Article Contributed by Michele PW

On the surface, starting an internet-based business may seem like a dream come true. A business owner can start a business out of her home, selling her products and services everywhere and anywhere in the world without big marketing budgets or lots of advertising. However, once she puts up her first web site, that dream often comes crashing down – it’s not nearly as easy as it first looks.

So, she does her research. She starts learning everything she can about Internet Marketing.

But it’s still not as simple as what the “gurus” say. Maybe the business owner is still stuck at her current revenue goals and she knows she could be making more. Maybe she feels uncomfortable or “icky” around her marketing. Maybe she agonizes over every negative email and feedback she gets. And maybe she feels like there must be a better way.

Here are 3 tips to use to get more success through Internet Marketing:

1. Pull up those big girl panties and get some business training. People start businesses for all sorts of reasons that have really nothing to do with owning their own business. They want freedom, to provide for their families, to not have a boss, to get their message out into the world, to make a difference. None of those reasons started with the words, “I love business.”

So it only stands to reason they have little to no training or experience in business. If that’s the case, it’s unlikely that business will come naturally. Learning to run a business is like learning to do any skill. Learn to run an effective, profitable business, and put Internet Marketing in its proper place, which is …

2. Internet Marketing is a tool in a business owner’s marketing toolbox, it is NOT a business model. There’s a certain amount of confusion about this whole Internet Marketing thing, that this somehow is a business model rather than a collection of strategies. While it certainly CAN turn into a business model, that’s not a desirable situation. Typically, when that happens, the business has turned itself into a “launch after launch” model, which is highly stressful on a number of levels (not to mention it’s not sustainable, long-term).

When a business owner views Internet Marketing as simply another tool in her toolbox, then her mindset changes. It’s just another tool – nothing more, nothing less. Certainly nothing to agonize about. Next step: focus on using that tool correctly.

3. If there’s a part of Internet Marketing a business owner really struggles with, she should take a good hard look at it. One of two things will most likely happen – either she’ll see the reason she struggles is because she has a block around something else, and if she wants to fix it she will work on the block. Or she realizes this piece is just not going to happen – either she really hates doing it or maybe she feels like it doesn’t align with her or her business. If it’s the latter, she will have to find another way to get the same results, or she’s going to have to accept the consequences of not doing it.

But how does she know which one it is? If it’s a block or something else? And if it’s something else, how does she make the choice to do something different? And how does she know what the consequences even are, before it’s too late?

This is a problem I’ve seen over and over again – conscious entrepreneurs making a choice around Internet Marketing based on faulty or incomplete information and not realizing the consequences until it’s too late. It’s something no one else is talking about… but I am.  Stay tuned for more!

About the Author: 

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a premiere direct response copywriting and marketing company that helps entrepreneurs attract more clients, sell more products and services and boost their business.  Grab her latest FREE special report “Why EVERYTHING You’ve Been Taught About Marketing on the Internet Will NOT Work for You and What You Can Do To Turn it Around” here: http://www.MichelePW.com/sand

I know I’m not revealing any big eye-opening secret when I tell you that if you don’t regularly and consistently market your business, your business won’t grow. I know you know this. But none of that helps you when you hate marketing. (In fact, it probably makes you feel even worse, doesn’t it?)

So what did you do? Here are 3 steps to get you started (hint — these work even if you love marketing):

1. Find a marketing strategy or tactic you enjoy. There are LOTS of ways to market yourself, I guarantee at least one of them you will like doing. Your job is to find it and then build your main marketing strategy around it. Here’s a list of a few marketing activities to get you thinking:

a. Writing — blogs, articles, etc.

b. Speaking — live, on teleclasses/webinars/livestream, or even podcasts

c. Being interviewed on radio or television

d. Video

e. Chatting with people via social networking

At least one of those should resonate with you.

Once you figure out your favorite marketing activity, the next step is to build your marketing strategy around that activity. (More on that in step 3 but first…)

2. Outsource what you hate to do. The problem is no matter how much you may love one marketing activity, there are probably other essential activities you don’t love quite so much (hence why you probably hate marketing to begin with). So the trick is to build your marketing plan around what you enjoy doing then you outsource the other pieces you don’t enjoy.

