Exponentially Increase Your Revenue Through Speaking

One of the fastest ways to increase your revenue is to make yourself available as a public speaker. It's quite all right if you have never done it before. If you focus on a topic that's truly of interest to your audience, prepare well in advance and formulate a follow up system you really can't lose.

Keep in Mind... It's ALL About Them!

We entrepreneurs have a bad habit of focusing our marketing efforts on what we want to say, vs. what our audience really cares about. The first step in using speaking to get more clients and to increase your income is to prepare a talk that addresses a pain point your audience is facing. Make your talk ALL about your ideal client and a specific problem they are looking to solve right now.

Not sure what your audience is struggling with? Then you need to spend a little time doing some market research to find out. Use that information to develop a talk that showcases your credibility, a few specific main points, and include a strong call to action so that they can learn more by purchasing a product or working with you directly.

Prepare Well

Planning ahead is critical. Do some research on the group. What is the organization about? Who will be in attendance? What are they expecting to hear? Your presentation should provide the solution that they need. So, how can this exponentially increase your revenue?

No matter how great your talk is, your problem solving abilities are stifled. There is only so much that you can share during your presentation. However, if you make arrangements with the event planner, you can likely sell your packaged solutions during the event. Since the time that you are performing is so limited, be sure to give the audience something to take home. If you have a book, sell that. Do you offer a packaged product or a web-based solution? The point is to make sure that you can further help the audience. This is the first step in your follow up system. Let me give you an example.

Make a *Special Offer*

Last week, I spoke at an event filled with ideal prospects. Part of my preparation for this talk was to decide which of our products would be appropriate for the audience. I chose a product directly connected to my presentation and created a special offer ($200 off!) that was only available to the conference attendees.

Next we made sure we could accept payments on the spot. We didn't need a bunch of fancy equipment. All we needed was an iPhone! We went to Square, got a free mobile card swiping device, setup the app on our phones and we were good to go. (The fee per transaction is comparable to using a merchant account... sweet!)

It was so exciting to see people running to the back of the room to our table to purchase the product. We made a lot of sales and got to meet so many great people. Can you imagine what would have happened if we hadn't planned ahead to take payments there on the spot? We would have missed out on exponentially increasing our revenue. It would have taken a day or so to follow up with the attendees and by that time, the excitement for the information I shared may have waned.

Follow up Formula

Next on the preparation list was to make sure that we followed up with each person who requested to stay in touch with us, whether they made a purchase or not. People are busy and have a short attention span. So you want your follow up system to be fast and relevant. There are several methods that you can use: 1) a signup sheet 2) text messaging 3) email 4) opt-in web form, and others.

We chose two systems, a sign-up sheet and text messaging. As a result, we captured contact information for 70% of the attendees!

Whatever system you use, it has to be seamless in order for you to get in touch with prospects as quickly as possible. Your instructions must be clear and concise so that you will not have any difficulty keeping in touch. After gathering all of the pertinent information, make sure that your new friends hear from you within 24-48 hours. Thank them for their attention, consider offering a free gift (such as a special report or an eBook) and let them know how often you'll be reaching out to them. The solutions that you are offering to prospects will need to be top of mind in order for you to further the relationship.

Plan ahead before your event. Make a special offer for the attendees. The most important thing is to have a smooth follow up system that will enable you to keep in touch and build a lasting relationship. These few tips will help you to exponentially increase your revenue.

You are already an expert problem solver in your industry. That is the very reason you offer services and products to your target market. Using a combination of speaking and savvy follow-up, you'll be able to create a new revenue stream for your business.

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Integrating a Website Booking System With Google Calendar

Many businesses today use Google Calendar to manage customer appointments. Although Google does provide a way for you to accept online bookings the use of an online booking system is a much more professional and powerful way to give your customers the convenience of website bookings.

There are a number of existing online reservation systems that claim Google Calendar integration. The simplest and most common way these reservation systems integrate with Google is by publishing calendar feeds which Google picks up and displays. The problem with calendar feeds is that firstly they only go one way (you cannot update the booking system by adding events to Google), and secondly there is a delay of up to 24 hours before they're shown in Google. This often results in double bookings and unhappy customers.

A better way for an online booking system to integrate with Google Calendar is to use Google's "API". Basically this is a way for the booking system to talk directly with your calendar, inserting and modifying events instantly in both directions. The result is no double bookings and an always up-to-date calendar.

An online booking system that integrates with Google Calendar using the API must first get your permission to write to your calendar. This can be done without asking for your Google username and password. The reservation system points you directly to Google, where Google will ask if you give permission for calendar integration. Once you have given permission the reservation system can then insert, update, and delete bookings on your calendar as required. Be wary of online reservation systems that ask for your Google username and password. This is not necessary for connecting with Google calendar.

Once you have chosen the online booking system you wish you use it's then just a matter of plugging it into your website and watching the customers roll in. It's important that you keep your online reservation system and Google Calendar sync'd to prevent double bookings and prevent customers booking times that are no longer available. You can do this by entering a manual booking into the reservation system itself, or by creating an event in Google Calendar.

Google Calendar is a great tool for businesses however large or small. Using an online booking system that integrates with Google makes sense if your business deals with customer appointments. Give it a go - it's a smart business move that's guaranteed to bring in new customers.

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What You Can Do to Improve Your Medical Lead Generation Efforts

Generating medical leads is a challenge for your company. Well, without them, then business would run dry for you. Having leads is like having a reservoir of water; just like a well you can draw from when you need to wet your tongue. However, in this scenario, you aren't simply wetting your tongue but you are keeping your whole "body", that being your company, from crashing down because of "dehydration", in this case that meaning a lack of sales. So as to not suffer from a lack of sales that is caused by not being able to generate medical leads, here are some tips for you.

Connect with your prospects/medical leads - What many marketers seem to fail at in their efforts is that they fail to understand the needs of their prospects. Rather than taking time to gauge the interests and needs of their targets, some focus too much on the aspect of making a sale to the point of which it just doesn't help in their marketing efforts. Sure enough, making sales is what marketers do best however, before you can start generating sales from medical leads, you need to make sure that whatever it is your are trying to sell is desirable to your prospects and meets their needs/goals. Take time to get to know your medical leads, learn and understand their needs, then gauge their interests. Don't just go for sales, go for valuable business relationships through connecting with your target prospects.

Use different lead generation methods - Never forget that you have a variety of methods to use in generating medical leads. We have email marketing, a method which shows much promise and high conversion rates. There is also medical telemarketing, another popular way of obtaining B2B leads. Usually, marketers make use of medical telemarketing and email marketing in tandem as email marketing campaigns can serve as an opt-in for their prospects to receive calls from their telemarketers. Other than these, there is also social media marketing. Social media is currently one of the best mediums to use in lead generation as per some marketers, however it is up to you to gauge the effectiveness of social media in your own marketing efforts. Actually, you can combine all these three methods into one, creating for yourself a lead generation system that can generate leads through different avenues: the phone, emails, and social media.

As much as you can, go for face-to-face - Generating leads through email, the phone, and through social media are all effective. However, as much as you can afford to, go for face-to-face meetings with your prospects. If you want to generate high-quality medical leads in which you can clearly confirm the interests of your prospects, as well as so you can fully understand their needs, then a face-to-face appointment is sure to produce the results you want. Make sure to set aside a budget for sending your sales representatives to your prospect's locales. It may seem unlikely that your prospects will meet with your representatives if they just walk into their offices, however, you have other methods available to you such as medical telemarketing to reach out and inform prospects about having meetings. So, as much as possible, face-to-face is what you should be aiming for.

Obtaining and generating medical leads may seem like a huge challenge for you, however, these tips may just help you in overcoming those obstacles! What's your idea of a good marketing mix for medical lead generation?

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Free SMS - A Unique Groove to Stay Connected!

In today's era, mobile phones are an important means of communication that is used by everyone to stay connected. You use mobiles for calls and to send SMS to your friends, relatives, and even colleagues but, it costs some amount. However, what if, you are provided with an option to send SMS free of cost. Yes, today you can have access to various websites from where you can send instant messages free of cost.

How to access Free SMS: There are various websites available on the web today which you can use in order to send free SMS. For this, you only have to create your profile over these sites which can ask some basic details like your mobile number, name, city, email id and so forth. These sites offer you free registration and this way sending SMS has become very convenient and cost effective.

Using such facility, you can send unlimited text messages to unlimited group of people within the country. Using your computer with internet connection makes your communication process even easier and also assists in decreasing mobile and telephone bill.

