Advertising and online Business

The right moment of changing tagline

2009-10-06T09:22:00.009+07:00

Tagline is a statement, promise or trademark claim against the market (consumers). The higher the level of competition, the more important a brand has a tagline both tangible (rational) or intangible (emotional). Through tagline verbal excellence in product. Therefore , when the brand began to enter the market (competition) then the tagline is required. Whether verbal or visual form. Certainly a tagline should be communicated and built to achieve and prove the benefits (value) brands to target consumers believe in the benefits of these brands through a tagline.

When a brand of brands such as KFC claim to be "the most delicious fried chicken" means the owner's product and market analysis proved that only the fried chicken is most delicious KFC in the competition on the market "fried chicken".

But the ever-changing business, now KFC fried chicken might be the most delicious fried chicken tomorrow there is another brand that tastes better. Sure enough, there are other brands of fried chicken with flavor McDoel much better. Moreover McDoel has another advantage that is cheaper and more convenient place. McDoel claim with tagline "McDoel be preferred". Proved more and more customers are switching KPC bought McDoel fried chicken. Of course, KPC owners panic. What to do?

In theory when a brand has the same advantages with other brands, the brands must look for added value in content or context. In content, improved product quality fried chicken taste KPC made a variety of tastes with a sense of the archipelago such as spicy, savory, sweet, spicy sweet, and various other sense of the archipelago. In context, atmosphere, service and dining room more character increased with consumers. Or just do one, content or context.

The formula is:
Brand Consumers insight = insight = Positioning: Tagline *

After KFC market analysis, Indonesian people have a different tongue. Plain people like spicy, sweet person like Java, the sunda like savory, and tastes of other archipelago. Characters customer has a unique typikal. Indonesian people do not care about the price of an important sense. And also upon investigation turned out to taste the fried chicken Mcdoel limited to savory and sweet taste. Well, KFC is very appropriate strategy to counter the McDoel even sure McDoel consumers will move to KPC.
So from the results of this market analysts, the spirit of KPC increase the added value chicken and with the same price. Because only this way can reach consumers KFC back.

What about the tagline KFC familiar consumers are the most delicious fried chicken. Is it still relevant to this added value?

To communicate that KFC fried chicken is not only the most delicious taste but also the tagline had the archipelago finally adjusted. Then came the new tagline is optional KPC archipelago.

After tagline is communicated, KPC would have to really prove the tagline claims it to consumers.

Is KFC will successfully surpass MCDoel? Consumers who decide.

His conclusion was that tagline may be replaced in accordance with market developments. When the tagline of a brand is no longer relevant to the benefits (value) of a brand then the tagline should be in rejuvenate (updated).

Enough to here. How do you think?

*)
- Brand insight: the benefits of product content and context
- Consumers insight: consumer needs and desires in a rational way (fried chicken KFC, Sosro bottled tea, driving Mazda) and emotional (such as lifestyle, prestige, status, confidence, and so on).
- Positioning: Positioning the benefits your product / brand among other brands.
- Tagline: Promise of products / brands that are implemented in the form of copy / text. Although actual tagline could be in the form of a visual.

Very interesting comments from the AFZ in:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=102961559761&comments =

"Tagline is just one brand element. Whereabouts are not a necessity. Communication does not move linearly, from the purity of the brand to the purity of the target consumer. Keribetan come so involved in decision making. Connectedness Brand consumers insight and insight that communication messages work .... even in krodit level media ... will just be touching it, so that more depth is needed ..... it must achieve engagement and collaboration becomes very effective ......
print ads softener, deodorizer dicapture clothes just tagline no ......
questioned why so soon be changed? communication technologies continue to erode the paradigm of communication, including advertising ..... Obama still pake Changes tagline .... but the campaign strategy is far more important than the mere tagline ..... Target audience increasingly distrustful dg ads, more connected, more real time, more international ...... true indeed withhold consumer brand product but .... creative industries .... but consumers buy the brand's creativity rather than the product atw ......so still if we survive in the old paradigm ...?"

MARKETING TIPS FROM THE LEGENDS - COCA-COLA AND STARBUCKS CASE STUDIES

2009-10-06T07:39:00.000+07:00

By Adrienne Markovic
Analysis of the histories of both Coca-Cola and Starbucks offer us commoners a treasure trove of tips for our own marketing and branding campaigns. So, you area startup company, mom & pop job, and/or small business that cannot yet conceive of Global domination? Here are 12 compiled tips from the legends that took them from obscurity to near mythical standings.

1. Begin any venture with in-depth market research and focus groups.
Starbucks did intensive research on coffee semantics, preferences, and already successful coffee stores to determine their initial product.
Dr. Pemberton based his introduction of Coca-Cola on the absence of alcohol during Prohibition in Atlanta. He filled the public's need for a tasty and "invigorating" drink within the confines of the law.

2. You must launch a totally original and quality concept, product, and/or service.
Coca-Cola introduced its original syrup as a nerve tonic in 1886 in Atlanta City pharmacy that tasted good and put a spark in the patron's step!
Starbucks went after the entire coffee experience, versus just a superior product.

3. Spend money on advertising, if for nothing but brand recognition.
Although immensely successful, Coke still puts out very stylized advertisements such as the Polar Bear Ad Campaign of the 1990's.

4. Spend money on your brand "look" (logo) and do giveaways of useful tools to distributors.
Coca-Cola's first distributor was pharmacists. Early in the company history, they developed the unique script that is still used today in the branding. They put this logo on various objects, such as pharmaceutical scales, to keep their brand foremost in the minds of the people who matter. This was considered a marketing expense.

5. Make everything about your product unmistakable
Coca-Cola held a contest to create a unique bottle that the user would be able to "recognize in the dark". "The Root Glass Company of city Terre Haute Indiana " won with their contour bottle design.http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com

Starbucks came up with their own terminology and products, like the famous Frappuccino, developed in 1995. www.starbucks.com

6. Maintain consistency of products and services.
Starbucks developed a standardized and imitable business model and extensively trained their employees on processes, products, company culture, and their brand of service.

Wherever you go Coca-Cola Classic will taste the same!

7. Do not try to grow your company for its own sake.
a. Focus on product and/or service quality and presentation! Every move must be calculated and well though out.

8. Make a goal to make people happy, alongside whatever goals you may have.
The Starbucks experience was created to make people happy. Drink a superior product in a comfortable setting. Recently the company has added wi-fi networks to stores. They also have free electrical outlets.

Coca-Cola has always driven their product on the Americana Dream; a carefree image of good times. People associate product with that.

9. Convey a humanistic and selfless public image versus cold and corporate.
Starbucks is a corporate giant but gives many charitable donations and heralds fair-trade.

10. Remain loyal to regional and cultural differences as you market product. And target your differentiation based on localities.
When Coca-Cola entered foreign markets, they introduced exclusively regional products alongside their staples. For instance, in Peru they made a golden soda called Inca Cola, with added sweetness for the local market and a clear lychee soda in Thailand.

11. Work with other companies on partnerships and brand associations.
Starbucks has done many marketing blitzes, like their exclusive partnership with United Airlines, that only serves Starbucks brand coffee. Starbucks also partnered with Apple's I-Tunes to draw customers into the stores.
In the 1980's Coca-Cola heavily marketed associations with sports such as FIFA, NBA, and Nascar.

12. Gather endorsements and testimonials, celebrities DO sell!
One of Coca-Cola's first advertisements was a celebrity endorsement from music hall star, Hilda Clark in era between 1893 and 1904. In the late 1980's pop star Paula Abdul had a successful endorsement deal with Diet Coke.

13. Follow the trends of the time in your product and/or service.
During the 1980's a fitness craze began to get America in shape Remember Sweatin to the Oldies' Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda workout videos? Coke evolved the Diet Coke product to go with this shift in the US mass mentality.

