How To Make The Presentation They’ll Remember

How To Make The Presentation They’ll Remember

by: Blur Lorena

Getting board with presentations? Does your audience yawn or snore or check their watches every time you present? If you’re planning to conduct a presentation, here are some useful tips.

Presentation needs an exhausting preparation. Decide first on the topic that you want to present. Choose a topic that concerns your audience. Make a detailed outline or script. Then research on the topic, note all important points. If possible use simple, familiar terms.

Prepare the devices you are going to use. If you are going to use a slide show, choose the software you are most comfortable with. Examples of softwares are Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Persuasion and Lotus Freelance. You can also use Adobe PageMaker and Illustrator and other Illustration software. These presentation softwares will help you create high resolution slides and printouts.

If you want an effective presentation make your slides more attractive. In creating a slide make sure that each slide has a basic idea. Use standard slide size, two by three or the standard 11 inch slide. Minimize the words from 15 to 20 per slide. You can use different fonts. The size of the font should be readable and consistent. Do not overuse attributes such as bold, underline and italic. Use identical design that is relevant to the subject. Use colors to add emphasis. You may add charts or graphs, photos and images.

If you want to use the projector, print the slides using inkjet or laser printer or have it printed through a service bureau. Slide services load the file on film recorder and capture the images on film. Prices depend on the quality of the output.

Rehearse your presentation with the devices you are going to use. If possible, rehearse in the room or place where you will conduct the presentation.

Check everything before you start the presentation, the equipment, the script and the printed materials. During the presentation, tell them exactly what you want to tell them. Introduce your topic. Your introduction should include set of goals for the presentation or agenda, information and summary. Start from the last, the summary. Summary should emphasize important points. Keep your presentation simple. Focus on the topic. Do not read or memorize; you are not reciting, you are presenting.

Make your presentation educational and entertaining at the same time. An attractive slide show helps. Read the slide in such a way that your audience can follow. Always acknowledge them.

About The Author

Blur Lorena

For questions and comments about the Artcile you may contact The Postcard Printing Moderator at 888 888 4211 or visit http://www.mypostcardprinting.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 24

by Blur Lorena

A Crash Course on Graphic Philosophy 101

A Crash Course on Graphic Philosophy 101

by: Lala C. Ballatan

Novice and professional graphic designers, we are aware that you know the basic principles of graphic philosophy. But then, as workers of art – though digital and graphic art already borders in commercial arts, there’s no harm in continuously improving our craft through constant study and practice, is there? Really great graphic designers I know have come to their status because of painstaking application and study of their past works.

We’ll review the theoretical concepts of graphics and graphic forms as a foundation on how we have to go about our graphic designs. To begin with, a graphic form is the shape that embodies a certain idea. We can take a tree and use it as an example. How many ways can we depict a tree? We can depict by a photo of a tree, or the silhouette of a tree, or even its outline. By having these forms that represent a tree, we are therefore conveying the idea of a tree.

A word of caution, though, the effectiveness of which the idea is communicated depends upon many levels of context.

The abstraction of an idea into a flat space, to make it a graphic form, is an integral part of Graphic Design. Usually, the goal is to communicate the idea as clearly as possible. So why not depict the apple as close to reality as possible with a photo? This clearly depicts an apple and leaves no room for misinterpretation. So why not use photos of everything?

The idea is usually not as simple as just an apple. The graphic form is merely a component of an entire design. In a design of a poster for example, the existence of multiple forms and large amounts of text can compete with one another for the reader’s attention. To increase readability, graphic forms are usually simplified into basic shapes, and flattened into a limited amount of color. They are made to work with type more harmoniously and further refined to convey the layers of information with clarity.

The concept of contrast also defines the graphic form of an idea. In a field of 10 squares and 1 triangle, the form that will be noticed is the triangle. A design placed on a wall, on a billboard, or on the internet, are usually lost in a field of other designs. In order to help define your idea over the others, forms that contrast those around it are effective. Basic factors such as typeface, color, scale, and form are elements that can easily help get a design noticed.

The representation of an idea goes beyond its place on the page or its place on a wall. There is the larger context to consider the audience. The ability of the audience to interpret your design is based on the ability of the audience to understand the forms in which an idea is embodied. Preferences of form, and the ability to understand form, can change by age group, location, and through time. We all understand the representation of dollars by a symbol: $. Though symbols universally communicate, they are become ordinary by usage. As the audience becomes visually educated and aware of these forms, the visual language of graphic design expands. However, the evolution of forms must also take place in order to keep interest.

