ForumsAdvertising, Sales and Marketing

Using the internet to build a social network is very important! Posting my site to forums and blogs takes a lot of time. So recently, I've been using Biz Ad Splash (www.bizadsplash.com) to advertise my crafting business. It's easy to use and can be effective for any business because it takes advantage of social networking. Using the site has allowed me to focus more on my actual business which is great! Best of luck!

Do you have a website? Have you tried online advertising? I'm in an online advertisement company where each account executive share in 50% of the total Page Impression revenue
that occurs each day and encompasses the sales force that sells Banner
Ads, eBooks, Full Page Classified and Yellow Page advertising to our
customer base worldwide. At the end of each day all sales are
calculated and 50% of the sales revenue for that day is paid to our AEs
who have participated in the required Viewing Incentive program for
that day. To maintain the integrity of the program this percentage is
capped at 8% per day to be paid to any one AE. If you would like more information you can email me at jreichhelt@gmail.com and you can also check the site out for yourself it's free to join. The link is http://advglobal.com/join/?a=5928

Hi,

The power of words to sell is truly amazing. Knowing how to use them is also essential for writing persuasive copy. When it comes down to it, the words you write are meant to drive your sales, not to win the Nobel Prize, so the words come from your knowledge of the consumer. The craft of copy writing is powerful and persuasive. Knowing that you can control your sales by using copy writing is a great start to amazing marketing. Writing powerful copy shapes the aspects of your customers' buying and their perception of your business. Perception is very important, but also being recognized as an entity that can solve problems is important as well. Buying is an emotional response, so motivation from external stimuli can make purchases more likely. The art of copy writing is fluid. I call it an art only because it is beautiful in the sense of its power to master the consumer. The guidance it provides to the buyer is both nurturing and commanding, like a mother bird urging her chicks from the nest. The guidance aspect of copy writing is its key component. It functions in two ways, as it streamlines the buying process, acting as a catalyst for progression towards a sale, while at the same time promoting action within itself, from the headline, to the body, to the call to action. Receiving the customer from the previous step and smoothly dropping them off at the next step, your words' grasp on the reader leads them to purchase your product.

Understanding the buying process is key to understanding the role your direct print marketing will play. Here are the steps in the buying process:
1. Seeing a need.
2. Looking for a solution.
3. Determining the value of a solution.
4. Making the decision to buy.
5. Making the purchase.
6. Evaluating the purchase.

To learn more about direct print marketing you should check out my site: http://MarketSleuth.com/. You should sign up for my FREE marketing newsletter if you want to learn how to drive your sales. I would highly recommend you check out our printing service reviews to get a better idea of how you will promote your business.

Those do work!

Dan

http://geniesavesyoumoney.com

Billboards work great for us, and they're more affordable than I originally thought. We're on an "as-available" basis. They call me the last day of the month and offer three locations that have not been sold. I usually choose one with a daily car count of 200,000 or more. Pick and easy-to-remember domain name or phone number, and just put that on the billboard. For example, if you owned the domain name 'HardwoodFloors.com', you could put only that name an inset a photo of a hardwood floor, and customers could find you easily.

I've tried radio, print, and TV. Nothing works as well as a billboard. There were 3 channels on TV when I was growing up. A commercial had a 33% chance of being seen. Today there are 300 channels. Unless you can afford a spot on American Idol, forget it.

The vinyl sign is reusable. We move our billboard different areas around our city. For 30 days, many of the same people drive their cars past our sign. It's making a lasting impression. People are coming into our store, saying, "I saw your sign."

For a business like yours, direct mail probably works best but it is expensive. If you can identify neighborhoods where the bulk of your business comes from, creating a campaign and mailing into those neighborhoods could yield good results. What is you average purchase? The bigger the average purchase the more you can afford to invest in lead generation. Also if you do not have a website and a google business listing you are missing out on a excellet source of leads.

In this economy, people want to work with someone they trust and KNOW can get the job done. Referrals are the most powerful way of getting new customers, because most of the work is already done for you. My advice to you is that you are squeezing out as many referrals as possible.
My company is mostly referral based because I don't have a big advertising budget to create large scale marketing campaigns. I find that the best way to get referrals is to exceed my customers' expectations so that each has a positive story they can tell. I use a CRM application called Chili Sales to track all my clients' preferences and make sure I develop a positive relationshipwith all my customers. I can find out who my most satisfied customers are and use that relationship to bring in new clients. Any small business looking for a reliable growth strategy should make gaining more referrals their top strategy. If you make your customers feel valued and satisifed and they'll be your best form of marketing in return. The CRM I use can be found at www.chilisales.com. Defintely take a look.

Hi InnovativeD,

I successfully ran a hardwood floor company for eleven years back in the 80s until the Loma Prieta Earthquake and subsequent recession essentially put us out of business.

You have already received a lot of great advice. After the contruction business, I went on to earn an MBA degree with an emphasis in marketing. My thoughts may be academic but are intended to provide additional help. The first thing I would do is draft a marketing plan that contains sufficient detail so that it can be actionable. Marketing in the 21st Century is far more
complicated than it was five or ten years ago. Marketing today consists of
creating, promoting and delivering goods and services to consumers and
businesses. You might want to consider marketing your goods, services, experiences, events, key people on your team, places you've installed top-quality flooring products, organizations you've worked with in the past, information about flooring, and other ideas. You will want to consider what approach may
be most effective insofar as cost vs. benefit is concerned.

When I ran my hardwood floor company, I reached out to architects, interior decorators, the local building exchanges, the general and subcontractor associations and so forth. I made it a point to learn everything I could about construction activities in my state. I tracked down government projects, tennant improvements, new housing developments, as well as public works projects. I advertised in high-end magazines, and pursued co-op advertising with leading manufacturers and vendors of hardwood flooring products. Today, with the Internet, I would think it important to connect with people who are actively looking for new flooring ideas and products. I would market my website with search engine optimization and use leading-edge tools that create onsite conversions. The bottom-line is having a reasonable budget to work with. No matter what that is, you can effectively promote your services using tools that deliver value and ROI.

I hope that helps.

Jesse L Lee
Emphasis Innovation Co.
www.emphasisinnovation.com
"Strategy is Everything"