The first step to getting your marketing and public relations efforts down to a science is systemitizing. This may sound complicated but it will change things for the better and it really just comes down to getting organized and establishing a couple of things once so you can just plug in later.
Here are some basic tips and steps you can take to streamline your marketing and P.R. efforts, which ultimately is the most important thing you must do in your business.
1. Identify which tools you will use- All marketing tools work. They just don't work for every business model. So based on the type of business you have determine what marketing tactics and tools you will need and establish those all at once so that they are ready to go each time you sit down to market your business.
2. Create templates- If newsletters, press releases and articles are part of your plan, create templates that you can just plug into later. This will take some time the first time around, but then you'll have half the process done down the line.
3. Schedule your marketing time- You need to set aside some marketing time each day. This may be the biggest challenge for business owners. Most will market on a whim and that's when frustration happens. Marketing should be part of your daily routine and whatever tools you identify as part of your plan, must be put into use each day for at least 4 hours a day. I know that sound excessive at first. But you will see how your business changes when you apply this.
4. Create Campaigns Ahead of Time- When you define what you want to promote ahead of time, you will use your allotted marketing time more wisely. So sit down with a calendar and weave your campaigns and promotions into it. By doing this you will never miss a special holiday or event. You will know exactly when and how to prepare for product and service launches and most importantly you will be in front of your potential client at all times.
5. Be consistent- This is the kicker. I've seen many people do all of the above but without consistency. As a business owner, consistency in your marketing and P.R. will determine how serious you are about your business. It will also determine how much of a result you will get.
If you tackle all of the above you will surely see results. Keep in mind that some of the things you schedule may not work out or you may have to tweak things from time to time. Being flexible is also part of the marketing process. If you see something isn't working, change it. When you systematize your marketing even making changes is easy because just like you plug in you can plug something out and replace it with something else.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Julissa Fernandez, a.k.a "The Sassy Media Guru" helps women with service based businesses create bold, and engaging publicity to attract better paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get her Free tips by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Friday, December 18, 2009
Do You Consider Money to Be Evil?
I just got an email from a mentor of mine (Mike Dillard) and what he shared was so valuable that I just had to share with my community.
I am so sick of hearing people say that Money is the Root of all Evil.
Or the "I'm going to get rich by having a slew of ignorant people doing as I say." This happens to be the mentality of many people looking to get rich today. I've heard it more than once and it's quite repelling to me.
But here's an excerpt from Atlas Shrugged (1957), Ayn Rand’s masterwork and last novel—is the brilliant dramatization of her unique vision of existence and of man’s highest purpose and potential in life.
Nothing I have ever read or heard has ever addressed the issue of "Money Perceived as Evil", better than this book, especially this excerpt! This is so worth your time to read. And if you agree with it, share it. This is right on the Money!---No pun intended! :-)
============Page 410 - "Atlas Shrugged"===============
"Standing unnoticed on the edge of a group, Rearden heard a woman, who had large diamond earrings and a flabby, nervous face, ask tensely, "Senior d'Anconia, what do you think is going to happen to the world?""Just exactly what it deserves."
"Oh how cruel!"
Don't you believe in the operation of moral law, madame?" Francisco asked gravely.
"I do."
Rearden heard Bertram Scudder, outside the group, say to a girl who made some sound of indignation, "Don't let him distrub you. You know, money is the root of all evil - and he's the typical product of money."
Rearden did not think that Francisco could have heard it, but he saw Francisco turning to them with a gravely courteous smile.
“So you think that money is the root of all evil? Said Francisco d’ Anconia.
Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them.
Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade, and give value for value.
Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is that what you consider evil?When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into bread you will need to survive tomorrow.
Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor – your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money. Is that what you consider evil?
Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time.
Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.
But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of a man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it?Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made – before it can be looted or mooched – made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability.
An honest man is the one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.
To trade by means of money is the code of men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more.
Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss – the recognition that they are not beats of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery - that you must offer them values, not wounds - that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods.
Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find.
And when men live by trade - with reason, not force, as their final arbiter- it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability – and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward.
This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is that what you consider evil? But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.
It will give you the means for satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of men who attempt to reverse the law of causality – the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.
Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent.
The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors.
The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth – the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him.
Did it?
Or did he corrupt his money?
Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason you call it evil?
Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life.
If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy.
Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money?
Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money?
Or did you say that it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil?
To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is the loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money – and he has good reason to hate it.
The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.
Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil.
That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another – their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun.
But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or keep it. Men who have no courage, pride, or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize for being rich – will not remain rich for long.
They are the natural bait for the swarms of looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve him of the guilt – and his life, as he deserves.
Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard – the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money – the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statues are written to protect you against them.
But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law – men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims – then money becomes its creator’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them.
But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.
Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money.
Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed.
Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half loot.
Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave it to its owners in a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it.
Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked: Account overdrawn.
When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘who is destroying the world?’ You are.
You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive civilization and you wonder why it’s crumbling around you, while you’re damning its life-blood – money.
You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men’s history, money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor.
That phrase about the evil of money, which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was produced by the labor of slaves – slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by somebody’s mind and left unimproved for centuries.
So long as production was ruled by force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little con conquer. Yet through all the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers – as industrialists.
To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money – and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement.
For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being – the self-made man – the American Industrialist.
Until you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction.
When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips, and guns – or dollars.
Take your choice – there is no other – and your time is running out."
==Ayn Rand - "Atlas Shrugged" : Pg 410 –>==
I am so sick of hearing people say that Money is the Root of all Evil.
Or the "I'm going to get rich by having a slew of ignorant people doing as I say." This happens to be the mentality of many people looking to get rich today. I've heard it more than once and it's quite repelling to me.
But here's an excerpt from Atlas Shrugged (1957), Ayn Rand’s masterwork and last novel—is the brilliant dramatization of her unique vision of existence and of man’s highest purpose and potential in life.
Nothing I have ever read or heard has ever addressed the issue of "Money Perceived as Evil", better than this book, especially this excerpt! This is so worth your time to read. And if you agree with it, share it. This is right on the Money!---No pun intended! :-)
============Page 410 - "Atlas Shrugged"===============
"Standing unnoticed on the edge of a group, Rearden heard a woman, who had large diamond earrings and a flabby, nervous face, ask tensely, "Senior d'Anconia, what do you think is going to happen to the world?""Just exactly what it deserves."
"Oh how cruel!"
Don't you believe in the operation of moral law, madame?" Francisco asked gravely.
"I do."
Rearden heard Bertram Scudder, outside the group, say to a girl who made some sound of indignation, "Don't let him distrub you. You know, money is the root of all evil - and he's the typical product of money."
Rearden did not think that Francisco could have heard it, but he saw Francisco turning to them with a gravely courteous smile.
“So you think that money is the root of all evil? Said Francisco d’ Anconia.
Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them.
Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade, and give value for value.
Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is that what you consider evil?When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into bread you will need to survive tomorrow.
Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor – your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money. Is that what you consider evil?
Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time.
Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.
But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of a man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it?Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made – before it can be looted or mooched – made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability.
An honest man is the one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.
To trade by means of money is the code of men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more.
Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss – the recognition that they are not beats of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery - that you must offer them values, not wounds - that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods.
Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find.
And when men live by trade - with reason, not force, as their final arbiter- it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability – and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward.
This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is that what you consider evil? But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.
It will give you the means for satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of men who attempt to reverse the law of causality – the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.
Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent.
The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors.
The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth – the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him.
Did it?
Or did he corrupt his money?
Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason you call it evil?
Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life.
If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy.
Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money?
Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money?
Or did you say that it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil?
To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is the loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money – and he has good reason to hate it.
The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.
Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil.
That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another – their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun.
But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or keep it. Men who have no courage, pride, or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize for being rich – will not remain rich for long.
