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At the risk of sounding sensational, if you understand the concepts introduced in this article it could literally mean the difference between miserable failure and insane online profits for your business. I'm not talking about a magical formula that will guarantee success, but it's something that all online marketers need to understand...

If you spend $50 on advertising and it generates more than $50 in net profits, that's a good investment.

Simple right? Well, through the use of proper testing and a "scientific" approach to advertising, there's no reason you can't turn your original $50 ad into millions of dollars in profits. It's just a matter of developing a system that creates a profit, and then reinvesting your initial profits back into your business in order to further expand your advertising.

Assume that through proper tracking of your website traffic you're able to determine that 1 out of every 100 visitors to your site buys "Product X". Let's also assume that on the sale of every Product X you make a $50 profit. Do you see that any ad you buy which delivers more than 100 visitors to your site per $50 spent is a profitable investment? Promoting a site should be approached with this type of a scientific or mathematical attitude. Any advertising you do is either profitable or not, and you need to know which it is so you don't waste time and money.

Here's a somewhat simplistic strategy that you could use to get started:

1. Use a combination of free or low-cost strategies to promote your web site, generating initial traffic which will serve as a starting point.

2. Through proper tracking of your site, determine the exact "value" of a visitor in terms of dollars and sense. This is absolutely critical.

3. Utilize paid advertising that proves to be profitable according to step 2, based on the value of a visitor and the number of visitors generated.

4. Through ongoing testing, tracking, and tweaking, try to increase the value of a web site visitor as well as response to your advertising.

5. Repeat steps 2-4 as necessary - or forever.

The power of this scientific or mathematical approach to web site promotion is that once you have completed the steps you will have an almost automated advertising campaign that can literally send you all the traffic you need. Rather than spending hours and hours each day promoting your site, you simply buy more advertising.

The bottom line is that there are only 24 hours in a day and there's only so much you can do during that time. Free advertising strategies can be effective, but normally, anything that's "free" is going to "cost" you time.

On the other hand, if you could spend $1,000 a day on advertising to make $1,000 a day in profits, without spending hours doing it, why wouldn't you just do that? It's not hard at all. Consider Overture.com for example, where you can buy clickthroughs for as little as 1-25 cents.

That fits the formula quite nicely. Overture alone won't send you enough traffic to make you rich, but it's a good example of effectively promoting your site without spending much time doing it. And that's just one example of many! Give this 5-step scientific approach a try. If you find you just can't seem to make the formula work, there can only be a few reasons for it; either you're not advertising in the right places, your web site isn't doing its job, your profit margins are too low, or your product or service itself is the problem. Figure out which it is and you can't fail.

I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.

The use of free, relevant and meaningful content can single handedly grow your business into seven figures while making you the star of the lives of thousands of raving fans (customers and clients).

Using free content is not a new concept. However, out of the thousands who actively send out free content to their list, less than 1% actually get it right.

Building a Learning Relationship with your market by offering free relevant and meaningful information and content can take you to the higher ground of outstanding profits.

One of the most effective ways to prove your expertise, showcase your skills, toot your own horn, and prove that you're not just good …you're the best (and your not only deserving of their paid business, but at a premium price) is to invite your market into a "learning relationship".

A learning relationship is designed to scratch an immediate itch without providing total relief. You do this by providing meaningful information and content that they can use immediately to experience some level of satisfaction.

[Note: All of the basics of identifying your market, targeting a niche within that market, identifying an existing problem and understanding the desired solution must already be done.]

It's critical that you deliver meaningful and relevant information to your market.

Not all information is created equal. Information that is theoretical, pitchy, vague, and incomplete and doesn't give specific action steps will not work well for this strategy.

For a learning relationship to be an effective marketing strategy for you, the information and content you provide should…

Excite - Make your information compelling and interesting. This will keep their attention and gives you the opportunity to capture that "mental real estate".

How often do you pay attention to anything that doesn't excite you? Not often, right?

Your market is no different. From the very first word, you need to grab them and hold them captivated with what they are getting. To do that, you need to quickly answer three questions…

1. WHY should I read this?
2. WHAT is in it for me?
3. WHY should I believe you?

One way to create instant excitement is to make a big compelling promise of what they can expect after they read, digest and use your content.

Educate - Make your information informative and educational. Make them say "Wow, I didn't know that!"

The world is drowning in information and yet it craves more knowledge… so give it to them.

However, give it to them in a way that they get it… they understand it and they can use it.

And where possible make a huge impact by sharing something that will make them say, "Wow, I didn't know that!"

Encourage - Your information should provide actionable steps that you can encourage them to take to experience a measurable difference.

The best kind of information is usable information.

Telling is not helping. You need to break down your information into useable, actionable steps that are clear, concise and doable.

Give your readers a cookbook, how-to recipe for accomplishing one simple task that your information suggests. When you do this, and they use it and they get a small win from it… you become their hero… you build up the expert status that will move them from free to fee.

Endear - Your information should close gaps, build bridges and bring attunement between you and your market.

Build in any personal stories that they can possibly relate to. Allow them to experience emotion and feel like there is synergy with you and attunement with your mission.

When your readers feel like you understand them and you are like them you build bridges that can bring together a very long lasting mutually beneficial relationship.

So be sure to deliberately aim to connect with your market on a heart level and not just on a head and wallet level.

Entice - Your information should entice them to want more from you. This will make scaling them up from free information into premium paid products and services much easier.

Leave your market wanting an encore… wanting another appearance from you. Leave them chanting your name standing in there chairs pumping their fist in the air in celebration of you and what you have given to them.

Like 50,000 raving fans at a rock concert that don't want the show to end… have your readers begging for more. So much so they decide to purchase your products and services …bright eyed and smiling.

Why Your Website Is Not Making Money And How To Turn It Around: Learn This Unique Nitty Gritty, High Octane Marketing “Secret” From A Little Known Guy Who Made 100 Million Dollars In 2 Yrs By The Age Of 28….

Send a floodgate of traffics to your website and explode your sales.

Hundreds of millions of people have websites today that are not making any money for them.

They have tried many different types of promotions such as search engine optimization and promotion, banner ads, ffa ads, e-mail marketing, linking, e-zine ads but failed.

Are you one of these people?

Do you have a website? Are you promoting any product, program or service?

Have you tried various types of promotion and you’re yet to get rich from promoting your product or services?

If you answer yes, cheer up because at last, you may now have the ultimate solution to your marketing problem.

The one problem that all website owners or marketers have in common is the difficulty in locating the people who are interested in buying their products, programs and services.

By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll discover how I stumbled unto a powerful book that has a solution to this serious marketing problem.

5 years ago, I stumbled to a very powerful secret way to make money, known to only millionaires and billionaires.

After testing it, I created a program from it and called it “Mscsrrr: the millionaire secret cash system, generate $1500 weekly for life”.

You may have seen one of my websites on the internet.

I was so excited by this powerful money making “secret” that I decided to make it available to the public to help others.

But after setting up a website to promote it, I was hit by the harsh reality of internet promotion.

I was getting zero traffic! No traffic, no sales. I was not a huge success in all the internet promotions that I tried: search engine optimization and promotion, banner ads, ffa ads, e-mail marketing, linking, e-zine ads and others.

I was making sales but not enough to get rich from! What I mean by rich is generating $100,000-$1,000,000 in sales.

For this reason, I embarked on a 1 yr research on internet marketing.

You may have seen any of the several hundreds of my articles on internet marketing, online promotion, website promotion, online marketing and website sales posted at hundreds of thousands of websites all over the internet.

A week a go, I had some free time, so I decided to continue to do this internet marketing, online promotion, website promotion, online marketing and website sales research.

That was when I stumbled unto the most powerful marketing “secret” I have ever known during the past 20 yrs.

I discovered a little known guy (VJ) who used this insiders’ ultimate marketing weapon to rake in 100 million dollars in 2yrs by the age of 28 yrs.

Not only has this guy (VJ) made 100 million dollars with this exciting powerful “secret”, but he is crazy enough to share this sizzling hot “secret” with the rest of the world.

After reading his letter, I could not eat or drink or sleep until I blasted my order out to him.

Within 3 days, he rushed this heavy package containing his book to me. It is as big as the telephone book, very neat, very impressive, very well written, concise, to the point and over flowing with fantastic secrets on how he used this ultimate marketing “secret” to create 100 million dollars fortune in 2 yrs.

Yes, you guessed right. I had to drop everything I was doing to devour this book.

Usually it takes me forever to read a small book.

But in 2 hrs, I surprised myself by how fast I devoured this 310 page book brimming with the most fantastic secret marketing information I have ever been lucky to find anywhere.

There are many people who claim to be internet marketing guru (sorry, I will not name names) or offline marketing gurus. They are full of talk. Talk, talk.

And little to show for it.

And they invite you to their seminars and try to charge you $1000, $2000 or even $5000. Most of them are full of fluff. Very cheesy. I know all of them and may be you do too.

I don’t know any of them who have personally made 100 million dollars with his/her marketing secrets by the age of 28! (Another Bill Gates in the making?)

I have never thought it wise to pay them $5000 no matter what internet marketing secret they may have. Perhaps I have been a fool. Or may be not.

However, what I can tell you is that, at last, I have found a guy who not only talks the talk, but has walked the walk and made 100 million dollars as proof that he knows what he is talking about.

What other proof do you need? (As for me, 100 million dollars proof is good enough for me.)

This is the kind of money that gets my juice flowing real fast.

What about you?

To illustrate to you the power and the genius of the writer, VJ, the creator of this ultimate marketing “secret”, here is an excerpt of his letter, in his own words:

“No matter how hard I tried, it always seemed like I wasn't going to amount to anything real important in life. And this really sucked because I had a passion for the finer things. I wanted the gold Rolex, the sporty Mercedes, and the Million-Dollar Mega Mansion!

But when I looked in the mirror, I didn't like what I saw. I was convinced the good life I wanted was just a dream.

But that was all about to change. Seriously- by the time I was 19, I had a brand-new Corvette. At 20, I had 2 brand-new Mercedes Benz automobiles. And at 21, I was the proud owner of a Rolls Royce Silver Spur!

By the time I turned 28... I made over $100 Million in gross sales. I profited over $50 Million. I owned two homes- one of them was 14,000 square feet and had a seven-car garage, a billiards room and a resort-style pool with an underwater bar! And I paid cash for the home!

In my garage, I had a red Lamborghini Diablo, a yellow Ferrari 360 Spider, a white Bentley Arnage Red Label, about 4 Mercedes, and a 12-passenger Lincoln Town Car Limo!

My checking account had over $10 Million in it. I was earning $400,000 in pay each and every week. That breaks down to $80,000 a day... or $10,000 an hour! And those figures were if I worked 5 days a week for eight hours a day, which I didn't!

In the year 2002, I made more money than the CEOs of Federal Express... eBay... Amazon.com... Time Warner... Apple Computer... McDonalds... Microsoft... Nike... Yahoo... Ford Motor Company... General Motors... and Goodyear Tire- COMBINED!

Yes-COMBINED.

In the May 12th, 2003 issue, Forbes Magazine listed their top paid 500 CEOs in America. Of their prominent and prestigious list of the 500 CEOs, I made more money than 483 of them.

$17,549,000 MORE than the CEO of Starbucks.

$13,030,000 MORE than the CEO of Target.

$17,225,000 MORE than the CEO of Motorola.

Now, this may all seem like I'm some rich (&zxc$3@) bragging about how rich I am... and you're partly correct. I am bragging! But more importantly, the reason why I'm telling you about all this is that this course is about getting rich very quickly. If the talk of obscene money makes you feel uncomfortable, or even angers you, maybe you do not really want to be rich.

The reason why I'm telling you about all the toys I had when I was just 28, is to prove to you that if a guy like me... with a learning disability... a bad childhood... and no formal education can get filthy rich by the time I was 28... you can absolutely follow in my footsteps and build yourself your very own empire of wealth!”

Even Gary Halbert says, "……believe it or not, much of this information is so electrifying; it was unknown even to me."

Gary Halbert is recognized all over the world as America’s numero uno marketing authority.

Can you imagine Gary admitting in writing that VJ’s book and marketing power secrets are electrifying to him? I need not say more.

So, if you’re tired of having websites that are not making any money or tired of making nickels and dimes and tired of all the lousy promotional secrets from the so called internet gurus (that don’t work), and you’re finally ready to turn over a new leaf and get serious about creating real wealth from whatever products, programs or services you currently promote, may be you should consider finding out more about VJ’s super secret marketing book, the ultimate sales generator and marketing engine.

In this unique powerful book, VJ has been very kind to reveal so many dynamic marketing secrets he used (never before revealed in one book) : the products he sold to make 100 million dollars in 2 yrs, how he promoted it, when he promoted it and how you can duplicate his success.

