The Mini Token Blog

I have been running a small business for nearly ten years and have used various forms of marketing ideas to help promote my services and to attract new customers. In this article, I write about these marketing strategies which I hope will benefit the people who read it.

When I was twenty-three, I had what I believed was a good business idea. I was going to offer a speech coaching service as I had managed to overcome a speech impediment and believed that the techniques which had helped me could help other people as well.

It is all well and good having an idea but if no one knows about the service you are offering, it is basically worthless. I had no real business experience and was unsure on how to proceed. By reading a number of books on marketing for small businesses, I managed to find some potential routes which could help me to get started.

Direct marketing

This was one of the first areas I tried. I had a small leaflet produced which explained the speech coaching service that I was offering and then with the help of some friends and family, went around my local area delivering them. This was not as successful as I hoped it would be, however I am sure that this area of marketing could work well for other types of business.

Newspapers

I then decided to speculate to accumulate. I contacted a number of the local newspapers in my area and paid for an advertisment which would appear on a weekly basis. This advert would reach quite a large number of people and even though this was quite an expensive form of marketing, it did work for me in the early days.

Open days

I wanted to expand the area that I was going to offer my services. I decided to hold an open day or presentation in various parts of the country which would help to promote my business.

This was successful as newspapers were happy to report this open day free of charge, as it was a local event which would be of interest to their readers.

Yellow pages

I advertised in the yellow pages for a number of years but their prices just seemed to increase to an unrealistic level. More and more people now have access to the internet and I believe this is where they are more likely to search for the services they require. Yellow pages or as it is now called Yell, has become more expensive when in reality probably less people are using it.

Advertising in the yellow pages did prove successful for me for a number of years however, and is certainly an area of marketing which could work for other small businesses.

Websites

I paid a company to design and build me a website around seven years ago and this has by far been the best marketing investment I have made thus far. I have worked hard to promote this site and it is now doing well in the major search engines.

Radio and television marketing

This is an area of marketing which I have not tried as yet as it is very expensive. I have heard from other sources that advertising on the radio or television can be very beneficial for certain businesses, if they can afford the initial outlay.

I am sure there are many other ways of marketing a small business and I will seek them out in the future for my own business.

The above ideas are what I have learnt about and as you may have read, I have tried some of them myself with mixed success. Every business is obviously different and it is basically a form of trial and error to find which ones will work.

Stephen Hill helps to promote a number of websites including:

stuttering treatment

aviation advice

quit smoking tips

Have you ever thought about how products reach you, the consumer? Most of us do not
think about it but rather, we just take it all for granted. We get in our car, we go to our
favorite store, we find what we want, we pay for it and then we go home. Never do we
think about how it got into our hot little hands. Well…..here’s how:

Someone invents the product.

Someone produces and packages the product.

The product is given to a wholesaler to market.

The wholesaler hires shippers to distribute the product to retailers.

Retailers hire advertisers to promote the product.

Retailers take their cut and then sell the product to you, the consumer.

That’s a lot of people handling this product before you get it isn’t it? What we don’t
think about is that ALL those people have to get paid for doing what they do. So now,
our product which started out costing $5.00 to produce, now costs us, the consumer,
about $35.00!

Which leads us to our next question and the purpose of this article. Is there a way to
circumvent this process and get products cheaper? I can happily tell you YES!

MLM’s (Multi-Level Marketing) is one of the most profitable and effective ways to
distribute products and services. Why?…..you might ask. Read on:

By marketing products and services through independent affiliates you eliminate the need
for wholesalers, shippers to wholesalers, retail advertisers and retailers. You can
effectively eliminate about 33% of all marketing costs! Imagine putting all those savings
into your pocket EVERYTIME you buy a product or service.

It is obvious that manufacturers love MLM’s as evidenced by the huge number of them
marketing products through this system. Companies like Coca Cola, Magnavox,
Arrow…etc… are just a few. You can now find thousands of companies marketing
through MLM’s.

Bottom line is that manufacturers and consumers love it because both save money. The
choice is yours, you can either be part of the distribution system or you can be the end
user. Why buy products that you use everyday from someone else when you can buy the
same thing from yourself for far cheaper?

