Sunday, December 31, 2006

Advertising? Consider Product Life Cycle & Customer Buying Habits

When you create advertising for small businesses, consider both the life cycle of your product or service along with customer buying habits.

Today, both sellers and buyers alike want fast results. You should recognize that the actual process of turning your prospects into customers still takes time. Buying cycle times may be shorter today, but the process still exists. People often buy according to their past purchasing habits and patterns. These habits can be hard to change.

Classic marketing theory details the life cycle of a product or service as (1) introduction, (2) growth, (3) maturity, (4) decline, and (5) phase-out. In other words: when it's (1) New, (2) Rapidly Accepted, (3) The Industry Standard, (4) Fading, and (5) Hard to Find.

Furthermore, the people who buy those products/services can be profiled in different stages as (a) innovative adapters, (b) majority adapters, or (c) stragglers.

Profiles of these three buyer categories (a) (b) (c) are helpful in creating advertising tailored to each phase of the five life cycles of the product or service. Judge accordingly.

For example, when you introduce a new product or service, one of your prime target markets should be the early adapters, the innovators. It has been estimated somewhere around 10 to 20 percent of people do their own research and experimentation about their purchases. (An ever-increasing number do their research on the web – before they contact anyone.)

The other 80 percent or so are followers (b) (c). They read, listen to, or watch ads; try recommendations from their friends, neighbors or co-workers; or use coupons, etc.

It is advertising that educates and entices prospects at these different purchasing stages to try something new for them. Most importantly, it happens person-by-person. Over time, good advertising can remind, motivate and change buying habits for those in each type of profile.

So it is important to let each group know your product or service is there and ready for them when they want to buy. Plan to have your advertising message repeated often enough where it will be available to them when they are ready to explore and make a buying decision.

It only takes money and time. Be patient. Keep chipping away at it. Soon, your targeted advertising message will be part of your product life cycle and customer buying habits.

© 2006 Jon Sinish

This article may be reprinted and distributed as long as the resource information remains intact.


About the Author:
Jon Sinish is a 30-year champion of advertising for small businesses, whose clients range from international corporations to private professional practices.
Now, at his web site, you can discover more exciting articles that reveal practical tips, tactics and strategies to help the small businessperson manage and improve their advertising and marketing programs. Please visit www.advertising-for-small-businesses.com
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Affordable Search Engine Marketing Will help you Work within Budget

To search for anything from any place, you need a medium. Search engines are the source through which online visitors search for any information on the web. So search engines are the best place of online site owners to market about their goods and services. If you are selling anything, then everyone must know about it. Otherwise how do you expect people to come and do business with you? So make sure that you adopted all methods that will help you in marketing your wares in all major search engines.

Affordable search engine marketing is one means through which this can be done very easily. All of us have to face the fact that at some point of time or the other, we have to face the fact that our business will be short on finances. So taking up affordable search engine marketing services to promote our goods and services is the best way to deal with this issue. If the services are affordable, anyone can hire the services of a search engine marketing firm to promote their goods and services.

Working within the allocated budget ensures that you will be able to take care of all aspects related to your business. Search engine marketing has been found to be the most innovative and result oriented marketing strategies. There are several marketing strategies that can be adopted for marketing and branding of any product on the web. The idea is to create a favorable image for your business, so that everyone recognizes and knows about your business.

The best resort for any online business owner is to hire the services of a search engine marketing firm to do the work for you. The first work of the search engine marketing firm is to find out exactly what methods will be suitable for marketing of your site on the web. Using the latest coding language to design a site can be one good way of going about it. So if the firm feels that this needs to be done, they will do that for promoting the site. It is up to the search engine marketing firm to study a site carefully and find out what needs to be done.

Pay per click is one marketing methods that has been found to be very effective for marking a business or an online business site on the web. Pay per click is nothing but an advertisement method that makes use of the most appropriate keywords to advertise about the goods or services that you are selling. Here you can bid certain sum of money for putting up your site at the top of the sponsored listing section of search engines.

There are several search engine marketing firms that works toward providing affordable search engine marketing solution to online business owners. The trick of being successful on the web lies in adopting those methods for marketing which are result oriented and guarantee better results for your business. So, just make sure that you hire the best to do the work for you.

About the Author:
Steve Waganer has specialization in Web Marketing. He is expert in Search engine optimization, Affiliated Marketing,Affordable Search Engine Marketing.To get his expert advice for your website to get high rank and top position in major search engines visit http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com
Added: 13 Nov 2006
Article Source: http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/article/42623.html

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Ezine Advertising Deals Revealed

Ezine (electronic magazine) advertising is a great method for exposing your offer to a targeted audience (niche). This type of advertising can be quite expensive though if you don't know what to look for.