Do you have a website? Do you sell any product, program or service? Would you like to know the exact “secrets” on how to find hundreds of thousands and even millions of buyers for your products and services?

Would you like to get your paws on how to market any product to hundreds of thousands and even millions of people who really need them?

If you answer yes, rejoice because VJ’s book has the ultimate “secret”.

If you know the “secret” on how to locate hundreds of thousands and even millions of people who are hungry and thirsty for your products and services, you can generate millions of dollars easily and get rich, like VJ!

If after reading this revealing article you don’t hear about me again for the next 1-5 yrs, you should be able to guess why.

Excuse me, I have just decided to take VJ’s book and powerful “secret” and create a billion dollar empire.

So, I am going to be very busy!

Forbes 400 billionaire’s list 2010, here I come.

How about you?

Please feel free to copy and use this article at your website, e-zine or e-mail it to your friends and please retain the author’s resource box below.

Thank you.

Hasta la vista baby.

Warmly,

I-key Benney, CEO

I know what you’re thinking, "Why is having your own product essential?" Quite simple really, without your own product you will never market to your full potential. We all want to make as much money as possible. That is the nature of business and because of this I have listed below my favourite and most powerful reasons why you need your own product to promote as opposed to be an affiliate for somebody else’s product.

Please read and understand these reasons because they make a whole lot of sense.

1. Affiliate Program - Without your own product it is impossible to have your own affiliate program. Big deal, what’s so fancy about having your own affiliate program? I’m glad you asked because it is a BIG DEAL. When you sell online you are only one person and your results depend completely on you but when you have your own affiliate program other people do the work for you. They make you sales and your sales are muliplied expontially without any additional effort on your behalf. The best part is they only get paid when they have made a sale. Having an affiliate program is more than a good idea, I would go so far as to say, it’s essential. The best and only affilate software that I would recommend is JVManager (http://www.PrivateRights.com/JVManager.html), so flexible and worth every penny.

2. Product Packaging - I would like to see you package together a whole lot of products via an affiliate link. The word, impossible, comes to mind because normal affiliate programs just don’t work that way, you have very limited contol. But why would you want to do that anyway? Primarily because people love a bargain, and in addition to that your product/offer will have a lot more impact when it is combined with related items/bonuses. More about this later in another post.

3. Special Offers - One of my personal favourites that is only possible with your own product (unless you have very good relationships with a product owner and you have some major clot as an affiliate), is the ability to offer people a lower/special price. If you own your own product, you control the price so you decide whether you want to reward your customers for their loyalty or just infuse your cash flow if it is a little low with a firesale.

4. Joint Venture Partnerships - Only with your own product is it possible to wheel and deal with other product owners and put together a joint venture deal that will knock people’s socks off. Joint ventures or JV’s can allow you to reach a target market that will only be possible with other partners. I’ll spend more time on this in another post.

I could keep on going but these are my favourite benefits of having your own product and why I strongly suggest you do everything possible to get your own product.

You don’t have to spend a fortune or a lot of time creating your own product Private Label Resell Rights are the easiest and cheapest solution to this problem.

I Hate Cold Calls

Long before I started my business, I realized that I wasn't good at telephone sales and that I would need to generate leads in another way. I developed a sure-fire way to generate those leads, interest in me, and my business, through the use of telephone market research.

There are many benefits of doing market research including the ability to learn more about my target market's behaviors and opinions, honing messages and presentations based on real, first hand responses, as well as, to test out new messages or theories prior to wide release.

As a website developer and consultant, my large market is businesses and my main target group is small business owners. In order to contact these owners I would need access to their contact information.

For my target market, I found a regional business development directory to be very complete including names, addresses, phone numbers and website information. Some of the information was a little out of date but it was going to be far better than just cold calling to reach "The Owner or Manager" and get successfully past the front desk person etc. For other Business-to-Business companies I might suggest the local Chamber of Commerce or Business Association. Contact lists may be purchased or leased from outside sources, however, that is beyond the scope of this article.

For a client of mine, who is in the property care and landscaping industry, I was able to suggest hitting the phone book in the areas he wanted to generate business in and call every twentieth or thirtieth name in the book. The only criteria his respondent had to meet, was that they are a homeowner or property owner. In his case, my client is located in a small town and most respondents would be homeowners. If he were in a major city I would recommend that he be calling property management companies and target areas of the city with a high concentration of houses. Most cities still have their phone books broken down by community or borough.

Developing the Survey

The first step in this process was to develop the survey. To do that you first need to determine the subject of the survey. This should also relate directly to the message you wish to communicate to the lead. For my company I wanted to find out one of two things, if the respondent had a website what were the circumstances, experiences and opinions of having it or if the respondent didn't have a website the circumstances and reasons for not.

Tuning in the Respondent

As you can see, these questions relate to only one specific service - websites. This allows the respondent to easily understand what subject area you are talking about so that when you switch to providing your message they are already thinking about that subject. In my case, the respondent could easily tell that I was asking questions about websites, they probably figure that my business has something to do with websites.

Keep Questions Open Ended

The survey questions should be as open ended as possible. This is not scientific, as it cannot be quantified in small sample sizes, but it is the best way to avoid leading the respondent to a perceived answer. They may feel that you are looking for a particular response. This can happen when you use a scaled response survey such as ratings of 1 to 5 or 1 to 7. In my own personal experience this type of survey is best left to academics. In most cases you are looking for opinions and experiences of an individual. Ask questions like, "Could you explain how you felt about the experience when you last purchased a car?"

Keep Things Brief There should be no more than 10 to 15 questions on the survey. The fewer questions and the more open ended the better the dialogue with the respondent and the more valuable the information.

The Wrap Up

At the end of the survey when I ask if they are interested in more information about my company and services they already have an idea of what to expect and are more likely to be open to hear and receive my message because there is no surprise and I was not beating them over the head with message. I merely made them think about their website or lack thereof.

Script = Professionalism

Once you have developed your survey you should write a script. I know - I can hear your sighs now - you don't want to sound like a robot or just another telemarketer but the use of a script will ensure that you sound like a professional. The danger with a script is that it might not be conversational or may not consider the person on the other end of the phone. To avoid sounding robotic and like you are reading a script you should read it aloud to yourself. If you are unsure about how it sounds try it out on someone in your home or office. The worst thing you can do is to call up someone and start in with, "Uuuhhmmm, could I speak to - uuuhhmmm�"

Your script should include a brief introduction. In my case my introduction went like this, "Hello, Mr. Adams. My name is Jay Gilmore. The reason I am calling is that I am doing some market research for my business services company in your area and I wanted to get some feedback from fellow business owners, like yourself."

Note that I didn't mention the name of my company. This shows the respondent that I am a person calling to talk to another person - people like to talk to people and not businesses.

Removing the Common Objection

The next words that come off the script are very important, "I am not going to try to sell you anything, and I just want to ask a few questions to help in planning my business."

This has worked every single time to break through the, "I'm not going to listen to a sales pitch" instinct that so many business owners and consumers have developed over the years.

Ask for Their Time

Now that I have broken through their resistance I am able to request permission and their time to do the survey. Be respectful of the respondent's time by making sure that the survey may be completed in less than five minutes. Tell them how long it will take - and be honest. It is not very professional to lie or mislead people about the time you are asking them for.

Once the survey is complete you should conclude by thanking the respondent for assisting you with your research.

The Marketing Starts Now - Actually it Already Started

The marketing part is next. In closing you should briefly introduce your company and the service being marketed. An example would be, " Thank you Mr. Adams for all your help. I would like to let you know that my business, Joe's Flowers is a local flower shop that specializes in arrangements and designs from North American plants and flowers. Would you be interested in receiving more information about our services and our company?"

After answering questions in your survey about flowers and their buying habits they are probably ready to find more information about your company and its products or services. Get their mailing address and / or email address and any other information you require to send them the information you want.

What to Send

Sending the information about your business can make or break this relationship. You have already gotten willing permission to send information to the respondent - now you have to send them something that will lead them to choose to buy your product or service or refer a friend or colleague.

The contents of the information package - be it electronic or print- should be a letter of introduction and thanks for the participation in the survey and some free and useful information that they will relate to regarding your product or services.

This information package is a first step to an ongoing relationship that will allow you to nurture goodwill and relationships with people who are actually interested in your business. The respondents will be expecting some form of marketing message but don't overdo it. Pushing too hard to close a sale at this stage will not work with this piece. This is not a direct mail promotion so don't treat it as such. That being, said don't hesitate to place importance and urgency on the message. Use benefit oriented copy to entice readers to take some form of action.

Follow-up Will Make the Sale - Well Some Anyway

As you bring the respondents closer to your business's products and or services by providing valuable information and examples of how it can better their lives many will choose to buy your products and services.

Give Up The Cold Call

You have now just read a great way to expose you business to new markets, new people, learn more about those markets and people, and get your message out - all with nothing more than a telephone and a list of phone numbers. What is best is that you were able to get people to willingly accept your message without the anxiety and resistance of a sales cold call.

In any marketing endeavor it is important to consider the company’s credibility. A company should show that they have a purpose and that very purpose is directed towards the understanding of their customers’ needs. After the company’s purpose is established it will not be hard for the company to gain the trust of its customers. However, there should be sincerity on the part of the company or else trust will be destroyed and that would really hurt its finances.

Another way of how customers determine the authenticity of the intentions of a company is through the products offered. The selection of the products will determine if a company has really understood the needs of its customers. Wrong selection of products is a clear indication that a company is not really that concern when it comes to providing solutions for the various needs of its customers and that will reflect a bad image for the company. And customers are likely to shun away from taking hold of any product or services that company is offering.

Likewise, in developing a marketing promotional product the primary consideration should be the customer that is if a company wants its advertising endeavors to succeed. Another consideration when developing a marketing promotional product is the product itself. The product must not only function as an advertising item but must possess a real value and a degree of usability for the customers or else your promotional product would just be piled with those items that are rubbish. Remember that it is important to maintain the trust and credibility not only in your company but more on the products and services you are offering.

Moreover, marketing is a business process that involves researching, informing and persuading customers in taking hold of products and services in an effort to increase sales as well as to increase the sharing or the transfer of ideas between the business and its customers. Although the process of marketing may take a great amount of time nevertheless a well planned marketing solution will result to a more stable influx of sales revenue most especially when customers’ trust in your company is built. All future marketing endeavors will promise sweet success.

There aren’t many things in life that you would get into with out a plan. Marketing is no different. Your overall marketing plan should cover about a six month period, and should be made up of weekly and monthly marketing schedules.

This is how you do it:

1. Figure out how much money is in your budget.

As we all know, marketing of any kind costs money. How much money you are willing to commit to the cause is going to determine some key factors about how that money can be best spent. Remember, you want to be economical but you also need to be realistic on what it will take to pull in the leads you need to close new and repeat business.

2. Determine your target market.

Who is most likely to buy your product? Are they married? Are they business owners? What is their income level? These are the people that you want to target. One of the most common mistakes in marketing is answering "Everyone" to the question "Who is your target market?" It may be that you have more than one target market, but there is no product in the world that appeals to each and every person. Even Coca-Cola targets different people with different messages. Decide who is MOST LIKELY to buy what you have to sell and target them. Your message to teenagers will be different than your message to housewives even if the product is exactly the same. Different markets may require different mail pieces or advertisements.

2a. Using the Right Mailing List.

In making sure that your message is getting across to the right people - people who are in the market for what you’re offering – it usually comes down to finding the right mailing list.

There is a great deal to know about mailing lists. There are pointers you could follow when buying a mailing list that tell you what to watch for in a mailing list company to make sure they’re reputable. They are:

i) Get references. Talk to other people that have purchased mailing lists from that company.

ii) Do they guarantee on delivery? That means due to the inevitable number of bad addresses there are in a list, can they still guarantee a high percentage of deliverable addresses. That number should be 90% or better. People move all the time so a mailing list company cannot guarantee 100% deliverability – but they should guarantee at least 90%.

iii) How often do they update their information? They should be able to answer this question and should be updating their information monthly.

You can get burnt on mailing lists – it is the most expensive part of your campaign. Ask friends who own businesses. Don’t just purchase from the first person that tries to sell you mailing lists. Do your research.

3. Select what media to use. (i.e., Direct Mail, Television, Radio, etc.)

This decision will depend on both your budget and your target market. If you have not done a good deal of marketing in the past we recommend picking one media to start. This is much easier to keep track of and you will better be able to tell whether or not it is working. Also, since repetition is the key to marketing success, using one media to begin with will help you reach the same people multiple times. If you run a newspaper ad and send out a postcard, you run the risk of the majority of the people only seeing your ad once. However, if you send out the postcard twice you can guarantee that you get your message to the same people twice and you will start to build recognition.

