Join an Affiliate Program

affiliateAffiliate programs are often perceived as complicated, confusing things that reek of pushy sales promotions.  Let’s first define what it is. According to Wikipedia Affiliate Marketing is primarily an Internet-based marketing practice where a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought to them by the affiliate’s marketing efforts. Examples include rewards sites, where users are rewarded with cash or gifts, for the completion of an offer, and the referral of others to the site. What they really mean is that affiliates get a “referral” fee for each person they refer who buys the product or service.

The benefit of being an affiliate is that it gives you content to share with your customers.  Once of the biggest questions I get from people is “I don’t have enough content”…”I need more content”.  Well, affiliates provide content PLUS it can earn you some money, which is also quite nice.  Now, you’re not going to retire on affiliate incomes, but it can add up. If you want to offer customers a bonus gift, some helpful information or an e-book, you might as well refer them to an affiliate and get credit for it.

Now, personally, I only promote products or services that I use and that I find helpful and valuable.  For example, when clients ask me about purchasing domain names, I recommend GoDaddy.com – which I use for all my domains registrations and hosting as well.  I send them a link to GoDaddy that includes my affiliate code.  If they decide to use GoDaddy then I get a few bucks for the referral.  It doesn’t cost my client anything extra.  And GoDaddy has a new happy customer (my client) and I’m a happy affiliate because I earned commission and helped my client out at the same time.  It is a recommendation that I would make even without the affiliate program – but since they have one, it’s silly not to take advantage of it.

You want to select affiliate programs and products that are interesting to your target audience.  Another example, I am asked all the time “What is the best online shopping cart”.  I use and recommend 1ShoppingCart and provide the link the same way I do with GoDaddy.  For email marketing platforms, I recommend SendPepper.  For PR and publicity, I recommend PRLeads.  These are things that my clients ask about.  These are quality services that I use, so I am familiar and comfortable with them.

To get started you can visit one of three sites that explain what this is all about and how to go about setting it up.  Check out ClickBank, PayDotCom and Commission Junction.

Call People

From 10 Ways to Build Your Business (without spending a penny)

1.  Call people

Just pick up the phone and call.
Just pick up the phone and call.

Some people may say “Laura…this is pretty basic”.  What about the miracle marketing tactics….huh?  Well, I hate to break it to you but there is no miracle.  To be honest, connecting with your existing customers, your existing client base is by far the single best way to build your business.  While this may sound simple, I’ll bet you a dollar that it has been more than a month since you’re talked to most of your previous clients or customers.  I’m talking about customers who you are not currently engaged with. If I’m wrong…send me an email and I’ll mail you a dollar.

Here’s the thing, you are not contacting these folks only to get repeat business from them.  Far from it!  You’re going to contact them for three reasons.  First, you’re doing market research – you want to learn more about your target customers.  What better way than to ask someone who has previously done business with you?  See how things are going since you last worked together.  How did the project turn out once it was implemented? What new things do they see on the horizon?  Ask questions and listen to what they tell you.

Second, ask for introductions to other people in the company, other companies, colleagues, etc. Again, you’re not looking to sell them anything – but you’re looking to expand your network and connect with new people who might have projects, of course, but they might also know of other people who have projects, or need your type of products or services. Be specific about the type of introductions you’re looking for.  Tell them the types of companies you’re interested in, the type of people you usually talk with, give them a place to start and most people are happy to introduce someone they trust and respect to someone else they trust and respect.

Finally, see if they need any help.  Again, I don’t mean you should try and sell them something. But ask if they need anything, have a question they can’t seem to answer, a problem that keeps cropping up.  Offer to help, do some research, send them some relevant articles (yours or someone else).  You need to do this on a regular basis.  Contact customers at least once a quarter if not once a month.  Email is fine but a well placed phone call is best, even if you have to leave a voice mail.  Script the voicemail out and make sure that you are specific in the reason you are calling and that you’ll call them back.

Then keep on calling…..

Essential Steps To Select The Target Market

If you don’t know who your target market is, how can you market to them?  The answer is…you can’t.  That’s why this is one of the most important things you can do to build your brand and build your business.  You need to identify the customers who have a problem that you can solve, that you have solved for others, and who are willing to pay you for that solution.  Here are the essential steps to identifying your target customer:

Identify the problems they are trying to solve: Each target group will have some specific issues, or problems, they are trying to solve.  It is a requirement that your products, services or information address those issues head-on.

Study the Structure: Each target group possesses a pattern, and you need to know the make-up of your target audience – their ages, earning capacities and working preferences. With this information you can use the proper marketing tools and techniques.

Identify the sub-groups: Within the main group, a number of sub-groups will exist.  For example, 18-24 year-old males tend to like sports, music and video games.  So these could be sub-groups to investigate.   (Yes, that is a stereotype…but you get my point).

Familiarity of the group with your type of product/service: How much, or little, the group knows about your type of product/service will directly impact they type of marketing you implement.  It will determine if you focus on education, or testimonials, or contests (as an example).

Influential organizations: If your target audience has a certain group of influential organization, you need to know.  You can work with the organizations to gain exposure to your audience.  Write articles, host a webinar, speak at an event – most organizations will open discussing these opportunities.

