Good Online Marketing in a Bad Economy
It is no secret that the economy is in bad shape. Not just in the United States, but throughout most of the world. And, to make things worse, experts are in agreement that there is no relief in sight.
That means that business owners need new strategies…especially new marketing strategies…to deal with the current economic ills. If you do not have a relatively new and comprehensive marketing plan designed to take you through the current “bad times”, you need to get started on one. The sooner the better.
The best way to start is by asking and answering a few basis questions. The first is, who are your customers? The second is, how are they likely to be impacted by the economic downturn? The third is, how will that impact their need or desire for your product or service? From there, you can find a clear path forward.
You may conclude that you can benefit from increasing your marketing efforts in a troubled economy. But, with that increased marketing, a change in your primary message may be necessary.
If you are selling a home-based business franchise, a struggling economy and the anxiety it produces may bring you more potential customers than you have in normal economic times. However, instead of emphasizing the possibility of people earning enough to support a luxurious lifestyle, as may be the norm in your messages during good times, messages about economic security might be far more powerful today and in the near future.
If you are selling high end luxury items, your best course of action may be far different. You may want to concentrate on reaching a very targeted group of customers; people able to afford luxury items even in the most dire economic times. Or, you may want to focus on promoting your lower cost products. A CEO who may be unwilling to part with $300,000 for a new yacht may not be reluctant to spend $25,000 for a new mast or a new set of sails.
It is axiomatic that the poorer the economy, the greater the importance of price. But, for lots of reasons, lowering prices may not be desirable or possible for you. You will need to ask yourself whether dropping your prices will devalue your product in the eyes of customers, what it will do for your volume, and whether you will be able to move your price back to current levels in the future without angering your customer base.
Monitor your competitors activities closely when times are difficult. A bit of competitive research will tell you what kinds of marketing mixes and messages are working well in your industry, and which are less successful. If competitive research is new to you, a simple internet search will show you how many low cost tools and programs are available to you. And, none require exceptional technical or analytical ability.
All you have to do to develop good, strategic marketing strategies and integrate them in a well coordinated plan, is to ask yourself good questions and do whatever it takes to get well-conceived answers. You need not be a NASA employee, I promise. But, you must think analytically or get help from an experienced marketer.
A good product in 2007 is a good product today. But, you may have to market it very differently to be successful.
5 Steps To Writing A Brilliant Press Release
If you want to get publicity for your business via the media, press releases are an excellent way to do it. Here are 5 ways to boost the appeal of your press release.
Use the correct format. Press releases follow a well established format. If you want your release to be read and taken seriously, you need to be sure it is written properly. You should also be sure to double-check the spelling, grammar and punctuation before you submit it.
Keep it Clear and Concise: Your press release should be no longer than two pages. Media outlets receive lots of press releases and don’t have time to read a ten page report. Keeping your writing clear and concise allow you to fit in the important facts without going over the two page limit. As you decide what information to include, answer the following questions: who, what, why, where, when, and how.
What’s in it for the reader? Make sure you include a call to action in your press release. Put something in it that’s going to inspire the reader to go to your event, visit your website, etc. If you write a blatant ad, it’s going to be obvious and it won’t get picked up by anyone. Include the features and benefits of what you’re promoting, and tell your target market what’s in it for them.
For example, if you were promoting a new food processor, you need to go beyond just saying it’s smaller and takes up less space than other models. You need to state that the smaller size gives the customer the full power of a larger model, while helping them to save precious counter space in their kitchen.
Make it interesting. If your press release is boring, nobody is going to read past the first couple of lines. Try to find the line between simple facts and excitement. Back to the food processor example, instead of just saying “our new food processor will be available in the spring” try something like “out new space-saving food processor will be available this spring, just in time to help you chop the fresh vegetables you’re growing for your summer salads.”
Remember Your Target Market: As you write and submit your press releases, keep your target market in mind at all times. By keeping your audience in mind, you will be able to focus on what information to include and where to submit your press releases. For instance, if you are promoting an event related to children’s health, submitting a press release to the travel editor of your local paper isn’t going to help you.
The media won’t run a story on every single press release they receive, but if you follow these steps it’s going to put you above a large percentage of the other releases coming across their desk.
In the Loop - Brand Awareness and PR
That great idea has hatched, it feels good, it smells good and you believe it could be hugely successful but you dont know how to market it. What do you do?
Frustration can easily manifest itself if you hit a brick wall when it comes to marketing and PR knowledge. You yourself are convinced your idea is a good one but how do you let the world know about it when the market place is already drowning in all singing, all dancing products.
It is a given these days that a little bit of showbiz dressing can push a product or an event a long way, provided it has some value to begin with. Your work might be the best in the business but if nobody else is aware of it, your endeavours may be fruitless.
So what are the building blocks of success? How do you transform your brand from something you know is genius but you are the only that knows about it, into a household name that people can’t get enough of?
Your goals are brand awareness and brand recognition. How do you get there?
Brand Identity: Your product or event needs an identity, does it have one? How do you bring your brand to life and make it dance in the limelight?
Brand Strategy: Identity for your brand has been achieved and established. What are the results you are hoping to yield? The benefits you hope to reap? What is your target audience and how do you best reach them specifically?
Brand Building: Your brand has the identity you created and your brand strategy is in place. Now you want to bring it all the pieces together to work as a cohesive unit. What tools are at your disposal to achieve this?
Once you have climbed these particular steps your brand should be ready for the rat race that begins once it is in the public eye. The hustle and bustle of competition, the pushing and shoving of myriad other brands diving for the spotlight of fame and fortune.
Tools: This is the moment when the decided upon tools become the main players for your brand. You are convinced you have chosen the correct tools for the job? What tools are available? Many are very specialised and technical, requiring a level of expertise to get the most from them. For some this provides another tricky obstacle but of course there are many who are able to manage all these tools themselves.
