Posted by admin on February 9th, 2010 — Posted in Marketers Den, Road Busters
Every last auto insurance lead is a chance to close a deal. However it’s your job to convert each lead into a sale. There is no simple way of achieving this this. It is all about “working smart” with the best qualified leads you can buy. To help you do this, here are some hints to make your job less problematic.
When individuals request a quotation on the internet, a lot of them are not actually looking for insurance. They are simply surfing and searching for an incredible bargain. Some might not be from serious customers at all; they might be junk e-mail or automated requests. These queries are by and large a waste of your time. Consequently you can see why top notch leads are fundamental.
The best quality car insurance leads are people requiring a brand-new insurance policy or additions to an existing policy. These customers are prepared to make a purchase and will not require much covincing. So, what is the optimal means to sort the cooler leads from the hot ones? As you obtain your queries you should prioritize all of them according to various criteria, like the date they require a new policy by. You can also deploy filtering tools to prioritize leads by the amount of comission they may generate. The easiest time to sell car insurance is directly after you receive a request for a quote because it eliminates still more of the effort required. The customer already wants your product, and even better requires it. Successful sales reps understand that in a lot of cases all they have to do is to reply quickly with a quotation to a quality lead. Therefore make it a priority to get back to any good propects swiftly. It’s plain to see how important it is to make use of any leads the right way. Be sure to answer any questions they might have, and do get this completed in a timely fashion. If a customer has requested info concerning deductibles, make sure you include them in your quote. Ultimately, changing automobile insurance prospects into cash is really all about working effectively i.e. in a manner that will profit both you and the lead.
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Posted by admin on July 19th, 2009 — Posted in Commerce Resources, Marketers Den, Universe Of Sales
This type of marketing is akin to an auction. You advertise the merchandise on your website for this, every lead gets you money. It isn’t nearly as much effort, few overheads, it sells twenty-four hours a day, and it’s easy to pick up. Firstly, you have to make a decision as to exactly which area you want to work in. A way of going about this is, find out what a certain market segment is expecting, and then what solutions are available to assist them. An easy way of achieving this task is finding unique long tail keywords; there are fewer searchers for these in general, yet they convert far more into sales. If you want to find these lucrative keywords, it is recommended that you use Micro Niche Finder. The information collected from Micro Niche Finder or similar computer programs and services gives you a list of associated terminology allowing you to get a high listing in the search engines and bring in an increasing number of hits.
Micro Niche Finder will in addition tell you detailed figures on the words and phrases, precisely how many other web sites who use them, and how strong those internet sites are. Ultimately, Micro Niche Finder information can help find suitable domains, subject matter for your internet site, and also point out suitable merchandise for you to sell.
The next step is to build a website; however there are still essential things to do. Search engine optimization is absolutely fundamental. Products like SEO Elite should make this less complicated. This software automatically analyzes competitor’s websites and will advise you what you need to do in order to receive a good ranking in the search engine results. With SEO Elite the data provided by the program indicates where you might find appropriate links, which words or phrases to concentrate on, and even a list of article submission sites to refer to. Briefly, Seo Elite information is similar to the suggestions that a specialist in search engine optimization might give. When you have determined what niche you want to focus on, set up some advertising, and your site is ready to go, then all you need to do is forcefully increase your search results. You will pick up a steady paycheck and you’ll wonder why you ever doubted that this type of marketing could work for you!
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Posted by admin on December 31st, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den, University of Publishing, Video Planet
After the video production is done, the editing stage starts-off. In general editing control units remain put with the majority the editing corporations and the technically qualified expert professionals supply a high level of inspiration throughout the editing undertaking. Traditionally at some stage during the editing procedure the useful aspects of the video recordings are kept and unnecessary aspects are cancelled. There is loads of sophisticated software that are in big demand for this specific purpose. The aim of the video is analyzed & subtle alterations are made as well. Audio clips & background music are also used at some stage through the editing process. There remains Special Effect Generators (SPG) which helps to make the chosen footage more gorgeous. Most of the creative companies supply the footages & the editing services. Utilise the full potential of Internet to your business with web video marketing solutions from Vidify.