Benefits of Free SMS: Some of the benefits offered by these sites are:

- These sites are absolutely free, as it doesn't demand any registration fee or any other hidden charges from its users. So it has become one of the easiest ways to communicate not only for us individuals, but also for the businesses or other organizations without incurring any additional cost

- Free SMS sites assist you in sending unlimited messages to unlimited contacts. It means you can easily send any number of messages to any number of people free of cost. Every SMS service offered by these sites are free

- For online business holders, one of the main benefits offered by this site is that you can send unlimited messages to the number of visitors in order to direct them towards your domain

- Apart from this, you can also have such free message services for your websites or domains. This will provide you convenience to advertise your products and services to your current as well as potential customers without incurring any cost

- Free SMS sites also offer you complete privacy while communicating or sending messages. They send your message as the original text and doesn't add to or delete anything from the original text

Free SMS services provide you an easy and convenient means to stay tuned with all your existing clients and potential customers at zero cost.

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Facebook for Roofers, The Right Way!

There's a lot of discussion of whether or not Facebook Marketing for Roofers is a good use of time. First of all, there is no denying that if done properly it can pay huge dividends for your roofing business. You can't ignore the fact that Facebook has over 845 Million users and gets more page views then Google. That being said, people do not want to be spammed by businesses when they are browsing Facebook.

So how can you be sure that you are doing it the right way? Just put yourself in the mind of a Facebook user (not a business)... The odds are that you already have a Facebook account so this should not be very hard for you to imagine. If you were sitting on Facebook browsing through your news feed and you constantly saw posts from a roofing company like "get $200 off your next roofing project" or some other crap like that, it's very likely that you would hit the "unsubscribe" button or "unlike" button because you get tired of seeing stuff that is not relevant to you. If you're not currently in the market for a roof, you simply do NOT care. You're on Facebook because you're nosey and want to see what all your "friends" are up to. You like to see how boring your life is compared to theirs... just kidding (maybe). You like to see the pictures that people post so you can make fun of them or talk about how fat they've got! It's the one place you go to get away from the Millions of offers that a consumer sees throughout the day.

I know what you're thinking: "Ok, Chris... So if I'm not allowed to post offers, what in the world can I do to get exposure for my roofing business?"

Think back to what most people are looking at on Facebook... PICTURES! That's right, as simple as that sounds, posting before and after pictures of your jobs is a great way to let people "see your business" without getting hammered with an offer. So the first thing you need to do is invest in a nice camera and then fall in love with it. A roofers proof is in their work so you need to document every job with a before and after picture and then post those to Facebook with a nice post (Don't worry, I'll show you what to post)

There might be a little controversy around the next thing I'm going to tell you so take the advice for what it is. I believe that you should have a Facebook business page to post all your photos too but I want you to focus on posting the pictures on your personal profile also. The reason I say that is because if you just post it to your fan page, only the people who have "LIKED" your page will see the photos in their news feed. The odds are you probably have 100 fans or less on your fan page and probably have over 1,000 friends on your personal profile. That being said, you're potential eyeball reach is much greater with posting it to your personal profile.

Post something like this:

"I just wanted to congratulate John Smith on the completion of his new roof. Your home is a huge investment and I'm proud that you chose QuickFix Roofing to protect it with a brand new roof. Take a look at these pictures to see the before and afters of John's home."

EVERY homeowner like's to see before and after pictures, whether it's for a roof or a kitchen or whatever... We like to see dramatic changes that improve the look of a home because we can all relate to that.

Now, think about how powerful this is for your roofing business. Even people that are not currently in the market for a roof are going to look at those pictures because that's what people do when they are on facebook. Nobody is going to get mad because you are posting new before and after pictures, in fact they might actually look forward to seeing the pictures all the time. This is top of mind marketing at its best. So you have all these Facebook users who are constantly seeing the quality work that your company does because there is social proof with the before and after pictures. When this person is in the market for anew roof or one of their friends asks for a referral, there is a VERY HIGH chance that they are going to think of your business.

Verify Your Information Sources When You Generate Leads

There are times when people underestimate the role of information in accounting. What people think is nothing but the practice of bookkeeping and keeping financial records. They don't realize that there's more to the task like digging into that information and retrieving only the most relevant data.

Speaking of which, one of the most classical challenges in such tasks is the quality of information. Obviously, one significant criteria is the source. If your information didn't come from reliable and reputable sources, then the information is likely to be just as untrustworthy.

Thus, it's important for you to verify your sources and assure the quality of your data.

Speaking of which though, you're still a B2B company. Are you aware that this same emphasis on reputable sources also applies to lead generation services?

Whether these services are outsourced or formed out of the pocket of your own business, the difference in information still doesn't eliminate the need to verify its source. For example, does your lead generator really work hard to get the data or are they utilizing questionable shortcuts? It might be understandable if not enough money really went into the process but in cases otherwise, you are obviously being ripped off.

Please know that there is a difference between cost-efficiency and the cheap service of the poor kind. With regards to B2B sales leads, the information you get must be comprehensive. From the contact information they used to get in touch with the accounting prospect to knowing their more specific accounting needs (this in turn should help determine what kind of information they'd find relevant), this is what quality information should cover. Sources that take really bad shortcuts are likely to miss out on any of these critical business details in the same way bad accounting misses important financial ones.

It also helps to make sure that the information they gathered is up-to-date and is not just torn off old databases. Old data is more or less just dead data that wasn't deleted. Don't risk hitting a dead end and make sure your lead generator only gives you new information (or at least information that hasn't changed since the last time they checked).

These standards additionally apply to your appointment setter. You can tell if the appointment was poorly set when you finally meet the prospect but they haven't been filled in on all the details that you specified. This might result in poor communication, demands for clarification, and in the worst case, utter rejection and a bad referral. Then again, you clearly wouldn't even want this to happen so it's really important that such appointments are made only after verifying your sources.

When it comes to any task the relies on information, be it electronic information, contact information, business information, or in your case, financial information, always check your sources. This is a basic rule of thumb which expands various fields, disciplines, and industries. It doesn't matter what the source itself might say when the results will speak for themselves. Acting on bad information only results in bad decisions. Bad decisions often, if not always, lead to disaster.

This news article is brought to you by HEALTH-AND-FITNESS - where latest news are our top priority.

What Product Managers Can Learn From A Handgun

I can't tell you how many times I've been working with clients who are trying to enter new markets by copying products that are already being sold. If you want to be a "me-too" product manager, you can do this. However, if you really understand the way that product development definition should be done and want to be a breakthrough product manager who rules your market, then maybe you should take a lesson from the handgun manufacturer Glock...

A Product Innovation Story

Handguns aren't new. In fact they've been around for a long time. Everyone knows pretty much what they look like, what they do, and who makes them. The market is dominated by such big name firms as Smith & Wesson, Heckler & Koch, Sig Sauer, Beretta, and Steyr. You wouldn't think that that even the best product manager out there would stand a chance of being able to introduce a new product into this crowded market.

Apparently nobody told Gaston Glock this. As described in a new book, Glock: The Rise of America's Gun, Gaston just happened to be in the right place at the right time back in 1980 and overhead two Austrian colonels talking about the Austrian military's need for new pistols. Gaston then did what any good product manager would do, he went and talked with the customer.

The customer in this case was the Austrian defense minister. The minister agreed to allow Gaston to bid on the handgun contract. Gaston then had to come up with a product to sell. He knew nothing about handguns so he went out and bought his competitor's products and proceeded to take them apart in order to learn how to build a better product.

The gun that he ended up creating was nothing like the guns that were currently on the market. The Glock 17 (so called because it was the 17th gun that Gaston made) was made out of industrial plastic which both made it lighter and more resistant to corrosion. The handgun was also built out of several subgroups that made it easy to remove and replace. Gaston won the handgun contract with the Austrian military.

How To Market A Gun In A Crowded Market

As we product managers are all too aware of, just having a better product does not assure your product of success and isn't good enough to put on your product manager resume. If you really want to capture a significant part of your market, then you are going to have to do some serious marketing.

In the case of the Glock guns, it was Karl Walter who took the Glock to the United States. He faced an uphill battle getting this new and fairly ugly looking gun to be a success. At the time, the Smith & Wesson company ruled the market.

Walter did what any good product manager should do, he focused on getting the Glock to be considered by people who were going to be buying a gun. He did this by getting the Glock to be featured in the October 1984 edition of the Soldier of Fortune magazine. He followed this up by getting Glocks used in product placements in both Hollywood films and television shows.

Once the Glock was adopted by the likes of the Secret Service and the FBI the game was over. Glock had won. What Glock had shown is that a carefully managed promotional campaign can help even a new product to enter a market and to capture a significant market share.

What All Of This Means For You

You may not be the product manager for a firearm, but the story of how the Glock handgun was created and what made it successful probably has a story for you. Just because you are trying to enter a crowed, well established market doesn't mean that you have to copy the products that are already being sold there.

Innovation is a word that is tossed around a lot these days, but it holds a special meaning for product managers. If we take the time to focus on what our customers' real needs are before we start to define our product, then we have the real possibility of doing what Glock did and transforming our market. Almost sounds like this is something that you'd find in a product manager job description, doesn't it?

