Consistency Builds Trust

Consistency Builds Trust

by: John Jantsch

You know your prospects need what you sell. You know they want what you sell. Heck, you know that they even sent away for information on your service and requested a quote.

But the fact is you are missing one major piece of the puzzle.

Want to know what it is?

No matter what else you know, often, the missing piece is knowing when your hot little prospect will actually make a purchase.

People search for information and solutions in many different ways and on many different time tables.

Some will buy immediately; some may take a year or more depending on the complexity of the purchase.

The key to solving this dilemma is consistent and repeated contact.

If you build a marketing system that guarantees your prospects (particularly your ขAข prospects) are contacted at least 810 times a year you can significantly increase the odds that your name will jump to the top of the list when they do actually decide to purchase.

Another benefit of constant contact is that by sending your prospects useful information, that doesn’t always ask for a sale, you can establish a bond of trust, and trust wins business. It is almost as though some of your prospects will feel that they owe it to you because you took so much time and effort to educate them for such a long period of time without asking for anything in return

So what will you send to your prospects on a monthly basis?

Here is an example a calendar of contact points

Month #1 – Letter announcing a new service (change to existing service)

Month #2 – Newsletter – highlight tips and company news

Month #3 – Phone call to discover opportunities

Month #4 – Reprint of an industry magazine article of interest

Month #5 – Case study of a successful client solution you provided

Month #6 – Request for critique of a proposed sales letter (you won’t believe how valuable this can be)

Month #7 – Time for another newsletter

Month #8 – Reprint of an article you contributed to an industry magazine

Month #9 – Announce a new service

Month #10 – Invite them to a workshop

Month #11 – Phone call to introduce someone in your referral network

Month #12 – Checklist of helpful tips for your industry/service

Notice that this schedule includes a couple of phone contacts. This to can be a very powerful research tool as well as a business building tool. Sometimes you will learn what your prospect really wants and how valuable the materials you are sending them really are to them.

You man want to consider breaking your prospect list into groups based on potential opportunity. Your 20 or so ขAข prospects might get a copy of your favorite book or some homemade cookies in a tin with your company logo one month or some proprietary content or information along with some tickets to the ballgame a couple of months later.

And if you really want to make a hit with your ขAข prospects, take the time to find out some background on them and personalize your marketing materials. If Ed Jones over there at Acme Industries went to Notre Dame (not such a hard thing to find out) you will score major points by simply sending a clipping from some magazine about his favorite subject – The Fighting Irish. You can even setup a service that will find you everything that is being said about a school, industry, company, sports team, you name it. So an industry guru makes a prediction for the future of your prospect’s industry and you drop the article in the mail to them. Now who do you think they are they going to remember come order time?

Create a database of your ideal prospects, setup a schedule of different types of contact points like the one above, and then stick to it. And don’t forget to include your current clients in that list. Reselling them can lead to more and more business and referrals.

Copyright 2004 John Jantsch

About The Author

John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com a turnkey small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php

This article was posted on April 20, 2004

by John Jantsch

How to Build Your Ezine List

How to Build Your Ezine List

by: Stacey Morris

How to Increase Your Ezine Subscriber List

Opt In

Out of respect to your mailing list, and the CANSPAM laws, only mail your ezine to those who have requested it, or optedin. Even if you have compiled a list of contacts, prospects, and clients that is 2000 strong, you can’t just start entering them on your list.

So how do you access your current list of ezine addresses?

Start With Your Friends

I’m using ขfriendsข liberally here, to mean all contacts with whom you’re on a first name basis, and who recognize you apart from your business card.

1.Send out an email announcing the launch of your ezine.

Make it simple, 2 paragraphs.

Make it lowhype. These are your friends—they don’t need a sales pitch, but they do need to know why they should join. So…

Make it benefitoriented. What’s in it for your reader? Does the ezine address specific problems of a target market? If it’s a general ขgood lifeข ezine, how is it unique? What makes it different from the thousands of other ezines like it?

Include a sample issue, or your launch issue.

Give crystalclear directions on how to sign up for future copies, and make it clear that your reader will be missing out on this great information if they don’t go to the site and sign up.

2. Develop a free report to give to all new subscribers.

The report could be a document, a short lesson series, an audio of a class or seminar you’ve given, a workbook of some kind, a top ten tips sheet, or a checklist related to your market.

Emphasize the report—not the ezine.