In the overall scheme of things, fresh ideas and interesting graphic forms have always been able to attract attention. New ways of representation strike curiosity. But the goal is to communicate and the form is part and parcel of visual communication.

About The Author

Lala C. Ballatan is a 26 yearold Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a nongovernment organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Book reading has always been her greatest passion mysteries, horrors, psychothrillers, historical documentaries and classics. She got hooked into it way back when she was but a shy kid.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns imagined and observed, to bear witness.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.graphicdesignsunlimited.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 29

by Lala C. Ballatan

The Importance of Business Marketing

The Importance of Business Marketing

by: Tony Smith

Business marketing is one of the most important parts that your business needs to be addressed with careful attention and proactive thoughts. In last decade or so, the importance of business marketing has increased volcanically, as the advent of Internet and online business has ushered a whole new era in business. It should be noted that the competition and urgency among businessmen has increased due to the fact that Internet has rendered a whole world as a virtual world, and you never know when and from where a potential competitor has entered your territory unnoticed by you. And this is where proper business marketing strategies and sound business marketing plans play their part to make you the choicest businessman for your customers and dealers.

For successful business marketing, you need to develop a proper business marketing plan, and then gauge its performance for your business growth. There are many things that your business marketing plan needs to address and these points may include some of the following:

• What are your business marketing goals

This actually delineates what are you looking for. What goals you have set for your business and what are you looking to achieve through your marketing plans?

• What is your target audience

This is an important point that you need to know beforehand, for, it describes the scope and range of your business marketing plan. There is no advantage of advertising your fashion prone apparels to the old people, for, they are less likely to buy it. You must be very clear about who you are addressing and will your audience generate the leads that you are looking for.

Sometimes, you keep on targeting wrong audience that do not have the need of your products and expertise, and the result is as you can think: you are wasting your money and not getting the results that you have set for your business. So, it becomes utterly necessary to chalk out the group of people that you are going to address and market your business. Business marketing plans often have detailed study of the audience: their liking, their predominant choice, and their habitual circumstances, for, actually audience is the thing for which business marketing is done!

• Deciding business marketing system

As it is already said that Internet has made business marketing a whole new concept, every growing business should address the need of Internet or online marketing. Apart from the conventional advertisement systems in newspapers, magazines, online marketing tools should be incorporated in the business marketing plan, which may include: search engine optimization, email marketing, banner ads, etc.

At the end, we can say that business marketing has grown wide and wild with the added horizons of Internet and online business, and a business owner should be proactive enough to handle the situation steadily and should incorporate all possible techniques for better business marketing plans and strategies.

About The Author

Tony Smith

To learn more about Business Marketing vist http://www.businessmarketingpro.info.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 14

by Tony Smith

Hot Multimedia Tips

Hot Multimedia Tips

by: Grannyกs Mettle

Some of Howwiredกs best web developers and designers have converged to share their techniques to create effective audio, video and animation in the web. Here are excerpts from the poolกs tips, tricks and wizardry to help you optimize your multimedia efforts.

• Use layers as often as you want to. Using a liberal dose of layers will make it much easier later when itกs time to reedit and animate. In addition, it doesn’t add much to the overall file size.

• Save copies of the file as you work when using Flash. This is especially helpful when you’re using a Mac. This will come in handy when you suddenly experience problems in opening a Flash file youกve been slaving your days with.

• Use color outline layers and guide layers liberally. Both are found under the layer pulldown menu. The color outline layers show a layer in its outline form great for getting quick and precise positioning particularly with scanned drawings. Guide layers are for positioning bitmap guides or for testing layers you may want to remove from your final version. They allow you to keep a layer from exporting.

• Mix and match programs and media to get better results. Experiment and try combinations such as flat color vectors with photographic bitmaps for an interesting and rich output.

• For additional depth and color to vector images, use gradients; but don’t overuse so as to avoid adding to the file size and speeds.

• Don’t overdo your media. Your audience will definitely get indigestion from your web site.

• Never make your audience wait. Downloading an image that takes millions of years to finish will definitely make your audience cranky. Theyกd probably clicked to another site even before your banner finished downloading itself. กIf people have to wait, be sure itกs really worth their while,ก says HotWiredกs resident interface designer.

• Design delays that cover the loading process. Flash features full attributes that helps in keeping the audience occupied while that giant sound file is loading in the background. Flashกs Bandwidth Profiler is said to provide a big help on this.

