Basic Marketing Dope

Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics ? that's true with anything by the way. Here are some tools that are brilliantly simple and with them you really won't have to sweat the small stuff.

Hot Dope #1) The more that your potential customers see your name in front of them, the more likely they are to call your number (and not someone else's) when they need the services you offer.

Many marketing efforts go unrewarded, not because they were off target but simply because they weren't given enough of an opportunity to work. Showing your TV commercial one time, running an ad in the newspaper once, or doing one mailing of postcards may not be enough to grab and keep the audience's attention.

Get your name out there, do it on a regular basis and people will remember you when they need someone in your line of business. Actually, this particular "Hot Dope" cannot be stressed enough ? and failure to adhere to it is the #1 reason new businesses fail.

You should also know that taking the time to really see which pieces will generate the response you want will pay off. Don't just totally give up when a response is low ? persistence is vital.

Hot dope # 2) Measure your Return On Investment (ROI) in terms of actual MONEY not response rate. An advertising vehicle is working when the MONEY that it brings in has more value than the MONEY and time that is spent on the marketing.

Don't fall into the trap of becoming discouraged by a small number of callers responding to a large number of pieces. If you spend several hundred dollars to be in the view of a few thousand possible leads, it may only take a few customers responding for you to make enough of a profit for this type of marketing to be valuable. The usefulness of any vehicle can only be determined after the amount of income generated by the promotion has been calculated. If you spend 1/5 of what you generate or generate 5 times what you spend, your campaign was successful.

Hot dope #3) It is much easier to "sell" a prospect once you get them to call or come in to your store. In 2-Step Marketing, step 1 is to get them interested; step 2 is having them speak to a representative to get all the details ? and get "closed" by that representative.

Your design must be eye catching and informative, but don't try to close the sale by explaining all of the details in one piece of advertising. The details of a business transaction often take many more words to explain than the main concept of what is being sold. For example, if your company offers great prices depending on the quantity purchased, there is no need to list the prices for every quantity that you sell. Simply give examples of two or three different quantities and state somewhere in the advertisement that other discounts are available for other quantities. This will prompt them to call to get the rest of the details once you have gotten their interest.

Marketing can be as simple as 1-2-3 when you know the basics. By no means have I given you all the basics here, but by learning and implementing these 3 marketing fundamentals, you are already on your way to marketing success!

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she's sharing her marketing secrets to others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at http://www.postcardmania.com

____________________

Advertisement: Honest Riches - Click Here!

Advertisement: Lost AdWords - Click Here!

Advertisement: Get $1 Million A Month In Google Pay-Per-Click Ads Free! - Click Here!

Advertisement: Who Loves Money? - Click Here!

Advertisement: SEO Elite, the GrandDaddy of SEO Software - Click Here!

In The News:

---

LA reveals unveils new tourism marketing slogan
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 1 hour ago
AP LOS ANGELES—The city on Friday unveiled a new marketing campaign built around the slogan "That's So LA" to keep tourists coming despite the nation's ...
New campaign to boost LA tourism abc7.com
all 23 news articles

Reuters
Audi says it will increase US marketing efforts
Chicago Tribune, United States - 4 hours ago
Those marketing dollars have an aim to push Audi US sales to 200000 vehicles by 2018. Schwarzenbauer said the company has a goal to sell 1.5 million Audis ...
Audi plans record US marketing spending Reuters
Audi plans to boost US marketing budget Automotive News
Audi says it will increase US marketing efforts Fox 28
DetNews.comall 16 news articles

Columbus tech firm buys Dayton marketing company
Bizjournals.com, NC - 7 hours ago
Implications International, which specializes in interactive marketing, brand design, and Web development, has offices in Peoria, Ill., Mumbai, India, ...

Wellstar/TMI Begins Marketing Imaging System to Long-Term Care ...
MSNBC - 2 hours ago
TMI's marketing plan includes a program where LTC facilities can lease the equipment necessary to perform skin assessments and store the necessary data ...

Halekulani to get marketing boost from Japanese hotel
Bizjournals.com, NC - 6 hours ago
Effective April 1, Imperial Hotel will start reservations service, sales, marketing and public relations activities within Japan for Halekulani and Waikiki ...

Proton Laboratories Announces New Sales & Marketing Office
MSNBC - 19 hours ago
Proton will start by marketing a variety of enhanced water products that provide health benefits for people and the planet as well as the commercial product ...
Proton Laboratories opens Southern California office Bizjournals.com
all 9 news articles

Zoo honored for marketing campaign
Salt Lake Tribune, United States - 3 hours ago
... different companies around the US The Utah Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services recognizes excellence in marketing communications ...

