• LED Sheep – Great Publicity Tactic
  Posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 in Marketing Strategies – Comments: (0)
  I absolutely love this video, it’s such a great marketing and pr tactic.And yes, it was such hard work, but the guys had soo much fun by the looks of it!(hmm, not sure about the sheep though…!
• Should you be in business?
  Posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 in Business Basics – Comments: (1)
  Just because you are good at what you do – doesn’t mean you should be in business.I want to tell you about an experience I am still currently undergoing. I decided to expand my skills and learn about xyz. (names will be changed as the situation is still current)So I’d heard of MRS XYZ – the best in her field. I’d been following her for a while now, reading newsletters etc.I thought I’d give one of her products a whirl. So I go looking through the website – find all these great testimonials. Fantastic – makes me think that these skills that I am going to learn are worth whatever amount I will pay. Find plenty of coaching tools, but no real online learning course – which is what I’m after right now.So I send an email, just asking if there is anything like what I’m after.
• Small Business Marketing Strategies – Email Marketing
  Posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 in Marketing Strategies – Comments: (0)
  Welcome to the May 4, 2009 edition of marketing strategies.Stephen Dean presents Conversion Rates Are Relative posted at Copywriting Dean.presents Beginners Simple Guide To Get More Sales posted at Home Business Views, saying, “Do you find yourself frustrated with your promotion andmarketing of affiliate programs? Are the sales that you hadhoped for just not coming in? For years I experienced thesame problem. Finally it dawned on me what I was doingwrong and how to correct it.”Erick Simpson presents Uncovering Big Opportunities in Your Existing Client List posted at Managed Services Blog.presents The Top 3 Money-Making posted at Home Business Views, saying, “So, what are these core practices for building an internetbusiness? There are three things – and three things only – thatyou need to concentrate on with your business”Email MarketingJimmy Adames presents Email Marketing Tips – 7 Quality Tips For A Successful Email Marketing Campaign posted at Internet Business Building, saying, “If you are serious about building a long-term successful Internet business the way to ensure success is by creating a responsive targeted list of subscribers.

And yes, it was such hard work, but the guys had soo much fun by the looks of it!

(hmm, not sure about the sheep though…!)

• Public Relations – How does it work?
  Posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 in publicity – Comments: (0)
  Publicity and writing press releases can yield plenty of new customers to your business. The best thing is that, done correctly, a publicity campaign can be completely free! Learn how the publicity experts do it.I was recently lucky enough to be part of a brainstorming session conducted by a professional and very successful Public Relations Expert. I want to share some of the information that came out of that session – tips used by the experts themselves to get their clients’ media releases read, and published.Spread the NewsMake your press release say something. No one wants to read boring articles, so make sure your media release is actually newsworthy. Simply stating that your business is open, won’t cut it. (Unless of course the place that publishes it have no readership and nothing else to report on!) Have an event such as a grand opening. Many companies have a grand opening or a special day where they use a gimmick of some sort and invite the media to come along.
• Top Marketing Strategies – April 9, 2009
  Posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 in Marketing Strategies – Comments: (0)
  First, tenApril 2, 2009 – This is so simple, it’s amazing!!
• Top Marketing Strategies – April 2, 2009
  Posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 in Marketing Strategies – Comments: (0)
  Is marketing evil?March 26, 2009 Timeless Marketing Tool: The Power Of TestimonialsMarch 26, 2009 – Testimonials will always be one of the best marketing strategies to use…What is attraction marketing?March 26, 2009 – Many newcomers to the business arena find this type of marketing very refreshing. Gone are the pushy door to door or telemarketing…Tips for writing marketing materialMarch 26, 2009 – Fantastic ideas here on writing your own marketing stuff.
• Marketing Strategies – April 9th, 2009
  Posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 in general – Comments: (0)
  Welcome to the April 9, 2009 edition of marketing strategies.If you’re looking for plenty of marketing tips and strategies to use in your business, why not check out the Marketing Kit? At only $11, it’s a bargain considering it has tools such as Press Release templates, SWOT analysis templates, plus pages and pages of no cost marketing strategies!! Get yours now! Social MediaJordan presents Use Twitter To Make Money For Yourself/Business posted at Jordan’s Internet Marketing Guide, saying, “Thanks!”SEO TipsLee McCoy presents Keyword Density Tips posted at The Secret Affiliate Society, saying, “I will run through the most common questions as best I can, but please keep in mind that Keyword Density is not an exact science, or at least the formula has not been cracked yet. The information I will provide is based on my own experiences, success and failures.”Email MarketingDebbie Ducker presents Create Powerful Viral E-Mail by Using Humor posted at Ducker Promotion Ezine, saying, “include humor in your e-mail ad campaigns”BloggingNicholas Powiull presents Conscious Flex: How to Live Your Passion (How I Became a Fulltime Blogger) posted at Conscious Flex, saying, “Many people have emailed me about my new opportunity in becoming a fulltime blogger.