• Use the knowledge and wisdom of your friends and colleagues. A good multimedia comes from a diverse source of skills found in people. The adage that two minds are better than one definitely applies here. Talk to other multimedia designers or join groups and mailing lists to share ideas and knowledge. What you think is trash for you might be a goldmine for another artist.

About The Author

Grannyกs Mettle is a 30something, professional web content writer. She has created various web content on a diverse range of topics, which includes digital printing topics, medical news, as well as legal issues. Her articles are composed of reviews, suggestions, tips and more for the printing and designing industry.

Her thoughts on writing: กWriting gives me pleasure… pleasure and excitement that you have created something to share with others. And with the wide world of the Internet, it gives me great satisfaction that my articles reach more people in the quickest time you could imagine.ก

On her spare time, she loves to stay at home, reading books on just about any topic she fancies, cooking a great meal, and taking care of her husband and kids.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by Grannyกs Mettle

What Makes Your Online Ads Persuasive?

What Makes Your Online Ads Persuasive?

by: Lil Waldner

The first impression that the people get from your ad decides if they click or skip. This shows that writing really persuasive ads is not easy. Writing irrestisible internet ads needs some skills. You can acquire these skills, if you follow some rules.

Simplify your message

Focus on your customers need! What are they looking for? What is special on your website for your customers? Write a simple language with common words. Use verbs more often than nouns. Using verbs makes your texts dynamic. Propagate a positive message and avoid hype.

Follow the AIDA rule:

Attention:

Your ad needs to catch the attention of the audience. The title has to be determined with caution. Look at the title of this article as example. Why have you clicked to view this article? Does it exactly offer what your are looking for? Your ad title has to meet the people’s need. You can use a question to awake the curiosity of the audience. You can use Overture and Google Adwords in order to find out popular phrases for your ad title.

Interest:

Your ad text should be convincing. You praise your produce or your website. Why should the people use your produce? What is special? How does your offer differ from others? What is your USP = Unique Selling Proposition? You may describe your produce with strong words, e.g. amazing, ultimate, superior, incredible, guaranteed.

Decision:

The audience has to be lead to a decision. Some advertisers give the impression of urgency. Here are some examples: ขJoin today and get a free ebook.ข ขSign up and receive a bonus.ข ขBe among the first 500 to join.ข ขLimited time offer!ข All these kind of phrases try to persuade the customers to make up their minds.

Action:

Every ad has to call for action. The people should know what to do. Following phrases might help: join now – sign up today – click to view – visit the homepage – etc. It is recommendable to address the audience directly with ขyouข. This makes the readers feel that the message is written to them.

Repeat and repeat

The people usually do not join or buy if they see your ad the first time. Your ad has to be displayed again and again. Some people visit your website several times, study your offers and deliberate before they decide. Look at TV advertisements! Even the famous brands with great marketing budgets have to repeat their ads again and again. The people have to get familiar with your ad, they need to gain confidence. Do not forget: Your ad text should be credible.

About The Author

Lil Waldner is a business economist. She is experienced in project management and marketing. She has worked as editor of newspapers and she has written booklets and essays with economic and public issues. Visit her web sites: http://affiliatechain.com/GetASite.asp?ID=51105 or http://www.storeowner.com/owner/lwmall

This article was posted on August 29

by Lil Waldner

Article Marketing

Article Marketing

by: Michael McLaughlin

A revolutionary marketing device that I call article marketing I now will share with you. Now the sole question is can article marketing me? That depends on if you are looking to build pr, increase your inbound links, and boost your traffic. If you answered yes to any of the above questions then continue to read, and learn the tricks of the trade.

Before you begin to write your first article, you should ask yourself why I would use articles to market my website, in opposition to other methods. Well first of all it’s free, and what is more desirable than a new fresh free way to promote your website for free. Article marketing will also help build your inbound links and bring in a good amount of traffic, when written and distributed correctly.

Well then how can you write them effectively? Though this depends on your target audience and your personal writing style. You may prefer to write them to be factual yet boring as hell, or you could try making it interesting with a deficiency of information. The key I found after testing is to use a bit of both. Don’t make it sound to boring, and doing rant about irrelevant topics that your audience finds interesting.

Before picking your article topic, expose your target audience. In this case my target audience is webmasters, which are typically teenagers like me. If you’re having trouble determining your target audience you could take a survey on your website that gives you some information about your visitors.