They are the natural bait for the swarms of looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve him of the guilt – and his life, as he deserves.
Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard – the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money – the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statues are written to protect you against them.
But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law – men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims – then money becomes its creator’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them.
But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.
Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money.
Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed.
Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half loot.
Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave it to its owners in a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it.
Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked: Account overdrawn.
When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘who is destroying the world?’ You are.
You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive civilization and you wonder why it’s crumbling around you, while you’re damning its life-blood – money.
You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men’s history, money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor.
That phrase about the evil of money, which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was produced by the labor of slaves – slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by somebody’s mind and left unimproved for centuries.
So long as production was ruled by force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little con conquer. Yet through all the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers – as industrialists.
To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money – and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement.
For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being – the self-made man – the American Industrialist.
Until you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction.
When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips, and guns – or dollars.
Take your choice – there is no other – and your time is running out."
==Ayn Rand - "Atlas Shrugged" : Pg 410 –>==
Friday, November 13, 2009
What is Working Today
These days, getting results from your marketing requires more than just implementing a tight strategy. You've got to be on top of your game and be on top of the details as well as go back to doing things you didn't have to do last year.
By now, you are most likely aware of the importance of being visible. Of plastering yourself all over the internet (owning your name online), and being known in your circle of influence as the go to person in your line of work. But once you have established that, the question becomes: "how do I monetize my mission?"
The key is always having a call to action, an offering, and options for different types of customers that all need your service but at different levels.
Here are some things to keep in mind today when looking to close business deals:
1. Landing Pages- While landing pages are super effective, most people have caught on to the purpose of them and know that by signing on, they will eventually be asked to purchase something. Gone are the days where a simple opt-in page do the job. What seems to be working today are mini sites with offers on each page. So think about different levels of service you can offer and make those openly available.
2. The Follow-Up- For a long time, email follow-ups did the job. Today, picking up the phone is key. Start capturing phone numbers on the opt-in forms and contacting your leads personally. People are tired of the hype and are more skeptical than ever. Calling them directly and aswering their pressing questions is imperative at this time.
3. 1-800 Numbers- Giving your potential clients and customers the ability to contact you is really important. Many online marketers don't do this, so using this tactic will give you an added value. People miss personal connections. If you can use traditional customer service without being pushy, you will be way ahead of the game in closing business deals.
4. Target Market Research- There's a phenomenon right now with online marketing. With so many displaced workers turning to the internet to make some extra money, competition is bigger than ever. Researching your target market and knowing exactly what they want, how they want it, how much they are willing to pay for it is more important than ever. This has always been an essential factor in marketing that many business owners tend to skim over. In today's market it is more important than ever.
5. Websites That Work- A year ago, Marketing Guru's were telling us that website design wasn't important and that what really mattered was good copy. Today, what industry leaders are saying is that good copy must be accompanied by great website design. So do keep that in mind. Confusing websites don't sell, so steer away from lots of widgets and gadgets and instead focus on having a welcoming site with world-class copy.
Don't be overwhelmed by the changes. Remember that change is constant. The tactics will always be changing and adapting to them smoothly is what will keep you in the game. Stay informed, test, test, test, but do get creative in your offerings so that you always have potential customers on your conveyor belt.
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com or www.synergycommunication.net.
By now, you are most likely aware of the importance of being visible. Of plastering yourself all over the internet (owning your name online), and being known in your circle of influence as the go to person in your line of work. But once you have established that, the question becomes: "how do I monetize my mission?"
The key is always having a call to action, an offering, and options for different types of customers that all need your service but at different levels.
Here are some things to keep in mind today when looking to close business deals:
1. Landing Pages- While landing pages are super effective, most people have caught on to the purpose of them and know that by signing on, they will eventually be asked to purchase something. Gone are the days where a simple opt-in page do the job. What seems to be working today are mini sites with offers on each page. So think about different levels of service you can offer and make those openly available.