Just because you make a superior product doesn't mean that the world is going to beat a path to your product management door. Instead, you are going to be the person who is responsible for making sure that the word gets out about how wonderful your product is. Follow the example that has been given to us by Glock and your product should have a shot at being successful.

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Marketing Your Dental Practice - Discover 4 Strong Tips on the Power of Google+ (This Is For You)

Marketing your dental practice? Google+ Local is a great place for you to be marketing your dental practice. It's replacing the Yellow Pages, and it's one of the options that Google gives you for free.

How many times have you personally picked up the Yellow Pages in the last year when you were looking for something locally?

You need to have this marketing tool in your marketing tool belt. Google+ Local will enable you to take advantage of all of the "Google juice" the number one site on the internet can provide. Google+ Local will help you put your dental practice in front of your potential clients.

So what's in it for you?

Why do you want to use Google+ Local?

Google is about relevance, when people search Google wants them to find what they are looking for. You want to be found by the people in your local area when they are looking for a dentist!

4 great reasons to hop on board now and add this to your marketing tool belt!

1. It's free. Any business owner can go in and claim their business. You don't have to have a website. You do not have to have an existing online presence. In fact, this could be where you start to build your online presence.

2. You want people to find you. Google is the number one search engine. When you claim the listing for your dental practice, provide all the requested information and maintain it on a consistent basis; Google is going to give you credit so that your dental practice will show up higher in the rankings. Which means local people will find you when they are looking for a local dentist

3. You can be very specific about your business. Google offers many categories, one of them is "dentist" or perhaps you wish to use "orthodontist" as you can select more than one category.

4. You have the option of inputting any description about your dental practice. Use this to your advantage and uniquely describe your dental practice. What makes you stand out from the other practices? List all of the services that you do best and describe why you are the best in your area. You would definitely want to ask a few of your current patients why they come to you, what makes the difference for them. You can insert those into your description.

Bonus Tip - when you create your new Google+ Local account create a new generic gmail address that you can allow anyone in your dental practice to use. If you use your personal email account you will be stuck doing all the work instead of being able to delegate to others in your practice.

Your Social Media Marketing Is Overkill

Social media marketing is an evolution. It's a different way to sell things and there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind...

1. Don't overdo it.

2. Be respectful of your network.

3. Share valuable content occasionally.

There you go. These 3 guidelines will give you a pretty solid social media strategy. Read them again because I see far too many businesses who don't "get it".

Ignore these guidelines at your own risk; your efforts will probably backfire.

Don't Overdo It

If you're posting more than once a day you're overdoing it.

I've seen a lot of small business owners start to develop a following, get some responses and engagement from them and then get really excited about it. That's natural, when building up a business every bit of positive feedback is exciting!

But in social media, less is often more. The goal is to keep in touch with your contacts and earn their trust over time. You want them to remember you and be receptive to what you have to share or say so you can develop the relationship with them and eventually earn their business or get referrals from them once they trust you.

Guess what happens when you flood their feed with several updates every day?

They block you or remove you. You're spamming them.

Provide Value to Your Network

Remember that I've chosen to connect with you. I'm looking for things that benefit me, so if all you're doing is wasting my time then I will get rid of you. You should never be posting more than once a day in the first case and even that's probably overkill.

Remember that old saying about having two ears and one mouth? There's some truth in it and if you don't have something with value to share then you probably shouldn't post it.

Remember, social marketing is not the same as sharing cute pictures with your friends on Facebook. You're a professional who is trying to sell a product or service and you need to work to build trust and be taken seriously.

Why are you undoing all of your hard work?

Let's look at it another way. You've worked (or even paid) to build up your network so why are you driving them away? I see the same thing happen with businesses and customer service or problem resolution.

Stop and think about what you're doing for before you hit that button.

Roofer Marketing - Open Your Eyes, There's a Lead!

As many of you may already know, my background is in Real Estate and Mortgage Lending! It is there that I learned how to market my business and realized that I was pretty good at it! With that being said, I wanted to share with you a quick roofer marketing strategy that you can use to drum up some business.

So let's dive right in shall we? I was sitting at lunch with one of my roofing clients the other day going over all his current marketing campaigns! One thing he and many of you do is get out there and knock on doors (which is guerrilla marketing at its best) of homes that look like they could use a new roof and offer to do a free inspection and estimate. Like I mentioned to you earlier, I am a big believer in this strategy for a roofer because I've seen it work very well! However, there is a way to perhaps find more "motivated" roof candidates than simply finding someone with a rough looking roof top!

Have you ever driven by a house and seen one of those metal signs in the yard? You know, the ones that are FOR SALE!!!! BAM now that's a good target. Why is this a good target? When someone is selling a home that has a roof that looks like it is on its last leg, that is a big drawback for a buyer. A buyer may skim over that property simply because they look at a new roof as being a LARGE expense (rightfully so)... but most think that it's a bigger deal than it really is! So by having an estimate in hand, the seller can say to the buyer that we've already had the roof replacement priced out and here's the estimate. That alone can eliminate a lot of fear for the buyer because now they can see a real bid from a local roofing contractor and know exactly what it's going to cost to have the new roof put on!

Let me tell you how this ties in to the "Lending" side of a real estate transaction. For most lenders out there, if the roof has a life span of less than three years, they require the roof to be fixed before they will lend money to the buyer of the home. What normally happens is the buyer goes back to the seller and tries to negotiate for them to have the roof replaced. The reason this is good for the roofing contractor is because one way or another if the seller wants to sell this house, the roof must be fixed.

Here's the strategy... When you are out looking for doors to knock on, look at all the properties that are for sale. Instead of knocking on the door, call the Realtor who has the property listed for sale. Say something like this...

"Mr. or Mrs. Realtor, my name is John Roofer from Quick Fix Roofing. I was driving around the city today and noticed that the property on 123 Any Street that you have listed for sale looked like it might need a new roof. I understand that a bad roof can be a big mental obstacle for a potential buyer so it might be good just to have an estimate in hand to show them. Let's face it, we both know a roof is expensive but most buyers probably think that it's more expensive than it really is! Do you think the sellers would mind if I came over and gave a free no obligation estimate?"

If you get an estimate in the home owners hands and that roof ends up being a "required fix" by the lender, there is a REALLY good chance that you are going to get that job. In addition to that, you will begin to build relationships with real estate professionals who will call on you when work needs to be done!

This is one of my favorite roofer marketing strategies and should be put in you "Play Book" immediately!

Now... Go put a roof on!

How To Take Full Advantage Of Trade Shows

While some businesses might dread attending trade events, for others, it is a fantastic method to market their brand and connect with new clients. You can improve your products and brand exposure at trade shows, push new products, produce new revenue and create many leads. Not just will you improve your profits with new sales, industry events also supply you with a opportunity to see what your competitors are working on. You are going to make new contacts and get the scoop on new business trends.

To get the most out of your conference, you should follow these ideas. Your advertising initiative ought to not be restricted to the conference itself, for the greatest outcome, it ought to begin beforehand and carry on after the show. Your marketing and advertising ought to assist bring in potential clientele as well as increase income. Having the appropriate presentation area for your organization is crucial. Examine numerous configurations, sizes and styles to determine the best one for your spending budget and marketing needs.

Promote your brand properly by selecting potent graphic elements within your presentation area which includes premium poster printing. In all of your choices, bear in mind the communication and marketing information you need to pass on. Your trade show ad banners, trade show booth, flyers along with other advertising documents should all adhere to similar design principles. Use compelling visuals and materials to generate a hype around your conference display. You are looking for your presentation area to jump out so that show participants will wish to come in.

Superb accessories can be a good sale help for your exhibition booth. Audio-visual aid, furniture, flooring and lighting are all important. By choosing the right accessories you will give your sales space polish and extra impact. The appearance of your personnel is also very important. Your staff will take care of visitors in an attempt to produce prospects so they ought to be outfitted in a way that properly represents the organization.

Individuals who come to your stand are more motivated and will make far better sale leads. Your marketing and advertising initiative has been unsuccessful if your personnel has to stand in the isle to lure guests to your trade show booth. Make sure that your content and sales displays are powerful and will attract folks. Your communication message needs to be straightforward and well displayed via your visual designs. Make certain your stand looks much better than your neighbors. If all of the exhibitors appear exactly the same, guests will not feel obligated to pay a visit to each one of them.

Custom Flags Wave "Bye Bye" to the Competition

Have you ever seen the long black stretch limousines with the tiny fluttering flags of the VIPs who are driven inside? The flags in this case are the country flags of the land they serve. For those who want special recognition and better brand familiarity and knowledge, custom flags add uniqueness and promotion at a limited cost with the maximum result. You too can use custom flags to feel like a world class ambassador for your company, product, or service!

