Cheap Ways to Advertise Your Website
By Joan Stewart
If you've just built a website, or your three-year-old site isn't
attracting the numbers you had hoped for, consider these ways to
spread the word.
In brochures and on business cards
On bumper stickers
On promotional products such as caps, mugs, towels
In your voicemail or answering machine messages
On supermarket bulletin boards
In the "trailer" paragraph at the end of an opinion column
Mention it when you're a guest on radio talk shows
In print ads
In your chamber of commerce newsletter
On your fax cover sheets
In business directories
In trade publications
On your invoices
On WebCards, four-color postcards with an image from your website on
one side and a printed message on the back
From the podium, during speaking engagements
In other people's newsletters
In newspaper and magazine letters to the editor
In radio advertisements
In Yellow Pages ads
On refrigerator magnets
On stickers attached to the outside of product packages
In your own newsletter
Postcards to your customers
Door hangers distributed in targeted neighborhoods
Word of mouth
On fliers about your products or services
Joan Stewart, a media relations speaker and
consultant, publishes the newsletter "The Publicity Hound-Tips,
Tricks and Tools for Free (or Really Cheap) Publicity." For a
sample copy, send a check for $5 payable to The Publicity Hound to
3930 Highway O, Saukville, WI 53080. Or order by credit card at her
web site at http://www.publicityhound.com, where you will also find
other helpful publicity tips and articles. E-mail at jstewart@execpc.com.
Taking Care of Your Referral Sources
By Wanda Loskot
I'm sure you agree that "by referrals" is one of the best
ways of growing business - no money thrown away on advertising that
doesn't work and no time wasted to convince strangers to do business
with you. The referred leads are presold - because trust and
confidence exist, at least to some degree. It boils down to getting
more of that good thing - leads, right?
One of the best ways to get more leads is to focus on those who send
you referrals already and to encourage them to do it more often. So,
how are you doing in the department of rewarding your sources for
referring you in the first place?
Most business people provide a referral reward or even some kind of
fee to people helping them to obtain a lead that ends with a sale.
Additionally some make it a standard practice to refer the source to
their own potential clients when the opportunity arises. Some people
have even different rewards for different types of leads. One thing
is to mention your name - another is to insist that the prospect
contacts you. And another thing is to assist during the process of servicing...
Makes sense, doesn't it?
Probably the most common -- and the biggest -- mistake business
people do in this area is rewarding contacts only for leads that
result in closed sales. Just think. If the prospect didn't buy from
you, that doesn't mean that the person who was considerate enough to
think of you and sent you a lead didn't do the job! You might say
that "the lead was poor quality" -- and it might be true.
Regardless, you need to reward the BEHAVIOR of your network people,
so that in the future the same person in similar situation again
thinks of you instead of someone else.
My friend the realtor sends a balloon bouquet for every referral,
another friend who sells cellular phones - a cute little pen with
company's logo and words "Thank you", my hair dresser:
always a nice thank you note. I send variety of things - my own
"Treasury of Quotes", small box of chocolates, thank your
notes. The cost? A dollar. Maybe three. The mileage? Tremendous. You
will be really surprised with the mileage you get from those little
gifts when you begin to invest in the business through referrals and
follow up not only on leads but also your referral sources.
Of course you might want to devise a special reward system for
rewarding people on the Internet. It might become too expensive and
too overwhelming to send a box of chocolates to everyone who refers
your site to a friend - you might want to set up some reward system
through a autoresponder or downloadable file. Drop in to my new site
http://SaneMarketing.com and see how this can be done (you might even
earn your own reward-tool to give away :-)
The bottom line? For EVERY lead you get -- give something back. It
might be a movie ticket or just a thank you note. It might be a gift
certificate or more elaborate gift - depending on the type of your
business and the potential value of a sale. Take care of your golden
geese - it is called positive reinforcement.
Wanda Loskot created a business system that
will make your business work so that YOU can rest - register today to
win one month of FREE business coaching at http://loska.com and http://sanemarketing.com
For subscription to her monthly newsletter "Referrals
Unlimited" mailto:ru@oaknetpub.com with SUBSCRIBE in the BODY of message
Don't Overlook Your Most
Profitable Source of Business
Copyright 1999
By Bob Leduc
Karen, a new business owner, called me this morning with a question I
hear often. She asked, "What can I do to build my business
faster? I'm making a small profit but can't seem to generate enough
sales to make the real money in this business."
As Karen answered some of my questions it became clear she had done a
good job of targeting a niche market. She also provides a compelling
reason for prospects to do business with her instead of with her
competition. She was obviously effective at attracting customers
because she already had over 100 of them. In fact, she was so busy
chasing down new customers she completely overlooked her existing
customers as a source of additional business.
HIGHLY PROFITABLE AND EASY TO GET
Your existing customers and clients already know and trust you. They
experienced proof of your ability to help them solve problems when
they bought from you the first time. It's easier for you to get more
business from them than to get business from new prospects. It's also
more profitable than business from new prospects because you get it
without any advertising expense.
Some businesses have natural repeat sales built into their operation.
Most MLM companies sell consumable products that periodically need to
be replaced. A website hosting service collects a new fee at regular
intervals to keep your site up. These replacement needs automatically
generate repeat business. But how can you generate additional
business from customers when it's not automatically built into your
product or service?
HOW TO TURN A ONE-TIME SALE INTO REPEAT BUSINESS
To capture additional business from your existing customers you have
to find or create additional products or services and offer them to
your customers. You can do this even if your business automatically
generates re-sales. These new products must be related to what your
customers originally bought.
