If paid advertising is part of your overall marketing plan you want to do what you can to get the most for your money. Here are some basic tips that will help achieve your advertising goals more expediently and effectively.

Image courtesy of swanksalot.

1. Advertise where your prospects will see your ads. Do some initial research to find your target audience and use ad tracking to determine if you’re reaching them.
2. Know your competitive edge. What can you offer that others can’t? Find a different spin or edge to make your product more appealing or offer just a little bit more. Maybe you have more experience or knowledge. There are a lot of ways to form a competitive edge. Know your market and your competitors and be creative.
3. Be careful that the image you portray for your company and products is positive. Always be professional. Be careful of what you say, whether it be on air or in print. Use a catchy logo and tag line. Maintain a consistent image so that it becomes recognizable.
4. “You have to spend money to make money.” Many people don’t like this age old adage, but it is very true. You will eventually spend money on advertising. Even free advertising has a cost – your time is money.
   The more money you spend, generally the better your reach. You don’t want to lower your effectiveness by cutting corners. Free or inexpensive advertising may be a good short term solution when you’re starting out but eventually you will want to look into different advertising options that may require more money.
   Of course you want to set an advertising budget, but allow for flexibility so you can take advantage of opportunities that arise. Also, learn the best times and season for your product or service increase your budget accordingly. Keep in mind that these seasonal times can change according to economy and market changes.
5. Keep in mind that your product or service will not appeal to everyone. Find your market and appeal to them.

These basic advertising tips are not difficult to implement. Diversify, be persistent and track your results and before long you’ll find the best mix of advertising to suit your budget and produce results.

The newest resource we offer for promoting your direct sales business is a party plan consultant link directory with free and featured listings.

 
 
We’re pleased to be able to continue to offer listings in the popular InternetBasedMoms.com direct sales directory.

And we’ve recently added very affordable 125×125 graphic ads on the right side of this blog.

Advertising is just one aspect of a successful marketing plan. The right ads can bring visitors to your website, promote brand recognition, and provide SEO backlink benefit.

Purchases made at links in this post benefit us (Why tell?)

I’m sure you’ve heard it time and time again… to maintain a successful online business you must build and market to a mailing list. But for many of us, selling to our list is a daunting and intimidating task.

If you have not yet made the attempt to promote your business to your subscribers, or you feel in the wrong when you do, it’s time to overcome your fear of selling to your list so you can make more money. And here’s just the help you need to learn how to grow your list, reduce your workload, and boost your income.

Grab the brand new Email Marketing Sweetie guide

Sorry, that email marketing course is no longer available. Instead, claim your free copy of Email Marketing Tips.

A few email marketing tips:

If you have not yet made the attempt to promote your business to your subscribers, don’t act hastily by inundating them with an onslaught of email promotions. Start out slow and test the waters first. An initial email letting them know you will be sending them valuable offers will open the lines of communication and lessen the shock value of advertisements appearing in their inboxes. This is an opportunity to sell yourself and your business while gaining their trust before the “sales” even begin. Most of your list will respond favorably, but you will likely lose some subscribers. But that’s okay because those that opt-out weren’t likely to become customers anyway.

Once your list knows what to expect, you can begin the actual task of promoting. That does not mean to send them multiple offers on a daily basis until they exile your address to the world of SPAM. However, it does mean that you will have to stay on top of contacting your list and make a point of doing so frequently enough to stay current and fresh in their minds without filling their inboxes with clutter.

It is also important to maintain a balance between content-driven emails and those containing promotions. Selling to your list requires a delicate balance. Alternate between information and advertising. You want to remain to be a voice your subscribers can trust without becoming too sales-driven and you also want to make sure your advertisements are clear without getting lost in your content.

Get more tips at:
http://www.irepnetwork.com/go/emailmarketing.html

Here’s to great email!

Affiliate link or our product link (Why tell?)

One of the most frequently asked questions I see on the Internet is “How do I get more traffic to my website (or blog)?” While it is of course important to attract a good deal of traffic, what we really need is customers. It isn’t all that hard to get thousands of visitors to your site, especially if you can pay for them. But unless they are people who will buy your products or services (or subscribe to your newsletter or do whatever it is you want them to do when they get there), what good is all that traffic?

There are people who will argue that it’s all a numbers game and claim that if you get thousands of visitors, some of them will be paying customers. And while that’s probably true, wouldn’t you rather use your resources to gain a solid number of quality visitors? (And in case you’re thinking that you found the perfect free method for getting massive traffic, remember that free methods cost you time, and your time is valuable too.)

Improve your results by focusing on getting targeted, quality traffic for your website or blog. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Make sure your website is ready for visitors. No, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but it must deliver what you promise in your marketing. And keep in constantly updated with fresh content.
2. Have a marketing plan. Know who you want to attract and what you want them to do when the arrive at your site. Define measurable goals.
3. Put tracking in place so you know where your site visitors come from and whether or not they follow through when they get there.
4. Focus on a few key marketing methods to start with and as you become proficient in those, add others.
5. Remember, success won’t happen overnight. It’s a long term process that improves with age.
6. Concentrate on tried and true methods like search engine keyword optimization, backlink building, blogging, article marketing, networking, social media marketing, and advertising.

You can’t be all thing to all people and you don’t want all people visiting your website. Focus on gaining quality, targeted, and loyal visitors to your website. They will become your fans and customers.

One of the most attractive features of becoming a direct sales consultant can turn into one of the biggest mistakes made in marketing.