Picking your article topic is crucial to how responsive your readers are to your website. For example if I wrote an article about fishing my response may be around 5% of readers in comparison to if I wrote about website marketing or development my response may be much closer to 50%. If you are wondering what I mean when I say your readers response, I mean how many of your readers decide to click on your link in the author box of your article.

So pick a topic you like and that will benefit your readers in some way, then start writing. But before you do map out your article, you should list what you plan to discuss and/or answer within your article. This will help you to avoid straying from topic and include all parts. Note: write only about something you know, or plan to research thoroughly. If you own a website pertaining to this topic it shouldn’t be too difficult. Anyways, keep your paragraphs somewhat short, so your readers aren’t overwhelmed by all the text. I personally live with ADD and find it difficult to read long paragraphs, distractions suddenly seem more interesting.

Your article’s title is vital to the distribution of your article. Who would want to read something that sounds like its going to be boring or lacking facts? So to avoid this, use some fresh and flashy words in your title like: endall beall, free, secrets, reference. The list goes on but it’s your job to be original and think of your own. Though I should tell you now that the key to a good title is writing it after you finished writing your article.

Now onto the final piece of your article and the most important, your author box, aka your bio. Your bio should include only a few elements: Your name, a small description of you, and a link to your website (typically main page). I suggest you speak in third person, that way when the article is reprinted on another website the text flows better. Also try to make your bio sound as intriguing as possible.

Now that you have completed all the necessary elements of your article its time to distribute it. There would be no point in writing it if know one read it or distributed it. There are many places you can go to submit your articles for reprints, finding them is the difficult part. So I being the great person I am, compiled all these resources into one list that can be found at: http://www.webmastershed.com/articles/resources

Submit to all the resources in the link above and your inbound links will increase while also helping you build PageRank and traffic. Remember, articles take time to write and distribute, but they ultimately prove to be one of the most effective marketing tools out there that haven’t been oversaturated.

About The Author

Written by: Michael McLaughlin at http://www.webmastershed.com – webmaster forum, for more articles by this author please visit: http://www.webmastershed.com/articles.

This article was posted on March 23

by Michael McLaughlin

Handling Questions with Authority

Handling Questions with Authority

by: George Torok

At some point in your presentation you will be expected to answer questions from your audience. They might have some burning questions that need to be answered before they buy into your message. Handling their questions with authority can make the difference for you between a successful presentation and a waste of time. This is the opportunity for the audience to test your knowledge on the topic and commitment to your message.
1. Explain at which points during the presentation you will take questions and how individuals will be recognized to speak. Point out the microphones they should use. State the rules that must be followed to ask questions.
2. Prepare how you will answer questions especially the worst questions. Imagine how confident you will look when they hit you with the killer question the question that is intended to skewer you to the wall. Instead you smile and calmly respond with a positive answer. Craft and rehearse the answers to these difficult questions before the presentation.
3. Maintain control of the questioning. Formally recognize the questioner before they speak and limit the number of questions. Allow only one person to speak at a time.
4. When listening to the question look at the questioner while moving away to include the whole group. Paraphrase the question for the group. State your answer to the group. Beware of answering only to the questioner.
5. Kick start the question period with, กA question I am often asked is, …ก.Then answer your กquestionก. This helps to prime the pump and encourages others to ask questions.
6. If you don’t know the answer offer, กI don’t know the answer to that question but give me your card and I will get back to you.ก Beware! You can only do this once or twice. Anymore and you will look dumb.
7. If you can’t answer a question but know that someone in the audience may know ask, กI know there are experts in the audience, how would they answer this question?ก Only do this if you know there are experts in your audience.
8. When you get the person who strongly disagrees with you and refuses to shut up, respond, ‘thank you for your opinion, I know there are different schools of thought on this issue I am telling you what has worked for me.ก
9. Avoid repeating, ‘thank you thatกs a good question.ก after every question the questions might not be good, and the audience will see through your insincerity.
10. Never end your presentation with a question period and closing with กno more questions? Well thatกs allก. That is a weak close. Instead always finish with a closing statement that will resonate with the audience and reinforce your message.
Bonus tip: Plant the question you most want to hear. Before the program begins, ask someone sitting near the back to กposeก the question on your signal.
Any questions? Contact George Torok, ‘the Speech Coach for Executivesก, to deliver powerful presentations and handle questions with authority.