When WWII began, Coca-Cola took that opportunity to ensure that soldiers could have a Coke whenever they wanted one. This ended up introducing Coke to a Global market and making it a tie that binds soldiers to their American life, thereby making it indispensable, like a family member.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adrienne_Markovic

Aesthetic or Communication? 2

2009-08-01T12:35:00.003+07:00

By: M. Ismail
This article is a continuation of Estetika or communication? (1). In the previous article we discussed about the difference between aesthetics and communication in general. On this article we will further discuss the relationship and communication with the aesthetic graphic design and advertising.

In business and marketing, a business owner to pay the expensive an advertising agency to design the concept of marketing communications and creative with the expectation that the products can be recognized by the target consumer, demand, and behavior in the market.

After obtaining the client's brief, the marketing and creative advertising agency in the search for hard to think of creative and marketing communications that are appropriate for the product.

You can see there are two main elements in the sentence above are the concept of marketing communications and creative concepts. I tell you….

The concept of marketing communications and creative concepts related to each other, each can not stand on its own. The concept of marketing communications is WHAT TO SAY and creative concept is HOW TO SAY.

What to say about the marketing communication is what, to whom, how, when and where the product will be directed.

What are the benefits of the product and weaknesses? Products for whom? How competitive conditions and opportunities in the market? When the product is communicated to the appropriate target consumers? And how to build a brand strategy for the short and long term?

What to say when it is finished, turn the creative people who say what to pour into strategi and creative concepts.

Within the strategy and creative concept of this very influential aesthetic elements. Moreover, what to say when it is complete and all of the channels in use. So, visual aesthetics, aesthetics of music, film aesthetics, aesthetic elements of a sound in the execution of creative materials such as ATL (Above The Line) that print ad, television commercial, radio spot and BTL (Below The Line), namely posters, brochures, banners, billboards, and so forth.

Many elements that can be a source of inspiration and creative ideas that fit with what to say, such as culture, character and consumer habits, technology, history, movies, hot issues, and more. And all this must be packed in with the creative execution of the aesthetic elements in accordance with the product and target market.

After what to say and how to say is complete, then we will know whether the concept of communication and creative work to reach the target means that when all the creative materials already appear on the TV media, radio, newspaper, magazines and the media below the line if you can make the target consumers are interested in product, try and buy products tersebuit. How do consumer perceptions of product next. What brand can continue to be remembered among other brands. Whether the results of the "campaign" through various media products can influence the behavior of consumers in the purchase of a product similar to.

Moreover, communication and creative impact on consumers can influence and create new habits or culture in the society of that ad impression, especially tv ads. Although not the goal, but the impact is affecting the popularity of this brand and would also better if the line with the increase in product sales and consumer loyalty.

So if you want to create promotional materials such as print ad or brochure, for example even though the products do not only think of good or does not matter the color, shape, or location of governance but also to think a communication. Ok, we are equally learn ...

So, that's the combination of two main elements, namely the concept of advertising in marketing communications and creative.Communication and aesthetics.

There are other comments or opinions please ...

Source: estetika atau komunikasi 2

To read previous articles click here: Aesthetic or communication 1

Aesthetic or Communication? 1

2009-08-01T12:32:00.000+07:00

By M. Ismail
Some time ago, I stop in to the website indonesia graphic design and website dkv-Bandung unpas read one article which is quite interesting with the title "Estetika or function." I am inspired to write the article with the same theme, but I adjusted to the topic in this blog, namely graphic design and advertising. As you read the title above which is "Estetika or communication" similar but different.

What is aesthetics? And what is communication?

Whether I will explain one by one so that definition does not blur, ok.

Aesthetics is all things relating to art is precisely the beauty. Whatever type of art either in the form of visual, audio / video or music would have aesthetic value. So there is no art without aesthetic value. Pure art or art all orders must have aesthetic value. So the value of aesthetics is universal.

All people have the right to claim has aesthetic value in itself even if limited only to love something but still said he could have aesthetic value. For example if you buy clothes of course you will have to choose according to your taste. So, you mean the taste is aesthetic. But, of course the aesthetics for yourself.

Well now we do a simple definition of communication.

When you talk alone with no one that you get to speak. Is this said a communication? Of course it is not a communication.

When you speak directly with one or several people in front of you Whether it is a communication as it is said. Not necessarily. Could be what you are talking to the person in front of you is not connected means they do not understand what you are talking about. Is it a communication?

When you talk to other people and you get them talking. Is this said a communication? I think yes, this is communication.

When you speak with body language and sign language means other people who you get to talk understand what you mean. Is this said a communication? I think yes, this is communication.

So according to me a communication must a two-way interaction occurs. For example, one talk the others understand what is spoken and there is response to the first speaker. Well, related to the graphic design and advertising what?

We try to associate... .. But, ups, What if we go on the next article. Ok ...

Next Article: AESTHETICS OR COMMUNICATION? 2

Image source: dreamstime.com

Graphic Designer vs Art Director

2009-08-01T11:40:00.000+07:00

By M. Ismail
Do you see a job ad with the heading: "Urgently needed a graphic designer and art director!" I'm sure you never see it but for those who work as a graphic designer or art director on this industry.

So what should be a graphic designer and art director? The second professional background has the same skill. What distinguishes?

Based on what I observed and my own experience. In fact the two professions are different. Although the ability of their skill may be the same such as the ability to use computer software to design like Macromedia Freehand, Adobe illustrator or Adobe Photoshop and have a good visual ability.

But what the basic differences of those professions are perspective and knowledge.

A graphic designer working on the design more likely to be artificial, creating a visual that is good and interesting shapes, colors, photography, illustration, typography and lay out. And how these elements create a visual communication materials that can represent a product or a brand.

The material is usually a graphic designer can be the same with an art director but the "job description" in an advertising graphic designer a lot more likely to do the design print design books such as the annual report or company profile, logo, magazine, newsletter, brochures, posters, Flyer, and so forth. Therefore, graphic designer entered in the division "desktop publishing".

Or a graphic designer in the same team with the art director, but tend to only do the design as above plus the "Final Art work" and help work art director. Due to the structural one in an advertising graphic designer under the art director.

What are the capabilities of art director?

According to me is the insight and knowledge to visualize the strategy or creative communication strategies. An art director is ideal and should be able to know for whom the ad is created and how the visual character to the right target market is. The execution of art director know exactly how to visualize the concept.

Any other opinio....?

Discovery why we think David Becham should concentrate on Football

2009-07-24T23:11:00.001+07:00

By Paul Ashby
We must change the way we think about marketing, it is no longer, if it has ever been, business-to-consumer but consumer-to-consumer.
This means recognizing that your most important relationship is not between the company and the brand and any given consumer, but between the latter and other individuals.

What happens in real life is what matters to or between them.
Marketers should focus on creating social meaning and social utility-things that help real world social interaction or support the group’s interests-rather than forcing meaning on individuals through brain washing or bribery.
Products or services could be devised to be interesting enough to become talked about in the first place.

The first change in the way we think about media, must be a major shift away from thinking about media as ‘channels’ down which we tip messages and information.
Only in so far as they serve and help advertisers access and harness the power of the social networks that lie behind them.

Incidentally, an interesting piece of research has just emerged which confirms what I have long suspected, whilst, at the same time, going along with my suspicion about the creative ego and the use of very high priced Hollywood directors!

Advertisements starring high profile celebrities such as David Beckham and Jamie Oliver do not sell products as well as those featuring every day people, new research suggested.

A study by the University of Bath and the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, found that ordinary members of the public are more effective in selling products than super stars paid millions to endorse them. That’s because people are more worried about keeping up with the Jones’s than the rich and famous!

Never-the-less we guarantee that those Advertising Agencies will keep on using highly paid Hollywood movie directors as well as using the rich and famous as models…there goes millions more of the poor old clients budget…again…again…again!

All I will say is this, use Interactive Programs, properly executed, and you will not have to spend money on Hollywood Directors or, for that matter, the likes of David Beckham etc.