April 2, 2009
– This is so simple, it’s amazing!! ]]> http://www.divapromotions.com.au/blog/marketing-strategies/top-marketing-strategies-april-9-2009/feed/ 0 http://www.divapromotions.com.au/blog/marketing-strategies/top-marketing-strategies-april-2-2009/ http://www.divapromotions.com.au/blog/marketing-strategies/top-marketing-strategies-april-2-2009/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:02:12 +0000 admin http://www.divapromotions.com.au/blog/marketing-strategies/top-marketing-strategies-april-2-2009/

March 26, 2009

March 26, 2009
– Testimonials will always be one of the best marketing strategies to use…

March 26, 2009
– Many newcomers to the business arena find this type of marketing very refreshing. Gone are the pushy door to door or telemarketing…

March 26, 2009
– Fantastic ideas here on writing your own marketing stuff. ]]> http://www.divapromotions.com.au/blog/marketing-strategies/top-marketing-strategies-april-2-2009/feed/ 0 http://www.divapromotions.com.au/blog/marketing-strategies/best-marketing-strategies-from-mar/ http://www.divapromotions.com.au/blog/marketing-strategies/best-marketing-strategies-from-mar/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:00:00 +0000 admin http://www.divapromotions.com.au/blog/marketing-strategies/best-marketing-strategies-from-mar Learning the best small business marketing strategies can sometimes take up too much of your time. In case you missed them, here is last month’s top marketing ideas:

• Guaranteed web site traffic…
  Posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 in Marketing Strategies – Comments: (0)
  Imagine getting 20,000 unique daily visitors…and how many new sales that could bring in for you!!I have something so exciting to share with you. But first, I want you to imagine getting those unique visitors directly to your site. Can you also imagine if they were targeted visitors? And what if…a % of those new visitors bought from you… how’s your life and your business looking now??? Well, it can actually happen to you. No matter what business you are in, if you have a website, then you need to drive traffic to it.Let us show you how.  Due to some fantastic survey results, we’ve discovered that most people are currently struggling with driving traffic to their business. You’ ve tried so many strategies but none give you the long lasting results you need to make your business successful. So if you’re doing it tough right now or just need to improve your results, don’t despair, let us guide you, step by step, through the confusing myriad of traffic driving strategies – and show you the most productive tactics to get visitors to your site – right now.
• flat screen tv’s – is this our problem?
  Posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 in Marketing Strategies – Comments: (2)
  ok, so I don’t read magazines that much, but I’m reading through my Mums recent issue of “Notebook”. Now, this is the first time that I have read it and I’m only a little bit of the way through. But I just had to stop and write about a small exerpt of a book that they have published. It’s all about our economy and they have entitled the piece “Australia has… a flat-Screen TV crisis”. The main reasoning behind this is that although many Australians actually earn over $50,000, we still think of ourselves as battlers. Rather than lose a tiny bit more of our income to improve our health services and roads etc, we would rather keep that money and buy flat screen tv’s.And it wasn’t until my father passed away last May that I realised that no amount of money could really make me truly happy. So instead of striving for riches until there was no more time left to spend it all, I started looking at the things that really matter to me.
• Customer Care – what?
  Posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 in Business Basics – Comments: (0)
  When was the last time you received a card in the mail. no, not your email inbox, I mean by snail mail?Well, I’ve decided to go back to the old ways of keeping in touch with my clients. By sending them cards. And, I’ve found the easiest way to do it. Right from my computer.No more trips down to the post office  to buy stamps.No more trips to the little red box by the side of the road…No more $4.95 cards either! What a rip-off!! No wonder people stopped sending them.Imagine if you got a card saying – “thanks for being such a valued client”. I mean, who does that these days?No-one.And that’s what is going to make you stand out from the rest of your competition.  Would you go back to that business if they took the time to value you? I know I would.

I have something so exciting to share with you. But first, I want you to imagine getting those unique visitors directly to your site. Can you also imagine if they were targeted visitors? And what if…a % of those new visitors bought from you… how’s your life and your business looking now???
Well, it can actually happen to you. No matter what business you are in, if you have a website, then you need to drive traffic to it.
Let us show you how. 