About The Author

© George Torok delivers inspirational keynotes and practical seminars. He specializes in presentation skills, creative problem solving and personal marketing. You can arrange for George to work with your people by calling 8003041861. For more information and to receive free tips on presentation skills and personal marketing visit www.Torok.com and www.SpeechCoachforExecutvies.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 18, 2004

by George Torok

After the Speech

After the Speech

by: Stephen D. Boyd

Usually the emphasis on making an effective speech is what you do in preparation before the presentation begins. But if you speak very much, what you do after the speech can help you become a more effective speaker.

As soon as possible after the speech, write down impressions of how you felt the speech went. Answer at least two questions about the speech: What was the best part of the speech? What part of the speech can be improved the next time?

Some of your best ideas will come to you as you are speaking. Write them down as soon as the speech is over so you can be prepared to use those lines or ideas the next time you speak.

Think about the peaks and valleys in the speech. Consider when the audience seemed to listen best and when the audience seemed restless and disinterested. Write down your reactions while they are fresh on your mind.

Talk to someone about the speech within the first day after your presentation. Youกll remember best what you talked about and you might discover a better way of telling a story or making a point as you summarize your speech to a friend or colleague.

Keep track of stories you tell and case studies you include so youกll not repeat yourself if ou speak to that audience again. In addition, keep records of how long you spoke, what you wore, key people you met, and anything unusual about the speaking context. Occasionally look back over your records of individual speeches and look for trends in your speaking that you are unaware of. When you speak to this group again, this information will be the basis for your audience analysis. This is especially important if you speak frequently within your company and your audience will be made up of listeners who have heard you before. You don’t want to develop a reputation for telling the same stories over and over.

If the group has speaker evaluations, ask that a copy of the summary be sent to you. Look for any pattern in the comments as you analyze the summary. If one person said you talked too slowly, it may be a personal preference and you don’t need to give much consideration to the critique. If four or five people make that comment, however, then you might want to consider changing the pace of your speaking for the next speech.

Certainly your main concern should be with your preparation before the speech. However, don’t underestimate the effort of what you do in analyzing the speech after the audience has left the room.

About The Author

Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP, is a professor of speech communication at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky. He works with organizations that want to speak and listen more effectively to increase personal and professional performance. He can be reached at 8007276520 or visit http://www.sboyd.com for free articles and resources to improve your communication skills.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 30, 2004

by Stephen D. Boyd

What Makes Your Online Ads Persuasive?

What Makes Your Online Ads Persuasive?

by: Lil Waldner

The first impression that the people get from your ad decides if they click or skip. This shows that writing really persuasive ads is not easy. Writing irrestisible internet ads needs some skills. You can acquire these skills, if you follow some rules.

Simplify your message

Focus on your customers need! What are they looking for? What is special on your website for your customers? Write a simple language with common words. Use verbs more often than nouns. Using verbs makes your texts dynamic. Propagate a positive message and avoid hype.

Follow the AIDA rule:

Attention:

Your ad needs to catch the attention of the audience. The title has to be determined with caution. Look at the title of this article as example. Why have you clicked to view this article? Does it exactly offer what your are looking for? Your ad title has to meet the people’s need. You can use a question to awake the curiosity of the audience. You can use Overture and Google Adwords in order to find out popular phrases for your ad title.

Interest:

Your ad text should be convincing. You praise your produce or your website. Why should the people use your produce? What is special? How does your offer differ from others? What is your USP = Unique Selling Proposition? You may describe your produce with strong words, e.g. amazing, ultimate, superior, incredible, guaranteed.

Decision:

The audience has to be lead to a decision. Some advertisers give the impression of urgency. Here are some examples: ขJoin today and get a free ebook.ข ขSign up and receive a bonus.ข ขBe among the first 500 to join.ข ขLimited time offer!ข All these kind of phrases try to persuade the customers to make up their minds.

Action:

Every ad has to call for action. The people should know what to do. Following phrases might help: join now – sign up today – click to view – visit the homepage – etc. It is recommendable to address the audience directly with ขyouข. This makes the readers feel that the message is written to them.

Repeat and repeat

The people usually do not join or buy if they see your ad the first time. Your ad has to be displayed again and again. Some people visit your website several times, study your offers and deliberate before they decide. Look at TV advertisements! Even the famous brands with great marketing budgets have to repeat their ads again and again. The people have to get familiar with your ad, they need to gain confidence. Do not forget: Your ad text should be credible.