So the next time your Advertising Agency comes with their invoice, go through it with a fine toothcomb and delete the name(s) David Beckham, or whomever. Then check out who the director is, if he’s Hollywood, strike him out as well…we guarantee that you’ll be surprised at how much you can save.

Then half your budget and start using Interactive Marketing programs, again, you’ll be surprised at the positive results at a fraction of your normal advertising costs!

With Interactive Marketing Communication you don’t have expensive, unnecessary add-ons!
With Interactive Marketing Communication you don’t have wasteful coupons!
With Interactive Marketing Communication you don’t have wasteful promotional activity!
With Interactive Marketing Communication you don’t have David Beckhams!
With Interactive Marketing Communication you don’t have expensive Hollywood movie Directors!
With Interactive Marketing Communications you do have sales and increased profits!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Ashby

Image Source: Dreamstime/free image

Tone and Manner

2009-07-07T19:01:00.000+07:00

If you have worked in-house or agency graphic advertising certainly often heard these two words "tone and manner." Because usually in one of the items listed Job brief sentence "tone and manner." But for those of you who have never worked on wonder what is being "tone and manner." Well, I will explain to you what the "tone and manner."

Honest at the beginning of the work early in the agency, read the brief item on "Tone and Manner" I also often forget to read again and repeat the job brief. Finally, after repeated often get a brief item in which "Tone and Manner" always appears. Finally I can conclude their own without having to repeat the item.

But before that I want to ask you. What do you think about when working on a design. For whom the design is made? How do I lay out the form and the color? What size? (when making a particular design such as packaging, invitations, book, pamphlet. Image like? (photo or illustration). Use what font? And still many questions during the process design.

So, all the above actually replaced only by two words "tone and manner."

So if the "tone and manner" to design a brochure for example apartment is modern, elegant and simple of all is the answer of the question above. Or another example, "tone and manner" a brochure for the product design perfume with the target youth such as Tone and Manner are feminine, Dynamic, and Modern.

With a few words of reference "Tone and Manner" of course you already can conclude their own design such as that which will be created and does not need to think too much, do not you? If we already know that the design must be "feminine" and "modern" certainly we can find the font that character of feminine and modern matches, colors as well, may be more appropriate illustration of the image, and so forth. To help, we can find some reference on the design so that already have "Tone and Manner" of the same magazine or the internet.

O ya there is a submission from Habibie's from belajardesain@yahoogroups.com see enhancements:

Hai,

Tone & Manner of a brand can mean a range of nature, values and personality of the brand is. Because the withdrawal personalitas Brand have human beings, then we know how to determine the Tone & Manner is a brand like the association with the nature of the man.

Perhaps we never heard a conversation like this, "Can you make a logo for my company is moving the field of pharmacy. My company is a modern, robust, and mature." Are not aware, the nature of a series of words that we met earlier is Tone & Manner. Words that describe the nature of the withdrawal the company describes the nature of man.

Keywords this is a reference to be important for designers to use a project he is currently doing. these words become a kind of guide that will later be described Mood board, the selection color, type, typography is used, the layout, and visual elements of the other.

Hopefully this can be any posts short the complete article of Ismail before, when there is a lack of're equipped. Thanks.

Habibie

Well, If you have any comments or opinions, please ....

8 Low-Cost Advertising Ideas

2008-06-23T05:25:00.000+07:00

By Dale King
Despite what you may have heard, advertising doesn't necessarily have to be expensive. In this article, I'm going to give you eight low-cost advertising ideas. These ideas can be used for both online and offline businesses.

1. Article Marketing is far and away my favorite method of promoting my business. If you write articles and allow them to be freely published, your articles become viral, meaning your articles can actually spread like a virus and have the potential to be viewed by hundreds of thousands of Internet users.

2. Targeted ezine advertising is one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your business. For example, you can purchase an ad in DEMC for around $50 and reach 36,000 people. For a list of suitable ezines to advertise in, visit BestEzines.com

3. If done properly, Google AdWords is still a very cost-effective way to advertise your business, despite rising pay-per-click costs.

4. Advertise in local neighborhood newspapers. In some areas they're called "Pennysavers," and in other areas they're simply known as "shoppers." Whatever they're called, you can place your ad in front of thousands of eyeballs for as little as $10 a week.

5. Buy television ads on local cable TV. Cable tv ads are cheaper than you might think, and you can target your ads to run in specific parts of your city. Check with you local cable company for more information.

6. Advertise on high-traffic websites. There are many websites that will allow you to advertise your products and services on their websites very inexpensively. Visit AdBrite.com for more information.

7. Advertising in a local direct mail package like Valpak can also be very cost-effective. And since you'll be sharing an envelope with other local businesses, you'll pay a fraction of what it might cost otherwise. For more information visit Valpak.com

8. Participating in online forums is an excellent way to get the word out about your business - and it's free. To find a forum related to your particular business, just go to your favorite search engine and type in the kind of forum you're looking for. For example, if you sell dolls, you would type in "doll forums." And if you sell real estate, you would simply type in "real estate forums."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dale_King
Image Source: Dreamstime/free image

Myth - Get Rich Quick Online

2008-06-23T05:22:00.000+07:00

By Sean Mize
I want to go over some myths. Before we get to this $15,000 Blueprint, I want to kind of go over some myths that are just floating around out there. There in every sales letter, well, not every sales letter, but a lot of sales letters that you read, and I kind of want to go through every one them and demythisize each one.

The first one is this whole get rich quick thing online. In my opinion there's nothing online that you can start today and be rich tomorrow. And now granted you'll read a sales page and once a month somebody comes out with something like they made a million dollars last month during this huge launch. Okay, here's the deal. There's only about one success story every month or two, probably ten, and if you count all niches out there there's probably about a million launches of new products every single month, and one of those launches every single month might hit it big. And usually it means a couple hundred thousand and by the time you pay out off all your affiliates you're down, maybe taking home $20,000.You have a one in a million chance of hitting $20,000. You're better off playing the Florida lottery where you pay a dollar and you have a one in three million chance of winning like two million dollars. You're better off playing the lottery. And I don't play the lottery and I don't recommend anybody to play the lottery, but you're better off playing the lottery than trying to get that home run online.

Now, if you do what you need to do to create a full time income online, then you may stumble on a home run. And that's great. You may be that one in one million person but I don't think you can predict and I don't think you can make it happen. I do not believe, if we look at affiliate markets, and as you know affiliating market last month, 8% of my income came through affiliate marketing, and normally it's a whole lot lower than that. So I'm not big on affiliate marketing. So many people get into affiliate marketing. They buy into this idea that you can make millions of dollars every single month through affiliate marketing. There's like five people in the world that make more than $100,000 a month, or maybe $200,000, there's probably 15 people in the entire world and so, really, who are you to think that you're going to be that person next month. Sure, you may be able to put together a five year plan, but I think everybody on this phone call and certainly the names that I got right here, you know, you're not looking at a five year plan to hopefully, maybe have a one in a hundred thousand chance of hitting it on line.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Mize
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Don't Think of Consumers as Targets

2008-06-19T10:02:00.000+07:00

By Phil Grisolia
“Target marketing” may be a suitable term for marketers to use among themselves, but consumer groups should never be thought of merely as “targets,” as the ultimate focus of this campaign or that marketing effort. Consumers are people. Living, breathing, emotional people. You’ll be wiser to identify and target the most significant common emotions of the group – their “hot buttons” – than to target consumers as a group.

Splitting hairs? Not really. One of the most effective ways to succeed at target marketing is to first develop a single composite image to represent your targeted group. Create one mental image, a make-believe individual – gender often doesn’t matter – who is truly representative of the consumers you’re targeting. That done, focus all your efforts on convincing that composite individual to do what it is you want the members of the group to do.

Create your message, your copy, the content of your marketing effort as if it’s a one-on-one communication between the personality – the personification, if you prefer – of your company, product or service and that composite “person” you’ve determined embodies the traits, characteristics – yes, and the emotions – of the group you want to motivate.