Sounds pretty easy when I put it that way, eh?

Okay so what if you have no one to outsource to and you’re worried about cash flow. My advice is to take a deep breath and find someone. Look, outsourcing your marketing is the easiest way to see a return on your investment — if you start consistently marketing your business that money WILL come back to you.

Start by looking at your budget. See what you can put aside each month for marketing help. Then find someone who can do the tasks you need done in that budget. You might not be able to get everything done, but prioritize what’s most important (i.e. what you’re going to see a return on your investment the fastest) and focus on that.

3. Start small and build from there. Yes I know there are lots of marketing activities out there you could be doing, and the more marketing you do the better your results. However, that doesn’t mean I want you try getting everything done tomorrow.

Here’s the minimum of what you need to have a successful, growing business — one main lead source bringing leads into your business and one main way of converting those leads into customers and clients. That’s really it (at least for the marketing side). You get that nailed down and the rest will come.

And here’s some examples of how this can look:

1. Lead source (speaking, blogging, videos, interviews, social networking)

2. Lead cultivating (ezine, free calls)

See how simple this can be?

And to take this one step further, let’s say you love speaking and hate writing. You can focus on speaking and hire a virtual assistant to take care of putting an ezine out for you.

Voila! Marketing plan built around your strengths and outsourcing your weaknesses.

Then once you have that nailed down you can start adding more marketing activities to the mix. Before you know it, you’ll find you have built up an amazing marketing system that’s feeding your business (and better yet, you may discover you don’t mind marketing quite as much as you thought you did).

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a premiere direct response copywriting and marketing company that helps entrepreneurs attract more clients, sell more products and services and boost their business.  To grab your FREE “Ka-Ching! Business Kit” with a FREE CD visit http://www.MichelePW.com/freecd

Putting up a money-making website can be as simple as 1, 2, 3 — just as long as you have these 3 crucial elements in place.

(And, if you don’t have a website, I’m going to share just how easy it can be to get one up TOMORROW. Yes, it really can be that simple — so no more excuses about “I need to get my website finished before I can do X,Y,Z.”)

Let’s get started.

1. Have a place for people to opt-in and download a special free gift from you. This can be as simple as a box located at the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Why do you want to do this? Because having a list of prospects you can build a relationship with is crucial to your business success. People buy from people they know, like and trust. A website, no matter how extensive, is only going to take you so far. Relationships are built over time and through communication — which is why publishing a regular ezine can be such a great marketing tool.

Now, I want to point something else out — notice how I said “a special free gift” I did NOT say that opt-in box should say “subscribe to my ezine.” No one wants more email — what they DO want is solutions to their problems. If you give them trusted solutions to their problems, they WILL take the time to read your emails.

2. Post a photo of yourself. People want to do business with people. They want to build relationships with people. Why do you think major corporations pay big bucks for spokespeople? Sure part of it is benefiting from the spokesperson’s credibility, but part of it is also putting a face on an otherwise “nameless, faceless” corporation.

Folks, this is where YOU have the upper hand from the corporations. You really CAN reach out and build relationships personally with your ideal clients. So proudly post your photo — you’re a real person, let your ideal clients see you’re a real person.

Now, I’d prefer a professionally shot photo if at all possible. And I would also prefer for all you ladies to get your hair and makeup done (yes, it’s worth it). It really does make a difference to your professional image. However, if you’re going to use that as a reason to not get your site up, then put up the best photo that you have RIGHT NOW.

What if your goal is to build a big business where people would be working with your team or your employees? Should you still put up a photo? Well, that depends on where you’re at in your business development. If you’re just starting out, it is easier to build momentum and get the ball rolling if you put yourself out there. If you’re already established, you probably still do (because, remember, people do want to do business with people) but there will probably be other changes you’ll need to make to your site so it’s clear there’s a team involved and not just you.

Bonus tip — you could use a video instead of a photo. Video is a great way to increase your conversions (i.e. turning prospects into paying customers or encouraging your visitors to give you their email address) but again — if you’re going to use video has an excuse to not more forward, then just get a photo up.