2. The Follow-Up- For a long time, email follow-ups did the job. Today, picking up the phone is key. Start capturing phone numbers on the opt-in forms and contacting your leads personally. People are tired of the hype and are more skeptical than ever. Calling them directly and aswering their pressing questions is imperative at this time.
3. 1-800 Numbers- Giving your potential clients and customers the ability to contact you is really important. Many online marketers don't do this, so using this tactic will give you an added value. People miss personal connections. If you can use traditional customer service without being pushy, you will be way ahead of the game in closing business deals.
4. Target Market Research- There's a phenomenon right now with online marketing. With so many displaced workers turning to the internet to make some extra money, competition is bigger than ever. Researching your target market and knowing exactly what they want, how they want it, how much they are willing to pay for it is more important than ever. This has always been an essential factor in marketing that many business owners tend to skim over. In today's market it is more important than ever.
5. Websites That Work- A year ago, Marketing Guru's were telling us that website design wasn't important and that what really mattered was good copy. Today, what industry leaders are saying is that good copy must be accompanied by great website design. So do keep that in mind. Confusing websites don't sell, so steer away from lots of widgets and gadgets and instead focus on having a welcoming site with world-class copy.
Don't be overwhelmed by the changes. Remember that change is constant. The tactics will always be changing and adapting to them smoothly is what will keep you in the game. Stay informed, test, test, test, but do get creative in your offerings so that you always have potential customers on your conveyor belt.
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com or www.synergycommunication.net.
Monday, October 12, 2009
"Attraction Marketing vs. Old School Marketing"
We are living in the entrepreneurship era. The current economy, though volatile, is what some experts are calling the perfect storm. By having nothing to lose, thousands of unemployed and displaced workers are deciding to start their own business. This is a good thing. The question is: Who will make it?
Now, history has shown that persistence and perseverance will get anyone what they want. But there are those who seem to make it with ease, while others make it with a struggle. Marketing will be the number one tool in mobilizing your business toward success. That is a fact. And while there are many marketing tactics to choose from there is something that has become increasingly apparent and the shift is happening.
There is a new paradigm in how businesses market themselves. It's known as Attraction Marketing. This is where business comes to you as a result of positioning and a compromise to service vs. Old School Marketing which is all about hype, fear, Ra-Ra!, brainwashing and let me get a sale out of you approach. Those days are over. You can still get business with old school marketing tactics, for sure. But you will not build long lasting customer relations and in the long run, the cost of this type of marketing is a high price to pay.
Today's new paradigm is about establishing relationships. It's about making a commitment to be of service. With attraction marketing there will always be a win-win situation and both you, the business and the customer will achieve success. With this new paradigm, the principles of success remain constant. For example, you need to be focused, goal oriented, persistent and determined. What changes is your approach. Where you come from. It becomes imperative to review your approach across the board. Because marketing encompasses many things; see how you are positioning yourself and your business in your copy writing, your website, your advertising, even your appearance. But most importantly, how are you establishing relationships?
There's a psychological approach to this new paradigm. And it all comes down to analyzing how people see you. Are you being saucy, hype-based and inauthentic? People can read this and it's a repellent. Or are you being of service, information-based and authentic? Via this approach, people feel cared for as opposed to "pitched" to.
Entrepreneurial and Sales leaders within different industries have proven how this new paradigm made a huge difference in their bottom line. People like Bob Proctor (Self-Development), Kandee G (Real Estate Sales), and Ali Brown (Marketing) have all given testimony about how business changed when they became of service rather than sales.
Ask yourself today: How can I be of service? How can my business help other people? Why is my product/service beneficial for someone and who is that ideal person? Once you have answered these questions market your business from this place and see how you start to attract business with the right people.
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com or www.synergycommunication.net.
Now, history has shown that persistence and perseverance will get anyone what they want. But there are those who seem to make it with ease, while others make it with a struggle. Marketing will be the number one tool in mobilizing your business toward success. That is a fact. And while there are many marketing tactics to choose from there is something that has become increasingly apparent and the shift is happening.