Where can you place custom flags? If you are one who wants to add some flash to your car, flags can be specially mounted on your vehicles. On each of the four corners of your car may be installed flags showing your company name or other information.

If this doesn't appeal to you, try more traditional means of flag advertising. Many times custom flags grace the entrance to a new housing project, gated community, or other special place. The lawn in front of the country club will most likely display a minimum of half a dozen flags with various banner information. These are both decorative and informative. Sometimes they are advertisements (done in good taste, of course) or show the city's or club's logo. The club may have a banner of its own that it wants to display. These custom flags are slim and attractive, colorful and graceful. They don't shout at their viewers, merely wave and display their information in a beauty pageant style of attraction rather than promotion.

When you use custom fabric flags and banners, be advised that there are many types. They may be created in a feather shape for a promotional look. Others are more like inverted carrot shapes with the upper end wider than its base. A straight, triangular, or oval shape is also used. Because they are elegantly defined, they can fit into small places where other advertisements simply wouldn't fit. The elongated look of cloth banners and flags give the message of less being more, because their unspoken powerful message is truly concentrated. It is not an exaggeration to say that these advertising banners and flags are a medium of beauty, grace, and harmony, especially when they are softly billowing in the breeze.

Believe it or not, flags can be placed on motorcycles, motorbikes and even golf carts to state their message. The pirate flag is a popular novelty design, and so are the Confederate or American flags. They add a little something extra. Those who want to show that they are different - and maybe a bit better - than the rest freely take advantage of the unique advertising message and medium that flags have to offer.

Custom flags are made of a synthetic material that will withstand fading, adverse weather and very rarely tear in the wind. The material is color-fast, meaning that you can choose colors in your company or brand name's logo and it will be recognizable for a long time to come. These fabric flags may be mounted on a flexible pole that stays firm and erect but will work with normal weather conditions and go with the wind flow. This combination, after many years of trial and error, has proven to be one of the most effective ones. These custom nylon or polyester flags are meant to be displayed outdoors and are prepared to show their true colors and message for a long time.

You can also use custom banners or flags for an indoor display. Because of their slim shape, they fill out a nook or corner area that would be hard to utilize with any other display options. These slender advertisements can be placed next to each other to create a United Nations look of colorful display, in pairs or trios in a narrow corner. Even individually, fabric banners and flags are concentrated ads - their slight framework seems to explode on the scene, drawing attention to all viewers, young and old. Almost everyone wants to know what the custom flags are all about.

This news article is brought to you by PET-FRIENDLY-RENTALS - where latest news are our top priority.

Marketing Statistics That Show That Email and Online Marketing Is the Way to Go

Exploring and knowing marketing stats can help prepare a marketer for the next move to make for their company. Based on these marketing statistics, we can figure out what exactly we should do, where to focus our efforts on, how to do that, and what we should start fixing up in our marketing approaches. So, let us explore a few of these marketing statistics and what we can do with them.

1/3 of the world's population is on the Internet - Knowing this, you should be able to surmise that online marketing is a sure-fire way to establish your presence. And since such a large fraction of the total populace is online, marketers have already started making great usage of email marketing in doing business. They even go as far as to buy email lists from list providers and list vendors that can provide them with the data and B2B leads they need. With a large number of people being on the Internet, it is surely a wise choice to start investing in online marketing methods and other such things.

44% of direct mail is never opened - Although not being over 50%, the percentage is frightfully high. Over the years, direct mail has become an inefficient and quite expensive way of marketing. And seeing such figures, you may start wondering just how much of your sent marketing and business mails remain unopened by your prospects. For this, marketers have turned to email marketing as a more efficient and inexpensive alternative to direct mail. That being said, email marketing is now the way to go for generating new B2B leads in opposition to direct mail.

59% of B2B marketers say that email is an effective revenue generator - A lot of marketers seem to agree that email is the new way to go for generating revenue. Although some will oppose them and say that direct mail is still one of the best to use, well, we can all attest to those words through our own experiences with using email as a B2B lead generator for increased profits. The rate at which acquires B2B leads through email marketing is high, and you can drag in a lot of leads on a daily basis, given of course your content is relevant to your prospects. Due to this, list providers and list vendors all over are scouring the entire area and looking for customers to buy their email lists. And as an important part of how an email marketing campaign runs, a list of emails really is a necessity.

Based on these 3 statistics, you can say that online marketing is becoming quite popular and offers the best opportunity for you to get some business going. Go with email marketing then. With figures like these, you can see that using email marketing may just be to your advantage. Also, another statistic shows that emails sent during the morning have higher click-through rates, meaning that the ideal time to send your marketing and business emails to your prospects would be during their morning hours while they work. However, this move also entails that you'll need to start learning about different email platforms and start buying email marketing lists for your campaign. Luckily, there are a lot of service providers that you can work with, email marketing firms and list providers for example, to help you beef up and make your email marketing campaign effective in generating B2B leads.

Is Your Website Suffering From "Personality Disorders?"

Injecting personality into your website is one of the most effective ways to convey a human touch. Visitors are attracted to accessible, unintimidating websites just as we're interested in friendly, easy-going people.

But not all of us are blessed with effortless charm, and likewise many websites exhibit off-putting traits.

Is your website suffering from any of these common "personality disorders"?

1. Narcissism (or, Excessive "Self-Love")

You can spot a narcissistic website by endless declarations of "we do this" and "we believe in that".

Yes, you need to convey your vision - but not in a way that leaves your visitors out in the cold. There should be far more statements about "you" rather than "us" or "we".

Take the emphasis off yourself and speak directly to your customers. It's all about what you can you do for them.

2. Histrionic (or, Attention-Seeking and Inappropriately Seductive)

Powerful headlines are a great way to grab attention. But don't make promises you can't keep.

If you promise your product will make someone rich or happy or skinny, you'd better be able to deliver.

Outrageous claims can ruin reputations. There's nowhere to hide on the internet - all it takes is one person to find out that your promise was a lie, and you'll be exposed on review and social network sites.

Forget the histrionics, and focus instead on providing value and building trust.

3. Obsessive-Compulsive (or, Excessive Rigidity)

We've all seen obsessive-compulsive or excessively rigid web copy. Something like: "We pride ourselves on our core competency and corporate values."

Say what?!

Jargon is not just incomprehensible to most of us, it's also deeply annoying.

Loosen up and learn to write in Plain English, which is all about clarity, brevity, and the avoidance of technical language or "businessese".

4. Passive-Aggressive (or, Negative Attitudes)

Your website is not the place for doubt or negativity. You're on the global stage, competing against thousands of other businesses.

That means presenting your company in the best possible light.

If you need to be honest about something, do so in a way that turns a perceived negative into a positive. A perfect example is Avis's classic slogan: "We're Number 2, so we try harder."

Tell your visitors why you're special, and they just might believe you.

5. Anti-social (or, Lack of Interest in Social Relationships)

If you haven't tapped into the power of social media and networking, then you're not merely anti-social - you're self-sabotaging.

Social media sites are satellites for your main website, working in harmony to:

• Improve your industry clout
• Gain greater control of your online image
• Improve your organic search visibility
• Expand your market

Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google +, there's a good social media fit for even the most reluctant anti-socialite.

You don't have to master them all. In fact, you shouldn't. Find the network that best suits your market, and engage.

6. Self-Defeating (or, Willfully Choosing to Fail)

Your website is self-defeating if it's not built around established goals with corresponding calls-to-action. Without these, your site is like a rudderless ship at sea.

On each page there should be clear prompts encouraging your visitors to undertake desired actions. If you're selling products you need a "buy now" or "add to cart" button. If you have a service, you need "find out more".

It's even better if you use incentives such as "sign up for free tips" in order to capture visitors' email addresses. If you don't have an opt-in facility, you're wilfully losing sales.

Email is the critical link between casual visitors and future customers. Used effectively, your email list can become one of the highest return assets of your business.

A "Healthy Personality" Website

So how can you ensure your website is free of "personality disorders"?

Here's a healthy prescription:

• Shine a light on your qualifications, achievements, and creativity.
• Where possible, offer social proof.
• Demonstrate your understanding of your target market.
• Tell stories.
• Prove you care about your audience by asking questions.
• Be proud, but humble.

And always always always put your customers first.

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Let's Start Guerrilla Marketing for Your Events

You must have heard about "guerrilla warfare"! If not then let me explain it to you. "Guerrilla warfare" is when a small band of soldiers adopt unusual tactics to defeat a large group of enemies. In the events industry, guerrilla marketing means implementing selective unconventional advertising strategies to increase sales.

Many event organizers are applying guerrilla marketing techniques to enhance event attendance and generate high revenues. This type of a marketing strategy comes at a cost-effective rate, so you don't really spend much in the implementation phase. Through the usage of graffiti, sticker bombing, flash mobs, etc. you can attract a large section of people to your events and activities, resulting in higher enrollment numbers.