This report should be perceived as valuable enough to subscribe.

Make it less than ten pages. Don’t spend more than a few hours on this.

Develop a short salescopy of 23 paragraphs outlining why this report is so valuable.

3. Make it easy to sign up.

Your business card should have the address of the webpage with the ezine information.

Every page of your website should have an ezine signup box.

Develop a website page or even a website devoted just to your ezine.

Mention your ezine at every networking event you attend.

Every time you give a talk, have a signup sheet available for anyone who wants to sign up.

Use your emailSIG file to advertise your ezine, and place a link to the signup box.

4. Get your articles out there.

At the end of each article, put a blurb at the bottom giving permission to anyone to use the article, as long as they give you attribution.

Subscribe to a article distribution service that will send out your articles automatically to dozens of article databases.

Offer to exchange articles with a colleague who also has a ezine. Guest articles can be very effective.

If you belong to any discussion lists, let other forum members know that your site is a valuable resource.

Offer a free subscription to members of organizations related to your industry. The newsletter editor can place a notice of your site and ezine.

This article is not intended to address the technical issues involved in setting up an ezine. If this is a new area for you, you’re welcome to contact me for more information on resources and nextsteps. If you are able to update your own website, you may just want to sign up for a basic email distribution program (listserve) once you have over 50 subscribers. Until then, Microsoft Outlook or another email manager is the easiest way to start.

Copyright 2005 Stacey Morris

About The Author

Stacey Morris, Focus Coach

Download ก12 Steps to a Profitable Websiteก at http://www.ServiceBusinessCoaching.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 08

by Stacey Morris

Do’s and Don’ts for the Internet Marketing Newbie

Do’s and Don’ts for the Internet Marketing Newbie (Part 1)

by: Debra Hamer

I, myself, being an internet marketing ขnewbieข (endearing term used to refer to people who have just started their own internet business and don’t know what the they are doing) have learned a few things and would like to share my observations, tribulations, and triumphs with my fellow ขnewbiesข. In sharing my experiences I hope I can help you avoid some of the pitfalls and obstacles you will face. Let’s try to avoid some of those ขInformation Overloadข headaches as well. I don’t want you to walk through the same mud puddle if I can point it out and help you avoid it.

First, in the article which is Part 1, I will list some important ขDO’sข. Part 2 will cover the DON’Ts.

Do take your time, one step at a time. Do understand that building your business is not something than can be done in a matter of days, not even months in most cases. It’s going to take time, lots of time.

Do practice Patience! I know it’s not one of my virtues either and it’s really hard to put into practice, but to save your sanity, try to be patient!

Do understand in the beginning you will be suffocated with so much information and resources your head will hurt (that’s where the Information Overload headache comes from) and you will not know which direction to take first. You’ll just be spinning your wheels if you try to go off into 20 different directions at once. Remember, concentrate on one thing at a time!

Do use your best judgment when weeding through all of the information. Throw away the obvious hype and keep what you feel is resourceful and useful.

Do make it a goal to accomplish one task each day. Later when you can handle it add one or two more tasks. Progress slowly.

Do look for free resources, there’s plenty out there on the internet to help you build and promote your business. There’s also a lot of hype and misinformation and just plain bad information, so definitely use number 4.

Do join some good internet marketing forums. You will find a lot of advice and tips on how to promote your business. Many people there are also ขnewbiesข and you can bounce ideas off of each other. Many will post what has worked or hasn’t worked for them. Learn from the internet marketing experts, they were in your shoes at one time, benefit from their experiences.

Do file and organize the information you receive for retrieval later on. Organize your email by creating folders to keep information categorized and easy to find. Keep a log in Microsoft Excel with all of your affiliate ID’s, affiliate URL’s, and memberships.

Do learn some basic HTML code. This will make it easier for you to change, delete, and make any additions to your website. If you don’t know how to add a link to your website then how will you exchange links with other websites to increase your search engine rankings. Go to http://www.htmlgoodies.com and take their basic HTML tutorial. Read my article titled ขWhy You Should Learn HTMLข on my Articles and News page at http://www.profitfromhomebiz.com

Do realize that it’s going to take a lot of work and time to establish your business. Especially, a business on the internet. It’s not an autopilot business. You will probably spend more hours working at this business than you would a regular 9 to 5 job.

Chances are you are new to internet marketing, so study and learn as much as you can before you just jump in. Know what to expect and be prepared.

