Monthly Archives: October 2008

Postcards: The Secret Marketing Tool

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Postcards are an extremely efficient marketing tool. Why? primarily because of the fact that they can be applied to any business. No business should leave out the postcard marketing approach. It doesn’t really matter what business you have or even what you want to market. Even in this age and time, some of the biggest companies still prefer to market with postcards than anything else as they have a record of creating more responses than personalized letters or flyers. Quick and easy to produce, postcards are a must for every marketing campaign’s success. In the following section, we will be learning why and how postcards can be beneficial for your business specifically. Some of the major reasons as to why you should be using postcards are listed below:-

1. Cost Friendly: When using something like a postcard as a marketing tool, there is fair amount of chance that you will prefer to get them printed in bulk. This is the point where you can tap in your savings. Most printing companies charge a very small amount especially if you order in large quantities. It takes no more than 2 days for them to get printed, so you can start sending them out according to your convenience. Moreover they have a standard size. So the chances are that you will pay almost the same amount as your competitor.

2. Quick and Smart: One of the best features of postcards is that they can be designed in a really short time. There are various templates available that can help you save time. Be wise and choose one that suits your business the best. Also they have a standard size, so you can design them in one day, send it to your printer and hand them out to your customers very easily after a couple of days. There is not a single marketing tool that can get to work in such a short span of time. This proves they are a smart way of promoting your business. Some companies will even send them out on your behalf.

3. Widely read: This misconception should be cleared from your mind A.S.A.P. People do actually read them because of their simplicity in design and a time efficient way of promotion. It is easy for people to pick and read them whereas letters are much tougher to get through. They CAN NOT be ignored. In fact, even if they do plan to throw it out, they will have read your company’s name or seen your logo by the end of the process. Hence, its work is done. Remember, you are not to sell a product, its enough that they know your name through it. But in most of the cases, people pay enough attention to them, so they know what you were trying to convey.

4. Bank on the popularity: One of the coolest reasons why they are handy is because postcards are generally sent by one’s kith and in. So the receiver may not throw it out instantly thinking it’s a pile of crap. This is something that other marketing tools cannot bank on. Also keep in mind their design. Try and give it a more “card” like look. It will benefit in one way or the other, forcing people to have a look at them.

5. Instant results: Unlike other forms of marketing, postcards are effective and show results very quickly. Just be consistent and keep them printing so you can send out as many as you can. They are cheap yet effective and are undoubtedly an excellent way to boost your company sales. Moreover, as we discussed earlier, it does not take a very long time to reach your customer’s mailboxes from the printing machine.

These are just some of the ways postcards can be beneficial. All great brands including Mc Donalds, still stick to this form of marketing because of its efficiency. There are a lot of other innovative things you can do to make them work. Remember, you cannot completely be involved with this and expect to become a great brand overnight. It needs to be coupled with other tools of marketing like brochures for a greater and deeper impact.

Article Written By Mark

5 Tips On Affiliate Marketing That Will Convert Into Cash

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As we all know affiliate marketing is an internet based marketing practice where companies and individuals reward affiliates for each customer that is bought about by affiliate marketing efforts. If you knew this already, then you would probably also be aware of the huge amounts of cash it can generate. It can practically make money while you sleep. But most of the marketers fail in this aspect as they are not aware of how to go about it. The truth is that anyone can be an internet marketer with affiliate marketing.

Social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace etc. are being used by more and more people everyday and hence internet marketing has reached an even bigger level. The no. of people buying products online has crossed millions. So how can you benefit from this as a marketer? The method of promoting your affiliate marketing website is by using PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising with the help of one of the major search engines like Yahoo or Google. Here are some tricks that you can apply for better affiliate marketing and monetizing your website:-

• Product Reviews: Once you have set up a decent website, its time to decide what content should be put up. Reviewing products is an excellent way to promote our website and monetize it. People know their money and would like to know if the product is good or bad before actually purchasing it. So compile a list of reviews that people might be interested in. Also be honest while writing about them. You may just rank a particular product 5/5 while it may deserve only 3/5, your readers might not really appreciate a fake review. Make sure you use some “keywords” for which the search traffic is already high. This will automatically bring more visitors.

• Web 2.0 and Programs: Using Web 2.0 techniques can also be great way to get noticed. There are many affiliate programs available out there that can help you monetize your website. But remember there is no single merchant program that can give instant results and prove that it’s the best. In fact the best strategy is to use many merchant programs in the same niche. Most of your success will depend upon what content is and how you do your search engine optimization. People think that putting banners everywhere on the site can double their chances of getting more customers. IT’S A LIE! Having too many banners will make your site look ugly, use them judiciously.