Once you are getting the returns that you want from the first media, or if you decide that it is not working for you, you can branch out into another form of advertising. Over time you will build up a very diverse marketing plan.

4. Make a Schedule and Stick with It.

Figure out how many people you have in your target market. For this example we will use Direct Mail Marketing. If you have a mailing list of people in your target market that has 1500 names, figure out how many times per month you can mail a postcard to them and still stay within your monthly budget. Once you come up with this number, do it!

The importance of having a marketing plan cannot be stressed enough. Create one and follow it and you’ll start seeing the benefits.

All too often people look at marketing ROI in terms of response rate: in other words, “I sent out 10,000 pieces of direct mail and only got 39 responses which is terrible.” This is wrong think.

When it comes to marketing ROI, you have to realize that the term means Return On Investment and the return is measured in dollars (or your local currency). Let’s say you spend $2,000 to get out a bulk mailing of 5,000 pieces and you get 10 calls as a result. Doesn’t look like much. But of these 10 calls you close 6 and get immediate sales of $12,000. That’s marketing ROI! And that’s not even taking into account the future sales to those 6 new customers. It could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The same simple mathematics apply to any other marketing efforts: radio ads, press releases or articles in magazines, print ads, yellow pages, web site, etc.

Obviously you need to keep track of response from each marketing campaign you do so that you can weed out unsuccessful campaigns and strengthen successful ones.

Case in point:

Jeff Lee, CFO of a very successful consulting company, Measurable Solutions, has adopted a successful small business marketing strategy based on direct mail marketing. Key elements are mailing out a newspaper and full color postcards. The design is done in house and the printing and mailing is done by a specialized postcard printing company. In his own words...

“We get our best response from mailing out a newspaper and back it up with postcards. Depends on the postcards. Some postcards have pulled better than others.

“The professionalism of the postcards is something that is effective: it gets attention, it keeps the image that we want to keep, it creates the reach, it creates the response and keeps our leads in a very high range.

“We probably average around 7,500 post cards per week. Out of 7,500 post cards we’ll get in an average of 15-20 leads. Of the 15-20 leads at least a third of them come to our introductory seminar. So say 5 or 7 people show up and they pay $1,700 a piece. Off of that we close a further $30-40,000 for services.

“The money we have put into the postcards is like a drop in a bucket compared to what we get back. We know that the more promotion we send out, the more return we’re going to get. It always works.”

That is excellent marketing ROI. Measurable Solutions spend about $2,275 for 7,500 full color post cards. That includes printing, postage, mailing (including the mailing list). From that they get between $8,500 and $11,900 in immediate response for an introductory seminar and an additional $30-40,000 follow-up sales.

Spend $2,275, earn $40-50,000. You don’t need to have majored in advanced math and rocket science to work that one out: that is what is meant by marketing ROI!

Results of direct mail marketing vary from business to business but the principle holds and always works: if you send out enough promotion, you will make sales and maximize your marketing ROI. Don’t worry about response rate if your marketing ROI is high.

If you get an email with a title like ' Don't Ever Trust Me Again!’ and continues along the lines of '... then you don't have to take my advice ever again!'

My advice is - Don't *

Perhaps it's because I'm skeptical of the number of "miracle" products, "great deals", 'limited time offers' or 'incredible packages' that are advertised online every day. Perhaps it's because I have bought more products than I can possibly use for now. Perhaps it's because there are probably more people trying to sell this particular package than the number of packages that are available. Or, perhaps it's because I received an email with almost identical content from too many different sources. Whatever the reason, don't make the same mistakes as I have in the past.

* It may be a good deal. It may be exactly what you are looking for. But if you receive emails with exactly the same content from different sources, think carefully before you buy. There are some good internet marketers that I have every respect for. However, there are an increasing number of ‘marketers’ that show little thought or consideration for others. They will take from you but offer nothing in return. You may disagree with the last statement. If you buy a product from them and you are happy with that product and they are happy with the money earned from selling you that product it's a win-win situation.

That's all well and good until you look more closely at the process. To do this, other factors must be taken into account. These include cost, value, convenience, time, and most importantly trust. You've probably heard of the phrase. "The money is in the list". I wouldn't disagree with that and it's easy to see why many of the "big list" hitters are successful in the percentage game. But unless they offer you something more than somebody else’s 'sales pitch' ignore them. Many of these people come and go. Make sure they don't go with your money.

With regard to the email in question, here is a quote from a 'trusted' ezine that I subscribe to "This is only of interest to you, Bryan, if you really need some brand new products to sell. If not, don't bother." At least, this is honest and straight to the point. I know who I'd buy from. On occasion, time may be more important than trust. If this is the case, then make sure you have a use for the product before you buy it. We are all guilty of impulse buying. It can be all too easy to buy something that will seldom, if ever, be used.

If you subscribe to an ezine or newsletter, it's often useful to keep tabs on the sender. By doing this you will learn to recognize if the content is original or simply a copy of someone else's work. You'll also quickly discover if the sender is only interested in using you as a means of earning a 'fast buck'. This is obvious if there is little or no content, excessive affiliate URLs, or emails that are repetitive or delivered more often than necessary.

If you like the newsletter or email subscription, that’s great. If you don't, you can usually 'unsubscribe'. If this fails, then try 'whitelist' filtering to weed it out. If you think the email is from a spammer, then be careful. Don't click on any URL or 'unsubscribe' option, and unless you are absolutely sure of the originator, never open an attachment.

If you use eBay or PayPal, you will no doubt be aware of the fake or spoof emails that are periodically blasted out. Well, the spin cycle has begun again. A good tutorial on spoof emails and how to recognize them can be found at http://pages.ebay.com/education/spooftutorial/index.html

Tip - If you have your own website, don't use your default address for your PayPal or eBay account. Use a different address and you will quickly spot the spoof email in the 'To' line of the email.

It’s a sunny morning and you’re sitting in your office. With a cup of hot coffee by your side and memories of your last holiday still fresh in your mind, even if you say so yourself, today at least, life is sweet.

You take a sip of new blend coffee and then feel a rush of cool air and a movement catches the corner of your eye. As if from nowhere there is now an impeccably dressed stranger sitting in the chair opposite. Sure you're surprised; you didn’t hear anyone knock and just as you are about to say something he begins in a calm and measured voice.

‘Here's the deal’

‘I am going to advertise your product on a billboard at the busiest junctions in every city of the world.'

‘I will tell you how many people see this advertisement and I will tell you their age, nationality and gender.'

‘I will tell you what they think of your product and in many cases I will give you their contact details. While they are reading the billboard I will make it possible for them to view your website and, if they feel the urge, make a purchase.'

‘I will have all this ready in two days and it will cost you less than a small advertisement in your typical trade journal.’

He pauses. ‘Interested?’

Now you might think that such an offer was too good to be true, you might think that you are going to wake up soon or maybe that it really is time to get a lock on that office door.

But let's just take a minute. If you are still reading this I am that man who has come from nowhere and offered you a deal.

The advertising site is on the Internet and the billboard I'm offering is the humble online survey.

Stop for one moment and start to associate an online survey not with 'market research' but with 'marketing'. Not any type of marketing but 'Marketing' with a capital 'M' and in flashing neon lights. Marketing that is quick, direct, effective and low cost.

Publish an online survey and advertise it on a website, or via email, and like a billboard by the side of a major road junction, your message will appear in front of people. But unlike a billboard where the number of people that see an advert has to be estimated (based on an arbitrary percentage of total volume of traffic), the online survey records the number of times a survey is started.

Surveys can ask demographic questions such as gender, age and nationality and in doing so you are obtaining metrics about the effectiveness of your promotion and are interacting with the respondent on a one-on-one level.

Unlike billboards where the message is often subliminal, or maybe just trying to achieve brand awareness, with online surveys you have the opportunity to connect with the public to find out what they really think about your product, how it relates to them, how it is perceived.

Using a website like http://www.surveygalaxy.com it takes only minutes and hours to create a survey and using the power of the Internet an online survey can reach hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.

Throw in a prize as an incentive for people to complete the survey, maybe some Pay Per Click advertising to capture an even wider, or more focused audience and you are still talking low cost effective marketing.

"So tell me. Do we have a deal?"

Autoresponders in General

Autoresponders have been around for quite some time. The Internet is overflowing with companies offering them packaged up with various features at various monthly fee levels. As more and more people do business on the Internet, autoresponders will take a special place in the overall marketing plan of any business on the net. They are the number one mechanism that helps businesses stay in close touch with customers or reach potential customers continuously.

Like everything else in this world, autoresponder providers charge fees for the service that they provide. This usually means a monthly fee is required and sometimes the fee can be on the high side. In exchange for this fee, they will host your autoresponder on their servers, which may not necessarily be a good thing. Why” Simply because you are at the mercy of these providers if there server goes down. If that happens, guess what? Your autoresponder messages do not get sent to your customers, which could cause a loss in potential sales. To further compound the problem, if the provider's server is down often or for long periods of time, it could be catastrophic to your business.

There is an alternative to the above scenario in the form a “free standing” autoresponder package called Autoresponder Plus. Autoresponder Plus does not rely on installation on someone's server; rather it is installed on your own web site or dedicated server. No third-party intervention is needed at all. As long as you have a reliable hosting service, you can add Autoresponder Plus to your business site and be in total control of customer communications. It's a fact that if you don't successfully manage your follow up marketing process effectively, you will lose potential customers.

The power of Autoresponse Plus

Let's take a look at how powerful Autoresponder Plus is.

It is an autoresponder and mailing list software for your web site.

You can send out an unlimited number of follow-up emails and target thousands of prospects.

You send out follow-up sales campaigns, courses, newsletters, and ezines from an intuitive browser.

Once it is setup, it runs on autopilot!

Create unlimited autoresponder accounts with unlimited messages any time.

Why use Autoresponse Plus?

By using Autoresponder Plus as your mechanism to reach thousands of potential customers, you will benefit in many ways. Take for instance the benefits of:

No more monthly fees for autoresponder services. Pay a “one-time” fee and your own the package!

No more reliance on the reliability of the servers of other providers.

The convenience of having the ability to take total control over your email campaigns staying in touch with prospects and customers around the clock.

The convenience of installing Autoresponder Plus on your very own site.

The extra flexibility in maintaining Autoresponder Plus and the dramatic cost savings.

The ease of installation and level of full technical support from ARP3 professionals that includes a fully staffed “help-desk” and tutorials.

Capturing email addresses of prospects so you can immediately follow-up and turn them into customers.

Delivering your message, over and over, to your target audience to get a sale.

How is Autoresponse Plus the email marketing solution to increase your sales

Autoresponder Plus acts as your personal marketing spokesperson, only better because it never takes time off! You can dramatically boost your sales through its use by giving you the freedom and flexibility to follow-up with prospects consistently and turn them into paying customers. It is a fact that if you want to turn “window shoppers” into buyers, you need to have constant contact with them. People need to get to know and trust you before they will buy from you. Autoresponder Plus helps you achieve this through its simplicity and convenience.

Autoresponder Plus offers an opt-in email marketing solution and follow-up marketing solution that are the best tools possible for building credibility and trust quickly. You can take charge of your marketing campaign by:

Building an opt-in list of prospects that you can follow-up with and convert into customers.

Using this opt-in list to market to this audience over and over again, after all, by opting-in, they give you permission to do so.

Fully automate your email and follow-up marketing efforts and run effortlessly on autopilot.

Eliminating annoying ads in your email campaigns that are planted there by other autoresponder providers.

Gaining the ability to send unlimited attachments such as .pdf files in your marketing campaigns.

Taking advantage of one of the most “user-friendly” programs on the marketplace.

Having your own autoresponder package installed on your business site not only makes a lot of sense but in such a competitive business climate as the Internet, it is a necessity if a business is going to survive. You are in control of your business; you need to be able to oversee every facet, especially the most important one, marketing. With the advent of such great marketing tools such as Autoresponder Plus, you can literally boost your sales many times over. It's definitely worth exploring.

Seminar Business Marketing and Promotion

When you feel like you're always busy working on your business, but not getting where you want to go, it can be frustrating trying to figure out how to get your marketing on track. It can easily become a “not seeing the forest for the trees” feeling.

Here are three big barriers I regularly come across with business owners and how you can avoid them.

1. No Clear Definition of Success

For some, the word Success brings thoughts of fame and fortune to mind. But for small businesses, I'd caution against this definition being your guiding light. When clarifying your own definition of success, I suggest starting with success from your client's point of view.

What is it that you are trying to do for your clients? What is it that they'll have or be able to do as a result of buying your service from you? Match this up with what you are passionate about. What is it that you love doing for your clients? I'll know I'm successful when my clients no longer have to struggle with how to consistently attract more business.

2. Not Clarifying Who Your Ideal Clients Are

When you can clarify who your ideal clients are, you are better prepared to know where to find them and how to market to them. You can develop messages that will appeal directly to them.

