Tell them how they will benefit from doing business with you; what they can expect and when to expect it. Tell them that they will make loads of money from your advice, not that you need just one more customer to win a new Kia.

Here's a second tip to help you remember first tip: start a marketing letter with word 'You". For example, "You will be amazed at results when you use..." or "You can help your customers and make a few bucks in process! Here's how..."

Back to bad letter... first sentence completely turned me off. The first sentence! "I just wanted to give you an update on what's going on in my life." I don't mean to be cold or cynical, but who cares? Send me a marketing letter that's about me, not about you! Tell me that I'm going to make money, lose weight, or be better looking... not what's going on in your life. (I did know this person but only casually, as we had taken a class together two years ago.)

He goes on to explain what he's doing and then he says, "I believe that you, as a friend of mine, may be in a position to help me." Why would I want to do that? It shouldn't be about him, it should be about me (the reader)!

To paraphrase Dennis Miller, "I didn't mean to get off on a rant...", but you can learn plenty from a good example of a bad letter, and then you can avoid making similar mistakes.

And that IS about you.

Let’s say that you offer a business to business service through your website. Almost every major city in U.S. has a local business publication that discusses local business news and covers topics of interest to business owners. How many major cities are there in U.S.? An informal analysis reveals that there are at least 50 (one for each state), plus many more….there are 5 in California alone! Since you are on-line, geography is not an obstacle, so get your articles and news releases out to these publications no matter where they are published. There’s a magazine for just about everything these days, so whatever your area of expertise is, you’ll find an editor who might be interested in running your article.

Targeted Event Promotion – No matter who you are targeting, there is some type of annual event for them held somewhere in U.S. From dental assistants to senior citizens to country music fans, there is a conference or convention that attracts thousands of them. Promote your on-line business with an advertisement in convention program, or better yet, distribute some promotional materials at show, such as pens or note pads with your URL printed on them. If event is out of town, don’t worry. Contact facility where event is being held. They will usually help out with this type of promotion for a small fee.

The on-line world is a tremendous place to market your products and services. But don’t forget about rest of world, or you’ll miss out on some tremendous marketing opportunities.