Do realize that having an internet business is just like having a business in the ขrealข world. You need to have a plan, you need to advertise, and you must have a budget.

Do download the ข30 Days to Successข Ebook written by Stone Evans. You can find a free copy on my website at http://www.profitfromhomebiz.com. You will need to provide your name and email address which will subscribe you to my Home Business Tips Newsletter (which is full of internet marketing tips and articles), and then you can download the Ebook. It gives you a day by day guide on how to promote your business online. It’s an invaluable tool!

Do believe in yourself and your abilities. Believe in your success!

I divided this article into two parts so you would not fall asleep trying to read the whole article at once. Part 1 of this article has covered the DO’s for the internet marketing newbie. Part 2 of the article will cover the DON’Ts. Be on the lookout for the part 2

About The Author

Debra Hamer is the owner of the http://www.profitfromhomebiz.com website where you can find the tips, tools, and resources to start your own work at home internet business. Become a subscriber to her free Home Business Tips Newsletter. She also offers free software to create your own PlugInProfitSite and the Mega PlugInProfitSite website and a free Ebook titled ข30 Days to Successข written by Stone Evans that will give you a day by day guide on how to promote your internet business.

This article was posted on October 14, 2004

by Debra Hamer

What is Affiliate Marketing and How Do I Get Start

What is Affiliate Marketing and How Do I Get Started?

by: Monica Faircloth

Definition of affiliate marketing:

Affiliate marketing is taking someone elseกs product or service and advertising it using your own affiliate website or link in order to make money. The owner of the website/product/service will pay you a percentage of each sale generated through your unique affiliate link or website. Sounds a bit confusing, but in reality is a very simple process with a win/win situation for all parties involved and a fun way to make money online.

How to get started:

You have two options to consider when doing affiliate marketing, whether to have a website or to simply advertise using your unique affiliate link. Many affiliates will create an informational website to be used as a basis for related affiliate links. This can be a great option, due to the fact that you would only need to advertise one website in order to make money.

To go this route, think of something that you are passionate about or something that is a hot topic right now. Once you have determined your theme you need to decide on a website name. To find ideas and keywords to be used as a URL, or domain name, I would recommend using http://wordtracker.com to find appropriate popular keywords related to your theme. It is good to use a popular keyword as your website and domain name so that you will rank higher in search engines.

Once you have your theme and have chosen a name, you need to register your domain name and obtain website hosting. I recommend using Yahoo for your website hosting needs. They offer a free domain name and website builder that does not require knowledge of html when you purchase website hosting. They also allow you to pay monthly rather than having to pay a year in advance which helps you save with upfront costs.

Your next step would be to build your website and fill it to the brim with great information related to your theme. A great and easy way to do this is to get articles from free article websites like the ones listed below:

http://www.1stinarticles.com/

http://www.advertisingknowhow.com

http://www.amazines.com

http://www.articlecity.com

http://www.ArticleHub.com http://www.articles911.com http://www.articletrades.com

http://www.marketingseek.com

http://www.parentclicks.com

http://www.zongoo.com

Then, once you have a great website full of information about your theme, your next step is to work on search engine optimization. Do a search on Google for SEO and you will find lots of free information on how to do this. You also need to offer a free newsletter so that you can establish repeat visitors.

When your informational website is complete and fully optimized, submit it to all of the major search engines. Googleกs กsubmit a URLก can be found under กAboutก Google. This is the main one and the best place to start. Yahoo charges a fee to submit your website to them so this would be something you could do later.

Now you are ready to start adding affiliate links to your website so you can earn money! Sign up at these free websites and find appropriate websites to affiliate with:

http://www.LinkShare.com

http://www.CJ.com

http://www.ShareASale.com

http://www.Clickbank.com

Also, add Google Adsense to your website for added revenue. Advertise using Pay Per Click such as Google.com/Adwords and Overture.com. Continue to add a page of information to your website daily. The more information you have, the higher your chances of ranking with more keywords on the major search engines. Have fun maintaining your website and watching your traffic…and your revenue grow! Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money and your earning potential is almost endless. Affiliate marketing is something you can get started doing today to earn money online.

About The Author

Monica Faircloth is a freelance writer and work at home mentor, as well as the owner of:

http://www.TheMommySite.com

http://www.HomeBasedMommy.com

http://www.WorkOnline.org

This article was posted on March 07

by Monica Faircloth