Many people turn to direct sales party plan companies to start their first home business because it’s an established system that can be implemented right away. There’s no experience necessary. Someone will teach you how to run a sales party so you can make money and how to recruit new consultants so you can build a team. It’s this easy to duplicate system that attracts many people.

It’s that very same duplicatable system that can become a consultant’s downfall. The very system that works to get someone started in direct sales, discourages individualism, personal branding, and uniqueness. Without those qualities, it’s very difficult to excel in direct sales, especially online.

I’m not suggesting that consultants completely abandon the system. Many of the components work very well. But developing your own unique style will help your business soar.

The direct sales party works and following the company’s system and script will result in decent sales and team building. Putting your unique spin on your parties will lead to even more success. Think about it this way… once your best friend or your sister hosts a couple of parties for you, they may be thinking “been there, done that,” because for the most part every sales party is the same. But if you offer them something unique for their next party, they may be more willing to host another. Offering a theme party, reverse party, or a solutions party might convince them to gather their friends again.

For your Internet marketing, establishing your own online presence is essential to success. Use your own website (separate from the replicated site provided by your company), a social media presence, and content marketing to market and brand you. Not only will your recruiting efforts be more successful, but establishing yourself, separate from the company, means that you’ll have a business that can move on with you if you change companies or decide to go into something else.

Becoming uniquely you will help you stand out from the crowd and build success.

Resources:

• Theme party ideas
• What’s a reverse party?
• What’s a solutions party?
• What is Content Marketing?
• Blog Your Way to Direct Sales Success

Perhaps content marketing can be summed up by simply saying “Give the people what they want.” People come online looking for information and solutions. Using content marketing to provide potential customers with the information they’re looking for is highly effective.

Content marketing can go by a lot of different names such as private media, branded content, customer media and so on, but they are all essentially content marketing. This is probably one of the best ways to make sure your marketing is being truly effective.

One definition of content marketing is: a technique of making and distributing valuable and relevant content to bring in a much defined target audience with the over all objective being the creation of sales. Basically this is a way to reaching out to your customers and potential customers in a way specifically designed to attract them to you and keep them coming back.

Content marketing is all done without overtly trying to sell a product; it is intended to educate and inform the customers. With typical marketing, the goal is to make a sale and the product or service is the main point of the approach. Content marketing is very different from this approach and has proven to be very effective.

The idea around content marketing is to deliver consistent and useful information to the customer. In return, they will reward the company with their business and, over time, their loyalty to the brand. This form of marketing creates a bond between the customer and the company. This bond is a very hard one to break and results in ongoing business over time and a loyal customer.

Traditional marketing is becoming less and less useful as customers are able to skip commercials or change the channel on the TV. Ads in papers and billboards are not interactive and provide no real help to the customer. Pop-ups on the Internet are another way advertisers try to market their products but this can be ineffective as more and more people use their pop-up blocking tools on their browsers to avoid these invasive marketing tactics.

Content marketing breaks the mold completely and as odd as it may seem, the customer is the one who searches out the information they need. Not only do they remember where they found what they needed, they remember who provided the useful information as well -and this is where the marketing comes in.

Potential customers will buy from a company they trust and feel has the same interests as they do. This is why providing helpful advice and information is so very important to this marketing strategy. Most of the time, the people reading information on a web page don’t realize they are being marketed to as they read the content.

Recent studies have shown 70-80% of people who were surveyed, felt more comfortable buying something from a company they trust. Content marketing builds trust, because the customer begins to look forward to your next content installment and may make decisions based on the information given.

To learn more simply click the link to claim your free report, Content Marketing Explained: Why Your Business Needs Content.

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Note: Every effort has been made to accurately represent our product and its potential. Each individual’s success depends on his or her background, dedication, desire and motivation. As with any business endeavor, there is an inherent risk of loss of capital and there is no guarantee that you will earn any money. Click here for complete terms of use and disclaimer.

The terms “marketing” and “selling” are often used interchangeably and can be confusing to new business owners. In addition, since home business owners typically perform most tasks associated with their business, the lines between marketing and selling can become even more blurred.

Then why bother distinguishing?

Knowing the difference between marketing and selling can help identify and clarify where your efforts are successful and where they need improvement. To succeed you have to identify and build on your strengths and correct your weaknesses. Your marketing efforts may be producing hundreds of leads, but if you don’t know when and how to switch gears to make the sale, you won’t produce the income results you want.

Marketing can be thought of as all the activities that go into making people aware that your company and products exist. Selling involves the steps taken to convince your potential customer to make the actual product purchase.

Marketing makes your company and product known to potential customers. It creates a demand for your company’s products or services.

Marketing involves a good deal of research to identify groups of potential buyers. That research determines what customers want and what they’re willing to pay for it. Your marketing message conveys why someone should choose your company or product over all the others. It describes how you can meet your customers’ wants and needs; how you can solve their problems.

Marketing produces leads.

Selling is what turns those leads into paying customers. It is more closely associated with a process called overcoming objections. Part of the marketing process is to actually uncover potential objections which might prevent a prospect from being converted to a customer. Selling is where all that marketing research is applied at the point of sale. It is a much more intimate, one-to-one technique where a buyer “assists” a prospective customer in making a “buying decision”.
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Over at Internet Marketing Sweetie, Alice’s tough question for today asks whether it’s ethical to direct your mailing list to clear their cookies before signing up for your promotion (in an effort to make sure you get the commission).

It got me to thinking about how ruthless or cutthroat one has to be to compete online.

I still think there are plenty of customers to go around. If you offer a quality product or service at reasonable price and promote it to the right market you can still make a living on the Internet. I’d rather have to work a little harder than start using what I consider less than ethical practices to get ahead.

What do you think?