Let's figure out the various forms of guerrilla marketing plans for your events.

Graffiti

Graffiti has immediate eye-catching appeal. You can create colorful, attractive graffiti, graphics, and murals and place them across select locations throughout the city to bombard your target audience. Reverse graffiti is also becoming increasingly popular as a means of advertising. It means cleaning a dirty surface to produce something highly interesting and unusual. For example, you can clean the windscreen of an unwashed car to write down "Wash Me". Domino's have used a lot of reverse graffiti in an effort to set up a sustainable advertising campaign. They used water, carbon offsetting, etc. to create images as part of their guerrilla marketing campaign strategy.

Sticker Bombing

It is also known as sticker tagging and is used by event marketers to display their company logo or upcoming event details using stickers. You can embark on an extensive sticker bombing campaign by gluing stickers on lamp posts on busy streets, in the parks, on the walls of shopping malls, on near a movie theater, etc. You can add an electronic scan panel on the stickers (having your organization's URL) so that passers-by can connect with you via their cell phones or Smartphone.

Flash Mobs

Flash mobs have gained tremendous popularity not only in USA, but around the world. You can easily organize a flash mob to promote your latest fundraising campaign by hiring some performers who will start dancing to the tunes of say "Friends" by Beatles. You will see how quickly you literally grab the attention of passers-by who stand for a minute or two to see what's happening. You may see many of them starting to dance, eventually turning the five-minute dance into an hour long road-block party. You must put on a banner next to the performers for the people to know the reason for this brief performance.

Giveaways

An easy way to generate interest in your events and campaigns is by giving away freebies for example, a cool badge or a friendship band. This exercise of giving gifts to potential customers can create some immediate visibility. For online events, you can provide a free CD containing you past events videos, etc.

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Feel Powerless To Maximize Trade Show ROI? Try These Two Key Ways - Gain Control At The Next Event

No matter which convention events your business attends, chances are you're operating with a heavy focus on one specific goal: to maximize trade show ROI at every function. It's no secret that participating in industry conventions can come with a substantial price tag as well as drain internal resources and staff. Without a positive return on the overall investment, why attend?

How Can You Tell If Your Business Does Maximize Trade Show ROI?

While every business leader will agree that it's imperative to maximize trade show ROI, many find themselves struggling to accurately gauge the exact results yielded from any function. Sure, there are some tangible, but vague, details that can easily be managed such as generated leads and approximate number of handouts distributed throughout the event. But when it comes to really honing in on exactly how many goals and objectives were met at a convention, the analytical waters tend to get a bit muddied.

Frustrated, many executives find themselves simply going through the motions and hoping for the best. Fortunately, business owners in any vertical do have two powerful resources at their disposal. Incorporating two critical methods can quickly help them take control over their preparation and execution efforts and ensure they are consistently doing their best to maximize trade show ROI at every convention.

Two Critical Tactics To Help Your Business Successfully Navigate Each Event

What is the first step every executive should take toward achieving optimal return on investment? Utilizing a professional resource for tradeshow booth staff training. Sure, you have a seasoned team of account executives generating revenue for your organization on a daily basis. However, manning exhibits at an industry convention is a unique experience that requires extensive, specific training. Your staff will face an onslaught of visitor traffic throughout the day with little to no insight on each guest's particular needs and interests. Having your crew undergo tradeshow booth staff training will help give them the skills and tactics they'll need to successfully leverage each conversation for maximum results. Throughout the training process, they'll learn the art of tradeshow conversation that not only differentiates genuine interest from casual passersby, but also effectively drives the dialog to a lead or even a sale. If you're currently not working with a vendor that specializes in tradeshow booth staff training, it needs to be put on the top of your to-do list, stat!

Secondly, in order to truly manage, modify and manipulate your overall event execution, your business needs to have a valid way to analyze metrics for trade shows. The inspection of data collected from events needs to run deep, far beyond the surface statistics most companies can compile on their own. Instead, team with a firm that offers various analytical resources that will help your organization fully understand its current metrics for trade shows. From conversion stats to determining which conventions yield the best overall results, implementing a viable tool for considering metrics for trade shows will give you real time input to tweak your existing plan and help your business proactively maximize trade show ROI in an entirely new way!

This news article is brought to you by LOVE - where latest news are our top priority.

The Best Form of Marketing for Pressure Cleaning Companies

In Google alone over 500,000 searches are made relating to the pressure cleaning industry in the United States alone. That is potential customers searching for pressure cleaning, power washing, pressure washing, concrete cleaning, house washing and other industry related searches.

Pressure cleaning or high pressure water cleaning is a service that has been around for approximately 50 years. It is very popular in the US and many other parts of the world, because it is cost effective and can transform the appearance of a house or property.

Pressure cleaning can remove many common stains such as general dirt, moss, mould, oil, grease, paint, blood and tree sap. Any type of substrate can also be cleaned with pressurised water such as concrete, brick, pavers, sandstone, wood, metal, plastic outdoor furniture, natural stone and tiles.

Marketing is probably the most important function of your business. You must generate customers or you will go out of business. The yellow pages has been highly effective to create customers for many years and probably would be the most effective form of advertising over the last 20 years. However, the times have changed and we have now entered the digital age.

Even the older generation have realized that the internet and computer technology is the way of the world now and it simply cannot be ignored.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is now the new yellow pages. It puts your message in front of ready to go buyers and it widespread. Just about every home and businees in the United States has access to the internet. When people look on the internet and find your company details, they are ready to buy.

Flyers, Radio or TV ads, signs or billboards, direct mail have their place but they are not targeted traffic. People who read a flyer or billboard or the like are not necessarily looking to engage in pressure cleaning services in the immediate or near future so it is not the most effective style of marketing. You want to prioritize your message for those customer or buyers who are ready to buy, people who are seeking out you and not the people who you are seeking out.

When some body logs on to the internet opens up Google and types in pressure cleaning into the search field, it is a safe bet to say that they are looking for pressure cleaning services in the not too distant future. I do not know about you but I would prefer to have my message in front of 10 of those people as opposed to 50 even 100 or 500 people who are considered cold or random and not qualified who have demonstrated no desired for pressure cleaning services.

The return on investment for prominent search engine rankings in my opinion is the best option for passive marketing. Of course it is a good idea to have a short list of the customers you want to work with and have a plan on keeping in contact with them as well. However this is not passive and requires your time and energy, therefore cannot be leverage as effectively.

If your business does not have a good online presence, re-think your marketing strategy today!

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How to Make Fancy Work for You

There are no limits today as to what direct sellers can use to market their products. From the tradition of hosting a party or going from house to house selling their wares, nowadays, direct sellers use social media, mobile, and other platforms in order to reach their audience.

Social media is definitely playing a huge part in many direct selling campaigns. Both companies and the direct sellers themselves are taking advantage of the different platforms in order to engage and interact with their consumers.

One of the newest and most popular social media platforms of today that's making waves all over the world is Pinterest. It currently boasts a reported 11 million users who are enjoying the virtual pinboard. Even direct sellers can take advantage of the platform since it's a great way to engage with your audience and find products that they love.

But there's another site that's starting to create a buzz and is comparable to Pinterest. The site is called Fancy and it started out having similar functions as Pinterest, where you can "Fancy" things and create a catalog of your favorite things around the web. But now it has transformed itself into something unique - it recently launched an ecommerce business that their CEO Joseph Einhorn believes may even rival the giant Amazon.

In the past, Fancy offered coupons and discounts to people who "fancied" certain products. But now, whenever a person "fancies" something, companies, retailers and merchants can now bid on who gets to sell the product or item. It doesn't even have to be the exact item, but can be something simply similar to that product.

Some people say it's like groupon in reverse. Instead of companies offering deals to everyone, people who "fancy" an item are instead offered good deals by companies or merchants. You can now easily purchase items from a site you enjoy visiting and get inspiration from. How great is that?

As a direct seller, should you consider Fancy in your marketing campaign?

If you've considered Pinterest, then you should definitely consider Fancy as well. With Pinterest, it's more about connecting, engaging, and finding inspiration from lovely things, yet most of the time, it doesn't really translate into sales. But with Fancy, you now have the power to bid on a product that someone fancies and sell it to that person right on the site. A user fancying a product can easily translate into direct sales for you.
Also, surprisingly, even though Pinterest has over 11 million users according to reports, the average pins per user are only 3. However with Fancy, which only has around 250,000 registered users, the average number of fancies per user is 66.

So even though there are significantly more users in Pinterest, Fancy users are a lot more active and passionate about what they're fancying. As a direct seller, you can really take advantage of this knowledge.

Here are some tips on how to make Fancy work for you:

1. Start fancying

Before you can begin making Fancy work for you, it's important that you understand the platform, how it works, and how people are using it. Sign up and start fancying what you find as well as the things other people have fancied. Make your own personal catalog and show off your favorite things. You need to learn how the site works so you can make it work for you.

