PP what?

So I have been having a conversation with a new friend on facebook that related to how PPC and online marketing works. With how fast everything is moving and how much innovators are getting ahead, there are a lot that are being left behind.

He chooses attraction marketing for his online business and I have to admit it has its merits to a certain degree. I have had that conversation with a few marketers. The conventional ones like the new stuff and want to figure out the latest and greatest. Seemingly though the rest of the world is slowly catching up and certain “outdated” methods are just now beginning to take effect. (it boggles me that it takes so long for many to realize and accept what marketing is bringing to the table and then to respond to it taking even longer…oh well, human kind)

Here’s an excerpt from that conversation:

Media buying in the “Google” realm can be a bit daunting to some. I am certified with my company in PPC, and it works well provided you take the time to learn the intricacies of it and then use it creatively. It’s truly the only way you can get ahead, and if you do it right, it can turn out a real profit.

SEM / SEO is a different beast even though they are keyword driven as well. They can prove to do some real justice to a business owners bottom line, but can get really pricey. Together they work hand in hand to create relevancy and freshness in Google’s realm and it can really help drive traffic…again, IF you take the time to learn it right.

There are some good tricks that you can use that the attraction and affiliate marketers use to get into the right spots on the content networks that have proven on more than one occasion that Google is still the way to go.(this is a given by most that Google is the only way to go, heck they created this whole PPC thing right?)

Attraction marketing is the “long funnel” marketing model that can be really effective when done with diligence and persistence. As you have found, it can be a great help in generating the kind of traffic you may be looking for. As for the honesty of pics, be assured you will run into a few that are not so open about who they really are, even business owners sometimes are a bit shy to let out their identities on facebook, linkedIn, etc.

Don’t want to get into a long drawn out blah blah about online marketing, but this is where everything has headed, and will continue to head until someone comes up with something else.

What do you think?

Where’s the money flowing…

Seth Godin makes a real interesting point on his latest blog; where the money is there you’ll find the people working.

Interesting to me that it starts as an end still and then the means justifies it. (almost sounds like the torture debate going on right now)

Here’s a tag to Mr. Godin’s point; if there is money to be made you can well believe that someone is going to be searching for it.

He wrote that things change around once there’s money to be made in any particluar field. He related it to writers becoming publishers which is the reverse of what was. (When the Writer Becomes the Publisher / Seth Godin – 05/2009)

It would seem pretty logical that once the public wants something, they are willing to pay for it, so what is it that you have that they are willing to pay for? What message can you get across to them to tell them what you have is what they need? Many times I see “the best blah blah” or “Number 1 blah blah in the state” C’mon, do you really think that is going to attract attention? If it does, I’d be pretty surprised. Nowadays it’s just not enough. Mr. Godin back in 2003 made refernece to being remarkable(the purple cow). If you have a pizz,a shop fine, so does almost every other coner strip mall, what makes yours so different?

Here in Las Vegas, NV , a local pizza chain by the name of Metro pizza decided to become the “purple cow” of the valley by holding pizza making classes. Their pizza is great, but now they are the teachers of pizza making, and it’s doing very well. People are paying for classes and more are hearing by word of mouth how great their pizzas are. Do you think they can charge a bit more because of that?

Here’s the bottom line: You have to find the flow of money where it is moving and get in front of it. It’s the one time you want to get run over by the flood. Even if you can’t handle it you’ll have known what is was like and can most likey prepare for it better next time. Pizza makers to pizza making teachers,writers becoming publishers, what else can you think of that would set you apart and find you more income for your business through the right marketing message?

Keep it rolling!

Wi-fitv launches!

So there’s this company called Wi-fitv.com that is offering a tool that is like YouTube on Steroids.

The concept is simple really; any business, organization, or individual can now own their own online “tv” station.

This is definitely a step in a new direction away from antiquated mareting strategies that have ben in place for so long, and the fact that most everything is headed to the internet anyway, it’s about time that tv did too.

This is in effect a great tool for any business, organization, or even individuals that want to have an internet presence either live or pre-recorded.

With the release of Wi-fitv.com and it’s ability to get a station up and running in literaly a couple of hours without technical savvy, multiple ways to monetize your station,(pay per view/advertising, etc)you now have a YouTube on Steroids.