E. Christopher Keenan has been a successful banker for over 25 years. He now promotes
home business opportunities and resources through his popular website
http://www.bizmancan.com

Rifle Approach

The least expensive marketing approach is the rifle. Businesses that choose this approach are able to select their target market (niche group). Developing a compelling message to address the audience is the next step. In some circles, this is ‘Direct Marketing’.

Identify the target market’s lifestyle and demographic related markets for your business. The target market could consist of the following:

Women

Men

Professionals

Homemakers

Middle-class

Upper-class

Age groups

You get the idea. Of course, not all niche groups fit every industry.

Addressing Your Market

To target your niche group, start with identifying resources that can supply the target pathway for your message.

Print advertising

Direct mail

E-mail marketing

TV or radio broadcast

Web site

Take time to research magazines that specialize in your industry. Even the Internet provides a variety of resources to hunt down and analysis your target market. Resources like these can give you fresh ideas of effective direct marketing techniques.

Besides Direct Mail: What other vises are there?

There are other useful tools implemented to drum up business. Of course, what you use and how you use it relies highly on the industry your in. For instance, a professional wouldn’t put a banner outside of his/her office to draw up business. But a fitness professional may find a banner outside of the club works wonderfully.

You have to find the commercial materials that work best for you. Here are a few suggestions:

Banners promoting special events

Product freebies like videos and CDs

Accessories with your logo (coffee cup, note pad, pen, etc)

Marketing Tips

Be open to collaborating with other establishments that offer similar services or products, but not identical, is an excellent way to build business for both. Again, this depends on your industry. The best blend is in the example of the CPA and Bookkeeper. Although CPA’s do handle business bookkeeping, a partnership would eliminate some of the workload on the CPA and allow for time to pursue other aspects of business.

It’s like adding another benefit to using your services or products with an outside company. Apply these few marketing basics and you’ll boost visibility, cuts down on marketing expense, and increases business.

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Recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s e-Biz radio show host is
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Salehoo: Wholesale Scrapbook Wholesale Dropshippers
Salehoo’s customer service is just amazing. If you are having any problems with finding products, or you need any help with your account, simply write to customer support, and you will get a quick response solving all your problems. I have seen an upsurge in people looking to start profitable businesses on Ebay and are constantly turning to drop ship directories like Salehoo to source goods and have them delivered.

It is a fairly new concept within supply change management and is set to grow in the days to come I am sure you would agree with me that it is profitable for you to learn how to buy wholesale products at below wholesale prices. The website provides access to quality high demand products from popular retail categories such as clothing footwear computers furniture consumer electronics and home appliances

Salehoo Cymbals At Wholesale Prices:
You should establish a competitive credit policy. Most dealers cannot pay you the instant you deliver your products to them. You should offer favorable terms of payment and perhaps a higher credit limit. This offer can be attractive for dealers.

Auction xFactor is a brilliant product that shows you how to make $1000’s within only a couple of months but if you buy it with Salehoo you can get 60% off! In years of learning how to make an income online I’ve read many things. When a potential wholesale distributor asks for this information you can count on them being a legit factory direct dealer. See Salehoo Reviews.

Many business people have a distorted view about the distinction between sales & marketing. The common view looks something like this. “Market by advertising to get your name out there, so that people will be familiar with you. When they need what we’re selling, they’ll know who to call”.

And off they go, to promote their company with image advertising that shouts to the world how great they are.

They hope, and they prey that some how, some way, the message about their brand will stick in people’s minds. Never knowing if it does, or if it doesn’t. Or whether their marketing dollars are paying them back in increased sales.

Some even think a cool web site, or sexy flash demo is enough to get their phones to start ringing.

This all too common approach is a huge waste of time, and money. Never let an advertising rep tell you any different.

Sales and Marketing are far more alike than most people realize. The sole purpose of marketing, and advertising is to make sales. Full Stop.

If you don’t know how many sales dollars your online advertising is really bringing in, stop advertising.

Advertising must do much more than just get your name out there. It must educate, qualify, convince, & persuade.

Great Advertising is Nothing Less Than “Salesmanship in Print”!

Think of it as a sales presentation that’s geared toward accomplishing a carefully defined objective, whether that objective is the actual sale, or a step toward it.