Due to some fantastic survey results, we’ve discovered that most people are currently struggling with driving traffic to their business. You’ ve tried so many strategies but none give you the long lasting results you need to make your business successful.
So if you’re doing it tough right now or just need to improve your results, don’t despair, let us guide you, step by step, through the confusing myriad of traffic driving strategies – and show you the most productive tactics to get visitors to your site – right now.

Visit…http://www.business-successclub.com to get immediate access to free videos and start driving traffic to your site today!

See you there!
Emma.

The main reasoning behind this is that although many Australians actually earn over $50,000, we still think of ourselves as battlers. Rather than lose a tiny bit more of our income to improve our health services and roads etc, we would rather keep that money and buy flat screen tv’s.

And it wasn’t until my father passed away last May that I realised that no amount of money could really make me truly happy. So instead of striving for riches until there was no more time left to spend it all, I started looking at the things that really matter to me.

And my business has taken a turn as a result of this. Rather than trying to make money all the time, I have now shifted my focus onto really helping people. Helping others to meet their income goals with their business.
And I love it.

So what about you? Has this post made you think any more about what is really important in life?? Share with me.

Posted by Tom Kulzer (AWeber CEO)

Your web business probably gets product inquiries from potential customers around the globe. Inquiries come via e-mail and your web site, and you try to send information to each hot prospect as quickly as you can. You know that you can drastically increase the likelihood of making a sale by satisfying each person’s need for information quickly!

But, after you’ve delivered that first bit of information to your prospect, do you send him any further information?

If you are like most Internet marketers, you don’t.

When you don’t follow that initial message with additional information later on, you let a valuable prospect slip from your grasp! This is a potential customer who may have been very interested in your products, but who lost your contact information, or was too busy to make a purchase when your first message reached him.

Often, a prospect will purposely put off making a purchase, to see if you find him important enough to follow up with later. When he doesn’t receive a follow up message from you, he will take his business elsewhere.

Are you losing profits due to inconsistent and ineffective follow up?

Following up with leads is more than just a process – it’s an art. In order to be effective, you need to design a follow up system, and stick to it, EVERY DAY! If you don’t follow up with your prospects consistently, INDIVIDUALLY, and in a timely fashion, then you might as well forget the whole follow up process.

Consistent follow up gets results!

When I first started marketing and following up with prospects, I used a follow up method that I now call the “List Technique.” I had a large database containing the names and e-mail addresses of people who had specifically requested information about my products and services. These prospects had already received my first letter by the time they requested more information, so I used the company’s latest news as a follow up piece.

I would write follow up newsletters every now and then, and send them, in one mass mailing, to everyone who had previously requested information from me. While this probably did help me win a few additional orders, it wasn’t a very good follow up method. Why isn’t the “List Technique” very effective?

• The List Technique isn’t consistent. Proponents of the List Technique tend to only send out follow up messages when their companies have “big news”.
• List Technique messages don’t give the potential customer any additional information about the product or service in question. He can’t make a more informed buying decision after receiving a newsletter! If someone is wondering whether your company sells the best knick-knacks, what does he care that you’ve just moved your headquarters?
• List Technique messages convey a “big list” mentality to your potential customers. When I used to write follow up messages using the List Technique, I was writing news bulletins to everyone I knew! I should have been sending a personal message to each individual who wanted to know more about my products.

What follow up method really works?

Following up with each lead individually, multiple times, but at set intervals, and with pre-written messages, will dramatically increase sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have all at least doubled the sales of various products! In order to set this system up, though, you need to do some planning.

First, you’ll need to develop your follow up messages. If you’ve been marketing on the Internet for any length of time, then you should already have a first informative letter. Your second letter marks the beginning of the follow up process, and should go into more detail than the first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn’t have the space to add to the first letter. Stress the BENEFITS of your products or services!

Your next 2-3 follow up messages should be rather short. Include lists of the benefits and potential uses of your products and services. Write each letter so that your prospects can skim the contents, and still see the full force of your message.

The next couple of follow up messages should create a sense of urgency in your prospect’s mind. Make a special offer, giving him a reason to order NOW instead of waiting any longer. After reading these follow up messages, your prospect should want to order immediately!

Phrase each of your final 1 or 2 follow up messages in the form of a question. Ask your prospect why he hasn’t yet placed an order? Try to get him to actually respond. Ask if the price is to high, the product isn’t the right color or doesn’t have the right features, or if he is looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it’s unlikely that this person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you modify your follow up letters or products, so that other prospects will order from you.)