This will prove very beneficial even to those that don’t have their own website as this will act as a minisite right off the bat. IT can be integrated or used as a stand alone.

Point: You now have access to the rest of the country or world…live.

For the cost of about a cup of Starbuck’s a day, you can have this up and fully functional and ttally under your control. so long as you keep within their terms of use, your station will broadcast just fine.

This is one of the new tools found out there in Web 2.0…what will be next?

 

 

Open mic..speak up!

Hey gang! So much has been goin on lately that I’ve kinda fallen behind. I apologize for that, and promise to keep up a bit better.

In fact, I’m going to have some guest writers posting about sales and marketing.

They will be young in some cases, some will be veterans…just keep an eye out. Every bit can be of benefit to you whether from  the seasoned vet or from the college intern. (Yeeeess I’ve learned some stuff from them too)

Today though, I wanted to do an ‘open mic’ talk about sales and marketing.

I’d like to know:

What do you do when you approach  a new concept? Where do you take it from there?

How do you formulate a ‘position’ on a new product? Once formulated, how long does it take to get it to market? Does your marketing plan introduce the product as it is ready or do you ‘pre-launch’?

What experiencecs have you had? Successes? Failures?

How did you recover from the hard ones?

Did the good ones last? How long?

This is really a means for you to ‘discuss’ what you found as good and not so good in your experience. I’m not asking for company names or product specifics. You can be vague and general to protect the innocent…lol

I would like some honest input though and perhaps I can take one or two of the examples and stretch them for everyone to see how those experiences can benefit their profession or business.

Keep it rollin!

What is this SEO thing anyway?

So what is this SEO thing anyway?

What wonderful news! I got a call from a young Entrepreneur that is CEO of an SEO company called, “Addoptimization”. She wanted to meet with me at the RIO before she left town to talk about some business development venture. Why not? Any “biz dev” stuff is worth checking out right? Not to mention she invited me because of our e-Book, “Power Marketing on A Budget Guide”, and wanted to talk about how to get that further out into the marketplace where it belongs.

So I said, “Sure I’ll see you at the RIO.” This after two invitations to go to the Consumer Electronics Show on Friday and Saturday, an invitation to a private industry party that I couldn’t make it to because of other meetings already arranged on Saturday night, and then finally fitting a time in to sit down and talk with her and figure out what she wanted to propose on Sunday Evening. (by the way the Affiliate Marketing Summit was starting this week…the place was a zoo! It took a few text messages to even find each other.)

Whew! What I got was a great schooling, in such a simple way, that I had to write about it.

What a concept! SEO! WOOHOOO! What the hell is SEO anyway? As I chuckle to myself, I have to think, “When we, the professionals sit there and talk to the “deer in the headlight syndrome” clients, about e-Marketing in general, do they really know what the heck we’re talking about”?

Alright, so, for you veterans, sit down, shove a piece of coffee cake in your mouth from the break room, grab a cup of coffee, and let me get this out for our clients, the business owners, that don’t speak Greek like we do.

SEO as an acronym means nothing to the average Joe. Even when spelled out most think, “huh?” Spelled out it means, “Search Engine Optimization”. Again, “HUH?”

Let me speak in a language you can understand…in fact everyone understands this language; Money. It translates “Lead generation” into “conversion” in other words money, mullah, dolleros, denari….get it? Not necessarily directly into conversion, but definitely greater rates of conversion. I’ll explain.

When someone goes online to find something they used to use what are called “keywords” as a means to find what they were looking for on the internet. In the old days that was easy since there were not so many providers of services and products. That’s of course no longer true nowadays as everyone has a website now. So how does someone find you? In the mess of everyone else that is in your industry, it’s a needle in a haystack search right? Wrong. This is where SEO comes in.

The search engines use certain rules of engagement to sort out who gets to be found. Those rules are applied to the net via their “search engine”. You type in keywords and the engine finds what you’re looking for…about 45,234,635 results to sort through… WHOA!

This is what you do, you hire someone that knows how to tweak your website enough that you get into the top ten, top three, or top spot. If you didn’t know after page one, unless someone else is totally dominating the first page, that most people stop searching, you are most uninformed and at the mercy of your competitors business. So it pays to get on page one ok?