What do you know about your best clients? Spend some time to put together as complete of a profile as you can on the clients you enjoy working with the most. What are the demographics and characteristics? How would you describe them to someone who has never met them?

Without clarity of your ideal clients, you're likely to waste time, effort, and money marketing to the wrong crowd(s) and/or not getting your message across.

3. Not Spelling Out Your Unique Value

You must be able to clearly define what differentiates you from your competitors. If your prospects can't differentiate you from all the competitive alternatives in the marketplace, then why would they come to buy from you?

Often for small businesses it's not that they're not unique, it's just that they haven't spent the time to evaluate and clearly describe how and why. What is it that you do better, faster, cheaper, or more effectively - whatever? Maybe it's a unique model you've developed or the unique niche of clients you serve. Maybe it's your satisfaction guarantee offered to clients.

Most important here is to spell out why your uniqueness is so important to your clients and prospects. Why should they care? What is it that they'll get by coming to you for services?

Spend some time critically looking at these items for your business. It will be time very well spent. If you find you can't see the forest for the trees, don't hesitate to get some outside help.

Over the years that I've been involved with web marketing and ecommerce, I've had the pleasure of communicating with many of the real small business "movers and shakers" - the guys and gals earning 6 figures plus annually from their ecommerce ventures. I've learned much from the good and bad that online business strategy has to offer; especially regarding the mindset of people who claw their way to the top.

I've mentioned before that success in web marketing, or any marketing for that matter, is applied basic psychology, responding to the WIIFM (What's In It For Me) motivator of your target market. The more involved psychological strategies come into play when convincing a person who doesn't want or need a particular product or service that they actually do. Successful marketers would probably also make very good (or very evil) psychologists :) .

Often I'm asked questions like, "how do I succeed in online business" or "How did X make so much money?" or "how do I promote my sites effectively, for next to no capital outlay, while working only 2 hours a day in my underwear?"

No doubt you've also come across many products and services touting that you can generate a six figure income by using them - and in many instances, you can. We've all seen the "Make $x In Just 2 Months While You Sleep" type blurbs. What isn't mentioned on many of these sales pages is one very important element in order to make the tool successful - you.

Regardless of the amount of money you invest in tools and the number of people you employ, if your head isn't in the right space or you don't have the personality traits that accompany success; your ecommerce venture will more than likely fail.

The following are some tips I've jotted down based on the common traits and strategies that I believe have been the major reasons for some marketers and site owners achieving massive success in online small business.

Determination

If you're a person that's easily discouraged, shy, or someone who retreats when told something can't be done; then the online world is not for you. You must have total faith in yourself and your goals.

If you're not prepared to forego a lot of "normal" pleasures in life while pursuing your goals, it's better to stick to a salaried position - although bear in mind that at the end of your days, you may be left feeling unfulfilled and bitter.

The 2nd job

Almost everyone I know who has a successful home based online business started out working two full time jobs - one being their salaried employment, the other their biz. The salaried employment provides a source of funding and security, and sometimes experience, until the online business is generating real revenue.

Sure it's tiring, but it's better to spend a couple of years like this than to lose everything you have and then have nothing to fall back on. Those couple of years can set you up for life.

My business was funded through cleaning toilets in a club early in the morning, 7 days a week for a couple of years, plus a job in administration where I could hone some of my computer skills. The toilet cleaning wasn't a particularly pleasant job as you can imagine, but it was humbling and strengthened my resolve to make things work.

So many times I've come across people who dream of having an online business but just can't make this sort of time commitment or aren't prepared to do "menial" labor to get kick-started. Due to their tertiary qualifications, or self perceived competence, they expect success to come served up on a silver platter and try to take all sorts of shortcuts to get there. It usually backfires.

Passion for success

Being passionate about your products and services surely helps in creating a positive vibe with your prospective clients. Being passionate about customer support is a fine thing too. Equally important is the passion to succeed, for *yourself* - not so much as a "head" thing (determination), but in your heart. It must be a burning desire.

Endurance/discipline

Very important - most of the marketers who say that they earned 6k in 6 days selling X product fail to tell you something - they may have spent hundreds of hours in prepping the product and promotion *before* it was released. The most successful marketers I know get "in the zone" and then keep going until the product has been released, which cuts down the duration of the ramp up stage.

For example, you should only sleep as much you really need to. Sleep is beneficial and necessary of course, but a great robber of time when you are building a business. Think about it - the average person spends 1/3 of their life in an unconscious state. Some people need 8 hours I guess, but imagine what you could achieve with 365 extra hours of productivity each year.

In the words of the great philosopher, Jon Bon Jovi - "gonna live while I'm alive and sleep when I'm dead" :) .

Get yourself into good working habits and stay in them - routine is essential, especially when your business revolves around you. It's so easy to let things slide for a couple of days because you're tired or you've been kicked around a bit - and then so hard to get back into routine again. Lighten up the pace a little if you need to, but never totally ignore your business, even for a single day, unless it's absolutely necessary.

Focus

There will be many time-burglars along the way. Recognize them and drop them quickly. Examples of time burglars include too much time spent on hobbies or recreational pursuits (although some R & R is essential); people who suck up your time without giving anything back, and as mentioned, excess sleep.

Sometimes tasks in your online biz are better farmed out to others - outsource where you can, which will leave you to focus on your core strengths; but do endeavor to gain some experience in each area of your business. No-one will give the level of attention to your business that you can.

Leadership

You may not have many staff, or any at all to start out with, but you will have service providers to deal with and yourself to lead. Be a good leader; listen and act on solid counsel, give clear instructions, and draw the line when someone you are dealing with oversteps their mark or fails to deliver.

Research

Many people fail in online business simply because they've had a really good idea, but no-one else, especially their target market, has shared their optimism. Just because you think something's great and should sell, it doesn't mean that will translate to sales.

The only people who can take a product that addresses a yet to be existent need and sell it successfully are the well established marketers, often using what I call "The Inner

Circle" strategy.

For everyone else, solid researching skills must be in place before launching into ecommerce - the ability to gauge actual need, pricing points, required features, associated costs and target market demographics.

Family co-operation/planning

Family issues have killed so many potentially successful business. Before you embark on your journey, ensure that your family is there with you; supporting you, or at least tolerating you while you strive for success. Have a timeline that you can relay to them - i.e. "I will be working this way until X date, please hang in there with me until then".

Don't just have a plan in your head - write it down, broken down into milestones. By putting a dates on your milestones, it will let your family know that the ridiculous hours you may be working has a definite end date - to leave it open ended causes a great deal of stress on all.

Explain to them what it will be like during that time, don't try to deceive them, but at the same time relay to them the benefits that will come as a result.

By having a written plan it can also help you to stay on track and pat yourself on the back as milestones are achieved.

Realism balance

Be optimistic, in fact, be very optimistic about your venture - but season your optimism with a dose of realism. Sure, the guy selling you a marketing tool or service says you can make 6k in 6 days - but he's a pro; realistically you'll take a lot longer than that. Set *achievable* goals, not pie in the sky targets - you'll feel more fulfilled along the journey that way.

Dollars and sense

Treat your venture a little like responsible gambling - only spend what you are prepared to lose - if that's everything, that's probably a little over the top, but a personal decision.

Also bear in mind that as the revenue does start coming in, given the nature of the Internet, it can also dry up literally overnight. Put a decent percentage away for emergency use; ideally maintain 3 - 6 months living and business expenses in reserve at all times. Wherever possible, do not get into debt to finance your online business, get an extra job if you're short on funds.

Action

There's millions of people with millions of good ideas, but only a very small percentage have the drive to be able to execute them and see them through to the end. Procrastination in the online world is very dangerous as things move so quickly and trends appear/disappear every other day. Do your research and once you are satisfied that a particular strategy or tool will work - implement it immediately.

If you engage the services of ecommerce or marketing consultants, follow their instructions and counsel closely. Remember that consultancy is a two way street - if you're not providing your consultants with the information they require in a timely manner and then acting upon their recommendations; you'll run into major problems.

A good analogy to illustrate this is when a doctor prescribes you antibiotics, he tells you that you must take them all within a certain amount of time and in the proper way. Failing to do so can mean the infection flairs up again.

Promote, promote, promote

At every available opportunity, promote your business to others, even to the grocery store checkout person you are on semi-familiar terms with. Don't be shy - you'll be surprised in where you can generate interest. Even if the person you are talking to you about your business isn't really interested, they may know of someone who will be. Sow seeds wherever you can, without being overbearing of course - try to talk about other things with people too ;) .

Networking

The ability to network is a very important skill.

Networking is essentially about communicating with clients, suppliers and others within your industry with a view to personal gain. But it isn't all about taking - don't bleed your contacts dry for any information of benefit to you; ensure you give something back.

Firstly, network with your clients through regular contacts, requesting and acting on their feedback. Remember that word-of-mouth is still one of the most powerful forms of referral. Get clients to network for you by implementing affiliate/referral software and compensating them for their efforts. Many good quality shopping carts also contain affiliate functions. Once your affiliate program is in place, then lead by example by providing your clients with the tools and advice they need to refer others, plus relay the strategies you used to attract them to you in the first place.

Sometimes small business owners tend to get very paranoid about what the competition is doing, but will also shun communicating with competitor merchants. This can be quite counterproductive. There's a whole swag of profits to be made through what I term "co-opetition" and the "Inner Circle Strategy".

I hope these points have given you some insight into what makes some of the well known online small biz entrepreneurs so successful. Good luck to you in your in ecommerce venture - "have a dream, then make it real"

I have been involved in Internet marketing since the world-wide-web began and I consider myself to be an Internet marketing expert. From my experience helping clients build successful websites, I have learned what works and what does not work when selling on the Internet. To help you avoid costly mistakes, I have listed what I have found to be the biggest Internet marketing mistakes.

Mistake 1: Using too much Flash. If your website is one big Flash presentation, you are making a huge mistake! Why? Because consumers go to your website to seek information, not to watch an "I'm so cool" Flash presentation. Ask yourself, when you go to a website, do you sit there and watch their ego-building Flash presentation or do you click the "skip flash" link to get to the real information? If you are like most people, you click the "skip flash intro" link as quickly as you can find it.

Another major problem with Flash is that it is only "interesting" the first time a visitor goes to your website. If they actually return to your website, they will do everything they can to skip your Flash presentation so they can quickly get to the information they want. In my experience NOTHING kills Internet sales more than Flash. That is why you almost never see the world's top websites like Google, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo using Flash as the basis for their web pages. If you are making this mistake, get rid of the Flash immediately and make your website a valuable source of information, because that is what consumers want.

Mistake 2: Letting your webmaster write the text for your website. This is another huge mistake that companies make. On nearly a daily basis I get a call from a company that has spent a fortune building a website and they cannot understand why they are not generating any sales. My first question is, "who wrote the text for your website?" In nearly every case they tell me their webmaster wrote it.

Why is it a mistake to have your webmaster write your website marketing text? Here is a hint: webmasters are programmers, NOT a professional marketing copywriter who know how to write text that sells. If you want your website to generate sales, you must hire a person who is an excellent copywriter and knows how to write words that make people want to buy! Would you hire your webmaster to write a display advertisement for you? Of course not! Then why on earth would you allow them to write the text for your website? By having your webmaster write the text for your website, you are ensuring your website will be a poor sales tool. To solve this problem, hire a professional marketing copywriter to write the text for your website.

Mistake 3: Making your website hard to navigate. Have you ever been to a website where you have to click on various generic graphics or parts of a flash picture to try and find a link to the information you are looking for? Why on earth do companies do this? It is not fun, it is not clever, it is STUPID AND ANNOYING! When designing your website's navigation (links to information) use the acronym K.I.S.S., which stands for KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! Simple sells. Complex does not. If your webmaster tries to sell you on using parts of a Flash picture for links or some other complex navigation system, FIRE THEM IMMEDIATELY!

Mistake 4: Not having a telephone number on your website. People rarely trust companies that do not have a telephone number. I certainly don't. If I am considering buying a product from a website and they do not have a telephone number, I don't buy. And I know others feel the same way. For example, I have had several clients hire to develop their marketing program because I had a telephone number on my website and the other marketing consultant websites they were looking at did not. Therefore, if you want customers to buy from you, make it easy for them to contact you by having a telephone number on your website. In fact, you should have your telephone number on EVERY page of your website. If you want to make sales on the Internet, make it easy for your customers to buy.

Everyone on the web thinks they can write a FAQ. But then why are so many FAQs so lacking? How often have you read a FAQ and thought, "that didn't tell me anything I needed to know!"?

Two Worst FAQ Writing Faux Pas

• Many websites don't separate their FAQs for existing customers who need support from their FAQs for prospective customers who just want the information they need in order to decide whether and how to buy.