At the moment numerous online video production and publishing companies exist to satisfy requirements of different businesses. In addition to businesses presentations, videography is also used to capture very important moments of life for example weddings, birthdays, special parties; summer holidays to name a few. Handheld camcorders with digital chips are today commonly available on the market. Short films have grown to be fairly fashionable not counting being very enlightening & engaging. In fact videos allow individuals to relate better to the topic than any other brand of online communications.
Today, numerous people are setting up video production & publishing agencies as need of these sorts of studios are at a rise. It is also likely to find loads info from the internet in relation to video production and publishing just with a small number of mouse clicks. The growth of audio-visual industry has helped out the growth of short-format online video commercials and to develop striking commercials, a great video production agency is fundamental. Videos play a crucial job in execution of corporate campaigns and nowadays video production and marketing is a popular idea among the World Wide Web users. Therefore, across the globe online video production and publishing plays a substantial role.
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Posted by admin on December 23rd, 2008 — Posted in Commerce, Marketers Den, Real Estate Resources
“Virtual Real Estate Investing” is a relatively new concept. There are many variations on what this term means, encompassing everything from using the internet to aid in real estate investing efforts to participating in online games such as SecondLife.
In order to figure out the truth of the matter, I sought out Bryan Ellis, whose experience in the fledgling industry is truly impressive.
Ellis says he adopted the term “virtual real estate investing” sometime before Y2K after he realized that making money online is conceptually very similar to making money with physical real estate.
Bryan Ellis cites the similar strategies one can employe to make money from “virtual property” and “physical property” as a primary parallel of the two markets. “There’s a huge difference between a website and a piece of real estate, but the ways you can profit from them are similar: ‘flipping’, rental/leasing, advertising sales, etc…all of these apply to both markets” he states.
The similarities really are obvious. After all, if you own a valuable piece of real estate, it’s “valuable” because other people are interested in that specific piece of property. Likewise, if you own a desirable domain name, others will find value in it because it serves their purposes. In either case, you could sell or lease the asset and turn it into cash.
In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing., Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.
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Posted by admin on November 26th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den, University of Publishing, Video Planet
The clever old Chinese saying has a powerful meaning; the proverb put into words the truth that we all accept an occasion drastically more when it is observed. Utilising video production or videography it’s practical to shoot a series of occasions.
Currently in a lot of corporate presentations, video footage is commonly used. Utilising video production it is realistic to make available the required communication to a number of potential customers to help tempt them. Online Video production nowadays is employed for various reasons; however, more than a few online corporate videos and brand associated presentations are usually produced in order to achieve certain company goals.
Audio video productions are greatly in vogue & as a result are used in more or less any type of company activity. Video production companies at the outset normally work with a certain brand of client or a company that seeks to create a short format online video commercial, a presentation or an assortment of video clips. The full work of video production is normally carried out by individual freelancers; nevertheless there are a couple of good video production companies around at the moment.
Contribution of music composers, cameraman & script writers can also be very typical when creating internet video presentations. Furthermore, advertising agencies and public relations companies have very recently become involved with online video production and marketing. If you are looking for a company that specialises in corporate video production in London then look no further than Vidify.
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Posted by admin on July 16th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Tips on writing great copy for your marketing efforts.
It’s just four steps that I call the Writing Path
1. I create a deadline for something to be produced. This creates pressure that I think is very important. Because I write this e-newsletter-BIGNews every other week, I must find an idea and the time to write. If I didn’t have a deadline looming, I think procrastination would be a lot easier.
- Do you have a specific goal and a deadline? If not, just make one up. If you don’t, you’ll have no focus to keep you on track.