How you get on page one, is through coding, and tweaking, and other tricks of that trade that I can’t even explain, nor do I care to.

This is the bottom line; if you don’t have SEO, you don’t have leads. You remember, leads? You know the thing that brings you sales? The thing that gets your business money? It’s the reason you got a website in the first place remember? To get more leads and get more business?

What you weren’t told by the guys that built your website is that you have to be submitted to the search engine(s), (so they know you’re there) and then you have to get SEO and be monitored so you keep on the top ten at least. If not, you get bumped down continually until NO ONE SEES YOU!

Gosh that’s harsh huh? But here’s the good news; although it does cost to do this, there is a greater substantial return on investment as you are now picking up 80% average of traffic looking for your product or service. If you have the right company doing it for you, you will get the ranking you need, and the right response rate to your site, and if your site is designed correctly, it will get you leads or sales whichever your site is designed to do.

This is a two part series and next round I’m going give you some tips on how to make sure you get the best “guy” for the job.

Keep it Rolling!

Lesson in e-Marketing

Wanted to share a recent experience with you as I think it’s real important e-Marketing stuff. I recently had the distinct pleasure of meeting with one of the e-Marketing Gurus of our time; Jim Lillig. By the way that was today at the RIO Hotel. He’s in town for the Affiliate Marketing Summit to be held next week.

It was an interesting meeting as I had pictured meeting with someone that was a younger guy with a lot of interesting fresh ideas about e-Marketing and perhaps some insight as to how to promote our e-Book, “Power Marketing on a Budget Guide”. What I got was a good education on performance marketing!

First off, Jim was a great guy that is a veteran of the e-Marketing genre. (no he’s not old, just quite experienced, in fact he looks really young for his age…and no I’m not telling) He’s been around since the days when people like Yanick Silver and others were taking the e-Marketing courses in Boulder. In fact, Yanick was in the seat in front of him, along with many others If you go to his blog at www.jimlillig.com you’ll see what awesome info he offers his readers!

His latest invention is Offeratti, a CPA network dedicated to helping many gain more out of their ideas and monetize biz opps much easier. He is in the mix with this right now doing business development.

When Jim got a hold of our e-Book, he immediately wanted to meet with us to discuss what we need to do to present this as a B2C product, versus a B2B product.We thought it a good idea to inivestigate and see what he was thinking.

As I sat and listened to him explain what is needed (which is quite a bit let me tell you) to make something like this be worth while to a consumer that is looking to make money NOW not later (which is business thinking) I began to rack up the hours necessary to make this work…hmmm this is going to take about 3-5 weeks once we get concept in place and then programming which is the real pain in the rear.

He agreed. It is an undertaking that can prove to be really profitable, as it follows my favorite business financial model, ROC (Return On Customer).You begin with something that you’re most likely not going to make anything on. (this follows affiliate style marketing at first) then you work on “conditioning” your new customer on buying continually from you. It begins a step by step process of products you provide to a consumer. It eventually ends up having them buy much larger ticket items from you.

With what Jim saw happening, I could see a great implication of growing a business community from a consumer community and even greater still a whole new database of clients that would need our help in getting trained on how to market both on and off line. (gee idn’t it convenient that we happen to be marketing consultants?)

The point I’m getting so far from Performance marketing is that it’s a killer way to monetize an idea much further into an elongated process of marketing continually to a database that you can monetize over and over. Without having to create a new marketing campaign to re-enliven your database!

Think of it this way; if you have an idea that can be developed into a step by step process, or a stage by stage implemented idea, that flows with ease, and can make money well within minutes, performance marketing can help you do the list build, (database) the continual marketing, (This means e newsletters or auto responders) and then the next thing in line to continue making the consumer money, you have then a formula for success!

Add this to Offeratti.com, and you now have a portal to place that idea into, have it watched over by a company that has the M.O.N.K.S (Monetizing, Optimizing, New idea, Keepers) working for you to make sure your idea gets the attention and distribution it needs to their internal network and a whole bunch more. This means your deal gets out to a whole bunch of publishing marketers online that will definitely get your product or service out there so you can get the money flowing! They’re doing it to make money anyway, If your idea rocks, so will your bank account!

