Trial and Error + Persistence = Successful MarketingWritten by Diane Hughes
A few honest and successful Internet business owners will attest to fact that they have made countless marketing mistakes. Many of them will admit that they didn't get it exactly right on first try. However, practically all will tell you that - without gumption to take calculated risks and persistence to follow through - they would have never developed a truly successful online marketing campaign.Let me encourage you to take a few calculated risks with your marketing. Extend your comfort zone, so to speak. Step out of norm and take a leap of faith every now and then. What am I talking about? Mainly, that most small business owners are very, VERY conservative with their marketing programs. They decide to spend a little money on ezine ads, purchase least priced classified they can find, run it one time, get no response and quit. It doesn't work that way. Not only will that strategy fail almost every time online, it will fail offline, too. One proven principle of marketing is: repetition breeds remembrance and remembrance breeds sales. You may not realize this, but it takes an average of 7 times of being exposed to your product or service before average consumer even notices that you exist. Not before they buy... before they even recognize you at all. Running one classified ad simply isn't going to help. Because cost of advertising can get to be a bit expensive, many small business owners cringe at thought of spending more than they *think* they can afford. However, if your current strategy isn't giving you an acceptable ROI, it's time to change.
| | Making Press Releases Work - Creating News Where None ExistedWritten by Diane Hughes
Aren't you tired of hearing how extremely easy it is to get free publicity? Have you tried suggestions that most public relations "gurus" give you? The hard, cold truth of matter is that you cannot write a press release about any old aspect of your business and have it end up on home page of Fortune Small Business Web site. It just doesn't work that way. So how does it work, and what do you do if you need publicity but have nothing "newsworthy" to share?There's another truth to publicity ... you can create it if you need to, and it's not that hard to do! Let me offer you useable suggestions that you can implement in order to gain some free exposure for your small business. --- Offer A Donation to a Worthy Cause One woman (a business coach) gave two scholarships to a local community college that catered to underprivileged. She included two months of free business-building coaching services for qualified applicants at school. She set forth criteria with help of college, and decided on how to choose scholarship winners. Press releases were sent out, and media went wild! Of course they would ... everyone loves to hear about people who are helping out underdog. She received a lot of free promotion and boosted her image as a community leader, too. --- Relate Your Product/Service to a Local/National News Event Right now United States is experiencing two very troubling problems that media covers on a regular basis. The first is a drastic upswing in unemployment (especially in high-tech fields). The second is an energy crisis (particularly in California).
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