Most successful campaigns are in fact a series of graduated commitments, leading up to a transaction. It might start with something as simple as an exchange of information. For example, the prospects name & address, in exchange for some information about solving a problem. That’s always a winning formula.

When a prospect takes this step, they are actually qualifying themselves, persuading themselves, and giving you permission to follow up with them, all at the same time. And without any investment in personal selling.

After all, why should you waste your valuable time talking to a prospect that isn’t already highly qualified, and predisposed to buying from you?

The key to profitable sales, marketing, and advertising lies in the response. Yet 90% of businesses fail to ask for, and track incremental response in their advertising. The only thing they track are sales, and then wonder why their results are so abysmal.

Why Is Incremental Response So Important?

Because it tells you what you’re getting, so you can change what you’re giving, until you get what you want.

The majority of people need to be exposed to your value proposition more than once before opening their wallets anyway. Why not play an active role in the process, and track the response you get to each successive stage of commitment?

Think of a pyramid, with rows of blocks piled one on top of the other. The wider you build each row, the better your chances of getting to the top.

If all of this sounds just too simple, and you don’t believe it has the power to line your pockets with all the money you want, think again.

There are millions of businesses out there that just don’t get this.

Nobody knows for sure how an individual will react to a given message. But en mass, human nature is as predictable as the hands on a clock. If you broadcast a message, the collective response will consistently come back to you within an amazingly small variance. So measure your response, try things, and repeat. It’s that simple.

Set up a few pay per click campaigns on google, track your investment in real time, and start experimenting to see what kind of desirable actions you can get your visitors to take right away when they read your sales message. You get instant feedback, and changes are no cost. The whole set up runs for about the cost of a few cups of coffee a day.

Think of it as your own personal marketing laboratory. When you find something that works, you can replicate it in other more costly forms of media.

And remember, it doesn’t matter if you’re selling printed circuit boards, herbal remedies, or anything in between, the same principles apply.

Copyright 2005 Daniel Levis

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & world-renowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author “Million Dollar Online Advertising Strategies - From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!”, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.
Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell…Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters!
http://www.Advertising-Online-Strategies.com/ad-strategies.html

The best and easiest way to generate leads is to create a website. You might need to spend some money to create a website. You also need to host your website with a hosting company and of course choose a good domain name for your company.

With the help of a website and proper advertising you can generate leads for your business. Online presence would help a company in many ways. You can get your website on top of search engines and get many leads.

Nowadays all kinds of companies have online presence and most of the businesses have started providing services online. The advertising part of your company is the main part in online marketing. You need to spend some money to place online ads. Google ad words and yahoo ads can be placed (pay per click) easily and you can start generating leads quickly.

You can also get leads by sending emails (opt in emails not spam). For this you need to buy opt in email list and start emailing the prospective clients. You might get good results from this and it is one of the cheapest ways to promote and generate business leads. You can also have opt in newsletters in your website and people who visit can subscribe to your newsletter thereby providing you with leads.

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You are welcome to republish the above article only if you add our hyperlinked URL.

Sales is a contact sport and prospecting for new business is the
name of the game! You will never meet a salesperson that failed
because they had too many prospects to talk to. For the majority
of salespeople, finding new customers is without a doubt the
most difficult and stressful aspect of the profession.

Prospecting should be viewed more as a mindset rather than
merely as an activity. It is something you need to be constantly
aware of because you never know where your next prospect will be
coming from. It really doesn’t matter how competent you are or
how well you know your product line, if you don’t have a
qualified prospect in front of you, you don’t have a sale.

1. Prospecting for new business is similar to working out. You
know it is good for you and it will produce positive results if
you do it routinely. Professional salespeople prospect daily.
It’s important to block-off specific time on your calendar for
prospecting activities such as phone calling and emailing. Treat
your prospecting time with the same respect as you would any
other important appointment, otherwise, there is a tendency that
it will slip through the cracks. This is not the time to check
your emails, play solitaire on the computer, make a personal
phone call or chat with your associates. Stay focused and take
your prospecting seriously. Set the tone by closing your office
door and have your incoming calls held unless it is a call from
a client or a prospect.

2. Be prepared, get organized and take good notes. It’s
critical to have a computerized contact system to record remarks
and suspense future contacts or appointments.