3. Make it VERY clear what the next step should be if they want to move forward working with you. Now, I’m a big believer in getting the opt-in, so if you look on my home page you’ll see I do encourage people to move forward by getting my free gifts. But I also give them very clear instructions on what they should do if they want to move forward as a paying customer.

Now, how do you get started if you don’t have a website? Just put up one page that has your photo, a description of your free gift and a place for people to give you their name and email address. (This is also known as a squeeze page).

That’s it. Yes it really CAN be that simple to get started.

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a premiere direct response copywriting and marketing company that helps entrepreneurs attract more clients, sell more products and services and boost their business.  To grab your FREE “Ka-Ching! Business Kit” with a FREE CD visit http://www.MichelePW.com/freecd

Forget using it just as a business tool. It’s everywhere. You can’t get away from it. (And we’re not even talking about, ahem, inappropriate uses of it such as sending nasty pictures of yourself over Twitter when you really ought to know better)

Anyway, I digress. The point is social networking is so prolific and so everywhere that websites and blogs are starting to look like something your grandpa used to market himself. After all, now you have gurus proclaiming Facebook fan pages are the absolute MUST HAVE little black dress and you are seriously behind the times without one. (Here’s an example of a fan page if you want to check it out: http://www.facebook.com/michelepwkaching — feel free to “like” it once you’re there too. J )

So are websites and blogs even worth it? Should we just throw all our chips in the social networking pile and not spend any more time or money on websites or blogs? And what if you don’t have a website yet — should you even bother?

Okay. Let’s all take a deep breath here. Feel better? Good — now let’s look at the facts.

Social networking is still in its infancy. I know, I know. It feels like it’s a rebellious teenager. But honestly — this is still very, very new. It’s really only seriously caught on in the past few years. And let’s look at what happened during those few years:

* MySpace was THE place to be if you were an entrepreneur (Does anyone else even remember MySpace? Anyone?) Facebook was this weird, red-headed stepchild. In fact, when I first opened an account, when you sent out a friend request, you had to indicate how you knew the person and one of the options was (I kid you not) “hooked up.” Yeah. I think there was only one option, something like “know from a group or an association” that was safe for business purposes. Linked In was basically for “corporate only” or if you were looking for an actual job (I had an account and I really had no clue what to do with it.) Twitter was still being programmed in someone’s basement.

To put this into perspective — this was 4 years ago.

* Then came the huge “MySpace migration into Facebook” revolution. Everyone was on Facebook. MySpace was SO last year.

* Then Twitter exploded onto the scene. EVERYONE was on Twitter. And a bunch of other social networking platforms suddenly popped up out of nowhere — plurek, plaxo, etc. Suddenly there were HUNDREDS. Yee gads.

Fast forward to today. Twitter is declining in popularity as a tool to grow your business. (Although it remains tops on the list as the best tool to embarrass yourself.) Facebook is back on top. Linked In has rediscovered a new surge of popularity — thanks to never getting away from its roots (keeping it a more formal platform, which serves its core customers) but still adding new bells and whistles (like groups). Many of those other social networking platforms have fallen by the wayside.

And what will the future look like? Who knows? I certainly don’t. For all I know, Facebook fan pages could be as popular as yesterday’s newspaper — heck, Facebook could be as popular as yesterday’s newspaper. MySpace could be back on top and something called “Yowzer” could be the hottest thing.

Which is why those old-fashioned websites and blogs still have a place in your marketing.

You see, you control your websites and blogs. You’re not subject to whims of playing in “someone else’s sandbox.” You don’t have to worry if the rules change, if Twitter decides it doesn’t like your picture and shuts your profile down or whatever. You have your own online real estate that you can do what you want to with it.

So the question is — do you want to have control over your business, your message, your visibility? Do you want to have a hub for your online activities — your “online home” to invite your ideal clients to if they want to learn more about what you do?

Or not?