There is a new paradigm in how businesses market themselves. It's known as Attraction Marketing. This is where business comes to you as a result of positioning and a compromise to service vs. Old School Marketing which is all about hype, fear, Ra-Ra!, brainwashing and let me get a sale out of you approach. Those days are over. You can still get business with old school marketing tactics, for sure. But you will not build long lasting customer relations and in the long run, the cost of this type of marketing is a high price to pay.
Today's new paradigm is about establishing relationships. It's about making a commitment to be of service. With attraction marketing there will always be a win-win situation and both you, the business and the customer will achieve success. With this new paradigm, the principles of success remain constant. For example, you need to be focused, goal oriented, persistent and determined. What changes is your approach. Where you come from. It becomes imperative to review your approach across the board. Because marketing encompasses many things; see how you are positioning yourself and your business in your copy writing, your website, your advertising, even your appearance. But most importantly, how are you establishing relationships?
There's a psychological approach to this new paradigm. And it all comes down to analyzing how people see you. Are you being saucy, hype-based and inauthentic? People can read this and it's a repellent. Or are you being of service, information-based and authentic? Via this approach, people feel cared for as opposed to "pitched" to.
Entrepreneurial and Sales leaders within different industries have proven how this new paradigm made a huge difference in their bottom line. People like Bob Proctor (Self-Development), Kandee G (Real Estate Sales), and Ali Brown (Marketing) have all given testimony about how business changed when they became of service rather than sales.
Ask yourself today: How can I be of service? How can my business help other people? Why is my product/service beneficial for someone and who is that ideal person? Once you have answered these questions market your business from this place and see how you start to attract business with the right people.
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com or www.synergycommunication.net.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Why Every Business Needs An Online Marketing Strategy"
The numbers are staggering. The Internet is replacing other media platforms and if you don't think so; check out these numbers:
According to Internetworldstats.com in June 2009 there were well over 1.65 billion Internet users in the world. Asia, Europe and North America are the top 3 Internet users followed by Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Australia.
Who's using it? In the U.S. alone, according to Pew Internet & American Life Project: 80% of Generation X (Internet users ages 33-44) buy products online, compared with 71% of Generation Y(Internet users ages 18-32). 38% of online teens buy products online, as do 56% of the Silent Generation (Internet users ages 64-72) and 47% of the GI Generation (Internet users age 73 and older).
Stick with me here. We've got the usage numbers. Now check out the trends:
Facebook has 200 Million Members.
YouTube visitors are viewing 13 Billion Videos a month.
LinkedIn has over 15 Million Business people networking.
Twitter is growing at over 40% a month.
Digg and Delicious are driving millions of visitors to websites every month.
Now, with these numbers, ask yourself: "might my target market be out there somewhere?" I would say Absolutely!
The beauty of attracting your target market via online marketing is that its extremely cost effective, you have the ability to target them by the many as opposed to 1 to 1, and if you do things right, you can position yourself as a leader in your industry in no time.
So no matter what business you are in, chances are your target market is searching for that information, product or service online. Find out where they are and show them the value of what you offer..
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com or www.synergycommunication.net.
According to Internetworldstats.com in June 2009 there were well over 1.65 billion Internet users in the world. Asia, Europe and North America are the top 3 Internet users followed by Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Australia.
Who's using it? In the U.S. alone, according to Pew Internet & American Life Project: 80% of Generation X (Internet users ages 33-44) buy products online, compared with 71% of Generation Y(Internet users ages 18-32). 38% of online teens buy products online, as do 56% of the Silent Generation (Internet users ages 64-72) and 47% of the GI Generation (Internet users age 73 and older).
Stick with me here. We've got the usage numbers. Now check out the trends:
Facebook has 200 Million Members.
YouTube visitors are viewing 13 Billion Videos a month.
LinkedIn has over 15 Million Business people networking.