I was very thankful to meet Jim, and am very much looking forward to creating this first step to get our e-Book out to a whole new bunch of home based entrepreneurs. The point is, there are many ways to market your idea, product or service. Question is which is right, and are you willing to develop it enough to make it worth while to your customers? Stuff to think about.

oh yeah

Keep it rolling!

Losing its Lustre Part Deux

So anyway, I was having another thought provoking conversation with my friend Jean up in Chicago again…(boy she’s gonna be mad at my bill), and we were still talking about how does one keep motivated on their “baby” that they took the painstaking time to get into, because they wanted to live a better life through their idea.

What came about was a strategic planning and idea mind mapping kind of deal.  It (the conversation) was interesting.

My question was, “What happens when you become bored with your idea that you created and decided to put into an activity that would make you money?”

Her answer ran along the lines of, “Well I would diversify into something that is still within the specialty that I am most comfortable with.” Basically this meant to me, “I’d get a little uncomfortable but not too uncomfortable just to keep things fresh”. Ok I think I could understand that.

She also said that if she absolutely had to, she would learn a new skill. Ok, this is good too. Why not? If you can pick up a new skill in art, or sales, or marketing that you normally wouldn’t use in your daily mode of operation, of course you would be excited again..it’s fresh right? BOORIING…(she’s gonna kill me I know…she reads these before I put them up)

So what happens if you’re the guy that opened a “fill a need” kind of business, and it’s not quite there yet (not profiting) and you just figured out you didn’t really want to do this for a living? What happens to your baby now? I have a friend here in TRCB.com that wrote me about the four “D’s” of business.

Do it / Delegate it / Date it / Dump it

Good thing to do when you’re an entrepreneur that can do start ups really well. There are quite a few of them out there. They can find a need fill it get it rolling and that is their motivation…the drive to create something new, get it profitable and get it gone! (and collect royalties on it for the next ten to twenty years unless, it is a copyright or patent then it’s forever until some jerk decides to innovate on it take your original idea and screw you out of a fortune…LMAO)

So let’s go back to the little guy that started this idea of his, and now has no idea what is next and how he’s to stay motivated enough to get to the second “D”. (Delegate it) What does he do? How does he stay inspired that this is the right thing to do?

Ok start here:

1. Revisit why you started this business in the first place. Start remembering the feeling of nervousness of filing for your business license and in some cases had to really fight to get it…remember that? Remember what it felt like just to conquer that phase of getting open? Good ok next…

2. Figure out when you started to feel bored or your inspiration and motivation started falling off. Don’t focus on it, just realize when it happened and why. What did you do to let it slip like that? Was it a realization that you created something that wasn’t what you really wanted? Was the idea just a passing fling? Do you feel like “Delegating” this business now? (there are dangers in selling a business too early, or giving up on an idea too early…case in point Microsoft’s Windows was Xerox’s idea…hmm)

3. What will it take to get you back to that feeling? Revisit the excitement and joy of owning your own baby. Get in front of a mirror, and start telling yourself, “I got into this because…blah blah blah. I feel GREAT about doing this because…blah blah blah. Point: Retrain your excitement to become a reality in your mind and your body and mentality will follow. Keep the inspiration!

What I have found to be boredom, is merely a phase of “buyer’s remorse” settling into the minds of entrepreneurs that thought the ride would be quick to the top. Well they bought into it, and after having to deal with the MWA’s, they realized that they got into a bit more than they may have bargained for. Well, you’re in. So stay in! Don’t let a phase of boredom steal your thunder…LET IT RIP! Get white Lightning hot about what you’re doing…whatever that is.

I know a guy that sells medical screws…wait let me say that again…MEDICAL SCREWS! What the heck does he have to be excited about? He’s the only guy “selling” them. He’s the one that loves his business! He’s the only guy people like dealing with. Why? He’s excited about what he does, he’s enthusiastic (good salesmanship) and he does whatever he can do keep everyone happy so they do the same for him…ummm duh?

A true entrepreneur takes their idea to the max until they can find no other way to make it work and they are literally forced to stop or quit. (Which with any real entrepreneur is rare to nil…they ALWAYS find a way!) But this is also the means to keep them motivated. Now, they are thinking not so much of “Why did I do this?” but more like “Ok. I want out…how can I get this thing to grow its own legs and get it to run on its own so I can move on….You’d be surprised at what your mind can come up with when it’s challenged like that. (actually some of the best innovations of our era came because of boredom and the will to move on to something else. Don’t believe me? Go look at Fast Company’s latest Innovators honors.)