2. I define a problem, predicament or challenge I believe my audience is facing. And since I’ve faced most of these problems myself, they are very familiar to me. It might be the problem of creating a marketing message, writing an e-newsletter or putting together a proposal. I only spend a little time thinking about a problem and one usually pops into my head in a few minutes.
- Can you identify several problems your prospects and clients have experienced in the past? What are they currently struggling with? What’s missing for them? Then pick just one.
3. I think about my solutions to this problem. Since I’ve solved many of these marketing problems in the past, I usually have a good idea of what will work and what won’t work. I just reflect for a few minutes about various solutions and approaches to the problem until I feel confident I have something valuable to communicate that will make a difference to those who read what I write.
- Do you have solutions, techniques and strategies you can apply to the problems of your clients and prospects? Can you express these solutions in a way that is easy to understand and apply?
4. Then I just start writing. I don’t worry about doing it perfectly the first draft. I just follow the Writing Path as I’ve outlined above. I try to avoid theory and stay very practical, giving very detailed how-to information. If I can make things clearer with a story or example, I’ll use those too. My main concern is: Can my readers use this information to improve their current situation? If they can, I’ve succeeded.
- Are you ready to start writing using this basic Writing Path? Are you willing to do it imperfectly and then go back and edit and rewrite until it makes sense and flows well?
And that’s my simple Writing Path.
If you are stuck, I believe it’s all you need to get started. And the more you write using this formula, the easier it gets. Not only that, the more you write, the more all your other marketing activities improve because your thinking gets more focused and your communication becomes more persuasive.
So take a shot at it and see what you come up with! What will you write about today?
Recap:
* Deadlines - You’ll have better results if you have a regular deadline for writing. Interestingly, I found that a bi-weekly deadline was more powerful than a monthly deadline. Set it up so that the consequences of missing the deadline are worse than doing the writing!
* Problems - A good way to prime the pump is to list every problem you can think of that your clients and prospects have faced. Then trim down and prioritize the list until you have several good topics you can write about.
* Solutions - Beside the list of problems, write the main solution that will be the foundation of the article. For instance, beside “Writer’s Block” I’d put “Writing Path.” These sets of problems and solutions will be the foundation for several articles.
* Just Write - The writing that gets the highest readership is writing that is conversational. Throw out most of what you learned in English class and just write like you talk. And then read what you’ve written out loud until it flows naturally.
* Stay Present - Don’t worry about what people are going to think of what you’ve written. Just focus on your ideas and communicate them with clarity. If your ideas make sense, people will read what you’ve written and get the value you intended.
To measure how strong your brand is copy and paste: (http://brandidentityguru.com/bightml/brandmasterpiece.html). Then click “Take the brand strength test”. This is a short survey that measures the strength of any company’s brand. It’s a great tool to see where you are today.
Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru (http://www.brandidentityguru.com), a leading brand consulting and market research firm located in Easton, Massachusetts, USA, near Boston. Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.
Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.
Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Simon (America’s largest shopping mall manager) and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.
Scott White is a very enthusiastic speaker and has the gift of being able to explain the principles of branding in a compelling and entertaining manner.
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Posted by admin on June 19th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Having your website rank at the top of the search engines will provide you with a stream of traffic ready to read, buy or interact with your site. Getting this high first page ranking in the main search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN is extremely difficult and not to mention, time consuming.
Search engines take considerable notice of how many and the quality of incoming links to your site. Traditionally, webmasters have sent out link requests, asking to exchange links, this however is becoming more and more ineffective as people’s email addresses are spammed by automated robots.
Method savvy internet marketers are now using article submissions. Here is how it works. The webmaster writes an article on the topic of their site, including a back link to their site. They then submit this to various article directories. In turn some of these article directories list this article and its back link, and also distribute it to all their members. Some even pass this onto other article sites.
This can manually take a long time however. A lot of copying and pasting of articles has to happen, you have to log in and log out of sites, and the whole thing can be very tedious. Over the past 6 months new products have been released that take some of the tedium out of article submissions. These semi-automatically go to the relevant sites and submit your article, logging in for you and populating the forms with your article. They can be a great time saver.