No marketer worth his or her salt has ever written a sales letter that includes “y’all.” The word of choice, the key to creating a “tie” between writer and potential buyer is “you.” It’s a word indicative that the communication – radio or TV spot, telemarketing script, newspaper or magazine ad, even direct mail piece – is one-on-one, aimed directly at the individual listener, viewer or reader.

To be successful that communication piece, whatever it may be, must touch as many of the “hot buttons” common within the group as you were able to identify and embody in the composite individual you created, that “person” with whom you’re now communicating.

Please notice that I said “with whom,” not “to whom.” Your communication should not be a monologue that talks to someone. You should be talking with them, creating a feeling of dialogue, a sensation that, while they obviously can’t exercise it, they should certainly be able to sense in your communication.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Phil_Grisolia
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Why Email Marketing

2008-06-19T10:01:00.000+07:00

By: R. Dean Allen
With all of the new Web 2.0 marketing avenues opening up on the web, some marketers scoff at the now old hat email marketing campaigns. This type of thinking can be a big mistake. Email marketing is about getting your message heard by the ever growing population of consumers online. It can still be one of the most effective communication and promotion vehicles in the internet communication marketplace. It is estimated the ninety percent of internet users and fifty-six percent of all Americans use email on a regular basis. For marketers who want to increase sales and profits, the following are tips on why to make email campaigns a vital part of your marketing strategies.

Cost-effective - email marketing allows you to reach thousands of potential or existing customers either free or for a very small cost.
Targeted messages - email marketing is an excellent way to communicate to prospects with highly relevant, targeted campaigns. Personalized messages are more effective for getting the prospects attention.
Well known - spam free email marketing is an established and respected means of promoting products and services.
Relationships - email marketing is a way to communicate with customers one-on-one and to build trusted relationships with online contacts.
Ease of Use - emailing is an accepted means of communication around the world. There are many companies that specialize in creating spam free, targeted email campaigns for marketers who lack the time or email list resources themselves.
Unlimited Resource - since ninety percent of internet users have email and thousands of new internet users across the world come one board daily, there is an unlimited supply of potential recipients for email marketing.

Even with the many Web 2.0 marketing options that continue to grow, email marketing is one of the most effective communication and promotion vehicles in the internet marketplace. It is a cost effective, affordable way to build long term relationship marketing. It is an important part of any business marketing plan.
Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=R._Dean_Allen
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Creating a communication through radio commercial

2008-06-11T00:57:00.000+07:00

By Mochamad Ismail
It’s about my experience in creating a radio commercial. The job was related with the project development of a modern trade that was called Pasar Tenabang Blok B. By that time there was resistances from traders of Tenabang Blok B because they must be evacuated before the building project was started. Although there were some traders agreed with the project determination of course they supported that project. So, my job was how to make a communication between the traders and the traders, and between the traders and developer’s company.

Firstly what we did was to survey the market what really happened. What the insight of both traders whom agreed and not agreed. Also we made a dialog with the developer’s company that was the project director and the marketing director. Dialog run a few times until we got the conclusion, the essence of communication.

There were some steps to make a communication.
1. Opened dialog between traders and the company.
2. Make media releases in some newspapers
3. Make communication material like news brochure to convey the reasonable things why Tenabang Blok B must be rebuilt and the traders was evacuated.
4. Radio commercial
5.Print ad

Because the article topic is creating radio commercial so we don’t talk about others only radio commercial. Ok!

The first idea was adopted from where the most traders came from. Obviously, they were from Padang, Betawi and Chinese. I thought it was good because they had different characters. So we could make a strong radio commercial. So from this I knew how to develop that idea. I created the daily dialog among them as they were usually they did at the market. Certainly I had to keep their character as the soul of the commercial.

Shortly, I came to recording agency to take the voice. I met the dubbers. And we brainstorm about the script.

After they understood about the script, take voice was started. Firstly I let them adjust their different character in order to mix. During this I directed their emotion and intonation. But I didn’t want they feel under pressure so that was not naturally. Until take 5 we still mixed the dialog. And in take 9 we got the real best dialog.

As the script I made, actually I had the concept that the padang man was temperamental and very influenced in dialog, the betawi man was an easy going person, and the Chinese woman was just followed with they said to her. It’s just like the character in daily life.

The character in dialog finally was really naturally just like a daily dialog at the market. Although I made more emotion and a little bit dramatic. It’s a commercial, right? I was impressed with that.

At the last I didn’t direct them but let them talked by their self. It’s called a “bonus”. By this, I hope it would be more naturally.

Sometimes it’s not easy to mix different character for a dialog in 60 seconds. Although, it was finished finally. Indeed, there were still one what made me not satisfied but if I followed my satisfaction the job was never finished. Deadline was a matter.

That was my experience in making radio commercial. If you have any comment I would be appreciate that.

Image source: Deamstime/free image

Discover Your B-to-B Brand Identity

2008-06-09T01:55:00.001+07:00

By: Mick Danskin
As the chief marketing communication officer in your organization, we challenge you to take an important and not-as-difficult-as-it-seems step in your day-to-day management of communications and sales support activities. It’s time to find out what is your brand identity.

We will warn you that facing this challenge may change how that day-to-day communication takes place. So, buckle up and let’s start.

First of all, if your company is like most B-to-Bs, you probably pay homage to the logo that you see everyday when you walk through the lobby to your vast and plush office. Or smile at the clever (even brilliant) well-designed literature that you worked so hard to produce, and that is receiving praise across the organization…and even with clients and prospects. You have, perhaps unknowingly, developed a strong perception of what that company mark stands for. And, that’s not all bad.

But, whether you have or haven’t is not the issue, really. What is most important is that you can separate your own perceptions with true client/prospect perceptions of your brand identity.

How to get to the bottom of the brand

Here are some things we know about brand identity:

1. Brand identity is not just the reaction one has, conscious or not, when they see or hear about your company.

2. Brand identity includes perceptions clients/prospects hold based on their interaction with every part of your company and each individual, as well.

3. Brand identity can develop from rumor, or third-party influence.

4. Brand identity can be altered, for good or bad.

5. Brand identity lives and breathes.

6. Brand identity can be measured.

Stop! Let’s pause…we could go on forever. Let’s focus on #6 in our list:

Brand identity can be measured. Whether you have a sizeable budget for marketing research or not, you should, if you haven’t already, undergone a simple process of analyzing what is your identity? And in what condition is your brand? Of course, this will require that you survey key internal individuals (be sure to include sales representatives and key C-level officers), clients, prospects and even partners and vendors. Anonymity will be required, but make sure you can identify which survey group results are obtained from – this will be critical in your analysis.

Size of sample

If you have the budget, survey at least 20-30 from employees, clients, prospects, and vendors/partners. If not, get at least 10 from each group.

Survey Format

Ask open-ended questions that get respondents to describe what their experience is with your company: what your company stands for, strengths and weaknesses, of most value, of least value, and how they would define your company’s products/services. Finally, ask them if they do business with your company. Also, ask why they do or don't.

Gap Analysis

What you’ll likely determine from this qualitative research is that there is a gap between what the internal responses portray about your company or brand in comparison to what the prospects and clients perceive. You may find, for example, that your sales force perceives the brand as high value, while prospect responses were riddled with “too expensive” or “unresponsive.”

What’s Next?

Once you have identified trends or commonality in specific group responses, identify areas of action. These will include two approaches: A) Leverage areas of strength, and B) Address areas of weakness that detract from the company’s vision for the brand.

By completing this simple analysis, your marketing communication planning is greatly empowered to address brand identity issues and make supportable and positive steps toward building and maintaining your brand in the marketplace. And you will never approach advertising, Web design, internet marketing or Web functionality, html emails, copywriting, direct mail, public relations, video production, or internal communication (see Make Internal Communication A Priority) without considering the well-being of the brand.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mick_Danskin
Image source: dreamstime/free image

Tips For New and Aspiring Writers - One Way to Make What You Write Better

2008-06-09T01:51:00.000+07:00

By: Joyce Shafer
Anytime you decide to write anything, whether it's an article or a manuscript, you should congratulate yourself. Some people find writing easy, while others feel less sure about the process or their skills. Either type of writer is courageous. You know that when you write, especially if you intend to share it in any way, you open yourself to comments from readers.

