It's middle of July in a bustling Metropolis. It's hot, but not kind of heat that makes you sweat buckets. The kind of heat that forms an invisible adhesive layer over your entire body so that everything seams to stick to you.

SUDDENLY... The Big Advertising screen on one of largest buildings in town *Bursts* into life! A picture of a cool refreshing berry-licious big gulp dances in mid air, promising to satisfy your every need! And there on lonely street corner right below screen sits a seven eleven.

This, my friends is power of opt-in mailing list. It's like having a veritable endless bank account at your disposal. Any time you need a little cash, you pop up an advertisement and orders come flooding in.

Sounds nice, doesn't it. But it doesn't have to be a fantasy. You have ability to make this happen. You just need knowledge. As they say, Knowledge is Power! Marketers need to stop looking to affiliate programs, Success promising software, and multi-level marketing for answer to there income needs. You have resources to be successful right in front of you, and guess what. Their FREE!

The first step in building an opt-in mailing list is to become a writer. That's right. What, did you think you could just ask people to sign up for your list for no apparent reason? People need a reason to join your list, they need to receive something in return. After all have you ever signed up for a list that said, "Sign up here FREE and I'll send you an advertisement every day!". Whooo Hoooo! Sign me up!

No, you need to offer them something they didn't have before. Information. A point of view. A complaint. Anything that sparks there interest. People enjoy hearing others opinions even if it's just someone ranting and raving. Just look at George Carlin, comedian, he makes a good living complaining.

They cut costs, all costs, even marketing costs. They say, "Marketing is an expense. We're cutting expenses. Period."

WHEN YOU THINK OF MARKETING AS AN EXPENSE

In accounting, sure, marketing IS an expense. But here's what happens when marketing is purely viewed as an expense:

Company A thinks of marketing solely as an expense. When busniness gets slow, Company A cuts marketing. They tell fewer prospective customers about their products. Results: They get even less business.

You might ask, "How can you suggest that marketing is something other than an expense? Of course it's an expense - it sure isn't income. I write it off my taxes every year. You bet it's an expense."

If you think of marketing only as an expense, odds are, your marketing is nowhere near as effective as it could be.

There is another way of thinking about marketing. When you spend money and buy stock, that's an expense AND an investment. When you buy a rental property, that's an expense AND an investment. (Whether they are good or poor investments is another subject.)