Finally there are new services that actually go off and submit your articles for free to other large directories. They advertise on your article page on their site. This is a win-win situation. The article writer gets valuable backlinks to their site or their content read by many people, the large article directory gets the extra content and advertising revenue, so everyone is happy.
We highly recommend article writing for marketing your site, it may take a little time but with the services outlined here it need not be so painful as it once was.
For more information please see www.articlesnet.co.uk
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Posted by admin on June 12th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Time and time again, internet marketers have mentioned how “gold can be found in your mailing list.” It has become a cliché or sorts, so it seems, given the many times the maxim has been repeated over and over again, in many channels, in many articles, in many eBooks, and in many newsletters.
But there’s a reason why it’s a cliché. It’s because it’s true.
The bigger the size of your mailing list, the higher your chances are of bagging some sales. It’s a numbers game, one which you could easily manipulate to your advantage.
Why Your Need A Mailing List
Let’s go to the specifics.
As an online businessman, a mailing list is almost an indispensable requirement for your success. Here are the reasons why:
* Experts say that it takes 7 to 12 contacts with a prospect, at the average, before you could convince him to make a purchase. A mailing list would allow you to keep in touch with the said prospect.
* Your prospects have to be warmed up before they could make a purchase. You have to win their trust and confidence before they could part with their hard earned money. A mailing list opens the doors for a variety of strategies that would allow you to prime them up for your sales pitches.
* A mailing list would likewise make it easy for your customers to contact you whenever they need answers to their queries. In a way, a mailing list can also become an excellent vehicle to provide post sales support for your customers.
* The size of your mailing list reflects your credibility as a joint venture (JV) partner for profitable undertakings requiring a partnership between two or more internet marketers. Your mailing list is not only a well for potential customers, it’s also your badge of how much you have achieved in the industry.
Few are the internet marketers who do business online without a mailing list. This is a testament to how valuable your own subscriber base can be.
The Trick Is In Flooding Your Mailing List With Subscribers
Clearly, success with your mailing list depends on how many subscribers you’d manage to garner. The more people who will sign up for your follow-up system, the higher your chances will be in earning a lot of profit.
The question is, how do you explode the number of subscribers for your mailing list?
Driving traffic to your opt-in page is the number one strategy to implement. Online marketing tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), article marketing, forum posting, direct advertising and reciprocal linking are keys for your traffic generation purposes.
But there’s one other strategy that would provide an almost instantaneous arrival of signups.
We’re talking about ad swaps.
Ad Swaps?
Ad swaps is an inexpensive but highly effective technique that involves two or more online businessmen with sizable mailing lists. One marketer would simply have to exchange ads with another marketer in their respective mailing list.
The result?
An exchange of ads that would result in an exchange of subscribers.
For example, marketer A has a mailing list composed of 5,000 members. Marketer B has a mailing list composed of 4,000 subscribers.
An ad swap simply means that marketer A would run marketer B’s ad in his newsletter, which would lead marketer A’s subscribers to marketer B’s opt-in page. Marketer B would have to do the same favor for marketer A.
Marketer A potentially stands to earn 4,000 new subscribers. Marketer B potentially stands to earn 5,000 new subscribers. Such would be a profitable exchange of members that would increase the size of their respective mailing lists!
Ad swaps usually are free. All you have to do is to find a willing partner, which would be easy once you have built a sizable subscriber base.
Offering freebies as rewards for signups would also ensure the success of ad swap campaigns.
Mark Flavin Is The Owner Of Mark Flavin Marketing. Mark Is An Expert In
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Posted by admin on June 8th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Authors severely underestimate the challenge of promoting their books. The truth is - being an author is a lot easier than getting people to buy your paperback! More often than not, you have to convince an occupied public that the book you spent months, perhaps years writing, is actually worth spending $14.95 for - or whatever the price may be. This becomes more difficult for authors who don’t have the means of getting their books marketed to the masses.