One of the best things you can do for your writing is to have someone read and critique it. You may feel hopeful the person will like the story, perhaps even anxious that she or he may not; but your primary goal is to get feedback that will help you create a quality result.

You want someone who will take this effort seriously, and need to expect that what you get back may have a lot of notations and questions. At first, you may not be thrilled about this. As you read through the notes, you should see tighter ways to write sentences, inconsistencies brought to your attention, and some things you didn't give thought to as you were writing. No writer thinks of everything during the first draft, and every writer edits and rewrites.

When we write non-fiction, we sometimes forget that readers don't know what we know and we leave things out or don't put things in the best order. In fiction, we may get so caught up with the story we miss inconsistencies or leave questions unanswered. We hopefully concern ourselves with punctuation, grammar, and the technical aspects of writing, but miss something or several things that could make our writing go beyond good and become excellent or, at the very least, accurate. One definite benefit is that you learn and hone your skills as a result of getting such feedback.

The thing you want to do is rely on someone who not only has the skills to do this but is objective enough to do it so that you get what you need. Writers sometimes ask the wrong people to do this for them and it often results in frustration. Many projects get shelved because of this. Do everything you can to nurture your creativity and move your project forward until you get your desired outcome.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joyce_Shafer

Marketing Copywriting - A Language Of Its Own

2008-06-09T01:49:00.000+07:00

By: Mark Penman
Many people view copywriting as an easy by-product of marketing - believe me, I was one of them. I could write before I started school, how hard can it be? In fact, learning the skill of the copywriter is like learning a new language. The once simple art of writing becomes a technical businesslike operation when you delve into what's involved.

Copywriting is an art form - not the most creative one admittedly - but one that takes a lot of thought. So many things need to be taken into account: Tone of voice, USPs, audiences' needs, purpose, sentence construction (and deconstruction). Copywriting is not about who can use the longest word but, as Yeats suggested, about communicating clearly and effectively. It is about reaching out and grabbing the reader's attention - getting their heads nodding - without being either abrasive or fluffy (there's no use pleading with your audience - give them a chance to say no and they will).

To write excellent marketing copy - first thing's first - forget everything you have ever learnt.

You can start a sentence with the word 'and'. You can have a full stop after just one word. If the mood takes you, it is even acceptable to ask as many rhetorical questions as it takes to prove your point. Just as long as, all the while, you have the big A in mind. Audience.

Writing effective marketing communication is not about keeping yourself amused; it is about clearly highlighting the benefits of any given product or service for your audience. Step into the shoes of the person you wish to sell to. What do they care about? Once you've pinpointed that - copywriting is simple.

With that in mind, I'll leave you with a few copywriting Do's & Don'ts.
Don't try to be funny - your audience probably won't share your quirky sense of humour and they will only find you irritating.

Don't talk down to them. Your audience is aware of any problems they might have and don't need you to rub it in. But do try to empathise. (Yes, I know, it's tricky.)

Always make the benefits stand out. Your reader doesn't want to hunt for your point. They simply want to know what's in it for them otherwise why would they bother?

Keep things short. Don't use twenty words to make your point if you could say it in five.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Penman

Why Not Consider Viral Marketing to Help Your Marketing Communication Effort

2008-06-09T01:45:00.000+07:00

By Joaquin Garcia
When asked about marketing communication, what normally comes to mind are the more obvious above the line stuff. This means commercials in the electronic media and ad messages we come across in billboards, buses and the like, as well as print ads in newspapers, magazines and so on.

And, of course, this could also be messages found on web pages. This can be banner ads, pay-per-click ads through different search engines, ads in web portals and so on.
And, of course, there are other means like brochures, catalogues and below the line stuff like PR articles.

What about marketing communication received through viral means? What’s that you ask.

Let’s look at defining this: Viral marketing refers to a marketing strategy that motivates individuals to pass on a marketing communication to others, with the potential for exponential growth in the exposure and influence of the message. As this usually is internet-based, it is similar to the spread of computer viruses, or viral illness in real life. These tend to multiply rapidly and reach thousands, if not millions of people.

The classic example of how viral marketing works is how Hotmail spread and got a hold in the marketplace, being widely spread over the internet.
How did the strategy proceed. Yahoo, who owned Hotmail, gave away free e-mail addresses and services, by attaching a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: offering those receiving the message a change to get their private, free email at hotmail.com.

Hence, each person in receipt of an email, passed the message on and this asked him/her to sign up for their own free e-mail service, and then with each passing of the message the communication spreads out further and further, being received by more people, with each turn.

In Australia, an example of the spread of a message virally, I remember the “Big Ad” commercial for Carlton Draught. It was a very unusual commercial, which was first viewed over the internet by many individuals. Originally passed on via email, this commercial landed in many a computer -long before it was aired on TV.
Hotmail was a free email account, which was “cool” and became a must have. Hence, this proved a good enough motivation for this service to be passed around. And, of course, with the offer embedded with emails that used the service, it was a tagged-on message that could easily be passed on.

With the second example, the unusual nature of the ad and it’s big-ness made for enough motivation for those receiving the clip to pass on to friends. And, with each pass, the circle became wider and got more people involved.

So, we see that the basic strategy is to use other people to pass on your marketing message. And, to do that they need a motivation. The first example used the motivation of a free service. It also helped the unstated must-have nature of the service also came into force.

And, with the Carlton Draught example, it was the unusualness, the being the first to see the ad before this was aired proved a good enough motivation to pass this on.
How can you get viral marketing working for you? There are several things you have to consider.

First of all, what is the message you want to pass virally? You will need to figure this out first. Then work out the means to pass this on.

A means I think is a good means for viral marketing, is a blog. How do you push this virally?

First of all you will need good content, that is worth reading and passing on to others. Offering freebies on your blog is another possible means. The latter is especially good for viral means of spreading because who can pass up a good thing—especially if this is free.
There are many more considerations and other points that you must take into account, when planning a viral marketing exercise. What've given here are some basic considerations to get your viral message going.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joaquin_Garcia

Maximize Your Marketing Buzz - Channel Your Communications Into One Integrated Marketing Plan

2008-06-07T00:26:00.000+07:00

By: Yoshiko Choy
The concept of Integrated Communications stems from Integrated Marketing Plan, but taking it to a different level. Let's just say Integrated Communications is the "Art" of marketing and Integrated Marketing Plan is the "Science" of it... Or put it another way, Integrated Communications is like the art of cooking, planning all the right ingredients to be put into the cooking pot. Integrated Marketing Plan is the reality check presenting you with a budget which restricts the amount of ingredients.

The Integrated Marketing Plan is seen as a reality check for enthusiastic marketers. The Integrated Communications planning phase allows you great creativity in applying your marketing mix. The Integrated Marketing Planning phase helps you to apply your rational thoughts to justify your marketing spending. It helps you plan your budget by guiding you to match your financial and manpower resources, gives you a time line for achieving your goals and helps you monitor your progress.

Integrated Communications is a term which defines a concept which consolidates and reiterates through one focused & unified message across all the marketing mix of advertising, public relations, direct marketing as well as all marketing collaterals.

The Integrated Communications concept works well for both the traditional as well as internet marketing. Large brick and mortar corporations will manage their Integrated Communication via synchronizing their TV, radio & press ads, publicity with direct sales initiatives with one single message. Past experience suggested that great effort must be executed to ensure that all marketing mix activities are aligned throughout with one single message. This is especially so when the corporation is large and adopts a decentralized business model.

By contrast, with regards to Integrated Communications for Small business Internet Marketing, there seems to be lesser alignment problems. You can standardize and focus your keywords in your scripts, online display ads, emails, newsletters to enhance search results via Search Engine Optimization (SEO), do your social book-marking, networking and viral marketing all within your control.