The timing of your follow up letters is just as important as their content. You don’t want one prospect to receive a follow up the day after he gets your initial informative letter, while another prospect waits weeks for a follow up!

Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it is requested, and send the first follow up 24 hours afterwards. You want your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make informed buying decisions!

Send the next 2-3 follow up messages between 1 and 3 days apart. Your prospect is still hot, and is probably still shopping around! Tell him about the benefits of your products and services, as opposed to your competitors’. You will make the sale! 

Send the final follow up messages later on. You certainly don’t want to annoy your prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at least 4 days apart.

Following up effectively seems complicated, but it doesn’t have to be! So many potential customers are lost because of poor follow up – don’t you want to be one of the few to get it right?  http://www.aweber.com/?309585

Out of Your Advertising Dollar.

1) What do you want from your advertising? Why are you advertising in the first place? This step is crucial to get right before you undertake any type of advertising or marketing. Ask yourself the following questions. If you answer yes to more than one, then you need to do separate advertising campaigns. More on that later…

• Are you trying to raise awareness of your brand?
• Do you want more clients?
• Are you after more visitors to your website?
• Would you like to increase your database?

2) Know your target market. Who are they? And don’t just say the general public! You may have more than one particular market. Just ensure that you choose only one market per advert. The worst thing you can do is write one advert and try to get everyone in from it.

Your target market can be made up geographically- (i.e. a bakery may look for anyone within a 10klm radius of their shop) or it can be made up demographically (i.e. – new mums, business owners, women, football fanatics etc). You can then narrow that down even more to new mums with girls, or boys; AFL fans, or Rugby Union fans etc. The more you narrow it down, the more targeted your advertising will be.

3) Write your advert. Use the above steps to come up with the first few pieces of your advert. Your headline should capture the attention of your target market. You also need to utilize the headline to tell readers why they need to keep reading. This is called the ‘benefit’. Why should they read your advert? Try some of the following for examples:

• “Attention new Mums- Here’s how to get more sleep”
• “Recent research suggests new mothers are not getting enough sleep”.
• “Find out how to get more sleep now!”
• “Discover how to increase your profits in 1 day!”

4) Include Incredible Offers. Giving something away for free is one of the best offers. It doesn’t have to be a product of yours- try to build relationships with other business owners who share the same target market, but are not competitors. For example: An air conditioner installer may team up with the local air conditioning sales centre, and offer their services to the customers to install them. This way, the installer gets more work, plus the sales centre can offer a value packed bundle for their customer.

5) Include a Call to Action. Ensure you include a call to action and deadline in your offer. People always hate to feel they are missing out on something and the deadline will compel them to act. Utilise some of the following examples:

• ‘Hurry- competition closes next Friday! Email today to ensure you don’t miss out!”
• Visit us before 28th October to claim your Free Gift!
• Bookings close by 24th December- Call us today to ensure your placement!
• Come in to The Plaza on Friday between 8am- 1pm to receive your Free Photo

Most people don’t realise that there are so many new plugins being added every day, and it’s so simple to install them.

So here is the list, and I suggest you visit Robert to get more ideas on how to use these plugins to the max!

WordPress is great right out of the metaphorical box, but there is a wide array of thousands WordPress Plugins out there that will help you leverage the platform and make the most out of it. Here’s a list of the 16 WordPress Plugins that you need to have to get your site ready for prime time and make the most out of it and the information it can feed you.

On to the list!