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a premiere direct response copywriting and marketing company that helps entrepreneurs attract more clients, sell more products and services and boost their business.  To grab your FREE “Ka-Ching! Business Kit” with a FREE CD visit http://www.MichelePW.com/freecd

But the truth is, it IS possible, even if it isn’t magic. It’s all about good, solid marketing principles. And if you follow the below 3 keys, you’ll be well on your way to experiencing that for yourself in your business.

1. Create a powerful message that appeals to your ideal clients. This could also be thought of as your Unique Selling Proposition (or USP).

So what exactly is that? Basically it’s the solution you provide presented from your ideal client’s viewpoint. So, for example, let’s say you’re a business coach. Well, those are a dime a dozen. Instead, what if you specialize in helping women entrepreneurs get over their blocks to making more money in their business. See how more powerful that is? And how it can magnetically attract your ideal clients to you?

Or let’s say you’re a fitness and nutrition expert. Yawn. But what if you specialize in helping women with hormonal issues lose weight. Ah, much more powerful.

In addition to attracting your ideal clients to you, you’ll also notice these also position yourself as an expert. After all, if you have such a specialty, then you must be an expert. And of course, people would much rather do business with experts.

2. Be consistent with your message. Once you know what your message is (and you’ve tested it so you know it attracts your ideal clients) now you need to get it out into the world. Resist the urge to be creative about it.

I know, I know. You get tired of saying it. You’re sure other people must be tired of hearing it. But if you’re not consistent, if you tweak a little here, a little there, maybe edit it here, you’re not getting the full power of it out there.

Look, even you’re most loyal clients aren’t going to get sick of hearing your message. Why? Because they really don’t “hear” it as much as you think they do. People are busy with their own lives and they really aren’t paying as much attention to you as you think they are. So if you don’t repeat it and repeat it consistently, then you run the risk of people not remembering what you stand for, or maybe being confused about it, and if they don’t remember or are confused, they’re not going to invest with you or recommend you or anything else.

3. Be frequent with your message. You’re going to feel like a broken record, but the best marketers are the ones who have a simple, powerful message, are consistent with that message and repeat it over and over again.

And don’t just repeat it in the same places, find different ones. Get your message out there in as many ways as you possibly can. (Just as long as those places are where your ideal clients hang out.) Online. Offline. Networking events. Speeches. Podcasts. Etc.

In fact, here’s the place where you can be creative. Find new and different ways of getting your message out there, and do it as frequently as possible. Because the more often your ideal clients stumble across your message, the more likely it is when they’re ready to make a change, they’ll reach out to see how you can help them.

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency.  She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business.  To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.

The AARP card appeared in the mail again. This time I actually opened the envelope and reviewed the material included with the invitation to join. Offers of insurance, magazines, on-line registrations and general information related to aging spilled out across the table. Everything in the packet maintained the specific intent of enticing a middle age person to join the group dedicated to senior citizens.

A scant five years ago, I wouldn’t have acknowledged the promotional material. It would have been swept into the nearest garbage can as I briefly wondered why this organization wasted its marketing dollars on me. Now, as I scan the introductory letter, the supporting messages delivered in the envelope are beginning to make sense. I’ve discovered that the magazine is dedicated to providing me with information on medical advancements for cholesterol control, suggestions to slim the middle age bulge and tips to improve my memory. That last one caught my attention.

Startled, I realized that I aged into the targeted demographic of The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and didn’t feel it coming on. When, for god’s sake, did I stop being 35? AARP knew it would happen and patiently primed the pump for several years as it waited for me to emotionally recognize that my body and brain would change. My perspective would alter and this organization graciously waited until it was needed.

Now, that’s niche marketing!

When is Niche Marketing Most Effective?

Niche marketing is most effective when you immerse yourself in a specific topic area and then start building your reputation for being a thought leader on that specific topic. It may sound intimidating, but in reality, all it demands is focus.

Nido Qubein, a recognized business strategist and forward thinker coined the term “Intentional Congruence”. He stresses that everything you do in your business must tie into everything else you do. It’s about having intent and purpose to intimately understand what you are doing and why.. Without understanding who you help and why you are doing what you do, how can you expect anyone else to know?