• Many websites that do provide a special pre-sales FAQ turn it into yet another advertisement--ugh! Your prospective customers need pre-sales information that truly helps them come to a decision.

Tips for Writing a Pre-Sales/Marketing FAQ:

• You should divide your FAQ into sections that will make sense to a prospective customer. Naturally, what sections you use will depend on the content of your own website and the nature of your business.

• If you have a complex business or website with many products and services and/or options for them, you may need to have a FAQ that is very long. Traditionally, webmasters would simply create one very long page for the very long FAQ. However, very long pages are almost never good web practice from a search-engine point of view. Multiple medium-length pages will get you more search engine traffic than one long page. If you have a FAQ that would go over 1000 words, you should put each section on its own page, and have one front page with a table of contents for the entire FAQ, linking to each section and providing a list of the questions in that section.

• Usually, a FAQ will have a list of all the questions up top, with links to the questions within the page, sort of a table of contents. If you have a briefer FAQ, you don't need this.

• Keep your answers brief. If an answer requires more than two paragraphs, you should create an entire web page for it, and simply provide a link to that page in the FAQ answer.

• Your answers should cast you in the best possible light while still being believable. Do not confuse this FAQ for prospective customers with the more common support FAQ! You do not want your prospective customers to see a laundry list of everything that could conceivably go wrong with your product or service.

• In order to keep your FAQ believable and informative, do not fill it with marketese and hype. Keep the exclamation points to a minimum! Yes, you want to portray yourself in the best possible light--but the best possible believable and informative light.

In the end, remember this: your web visitors who read your FAQ are among the most qualified, interested prospects on your site. If your FAQ lacks your site may lack sales.

Short Term Vs Long Term Marketing

In order to create consistent sales cycles and a positive growth trend businesses usually engage in both short and long term marketing efforts.

Short-term marketing efforts tend to cause sudden sales spikes which rarely last. These sharp sales increases are usually the result of a targeted marketing campaign or time limited offer. While short-term marketing produces sales, long-term marketing efforts must be mixed in to sustain sales.

Short Term Online Marketing

Mentions

Positive product mentions in forums, newsgroups or within trade organizations can result in a traffic or sales surge. Product endorsements and newsgroup conversations are difficult for marketers to control and time, so while product mentions in forums are short-term marketing, they lack the organized exposure necessary to maintain sales momentum.

Discounts

Marketing campaigns that involve coupons, discounts or time-limited offers can also generate product interest. It is important to use promotional offers sparingly or long-term sales could be jeopardized by having customers "wait" for the next offer to purchase.

PPC / Advertising

The easiest and fastest way to generate product interest is, of course, to pay for it. Pay-per-click campaigns are known to drive significant targeted traffic. Sadly, when the campaign funding ends, the traffic and sales generally do, too. Regardless, it is important for marketers to realize that with short-term marketing, sellers can often control sales and infuse cash into a fledgling product, service or business.

Short-term marketing is also useful for test-marketing new products or split-testing to find the appropriate price point. With pay-per-click advertising marketers can control the ebb and flow of site visitors and make a determination about what banners, keywords, text copy and graphics convert at the highest rate. The lessons learned in short-term marketing can then be implemented in the long-term marketing strategy. Marketers can determine the effectiveness of sales copy and landing pages, implementing them in a long range of marketing activities.

Long Term Online Marketing

Search Engine Optimization

Undoubtedly the most time consuming, yet important aspect of long-term marketing involves preparing and optimizing a website for search engines. Currently the majority of Internet surfers seeking a product or information look to search engines. Most Internet surfers use keywords to search for the product, service or information that they are looking for. Knowing your audience and optimizing a site for keywords and phrases that potential consumers would use in their search for a product or service is critical to being found on the Internet.

Search engine optimization pays long-term dividends, but is an ongoing process, as the search engines themselves are constantly evolving their algorithms. The goal of search engines is to provide web surfers the best sites suited to the web surfers' search terms.

Often, changes implemented will not be "seen" by search engines for several months. It is important to follow search engine guidelines and be patient.

Fresh Content & Communication

A stream of fresh content like newsletters, tips or blog posts will result in long-term quality traffic. Fresh content that is posted and updated on a regular basis will encourage visitors to return. Archived content will build a base for a variety of related keywords.

Syndicated Articles

Related industry articles will result in genuine interest from a very targeted audience. Providing related content articles that are available for syndication will result in links back from websites that contain similar content. Over time, articles can define a company's expertise on a subject area. Ultimately, syndicated articles can build confidence with prospective customers and a level of trust.

When designing a marketing campaign, consider threading long-term and short-term marketing efforts so that sales are stable and consistent. By implementing a marketing plan that involves both short and long-term efforts, sales success can be achieved.

Search engine marketing is on constant evolution

The world of search engine marketing is in constant evolution. With increase in the number of search engines and evolution in the techniques and technologies used, search engine marketing is becoming a tool industries cannot afford to do without. Trends all over the world show that the pressure for search engine marketing services is starting to come from below – for the individual clients and organizations themselves. Indeed, search engine marketing is quickly evolving as the buzz word in a new, technology-driven advertising and marketing space. As a result, companies that are serious about their online marketing are incorporating search marketing into their branding and direct response marketing efforts.

Meet the search engines

Google, Yahoo, MSN are the search engine big boys, with Google being the strongest. AOL, Ask Jeeves and Altavista lead the SEM scenes, while a number of other geographically-specific and market-specific search engines are also successful. In a study conducted in July 2005, Nielson/Netratings reported that the search engine marketing share was highest for Google at 48%. Yahoo and MSN had the market shares of 22% and 12% respectively.

MSN and Google were also the top destinations for most online purchases, reported a study conducted by comScore Networks (June 2005). The study highlighted that in, MSN searchers were 48% more likely to buy online than the average Internet user. Google users were 42% more likely to buy online than the average Internet user. It also came to notice that while Google searches looked for more sophisticated search terms, simple broad term searches occurred for AOL, Yahoo and MSN. Demographically, more men searched on Google at 55.1% while AOL was female dominated at 52%.

Search engine marketing - another bubble?

One thing is becoming clearer today: Search engine advertising is not another Internet bubble, even if certain shares may be trading higher than they should. It is not only happening in the Silicon Valley either. It is driven by users and the fact that people, everywhere, need to go somewhere to search and find information. Take China for example - who's heard of Baidu.com? Not too many people. It's a Chinese search engine that has been around for 5 years and is the World's 6th most-visited Internet site, thanks to China's fast growing internet market, currently with more just over 100 million Web surfers. Baidu is approaching an IPO and according to eNet.com.cn, a Chinese news site, will list on the NASDAQ on August 4, planning to 3.7 million shares of stock at between US$19 and $21 per share. And what about Google? It recently reported quarterly revenues of $1.4 billion. Google's revenues excluding its payments for other websites in its advertising network jumped to $890m, an increase of 110 per cent from a year before and above the expected $842 Million. "Business is very good here at Google," said Google CEO, Eric Schmidt.

Search engine marketing forecast

US Online Marketing Forecast: 2005 To 2010 by Forrester Research (May 2005) revealed that the arena for search engine marketing is all set to rise and will show growth of 33% in 2005. Forecasts reveal that the figures will reach $11.6 billion by 2010. Display advertising, which includes traditional banners and sponsorships, will grow at the average rate of 11 percent over the next five years to $8 billion by 2010. Total spend on US online advertising and marketing will reach $14.7 billion in 2005, a 23 percent increase over 2004. Trends also showed that while SEM is set to become more effective than traditional marketing channels, barriers include a lack of online advertising standards and hands on experience that prevent marketers from embracing them fully.

Search engine marketing in Europe

Search engine marketing (SEM) trends in Europe reveal a positive picture too. A study conducted by Forrester Research, entitled “Europe’s Search Engine Marketing Forecast, 2004–2010”, predicts that by 2010, European marketers will spend almost 3 Billion Euro on search marketing. This will be a rise from EU856 million in 2004. Research also shows that SEM is set to increase by 65% in 2005 with EU1.4bn being spent on sponsored links and search engine optimization (SEO). This growth spurt may however cool down to a simmer by 2007 as rich media ads begin to dominate the Internet marketing landscape. The UK continues to be the largest online ad market in Europe with SEM forecast to grow to over EU1bn in 2010, up from EU763m at the end of 2005. France is the biggest growth market with 19% of search marketing spend by the end of 2005 and 31% by 2010. Germany follows second with a spend of EU165m in 2004. However spending in Germany will slow down and reach EU399m in 2010 from EU165m in 2004. Growth will be lead by marketers in the travel, finance, auto, and retail sectors.

Search engine traffic is only a means to an end

Besides all these big numbers and back to the customers, it is important to note that for advertisers, search engine traffic is, typically, only a means and not an end. Lots of targeted traffic from active users in real time is great only if users perform the target action/s of the website (e.g. fill out the contact form, download the demo, register to the newsletter, complete the purchase online, make a comment with the forum, etc.). The few companies that are already engaging in search engine marketing at a professional level know this well and are putting in significant efforts in integrating conversion rate improvement mechanisms and work processes into their web marketing efforts. Surprisingly or not, there are too many times where marketing managers do not know if one channel generated a higher return on investment (ROI) than the other. Furthermore, they usually don’t know how to measure their channel-specific cost per action (CPA) or cost per customer acquisition. The leading companies in the web marketing space have already learned that it is more efficient and ROI-effective to identify how to raise an existing conversion rate from, say, 2% to 4%, rather than paying to buy 100% more incoming traffic.

When you are in the start-up stages of your business, you will need to spend 85% of your non-producing time (when you’re not actually providing your service or creating your product) MARKETING! Yes, I said 85%. We will talk more about what that includes, but what it doesn’t include is bookkeeping, filing and educational activities.

Focus is one of the biggest issues my clients face in running their own businesses. Working out of our homes is difficult enough (the dishes call my name all day – I have learned to ignore them.), we also perform all the business functions a corporation does – administration, sales, finance - and marketing. However, if we successfully ignore the dishes and the laundry and spend all our time getting perfectly organized, answering every email we receive and analyzing every piece of data to which we have access, we won’t have any clients.

OK, I hear you, so what are the 4 Ps of marketing? They are: promotion, product, price, and place. Most people focus primarily on promotion, but the other 3 are equally important.

Product: Knowing that there is a market for your product and offering it to the right target is key. If the current marketplace is saturated with products in your category and you have not differentiated your product in any significant way, you will fail. If you market your product to the wrong people, you will fail. If you have more than one product, make sure you are selling each product to the right segment of the marketplace.

Price: You should know everything about your target market and your product. This research will guide you in setting your price and knowing if your price is too high or low. Look at what your competition is doing. Are you selling a commodity or is your product completely different from anything on the market? Pure commodities, like white sugar for example, compete strictly on price. If you are distinctly different from everything else, like Splenda, you set your price where your target will pay. (Don’t think too small.) Also, what image are you projecting? Is your product the only one available to this market? Price accordingly.

Place: If you have done your research as mentioned above regarding your target, you will know where they are. Go there! Sell there! With some products, place determination will influence your price. If you are selling a grocery product and want to have a space on the regular grocery shelves, be prepared to invest a lot of cash. Specialty products have other avenues, but may not get the exposure. Selling on the internet? Where do your prospects gather virtually? Are they in chat rooms?

Promotion: The active marketing piece includes networking, advertising, telemarketing, face-to-face sales, direct mail, brochures, websites and more. Without the other P’s, this part of marketing falls flat. You must be able to connect with your future clients, which is impossible if you do not have the right product in the right place with the right price for your ideal customer.

But what about Philanthropy? Do you find yourself giving away your product or selling it much cheaper than anyone else? In case nobody ever told you, you are supposed to make money when you’re in business! Giving away a little is good marketing. Giving it all away will not only bankrupt you, but it will also give you a bad reputation. If you don’t value your product enough to receive payment for it, why should anyone else?

Give a taste – make it enticing. In the beginning of my practice, I gave away a lot of second complimentary sessions. I learned a lot and needed to do this at the time to hone my craft, but realized after awhile that I wasn’t getting a good return on my investment of time from a marketing perspective and stopped. (Wisely, I had put a deadline on this particular offer.) I have experienced that if it’s free, it’s not valued. Pro Bono and trade clients often don’t show up for appointments or do their homework.

Now I give one complimentary session, a common practice among coaches, and I often call it a demonstration, because that’s what it is. I give a good taste of what my services might include, and each taste is different. This also gives me the opportunity to see if I want to work with this person. Although it’s rare, I have had to kindly inform people that this is my business and I cannot do it for free. This is a difficult conversation to initiate, but the success of my business is more important than hurting the feelings of a very nice person who will not likely hire me. As I often say – it’s business, not personal.