2. Start connecting

Just like any other social media platform, Fancy is all about connecting with others. In addition to fancying products that you discovered yourself, it's also a good idea to fancy products from other people's catalogues. You also have the option of interacting with other users by commenting on their catalogues and items they've fancied. This creates a conversation between the two of you and helps you connect.

By following other people, you can hopefully obtain followers as well, and this helps you understand what your audience is interested in and how it translates to the products you're offering.

3. Start selling

As a direct seller, of course you want the end result to translate into direct sales, and Fancy can help you with that. Since you have the option of bidding on a particular item, product or service, then something that someone has fancied can result in a sale for you if you win the bid.

It's important that you keep up with the trends and always be on the lookout for what people are fancying though. You want to be updated whenever someone fancies a product you're selling or something related to it.

Fancy can definitely work for direct sellers, but it's essential that you understand the platform first and how to engage with other users so you can really use the site to your advantage. Just wait and see, and Fancy may just be the next big thing in social selling.

Simple Techniques For Getting More Traffic From The Various Search Engines

Getting traffic from the search engines like Google is something that is becoming more challenging each year due to the amount of competition that's out there in just about every niche available. Behind every website that ends up competing with you to be able to get traffic is another person who is doing everything they can to be able to get top search engine rankings for their internet site. Once an internet site is out ranking you and so long as the owner of that site continues to perform SEO it is going to be very hard for you to take their place. If you're one of the people that are attempting to get more search engine traffic you will be happy to know that we are talking about a number of ways you are able to do that here.

Whatever the site title is for your page is the actual link that you need to have on your navigation menu which ought to also be on every page of your internet site. In relation to actually using this method you need to realize that the search engines will have an even better idea of what your web pages are all about, and it will be easier for your website visitors to navigate your site.

To increase your chances of getting higher search engine rankings, something you may want to consider is targeting key words which are not as popular, such as long tail keywords. Targeting a key word phrase such as "how did you lose weight", can end up providing you with a higher page rank, perhaps on the first page, that will end up providing you more visitors than a twentieth page ranking for a key word such as "Losing Weight".

In relation to link building every person already knows that they need to do this, but it is the kind of links you are building that is going to help you with your search engine ranking, so make certain the pages which are linking to your internet site or web pages are about the same subject. One of the greatest ways to make certain you are getting links from pages that have the same kind of content as your website is to use article marketing because you are able to develop articles on the same topic of your website and include a link in them.

The content of your site is also going to be very imperative on how Google will rank your internet site, so you will need to ensure you have plenty of quality content. It's also going to be vitally important for you to keep your content updated regularly, daily if possible, because this is one more thing the various search engines love.

The SE's like Google also love video, and by including this on your website you'll be giving the search engines more content that they will be able to index within their results.

When you begin implementing all the suggestions that we have mentioned above, the amount of traffic you start getting should start to increase. There is one more thing I would actually like to mention and that's the point that there are many different traffic creating strategies that can be very effective other than obtaining traffic from the search engines.

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Craigslist: The Key to Finding Private Yoga Clients

As a yoga teacher, you already know the importance of teaching private yoga lessons as a source of income. One of the most effective ways to reach private yoga clients is through Craigslist. The modern-day Yellow Pages, Craigslist is used by millions of people to find local services and products. Best of all, it's free! There are various techniques that the pros use to find success on Craigslist. When I earned my yoga teaching certification, I quickly sat down to learn the techniques that internet guru's brought to the table and applied it to yoga marketing. Within a few days, I had my first private yoga client, thanks to Craigslist.

What is Craigslist? In 1995, a software engineer named Craig Newmark started Craigslist as an email list for friends and co-workers about events going on in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally intended as a hobby, Craigslist blew up and expanded to nearly every city in the US and even overseas. People use Craigslist to find jobs, housing, goods, services, romance, local activities, advice - just about anything really.

To give you an idea of just how popular Craigslist is...
• In the U.S. alone, over 50 million users.
• 50 billion page views per month

When people are looking for a yoga teacher for private yoga lessons, typically they follow the following process. First, they ask around. Word of mouth is, and always will be, the most effective form of marketing. Next, they search the internet. The place to go to find local products and services online is Craigslist. So now that you know where to market yourself, it's up to you to write compelling, stand-out advertisements and give people a reason to choose you as their private yoga teacher.

Writing a compelling advertisement is the key to attracting customers. A well written ad will feature credibility indicators such as testimonials, etc. It should clearly list out the benefits of yoga practice and why your offerings as a yoga teacher are different and stand out from others. It should clearly state your rates for private and group instruction and have a link to your personal yoga website, or at least your contact information. On top of all this, the advertisement needs to 'pop' for the reader. A catchy title and pictures in the ad are critical for giving it a professional appeal.

Craigslist has been, and continues to be a reliable source of leads for my yoga teaching business. I constantly keep a maintained ad up on their website 24/7. Give it a try. With any luck, you'll manifest private clients in no time with a compelling advertisement tailored for marketing yoga.

The Advantage of Using Feedback Form to Improve Customer Service

Feedback Form is one excellent medium for gathering comments, suggestions and customers' views about your business. It is a good way of knowing how you are faring in your customer service.

If you have a feedback form attached to your website, you deliberately provide a gateway for continuous customer engagement. Of course, it is assumed that garnering more information from your customers through the feedback form means that you are actively responding to the information submitted to you.

With the ongoing trend where most of your customers are buying or shopping online, it is very important that your website has feedback form. It is also important that you must be candid about how you deal with the feedbacks being submitted to you.

Make sure that your feedback form is accessed easily. Offer several ways in which your customers could give their feedback. The customary feedback form will do but you must also provide email address, fax number, mobile and land phone. You may place an invitation for your customers to visit you personally if they wanted to.

Customers would be delighted to read your gracious attitude when after they submitted the feedback form they filled up a message of appreciation would pop up to welcome their comments. This creates the impression that your customers have great part in shaping your business as you express your gratitude and you are happy to act on their feedback.

Some sites provide animation and video to spark the interest of their customers to fill up the feedback form. For them, getting feedback from their clients is their way of gauging how they may improve their customer service. It is also through this feedback mechanism where they learn about the status of their products, especially those newly launched.

Feedback form could be presented as a poll where customers could tick their choice for the specific matter that you are presenting. You may opt to provide venue for discussing further their opinion.

Take note that you must be able to collate the information gathered through your feedback form and provide immediate actions, especially to feedbacks that need urgent response.

Expect more customer engagement when they are getting responses for the feedback that they submit to you. Meaning, you must clearly state in your website how your company responds to customer feedback. Present a customer-friendly feedback policy that is easy to read, understand and follow.

Don't fret about the thought of being inundated with customer feedbacks, the effort and expenses to process the information. Think about what your business can gain successfully in your customer service engagement if you have a solid feedback form system.

Find the interactive feedback form that provides complete portal for getting customer comments and suggestions that is vital for improving your customer service engagement. Make use of innovative customer feedback form program that enables you to process and update information that comes through your site and other media.

Promote Events With Free Event Listing Sites

In the era of online marketing and promotion, event listing websites are a major component of an event marketing strategy. Research shows that using free event listing websites can give organizers unlimited access to numerous attendees in no time. Hence, it's important for organizers to make the best use of these websites, so that they get the needful exposure and publicity in the market.

Using these websites is definitely a great idea as it helps organizers to explore numerous channels to promote their events. Posting your ad in such free listing websites creates awareness about your event, which directly impacts on the exponential increase in attendance. Normally, organizers adopt a few simple tactics to promote their events using these sites. Take a look here to know more.

1. To list your event under free listing promotional websites, you have to pick out specific keywords. Tagging your event with targeted keywords will give it more coverage. Instead of using terms like "music", use the name of the artist, or venue. Precise terms are likely to help attendees to look up your event easily.

2. In case you do not find the space to include your tags, you can get in touch with the website administrator to address this issue. You can also add tags to the events description, so that people can easily find your event.

3. A great way is to use a picture while posting your event on the listing site. However, make sure that it perfectly matches with the criteria provided by it. You may require further customization of the picture if required so by the website. Keep in mind that profiles with photos is likely to attract viewer attention instantly.

4. For best results, do consider including a ticket link. It can help you to secure more registrations for your event. Suppose, your viewers stop by your event postings, while browsing through the listing sites. If you provide a ticketing link, interested viewers can purchase the ticket directly.

5. You can take help of digital marketing software, which allows you to post your event details to a number of sites simultaneously. It helps you to save on a considerable amount of time, while promoting your event in the most cost-effective way.

6. It's important to identify the most relevant sites. Unless you post your ad on the appropriate sites, you are less likely to draw the attention of your target audience or get adequate promotional benefits out of these listings. Consider the purpose of your event and do a little research about your target audience. In this way, you will be well aware of which event listing sites are helpful for promoting your events.