Successful Integrated Communications campaigns almost without fail (don't mind the pun) consists of at least 4 aligned marketing tactics, namely extensive exposure advertisements, direct marketing, website, email marketing.

Hence, "Integrated" takes on a whole new meaning when you examine the various potential communications tools you can used, match it with your marketing budget plan, time it for implementation and review it over time for enhanced effectiveness. This effectively speaking, forms the Integrated Marketing Plan.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yoshiko_Choy

The Truth Behind Advertising

2008-06-07T00:24:00.000+07:00

By: Jonathon Hardcastle
Advertising is more than just the means of disseminating product information. It is a primary communications tool of our economic system. Moreover, aside from its diverse role as a persuasive communication tool, it is also part of the everyday culture of virtually everyone. Actually advertising is a part of our social, cultural, and business environment.

The specific reasons that a company chooses to advertise at a particular level is often difficult to determine. However, there are a number of situations that usually dictate a higher proportion of advertising to sales than might otherwise be used. First, it introduces a new product of service; to enter the marketplace against established competition, extra weight is needed. Second, to encounter competition; some industries are engaged in price wars and have far more competition than others, especially when nobody is a real leader in the field. Third, to maintain a leadership position; companies decide to spend in advertising investing in promoting their brand names. Fourth, to emphasize price; among all competitive pressures, price is probably the most usually used feature that gets heavily promoted. Finally, to keep up with a fast growing industry; in fierce competitive fields it is vital to spend more on advertising to prevent others from surpassing your offer.

Advertising primary strength is that it reaches a large mass audience to intensify broad-based demand for a product. As specialists support, advertising can build brand awareness, create long-term brand images and positions, and increase brand knowledge effectively. It can furthermore, alter the image of an existing product and act as a reminder mechanism. Finally, advertising acts also as a memorability mechanism through message repetition.

Regarding new product launch, advertising is considered of vital importance as it can provide the necessary information to the targeted audiences and increase their awareness levels. It moreover can act as an Awareness-Identification-Desire-Action tool since it can provide all the incentives needed for a trial. As far as the action stage is concerned, advertising can become the element through which a prospect will decide upon purchasing the product or service. Coupons, free samples, discounts, and many other promotional mechanisms can become the reason behind a new product's success. Penetrating any market is a matter of well-planned integrated marketing program and in order for a new product's or service launch to be successful, advertising can serve as a valuable tool for the company's future goals and current sales increase.

Advertising has limits, however. Consumers often tend to believe it is intrusive, and try to avoid it by changing the TV-channel, radio station or page. Because of the abundant of products and services in today's world, clutter issues can threaten advertising, as the more advertisements exist, the more frustrated the consumer becomes. Another major drawback of advertising is that of lost impressions. Due to its high penetration, the mass market is not always the right target to which the messages are directed.

Regarding new product launch, advertising is valuable only to companies if it creates consumer identification, is differentiated from clutter, and in the long run its success is measured by repeat purchase. If a product or service stays viable for a longer period than its competition, it is due to its penetration to customer minds and homes.

Concluding, advertising should be used in the marketing communication mix to maximize its strengths, which should be analyzed relatively to other marketing communication tools.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathon_Hardcastle

The Essential Marketing Communication Tool

2008-06-07T00:19:00.000+07:00

By: Shannon Kavanaugh
There are so many marketing communication vehicles available to us as marketers, but none more important than the NEWSLETTER. Every company should have one. Whether it is used to stay in contact and top-of-mind with current customers, or to build credibility within your prospect pool, the newsletter is your most powerful marketing tool.

Still, many companies do not use newsletters for communicating to their prospects and customers. They see the amount of work to produce and deliver a newsletter regularly as a major roadblock they simply cannot break through. And, some of those who do use newsletters in their marketing mix are missing the boat by not implementing some of the best practices of successful newsletter marketing.

Whether published in print or email, the key to taking advantage of this essential marketing communication tool is to effectively manage the content, structure and format, subscription process, delivery tools, and metrics of your newsletter process.

Do not use your articles or tips to promote your products or services directly. Make sure your article content is relevant, educational in nature, and VALUE-ADD. The presumed time commitment to build valuable content often paralyzes the most well intended marketing team. This is often the roadblock to a company successfully launching and maintaining a newsletter strategy. Yet, there are many ways you can provide content in a way that best meets the needs of your prospects and customers. Specifically, you can solicit content from your partners, experts in your industry, or simply write the content yourself (using the various expertise amongst your staff).

Let's focus on content you can provide:

Determine frequency of your newsletter (minimum 1x per quarter, maximum 1x per week, recommended 1x per month) and create an editorial calendar that scopes out what topics you want to cover over the next six months.

Assign topics to the people in your organization who best know the topic for that issue and give them the deadlines for submission. If there is one writer, I've found it is most efficient to have that writer sit down and write as many as three at a time to "prime the pump" with articles.

Start small with one article or 1-page tip. Newsletters do not have to be multi-article masterpieces. If the topics are relevant to your audience, a short abstract or 2-page feature might fit the bill of the busy prospect even better.

Assign no more than 20% of your newsletter content to product or company promotion.

Today's newsletters can be produced in print or email and I do recommend you consider publishing both. Even if you don't want to print and mail thousands of newsletters, consider having a small quantity printed to use in your collateral kits, give to prospects you meet, or handout at conferences or tradeshows.

Let's focus on the email version:

Make sure the "from" line is from a person or brand that the recipient can trust.

Use the subject line to identify the newsletter name and feature article (show the value).

Use the email format to introduce the topics, but link to your website for the full articles or tips.

Keep most of the newsletter content above the fold and relegate the small amount of promotional material to the bottom.

Include your company name, physical address, copyright statement, and opt-out process.

Send your email in both HTML and text formats. Even though HTML emails yield a much higher response rate, many of your target's email programs may not accept HTML emails.

Hopefully you have an email list you can start with (your current customers perhaps), but if not it's time to implement a subscription process. I recommend three avenues for building your opt-in list-a) use your traditional marketing pieces to advertise your newsletter, b) purchase an email sponsorship from a publication that specifically targets your audience, and c) use your website!

Make sure you have your subscription process visible from EVERY page on your website.

Use a space on your home page (if not on every page) to actually PROMOTE subscription.

Make past issues available to give visitors a taste of what they'll receive.

Consider adding an "email to a friend" on each newsletter page to encourage viral subscriptions.

There are many options for delivering your eNewsletter, including your own email system, an Internet-hosted solution, or dedicated email campaign software that integrates with your own database.

Hosted Solutions, make it easy and affordable to build and manage permission email lists, create and send eye-catching HTML email newsletters, announcements and promotions, and track results through an online, hosted solution.

Dedicated Email Software that implements and manages personalized email projects from any browser, anywhere in the world.

ENEWSLETTER METRICS.
When your newsletter has been running for a few months, you will want to use metrics to measure its success and determine what, if any, changes you want to make to structure, lists, frequency of delivery, etc.

Let's look at the minimum items you should track:

A good email newsletter should achieve at least 30-40% open rate and 2-3% click-through rate.

Also, your unsubscribe rate should be less than 2%. If your unsubscribe rate is higher, you will want to reconsider the relevancy of your content as it pertains to the audience needs and/or whether you have the right list or have reached list fatigue.
If you don't have a newsletter as part of your marketing plan, it's time to add one! If you already produce a newsletter-good for you! Please use the information above as a checklist audit to help make your newsletter process even more effective as a marketing communication and lead generation tool.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shannon_Kavanaugh

Why Integrated Marketing Communications is Essential for Small Businesses

2008-06-07T00:16:00.000+07:00

By: James Hills
How can Integrated Marketing Communications help me, the small business owner?

Integrated Marketing Communication is essential to small business owners because they, even more so than large corporations can not afford to misspend or waste money on a single isolated marketing effort.

