry and list size.

Some key findings:

Subject Lines: Emails with shorter subject lines tend to outperform those with longer lines: Subject lines of 4-15 characters generated a 14.1% open rate, whereas those containing 51 or more characters had the least amount of opened emails (9.9%). The highest click rates were generated by emails with subject lines between 16 and 27 characters long (4%). Interestingly, the category which generated the most opens did not generate the highest click rate: Subject line lengths with 4-15 characters generated a 3.1% click rate.

Bounces by mailing frequency: Marketers sending emails more frequently garner fewer bounces. Emails sent to subscribers less than once a month (5.1%) generated the highest bounce rate, whereas those sent more frequently, such as once a day or more, registered the smallest bounce rate (0.4%).

Personalization: Emails containing personalization in the actual message registered open rates of 12.6% on average, compared with those containing personalized subject lines only (4.1%). Click-rate trends closely mirror open-rate trends: Messages that contained a personalized subject line only generated a 0.8% click rate, whereas personalization in the message portion of the email generated a 3% click rate.

Morning is E-mail Prime Time

Email marketers who schedule their email campaigns to be delivered between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM can expect higher volumes of email opens and clicks, MailerMailer found.

A similar trend was evident in the early evening, following regular business hours: Email marketers who scheduled their emails to be delivered between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM local time, for example, experienced a considerable jump in their open and click rates.

Overall, emails are typically opened during the morning hours between 7:00 AM and 10:00 AM. During that period, email open rates maintain a steady climb until noon, at which point open rates begin to slowly decline.

Check out MailerMailer's Interactive chart, Email Opens by Time of Day, for detailed stats.

Best Day to Send Email: Sunday

Emails sent on Sundays during the 2010 registered the highest average open and click rates, 12.2% and 4.4%, respectively ( up from 2009 levels, 14.1% and 12.2%, respectively.) Overall, click rates were lowest on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.



Open rates were generally lower during the second half of the year, with a considerable drop off on Saturdays, likely indicating that fewer emails were sent on Saturdays from July to December.

Subscribers recorded the highest engagement (via clicks) during the weekends.

Open Rates by Industry

Transportation (17.6%), non-profit (15.2%) and consulting (14.9%) were the top performers in 2010 whereas media (8%), restaurant (8%) and medical (7.1%) recorded the lowest email open rates.



Click Rates Improve

The average overall unique click rate** at the end of 2010 was 2.9%, up from 1.6% one year earlier. Similar to open rates, click rates registered a decline from the first half to the second half of 2010.



The positive click-rate trend likely signals that email marketers are maintaining lists and ensuring links work properly, and becoming savvier overall with how they create, design, and distribute their email campaigns.


In addition, an increase in the click-rate trend may indicate that messages are becoming more relevant and contain clearer calls-to-action messaging.

Click Rates by Industry

Click rates also varied widely by industry, with some sectors' click rates at 9% or more and others' at 1% or less. The top-performing industries in 2009 were the following:

- Consumer: 4.9%
- Transportation: 4.6%
- Consulting: 4.5%
- Real-Estate : 4.4%

The industries with the lowest click rates were the following:

- Education: 1.4%
- Government: 1.2%
- Medical: 1.1%
- Restaurant: 0.4%

*Open rate is calculated by dividing the number of email messages opened by the total number of email messages sent.

**Click rates are calculated by dividing the total number of unique clicks by the product of the number of links in each message and the number of total recipients.

About the data: The data for this report is based on the study of 977 million email messages sent by MailerMailer customers (roughly 87,000 newsletter campaigns) from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2010, to a minimum of 25 recipients.
]]> Statistics and Research xml-rss2.php?itemid=27 Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:20:47 -0400 xml-rss2.php?itemid=26
1) Organize and Focus Your Energy

You have 4 types of energy-time, physical energy, mental energy, money energy. The first 3 are finite, meaning you can’t increase the amount that you have; only the way you use them. The 4th, money, increases as a result of your use of the other 3. If you use the majority of your work time, mental and physical energy to focus on your top, income generating activities your business will boom. Stop wasting time on administrative tasks, answering phone calls that are not important (get caller ID), constantly checking e-mail (this is tendency I’m working on), and other non-priority tasks. Monitor and rate yourself on your time use everyday for a week and you’ll be amazed at what you find.
2) Improve your website

Your website is your portal to the world. It needs to look clean, well designed and professional. It needs to have content that answers the visitor’s question, “what’s in it for me?” It needs to provide valuable information and resources, not just be an online brochure. And it needs to be improved and updated regularly.