1. Akismet – Akismet helps protect you from comment spam. Very easy to use and extremely effective. You’ll need to get a free WordPress.com API key to use this.
2. WordPress.com Stats – Since you’ll be getting a WordPress.com API key anyway, go ahead and download this plugin that gives you basic but useful stats in a nicely formatted and easy to read style.
3. All in One SEO Pack – Gives you quick and easy SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your WordPress blog. Re-writes your page titles first, adds in meta keywords and descriptions, allows you to eliminate apparent duplicate content simply and easily.
4. Contact Form ][ -This is a drop-in form that you can use so site visitors can send you messages, as opposed to restricting them to comments on your posts.
5. Executable PHP widget – Sooner or later, you’re going to decide you need to have PHP snippets in your sidebar, and this modification of the standard WordPress text widget will allow just that.
6. FeedBurner FeedSmith – This plugin redirects all your feeds to your FeedBurner Feed so you can track them.
7. FeedBurner StandardStats – Helps you integrate FeedBurner’s StandardStats into your site.
8. Google Analyticator – Enables Google Analytics to log visitors and other critical information. This information is more detailed than some other stats but somewhat unwieldy for daily “how are things?” checking.
9. Google XML Sitemaps – Generates XML sitemaps usable by Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. This is critical to helping drive search engine traffic to your blog.
10. Popularity Contest – Allows you to rank posts by popularity using a configurable score based on type of view.
11. Show Top Commentators – This plugin encourages reader comments by displaying the most active commentators and their linked websites, if given.
12. Simple Tags – All sorts of great options for tagging your posts, managing tags, Related Posts, and more!
13. Subscribe To Comments – Notifies commentators of replies as they are posted so they can continue the discussion.
14. WordPress Database Backup – Backup your database on-demand or via basic scheduling.
15. WordPress Reports – Provides good at a glance stats from Google Analytics and FeedBurner data.
16. WP Super Cache – Enable caching for your blog to help you over the Diggs, Stumbles, and Slashdottings.

These are a list of the basic plugins you’ll need. You’ll notice that several revolve around WordPress.com, Google, and FeedBurner. These sites have a lot to offer and future posts will detail the things you’ll use them for.

There is a fabulous post over that flying solo website that you must read if you are in business for yourself.

Read the whole article over here: – http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/p279478226_How-your-work-impacts-your-self-worth.html

As consumers, we make hundreds of choices each and every day. For those of us who are parents, we make so many more on behalf of our young children. No wonder that by the time it comes to dinner and the question “What are we going to have for dinner” just hangs in the air…

But did you know, that giving your customers too many choices actually inhibits your sales? A 2000 study at Columbia University compared consumer behaviour when faced with a selection of either six or 24 gourmet jams in an upscale grocery store.

Whilst the bigger selection actually stopped people to check it out – 60% vs 40% for the limited selection, the interesting fact was in the actual conversion. Whilst 30% of people who stopped to look at the limited section made a purchase, only 3% that looked at the larger selection actually purchased one.

Let’s run some figures on this - You have 250 people in your store in your jam isle. Of those 250 people, 150 of them stopped to look at your larger selection, whilst 100 of them looked at your smaller section. 30 people actually bought a jam of the limited selection for $5 (example only), which made you sales of $150. Only 5 people bought the same jam from the larger selection, amouting to a mere $25.

Which amount would you rather?? And all for offering less!!

Why does this happen?

According to some further research by Kathleen Vohs at the university of Minnesota, too many choices can sap one’s stamina and ability to stay focused. So rather than making the choice, they throw their arms up and say “I give up!” and walk away. I’ll bet you have done this before – especially in the shops. I know I have!

So how can you choose the right amount of products to offer?

 Well this depends a lot on your industry and your customers. Some good market research would help here. Think though about your customers time. Do they spend time looking over your product? Do they take their time about a decision? Do they absolutely positivitely need your product?

If a leisurely decision can afford to be made, then you should be ok to offer a few more products in your selection. If those people looking to buy your products just want  to grab one and forget about it, then fewer choices is the way to go.

Customer Guidance will always help. Imagine if you were in that grocery store above, and someone walked over to you and asked a couple of questions about your preferences, would you be more inclined to buy – now that your choices have been limited? You bet you will be!

Even if you have an online store and cannot be available to talk to your prospective customers, have a think about this when writing your descriptions of your products. Give them some guidance in the form of : ” If you have children who like to climb and hang of things, then our tear-free range of kids clothes is more for you” (for example!) This also helps to direct your prospective clients around your website, and help your conversion rates.

Read the full post over here.

Have you heard the stories of those people who make thousands of dollars just from one email?

Well it didn’t happen overnight. Email marketing takes time and it takes effort. The whole concept of email marketing is to build a relationship with people who have subscribed to your site. There are a few steps to remember to get it right from day one.

1) Put a subscription box on your website. Now, about 5 or so years ago, offering people a free newsletter was fantastic. Now, it’s a pretty lame offer. People are getting so much junk in their inbox, that they are becoming selective about who they receive emails from. So try something different. Offer people something of real value in exchange for their email address. For example, on Diva Promotions.com.au you will find the opportunity to get a free marketing report. In this report, I give out some fantastic free information. People also get automatically subscribed to my fortnightly publication.

Make sure your subscription box is in the top right hand corner of your website. Studies have proven that this is the best place to get the best reponse.