If you haven't heard the word 'niche' being batted around by Internet Marketers then you haven't been listening. Finding a niche has become the antidote to competing in overly saturated online markets.

What is a niche?

According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary a niche is described as "a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted... a specialized market".

Have you noticed that despite the closing of many businesses in these harsh economic times, the local hobby train store is still around? That the 'hole-in-the-wall' eatery is thriving? Or that trends such as scrapbooking can start with a bang and still close within a year when four similar businesses start up in the same area?

The online business world reflects the same trends as experienced in the offline world - often with faster turnover and startup rates. Those who promote a product or site that targets a small, select audience can tap into a market that is otherwise not being served. Despite the limitations of the client base, the targeted nature of the business creates a devoted and active market - the aim of any business.

HOW DO I FIND A NICHE?

Finding a niche requires diligent research. Whether you have access to software that harvests and sorts information or you take a manual approach you must first start with ideas.

With a pen and paper (or computer, if that's more comfortable) brainstorm a list of businesses, products and industries. Create a list of keywords and phrases you think would be used by individuals looking for these items online.

Use a software program such as Wordtracker or a free resource such as the Overture Keyword Selector Tool to find keywords for your niche that have a high amount of traffic.

Although a program like Wordtracker makes it easy to find details such as how many sites compete for that market, you can also do your own research.

Concentrate your attention on question phrases such as "how do I..." or "where can I...". These questions will clue you into potential markets that need servicing.

Next, look in Google Answers. Type one of your keywords into the search area. What questions are being asked and how much are people willing to pay for answers? If you find a group of keywords with a high number of questions then enter these words in your browser's search engine.

What sites come up? Do they provide answers or solutions to the problem? How are they making money? Can you see an opportunity to service these individuals?

Finding a niche can open the door to a profitable online business. Research the market and be certain that your product or service is valuable to this group. Find forums or groups that target this audience and pay close attention to their concerns.

If you can help these people you WILL make money. The best of both worlds!

Stand next to any road, and every so often a young person will go by with the latest rap CD blaring. If it happens to be a cold day, he (it is always a he) may have the windows up. Then, all you will hear is the thud of the overworked bass speaker in the back. After he turns 30, the young driver probably won’t even be able to hear that, if he continues this unwarranted assault on his ears.

That big bass bin can’t handle the vocal sounds, and the front speakers would melt if they had all those thumps going through them. So the car audio separates out the various frequencies using filters, sending only the bass to the big bins in the back, and only the higher and more delicate sounds to the little speakers at the front. Both, and especially the bass, are then amplified so they are audible in the next county.

Marketers have borrowed the same terminology as a way of looking at how their business treats its customers. Marketing graduates will often talk about ‘Filters’ and ‘Amplifiers’ almost as if they actually understood them.

Filters

A filter in marketing speak is anything which prevents your customer from doing business with you. Some filters are ‘natural’ – if you provide personal training services for example all of your clients will need to be within easy reach. This natural, geographic filter means that you are unlikely to sell to someone in another country.

Others are contructed. Mercedes Benz dealers the world over have large, bright, glassy establishments. They tend to intimidate anyone who can’t afford the prices, acting as a natural, probably intentional, filter.

Filters can also be fairly subtle. If you send out a mailing by post, research shows many are discarded without even being opened. If you have a leaflet delivered, the ‘open an envelope’ filter is removed, so people can’t help reading it, even while they are trying to throw it away.

Amplifiers

An amplifier is anything which increases the ease of doing business with you. Any business which decides to take payment via credit cards, for example, will find the number of people who can do business with them is amplified compared to when only cash was acceptable.

Marketers probably won’t admit it, but filters and amplifiers are opposites of the same thing. Removing a filter has an amplifying effect, and vice versa.

I insured my car the other day over the Internet. The first few sites I tried only supported Internet Explorer. That, at least to me, is a filter and I went somewhere a little more Firefox friendly!

Many corporate web sites insist you provide a lot of information before they will send you that ‘free’ White Paper you are interested in. No doubt that information is required by someone in the business, but it filters out a lot of otherwise interested people who simply won’t take the time to fill out the form and inevitably receive all the sales calls afterwards. After all, they can’t be sure they’re even a prospect before they read the White Paper!

Apple has potentially filtered out a large portion of their target market for iTunes by only accepting credit cards. Most under 18s won’t have a credit card, and they are the major buyers of chart music. The ‘Music Store Card’ is an attempt to turn this filter into an amplifier.

What Filters and Amplifiers Mean to Your Marketing

Importantly, this way of thinking allows you to look at all of your marketing, online and offline, in a critical way to improve your response rates and your sales. Every time you look at any aspect of your business, ask yourself if this filters out customers you want to serve, or if you can amplify the target market by improving the process.

Perhaps you could send postcards or use leaflets instead of putting brochures in envelopes. Don’t insist on a customer’s life history before you will allow them to buy from you. Make your web site informative and easy to use, rather than slick, ‘cutting edge’ and hard to understand. If you are providing services, make it clear on your site where you are and the distance you will travel. Use local town and county names as keywords to filter out people who will never be able to buy from you, but to amplify the chance of attracting locals.

If you do this consistently, over time you will get your filters and amplifiers to attract profitable customers to you, not send them away to your competitors, never to return.

Experienced Internet Marketers and beginners alike have one thing is common. They need products or services to market on the Internet.

The lack of a good Internet Marketing Idea is often the most difficult problem the marketer is faced with, but it is one that can be solved within a few short minutes from now.

Many marketers spend so much time trying to find ideas for products or services they can create; they miss the obvious already-created opportunities in plain view. The best part of these opportunities is that all the market research and business planning has already been done.

So instead of trying to create that one product or service that leads to a million dollar homerun (and more often than not you strike out), you can quickly set up multiple streams of revenue from several websites. That way if one revenue stream dries up, you still have several more to rely on.

One way to quickly set up a new business is to market products and services from a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) or network marketing opportunity. These opportunities already have support systems in place so all you have to do is to apply Internet Marketing techniques to sell the product or service.

Since few network marketers know how to use the Internet like you do, you’ll have a unique marketing advantage.

You’ll also have an advantage over other Internet Marketers as well because most of them have a negative view on network marketing. It’s probably not because they experienced anything negative about network marketing themselves, but because they know someone else who is negative on it.

In marketing psychology, they call this "social proof." If everybody else thinks something, it’s just easier to think the same thing rather than think for yourself. In a lot of cases social proof is beneficial, but sometimes it leads us down a path like sheep to a slaughter.

The network marketing business model itself is very sound so that's not what’s responsible for the negative perception some people have. The problem is with the people who are being attracted to network marketing. Those joining typically don’t have any business experience.

But if you target other Internet Marketers, other people with business experience, or you create easy to follow systems for people who have no business experience, you’ll have much more success.

If the network marketing business model itself were flawed, you wouldn’t find a lot of multi-millionaires involved in it. But the network marketing group includes top celebrity authors/millionaires who not only advocate MLM, but they are actually doing it. This group includes people like:

• Robert Allen, author of Multiple Streams of Income
• Mark Victor Hansen, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul
• Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad
• Warren Buffet, billionaire investor.

So if multi-millionaires are doing it, and your goal is to become a millionaire, why shouldn't you do it too?

If MLM or network marketing is done right, it can be one of the quickest ways to a million dollars. In fact, it is in the top five moneymaking opportunities of all time that people use to create wealth in their lives today. The top five are:

1. Public Speaking
2. Real Estate
3. Internet
4. Stock Investing
5. Multi-Level-Marketing

Since few people desire to speak publicly, that rules it out for the majority. Real estate and stock investing typically require a good deal of money to get started so that rules them out for a lot of people. But the Internet and network marketing are opportunities almost anyone can get into. And you are in a unique position to apply them both.

We are also in a totally unique time right now. At no other point in history have so many people been looking for their own businesses. The Internet is making it easier for anyone to get into business and have the entire world as a marketplace. And the unstable work environment most people face is driving more people to work for themselves.

So you can put yourself in front of two of the hottest money making trends in the world today: the Internet and home-based businesses.

So by helping other people use the Internet to create their own network marketing business, you’ll be helping yourself to wealth. Then everyone is happy!

Want to learn how to lose a billion dollars?

Just follow the marketing strategies used by GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler. Yes, some of the largest corporations in the world are missing some basic tenants of marketing and it's worth taking a look at what they're doing wrong so you don't make the same mistakes. You don't want the following headline written about your company.

"GM Hits Billion Dollar pot hole" - Miami Herald "GM shares fell to a 12 year low." - New York Times

What are some of the most glaring mistakes a handful of car companies are making?

1. Discount Pricing

GM and Ford offer free loans and rebates worth thousands of dollars to prompt people to buy their vehicles. Good idea?

When you need to resort to bribing people to buy your products or services, it's a sign that something is terribly wrong. The idea is to provide value, help your prospects understand the perceived value and charge enough to make a reasonable profit. When you start discounting your product as a means to get people to buy it you've entered an endless downward cycle.

The next time a prospect buys, they'll want an even larger discount and there will always be somebody who will undercut you on price. Eventually you'll end up like GM, losing lots, maybe not billions, but enough to threaten the life of your business.

2. Making Products People Don't Want

According to the New York Times, "General Motors and Ford have swerved off course for a far more basic reason: not enough people like their cars." Whoops!

The objective is to market a product or service people want.

3. Not Paying Attention to What People Want

If you want to make money you'd pay attention to what your prospects want? Right?

In the case of Daimler Chrysler you'd be wrong. At the Detroit Auto Show crowds loved the two-seat 8 foot long "Smart Car". So logically Daimler Chrysler decided not to sell it in the United States despite booming sales in Europe for years. Zap, a Santa Rosa CA firm, saw an opportunity especially with rising gas prices and went direct to the European Daimler dealers to buy the cars. Surprise! Ten thousand U.S. buyers put themselves on a list to order over $55 million worth of cars in just a few months.

Avoid discount pricing, provide products and services your prospects want and you can avoid losing a billion or instead make 55 million. I don't know about you but if I lose ten thousand dollars I get upset and when I make a million in a year I'm pretty happy.

2005 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

I. Summary of a marketing plan

The marketing planning (concretized in the marketing plan) is an essential organizational activity, considering the hostile and complex competitive business environment. Our ability and skills to perform profitable sales are affected by hundreds of internal and external factors that interact in a difficult way to evaluate. A marketing manager must understand and build an image upon these variables and their interactions, and must take rational decisions.

Let us see what do we call a "marketing plan"? It is the result of the planning activity, a document that includes a review of the organization's place in the market, an analysis of the STEP factors as well as a SWOT analysis. A complete plan would also formulate some presumptions on why we think the past marketing strategy was successful or not. The next phase shall present the objectives we set, together with the strategies to achieve these objectives. In a logical sequence, we will further need to evaluate the results and formulate alternative plans of action. A plan would consist in details of responsibilities, costs, sales prognosis and budgeting issues.

In the end, we should not forget to specify how the plan (or plans) will be controlled, by what means we will measure its results.

We will see how to build the marketing plan, what is its structure: after we will see how to build the traditional marketing plan, we will take a look at the e-marketing plan and see how the unique features of the internet will require some changes in the approach of writing a marketing plan.

But, before we continue, we must understand and accept that steps of the marketing plan are universal. It is a logical approach of the planning activity, no matter where we apply it. The differences you meet from a plan to another consist in the degree of formality accorded to each phase, depending on the size and nature of the organization involved. For example, a small and not diversified company would adopt less formal procedures, because the managers in these cases have more experience and functional knowledge than the subordinates, and they are able to achieve direct control upon most factors. On the other hand, in a company with diversified activity, it is less likely that top managers have functional information in a higher degree than the subordinate managers. Therefore, the planning process must be formulated to ensure a strict discipline for everyone involved in the decisional chain.

II. The general marketing plan

The classical marketing plan would follow the following scheme of 8 stages:

1. Declaring the mission: this is the planning stage when we establish the organizational orientations and intentions, thus providing a sense of direction. In most cases, this is a general presentation of the company's intentions and almost has a philosophic character.

2. Establishing current objectives: it is essential for the organization to try to determine with preciseness the objectives to be reached. These objectives, in order to be viable, must be SMART. SMART is an acronym and stands for "Specific", "Measurable", "Attainable", "Realistic" and "Timed". The objectives must also convey the general organizational mission.

3. Gathering information: this stage is based on the concept of marketing audit. After performing the audit of the macro-environment by analyzing the STEP factors (social, technologic, economic and politic), we should turn the focus upon the immediate extern environment (the micro-environment) and analyze the competitive environment, the costs and the market. Finally, we will conclude with the SWOT analysis, by this way we will have a general view upon the internal environment compared to the external one. The SWOT analysis combine the two perspectives, from the inside and from the outside, because the Strengths and the Weaknesses are internal issues of an organization, while the Opportunities and Threads come from the outside.

