I take that back. You CAN ignore it, but it won't go away. No matter what your product or service, you simply MUST do some sort of marketing if you want to get more business.

Volumes have been written about marketing and ways of approaching it, but I recently received a letter that, frankly, left me astonished. I don't claim to be a marketing expert, although I've been fairly successful at it, but I thought it was one of worst marketing letters I have ever seen. And it was from someone who claimed to be a sales expert, which brings up difference between two: 'marketing' is supposed to get someone interested in what you offer, 'sales' is process of converting that interest into cash.

If you’re looking for innovative methods of marketing your on-line business, start thinking like an off-line marketer. The tried and true marketing practices employed by traditional businesses represent significant value to your on-line venture. Before placing your next bid with a Pay-per-click engine, consider some of these marketing initiatives:

Off-line Advertising – Yes, they still have advertising off-line, in things like newspapers and magazines. If you have an intriguing website name that is focused on one particular industry or profession, you have access to highly targeted publications that will do an excellent job of reaching your target market. Imagine that you operate a website that sells an amazing new product aimed at plumbing market. You can stretch your advertising dollars by placing ads that contain only your URL in recognized plumbing publications. An ad that reads www.besteverplumbinginvention.com would attract plenty of traffic from curious plumbers and industry suppliers. While other companies are using their ad space to explain to plumbers why they should call them, you’ve provided a compelling reason (curiosity) for plumbers to hit your site. Since you only advertised URL, you don’t require considerable space to explain your idea, hence cost of your ad will be very reasonable.