Two years of experience advertising in dozens of ezines has revealed a few money saving trends and commonalities. These tendencies will save the ezine marketer a considerable amount of money, especially when combined.

You may not realize it, but ezine ad specials and deals are fairly common if you know where to look and what to look for.

In this article, I will show you how to find these specials, what types to look for, and the details you need to know about each one in order to take advantage of
these offers.

Subscribe
This may seem obvious, but I never subscribed to ezines, simply because it wasn't necessary in order to purchase an ad. I would go to the website, fill out the ad form, hit the PayPal button, and submit the ad. What I didn't know was that, though sometimes ad specials are available on the website, the best ones are usually offered to subscribers.

With that in mind, always subscribe first. In fact, I recommend subscribing to about 20 or more ezines in your niche if you can find that many.

Why the large number?

This is to insure a greater chance that one or more specials will appear in your email with regularity. It's a good idea to set up a separate email account just for these subscriptions.

The following are some of the special offers you'll find as a subscriber.

Free Classified Ads
A few of the ezines you subscribe to will allow you to submit a free classified ad as a bonus for subscribing. Some even allow you to submit your ad every week for free. If you take advantage of these freebies, you'll find a few gems that do pretty well and are worth the effort of submitting. Additionally, many ezines post their ads online. I receive a steady trickle of visitors from such ads.

Subscription Specials
From time to time, you'll receive some great advertising specials. The key here is to keep your eye out for them and be ready to respond because these deals are usually limited in number and time of availability

Some common specials you'll see are buy one get one free solo ads (your ad alone goes out to the entire list of subscribers), volumn ad discounts, and ad packages. The ad packages usually have a mixture of ads for example, a solo ad, top sponsor ad, and a classified ad.

Off Season Ad Specials
Summer and mid Winter (December and January) are usually slower months in terms of advertising. Many ezine owners who don't normally offer ad space in their publications will offer special deals to subscribers. These advertising specials are limited in number and may sell out quickly. A recent ad I ran in one of these ezines produced the best response I've had yet.

Submitting Articles
As a subscriber, you'll get to submit articles to some of the ezines. This is an increasingly popular method of getting your message prominently in front of ezine subscibers for free.

The key to this method is to offer quality information and then put a subtle pitch for your website at the end in the author's bio. This method works best if you own your own website versus affiliate or replicated web sites.

Additionally, you can submit your article directly to other ezine publishers who accept them, to article announcement lists, and to article directories.

I highly recommend that you do not miss out on this type of promotion. In fact, hire a ghost writer if you have trouble writing. There are hundreds if not thousands of places online that will accept articles for free. You'll recover your investment.

If you want to save money and put your ad campaign in high gear, employ the methods mentioned and keep a sharp eye out. The combined savings will be quite substantial. Of course, that means an increase in your profit margin.

About the Author:
Greg Root started using ezine advertising almost exclusively since 2003 and owns and maintains 'The Ezine Ad Tester' at http://www.maxprofitpro.com/ - See the results of his ezine advertising campaigns to find the best ezine marketing resources on the internet.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Friday, December 22, 2006

Advertising - The Power of the Written Word over the Spoken Word

There are some things which, on account .of the delicacy of treatment, the accuracy, etc, required, cannot be trusted to the most sensitive piece of machinery, but must be finished by the hand of a skilled craftsman. There are many things in the world of selling which are too delicate for the mass treatment accorded them by the advertising man, and which require the touch of the salesman to bring to the desired conclusion.

Advertising is limited by its own advantages to definite functions in certain fields. Its usefulness varies with the character of the product, the customer, or the purchase unit. It varies with distribution, the character of the buying habit, and the extent of the territory. Above all, it varies with the attitude of mind of the consumer toward the products' associations.

No two cases will be exactly alike, but all will come under some one or two general classes which define the status of the advertising in relation to the personal selling. There are some cases where machine work is of so little value that it could be dispensed with almost without a ripple. There are similar cases in selling where the personal selling represents such an important factor in relation to the total operation that advertising can be dispensed with, and the difference hardly noted; there are other cases where advertising does all or most of the work, so that the personal selling effort is of minor importance in comparison with the whole merchandising requirement. In other words, sometimes the product sells itself, other times a simple ad will suffice, and other times will take a salesperson talking to the potential customer.

To know which one is needed, you must monitor the efficiency of your different methods. The fact of the matter is that advertising is a very low-efficiency proposition, and succeeds not because of its efficiency, but because of the minute unit cost compared with any other method of sales work yet discovered. Consider the case of a website with 100,000 visitors producing 3,000 replies and 300 sales. Such a result is a remarkable one viewed from the general averages of practice, and yet it represents only three-tenths per cent efficiency of orders. The revenue efficiency might be less than the amount mentioned if the website advertisement in question was low priced and the orders represented small amounts.