Start by asking yourself what else you can offer your customers and
clients to improve their lives in the same area as their original
purchase? One type of product every business can use for repeat sales
is instructional material. It can be a book, videotape, audiotape,
software or any combinations of them. One pet store owner I know
regularly sends her customers special postcard offers for some of the
books and videotapes she stocks in her store. She sells a lot of
books and tapes this way. It also generates a lot of profitable
referrals from her customers.
AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
Affiliate programs are becoming popular among small businesses
marketing on the internet. The affiliate program handles all aspects
of the transaction and pays you a commission. All you have to do is
announce the product or service to your customers and include your
endorsement of the program. This can produce a significant number of
sales if the product or service is closely related to what your
customers already bought from you. The commissions you earn will be
almost 100% profit.
You must continuously find new customers to grow any business. The
cost of finding those new customers is a big expense. Maximize your
return on this expense by getting all the business you can from your
customers. Invest the time to create or locate other products or
services you can offer to your customers. You'll be amazed at how
much it increases your business volume and profit margin.
Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of
recruiting sales personnel and developing sales leads. He is now a
Sales Consultant. Bob recently wrote a manual for small business
owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple
Postcards" and several other publications to help small
businesses grow and prosper. For more information... Email:
BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards". Phone: (702)
658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time) Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box
33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133
Developing Your Verbal Logo
By Gary Lockwood
The next 30 seconds may determine whether you get your funding, make
the sale or establish your point-of-view!
In this fast-paced, mile-a-minute world, you often have only a few
seconds to get your message across. Most modern television and radio
commercials are no more than 30 seconds. Where could you use an
effective 30 second commercial message about your business? These
mini-messages are ideal for investor meetings, networking meetings,
trade shows, interviews, sales calls or any situation where you need
to quickly promote your business.
How do you develop these messages effectively? Think in terms of
"sound bites". Prepare your brief message just like a
speech, with an opener, the content and the closing. Let's examine
each of these in more detail.
The Opening
The purpose of your opening is to grab attention. You must assume
that your audience is generally as busy and preoccupied as you are.
So you need to first get their attention with a question,
"grabber'" words, humor or an interesting visual.
Using a question as an opener causes the listener to stop and think.
"Do you want to change the world?" "How many new
prospects do you want today?" "When do you want to feel
good again?" Once you have their attention, your message can
help them answer the question.
Grabber words are designed to startle, shock or at least cause your
listener to want to listen to what's coming next. The first sentence
of this article is an example.
A funny comment or an eye-catching visual are always effective ways
to get the attention of your listeners in a hurry. Obviously, any of
these openings must be relevant to your message, or they will confuse
your listeners.
The Content
Once you have their attention, relate your main message. Since you
usually have only three or four sentences, you need to craft this
message carefully. The most effective message is the one that states
what your business can do for the listener. In other words, talk
about the benefits to be received by using your product or service.
Don't say "I'm a dentist". Say "I improve the health
and well-being of my clients. Healthy teeth help you look good and
feel good".
The bottom line is that your listeners don't care what you do. They
care about what you can do for them. Talk in terms of results,
feelings, benefits, outcomes, ideas. Imagine your listener with a
sign on their forehead that reads "So What? What's in it for
me?" Remember, you only have 30 seconds. There will be time
later to explain how you do these great things.
The Closing
Here is where you ask for action. As a result of your 30 second
commercial, you want your listener to do something or think
something. Ask: "When can we meet?" "Give me your
business card". "Call today". "When you think of
shoes, think of The Shoemaster".
Also appropriate is your catchy tag line. The closing may be the only
part of your message that your listener will remember. What do you
want them to remember?
So, there it is. Your miniature speech takes only 30 seconds. And it
has a beginning, a middle and an ending. What can you do to make all
this come out sounding and looking smooth, confident and compelling?
Prepare and practice. Prepare by writing out your message, thinking
through the key elements and deciding exactly what you want your
listener to be doing or thinking at the end of your message.
Practice by saying your message aloud. Rehearse this brief speech.
Saying it aloud causes you to pay attention to the sound and cadence.
Practice in front of a mirror and you will see the gestures and body
language that make up such a large part of the communication.
Remember, it's not just what you say, it's how you say what you say
that makes the difference.
For your 30 second commercial to really be effective, you must act
like you mean it, sound like you mean it and look like you mean it.
How do others realize that you really mean what you say? They notice
your enthusiasm, your mannerisms, your tone of voice, your posture.
Part of your preparation is to be consciously aware of your
non-verbal communication. If possible, video yourself giving your
message. Replay the tape several times. Once to listen and observe
the overall effect of your message. Watch it again without sound.
What are you telling the audience by your posture, body language,
facial expressions and your gestures? Do you look and act like you
really mean it?
Replay the tape again with your eyes closed. Listen for distracting
sounds such as "uh", "ah", "ya know" or
sighs. All these things subtract from the effectiveness of your main message.
In our MTV-world of excessive sights and sounds and experiences, make
your point and get your message across in a well prepared, well
rehearsed 30 second commercial. Think of it as a brief speech. Mix
preparation with inspiration and you'll get a standing ovation.
Gary Lockwood is Your Business Coach. Get
the Unique, Do-It-Yourself Business Consulting Kits - FREE. To get
yours, go to http://www.BizSuccess.com/freekits.htm Free business
newsletter - mailto:subscribe@BizSuccess.com Email:
mailto:Gary@BizSuccess.com Web: http://www.BizSuccess.com Office:
(800) 272-1575 (USA) * Fax: (760) 325-9608
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