2) Give value! Now that you have people on your database list – give them some good stuff. Make it worthwhile for them to receive your emails. You are now building a relationship with them for future efforts.

3) Be professional. Use a newsletter system that allows your subscribers to unsubscribe easily at the click of a button. This complies with the spam laws and also builds that trust factor

4) Take the time to build a relationship with your database before you try to sell anything. Give it time for them to get to know, like and trust you. Then when you have successfully done this, they will be ready to purchase from you.

5) Make your emails personal. Again, you are building a relationship. You don’t need to tell them about your marriage, or how your kids are getting into trouble at school, but don’t put up a corporate front. Tell people what you are doing in your business, any seminars you are attending, new products you are working on. Give some of your personality in your emails.

6) send them regularly. Once a month is ok, but weekly is much better. However, don’t just send them weekly if you have nothing to offer. In this situation, remember that quality is much better than quantity. Outsource your email marketing if you need to. Remember, this is a fantastic investment – you are building a relationship with potential buyers.

Email marketing can be complex, but it can also be very rewarding. Remember not to treat it as trying to make a quick buck, but rather than building a long term relationship with your subscribers and they will reward you in time to come.

Enjoy!

You can find more  about email marketing over at http://www.divapromotions.com.au/marketingkit.html plus some other fantastic information about finding your target market, segmenting and plenty of other marketing strategies.

Donna-Marie over the Small Business Diva has the following fantastic post on why market research is so important.

What is Market Research and Why is It Important?

But is this really detrimental? A Neuromarketing study suggests that people are actually more alert during fastforwarding due to the fact that they may miss their show. Interesting facts came from a study of 100 people suggesting that people who fast-forward their ads had a much better recollection of them than those who watched live TV.

However, some other bloggers out there(me included) seem to feel that this is only a last ditch effort from the tv studios to reassure their advertisers that fast-forwarding is actually more beneficial for them! Don’t be surprised if you see prices for the 30sec slot start to rise!!

What do you think? You can Read the entire article here.

Seth Godin has recently put a blog post on “How Much Would You Pay…” He asks the question how much would you pay for a little extra customer service. Would you slip a $50 to the car park valet for some extra service? And, also, would he give it to you? Of course he would.

So how much then, would you spend on your business, ensuring you get the proper tools to give your customers what you need? Read Seth’s post and have a good think about it…

• After distributing a media release, make sure you are contactable at all times on the number/s you have provided on the release. Journalists will only try to contact you once or twice, and if you are not available, will run with another story instead – your opportunity will be lost!

• It is preferable you do not contact the journalist/publications yourself to follow up – leave this to the professionals. You could risk ruining your chances at publicity if handled the wrong way.

• Journalists work to tight deadlines and under a great deal of pressure. Do not come across as aggressive or demanding – always be courteous and helpful if contacted.

• Provide the information they request as quickly as possible, bearing in mind their tight deadlines.

• If you have agreed to offer a media release or story to one particular journalist or publication as an exclusive, don’t contact other publications with the same/similar story. This will just spoil the rapport you are forming.

• Remember that advertising and editorial departments are entirely separate in media outlets, and usually have little or no knowledge of what the other is doing. Therefore, it is pointless to mention to the journalist any advertising dollars you may have spent with the outlet in the past.

• If in doubt about a question/request from a journalist, rather than making something up off the top of your head that may not be accurate, ask them if you can find out and get back to them – then do so ASAP!

• Make sure you have a News Room on your website that journalists can refer to, and ensure it’s kept up to date. For further information, contact Kerry McDuling at Diva Promotions.

If you are an individual or a company looking to get involved in social media then you need to be prepared to receive positive feedback and negative feedback.  In my opinion the negative feedback is more important and in fact I would argue that all the feedback you receive is actually positive.  I call it negative feedback because it is portrayed in a critical light, meaning that instead of someone saying how great and amazing you are, someone will tell you that you suck, but the important thing is to find out why.

Positive feedback is easy to give.  Let’s say you release a new widget, next thing you know people are praising you saying your widget is the greatest thing since sliced bread…ya…so?  Sure positive feedback is great, it let’s you know that you are onto something, that you are doing something right.  The positive feedback you get is a good indication that your product or service is satisfying customer needs or wants.  However, you are never going to get 100% positive feedback.  Some of (if not a lot of) the feedback you receive is actually going to be negative, what matters is how you deal with the negative feedback.  Make your negative feedback actionable and turn it into something positive.