Twitter is growing at over 40% a month.
Digg and Delicious are driving millions of visitors to websites every month.
Now, with these numbers, ask yourself: "might my target market be out there somewhere?" I would say Absolutely!
The beauty of attracting your target market via online marketing is that its extremely cost effective, you have the ability to target them by the many as opposed to 1 to 1, and if you do things right, you can position yourself as a leader in your industry in no time.
So no matter what business you are in, chances are your target market is searching for that information, product or service online. Find out where they are and show them the value of what you offer..
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com or www.synergycommunication.net.
Friday, September 4, 2009
"Who Said You Can't Be Creative In Business?"
Creativity is the engine that keeps us moving forward in our business. Some have thought that creativity should be left to artsy people and that it's not for everyone. That is a huge fallacy. Every time you think about new ways to generate more business, get known, offer a better service, you are being creative.
Creativity is best tapped into when we are inspired. When we love what we do and we are determined to be great at it. Then we start getting really creative.
Daniel Pink, author of "A Whole New Mind" says the era of "left brain" (logical and theoretical) dominance is giving way to a whole new world in which "right brain" (artistical and holistic) abilities will make a difference in who gets ahead and who falls behind. Now the argument of this book may be a stretch for some. But the concept of using the brain as a metaphor for understanding where we are headed is fascinating.
You are creative. And have always been and will always be. It's part of our human condition. But many of us have been taught to control our creativity and develop the more logical side of ourselves. That has created a generation of success for sure. But now we are being encouraged to consider blending in that logical side with some creativity. The results can be astounding because when you do that, you come from a place of authenticity. When you do that, you stand out. When you stand out you shine for being in your element.
Here are some ways to spark your creativity:
1. Make time to get creative. This can be different for many people. It may be a walk, meditation or your shower time. But create space for ideas to flow.
2. We all have moments where the creativity is just overflowing. Sometimes we call it insomnia, or anxiety. At these moments, take a notebook or some paper and write it all out. Jot down every idea that comes to mind no matter how crazy it may seem. You'd be surprised what come out of these notes.
3. Creativity is about being curious, observant and probing. Make a habit of always being willing to look at situations outside of the box and asking yourself: "what if I did this...?"
4. Don't get stuck on doing the same things all the time. Change up your routine, push yourself through your own boundaries. Amazing things start to come up when you realize you can do things differently.
Creativity will always be a part of you. Make good use of it and see how thinking differently can bring you life altering results in your business. Think about this:
If you aren't different and innovative and bringing a fresh perspective, why would someone do business with you instead of someone else?
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
Creativity is best tapped into when we are inspired. When we love what we do and we are determined to be great at it. Then we start getting really creative.
Daniel Pink, author of "A Whole New Mind" says the era of "left brain" (logical and theoretical) dominance is giving way to a whole new world in which "right brain" (artistical and holistic) abilities will make a difference in who gets ahead and who falls behind. Now the argument of this book may be a stretch for some. But the concept of using the brain as a metaphor for understanding where we are headed is fascinating.
You are creative. And have always been and will always be. It's part of our human condition. But many of us have been taught to control our creativity and develop the more logical side of ourselves. That has created a generation of success for sure. But now we are being encouraged to consider blending in that logical side with some creativity. The results can be astounding because when you do that, you come from a place of authenticity. When you do that, you stand out. When you stand out you shine for being in your element.
Here are some ways to spark your creativity:
1. Make time to get creative. This can be different for many people. It may be a walk, meditation or your shower time. But create space for ideas to flow.
2. We all have moments where the creativity is just overflowing. Sometimes we call it insomnia, or anxiety. At these moments, take a notebook or some paper and write it all out. Jot down every idea that comes to mind no matter how crazy it may seem. You'd be surprised what come out of these notes.
3. Creativity is about being curious, observant and probing. Make a habit of always being willing to look at situations outside of the box and asking yourself: "what if I did this...?"