How to Make Your Website Sell

3) Expand your online marketing

It’s becoming harder to get people to your website as the number of competitors increases. So you need to have a multi-pronged strategy to get people there. You can publish and distribute articles online, use social network marketing by setting up pages at Facebook, Squidoo, My Space, submitting online press releases, blogging. Make a video and post it on YouTube and on your site. This is easy and very powerful-it’s like having a virtual sales person. Pick three activities that could drive traffic to your website and do them every week. Your web traffic will significantly increase meaning more leads and clients.

4) Build an online subscriber list

Have a sign up form on your website and send regular e-newsletters to your subscribers with valuable information. When you’re networking or speaking to a group, ask everyone to sign up for your list as well. This gives you an opportunity to market to them and build a value-added relationship that establish trust and increase your sales. Your subscriber/prospect list is very valuable.

5) Do smart networking

Lots of new business owners waste time networking randomly with little positive result. Network where you find your target client, or where you can meet others who already have the clients you want. They could become gatekeepers who introduce you to their client list.

6) Educate, don’t sell

Many small and solo business owners don’t like to sell and it keeps them from growing. Always educate prospects. If you are a good speaker, offer to speak to relevant groups and educate them about your area of expertise. Spark curiosity, make them want to know more and they will approach you. When you meet a prospect individually, ask them lots of questions about their business and goals. Then educate them a bit. They will really respond if you focus on them and not on what you do.

7) Build relationships through giveaways

Whether you want to entice someone to sign up for your list, respond to an advertisement or purchase a product, offer a valuable giveaway to establish your value as an expert. This could be an e-book, white paper, audio, video, workbook, case study or report. If people feel you only want to sell them something, but they don’t yet have a relationship with you, they’re unlikely to buy. Make sure what you’re offering is unique and provides information your target client would appreciate.

Outsource and automate

Make a wish list of what you would like to be able to automate in your business. Chances are there is a simple way to do it. Do some research online or ask a tech savvy friend and then overcome any technophobia you have and automate. Organize your e-mail, master use of an autoresponder, learn how to make simple changes to your website, learn to make a simple audio or video (I’m working on this now). In the end, it will save you precious time and will enhance your ability to easily manage and market your business.

Then make a plan to outsource those daily tasks that are not profit generating, like routine admin tasks, online marketing like article and press release submissions, web maintenance and bookkeeping (everyone’s most disliked task!). Most outsourcing can be done inexpensively and easily. Save your time for running your business and servicing your clients.

9) Pick three marketing streams and measure them for ROI

It’s unrealistic to think that you can do every marketing activity at the same time. To get a really great return on investment for the time and money you devote to marketing, pick three activities or “marketing streams” that you feel will yield the best results and tightly focus your energy there. For example, if public speaking and blogging has worked well for you, focus on getting more speaking engagements and posting to and publicizing your blog. Otherwise it’s too easy to get overwhelmed.

And my top pick for 2008 is:

10) Locate and form relationships and strategic alliances with joint venture partners.

You can spend time and money finding and selling to one client at a time, or you can find partners who have already spent time and money acquiring these clients and offer them a percentage of sales to endorse your service to their clients. After all their clients already trust them and will be more likely to buy what they recommend. This can be done online or off. Form key relationships with people in your vertical industry or in other industries whose clients or subscribers could benefit from your services, nurture those relationships, and create a win-win alliance that will dramatically increase profits for both of you.

More than 20% of the revenue generated by the top 2000 US and European companies were the result of strategic alliances. Small and solo business owners can see even more dramatic results.
In 2008 I’ll be running teleseminars that will dig into many of these topics (plus more), and offer help and resources so you can implement them in your business.
]]> Marketing Plan and Strategy xml-rss2.php?itemid=26 Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:09:47 -0400 xml-rss2.php?itemid=25
You attended a conference and met some new contacts. You’re in line at the grocery store and start chatting with another customer about your job and exchange business cards. Whether you know it or not…you’re networking.

Networking is something that is always mentioned in conjunction with your career. And it’s often that networking will help you land your next job.