Negative feedback is actually positive feedback, stay with me on this one.  Let’s say you create a widget and release it, now instead of praise, people are making voodoo dolls out of you and telling you that your product sucks (ok if they are making voodoo dolls then you probably have a serious problem).  Instead of going into defensive mode, listen to what your users are telling you and make the changes they are requesting.  Look at negative feedback as constructive criticism because that is what it is (minus the voodoo doll).  If people tell you they don’t like something about your product then you know what you need to fix.  If someone tells you that your product or service is buggy, doesn’t work, looks bad, etc. then you know what you need to improve upon, this information is priceless as it shapes your product or service into what it is.    Collectively, your feedback is a giant focus group comprised of users who want to tell you what they think about your product (or you, your brand, your company).  No focus groups is always going to have 100% of the people say they liked the product.

The reason I wanted to address this is because a lot of people are scared to use social media because of the negative feedback they may receive.  I’ll share a little story with you about some negative feedback I received when I first started writing.  During the first month of my blogging I was chastised by a reader who called me out for not editing my posts for grammatical errors.  The criticisms were rather harsh and at first I felt a little upset and defensive, but then I realized that the reader just told me what I needed to fix.  I thanked the reader for his comments and have since tried to be more vigilant of my grammar.  This is just one of the many ways to take a seemingly negative piece of feedback and turn into positive feedback.  I receive comments and emails from readers all the time critiquing my posts or asking me to remove certain aesthetic things, and guess what, I listen and respond to all of them.  Every piece of feedback I receive I consider positive.  The fact that someone is taking the time to interact with me and share their opinion is humbling and I am grateful for every comment or e-mail I get.

How do you respond to the feedback you get?  How have you been able to take a seemingly negative piece of feedback and turn into something positive?

Enjoy.

Old Marketing With New Tools

Remember hand-written thank you notes?

Then they became xeroxed form letters.

And then mail-merged form letters.

And then Amazon order confirmations by email.

We tend to use new tools to do less. We try to save time and money at the same time, and end up depersonalizing and commodifying what we do.

A simple example: cost and speed pressure means that when you get your car serviced, it’s unlikely you’ll be greeted by the mechanic himself, wiping his hands on a greasy rag, telling you exactly what he did to your car. Instead, you’ll get a difficult to decipher printout.

Why not use the technology to give more?

The mechanic can have a simple digital voice recorder. As he works, he can describe each thing he’s testing and what he finds. You can then email the digital file to Iowa, India or Israel, have it typed up and beautifully formatted and waiting for the customer when he returns. How can that not be worth the $1.50 it would cost?

Or have your private school or summer camp record a 7 minute video on every student every month (that’s a seven minute a day commitment per teacher) and post them privately. Seven minutes is the equivalent of a three-page personal letter, with far less resistance on the part of the teacher.

A friend of mine is wrestling with this right now. It’s so so easy to hide behind technology, to use it as a shield, instead of as a clever tool to actually get you closer to the customers you depend on.

Another example: if you have high-value customers, you should never give them a mass Survey Monkey type survey. It’s dehumanizing and it sends exactly the wrong message. Instead, ask them for feedback by email or web form. A few easy toss up questions and then just ask whether they’d recommend you and why.

If you get 200 responses, you ought to care enough to read and reply yourself. If you get 2,000, go hire someone to digest them all and make it easy for you to see the trends.

Inertia is one reason that techniques like these aren’t done often, but the real reason is fear. We use technology to insulate us from our customers instead of bringing us closer.

The Marketing Mix For Small Business Marketing

All marketing resources will eventually talk about your marketing mix, but what do they mean exactly? Marketing mix is a term that the marketing world tries to hold as a private term that only the industry knows about, but as a small business owner, you need to understand how to plan and implement your marketing mix.

The marketing mix is defined as the four P’s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. These four areas make up the complete outline for product or service marketing. Once you have defined the variables for each P, you have a basis for proper marketing.

Market research will play a major role in each area of your marketing mix. You must understand what you are competing with in regards to products and pricing. Although you may have a new and unique item with an innovative type of distribution, you still must compare your product or service to existing ones.

Here are the four P’s of your marketing mix for small business marketing.

P #1: Product

The product or service or selling must be defined first. What are you selling? How will it be packaged? Determine your product’s features, and then build the benefits from them. At this point, you will make all of the decisions relating to your product or service: style, quality, packaging, warranty, etc.

P#2: Price

Pricing actually plays a vital role in the branding and image of your product. Determining your price can be difficult, especially if you product is in a widely-variable industry. You must determine pricing strategy, retail and wholesale pricing, possible bundling, and any type of discounts.