For instance, as a small business owner, it may be tempting to focus on one aspect of marketing – a new website, a direct mail campaign, radio ads or as a manufacturer, simply letting your partners market for you. However, what happens if that one piece of marketing doesn’t work?

ANSWER: Your entire marketing effort fails.

Instead, wouldn’t it be great to have an integrated marketing plan that takes the best parts of online marketing such as websites, email newsletters, search engine optimization, and pay-per-click advertising and use that to make your traditional, offline efforts such as direct mail, advertising and public relations even more effective.

For instance, this may be as simple as making sure that your website has the same key words as your radio advertising and that your banners at the little league games also have the same message. To internalize a message, a person must be exposed to it several times. If you hit them three times with three different messages it is nearly the same as being exposed only once. Even worse, it could be confusing and disorienting, resulting in a negative experience with your brand.

Integrated Marketing Communications addresses this issue by creating a plan with a consistent message and then delivering it through as many media as possible, online and offline.

What are the components of an integrated marketing plan?

An Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) plan should draw from all communications disciplines available, including online, offline, and interpersonal.

Online marketing channels include any e-marketing campaigns or programs, from search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click, affiliate, email, banner to latest web related channels for webinar, blog, RSS, podcast, and Internet TV. Offline marketing channels are traditional print (newspaper, magazine), mail order, public relation, billboard, radio, and television. Interpersonal marketing includes participating in community groups, networking organizations, your handshake, how you dress, and even how you answer the phone or return calls.

While not every communication discipline needs to be included for each campaign, it is important for any integrated marketing practitioner to be well versed in the various components so that he or she can select the ones most appropriate for a specific client’s budget and demands.

Is it better to go with an agency, or shop for individual services myself?

While both have benefits, an agency can be a benefit if you don't already have a network of trusted service providers including printers, promotional products companies, tradeshow planners etc. who are familiar with your business. Often times, an agency can get things done for a client faster, more efficiantly and with better quality for the same or lower price. Plus, as a business owner you have to factor in the time you may spend shopping for the best price and reading reviews to make sure that the best price doesn't give you the worst services.

However, the cost of each component shouldn’t be your primary concern when evaluating an integrated marketing plan. Instead, look at the expense and benefits of the entire plan working together. For instance, a website might cost $2,000 to build and then you might spend $10,000 in pay-per-click advertising over the next year, but if the content on the website doesn't match the message on your direct mail, or your customer service people aren't able to answer questions about the website then you wasted a lot of money.

Instead, don't look at the website as a single entity. Make sure that it is perfectly integrated into your marketing strategy:

Promote it at all opportunities. This includes not just pay-per-click ads, but also on business cards, in radio ads, even place a sticker on your products letting customers know they can download copies of the product manuals there, and print it on your receipts telling customers to download coupons on the website.

Develop an email newsletter to offer your customers and prospective customers news and information they can use - not just a brochure to sell your products.

Create a blog and allow people to subscribe to it. This will build trust and familiarity between your customers and your company. Don't limit blog posts to just the president, sometimes a post from a project manager or even the receptionist can keep the blog interesting and attention grabbing.

Create a contest - but make sure the message is consistent with your integrated marketing strategy. Have people visit your website to enter.

If you run an advertisement promoting a specific service, make sure that that your customers can find more information about it quickly and easily. Perhaps even put a graphic at the top of your page saying "Attention 99.5 listeners, Click Here to Learn More about Gutter Cleaning"

Those are just some examples for how you can integrate your marketing plan and maximize the initial investment you made by building a website.

Isn't an an integrated marketing communication just like any other marketing plan?

A marketing plan can be just a marketing plan for a website, or a marketing plan for an advertising campaign, but an Integrated Marketing Communications plan involves all aspects of marketing, across the entire company. This means that you are integrated all aspects of the company into a single cohesive plan.

After all you could have a great website marketing plan, an awesome advertising campaign and an award winning PR agency, but if a customer reads a press release or hears your ad and decides to visit your website where he can't find more info about your PR or advertising message what's the point of spending the money in the first place.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Hills

Affiliate Internet Marketing

2008-06-05T03:05:00.000+07:00

By: Jim Swank

Affiliate internet marketing is the easiest and best way to make money online without having your own products or services. Affiliate internet marketing is the business of promoting other people and businesses products and services and receiving a commission in return for your efforts.

Marketing
If you want to get started with affiliate internet marketing don't worry too much about which ebook you choose. The more important part is that you grasp the concept of what affiliate internet marketing is all about and any of these will be able to provide you with just that. It is the best sales and marketing strategy ever used by most of the companies or sellers on the web from small to large-scale companies.

Affiliate
Affiliate programs are performance based and are paid for sending customers or traffic to a website. Affiliate marketing training is available online and you can gain additional insight from other successful affiliate marketing affiliates via forums and chat rooms. Programs are a non multi level marketing way to make money, they are free to join and you are not required to recruit other affiliates to make money. Affiliate internet marketing will keep on growing as the affiliate programs are spreading globally. Affiliates make money by referring customers to their merchants. This marketing has its ups and downs but the majority of those involved know that it is worth it.

Website
The website is the best place to have affiliate marketing. You can join multiple affiliate programs and build websites focused on areas of your own interest. For website owners, affiliate internet marketing is a viable solution in which you only pay when an action or sale is made. But what kind of website should you make. And if your website is rich in great content and you want to earn more profit, why not get into the Google Adsense program as well. Not only are there many, many websites devoted to affiliate Internet marketing, there are whole books written about affiliate internet writing in uncomplicated language that even a beginner can understand. So now I focus on getting my websites traffic and conversions.

Programs
There are thousands of products , programs, software and services online for an affiliate to market on the internet. But with so many, who knows which affiliate programs to chose. You can join multiple affiliate programs and build websites focused on areas of your own interest. With the easy setup and maintenance, many people become involved with one or several of these programs. These programs provide many opportunities for individuals, but may not be successful if not done correctly. With many affiliate programs available; it is often difficult to determine which is best.

Advertising
Advertising of products can be done by including it to web pages. Did you know that there are affiliate marketers with "No Website", "No emailList", doing "No Advertising" yet still making money from referring customers to online merchants. In business, you have to have a wide customer base and this comes with successful advertising and marketing. The basic concept is web-based advertising through associations gained with other internet marketers. Blog advertising is a hot topic within the internet marketing industry. Many people have become avidly interested in learning more about blog advertising. Blog advertising is simply the advertising connected with a blog. Small home-based internet businesses are able to gain the exposure they deserve, but they must use strategies other than standard marketing and advertising methods used by big name companies.

Article
Article marketing combines useful information, free advertising (without looking like one) and marketing viral into one powerful package. Have you wondered about how an affiliate article marketing guru really lives. I am about to give you an inside peek at the life of a successful affiliate article marketing guru. Five simple reasons to use affiliate article marketing. Affiliate article marketing is a strategy that involves marketing an affiliate program with written articles. But this article's sole objective is to reach out to you and not to badmouth affiliate marketing. Once you have your product you want to promote and your blog set up, it's time to write some articles. Now, you don't just want to write any old article, you want to be smart about it. You want to write an article and subsequent ones with the prospective buyer in mind. When writing your article you want the title of your article to be the exact search phrase people are looking for. You also want to use this exact phrase a few times in the article itself. Not only will it get you noticed but you can also find specific article directories, blogs, ezines and forums where your target audience is most likely hanging out. Internet marketing articles are also a useful source of information about SEO. You can take advantage of the enormous advertising potential of the internet by using well-written and optimized content articles. You can create your own article directory and allow people to purchase your articles straight off of your site.

Products
As an affiliate, you do not need to maintain stocks of products or services of your own or of your sponsors. Promote other people's products, and make commissions when people buy through you. It does require a lot of work to promote your products and services. But you don`t need to mail out product nor chase down the money.