Don’t forget too, the medical screw guy? He’s banking…any wonder why?

I’d like to conclude this and get back to marketing talk, but I get the feeling I’m gonna get grilled on this a bit more…so be it, this is my motivation; “I love to be challenged, contradicted, told I’m full of it…it’s what makes a great conversation!”

Keep it rolling!

Losing it’s lustre?

So, I was talking with my friend Jean in Chicago. Illinois of course.

She is excited about going back to school and getting back into the market place as a specialty Faux and Mural painter. Not to mention she does fine art too. (I’ve seen a lot of her work and she is extremely talented!)

She has a concern that came to her just recently regarding all the work that goes into a business and how she’s supposed to “do it all”. I told her, “you don’t.” She went silent for a moment… then of course the response came, “What?”

This is where I get to get up on my soap box and tell all you wonderful business owners the fun thing about being in business is…BEING IN BUSINESS! You started this as a means to “live the dream”. You figured that getting paid for something you love to do anyway was a means to an end. The end of having a boss! The start of financial freedom! After working with, or for your closest friends you relaized there’s more needed to find new customers or get more in to your store…so now what?

Once you’ve found out that there’s more to running a business, you begin to find out about MWAs. (What the?) Minimum Wage Activities. If you are doing that most of the time, you are not profitting and you’re certainly not feeling excited about your baby!(business) You have two types of activities and that one every business owner hates but has to do or get done. Well, those kinds of activities tend to take away from the joy of beinig a business owner. But why do it all yourself?

Here’s my point; there’s always a way to get things done by others who’s dream it is to do what you don’t want to. Find them, seek them out, and get them to work with you! Be it a budding book keeper, a college marketing student that can do your marketing research for you. Someone ini your town can run errands for you…whether cheap or free.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying use people for your own purposes. I know people like that too, and they never get anywhere in life or business. Point is plan it out and get to it! If you don’t have to do the MWAs, DON’T!

My friend and I talk a lot over the phone. She taps me for information on marketing planning, and business strategy simply because she doesn’t have the time or the desire to learn all the University Mush I learned. (wait til she gets my bill) Why should she go through all that when she has me to help? This is what I’m trying to share with you; STAY EXCITED! You have to. If you don’t you’ll do what no business owner should do…give up, get down, lose confidence in your business, and feel like,”Am I really doomed to do this for the rest of my life?” if you fall into that category, you’ll have nothing to offer in your product or service, and certainly nothing for your successor(s).

Stressed? Find a way to break away when absolutely necessary. Find a place to get back to the reason you started this whole thing in the first place. You were Excited!

Be the little kid with the new toy…don’t worry about how it works, just work it!

There are those that love to start businesses just to start businesses….ok they fall into a different category of human…”non”. Actually they are the ones that find joy in finding a need and filling it, then letting someone else buy it and run it. (franchises, and business starters, etc.)

You created your business because you believed you could fill a need, be excited about it!There’s a joy in growing a business and watching it grow its own feet and letting it roll!

(By the way, if you do need marketing services, but cannot afford the services, there are other ways to learn how to market your business inexpensively. www.CorporateRainiMakers.com/powermarketing)

Look, whatever you do, just stay excited and motivated however you need to so your progress doesn’t slow down. Keep it rolling!

Christmas is Over!

With all the bad statistics of how everyone is worried about how the economy is doing and how the decline in shopping was due to everyone worried about their “Job Security”, hey gang here’s a hint…IT’S A FALSE SECURITY! Anwyay, I wanted to drop thisin for everyonr to think about…wrote it today.

Well, the hardest time of the year is now done!

 

New projects can begin and we don’t have to deal with executives wondering what we’re gonna come up with to drive Black Friday. Not that it was going to help much anyway…We’re in a recession! DOH!