Advertising, in common with all selling work, lacks efficiency. Its value is undoubted, because of its small cost, but it is as yet very low in actual amount of work accomplished in comparison with the potentiality. There are excellent reasons for this low efficiency. Advertising has been the subject of much suspicion on account of the numerous scams that have perpetuated, it has been used without regard to its applicability, and it has scarcely been analyzed. This means, of course, that the examination of advertising, and indeed all measures looking to its analysis, are of the utmost importance, and will repay the researcher many times over. So do your homework and watch items such as Click-Thru-Rate and cost per sale very closely. Be ready to close down poorly performing ad campaigns to prevent massive losses that offset your income.

About the Author:
Donald "DonOmite" Hammond has been a freelance webdesigner and programmer for over 10 years. He has done marketing of himself and his products as well as customers' products on their websites.
Article Submitted On: November 23, 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Internet Advertising Denver

You are living on the West Coast of the United States and you want to do something on the Internet that will positively impact your business. Maybe you live on the East Coast, and think you have to find a place geographically near you. Maybe you aren't even in the continental United States. In this day of Internet advertising in Denver or otherwise, it doesn't matter where your company is located, you simply want to reach as many potential clients as you can.

You don't want to spend too much money to do that, but you want to see results for what you do spend. You have heard a lot of negatives, but you also know that Internet advertising can be helpful. You aren't a computer expert. Designing a web page seems like calculus to you. You don't like the idea of placing advertising into this strange media, but you also have a feeling that you are losing customers if you don't. What to do?

Try New Media, who specialize in Internet Advertising in Denver. No, you don't have to place an order right this minute. Just talk to them. Tell them what you would like and what you want to spend. Ask them questions. Ask them how long they have been in business. Ask them what services they provide for you, the business person. Ask them if they can provide any evidence of what their prior customers think about their services. See what they have to say.

Now, try finding a few other places. Ask them the same things. See what they have to say. Compare responses.

The first reaction might be to look at the advertising company who provides the cheapest price. That has its value in the business world, but it also has some problems. There is the old saying that "You get what you pay for". For what services are you willing to pay?

Internet advertising can be inexpensive. Frequently, however, it is inexpensive for the people who know exactly how to make the Internet work in their favor. Do you? Do you understand the concept of SEO or Search Engine Optimization? Do you know what search engines might be most appropriate for your service or product? If more than one search engine might be useful, which ones? What keywords will get you the most impact? Will you be better served with a weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly contract? How do you know that you are getting the most advertising for the dollars you spend?

Internet Advertising Denver understands your concerns. They understand that you know your business, but don't know, and don't want to know, exactly how an Internet ad needs to be optimized. You just want to know how it will best work for you. The staff at New Media, specializing in Denver Internet Advertising can talk to you and tell you what you want to know, in language you will understand. They have had ten years of success with large and small companies. Most of those companies tried another advertising company, but stayed with Internet Advertising Denver. There must be a reason. Talk to them. You might find that you will stay with them as well. Internet Advertising Denver may be just what you need to get an edge on the Internet market.

About the Author:
This article was written by Sytsma Morris-Reeves. Mr. Morris-Reeves runs NewMediaDenver,an Internet technology company located in downtown Denver, Colorado (http://www.NewMediaDenver.com).
Mr.Morris-Reeves is a highly respected Denver SEO Expert since 10 years, and he constantly develops and stays current with all the latest SEO and Link Building Techniques.
Posted: 01-12-2006
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

66 Ways To Promote Your product or Services

Some guru sells his program because he has 60 ways of marketing. One Dentist was asked about his marketing he said he had 100 ways and use them all. Well I came up with 66 so far. I will work on more sometime after tax season or you can email me with ones I might have missed.

The true is you can’t use them all. Some are too costly for many of us. Some won’t work. Try as many as you like and find the ones that work and work them till they stop working or you stop working, whichever comes first.

Here they are:

01. Direct to Consumers
02. Party plan
03. Rack Jobbers
04. Wholesalers
05. Mail Order House
06. Resident Buyers
07. Fairs and Exposition
08. Chain Stores
09. Discount Stores
10. Lease Departments
11. Supermarkets
12. Free Publicity
13. Sales People
14. Franchising
15. Co Party
16. U.S. Government
17. Direct Mail
18. Co-op Mailing
19. Trade shows
20. Advertising Specialties
21. PX’s
22. Premiums
23. Classifieds:
24. In Papers
25. In Magazine
26. On the net
27. In Special papers
28. Articles
29. Ezine
30. Emails
31. Sig files
32. Radio
33. Television
34. Seminars (paid to You)
35. Bill Boards
36. Flyers
37. Brochures
38. Seminars you give free
39. Telephone
40. Referrals
41. E.books
42. Free Search Engines
43. Paid Search Engines
44. Post cards
45. Yellow Page ad
46. Cross Selling with others
47. Joint Ventures
48. Telemarketing
49. Take out Boxes with ads on
50. Posters
51. Booth at Mails or stand at mall
52. Man or Women with sign about your business
53. Window Display
54. Outside Signs
55. Articles for directories on the net
56. Free downloads with ads about your business products or services
57. Free Recording
58. Free Video
59. Free CD
60. Free Report
61. Free Samples
62. Special Events
63. Contests and Sweepstakes
64. Column in a Newspaper
65. Editorial writing by you
66. Free Phone Messages