Here are a few reasons to take networking seriously:
1. Developing additional knowledge & skills: Meeting new people in your field helps you learn more about your industry. You’ll be exposed to different points of view and other people who have years of knowledge and experience. A professional network is also a great source of feedback when you need advice.

Let others help you by listening and interacting with those in your network. Why not learn from others mistakes and successes?

2. Creating mutually beneficial relationships: Not only can networking help you gain valuable skills and knowledge, but you can help others as well. You should strive to help others by sharing your skills, expertise and knowledge with them, too.

These relationships come in handy when you’re looking to make a job or career transition, need feedback or advice, or just need to bounce ideas off of a professional that you trust.

3. Additional sources of support and information: Networking contacts can be experienced professionals and have a wealth of knowledge that you may not have. They likely have had different experiences than you and can provide a unique point of view on issues you may have.

By building a strong network, you automatically have people “on your side” that help spread good information about you and your business—and who doesn’t want that?

4. Building and maintaining your personal brand: Networking helps you establish your personal brand online and in-person. People will get to know you and trust you and look to you for guidance and information.

5. Boosting your self-esteem: We naturally like to socialize and make new friends, and doing so in your career can help boost your self-esteem and make you feel like you’re well-respected in your field. It can make you happy to have a full network of individuals that can help you out and vice versa. It can also help your business (and brand) to grow.

What have you gained out of networking relationships?
]]> Event and Seminar Marketing xml-rss2.php?itemid=25 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:51:16 -0400 xml-rss2.php?itemid=24 However, many small business website owners think "internationally" when it comes to search engine optimization. If you're a pizza restaurant in Poughkeepsie New York, does it really matter if web surfers in Los Angeles find you on page one of Google? By concentrating your search engine optimization on local efforts, you have a better chance of driving more targeted traffic.

You may discover that you are already doing many of these things on your website, although with a little concentrated emphasis, you can probably improve your tactics. Regardless of where you are in your current search engine optimization, all of these tips are simple enough for any entrepreneur to undertake, and the results can be phenomenal.

So be sure to add these following steps to improve your own local SEO:

1. Check out the Competition to Improve Local SEO

A good marketer knows what is going on in the world around him. You should be regularly and routinely checking up on your local competition to see what they are doing, offering, or providing. This doesn't mean that you should be a copy-cat or a plagiarist, but you can learn a lot from what the competition is doing.

One way that you can use this practice to improve your search engine optimization is by regularly checking to see where your competitors are getting their incoming links. There may be search engines, directories, and web rings that you never knew of. If your competitors are getting attention on a site, then it might be helpful for you to do so as well. Not only does this get back links to your own website, but it also ensures that you are getting as much representation on the internet as possible and exposing yourself to the local community by all means available.

2. Consider Local Website URLs

If your small business has very specific service areas, you might want to consider separate web addresses to take advantage of local searches. In the very least, you could create individual landing pages for each specific region. Each of those URLs or pages should be SEO-focused on the specific area, with locally-based headlines, page titles, and body copy. This will help to ensure that when someone is searching for a particular area they are able to find your business.

Many searches will include a specific city or region for example, "babysitters in New York City" while someone else may search for "Babysitters Brooklyn NY". You may serve both areas but if you are only targeting your content for New York, you can lose out on the Brooklyn searches. Correct this by creating specifically tailored pages for each city, region, or even neighborhood that you serve.

3. Double Up On Your Address

Provide your business address at least two times on your website. Preferably it should be included in a primary location as well as the footer. Be sure to spell out your full state name in one instance of your address and abbreviate your state in another. This will help to draw in visitors who are searching for CA as well as California.

4. Promote Your Community to Improve Your Local SEO

Getting and providing links to area businesses and organizations can greatly improve the number of people who find your website through area-based searches. Many communities have city websites, chamber of commerce websites, visitors bureau websites, etc. These are often great linking partners. Contact the webmasters and inquire about getting a link from their site, and also offer to link to various local businesses and organizations from your page as well. While this technique might be a wash as far as "link juice" goes, it does show Google which "neighborhood" you're associated with, which can help increase your local search engine results.