• Viral Video: Web videos are hot and will remain as one of the main attraction for a while. If you really want to market your website well, make use of videos. You can create a video giving information about the company and the niche its targeting. Websites like YouTube and Daily Motion receive million views a day. There are good chances that you might get noticed as well. Once you have a good amount of hits, it becomes very easy to promote the video and the business. This in turn would means getting huge traffic for your affiliate websites and links.

• Squidoo and Hub Pages: These are 2 amazing websites that can help you create pages of your own on anything you want. Pick up any product or topic and create detailed pages of it on Squidoo giving all information necessary. The more the detailed information, the more the chances of increasing traffic to your website. Sites like these also allow you to make money with the help of Google AdSense, Amazon, Ebay and of course your own affiliate links that you would like to add.

• E-mail and Lists: E-mail is still one of the most trusted ways of marketing. If the customers signs up on your website, the least you can do is send them a newsletter or the latest on what you are offering. Doing this can turn your short term visitors into potential customers without having to do much. Just stay in touch with your regular and registered customers. If they feel you care about them, they will talk about it in as many social circles as they can.

These are just some of the tips but the end point is that content should be unique. This is what will get you listed on the search engines. You can start selling someone else’s products or services online and charge upto 80% commission sometimes in a matter of minutes.

 

Written by Mark

Strengthen Your Ads with Power Words

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It’s amazing what a word can do. One word can evoke a feeling of trust, while another can evoke a feeling of dread. Using words that appeal to many people is key to a strong ad. Here are some power words to include in your next ad. Try to use them in your headline, but if nothing else, use at least one in your body copy.

Basic Power Words
Free – this is the “magic word” – not “thank you”! Most people are trying to get something for nothing, or at least wouldn’t mind it! When you can offer something for free, that’s one of the best ways to get people to try something. When something is free, it takes away the risk of losing money, which makes people more apt to try it. Just make sure that whatever you are advertising as “free” really is free. There’s nothing more irritating than seeing the word “free” with a little asterisk next to it. If you’re having a buy one get one free sale, be sure to make that clear and not just accentuate the “free” portion of it. Consumers will only fall for this type of ad from you once. Then they won’t even give you a second chance.

Save – this is powerful because everyone wants to save money and/or time. If you can help them gain either in their lives, they’ll flock to you.

Secret – knowing a secret makes people feel powerful. They feel like they are part of an elite crowd. And, people are naturally curious, so they want to find out what it is that you know that they don’t. People don’t like to think that they’ve failed at something because of their own effort – but failing because they didn’t know the secret – that’s perfectly fine.

New – who wants something old? This word evokes a sense of urgency in people. They want to have the latest and greatest thing. They also want to have it before their friends do. A lot of ads use “new and improved” which is somewhat odd, because if something is improved upon, doesn’t that make it basically new? There’s gotta be something new about it to make it improved.

Magic – everyone from kids to adults like something that works like magic. Just that word makes you think of Disney, doesn’t it? People like “magic” because it appeals to those that are lazy and those that want to get an immediate result.

Novelty Power Words
People like to be different, and these words will help you stand out from the crowd.

Technology – this is increasingly becoming a buzz word in ads as most people are gaining knowledge of technology. You can do cool stuff with technology, so if you have updated equipment of some sort, be sure to play it up with your “new technology.” (Combining power words here for an even better effect!)

Re- words – This is a new twist that I haven’t really considered before. Jose DeJesus came up with this one – and he’s a doctor, not even an advertiser! Anything that starts with “re-” like reinvent, rearrange and reuse make people think of something new and fresh. Again, that appeals to people who want to the first on their block to have something new. 

As you can see, there are plenty of power words out there to choose from, and you can find lists to give you ideas by Googling “advertising power words.” Many of these words appeal to the emotions, so if you couple emotional words with an emotional image, you’ll find customers at your door.

How Effective is Your Print Ad? 4 Questions to Ask

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Anyone can create a print ad – just get into Photoshop or Word and start typing, right? Of course, we all know it isn’t that easy. I guess I should have opened with “anyone can create a crappy print ad”! But no one can have good sales just by running any ol’ print ad. It needs to have certain elements to make it work. The five questions below will help you judge the effectiveness of your print ad.

1. Does the headline grab the reader’s attention? Advertising guru David Ogilvy states in his book, Ogilvy on Advertising, that the headline is read five times as much as the body copy. An ideal headline is nine words or less. It’s easy to compare a headline to a billboard: a billboard should be no more than 8 words long to catch people zooming by. People will also zoom by your print ad if the headline is too long.