Strategy
Strategy plays an important part in the success or failure of any affiliate marketing program. In most cases the affiliate marketing campaign is only a small portion of the overall marketing strategy but there are some business owners who opt to rely exclusively on this type of marketing. If you`re an online marketer active in the process of affiliate advertising, blogging is one free promotional strategy that can help you drill into your niches needs. Many affiliates fail to devise a strategy that will help them succeed.

Success
Successful affiliate internet marketing is a much more difficult thing to do if you don’t have a way of tracking your results. To be a successful internet affiliate marketer you must have an understanding of some marketing techniques. Affiliate success seems to be one of the most sought after things on the internet anymore.

Conclusion
Affiliate Internet marketing is not easy at all. AFFILIATE INTERNET MARKETING, is it a fad or is it really a good place to start a home based internet business ? Affiliate Internet Marketing is not a game, it’s a real business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Swank

Writing Skills - 5 Ways to Express Yourself Skillfully with Words

2008-06-04T11:14:00.000+07:00

By: Jan Verhoeff
Writing down words intimidates the most communicative individuals. It doesn't have to be that way. Words can be your friend and writing skills are easily learned. Getting your message across often means you must write it down. Come along and learn 5 ways to express yourself skillfully with words.

1. Pay attention to grammar details. This may be the most important part of writing. Use essential grammar rules well and don't overuse clichés, slang, or jargon, in most cases they simply aren't necessary. Concentrate on saying what you mean, using simple language arts.

2. Punctuation counts. Use it strategically and with purpose. Often misused punctuation can change the meaning of the sentence to mean something revoltingly different than you intend. Be aware of where you place commas, periods and exclamation points.

3. When in doubt, leave it out. Generally if the word doesn't have a purpose, you should leave it out. You don't need to tell your reader the book is VERY good. Simply tell them it's GOOD and allow them to determine how good it is by reading the book. Overused words often become redundant.

4. Write like you talk. If you wouldn't say it out loud, don't waste your readers time by putting it in print. They want to read what you would say. Use words in print the way you use them in your speech and your reader will understand better, what you write. Give your writing meaning and value by using common every day language.

5. Edit your work. Once you've written it, take a moment to go back over, reread and rewrite until it's perfect. Sometimes, you'll want to set it aside for a day or two and come back to edit again. Your work will be better presented if it is perfect. But don't wait too long or your topic will be out dated.
Are you ready to put your words in print?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jan_Verhoeff

Search Engine Marketing - What is Click Fraud

2008-06-04T11:13:00.000+07:00

By: Terry Stanfield
Click fraud is a risk that goes along with doing any kind of pay per click advertising as part of your SEM strategy. Pay per click advertising can help you be sure that you're getting some kind of return on your advertising investment because you're only paying when someone clicks on your ad and goes to your site but not everyone clicking on your ads is interested in your products or services. Click fraud is when someone that has no interest in your products or services repeatedly clicks on your ad just to make you pay more money. It sounds like something that petty and spiteful person would do to one another but clickfraud can lead to huge advertising bills for companies who aren't getting anything in return for that money.

Anyone that uses SEO wants to advertise their website and try to get more traffic but the point of using search engine optimization is to reach your target market and get members of your target market to click on your website. Search engine marketing and search engine optimization are safer bets than pay per click advertising because of the high risk of click fraud that comes with pay per click advertising. The biggest search engines like Google and Yahoo have built automated click fraud management programs to try and combat the growing problem of click fraud but it still happens everyday to lots of companies.

A larger company might not notice the clickfraud until they end up with an advertising bill that is three or four times higher than they expected. When that happens a team from the ad company will step in and try to determine if click fraud is responsible but unfortunately the law hasn't quite kept up with the changing technology. There are several large click fraud cases that are still pending in the courts. Companies feel that they shouldn't have to pay huge advertising bills as a result of click fraud and that the ad companies have a responsibility to create a management system to keep click fraud from happening and the ad companies feel that the companies are responsible for the costs incurred.

This propblem isn't just done by a single person or a group of people sitting at their computers clicking on a company's ad over and over. There are automated programs that are designed to click on an ad thousands of times per day which can mean an astronomical bill for companies without giving them any new business. The new click fraud management programs that are being rolled out by the major ad companies and search engines are alleviating some of the click fraud problem but it will almost always be a risk when you're doing pay per click advertising. Search engine marketing with just plain old search engine optimization is a safer methods to drive traffic to your website although they may or may not drive as much traffic to your website as a few pay per click ads would. A combination of SEO and PPC with the right click fraud protection can be the a great strategy.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terry_Stanfield

Persuasive Writing KS2 - 5 Things to Remember

2008-06-04T11:12:00.000+07:00

By: Thomas Baugh
If you're looking for some quick fire tips for success at persuasive writing ks2 level, then look no further. Here are the five you need to ensure work gets completed to the highest possible standards.

For starters, use the introduction properly. A lot of students make the mistake of jumping head-first into discussing points and bombarding the reader with evidence and statistics. Make sure the first paragraph is a clear introduction of the point, the writers stance and go from there. Make sure there are at least three of four relevant points in any persuasive essay. There's no set amount you should include to achieve higher grades and quality is more important quantity, but three points is a good minimum to work towards, especially in timed exams.

Each point should be presented in the same format in persuasive writing. Firstly, make your point, and then present your evidence to support your point and then finish by tying the two together to hammer home your point of view.

Persuasive writing ks2 level requires some stylistic elements to achieve higher grades. By this age, students need to be able to attract their reader, hold their attention and demonstrate a sound knowledge of persuasive language.

Finally, the conclusion of any persuasive writing essay needs to be strong. It's a writer's final chance to leave a lasting impression on their reader, and is the thing people marking the work will remember most. Students should make sure to repeat their main point and tie everything up with a strong final sentence. Persuasive writing can seem quite complicated to many students at ks2 but when it's broken down into a simple structure, it's much easier to digest.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Baugh

Great Advertising Through Google AdWords

2008-06-04T11:11:00.000+07:00

By: Guido Nussbaum

AdWords are a simple and effective way of advertising on the net, which help to reach a vast audience and it does not cost much. Due to the popularity of Google AdWords if you paste an ad on the search and content sites of Google and its related network, you can advertise your products and reach a large number of buyers without spending too much on advertising. You can reach your potential customers at the right time precisely when they are looking for a product, increasing your chances of making a sale.

There are hundreds of people looking for bargains on the net and AdWords help you to reach these people. Through them you can find a market for your products. Your ads are placed above or next to relevant search engines on Google, and whenever someone clicks on your ad you get a potential buyer. This process is very simple, in minutes your ads can be running, and reaching hundreds of thousands of online and offline customers. If your ad is not clicked on, you do not pay. Thus you do not have to spend too much and are in complete control. You can also study their performance any time to see that if you are benefiting from them.
To start, you have to pay a nominal activation fee. After this you do not have to pay any monthly charges, and you can choose from a variety of ad formats. The ads can be in the form of an image, a video or just a text ad. You can change your ad anytime you want. You can keep a record of the Google AdWords performance by checking at your online account control center.
There are different ways in which you can place your ad on the site. Moreover, in pasting a keyword related ad, you choose the keywords for your ad, and decide the amount you pay for each click. The higher you pay, the more the chances of the system displaying your ad on the site. In placement of targeted ads, you choose the exact content site where your ad will be placed. You also decide the maximum amount you will pay for each click, or for per thousand page views.
To be able to target your potential customers and get better website roi, keep certain points in mind when placing ads. Some tips include relating your Ad text to the webpage where it is placed targeting a wide variety of audience. Another thing you should do is experiment with your text formats to see which works best, and include product prices and special offers to attract customers.
You can see the performance of your ads through PPR or placements performance reports. If they are useful and are they giving you some business then you can continue to have them on your site. If you feel they are not giving you any business, you can delete them from your site. You can also help Google to keep track of your progress by using a conversion optimizer. There are some more technical terms you need to have knowledge about like the CTR or the 'click through rate' which tells you about the actual number of times people actually click on your ad. The CR or 'conversion rate' is the percentage of people that actually buy something on your site.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Guido_Nussbaum