3. Use a script - don’t shoot from the hip. There is only one
thing worse than listening to a salesperson read a script over
the phone and that is to listen to a salesperson without a
script. Obviously, it is important to not only have a script but
to practice it until it sounds smooth and natural. Set aside
time to role-play with an associate over the phone. By taking
turns presenting and critiquing you will gain confidence, polish
your script and be more effective. When prospecting, avoid the
temptation to sell over the phone. Your objective is to gather
information and make the appointment.

4. Strike while the iron is hot! When working with a new
prospect, it’s important to make contact quickly. Prospects are
perishable. No matter how interested a prospect may appear,
don’t wait for them to call you. You are only one of many
competing interests for your prospect’s time and money.

5. Keep the high ground and avoid the temptation to badmouth
your competition. While it is fair to make head-to-head
comparisons, you should avoid personal attacks. Attacking your
competition makes you look unprofessional and petty. Emphasize
the benefits of your product or service by guiding your prospect
through a comparison of quality and price. Play to your
strengths and not the weakness of your competition. Let your
prospect draw their own conclusions from a well-presented
comparison.

6. Rejection is a natural aspect of the sales process so don’t
take it personally. Learn from rejection, use it as a feedback
mechanism and look for ways to improve your presentation.
Salespeople who take rejection personally lack perseverance and
seldom make the sale. Sales is a numbers game pure and simple.
As a professional baseball player, if you can average four hits
out of ten times at bat you are heading for the Hall of Fame.
Research indicates that in sales you can expect your prospect to
say no five times before they buy. With this in mind, realize
that with every sales rejection you receive, you are one step
closer to making the sale!

Why do you have a Web site? To make money, share your
views/interests/opinions with the world? Or just spread some
joy, kindness or inspiration? Whatever your reason is for
your site, you won’t realize your goals or dreams if you
don’t have anyone visiting!

Reciprocal links are becoming problematic, if you read the
recent articles circulating the Web. Search engines are
getting costly. Webrings can work if you have lots of room
on a main page for posting, but it’s getting difficult to
find good size ones that will give you real traffic.

I’ve found a variation that is bringing increasing
attention to my sites, and it allows me to share my
interests with others and offer increased traffic to them.
Have you heard of Top Sites, or Best Sites, lists? I love
them. You go to a page that has a list of sites that
specifically relate to your interest. Something like
mini-directories. They have the benefits that reciprocal
linking used to have, without the hassles. Something of a
free advertising cooperative, actually.

They are such a nice idea that I decided to have my business
site sponsor several lists that appeal to the interests of
clients and site visitors. And I invite you to check them
out and add your sites! (There’s no cost or obligation of
any kind!) Rank on the list will depend on votes (visits to
and from your site to the list). Your banner will be
displayed, and there’s even room for a short description.

If your site fits any of these new “Best of” lists, feel
free to join! Absolutely no cost or strings, just exposure
for your site (and every site on the list) to an audience
interested in what you have to say or offer!

These “co-op banner pages” (I believe I just coined a
phrase!) can be a nice asset for any site promotion effort,
as well as a convenient place to look for resources for your
own interests. I figured it only takes a few minutes to set
up, so what could I lose? Nothing, it turns out…but I
gained visitors to my sites. Maybe you will, too.

You’re welcome to join one of my top site lists, and if you start one, let me know!

http://lowcarbcooking.mytopsitelist.com/cookbooks
http://lowcarbcooking.mytopsitelist.com/resources
http://lowcarbcooking.mytopsitelist.com/recipes
http://lowcarbcooking.mytopsitelist.com/products
http://lowcarbcooking.mytopsitelist.com/personalsites
http://lowcarbcooking.mytopsitelist.com/lowcarbchristians

Christmas Sites:

http://bestholidaysites.mytopsitelist.com/christmas
http://bestholidaysites.mytopsitelist.com/christianchristmas

About the Author

Cherie’ Davidson has been working as a Site Content Editor
for several years. Two years ago she began her own
business, Suitable Words (http://www.suitablewords.com),
where she provides site development and on-line
writing services. She is now her own client through
LCBooks.com (http://www.lcbooks.com), her
directory site for low carb enthusiasts. You may contact her
at cherie@lcbooks.com