Try out these tips to start your own event promotion campaign.

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Business Owners: How to Create a Niche for Your Business

Having a niche for your business means not having to compete on price. So if you wish to create a business that is as profitable as it can be in the market place you operate in, you must have, maintain and protect a niche for your business.

Creating a niche involves three key steps:

1. Identifying your target market.
2. Clearly articulating what will compel customers to buy from you.
3. Taking the risk out of purchases.

Identifying a target market implies clearly defining a specific group of prospects who you believe to be most willing to purchase your product or service. That doesn't mean you will never sell to anyone else, but that you will focus your marketing message towards that narrowly defined group.

If you are selling to individuals identifying who they are in terms of nationality, or geographical location, gender, age, marital status, income, children, interests, hobbies, reading habits, leisure activities, etc., etc. allows you to start thinking about what to talk to them about, where to place your marketing messages, why they will buy from you, how they will buy from you, how often, how much they may spend, where you will find them, when they are most likely to buy.

With this clearly defined it is much easier to design your marketing strategy, materials, budget and schedule. The more narrowly defined your target market the easier it is to communicate with them.

You may need to have more than one target market to have a large enough customer base, but this is better than spreading your net broadly and generally.

But what is it that will compel your target market(s) to buy from you? You may have a unique product or service, so as long as your potential customers know that they need it, that may not be a problem. However, for most businesses, what you sell can be bought from someone else just as easily. So why you? What is your USP?

Your USP is made up of three elements:

1. what's different about you (your business), your product or service,
2. what you excel at, and
3. what elements of those things are of obvious value to your customers.

To identify what's different about you first look at why you are in the business you're in. Your motivation for being in this business is unique in itself. No-one else has quite the same mix of background, knowledge, beliefs, values and attitudes that you do. So use it.

By the way, this even applies in bigger organisations with marketing teams. The business has its own culture, experience, values and attitudes that can be encapsulated in a USP.

Make a list of all the things that are different, wonderful, exciting, memorable about you or your business. Get to at least ten items on the list.

This is the basis for an incredibly powerful USP because it is unique by definition. But it is not enough, because you then need to take these amazing attributes and turn them into advantages for your target market. Think: why should my customers care?

In fact, ask them! Even if you don't feel comfortable asking "This is what's neat about me (or my business). Why would that make you buy from me?" Then at least ask: "Thanks for your business. Why was it that your chose us to buy from us today?"

You should have a pretty good idea now what's different and excellent about you and your business. But to make sure, take a look at what your competitors are offering. Check out their website, brochures, adverts. Even mystery shop them.

Can you offer something substantially different that's of value to your customers based on what you've done so far?

It may help you here to get specific. In a classic case of creating a USP, a shaving foam manufacturer took the generic statements used by other companies: "Abundant lather," "Does not dry on the face," "Acts quickly," and used specific facts in their marketing. They said, "Multiplies itself in lather 250 times; softens the beard in one minute; maintains its creamy fullness for ten minutes on the face; the final result of testing and comparing 130 formulas." These facts were probably true of the other players in the field, but this company said it first, so these facts belonged to them and their product.

So get specific in your claims for difference, excellence and benefit to your specific target market.

A specific type of USP can be your guarantee. Your guarantee is also one way to take the risk out of buying from you. A guarantee is a promise backed up by a process. Take a look at how you do things and work out what it is you can promise as a result that your competitors either don't, won't or can't offer. Again, be specific, as in: "Delivered in 30 minutes or you get it free". Do you remember who that guarantee belongs to? Of course you do, and that's why a USP and guarantee are so powerful...

Other ways to take the risk out of purchases include customer testimonials, case studies, educational materials (articles, videos, workshops, webinars, etc.).

It takes time and thought to create your USP. Don't try to do it all in one go. Capture information, ideas, comments in a journal and start to develop them gradually. Test different versions in your marketing materials and measure the results, until eventually you have a USP that really talks to your target market(s). Then jealously guard it, because if it works well, you know your competitors are going to try to muscle in somehow.

Be vigilante and keep adapting to modify your niche proactively rather than being reactive to competition, changing technology or economic fluctuations.

This news article is brought to you by MOTORCYCLES - where latest news are our top priority.

Imaginative Brand Alignment Attracts Attention

The product and service market is full of all manner of offerings from different companies. As such, to get your products to stand out from the rest requires inspired brand alignment so that your product meets consumers' expectations of your brand is what prospective customers think it is. However, alignment simply does not happen overnight. It requires dogged determination to make it happen. It is important to start with a clear assessment of your current brand image. According to a study carried out by a market research company, several factors affect a consumer's brand perception. These factors include how a business handles complaints, product packaging, and professionalism. You can leverage your visibility by using proven marketing strategies to create winning brand positioning. The following are some of the alignment strategies you should consider.

Multiple Media Channel Alignment

There are many media channels available to consumers. Your strategy should encompass using all of these channels. Start by covering digital channels. These always give the highest return on investment and market penetration. Your next step should be the social media network landscape. You cannot ignore this huge market. A survey carried out by one of the largest computer component companies found that 85% of adults in America visit social networking sites. This means there is a huge market available to interact with your brand.

Do Not Forget Employee Integration

The success of your brand hinges on how well you integrate employee participation into the campaign. You can do this by making sure you communicate the brand campaign details to your employees. This can be done using brand posters in the hallways, on mouse pads, and as screen savers. Stimulate employee interest by putting a reward system in place. The idea is to reward employees who make an effort to publicize the brand message. The support should not be confined to the ordinary employees alone. Senior management should start by pulling out all of the stops to ensure the brand alignment campaign is a success. You can use employee marketing surveys to gauge how well the brand message resonates with people.

Base Brand Building on Research

All your brand-building steps should be guided by sound qualitative and quantitative research. This is the only way to assess your core competencies and weaknesses. Statistical analysis should be an ongoing effort and not a "one-of" affair. Important research parameters include product cost, delivery, customer service, product reputation, as well as sales and marketing efficiency. After the initial brand alignment, a benchmark study should be conducted. The rule of thumb is to carry out this kind of study every 2 years. These studies measure the success of previous brand alignment campaigns. Businesses should be well prepared to handle negative press coverage. Failure to have a plan in place for doing so may result in consumers' shifting allegiance.

3 Quick Tips to Build Your List Bigger, Better and Faster

List building is a huge topic and I can think of upwards of fifty different tactics and activities you can use to get more people to join your list. And this is part of the problem. There are so many tactics to employ that many entrepreneurs dive into this marketing activity without an overall strategy.

This can result in two undesirable outcomes. First of all, your list will be full of all the wrong people and therefore not responsive to your communications and sales messages. And second, the growth will be in fits and starts as you swing from one tactic to another which is bound to slow down your progress.

Here's my 3 quick tips to help you build your list bigger, better and faster.

1. Set a goal

Because list building is vital to the success of your business it's essential that you set a goal. It's amazing how many people lament the fact that their list isn't growing - or worse still it's getting smaller as people drop off - yet they are vague about what they want to achieve because they have no clear goal.

Like all clear goals it must be stated specifically, be measurable and have an end date. First step is to write down how many people are on your list, decide on the increase you want in percentage terms and what number that represents and choose the date you want to have reached this number.

My tip is not to make it too big an increase or too long a timeframe. You can always set a new goal as soon as you achieve it and of course you will!

2. Have a plan

Once again, because list building is vital to the success of your business you must have a plan. You simply cannot leave this to chance or rely on random or ad-hoc activities and expect to get the results you want.

Choose the activities with the highest payoff for effort and the ones you enjoy to do. Or that can be easily delegated where possible. Schedule each one into your calendar to make sure they get implemented.

Chunk down your goal and estimate how many new people will join your list from each activity and do your best to measure those results. The main point is that you keep increasing your list to reach your goal, but if you identify which activities are most successful it means you can do more of the same.

3. Accept that List Building is a not a sprint but a marathon

The sooner you realise that List Building is an ongoing activity necessary for the duration of your business the sooner you'll understand the need to pace yourself.

That's not to say you can't or won't have a big push now and then to accelerate the process but you can't keep that up all the time. For the rest of the time you need to consistently and persistently follow your plan.

Using these 3 tips means that over time you will build your list bigger, better and faster with increasing numbers of qualified prospective clients. You will also continue to reap the rewards in increased sales of your programs and services when you have a bigger, qualified, more responsive audience to share them with.

This news article is brought to you by GLAMOROUS FASHION NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.

Custom Promotional Products Designed to Be Worn

Custom Promotional Products are not limited to things that people use. They also include items that people wear. Marketing professionals must discard their traditional way of thinking when determining how to best reach a target audience. Pens and key chains are still available but apparel and accessories are now offered to complement these. People receiving wearable promos recognize how much a company wants their business.