Role of media: Understand who your audience turns to for information.  What are the specific roles played by different media segments, newspapers, weeklies, websites?  How are they different or the same?  Are some more influential?  Why?

Once you have a firm grasp on who your target customer is, you are ready to get out there and start telling them all about how you, and only you, can help them solve their problems.

Build the best email campaign

Creating a successful email marketing campaign depends upon a few key things.  The first key is to keep it simple.  If your email contains a flashy attention-grabbing window of opportunity, but no real content, you’re not going to get the results most businesses desire.  People steer clear of the gimmicks, so if your current campaign is gimmicky you may want to consider revamping.  If you make the decision to revamp consider the following.  emailIcon

Try a simple email newsletter.
The reason for this is a recent report by Nielson Norman Group, the average e-mail user only reviews and Internet newsletter for an average of 50 seconds.  Whereas, marketing campaigns boarded by e-mail only hold the reader’s attention for around four seconds. As you can see the newsletter format will hold your average readers attention 10 times more than the normal email. Which in turn brings us to the actual design of the newsletter or the e-mail.

It’s important to create a simple email newsletter design that both captures the attention but also keeps the attention.  The simple truth is that most consumers and e-mail users only read a fraction of the e-mails they receive.  The rest of the e-mails that they actually open are merely scanned for content.  Aside from simplicity, an effective email marketing campaign will utilize ASIC principles of design. Don’t panic – all this means is that you use contrasting colors to draw the eye to certain elements of the email – your call-to-action.  Most designers agree that a design element should not contain more than 200 to 300 pixels.  This means that your e-mail design should not be disproportionate.  Try to ensure that you’re marketing design has a smooth flow and is distributed evenly  throughout the email, so it doesn’t feel bouncy or heavy.

There have been countless studies on how most Internet users read e-mail and various documents throughout the web. Your goal is to gain reader attention – and you have about 5 seconds to do this.  As 5 seconds is about as long as most readers will look at any page.  That means any information put on your page should be readable/scannable within five seconds.

It’s a good idea to use your knowledge. When it comes to marketing and media, to ensure that your message takes up less real estate than standard e-mail advertisements.  If your e-mail  takes up too much space (because it has too many graphics) or comes across too spammy, most ISPs will automatically filter it out as junk.  The imagery you placed inside your e-mail should convey a rapid message, don’t make the mistake of using photos and logos for mere beautification.  To make the most of your marketing campaign ensure that your pictures says something besides “I’m pretty”.

E-mail marketing is a rapid response industry.  This means you must be certain to give your potential clients every opportunity to make contact with you.  You can be easily contacted via contact information placed within your messages.  Be sure to include links to your site, your address information, your phone numbers, your fax number and any other information that can be used to contact you on a daily basis, in every e-mail that you send to potential clients.

Let’s face it…without the proper email design your email camapaign may well be predestined to fail. Use what you have learned here and  your email campaign will stand a much better chance of adding profit to your bottom line.

Buying Email Marketing Lists Yes Or No

Now that you’ve decided to embark on an email campaign, your next task is to build an email marketing list, but where do you get it from? Many people succumb to the pitfall of buying email marketing lists. Don’t make the same mistake. canspam

You’ve very likely seen the ads that offer you millions of email addresses for a relatively low cost, well if you fall for one of these ads, you will end up labeled as a “spammer” almost as quickly as you send the email. Likely, the vast majority of the messages you send will end up in “junk” boxes, and you’ll get zero benefit from your efforts.  In fact, there will most likely be a negative impact to your brand as people will think of you as a spammer and therefore decrease the credibility of your brand. A good 70% of the addresses you attempt to purchase are bogus or have been duplicated and the remaining 30% have not requested to receive your message.Not a good way to start.

Some people elect to “rent” lists from varying submission services, but this can end up costing anywhere from 20 to 30 cents per email. What do you do? Use these next 5 ideas to get the ideas flowing and build your own targeted list. Remember, your primary goal should be to send emails to people who actually want to hear from you.

The big question, “where do you find these people?” Your best bet is to start with diverse marketing methods and pay attention to your web traffic. Below you will find a list, contributed by an existing email marketing company, of things that will ensure your email marketing list is successful.

1. Your Webpage should request individuals sign up for your guest book, your online electronic magazine, your newsletter, your offer for a free report or book, and any contest that you have to offer. Be sure and put this opportunity on every page of your web site.

2. Try Direct-Mail Marketing — mail out flyers or postcards to all potential customers.When you design your postcards, be sure to request that people visit your site and sign up to get valued information and relevant messages.

3. Consider Telemarketers — consider using a telemarketing service or telemarketing agent to make contact with your potential clients. Request that your telemarketers require e-mail addresses (it’s a good idea to offer incentives for having clients give out their e-mail address [contest, free trials, etc.]).  Student interns make great telemarketers, by the way.

4. Consider Hosting an Online Contest — open contests are extremely effective way to obtain e-mail addresses. On contest entry forms request e-mail addresses as method of approval for contest entry.

5. Get Physical — if you operate a physical store, be sure and request the customers provide you with their e-mail address at checkout. You may also want to consider sending out surveys via the mail and running additional contests to gain access to consumer contact information.

As you can see there is more than one way to ‘skin a cat’ when you need names for your email marketing campaign. You don’t have to resort too buying email marketing lists.