About The Author

Lil Waldner is a business economist. She is experienced in project management and marketing. She has worked as editor of newspapers and she has written booklets and essays with economic and public issues. Visit her web sites: http://affiliatechain.com/GetASite.asp?ID=51105 or http://www.storeowner.com/owner/lwmall.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 29

by Lil Waldner

How to Convert Telephone Calls into Powerful Prese

How to Convert Telephone Calls into Powerful Presentations

by: Roger C. Parker

You can multiply your ability to persuade by 400%, whether your audience is 1 or 100. Webbased presentations add a visual element to teleconferences. Instead of just talking to prospects, you can simultaneously show them and tell them. According to a Wharton Business School study, this dual mode communication makes your message up to four times more effective than using just your voice.

Present from your office:

Webbased presentations can be as effective as inthesameroom presentations, but are free from the costs and frustrations involved in traveling.

Talk to your prospects using your current telephone or—for large groups —a rented bridge line. You and your audience view your visuals using a standard web browser and Internet connection.

You control what’s displayed on your audience’s computer screen! Your screen contains a menu listing available visuals. You control presentation content, pace, and sequence. You can spend as much or as little time as desired on each visual. You can show all of your visuals, or just those needed to respond to attendee concerns or questions.

No limits on audience size:

No audience is too large or too small for a webbased presentation! You can easily and costeffectively show and tell 1to1 as you speak to individual prospects, or you can present to hundreds at a time.

No advance scheduling:

Your visuals are available 24/7. No reservations are required to present. Convert any telephone call into a presentation by inviting your caller to immediately access your online visuals while talking.

More than one set of visuals can be prepared and ready for instant use.

Preparing your visuals:

Use Microsoft PowerPoint™ to create your presentation. Presentations can be as simple or complex as desired.

In addition to creating visuals for your ขcoreข presentation, consider creating ขcontingencyข visuals available for showing as needed. This permits you to customize your presentation on the basis of questions from the audience or callers.

You can easily add and edit visuals. This permits you to customize the title or specific visuals with your client’s name or clientspecific contents and prices.

After completing your presentation, upload it to the server where your visuals will be available online to you and your clients, prospects, or employees.

Access:

Only those who know the specific location of your presentation on the web will be able to access your visuals. You can communicate the URL during the phone conversation or you can send it to a group via email before an event.

Unless you are also online, visitors will not be able to navigate through your presentation.

Applications:

Any presentation task you would normally accomplish inperson can now be done on the phone and online:

Demonstrations. Do a better job of describing the benefits of your product or service by showing as well as telling. Interactively walk prospects through the steps you’ll use to help them solve a pressing problem or achieve a desired goal.

Previews. Increase attendance at teleseminars and live events by previewing the contents and benefits of attending.

Proposals. Deliver client presentations in an interactive environment. Use your voice to build enthusiasm and address concerns or questions as they arise.

Continuous contact. Keep in close touch with clients and prospects while helping them make informed purchase decisions and best use of their purchase.

Training. Keep employees and your sales staff motivated and up to date on your latest products and services.

It’s all about relationships. Webbased presentations are just another way you can put today’s lowcost technology to work building and maintaining close ties with customers and prospects. At low cost, you can communicate with added impact from your office.

About The Author

Let Roger C. Parker show you how to attract qualified prospects and retaining clients by creating the right messages and choosing the right tools. Visit www.onepagenewsletters.com or call Roger at 6037429673 for information.

This article was posted on August 12, 2004

by Roger C. Parker

Great Marketing is Like Making a Great Movie

Great Marketing is Like Making a Great Movie

by: Allison Bliss

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

The Oscars will be handed out soon, and it’s a perfect time to keep this in mind: If you’re a business owner or manager, it’s wise to think of yourself as a great film director who’s telling a story. Having directed films, stage, television, and stage productions we noticed that the principles of great directing or filmmaking apply exactly to great marketing.

OK, so you don’t need the baseball cap or the megaphone like a film director. But in order to attract the right ขaudience,ข you do need to communicate something critical – the talents and services of your company. And, you need to connect with your audience – so they will appreciate what you have to offer.

Think about it: When you’re positioning your company, you’ll craft an intriguing ‘script’ which you know as ‘promotional messages’. You’re conveying the fact that you offer something of interest, you do it well, you’ve hired the best talent (even if Tom Cruise isn’t available) and really connect emotionally with those who need your services.