4. Re-formulating objectives: after the close examination of data gathered in the previous stage, sometimes it is needed to re-formulate the initial objectives, in order to address all the issues that might have come up from the previous stage. The distance between the initial objective and the re-formulated objective will be covered by appropriate strategies. We must ensure the re-formulated objective is SMART as well.

5. Establishing strategies: several strategies are to be formulated, in order to cover the distance between what we want to achieve and what is possible to achieve, with the resources at our disposal. As we would usually have several options, we should analyze them and chose the one with more chances to achieve the marketing objectives.

6. Plan of actions: consists in a very detailed description of the procedures and means to implement the actions we want to take. For example, if the strategy implies a raise in advertising volume, the plan of actions should establish where the advertisements will be placed, the dates and frequency of the advertising campaigns, a set of procedures to evaluate their effectiveness. The actions we plan to take must be clearly formulated, measurable, and the results must be monitored and evaluated.

7. Implementation and control: consist in the series of activities that must be performed in order to run the marketing plan in accordance to the objectives set by the marketer. At this stage, it is critical to gain the support of all members if the organization, especially when the marketing plan is due to affect the organization from its grounds.

8. Performance measurement: constitutes the last but not the less important stage of the marketing plan, since we can achieve only what we can measure. In order to measure the performances achieved through the marketing plan, we need to constantly monitor each previous stage of the plan.

The marketing plan that has a feedback cycle, from 8th stage back to the 4th. That is because sometimes during the planning process, we might need to perform stages 4 to 8 several times before the final plan can be written.

III. The e-marketing plan

The e-marketing plan is built exactly on the same principles as the classical plan. There is no different approach, but there might be some formal differences given by the uniqueness of the internet environment. Many of these differences come from the necessity to ensure a high rate of responsiveness from the customers, since the e-world is moving faster and requires faster reaction from its companies, compared to the traditional offline marketplace.

Even though it is perfectly acceptable and is a common practice to use the 8-stage classic model for the e-marketing plan as well, you might want to consider the simplified version proposed by Chaffey, who identifies four major steps to build the e-marketing plan:

1. Strategic analysis: consists in continuous scanning of the macro- and micro-environment. The accent should fall on the consumers' needs that change very rapidly in the online market, as well as on surveying the competitors' actions and evaluating the opportunities offered by new technologies.

2. Defining strategic objectives: the organization must have a clear vision and establish if the media channels will complement the traditional ones, or will replace them. We must define specific objectives (don't forget to check if they are SMART!) and we must also specify the contribution of the online activities to the organization’s turnover.

3. Formulating strategies - we do that by addressing the following essential issues:
   • develop strategies towards the target markets;
   • positioning and differentiating strategies;
   • establish priorities of online activities;
   • focus attention and efforts on CRM and financial control;
   • formulate strategies for product development;
   • develop business models with well-established strategies for new products or services, as well as pricing policies;
   • necessity for some organizational restructuring;
   • changes in the structure of communication channels.

4. Implementing strategies: includes careful execution of all necessary steps to achieve established objectives. It could refer re-launching of a website, promo campaigns for a new or rewritten site, monitoring website efficiency and many more.

Note: a common strategy to achieve e-marketing objectives is the communication strategy. The steps to built a coherent communication plan will be presented within a further article.

IV. The e-marketing plan (sample titles)

1. Executive Summary

1. overview upon present conjuncture;
2. key aspects of the strategic e-marketing plan.

2. Situational Analysis

1. characteristics of the e-market;
2. possible factors of success;
3. competitors’ analysis;
4. technological factors;
5. legal factors;
6. social factors;
7. possible problems and opportunities.

3. The e-Marketing Objectives

1. product profile;
2. target market;
3. sales objectives.

4. The e-Marketing Strategies

1. product strategies;
2. price strategies;
3. promotion strategies;
4. distribution strategies.

5. Technical Issues

1. website content;
2. website "searcheability";
3. logging security (for customers and staff);
4. customer registration procedure;
5. multimedia;
6. autoresponders;
7. order forms and feedback forms;
8. access levels to online resources;
9. credit card transactions;
10. website hosting;
11. website publishing;
12. technical staff (size, requirements)

6. Appendix

7. Bibliography

Opt-in e-mail marketing is a great way to truly target your market audience. It has one of the lowest costs compared to traditional direct marketing methods, since you eliminate the expense of printing, postage and so on. It can produce the highest form of response than any other form of internet advertising.

Since you can truly target your core audience the likely hood that your message will get across to the right audience with the smallest effort, this alone should be a motivating factor in starting an e-mail campaign.

Since e-mail marketing is so fast you can develop time sensitive offers very quickly. You certainly will build traffic to your sites as customers receive more e-mails from you, and since you can target them so precisely you will develop your niche market very quickly.

One of the strongest factors about opt-in marketing is that the information that you are sending is information that they requested to receive. Also your messages can easily be forwarded to anyone that the receiver thinks may be interested in the message, which means free marketing to your website and products.

Types of e-mail marketing list

opt-in: this is where a person registers and is asked to make selections on subjects that they are interested in receiving e-mails for. No confirmation e-mails are sent.

confirm opt-in: this is where a person registers and is asked to make selections on subjects that they are interested in receiving e-mails for. They will also receive an e-mail confirming their membership.

double opt-in: this is where a person registers and is asked to make selections on subjects that they are interested in receiving e-mails for. They will also receive an e-mail confirming their membership but they have to actually have to click on a link confirming that they want to join. If the link is not clicked on then the membership will not be granted. In my option this is your best option since the person basically has to confirm membership.

opt-out: this is where a member goes via a registration process and selections are already pre-selected. So the member has to actually opt-out from receiving e-mails on a particular subject or offer.

Marketing Methods

If you want to continue an existing relationship with your customers I would create a newsletter. This is a great way of reminding your customers of your website and services. it's also a great way to introduce new services and special offers. Make your offers time sensitive and you will see people taking advantage of your offer left and right.

If you want to target new customers you should take advantage of using an opt-in list. Do some research by doing a search on your favorite search engine such as www.laplounge.com you will find tons of companies just shop and compare before you commit to anyone company.

If you don't want to start a newsletter, try sponsoring one it's a great way to let your prospects know about you and your services. This is also a good option because you should sponsor newsletters that your target market might be reading.

Take advantage of all the free resources available to you on e-mail marketing, and you will continue to grow your business using one of the best marketing tools available.

So you’ve gotten your business going. You have a customer or two. The phone is ringing…a little. For any business to grow and prosper long-term, it needs a solid foundation that includes a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a road map detailing the “route” you’ll take to get your business noticed by potential clients. By following a properly crafted plan, you’ll know what to do and why you’re doing it, while avoiding some of the mistakes that can cost you money and future growth.

“If You Build It, They Won’t Necessarily Come”

The first part of any marketing plan is a basic understanding of your market, competition and whether or not an opportunity exists for your product or service.

My first business venture was to make very expensive looking floral wreathes. All my friends and neighbors had them on their front doors and I knew I paid $100 for mine, so why not make and sell them myself! What I didn’t consider is that I have expensive taste and in order to make a profit, my wreaths were priced significantly higher than the local craft store. If I were in a more affluent area, it may have worked, but not here.

I started the business on a hunch and didn’t truly know my market or competition. Had I done my research, I may have used lower cost materials, made less elaborate products, sold them in a different area or skipped the venture all together. What I learned is that my opinion combined with my friend’s opinions is not a strong enough basis to launch a business.

“No, I’m Not Going to Stop for Directions.”

When starting a business you generally know where you want to end up and you might have a vague idea of how to get there, but what if you get lost? A marketing plan is like a road map or corner gas station used as a reference tool to keep your marketing on track. If you run into “construction traffic”, a properly developed plan will offer options to keep you motivated, organized and headed in the right direction.

“I Want to Rule the World… Or Do I?”

Do you want a home based business with one or maybe two employees or a large firm with several hundred? How do you feel about travel, making cold calls, the Internet, can you type? How fast do you want to grow and do you have the resources to keep up with the growth? Your goals as a business entity will dictate how and to whom you market.

My second business venture was a used toy business. I hit every garage sale within 10 miles of my home and bought all of the solid plastic toys I could find. I also put up signs at day care centers offering to buy used toys directly from parents. My goal was to have my own garage sales business and earn a profit on the toys I had bought.

This time, I didn’t consider my personal goals before embarking on my business. I didn’t like going inside strangers homes to pick up their toys. I had nowhere to put the enormous stockpile I had amassed and wasn’t willing to hire employees to gather enough toys to generate the revenue to cover a storage unit or store front. I wanted a little “mom” business, not a full blown corporation.

Had I considered my true goals, I would have marketed myself as a service provider to day care centers – found out what they wanted and would be willing to pay, and then gone out to find it - no storage issues, no going into people’s homes, no employees required.

“It’s Report Card Day!”

Even the best marketing plan needs to be constantly evaluated and adjusted to keep business growth on track. The results of your efforts may not be bringing in attention or revenue you require. The economy, business environment, competition or technology may have changed necessitating a shift in your plan.

Making adjustments to a marketing plan is healthy. Even if you paid a mint for a professionally developed plan, you’ll want to review your status and results at least every six months to monitor effectiveness. When buying a plan, it’s important to ask that follow up support to be part of the package.

“I’ll Just Put It On My Credit Card.”

Before developing a marketing plan, you’ll want to have a ball park budget in mind. Once your plan is complete, set a budget and stick to it!

It’s easy to spend more than your annual revenue on marketing activities and supplies when you first start out. Make sure your budget is realistic before committing. Every dollar spent should have a trackable outcome – even if it takes several months or years to realize.

“Plan Your Day and Work Your Plan’

By following a properly developed marketing plan, you’ll minimize the growing pains that often accompany a business start up. Revenue growth will be reasonably predictable and you’ll be laying a foundation for long term stability. Your business will run more efficiently because next marketing steps will have been laid out in advance.

Many types of Internet advertising don't work as well as they once did. People have gotten used to banners and don't click on them. Some ezines have failed to keep their readers' interest and ads sometimes get less response. Search engines are overflowing with submissions. Getting your site listed high is almost impossible.

More and more businesses and organizations are now turning to email marketing to keep profits rolling in. While an increasing number of people say they rarely surf the Net, the vast majority of North Americans check their email every day.

Email marketing is the most effective and efficient way to influence purchases and keep customers informed and happy. It is also extremely inexpensive. Where you might have mailed out one printed customer update every month, you can now email one every week for a fraction of the cost.

Increasingly, companies need to embrace email marketing in a big way in order to stay competitive. Those who formerly used a service to send out their newsletters, sales info, and consumer updates are now doing all the emailing themselves.

New technology that is powerful yet easy to use allows anyone to handle email jobs that previously required expensive professional help. Many companies are bringing their email campaigns in house in order to have more control, grow their email efforts, and decrease costs.

Here are four features you will want to use in your email marketing efforts:

1. Include HTML in your email messages. Most email programs are now equipped to read HTML. Your logo, banner, bullets, and color elements can make your message jump off the screen. You can even include forms that allow customers to order instantly from your message. You take advantage of impulse purchases that can lead to big increases in sales.

2. Use a campaign manager feature to schedule when your email messages will be sent out. You can prepare an entire months' worth of messages and tell the manager which weeks, days, or hours to release them to your list.

3. Take advantage of a POP import feature. It automatically takes the email addresses from messages you receive and puts them on your mailing list. This insures no one who requests information from you is left out of your next update. This also helps you grow your list as fast as possible. You can even use a feature that automatically unsubscribes those who ask to be removed from your list. Many companies say this saves them hours of work each week.

4. Make sure the software you use to send your messages includes a walk-through wizard. You get step-by-step instructions on how to do any task you wish to achieve. Instead of waiting for the tech guy to show up, you can speed through the job on your own.

I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.

What is e-Marketing?

e-Marketing is still quite a controversial subject to talk about, since no one succeeded to unify the various theories around it; however there is one thing upon which there is no doubt – that e-Marketing first appeared under the form of various techniques deployed by pioneer companies selling their products via the internet in the early 90's.

The frenzy around these new marketing techniques created by e-tailers and supported by the internet rapidly gave birth to a new dimension of what we knew as Marketing: the e-Marketing (electronic Marketing).

There are many definitions to what e-Marketing is, the simplest and shortest one being formulated by Mark Sceats: e-Marketing is Marketing that uses the internet as manifestation media. A working definition is that coming from a group of CISCO specialists: e-Marketing is the sum of all activities a business conducts through the internet with the purpose of finding, attracting, winning and retaining customers.

e-Marketing Strategy

The e-Marketing Strategy is normally based and built upon the principles that govern the traditional, offline Marketing – the well-known 4 P's (Product – Price – Promotion – Positioning) that form the classic Marketing mix. Add the extra 3 P's (People – Processes – Proof) and you got the whole extended Marketing mix.