4. Don't get stuck on doing the same things all the time. Change up your routine, push yourself through your own boundaries. Amazing things start to come up when you realize you can do things differently.
Creativity will always be a part of you. Make good use of it and see how thinking differently can bring you life altering results in your business. Think about this:
If you aren't different and innovative and bringing a fresh perspective, why would someone do business with you instead of someone else?
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com and www.synergycommunication.net
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com and www.synergycommunication.net
Sunday, August 30, 2009
"Marketing When You Have No Budget "
I see it time and time again. Businesses bankrupting themselves with expensive advertising and marketing schemes instead of using low-cost or no cost methods. It is possible. The catch here is that it will take some work. Seeing results depends on that.
Dan Kennedy, one of my favorite marketing experts in the country shares a story about a pair of cufflinks his father use to wear when he was a child that had raised gold letters that read: YCDBSOYA. The letters stand for:
You Can't Do Business Sitting On Your Ass
I love this, because it's not sugar coated. It's the truth. Many business owner think that by just having a product or offering a service they're good to go. The thought process usually goes a little like this: "I'll buy some leads and I'll be set. I'll advertise on the most popular publishings and I'll be set. I'll pay for a commercial and I'll be set. I'll get a really cool flashy website and everyone will be interested in my services!" They spend the money, see no results and then they are desperate and on the verge of failing and some do have to quit the business.
You can get big returns and see results without spending too much money, but it will take some work and it needs to be applied consistently over a period of time. Here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Use the Phone, Then Follow Up- when people call you make a habit of capturing all of their contact information and follow up either through mailings or an email newsletter.
2.Be a Shameless Self Promoter- Use every outgoing piece of paper, and every electronic document and email as a business promotion.
3.Spend some time online- promote your business by posting information in places where your target market hangs out.
4. Position yourself as an expert in your business and write articles related to that expertise.
5. Offer something for free. This hooks your potential client, and they'll feel like you've offered value before you've done business.
6. Visit your community businesses and residents personally. Introduce yourself, ask about their interests and make connections.
These tactics alone can represent results if you make them part of your marketing system. Then when you've built momentum, and cash starts flowing, then and only then should you invest in higher priced advertising.
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com.
Dan Kennedy, one of my favorite marketing experts in the country shares a story about a pair of cufflinks his father use to wear when he was a child that had raised gold letters that read: YCDBSOYA. The letters stand for:
You Can't Do Business Sitting On Your Ass
I love this, because it's not sugar coated. It's the truth. Many business owner think that by just having a product or offering a service they're good to go. The thought process usually goes a little like this: "I'll buy some leads and I'll be set. I'll advertise on the most popular publishings and I'll be set. I'll pay for a commercial and I'll be set. I'll get a really cool flashy website and everyone will be interested in my services!" They spend the money, see no results and then they are desperate and on the verge of failing and some do have to quit the business.
You can get big returns and see results without spending too much money, but it will take some work and it needs to be applied consistently over a period of time. Here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Use the Phone, Then Follow Up- when people call you make a habit of capturing all of their contact information and follow up either through mailings or an email newsletter.
2.Be a Shameless Self Promoter- Use every outgoing piece of paper, and every electronic document and email as a business promotion.
3.Spend some time online- promote your business by posting information in places where your target market hangs out.
4. Position yourself as an expert in your business and write articles related to that expertise.
5. Offer something for free. This hooks your potential client, and they'll feel like you've offered value before you've done business.
6. Visit your community businesses and residents personally. Introduce yourself, ask about their interests and make connections.
These tactics alone can represent results if you make them part of your marketing system. Then when you've built momentum, and cash starts flowing, then and only then should you invest in higher priced advertising.
© 2009 Synergy Communications, Inc.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julissa Fernandez, "The Sassy Media Guru" helps females with service based businesses create bold, engaging and sassy publicity to attract high paying clients while working less and enjoying it all. Get MORE and Better Clients NOW with her *free* special report by visiting www.sassymediaguru.com.
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