5 Elements to Identifying and Building Your Business Niche:

1. Create an inventory of your strengths. Identify how you relate to people and get specific in your values. List what you already know and what you need to learn to position yourself as an expert in your field. Describe the specific abilities you possess that are unique to you. Determine where you stand in terms of current finances. And, estimate what financial requirements will be necessary to build your niche with your target market.

2. Select the top two areas you have a passion for pursuing. Without passion or emotional engagement for the subject area, long-term success is unlikely. The ultimate goal is to do what you love, love what you do and make an acceptable living as you do it!

3. Research the two niche areas you’ve identified. Determine: who are the top three businesses or individuals already doing what you want to do? Review their websites and gain a sense of how connected and informed your future competition is. Research the internet fully to gain a sense of topic areas, product offerings and customer/client “reach out” efforts. Identify what is already in place and focus on those areas you feel are underserved.

4. Build a resource inventory. Contact business professionals as needed to build alliances. Create opportunities to interview people or hire whoever might be necessary to fine tune your business plan or fill in the gaps of knowledge on areas that are critical in establishing you as an expert. Offer your services to other business professionals as well. Just because you are new to a niche, doesn’t mean you are lacking expertise. They simply don’t know about you yet! Building relational capital with others who thrive in the market you wish to enter is always beneficial to everyone who participates.

5. Put your stake in the ground and claim your position within your targeted niche. Here’s how…

o Start offering your knowledge to the masses by using social media liberally.
o Become a fan of expert pages and register to participate in other List Serves that focus on your area of expertise.
o Read and post to other expert blogs on your topic.
o Write articles focusing on your area of expertise and submit them for online publication. You can go to www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com/karel for 3 free article templates.
o Make every opportunity to interview other industry experts by teleseminar and provide those to your clients as additional resource material.
o Build an accessible on-line library that is exploding with information for your customers and clients.
o Create surveys for completion by your target market to gain knowledge through research and insight that is unique to you. Publish a white paper or report annually that includes this research.

Now, you have the keys to dominating your business niche. Nothing is holding you back from being the expert, knowing your target market and maintaining a gentle helping hand. You are in charge of designing and maintaining a world of comfort for your customers and customers. You can make their lives easy because they now have you – the expert to rely on.

About the Author:

Karel Murray is a Certified Speaking Professional, author of “Hitting Our Stride: Women, Work and What Matters” and business trainer who helps women entrepreneurs and executives improve their overall business effectiveness and productivity. Now, you can listen to her exciting, free interviews at http://www.JustiForaMoment.com. Each podcast interview gives you 3 takeaway ideas or concepts that you’ll be able to implement right away

Article Contributed by Tami Stodghill

I have been contacted the last few weeks by some people who have purchased a business opportunity or are wanting to do just that. But many of them are concerned they are not “natural sellers”. They either have a limited past in sales, an unsuccessful past in sales or are worried they won’t be able to sell the opportunity/service/product in such a way that they will profit from their venture. When we started out, my past was NOT in sales.

Actually, our backgrounds were in Press Relations, Freelance Writing and Technical Support. We didn’t have to worry about quotas or reaching sales goals, so this was an issue for us as well. Would we have what it takes?

The answer is that anyone can be successful in sales. And all it takes is the proper mindset. Seriously. And if you can adopt that mindset, you will find success in your venture. I’ve covered other things that are important to home-business success, and please note that these are all still a must when it comes to achieving the kind of success that most people want—consistency, positive attitude, honesty, integrity and ongoing training and mentoring. But equally as important is the approach you take with your business. Adopting this mindset released us from fear of failure and being able to move forward with our business.

Stop right now and ask yourself, “if I had a million dollars in my bank account right now, would I be afraid of calling this prospect back and chancing rejection?” Because it will instantly change your approach and your selling technique. It will free you to speak with prospects honestly and openly and will take the “desperate” out of your sales pitch. You will relax and say what you mean—covering the best about your opportunity with total self-confidence.

