Mousetrap WisdomWritten by Arleen M. Kaptur
As an internet marketer, you have chosen a product or service and believe that it is unique and one-of-a-kind. You’ve surfed other sites and while some products offer similar features, there does not seem to be any that has all wonderful aspects yours has. You begin marketing and wait. There are a few “tire kickers” but no serious buyers. You have all internet features, pop-up ads, pop-under advertisements, a newsletter, and autoresponders. What can you do to get product in motion and selling? If you truly believe that you are giving great value, at a reasonable price, and you are willing to back-up whatever you say about it, then you are definitely on right track. There is an old saying, “If you build a better mousetrap...” What this old adage was trying to impress on people was that it takes stick-to-it abilities as well as a great product, and market finesse. In other words, you are in this for long haul. Its a great idea, and hype in your advertising is just your enthusiasm showing. You are, in essence, doing everything right. Now comes hardest part of internet marketing. You have to wait for word to get around and for surfers and other online participants to get wind of your product/service, and they will. God didn’t build world in one day, why do you feel you can create an internet empire in less than that? If you keep your information up to date, change content regularly, be punctual with your offered newsletter, and get as much free advertising as you can, you will get people to beat a path to your site. You can contact other sites and trade links, or you can try FFA links. Sign up
| | Does Your Store or Office Need CPR?Written by Karen E. Hipp
Does Your Store or Office Need CPR?There's a local restaurant in my neck of woods that had become very popular for their eclectic cuisine. They received rave reviews from all local restaurant critics and they became a popular place to dine. About 3 months ago I read in paper that owner had decided to sell restaurant to current chef. The new owner (and chef) was quoted as saying that he was going to change name of restaurant to "Paul's" (this is not real name). The new owner's name was "Paul." He said that his mother liked it. (Well of course she did). Here comes bad part. The restaurant already had a very successful and well-known name. He could have usurped power of that name for a long time, while he started to slowly build his own brand. No one would know "Paul's." Fatal mistake #1. I put this little story in back of my mind. Recently, I was walking/shopping down in area of "Paul's" restaurant. As I walked by, there were several flyers (the homemade kind) that had been taped to once gorgeous windows. It automatically cheapened fairly high priced restaurant in my mind. Then I noticed that a big red "P" had been painted (not very well) on one of entrance columns. Now we're well into Fatal mistake #3. Part of awnings on outside had been painted and rest were not. Plus, it looked like they had been spray painted. This was at least two months after they opened under new name. Do you see where I'm going with this? I haven't eaten at restaurant since change and I'm sure (?) food is still good, but impression that I was left with would make me choose another place. Too much competition to take a risk for an expensive dinner. Similar to this, I have a client that owns a chain of hair salons. I went to this client for years and begged him to take down old photo's of hairstyles from 15 years ago, torn and faded. And this was not a cheap salon! I sent out a survey to his clients asking them a variety of image/marketing/price questions (much to his chagrin). A lot of people said they thought salon was kind of "dirty." Although it really wasn't, walls needed a fresh coat of paint, pictures needed to be replaced and a variety of other little touch ups that were inexpensive, but important to client needed to be done.
|