 

I had a couple of really interesting conversations regarding our economy and where they thought things were headed regarding the market and its condition. We all were of the same opinion that if things don’t change soon, we are teetering at the edge of a depression. We also all came to the same conclusion, this particular country is beginning to get out of its comfort zone, and beginning to realize that we are a lot more responsible for our actions than we thought. It was a friend that made me realize that even my meager decisions affect others around me. Guess we all need to take a better perspective on life. Start recognizing that we have a responsibility to the rest of the world, even though we don’t want it, we got it. We need to take care of it.

 

Sure, we don’t want to have to deal with everyone else’s crap, but we started it, we need to finish what we started. This means that the next nuts we vote into office will understand this “bi=partisan” stuff has to end, and they need to do things to the people’s satisfaction. I don’t mean just for the blue collar, or just the white collar, not just the rich or the poor. They need to get it together for the good of the greater not the one.

 

This brings a big “yeah right” on from everyone…ok so, do you throw your hands up and stop fighting to make it right? At the same do we revolt? C’mon, think logically already.

 

I took a Critical thinking class once and our instructor was a trial lawyer…this was an interesting class…believe ye me…the fights that almost started in this class because of what someone’s brother or sister or mom or dad went through with a certain situation, WHOA! The emotions ran deep in this class!

 

I got to speak up in the class one day and nicely explained that not a single person in that room was going to make it in the corporate world simply because they were making choices and decisions in their own lives by their emotions rather than doing their homework and finally coming to a real conclusion…one that was driven by information and “Critical thinking”.

 

The response was kinda interesting. Many sat there in kind of disbelief that I spoke for one. For two, what I just said basically threw all of their opinions and rationalizations right out the window. So, some of them wouldn’t talk to me anymore…LOL! Some chose to think before they did say anything to me. My instructor? He loved me! (not literally) He and I had some great conversations over the phone about the subjects after class about how to think critically and take the point of view that had no view…

 

What da heck does that mean Mike?

 

Here’s what it means;

 

Nothing makes sense until you have all the facts, and to make it make sense you have to have all of the facts. If not, you are taking an uncalculated risk that will cost you in the short and long term.

 

Don’t let emotions and traditions and any other emotional based information permeate into your head or heart for that matter to cause you to decide too early. Take the time to research your thoughts, and sort them out. I have a friend that is so deliberate in his thinking, that when you ask him a question, he will literally say..” uuuummmmm…maybeee, you should try this….ok?” What he does is while he says “ummmmm”, he is thinking how would this work out the best for this subject? Then he makes his suggestion according to what he has figured out. His decisions are usually spot on. Others in that company I cannot vouch the same.

 

Point: Take the time to do your homework, find out, and if you run out of time, see if you can delay the answer. If not, go with the best you can come up with, or find others that have more info than you, and utilize them as a resource. Take the time to take the time…sheesh.

 

Don’t rush…here’s another thought, “If you have to rush, You’re late! Take the time to be early, make it easier on yourself.”

 

Next round I will talk more about how to manage projects when they get dumped on you.

If you’re not ready….they will be!

Well this was posted around Facebook and a few other places today, so why not here?

 

Look here’s the skinny…year’s end is upon us…so what have you done to plan for the next round? Your competition is trying to squash you so they can corner the market(even if it never happens the point is).

 

You have to have something in place so you can get ahead and leave “them” behind. If you can’t do that, you might as well close your doors.

 

So what is below is a toolkit my friend created for small business owners to fend off the big dawgs trying to out advertise you. Heck in some cases you could get some better prices for your marketing if you do it right. You might even get some free publicity…but you won’t get anything if you don’t start planning NOW.

 

But to do it, you’ll need to get this stuff in your hot little hands or on your computer so you can absorb the info and start the planning process….Don’t let the rest of the year go by with,”It was seasons…” as an excuse.

 

Keep it rolling!

When was the last time a prospect called YOU with money in hand to do business?  Did you know that, with just one minor change to your marketing message, you can double or even triple your responses?

 

For a limited time Facebook users can receive a special discount for an amazing new marketing tool-kit designed for business owners and marketing professionals.  Called the Power Marketing on a Budget Guide, this resource will steer you through the myriad of marketing options and create a “buzz” that is GUARANTEED to make your phone and cash register ring!

 

Check this out: www.CorporateRainMakers.com/PowerMarketing/Facebook.htm and start marketing like a pro today!