Let me explain further, why this approach will make you the best representative you can be for your business…

When you convince yourself that each and every sale will not determine your success, and that you have breathing room, so-to-speak, your technique instantly alters to one that projects success. And people need to know that they can believe in YOU as well as the opportunity you are selling. Since I dealt with a great number of editors through email when I was in Press Relations, phone interaction was rarely needed and I have to admit that my phone skills cried out for a complete makeover. I dreaded dialing a number to return a call to a prospect and when I did, I instantly tensed up and got ready for the rejection. Obviously, I went nowhere fast. And through the advice of a seasoned colleague, I completely revamped my approach and mindset to that of a millionaire. And lo and behold—I found success.

People don’t want to buy into a business through someone who lacks confidence, seems beaten down or desperate. That’s all there is to it. They want to follow the lead of others who are experiencing success and who are relaxed in the pursuit of that success. By telling myself that no call I made would make-or-break me, I went into it without apprehension, without trepidation and without butterflies in my stomach. Every lead wasn’t going to decide my success or failure. There will always be people out there who are looking for something, and your opportunity might not be what they are looking for, no matter what your technique is. So to stress over it, only displays a business that isn’t that desirable. When you phone or contact prospects with confidence and with the attitude that you know you believe in your business, people gain a sense of trust and will, in turn, believe in your opportunity too.

Take a few minutes each day to ensure your mindset is what you need it to be to make every call and contact count. Tell yourself that your bank account reflects your success, so that the sense of desperation and “overselling” that can occur are no longer an issue. Our lives, and our business, changed the moment we took that advice. And I guarantee YOU will find that others will respond and will find what you have to offer is exactly what they want for themselves.

About the Author

Tami Stodghill was the Press-Relations manager, for a world-wide extensible-technology distributor based in London and the US for 20 years. She was also a freelance writer for several industry publications and is now a home-based business owner with WMI. She makes her home in Page-Lake Powell, Arizona, in the summers and Palm Harbor, Florida in the winters where she enjoys boating and reading, camping, hiking and meeting new people. She runs a blog site exclusively to offer tips for success for any small or home-based business.

Article Contributed by Scott Glatstein

After huddling in our bunkers for much of the past 18 months we look forward to restoring growth and prosperity to our companies. Many firms will find, however, that they are unable to harness the early breezes of expansion due to resource constraints that are a direct result of recent knee-jerk staff reductions.

Peter Cappelli, Wharton management professor and director of the school’s Center for Human Resources observed that the recent economic crisis forced many managers to focus only on the short-term. Slaves to quarterly performance expectations, departments cut employees with little concern for the long-term impact of layoffs. In many cases they were forced to sacrifice core competencies resulting in a devastating brain drain.

As an expert on post-recession employment recovery Cappelli knows that it will be some time before hiring begins again in earnest. “Companies will always wait to see that the demand is there because the fixed cost of hiring isn’t trivial.” Instead companies will use contract/temporary workers to hedge their bets on hiring, rather than committing to paying wages and benefits to permanent, full-time workers.

The use of contract labor to augment one’s staff isn’t a new concept. In fact prior to the recession it was fairly commonplace in IT, Finance and even Human Resources. Many firms outsourced whole projects or departments to large staffing firms. But this practice was less prevalent in marketing.

Top 5 Reasons to Hire Outside Marketing Expertise Now

If you find yourself short on talent necessary to grow your business consider these benefits of augmenting your existing staff with temporary marketers:

1) No long-term commitment. You can generally hire full- or part-time marketing resources by the hour, week or month without committing to long-term employment. This allows you to cover temporary holes (i.e. maternity leave) or limited workload surges (i.e. a new product launch) without affecting headcount.

2) Scale up or down at will. Flexibility is the biggest benefit of contract marketers. As your needs change so can your temporary workforce whether it be the overall number of contactors you use or the individual skill levels you choose to access.

3) New ideas. New marketers bring a fresh perspective and new ideas. By augmenting your current staff with marketers from other backgrounds and industries you bring new ways of approaching old problems to your organization.

4) Rent-to-Buy Option. In a resource constrained environment hiring the wrong person can be catastrophic. In many cases, hiring a marketer on a short-term contract allows you to test drive them before committing to permanent employment.