5. Getting Reviews Can Improve Local SEO

Encourage your customers to leave reviews for you and your services on Yelp and some of the other many review sites. Most of these sites, even those run by larger organizations, are organized according to communities. This can help your local SEO in a big way as well as provide some free marketing in the form of testimonials.

6. Check Directories

Check the various internet directories, including local 411 pages, to ensure that your business and website listing is correct. Make sure that numbers and mailing addresses are up to date and that your company's description is well-written and accurate. Do a Google search on your business name. There's a good chance that your business is listed on directories that you're not even aware of. While you're at it, do a search on your competitors' business names; if you find them listed on other directories, do whatever you need to do to get yourself listed on those directories also.

Many small businesses spend too much time and money on search engine optimization efforts that don't necessarily bring relevant traffic. By improving your local SEO, you'll have a better chance of driving targeted traffic and prospects who are most likely to purchase from you.

]]> Internet Marketing xml-rss2.php?itemid=24 Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:25:02 -0500 xml-rss2.php?itemid=23
Many individuals represent themselves as qualified consultants. These people often represent themselves as experts in specific fields of endeavor, with special skills, knowledge and expertise that makes paying their sometimes exorbitant fee justifiable, and even a necessity. Many so called experts are simply trying to set some product, service or program that often benefits the consultant to a greater degree than the organization.If one is searching for a consultant, I would strongly advise staying away from any consultant who insists on using a one size fits all approach.

A good consultant is an effective listener, who thoroughly listens before making any recommendations or proposals. I have witnessed far too many so called consultants who made self serving recommendations that ultimately are harmful to their clients. In my three decades plus of consulting, I have worked hard to develop a reputation for always placing my clients first. I steadfastly object to those that soil the reputations of all consultants by acting in unscrupulous manners, and hurting the image of the many honorable and reputable consultants.

When considering retaining a consultant, it is essential to get recommendations from others. However, like so many other times, the individuals given for recommendations are either friends or others that are certain to only give glowing recommendations. Consultants should dedicate themselves to their clients, and serve the need of their clients.

It is the responsibility of a consultant to listen thoroughly before making any proposal. Each organization has a different ethic and culture, different needs, different financial considerations, different demographics, and different membership and leaders. Professional consultants have learned to always collect their fee up front, because otherwise it may be difficult to give an unbiased and honest opinion. After observing and listening thoroughly, a consultant must help the organization to create a risk/ reward chart, and be certain that the leadership of the organization fully understand and appreciates the complete ramifications of all actions. Consultants must also be able to explain that doing nothing is in and of itself, taking an action. I believe that a good consultant needs to explain to an organization's leadership that taking no action very often has far more dire and adverse results that even taking the wrong action. Far too many organizations do many things less than optimally. They often budget incorrectly, do not see the big picture, spends too much on certain items and too little on others, and almost universally, spends an inadequate period of time effectively training its leaders.

Many organizations can benefit from using the services of a consultant, but it must be the right consultant. Choose wisely.]]> Marketing Tools and Methods xml-rss2.php?itemid=23 Mon, 27 Dec 2010 00:29:34 -0500 xml-rss2.php?itemid=22
Google Instant Search is now live. Did you notice it? Google Instant Search is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. In other words, it basically predicts what a searcher is looking for.
As a user I like the enhancement, but as a marketer I'm concerned. I wonder how it will change the way consumers search. Will they complete their own search thought or will they pick from the provided list? How will it change search marketing and how we optimize for search?

I'm not the only one with mixed feelings about this new enhancement - many marketers have spoke out this voicing not only their option, but concern as well. Google Instant Search doesn't necessarily affect your search rankings, but it does fundamentally change the way results are delivered. One thing is for sure we all need to watch our web analytics, behavior of your users, click patterns and search terms to gauge the impact.

Are you concerned with the rollout of Google Instant Search? How do you think it will affect your consumers?
]]> Internet Marketing xml-rss2.php?itemid=22 Fri, 17 Sep 2010 03:47:13 -0400 xml-rss2.php?itemid=21
The term "marketing mix" was first used in 1953 when Neil Borden, in his American Marketing Association presidential address, took the recipe idea one step further and coined the term "marketing-mix". A prominent marketer, E. Jerome McCarthy, proposed a 4 P classification in 1960, which has seen wide use. The four Ps concept is explained in most marketing textbooks and classes.Elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as 'the four Ps':

Product - A tangible object or an intangible service that is mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry or codes-based products like cellphone load and credits. Typical examples of a mass produced tangible object are the motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced service is a computer operating system. Packaging also needs to be taken into consideration.

Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined by a number of factors including market share, competition, material costs, product identity and the customer's perceived value of the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same product.
Place – Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet.

Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements: advertising, public relations, word of mouth and point of sale. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards. Public relations are where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and Public Relations.

A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing mix is known as Four Cs (Commodity, Cost, Channel, Communication). Koichi Shimizu proposed a four Cs classification in 1973.

The four elements are:

Commodity: the product for the consumers or citizens. Not product out.

Cost: producing cost, selling cost, purchasing cost and social cost.

Channel: Flow of commodity : marketing channels.
Communication: marketing communication : It doesn't promote the sales.

The Four Cs can be compared to the Four Ps. This system is basically the four Ps[3] renamed and reworded to provide a customer focus. The four Cs Model provides a demand/customer centric version alternative to the well-known four Ps supply side model (product, price, place, promotion) of marketing management. This is a part of 7Cs Compass Model.

]]> Statistics and Research xml-rss2.php?itemid=21 Tue, 1 Jun 2010 04:52:45 -0400 xml-rss2.php?itemid=20
First off, let's talk about what social media is. Social media represents low-cost tools that are used to combine technology and social interaction with the use of words. These tools are typically internet or mobile based. A few that you have probably heard of include Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.
Social media gives marketers a voice and a way to communicate with peers, customers and potential consumers. It personalizes the "brand" and helps you to spread your message in a relaxed and conversational way.

The downfall to social media, if you could call it that is that it must be a part of your everyday life in order to keep the momentum and attention you need for it to be successful.

If you think that social media is only for the small business owners that are trying out an experiment, I have to correct you. Here are just a few companies that have become involved in social media:

Absolut Vodka - Online Video on YouTube and Using Facebook to house their Top Bartender fan page.

BMW - Utilizing Facebook to promote their 1-Series Road Trip and they have created a Rampenfest Page for fans.

Dunkin Donuts - That's right they've found value in social media and have set up a microblogging Twitter account.

Barack Obama - In my examples, I can't leave out future President Barack Obama. He has been seen as a leader in the use of Twitter during the Presidential Election. He has over 170,000 followers and is following over 165,000. Personally I remember the "twitter buzz" during the Presidential Debates as well as the election.

As you can see we have adult beverage companies, exotic automobile manufacturers, pastry shops and our future President using social media tool, it's not to hard to figure out that there is something to it.

What role should it play in your marketing? As most of you know my view of marketing is it's a tool we use to inform consumers about our products, who we are and what we offer. Social media does that. Here is how:


We can use social media to provide an identity to who we are and the products or services that we offer.

We can create relationships using social media with people who might not otherwise know about our products or service or what our companies represent.

Social media makes us "real" to consumers. If you want people to follow you don't just talk about the latest product news, but share your personality with them.

We can use social media to associate ourselves with our peers, that may be serving the same target market.

We can use social media to communicate and provide the interaction that consumers look for.
As you can see social media carries with it a lot of value, but how do you do it right?


You cannot just depend on social media, you must integrate it with other vehicles of marketing. While social media will create awareness, I'm not convinced that in the beginning it will sell a million dollars worth of product. That's not to say that one day once you've built up your social media "stardom" that it won't, but it probably won't happen tomorrow.

Be yourself, reflect personality. There are no written "right" or "wrong" rules when it comes to social media, only you can determine what will work for you.

Be consistent, if you do not plan on being consistent don't do it at all - it's a waste of everyone's time.
Success stories are abundant when it comes using social media from headhunters that find job applicants to new businesses that want to introduce a new product as well as already established Fortune 500 companies that want to strengthen their brand. The role of social media in your marketing is to use it as a communication tool that makes you accessible to those interested in your product and makes you visible to those that don't know your product. Use it as a tool that creates a personality behind your brand and creates relationships that you otherwise may never gain. This creates not only repeat-buyers, but customer loyalty. Fact is social media is so diversified that it can be used in whatever way best suits the interest and the needs of your business. ]]> Social Media Marketing xml-rss2.php?itemid=20 Tue, 1 Jun 2010 03:36:46 -0400