Until here, there are no much aspects to differentiate e-Marketing from the traditional Marketing performed offline: the extended Marketing mix (4 + 3 P's) is built around the concept of "transactional" and its elements perform transactional functions defined by the exchange paradigm. What gives e-Marketing its uniqueness is a series of specific functions, relational functions, that can be synthesized in the 2P + 2C+ 3S formula: Personalization, Privacy, Customer Service, Community, Site, Security, Sales Promotion.

These 7 functions of the e-Marketing stay at the base of any e-Marketing strategy and they have a moderating character, unlike the classic Marketing mix that comprises situational functions only. Moderating functions of e-Marketing have the quality of moderate, operate upon all situational functions of the mix (the classic 4 P's) and upon each other.

1. Personalization

The fundamental concept of personalization as a part of the e-Marketing mix lies in the need of recognizing, identifying a certain customer in order to establish relations (establishing relations is a fundamental objective of Marketing). It is crucial to be able to identify our customers on individual level and gather all possible information about them, with the purpose of knowing our market and be able to develop customized, personalized products and services.

For example, a cookie strategically placed on the website visitor's computer can let us know vital information concerning the access speed available: in consequence, if we know the visitor is using a slow connection (eg. dial-up) we will offer a low-volume variation of our website, with reduced graphic content and no multimedia or flash applications. This will ease our customer's experience on our website and he will be prevented from leaving the website on the reason that it takes too long to load its pages.

Personalization can be applied to any component of the Marketing mix; therefore, it is a moderating function.

2. Privacy

Privacy is an element of the mix very much connected to the previous one – personalization. When we gather and store information about our customers and potential customers (therefore, when we perform the personalization part of the e-Marketing mix) a crucial issue arises: that of the way this information will be used, and by whom. A major task to do when implementing an e-Marketing strategy is that of creating and developing a policy upon access procedures to the collected information.

This is a duty and a must for any conscious marketer to consider all aspects of privacy, as long as data are collected and stored, data about individual persons.

Privacy is even more important when establishing the e-Marketing mix since there are many regulations and legal aspects to be considered regarding collection and usage of such information.

3. Customer Service

Customer service is one of the necessary and required activities among the support functions needed in transactional situations.

We will connect the apparition of the customer service processes to the inclusion of the "time" parameter in transactions. When switching from a situational perspective to a relational one, and e-Marketing is mostly based on a relational perspective, the marketer saw himself somehow forced into considering support and assistance on a non-temporal level, permanently, over time.

For these reasons, we should consider the Customer Service function (in its fullest and largest definition) as an essential one within the e-Marketing mix.

As we can easily figure out, the service (or assistance if you wish) can be performed upon any element from the classic 4 P's, hence its moderating character.

4. Community

We can all agree that e-Marketing is conditioned by the existence of this impressive network that the internet is. The merely existence of such a network implies that individuals as well as groups will eventually interact. A group of entities that interact for a common purpose is what we call a "community" and we will soon see why it is of absolute importance to participate, to be part of a community.

The Metcalf law (named after Robert Metcalf) states that the value of a network is given by the number of its components, more exactly the value of a network equals the square of the number of components. We can apply this simple law to communities, since they are a network: we will then conclude that the value of a community rises with the number of its members. This is the power of communities; this is why we have to be a part of it.

The customers / clients of a business can be seen as part of a community where they interact (either independent or influenced by the marketer) – therefore developing a community is a task to be performed by any business, even though it is not always seen as essential.

Interactions among members of such a community can address any of the other functions of e-Marketing, so it can be placed next to other moderating functions.

5. Site

We have seen and agreed that e-Marketing interactions take place on a digital media – the internet. But such interactions and relations also need a proper location, to be available at any moment and from any place – a digital location for digital interactions.

Such a location is what we call a "site", which is the most widespread name for it. It is now the time to mention that the "website" is merely a form of a "site" and should not be mistaken or seen as synonyms. The "site" can take other forms too, such as a Palm Pilot or any other handheld device, for example.

This special location, accessible through all sort of digital technologies is moderating all other functions of the e-Marketing – it is then a moderating function.

6. Security

The "security" function emerged as an essential function of e-Marketing once transactions began to be performed through internet channels.

What we need to keep in mind as marketers are the following two issues on security:

• security during transactions performed on our website, where we have to take all possible precautions that third parties will not be able to access any part of a developing transaction;

• security of data collected and stored, about our customers and visitors.

A honest marketer will have to consider these possible causes of further trouble and has to co-operate with the company's IT department in order to be able to formulate convincing (and true, honest!) messages towards the customers that their personal details are protected from unauthorized eyes.

7. Sales Promotion

At least but not last, we have to consider sales promotions when we build an e-Marketing strategy. Sales promotions are widely used in traditional Marketing as well, we all know this, and it is an excellent efficient strategy to achieve immediate sales goals in terms of volume.

This function counts on the marketer's ability to think creatively: a lot of work and inspiration is required in order to find new possibilities and new approaches for developing an efficient promotion plan.

On the other hand, the marketer needs to continuously keep up with the latest internet technologies and applications so that he can fully exploit them.

To conclude, we have seen that e-Marketing implies new dimensions to be considered aside of those inherited from the traditional Marketing. These dimensions revolve around the concept of relational functions and they are a must to be included in any e-Marketing strategy in order for it to be efficient and deliver results.

This article is meant to be a brief review and reminder of some valuable yet often bypassed techniques to collect data on international markets and consumers.

When thinking of market research, surveys are most likely the first technique that comes to ones mind. However, surveys are a quantitative research and, in order to understand customer behavior and the social and cultural context in which our business will operate, we will need to perform some qualitative research as well.

Qualitative methods are most certainly a more appropriate option when in need of researching patterns and attitudes in customer behavior, understand the depth of the environment around the customer, and understand the cultural characteristics then influence a customer – especially when the marketer is not familiar with the country of culture.

There are certain situations where qualitative research alone can provide the marketer with all insights needed to make decisions and take actions; while in some other cases quantitative research might be needed as well.

We will stop by the main qualitative techniques and see how and where they can be employed in international marketing. Craig and Douglas (2000), mention three major types of qualitative data collection techniques:

• observational and quasi-observational techniques;
• projective techniques and depth interviews;
• creative group sessions (synectics).

1. Observational and quasi-observational techniques

Observational techniques involve direct observation of phenomena (in our case, consumers' behavior) in their natural settings. Observational research might be somehow less reliable than quantitative research yet it is more valid and flexible since the marketer is able to change his approach whenever needed.

Disadvantages are given by the limited behavioral variables and the fact that such data might not be generalizable – we can observe a customer's behavior at a given moment and situation but we cannot assume all further customers will act the same.

Quasi-observational techniques are reported to have increased in usage over the past decades, due to the large scale employ of surveillance cameras within stores. Such techniques cost less than pure observational ones since costs associated with video surveillance and taping are far lower than a researcher's wage; the tape can be viewed and analyzed at a later time, at the marketer's convenience. When performing videotaping of consumers' behaviors, they can be asked to give comments and insights upon their thoughts and actions while the conversation itself can be recorded and be further analyzed.

Pure observation: the marketer watches behavior of customers in real-life situation, either in situ or by videotaping the consumers (less intrusive). Videotaping can be specifically recommended when studying patterns of different cultures, since we can easily compare behaviors taped and highlight similarities and / or differences.

Trace measures: consist in collecting and recording traces of consumers' behavior. Such traces can be fingerprints or tear of packages, empty packages, garbage cans analysis and any other ways a marketer can imagine (it's all about creativity here!). In eMarketing, trace measures come under the form of recorded visits and hits – there are numerous professional applications that can help an emarketer analyze the behavior of visitors on his company's website.

Archival measures: can be any type of historical records, public records, archives, libraries, collections of personal documents etc. Such data can prove to be of great use in analyzing behavioral trends and changes in time. Marketers can also identify cultural values and attitudes of a population at a given moment by studying mass media content and advertisement of the timeframe questioned.

Entrapment measures: those are indirect techniques (by comparison to the previously mentioned ones) and consist in asking the respondent to react to a specific stimulus or situation, when the actual subject of investigation is totally different. The marketer plants the real stimulus among many fake ones and studies reactions. The method is quite unobtrusive and the marketer can gather valuable, non-reactive facts. When the respondent becomes aware of the true subject under investigation (s)he might change the behavior and compromise the study.

Protocols: are yet another observational marketing research technique which asks respondents to think out loud and verbally express all their thoughts during the decision-making process. Protocols are of great value for determining the factors of importance for a sale and they can be collected in either real shopping trips or simulated ones.

2. Projective techniques

Such techniques are based on the respondent's performance of certain tasks given by the marketer. The purpose is to have the consumers (respondents) express their unconscious beliefs through the projective stimuli; to express associations towards various symbols, images, signs.

Cooper (1996) suggested that projective techniques can be successfully employed to: - indicate emotional and rational reactions;

• provide verbal and non-verbal communication;
• give permission to express novel ideas;
• encourage fantasy, idiosyncrasy and originality;
• reduce social constraints and censorship;
• encourage group members to share and "open up".

Projective market research techniques can take the following forms, presented below.

Collages – used to understand lifestyles and brand perceptions, respondents are asked to assemble a collage using images and symbols from selected sets of stimuli or from magazines and newspapers of their choice.

Picture completion – certain pictures can be designed to express and visualize the issue under study and respondents have to make associations and / or attribute words to the given pictures.

Analogies and metaphors are used when a larger range of projection is needed, with more complexity and depth of ideas and thoughts on a given brand, product, service, organization. The respondents are asked to freely express their association and analogies towards the object being studied; or they can be asked to select from a set of stimuli (e.g. photos) those that fit the examined subject.

Psycho-drawing is a technique that allows study participants to express a wide range of perceptions by making drawings of what they perceive the brand is (or product, service).

Personalization consists in asking the respondents to treat the brand or product as if it is a person and start making associations or finding images of this person. This technique is especially recommended in order to understand what kind of personality consumers assign to a brand / product / service.

3. In-depth interviews

These techniques of marketing research put an accent on verbal communication and they are efficient especially when trying to discover underlying attitudes and motivations towards a product or a specific market / consumption situation.

Individual in-depth interviews are performed on a person-to-person environment and the interviewer can obtain very specific and precise answers. Such interviews are common in B2B practices of market research, for example when a company conducts a research about a product among their existing corporate customers.

Interviews can be conducted by phone or via internet-based media, from a centralized location: this can greatly reduce costs associated with market research and the results are pretty much as accurate as the face-to-face ones. The only disadvantage would be the lack of non-verbal, visual communication.

Focus groups are basically discussions conducted by a researcher with a group of respondents who are considered to be representative for the target market.

Such meetings are usually held in an informal setting and are moderated by the researcher. Videotaping the sessions is common these days, and it can add more sources of analysis at a later time.

Focus groups are perhaps the ideal technique, if available in terms of costs and time, to test new ideas and concepts towards brands and products; to study customers' response to creative media such as ads and packaging design or to detect trends in consumers' attribute and perception. One of the important advantages of focus groups is the presence of several respondents in the same time, providing a certain synergy. Disadvantages refer mainly to the costs involved and the scarcity of good professionals to conduct the interviews and discussions.

To conclude, we have to keep in mind just how important non-survey data collection techniques are in today's market research. Not only they provide more depth of analysis but they can be performed in significantly less time than surveys and they're more suitable to be employed during the exploratory phases of international marketing research.

The keys to being profitable on the internet is simply visibility. Do you think that Wal-Mart became the business that they are by remaining unseen? What about Microsoft? Dell? I think that you get my point.

Visibility takes time, and perseverance, but it can be achieved. Once you “get the hang of it” it is also relatively painless. However, if you are going to get into an internet based business, be prepared because you are going to be spending 90% (of your actual working time) marketing.

This is not necessarily a bad thing … after all, if you are able to cut the time you spend on your business to two hours per day then that is an hour and forty-eight minutes a day you spend marketing. That still beats eight hours in an office.

Marketing can be fun to some of those that participate in it. After all, you get to sell yourself. You challenge yourself to come up with selling techniques, something that will make that person buy your product over the gazillion others that are out there.

There are other benefits as well. For instance, with experience, you can sell your expertise to companies (large and small, online and offline) to increase profitability. You can hold seminars and teach other entrepreneurs how to prosper online. Basically you can sell your skills.

Or you can simply use the information to profit. At any rate, visibility is the key to success, in any business. Word-of-mouth is a great advertiser, so tell your friends, family, co-workers, whomever you can about your products. Just get out there. Free services are also good, and email marketing is still close to number one. Use all the resources that you can find. And never give up, it takes time.