In great drama, you want to evoke emotions and meaningful reactions in your audience to make them laugh or cry. In great marketing communications, you want your audience to buy. They won’t, if they feel there is no compelling reason . . . just as they won’t cry watching a film if the heroine dies and they simply don’t relate to her — or if they’re emotionally conflicted or confused.

CREATE THE BUZZ

Now consider the last film you absolutely loved. It gripped you, didn’t it? You wanted to tell all your friends about it, because it had such an intriguing affect on you, right? In marketing, it’s all about creating that ขbuzzข — you want to evoke that reaction in your audience (or target market) through your marketing materials, your print ads, TV commercials, presentations, networking, and of course … by doing great work, which offers lots of value!

In a film, the director carefully builds and develops each character so the audience can get to know her, to laugh with her or feel her pain, and to understand how she acts and reacts. In marketing, it’s all about reaction — you want your audience to grow with you, to feel connected, and to relate to and trust in you. And you especially want them to learn about the enormously useful solutions you offer.

But, first you have to understand your audience. And that requires that you have indepth knowledge of your existing clientele. In that way, you can attract more clients like the ones you already have and cherish, and enjoy helping.

FINDING YOUR IDEAL MARKET

We recommend a method for truly understanding your clients, and finding out what they value in the work you provide—having a third party interview them—but only one highly experienced in marketing interviews. When you fully understand what makes your clients tick (and more importantly, what they love – or don’t love about doing business with you), you can promote those qualities to other potential markets.

In this investigative work many wonderful surprises emerge. You might find that your clients need other services you could offer, or that you are undervaluing your services and could easily raise your prices (this is actually a very common discovery). Also, you might find that a simple change to your invoice system would make everyone much happier — your ขaudienceข will laugh instead of cry. Or, you might learn that even though you believe you offer lightningfast response time, your clients don’t perceive it that way. From this information, you can often make improvements that lead to significantly more income.

Generally, your clients won’t share this information directly. Most humans want to please others, and steer clear of offering suggestions that might provoke an uncomfortable or unwelcome response. And sometimes clients are fearful of hurting your feelings. While this is understandable, you might be missing some valuable lessons your clients are dying to share with you, that could benefit your business enormously. Or maybe they just need some prompting to think more deeply about the real value your business offers so they can share that with you.

BREAK FROM HOHUM MARKETING … IT’S TOO BORING!

Using the ขgreat films as marketingข metaphor, think about how many classic films have taken radical departures from the ordinary … from ขSchindler’s Listข to ขThe Wizard of Ozข to ขGone With the Wind.ข These movies were huge attentiongetters in their day, and became major cultural influences. Don’t you want your work to be recognized as a significant influence, too?

Once you break from hohum marketing, and learn to put your deeper beliefs and values into your promotion, a remarkable thing will happen: You will attract precisely those clients who really need and appreciate the products or services your company provides. In other words … once you know what your clients really value, making it available to them will be an incredibly simple process.

We firmly believe: ขKnowledge is Bliss.ข

MARKETING IS AN INVESTMENT. SPEND IT WISELY.

Sometimes a company needs special tools to expand its marketing, promotion, or outreach. That’s exactly why we’ve developed these Marketing Products Under $20 that will help busy business owners get what they need right away! www.allisonbliss.com

• Write Your Company Bio or Profile

• Close Sales Faster

• Learn the Most Important Website Marketing Tips

• Prepare for a Trade Show

• Create Advertising that Works

• Write a Job Description to Attract the Best Employees

• Stop Sabotaging Your Marketing

• Removing the Thorn: When Marketing Hurts

About The Author

Allison Bliss Consulting, the creator of กMarketing as a Spiritual Practiceก method, rebels against misleading, pushy, spamfilled marketing offering Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs an integrated range of doityourself marketing products & customized marketing strategy, plans, promotional materials, websites, and handson services.

Having studied with Frances Ford Coppola and other film greats, Bliss is a member of the Directors Guild of America where she crafted hundreds of films, tv shows, and commercials. She moved into marketing to help worthy business get noticed, and because she figured they needed her help more than Hollywood did. Her website offers tools to make marketing idiotproof for under $20

copyright Allison Bliss 1/31/05

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 05

by Allison Bliss

Can your Powerpoint Presentation Rival TV Advertis

Can your Powerpoint Presentation Rival TV Advertising?

by: Sean DกSouza

Do you ever wonder why some PowerPoint Presentations are so much better than others? Why do some have amazing powers of persuasion, while others simply bore you to death? TV commercials use these marketing strategies to hold and fascinate their viewers. You can too, if you follow these tried and proven techniques.