Crisis management, media relations, online Pr, social media Pr and press releases are some of the tools that will undoubtedly be essential when it comes to the brand battle.
Secret Sauces of a Winner Negotiator
Many people think that participating in a negotiation is an “all or nothing” event, and that there needs to be a winner and a loser. That’s the furthest possible thing from the truth. Although the goal of negotiations is getting what you want or need, the best negotiations use ideas from both players involved.
This article will look at the tactics and tips that top negotiators use to get what they want. You can use these suggestions in almost any negotiation process.
Before the Negotiation
You’ll need to think about what you want from the negotiation process. It may make sense to put specific goals down on paper before starting. You should be optimistic. What would be the best possible result? This may be as basic as the other side giving you exactly what you want. You should also come up with other “fall-back” positions that you’d be comfortable accepting. Come up with as many scenarios as possible.
Your next goal is to identify any potential weaknesses that the other player may have. In a real estate deal, for example, one party may know that the other party needs to sell the property or face a crisis. This is valuable information. Finding the other party’s weaknesses is important because it will allow you to capitalize on those weaknesses - or at least help both players come to a middle ground.
Something else that you should do - and most people don’t - is to come up with a list of reasons why the proposal benefits the other party. You will then bring up the main points of this list during the actual negotiation. Again using the real estate example, one party could argue that its bid for a particular property is more favorable than what others may submit because it is an all-cash offer. The negotiator increases the odds of getting the deal done by pointing out the advantages to both parties.
The Negotiation: In Person
In an ideal situation, both parties would identify their goals and objectives at the beginning of the negotiation. This allows each player to know where the other player stands, and establishes the basis for conversation. Each party may then offer fall-back and counter proposals.
There also are other things that people can do to increase the chance that they will get what they want. Analyzing body language is a good example.
How can you tell if your proposal was received well? Positives will include the other person making direct eye contact and nodding his or her head. Negative signs include the other person folding his or her arms, not making eye contact, or shaking the head.
The Negotiation: On the Phone
You can’t see and analyze body language if you do the negotiation on the phone. That means you have to analyze the other player’s voice and not his or her body language. Extended pauses usually mean that the other party is hesitant about the deal or is thinking about the offer. Sudden exclamations or a quick response may indicate that the other party is amenable to the proposal. They may just need a little “nudge” to come around to your side.
The Negotiation: By Mail
Negotiations that you do through the mail - like some real estate transactions - are very different from the other types of negotiations. You may find these tips helpful when doing a mail negotiation.
*Words or phrases that are ambiguous may be a signal that the other player is open to a certain proposal. You should look for words like “can,” “possibly,” or “maybe.” If the other party uses a statement like “eagerly awaiting your reply,” that may be a sign that they are enthusiastic or optimistic about the proposal.
*See if you can use some of the other party’s ideas when they make a counter offer or an initial proposal. That can help seal a deal on the spot. If compromise isn’t feasible, suggest other alternatives.
*You will need a formal contract to seal the negotiation. Have an attorney draft the contract after the process is finished. Make certain that this contract is signed in a timely fashion.
No Agreement? No problem.
Leave the way open for future negotiations if you can’t reach an agreement in one sitting or one phone call. Schedule further meetings if necessary and possible. Don’t worry about seeming overly anxious. Your request for further meetings will suggest that you think a deal can be worked out and you are willing to put in effort to make that possible.
Between negotiations, review what happened during that first meeting. Do you remember any weaknesses for the other player? Did the other party mention any factors like low APR that could help you seal a deal now? Answers to those questions may give you an advantage at any subsequent meetings.
Lastly, remember that it’s important to end any meetings on a positive note. You don’t want to burn bridges and create a negative situation for the future.
Avoiding the #1 Article Marketing Mistake
Almost all website owners who want to promote their sites use article marketing. That should come as no surprise.
There are two keys, and two keys only, to a successful website…content and traffic (visitors). And, while traffic can come from many sources, the best traffic comes from organic listings in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
To begin with, although it takes time and energy to build and optimize a site which ranks well in the search engines, the traffic your site receives from the search engines is free. If you advertise, it may cost you $5 or more to generate a visitor to your site. And, research has clearly revealed that visitors who reach you because they found your site in a Google or Yahoo search are far more likely to be buyers than those who come to you as a result of advertising. Four times as likely, in some studies.
It makes perfect sense. The person who visits your site after clicking on a banner or receiving an email blast may have some curiousity about what is on your site. The person who actually used a search engine to seek out pages like yours is a far more likely customer…at least 3 times as likely to become a buyer.
That’s why successful site owners do their best to maximize their search engine rankings, a process that should always include link building. And, article marketing is among the quickest, most effective ways to obtain links. It is not unusual to earn hundreds and even thousands of links by writing just one article.
For the most part, website owners write about topics closely related to their websites. And, for many reasons, that’s a good idea.
The mistake they make all too often is that they do not write about anything else.
Website owners who choose to write only on one or a narrow range of topics will miss out on lots of potential links. By branching out a bit, their writing and their links can be far more widely published. I’m an education writer who already has thousands of links on education-related websites. But not everybody is interested in higher education, so my articles have reached a limited audience and my links appear primarily on specialized websites. By writing on unrelated but popular topics, like this one, I can reach whole new audiences and earn links on countless more websites.
I recently wrote an article on winning strategies for casual sports bettors. I have written about search engine optimization, teaching teens safe driving habits, helicopter parents, and dozens of other areas. My most published article was on great backyard hamburger grilling recipes. The very best tip I can give other writers is to write and submit periodic articles on at least 4-5 subjects in addition to the subject(s) of their websites. The rewards, in terms of links, are enormous.
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