A headline that grabs a reader’s attention is generally one that includes some kind of benefit to the reader. Ogilvy states that headlines that have some sort of promise benefits are read four times as much as headlines with no benefits.

2. What kind of graphics are you using? Photographs always work better than line drawings to draw in readers. But, you need to pay attention to the content of your photo: photos that show a solution rather than a problem are much more compelling. You also want to make sure that your photo relates to something in your business. Don’t include an interesting picture of a beach at sunset if you aren’t advertising that destination. People will be disgruntled when they learn your ad is for something totally different, like computers.

3. How long is your body copy? Long copy generally works better than shorter copy, which I think goes against our current culture. People are so busy and have such short attention spans that I wouldn’t think longer copy would work. But it does. If you couple long body copy with a great headline that draws people’s attention to the ad, people will read all of the copy to find out more about the product or service.

Of course, this also depends on your audience. Younger people that are used to texting and IM-ing prefer shorter copy because they are used to communicating in as few words as possible. Older generations prefer longer copy because they are used to reading more books and text-heavy ads.

4. How convenient is it to make a purchase? Ads that don’t include a call to action that says to call or visit a store aren’t as effective as those that do include a directive for people to follow. You need to make it crystal clear to consumers how they can reach you to make a purchase, and give all the necessary info. Give your URL, your phone number, street address and any other info that will make it easy for a customer to contact you.

6 Tips To Create a Brochure That Will Result In Sales

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Brochures are typically designed to give an idea about the products that the company is offering, highlighting the main features of them. A great form of advertising, a printed brochure can in most cases leave the customers with an impression which probably no other form of ads can. With the help of brochures you can make sure that your company’s presence is available wherever you want and not just static at one place. There are many factors which contribute to the making of a successful and beautiful brochure like its layout, design, colors, font choice etc.  Keeping the brochure simple with information regarding the company and its products is the key to a successful one. It should always be clear and concise about the message it is offering rather than a complicated one since a poorly made one can tend to frustrate customers and create confusion.

To avoid such a situation, here are a few tips that will help you make the brochure that can sell what’s on it:-

1. A Great Headline: First thing’s first, when your customer picks up the brochure, the first piece of text he comes across is the headline. The headline should strike the customer immediately he reads it, hence, should contain something of his interest or something related to his problems followed by a solution. Don’t just stick with the basic information show them something that they turn the pages to know more. Many business owners make this mistake but you don’t have to!

2. Go back to the basics: Its vital that the brochure contains the basic information like company name, logo, contact information etc. Pictures of the products with taglines and item numbers etc. along with easy to read blocks can make the brochure very appealing to the eye. Don’t forget to push in a few words about the benefits you are offering other than your competitors.

3. Avoid information overload: You must make sure that your readers get the whole concept of your company and its products along with some contact information but not the cost of overloading it with too much information. Using too much text can confuse the reader and might force him to reconsider his deal. Keep it focused on the relevant information that the customer might be interested in by restraining to simple language and text. Too flashy and that’s THE END of the whole story.

4. Restrain from using heavy words: Your customers will never have the time to look for big, heavy words you use. So try not to use big words which may confuse your readers. Nothing could be better than simple words since the motive of the brochure is to provide the main information, that’s it!

5. Motivate them: Just a well-made brochure with colorful headlines will never be enough to motivate your customers to buy your product. You have to show them that its for their benefit if they order now. A great example of this is to give out something free like a gift or a sample product. This will entice your customers into thinking that it is best that they initiate an action as soon as possible.

6. As good as a good firm handshake: Its said that since your company cannot be at many places at one time, your brochure does it for you. Use thin high quality paper with glossy finish for brochure that stands out and looks unique. Simply, mailing or handing flimsy brochures will reassure that less effort and thoughts have been put into making it. It shouldn’t be too heavy or big as it will look an eyesore lying on your couch or table. Should be of the right size and weight as well. As they say a firm brochure is better than a firm handshake.

Ask yourself a few questions before you send them out for prints. It shall reconfirm your faith in it. Questions like these can be very helpful:-

• Do I like to look at it more than once?
• Does it have the eye catching graphics?
• Is the design appealing enough?
• Will I pay for the products mentioned? Why?
• Does the headline have a sales appeal to it?

These are some very small and simple techniques that can help your brochure do the talking responsibly when you’re not around. You can be sitting at one place and your brochure could be working at another.