P#3: Place

Place refers to how you will distribute the product. Will you sell to retail stores, or will you sell directly to customers? Is your product a wholesale item? The decisions made about distribution will affect your marketing mix in terms of how you will warehouse your products, how you will process orders, what types of channels will you use, and how will you cover the market.

P#4: Promotion

Promotion is the area where you will make decisions on how people will learn about your product. What types of sales strategies and promotions will you use? What kind of sales force will you need to sell your product? How will you use public relations and publicity to support your product? There are many aspects of the promotion element of your marketing mix. In fact, the other three P’s will affect your promotion strategy.

Decide on the first three P’s before you tackle Promotion, but ultimately, each P will coordinate with the others. Once you complete your marketing mix decisions, review the entire plan to make sure you have a consistent and precise marketing mix plan in order to properly sell, distribute, and promote your product.

Nate Stockard is the owner of Stockard & Associates, Inc, a marketing and design firm in Houston, TX specializing in small business solutions. He is also the author of The Market Seedling, an informative source of information, articles, tips, and advice for small business owners and marketers.

Emma Rhoades is the author of the “ Start up Marketing Kit” – marketing basics presented to you in step by step format, allowing you get promoting your business straight away. Drop by www.divapromotions.com.au/marketingkit.asp for your FREE preview.

Using email marketing is a rapidly developing method, allowing you to keep in contact with your customers and helping you to develop your relationship with them. Marketing Consultant Susan Burnash recommends the following guidelines to help you get the most from your email marketing campaign:

Good Planning and Preparation – The best way to prepare for an e-newsletter campaign is to start by creating your own editorial calendar.  Define your theme and topics in advance and then start an e-newsletter file to collect information you may want to include.  Whether it is an electronic file or paper one, you should add content ideas, pictures, industry or business news, event information, or anything that might inspire you and benefit your readers for an upcoming issue.

2.       Proper Brand Communication – The attributes that define your organization should set the tone for your e-newsletter.  Done well, your e-newsletter should be able to communicate your brand through your writing style, voice, logo, colors, fonts and choice of images, and content.  And if you are the brand, don’t forget your picture. Readers like a face to connect with a name. 

3.       Relevant and Valuable Content – Relevancy is the number one ingredient for a successful e-newsletter.  Relevant content can include: How To articles, Case Studies, Client Profiles, Industry or Business Trends, News Stories, Expert Advice.  If it speaks to what your readers want or need to know, you can’t go wrong.  And mix it up!  Write some content yourself, or hire a professional writer, and make sure to include content from, or links to, other experts in your field or business.

4.       Balance Between Text and Images – Using images to support your topic is a good idea, but because many people have images turned off, it is critical that your e-newsletter communicates equally well without them.  To test how your text works alone, turn off your images in your email client and send yourself a sample.  If the text is as effective without the pictures as it is with, it will be effective to all email recipients no matter how they have their email options set.  

5.       Click-Through Opportunities – Because e-newsletters need to be short and easy to read quickly, providing brief articles with “to read more” or “for the complete article” click-through links is a great way to go.  Summarizing or condensing an article serves as a teaser designed to drive readers to your website for a deeper experience.  It also enables you to get valuable click-through information about your customers’ behaviors and interest when you review your tracking reports.       

6.       Reader Engagement – E-newsletters should serve as a springboard for further conversation with your readers and you.  There are many ways to create an interactive relationship.  You should always include a Contact Us link to your email address or an online form that is easy to fill out.  You can also utilize polls and surveys.  All of these show your readers that you are interested in what they have to say and value their input.  But make sure you respond in a timely manner.  If you don’t, you may be hurting yourself more than leaving these items out altogether.  

7.       Tracking and Reporting – Keeping your email database current and monitoring the behavior of your customers are the primary reasons for sending out an e-newsletter on a regular basis.  If you aren’t using email campaign software with tracking capabilities, you are totally missing the boat.  Many of my clients use Constant Contact, My Emma, Blue Sky Factory, or Swiftpage.  All provide self-service options for those that want to manage their campaigns in-house or they can provide full-service options such as creating custom template designs, executing your campaign, managing your database, and reporting out results through campaign tracking.  

No matter how you go about it, you can see that by not using this method you are most definitely missing out!!

Emma Rhoades is the author of the “ Start up Marketing Kit” – marketing basics presented to you in step by step format, allowing you get promoting your business straight away. Drop by www.divapromotions.com.au/marketingkit.asp for your FREE preview.