5) Saves Time and Money. HR experts say it costs a company a year’s salary just to hire a new employee. Depending on the level of the position it can take 2-6 months to land the right candidate. In the meantime, work is falling through the cracks. Contract marketers are generally available to start making contributions within 48 hours with little or no upfront costs.

The final chapters of The Great Recession will be written in the next 12-18 months. Those who boldly embrace the nascent recovery will gain share and thrive in the years to come. Those who continue to cower and wait for better days may be irreparably harmed. But seizing the initiative will take resources, specifically the arms and legs necessary to keep your marketing initiatives on track. Perhaps now is the time to take a new look at securing temporary marketing talent.

About the Author

Pioneering Marketing Consultant and author of Strategy Activation: How to Turn Your Vision into Marketplace Success Scott Glatstein drives profitable growth by filling clients’ existing resource gaps with talented contract marketers. Now check out his free checklist that will help you choose an outside marketing firm that will enable you to achieve higher profits. Get it now at: http://www.imperativesllc.com/newsite/learningcenter/publications.html

Article Contributed by Troy White

The entire marketing and advertising business is backed on testing. If you are not testing different marketing methods, different advertisements, different media, etc., then you will never know what works and what doesn’t. It’s not exactly rocket science what I just said – but the fact of the matter is that less than 5% of businesses test anything.

So if it is so simple – why aren’t more people doing it?

Laziness, time constraints and lack of knowledge are the most common reasons I hear. I can’t help you with the first 2 – but I will share with you a number of marketing ideas you can test. Try one – measure the results, then test another. You are looking for the most powerful marketing method that you can continue to run for months/years to come.

(1) Tell a story – one of the best ways to pull your readers into your marketing and get them to buy. The Wall Street Journal runs a one-page story talking about Two Young Men – both from the same upbringing and neighborhood – how one went on to accomplish great things and the other went about life with dismal results. This incredible story has been running for decades now and in that time it has generated billions of dollars in subscription sales.

(2) Use clichés like “sick as a dog” – people can relate to them and there is a comfort feeling around them. As well, most people talk in clichés – so you must write like you talk. But a word of caution, do not over use them.

(3) Never write any marketing pieces if you do not believe in what it is you are selling or trying to accomplish – it will be very obvious to the person reading it that you don’t believe it.

(4) Don’t try and be cute or sophisticated. Be sincere, educational and passionate in your writing. Do whatever it takes to get into a peak emotional state before you start writing – be it music, exercise lots of coffee – whatever floats your boat.

(5) Write to a grade 7 reading level. This can be easily checked in Microsoft Word – go to “Tools at top – then – Options: then Spelling and Grammar: check the box that says Show Readability Stats. Every time you do a spell check form now on it will tell you what grade level your writing is at. This is your lowest common denominator and a guideline you must use in all your business correspondence and advertising – unless you know without a doubt that 100% of your market is at a Ph.D. level.

6) Pretend you are sitting around a fire with one of your best friends. You know that they have some possible interest in what you are selling. But they are skeptical at the best of times. What would you say to them to get them to try it out? How would you say it to them? This is exactly what your ads need to read like.

(7) Always use real postage stamps on your envelopes – never metered mail. Make it look as personalized as possible – not like it came straight from a machine.

There are 7 simple ways to get better results in your marketing and advertising; but they are useless if you don’t try them. Try one this week and see what happens. And please let me know how it goes.

About the Author
Troy White is a top marketing coach, consultant & direct response copywriter based in Calgary, Canada. He has a powerful approach to growing small businesses and entrepreneurial run ventures on a budget. His FREE Cash Flow Surges newsletter shares tons of great strategies and he blogs at http://www.smallbusinesscopywriter.com

He also publishes the incredibly powerful Cash Flow Calendar system that gives you daily, weekly and monthly marketing ideas to promote your business and stand out from the crowd. To get your free tips for growing your business, you can register at http://www.cashflowcalendars.com

Or you can take his business mastery course in marketing and advertising at http://www.thebusinessmasterycourse.com