Let me know at Joetrevis@aol.com if you would like me to explain any of these in a report that your interest in. It will be at least 2 pages with a lot of information.


About the Author:
Mr. Joe Trevison MBA CPA worked 15 plus years for a monster you know as the IRS. He retired in 1992. He has worked teaching accounting, taxes, payroll, business math, and business software for several colleges and secondary schools. He presently has an accounting practice in Downtown Erie, PA. He also operates from the net. He has a Web Site with lot of FREE Items. And he has a profitable shopping cart.
www.Joetrevison.com
www.Joetrevison.com/shop
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Web promotion

The Web Marketing services are an essential necessity for any business presented on the Internet. The most important thing is to choose a correct marketing policy, and the results will appear immediately. There are some extremely efficient methods to promote your products or services.

The main methods of online marketing are the following

Web Optimization
The professional SEO services are the first the and in most efficient method of online marketing. It would be ideal that the site should be realized from the begging after the principles of web optimization, in this way you save time and money.

Increasing link popularity
The popularity of a link is given by the number and the quality of the links who lead to your site. The links are a determinant force for search engines. A quality sustainable link it will not help you only in the ranking of search engines but also will bring you targeted traffic.

The registration in main search engines
The registration in search engines is achieved manually only by human operators. The sites who pledge the automatic registration in search engines are not accepted by Google.
Not only that this method will not help you in any way but it is considerate spam by the search engines and you risk to be penalized.

Registration in web directories
Another method is the manually registration in web directories, depending on your target market and the languages in which your site is realized.

The beginning of a promotion campaign Pay Per Click.
This type of campaign will bring immediate visitors, but with certain costs. If the results of web optimization give results on a long period of time, the Pay Per Click campaigns have results as long as they last.

Developmental systems for affiliation networks
Besides direct sales that come from direct requests from your site, your products, services can be sold through your affiliates' sites.

Online marketing through advertising banners
Advertising banners are another method of online promotion. Our company makes advertising banners at promotional prices.

About the Author:
Oana Olariu is the head of marketing department at BODRAG. Visit our website: http://www.bodrag.com
Added: 28 Nov 2006
Article Source: http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/article/44390.html

Monday, December 18, 2006

Advertising Using PPC Search Engines

Internet technology offers vast opportunities to promote your business with virtually no advertising borders, and you can find countless sources online directing you towards budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines for maximum effectiveness in the information age.

Enterprising people know all the benefits of optimizing their online advertising, and because of this fact the ‘pay-per-click’ (PPC) technique has been developed to meet the need. PPC is certainly at the cutting edge of Internet advertising today, because you ‘bid’ or budget on the exact amount you want to put into your advertising campaign, giving you the choice to state just how much you’ll pay each time someone clicks on your ad.

For instance, if you bid five cents a click, that’s how little you’ll pay for your advertising - and you’ll only have to pay that five cents each time a consumer clicks on your ad! Budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines should encompass the following integral steps of creating, optimizing and managing your advertising campaign or ‘sponsored search’ on the most widely used search engines including Google, Yahoo, MSN, Earthlink, American Online, Ask Jeeves and CNN.com - just to name a famous few!

The most widely touted benefit of budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines is that it delivers your product information and your web site to the very consumers online who are searching for such products, be it business, science or technology-related, trips and travel, car buying, entertainment ideas or wedding planning! Your business specifically reaches those already interested in knowing more, and enthusiasts of budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines will tell you that no other advertising medium can give you that kind of bang for your advertising buck.

Other pluses of budgeting via PPC are that your ad can be targeted to regions you specify, whether you want the entire world to know, or just focus on your local area at the moment. Your ad can also be tracked towards search engines that receive the highest amount of keywords specific to the product or service on your website. Whether you have a home based business or you’ve just been appointed Director of a countrywide multi-national, your business will benefit from budget marketing via pay-per-click search engines.

About the Author:
Paul Jesse, retired government employee and author of numerous Home Business articles, earns commissions from several affiliate programs every month. He created Shea Marketing.com to assist those wishing to start and run a successful Internet business. http://www.sheamarketing.com
Article Source: www.iSnare.com