Boston Globe
FedEx trims '09 marketing budget by 25%
Bizjournals.com, NC - Jan 8, 2009
United Parcel Service Inc. rival FedEx Corp. will cut its marketing budget by more than 25 percent for 2009, the company recently disclosed on its blog. ...
FedEx cuts marketing spend by more than 25 percent Reuters
FedEx cuts marketing budget DM News
FedEx to reduce marketing budgets by 25% Brand Republic
all 45 news articles

Katz Media Launches New Marketing Unit
FMQB, NJ - 10 hours ago
Katz Media Group has launched a new, national marketing unit that will create custom solutions for advertisers and their agencies with the goal of ...
Katz Launches National Marketing Unit, Trims Staff Media Buyer Planner
Katz Media Group forms marketing unit BtoB Magazine
Katz creates unit to handle ads for new radio platforms SmartBrief
all 6 news articles

Examiner.com
Cape May tourism department wins marketing award
Examiner.com - 14 hours ago
by William Sokolic, Jersey Shore Examiner The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International will recognize the Cape May County Department of ...

marketing - Google News

15-Minute Marketing: Lots of Results in Little Time

Do you think you don't have enough time to market? Here's a solution that can help you get started on marketing, or any other task you've been... Read More

Design Direct Mail Postcards Back-to-Front to Boost Response Rates

Conventional wisdom says that the front of a direct mail postcard is for the picture and the back is for the address, stamp and a short message.But... Read More

5 Tips for Getting the Most out of Exhibiting at Trade Shows

Exhibiting at trade shows can be a cost-effective way to generate business, whether you are a new entrepreneur or have been in business for years. Some exhibitors,... Read More

How to Leverage Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool

Second in a series of three articles:What if you could reach thousands of prospects, build fruitful, pro-active relationships with them, and stay top-of-mind with them on a... Read More

How to Start a Big Mail Service

A BIG MAIL SHOULD CONTAIN:At least three to four Mail order Magazines Circulars containingoffers or interest to new mail order dealers. Circulars which theBig Mail Dealer has... Read More

Comprehensive Marketing Details Not Found in Beginner Books

If this is the first marketing article you are reading, go find some other more basic articles that I have written and then come back. This data... Read More

How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling ? Part 6

How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth?: Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling ? The Final PartAdditional Lessons from Popcorn MarketingI'm assuming that the movie... Read More

How to Connect Features and Values

"Buy this magazine or we'll shoot the dog," went a memorable cover for the satire magazine National Lampoon many years ago. On the cover, along with the... Read More

Mobile Marketing a New Age Strategy

More and more companies seem to be looking for new and innovative ways to market their products. Overlooking most of the traditional marketing techniques, more companies are... Read More

Dont Let Your Business Cards End Up in the Trash

Business cards are such wonderfully creative little marketing products. Most of them, unfortunately, end up in the nearest trash basket. Nobody wants to be bombarded with a... Read More

Why Do You Need to be in the SERPS?

Why does your business need to be in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS)?Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing both have the same goal, which is... Read More

Measuring the Return on Your Direct Mail Investment

In direct mail lore, there's a rule stating that you can measure the success of your efforts by a minimum response rate of 1-2%. In other words,... Read More

The Fine Art of Relationship Marketing

The buzzword these days is "relationship" marketing. Just what is it? And why is it important? Relationship marketing is so much more than "networking. It's gathering support... Read More

SWOT Analysis -- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

When conducting strategic planning for any company -- online and/or offline -- it is useful to complete an analysis that takes into account not only your own... Read More

The Name Game

Pop quiz! If you have to say goodbye to your hard earned money to purchase something you've always wanted, who would you rather trust: an unknown provider... Read More

Market Your Identity

One of the most critical but overlooked parts of business success is using your identity. If you want to build a successful business you have to strike... Read More

Determining Visitor Types

The trade show floor is full of different types of people with different agendas. Some people have specific goals for attending the show; others do not. As... Read More

Coupons that Work

Turn a coupon into a business card (or vice versa).Coupons are seen everywhere; you clip them from the newspaper to save on groceries, you get them in... Read More

How To Create A Complete Referral Marketing System

These steps are taken from the Referral Flood Marketing Program. Referral Flood is an insider's shortcut to referral marketing and features over 4 hours of audio training,... Read More

Embracing The Future - Marketing Yourself, Your Business And Your

IntroductionMany businesses and organisations have a perception that marketing means promotions and advertising. They think being good at marketing is producing a glossy brochure and having an... Read More

Focusing Your Marketing Efforts

One of my favorite quotes is often used to describe goal-setting -- but it applies equally well to your marketing efforts. We start with Alice lost in... Read More

Help! What Happened?

Let's be honest, when you're writing sales material for a product, there are a frightening number of things that can go wrong, aren't there?Remember Murphy's Law: what... Read More

Don?t Put All Of Your Eggs Into One Basket

I vaguely remember a particular story from my childhood. It had something to do with transporting eggs to market. The main character, a little girl who thought... Read More

Using Business and Greeting Cards Effectively

Business cards and greeting cards almost go hand in hand when being used for marketing and business purposes. With a few exceptions. One is bigger than the... Read More

2 Great, Free Techniques to Get Customers to Come to You, Not the Other Way Around

Here is a powerful tip on how to substantially increase the traffic to your business weather it's online or bricks & mortar. The best news is that... Read More

Build Lifelong Networks With Your Own Barter Group

I don't know if you have ever seriously considered bartering. If you haven't considered it, it's probably about time that you did. Why? Well, besides the fact... Read More