Step 1: Kaboom Them Into Waking Up!

Ever noticed how most presentations start with, กWelcome to this presentation…blah, blah, blah.ก You don’t see too many TV ads do that. They slam into you at a zillion miles an hour and make sure you’re paying attention.

So How Do YOU Do That When You Don’t Have A Moving Picture?

The trick is to start with something thatกs totally disconnected with the presentation. For instance, you could be selling cars yet you could start with, กOne day in heaven…ก That’s a good wake up call for an audience that’s half asleep.

You’re selling cars aren’t you? What has heaven got to do with cars? The dissonance of the idea has forced their attention. Now that youกve got their attention, you’ve got to gently massage your message into it. For example, you could simply suggest that God created man, woman, and then gave them a car.

And that is only the start.

Step 2: Always Tell A Story

Did you see Titanic, directed by James Cameron? Couldn’t you tell that story with reasonable accuracy? Most people can. All our movie and great TV commercials are in a story format.

Do the same with your presentation. Think it through. Build up a story first, then work your presentation into it. It will not only give your presentation some focus (and storyline), but will make it easier for your audience to remember the sequence of what you’re saying. For instance, where are Adam and Eve going in the car? Did they have a breakdown? How well does the airconditioning work as they drive through the desert?

Step 3: Use Suspense, Not Mystery

Alfred Hitchcock was a master of suspense. He told you who the murderer was right at the start. So you and every one in the audience knew who was going to kill whom. Everyone in the theatre knew, except the hero (or heroine), who was going to get killed.

And that drove you crazy.

How could they be so dumb? You all knew who the killer was. Why couldn’t the hero see it? Thatกs what kept you riveted to the screen the whole 90 minutes. If you establish the characters in your presentation early and work in an element of suspense, you can keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

Step 4: Don’t Bore Them with Your Solutions. Bring Up the Problem!

Most communication harps languidly around solutions. You don’t want to do that.

Look around you. People are obsessed with problems. They don’t walk around all excited and happy. Most people walk around with their heads in their hands. When you bring up their particular problem they snap out of their slumber in a mighty hurry, and pay attention to what you’re saying.

What you need to do first is bring up that problem and bring it up in all its glory! Paint a gory picture. You might want to read my article: Is your solution your biggest problem? Only after you have made them feel the pain, should you bring out the solution. The best TV commercials always make you feel the pain.

As they say, ขNo pain, no gain.ข Learn that, and use it.

Step 5: Reduce Risk

Why do people say, ขI’d like to think about it?ข The only reason is because you haven’t reduced the risk to minus fifty. While there is risk, my brain is still doing a RAM check. If there is no risk, I’ve got nothing to lose.

So, how can you reduce risk? TV ads give money back guarantees, trial periods, free test drives. Surely you can be more imaginative than some ad guy.

Get that risk down low, like a limbo rocker. How low can you go?

Step 6: Let Your Audience Know They’re Not Guinea Pigs

Hey! If youกve got a product to sell, and you’re not using testimonials, you’re missing out big time. Even if the product is yet to be launched, you can have prelaunch tests. It all builds up expectations for your final pitch.

This is also another form of risk reduction. If someone else has used your product or service and fallen in love with it, you need to go into the nitty gritty of that love story.

Step 7: Close the #@US$%*&^ Sale!

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a wonderful presentation that takes me to cloud nine, and leaves me there wondering, how Iกm going to get back to earth.

You’ve got to close the sale! Every presentation should end with a call to action and decision on the clientกs part. There are a zillion books and tapes on closing a sale out there. Brian Tracy has some amazing audio tapes on Winning Closing Techniques (www.nightingale.com). Learn from the pros, and turn a la dee dah presentation into a full blooded sale!

Step 8: Bring on a Quirky Finale!

Every movie and every ad does it. They wrap it up in a way you never expect.

Thereกs nothing worse than building up expectations, answering all the questions, and then having a weak ending. Your end has to be like lightning unexpected, brief and brilliant! It will ensure that your product or service (or quarterly report for that matter) gets maximum attention.

Otherwise you’re just making a point with no power!

About The Author

Sean DกSouza

Wouldn’t you love to stumble upon a secret library of small business ideas? Find simple, yet electrifying ideas onmarketing strategy,psychological tactics and branding. Head down to http://www.psychotactics.com#smallbusinessideas today and judge for yourself.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 08

by Sean DกSouza