Different Types of Wearable Custom Promotional Products

Shirts are arguably the most commonly requested promotional items because everyone can wear them. Businesses order imprinted t-shirts designed for leisure wear, performance shirts for athletic use, and sweatshirts designed for cool weather conditions. Consumers wear these shirts in public, promoting the business at no charge. Some companies select imprints that are designed to spark a conversation, hoping the mere act of discussing the business will imprint it in prospect minds.

Hats are other promotional favorites and they are available for men, women, and even children. Styles range from baseball caps, to knit hats, to wide-brimmed hats designed for sun protection. Marketers rest assured that everyone will see the company logo or name on the front or back of the hat. Many a new customer has been gained from marketing the company via a logoed cap. Even company representatives wear these when they are on the golf course or on a business flight.

Rain gear like jackets and ponchos may be more expensive than pens but it is also more visible. People wear this gear to public gatherings like sporting events, advertising the company via an imprinted logo or name in the chest area. This imprint is strategically placed at eye level so it will be seen. Weather conditions may be unfavorable, but this gear will continue to advertise.

Deciding Which Wearable Custom Promotional Products Are Best

Individuals in charge of corporate promotions should review the complete line of wearable custom promo items before deciding on any. They may miss a great opportunity to advertise the business simply due to being unaware. For example, some marketers do not realize that umbrellas can be customized. If the target audience resides in a rainy climate, this is a missed opportunity. It is important to consider all aspects of the target group when selecting promos.

Other items are overlooked simply because they are small. An imprinted lanyard may seem too small to be effective but when you consider that people wear these every day to hold company access badges, the chance of them being noticed increases dramatically. Not only will the person wearing it internalize the name of the company, but others will also take notice and make a mental note.

When deciding on promo apparel, it is also important to consider the age and gender of the targeted customer base. If the company sells equipment or products designed for the elderly, a bandanna may not be the best choice. Along the same vein, businesses catering to men should not use makeup cases as promotional items. Understanding characteristics of the audience enables marketers to select the best wearable promos.

Expert Advice on Email Marketing Strategies for Anyone Who Owns a Business

The advantages of email marketing to your organisation are numerous. Compared to traditional methods of marketing, it is more time and cost effective. Working with a leading email marketing company from the UK, increased profits are celebrated by their customers.

Communicating with a large amount of clients in one action is easily done with email marketing. Numerous Hours are wasted sending out marketing campaigns through the post. Marketing through email allows you to set up mailing lists based on different marketing categories. On a second note a huge amount of money is saved not creating and printing marketing leaflets from paper and sending them through the post. Costs are also kept down because less man hours are needed to send campaigns over the internet than when they are sent through the post. Postage methods of marketing is also damaging to the environment due to the overuse of paper and fossil fuels. For this reason email marketing is also great for your businesses reputation as you can highlight the fact that you are an environmentally friendly company and you are doing your part for the environment by reducing your carbon footprint.

Email marketing allows a company to be aware of who is reading their campaigns, which allows for future more effective business choices being made. Feedback is easily collected through email also. Online feedback questionnaires can be linked to in emails. This is an easier and more convenient way to receive feedback than getting the customer to post back a questionnaire and also doesn't cost the customer anything.

Paper campaigns also can't be as fun as their email counterparts. Flash animations and interactive buttons can be put in the email to make it more appealing to a customer. By saving money through email marketing, some money can be spent on incentives for people to open emails or respond to questionnaires. To help with the success of your campaign, a competition could be held for all the customers who answered the email. Marketing through email gives extra benefit to companies who sell goods from a website, allowing for 24 hour sales. People access emails at all hours of the day so if they see a product on sale at 6 in the morning, they can buy it there at then. They don't have to wait for the shop or a phone line to open. Increased sales are enjoyed by businesses due to this.

Text Message Marketing For Independent Artist And Bands

It is irrelevant how talented you are, or how great your family and friends think you may be. If do not have any marketing to help you get exposure you will always be a talented person that only your family and friends enjoy. Without some form of marketing your career is nothing more than a billboard in the middle of the rain forest - nobody knows about it. Traditional forms of marketing are often expensive and rarely has a good return on investment. That is why many artist, bands and DJ's are turning towards SMS text message marketing as their primary platform of marketing to take their careers to the next level.

Most artist are convinced that their succeeding or failing depends on their talents. That is one of the largest misconceptions in the entertainment industry. Please do not misunderstand my intention here. I am really not saying that talent does not matter at all. Naturally you do need to at least have a little talent in order to succeed in this industry. However the major roll of any entertainers career boils down to one thing - marketing.

The conventional forms of marketing such as magazines, television, and radio cost way to much in comparison to your return on investment. More importantly with traditional forms of marketing it is not possible to build a personal connection with your fan base. This is yet another reason so many people in the entertainment business are beginning to turn to SMS message marketing as their chosen method of promoting themselves.

Before you continue reading this article I would like to make sure that you and I are on the same page when it comes to what makes an artist, band or DJ successful. To do that I have created what I like to call my simple success formula:

Talent + Targeted Marketing = Targeted Fans

Targeted Fans = Successful Career

I cannot emphasize this enough... Everything you do comes down to marketing, marketing marketing... Marketing is the only way to introduce your talents to a larger platform. The larger your platform the larger your fan base. The larger your fan base the more products you will sell, and a successful career is determined your bottom line at the end of the day.

By this time we should both be on the same page, and we mutually agree on the success formula that I shared with you. Now let me show you some more of the advantages you get when you leverage the power of SMS text marketing to promote your career.

1. Instantly announce current and future sales promotions.
2. Update your fan base on your latest career activities.
3. Easily build your fan base by holding contest for users to opt-in to your list.
4. Inform fans of your new video releases.
5. Make instant sales by allowing your fan base to purchase your product immediately from their phone.
6. Run multiple campaigns (depending on which package you signed up for).
7. Let your fans know where your next gig is.

The possibilities are limitless, you are only held back by your own imagination.

This news article is brought to you by DANCING - where latest news are our top priority.

How To Differentiate Your Business From Your Competitors

We all know the expression "Unique Selling Point" or USP and how important it is that our business is differentiated from the competition.

Personally I believe that while being unique is the ultimate objective, with so much competition, being genuinely unique is incredibly difficult. So I focus on developing propositions which give my customers "stand out" - points that make them stand out head and shoulders above the crowd and make them the obvious choice for customers.

There are many ways to give your business stand out. Below I've listed 10 of the most popular ways.

1. Low Price

Guaranteeing the lowest price is a common way to provide stand out.

Primark have built their business on their low prices.

However, cutting margins is a dangerous strategy. Larger players, with their larger buying power could undercut you and potentially force you out of the market. So think twice before focusing on price.

2. High Quality

Outstanding quality is an excellent way to give your business stand out. While the low price positioning relies on large volumes, high quality normally works on a high margin, low volume model

Almost all designer brands work on this model.

3. Superior Service

Excellent service adds value and develops long-term customer loyalty and sets your business apart. What we're talking about here is going above and beyond what customers expect so that you delight and amaze them.

However it is very difficult to quantify service as everyone claims to provide fantastic service but we all know that only very few actually do so.

4. The Largest Range

Providing the largest product range can provide stand out. A classic example of this is Amazon. For years Amazon could claim the genuine USP of being "Earth's Biggest Bookstore"

Of course several competitors have caught up with Amazon, but they manage to stay ahead because right from the start they clearly differentiated themselves as being the biggest.

5. Convenience

We all like things to be as simple and easy as possible. By removing as many obstacles to ordering or using your product as possible you are focusing your business squarely on your customers' needs which is absolutely as it should be..

6. Knowledgeable and Authoritative

By positioning your business as the most authoritative and expert in your field, you can powerfully differentiate your business from your competitors.

This approach has most relevance for professionals and other skill-based organisations.

7. Customisation and Personalisation

If you can personalise your product to your customer's individual requirements, that can become very attractive in our mass market world. Again this is a very customer focused way to give your business stand out.

8. Speed

Speed of service has become a major differentiator in our modern fast paced world. We've all become so impatient and demand things immediately.

Domino's Pizza became famous, when they cut delivery times from 1 hour to 30 minutes. At that time this provided a genuinely game changing USP.

9. New and Unique

Sometimes your product is so new and unique that the product itself is the USP. While other companies may rapidly copy the product, the originator still retains the USP of being the first mover in the market. Just think of the competitive advantage that Apple have gained through their incredible creativity.

10. Guarantees

Guarantees are a great way to differentiate your company. A few years ago, a client of mine, a servicing garage, offered a money back guarantee if their customers weren't happy with their car's service. This differentiated them massively from their competitors and led to a huge increase in business.

So how are you going to differentiate your business and give it the stand out it needs to be successful?

This news article is brought to you by ANIMALS AND PETS - where latest news are our top priority.