Attract More Business Than You Ever Dreamed of!

Dear [FIRSTNAME]

The previous parts of this series have focused on finding the prospective customers and getting your online efforts noticed when they’re looking at their computer screen. But what about the important “informative” approach, like getting something tangible in front of them when they’re not quite thinking about your particular business or product.

In today’s business world, we like to take our time. We consider our options and then we decide what to buy with the assistance of an advisor – the sales person. If you’re fortunate enough to come across a genuine helpful sales person, great, but we all know that it’s a bit of a rarity.

Continued...
Consultative selling has had its day too. In today’s business world, we like to take our time. We consider our options and then we decide what to buy with the assistance of an advisor – the sales person. If you’re fortunate enough to come across a genuine helpful sales person, great, but we all know that it’s a bit of a rarity.

We all want information. As long as it is relevant and helps us make up our minds about one issue or another, we’re happy. Gone are the days of cold-calling/door-to-door selling; when was the last time you bought something the first time you met the sales person?

Whilst Obama believes that the Internet will be key to bringing the recession to an end, the real survivors will be those businesses who have grasped the range of activities that make up the marketing mix necessary to keep customers and prospects interested.

The following articles illustrate various methods of raising your profile and connecting with more prospective customers than ever before.

Experts Get Published
There is no better way to present you or your business as experts in your field than writing a series or articles. Being published shows that you have something relevant to say and enhances your business profile.

In the same way reporters are constantly looking for a story, editors equally, are looking for fresh new content. In many cases, these articles do not need to be particularly lengthy, only about 300 words but, if you can guarantee regular content, the chances are that you will be able to get published sooner than you think.

Yes, Classified Ads Do Work
For years, many businesses have had significant success by advertising in the classified section of newspapers and magazines.

One of the main reasons for their success is the ability to advertise at a significant frequency so as to become familiar with the readers. These don’t have to be large ads, but regular consistent small ads.

Depending on your particular expertise, it will be possible to advertise in any number of magazines or vertical market publications. The best approach is to simply obtain a rate sheet and choose the publications that suit your budget.

PR - Persistent Reminders
If something’s happening in your business, send out a Press Release, it only costs approximately £50, but it is well worth it:

• Your press release could be published by any number of publications
• It will serve as providing additional links back to your website
• Send a copy to your email base at the same time, keeping your customer in the loop.

For more information take a look at www.dwpub.com an online PR News Wire site.

Google AdSense Makes Sense
In the last week’s issue, I briefly covered the logic behind using Google Adwords. In addition to this form of advertising, and Google have a second very method which is called Google ad sense.

Did you know that there is more traffic available from the content network than from Google itself! These are the Google adverts that appear on other people’s websites that have a relevance to the information being displayed. If you know the type of web sites your potential customers visit, then AdSense is a viable

For a Wikipedia Definition Click Here or visit Google

Online Ezine Articles
eZine articles are almost the defacto standard in creating web links back to your site. If your articles are particularly noteworthy and helpful to readers, the more exposure you will achieve as a result of search engines visiting the eZine sites more frequently.

There is another important factor to consider; the more links you have from external sites to your website with the higher rating you will obtain relating to your page rank. A combination of page ranking, and links, keywords and relevant content all contribute to obtaining a high position on search engines.

For more information visit www.ezinearticles.com

Set Up Your Own salesXchange
Creating joint ventures with other companies that are not in competition with you but sell products to the same verticals or prospect type is one of the most effective ways of profiting from business co-operation.

sales exchange is a simple form of networking that manages joint ventures and can be set up by any business with the minimal amount of time.

For more information about sales exchange and how you can set up your own structure - click here.

Banners - & Links
Still connected with sales exchange, by agreeing to exchange web site banners or at the very least text links to and from each other’s websites is an instant an instant, cost free strategy to boost each other’s businesses.

By increasing your network of reciprocal links you are again increasing your page ranking with Google.

Affiliate Marketing
Taking the reciprocal banners one step further, it is possible to attribute revenues to the amount of clicks from each banner.

Large business like Tesco, Argos and PC world all subscribe to using affiliates. These are individuals or companies who have a web presence and who display banner advertising for other companies. When a visitor clicks on the banner, it is registered and monitored all the way to the point of the visitor making a purchase. When this happens, the affiliate is paid commission.

Affiliate software can be purchased online for as little as and £70. Some companies will install configure and assist you in setting up your own affiliate program, so whilst it takes a little time to configure, once it’s done the whole process is completely automated.

The software informs the relevant parties of the sale, calculates the commission and automatically pays the affiliate once you have been paid.

To find out more about affiliate software and how it might work for your business click here.

Shared Databases
There is nothing stopping either party directly promoting the other to their database of existing customers and sharing the rewards. It is common practice with Internet marketers that they constantly promote each other’s services, which takes the form of a recommendation and not simply another sales ploy.

JV's can also help increase your exposure if you can market to each others database of customers. It takes time to develop and create your own opt-in database, so why not use someone else’s

SMS Marketing
Depending on your particular business sector, if it is commonplace to obtain the mobile telephone number of your prospective customers, then SMS marketing could prove to be a significant addition to your marketing mix.

Unlike e-mails, text messages are instantly delivered, all most instantly read and contribute to the 27 touches required to build your brand.

For more information on SMS Marketing, please click here.

Blogging to the Masses
Blogs started off as a personal view of life, hobbies and so on. Now blogs are an important medium for businesses as they humanise a Company. Search engines seek out blog sites and return more frequently to re-index pages as blogs are updated more frequently than normal/typical websites.

Try and get your staff to contribute to your company blog, it can make good reading, but more importantly, a blog shows your customers that you want to connect with them and by them returning to your site indicates the beginning of a relationship.

For free blogging software go to www.blogger.com or look at www.wordpress.com

If you want to host your own blog software, go to www.wordpress.org/download or take a look at the www.joomla.org

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The Final Word...
I hope you found this short series useful. There is quite a lot of work to do but it will be worth it in the long run. To help with your project, click here to download your Marketing Mini Series Checklist.

Next month I’ll begin a new series on the technology that will help automate your marketing, from on-line software and services to the hardware and systems in your office.

It only leaves me to wish you a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Nigel Maine - Senior Partner

Footnote: If you wanted to improve your bottom line would you increase your income or reduce your costs? Whatever you decide for your business, we'll help make it a success by adjusting your costs and recommending automated solutions that will generate more income.  No confusion, no stress, just straightforward advice that allows you to enjoy the rewards....