For an unknown author promoting is daunting, and the reality is - it perhaps more challenging than authors might imagine! This is not a scare tactic, but merely intended to prepare authors-to-be for the grueling promotional process.
There are three significant factors that will help writers endure this process:
• Research ways to effective book marketing
• Set aside a budget to support your promotional efforts
• Have a realistic view of expectations
All three should be considered in advance of an author’s book publishing.
Research ways to effective book marketing:
Most soon-to-be authors are unprepared, and have a naive view of how difficult it is to break into the book business. Before your manuscript is accepted for publication, authors should develop a marketing strategy. You may consider marketing that includes building a website, getting book reviews, starting a contest, on and offline advertisements, etc. These ideas should be thought through before an author’s book is in print.
It will be more difficult for authors who don’t do their homework, and an understanding of how involved this process will be. More-than-likely an author may not be patient, and may be much quicker to give-up their dream they have of selling books. For this reason, writers who are thinking of publishing a manuscript should research methods to market their books. To do so, spend adequate time reading articles on book promotion either online or at a local library. This provides writers a general knowledge of the marketing strategy that is needed.
A writer will discover marketing strategies that best work for them and their schedule. Ideas on marketing tips that were most useful can also be obtain from published authors. In the course of their research, a writer will also learn if promoting a book is something they want to pursue.
Set aside a budget:
It is equally important for writers to set aside a budget for their promotional endeavors. As there are only so many opportunities to market for free. Writers will have to endure some cost in order to generate publicity for their books. And even frugal marketing can add up over time. To remedy this, writers should set aside an affordable budget aimed at preproduction costs.
Too often, writers take the view that a website will promote itself. In truth, a website won’t generate traffic if it’s not promoted. And some of that promotion requires paid advertisements. The cost of promotion can easily become overwhelming; therefore, it is important writers put money aside in advance to assist in the cost that will arise.
Realistic view of expectations:
There are numerous articles that provide marketing tips, but most of them also present an unrealistic view regarding author’s expectations. While most articles on book promotion are quite helpful, there suggestions only offer a way to generate publicity and not sales. It doesn’t assure a bestselling book as some would imply. And it is quite possible for an author to adhere to an aggressive marketing strategy and still not see results.
There is no “exclusive marketing plan” that will guarantee book sales. One just has to hope opportunities will arise after much planning, effort, resolve and patience have been spent. Authors have a better chance of actually enduring the promotional process if they are fully informed about the hard task of marketing a book.
Knowing what lies ahead for an author will lead to better planning and preparation. And being prepared will lead to resolve and hopefully opportunities for sales. Authors who do not have a realistic view of what they are in for, are greater inclined to be unable to endure the difficulties that will certainly confront them in the long-run.
Nadia Brown resides in Miami, Florida. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and online publications throughout the web. She is the author of Unscrambled Eggs, her first full-length book collection. Learn more about her work at http://www.nadiabrown.com
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Posted by admin on June 5th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
The first rejection is always a shock. How could a publisher reject you after you worked so hard, printed the manuscript or burned a CD, wrote a proposal, and paid for shipping? Rejection is always painful, yet you may grow from it.
Give yourself time to process the rejection. Put the letter away for a week. Then, setting your emotions aside, read it again for content. Does the letter contain any helpful suggestions? If the editor took the time to include suggestions he or she thinks your work has merit.
See the manuscript from the publisher’s view. Did you follow their editorial guidelines? Did you format the manuscript properly? If you’re a nonfiction writer, are your sources credible? Ignoring these standards will guarantee rejection. Meeting these standards will increase your chances of a sale.
Evaluate your resume. Your resume should be clear and factual. Tempted as you may be to hype your resume, don’t yield to this temptation. Publishers can check a resume in minutes and nothing is more of a turn-off than hype. List volunteer efforts if you’re a beginning writer.
Re-check your market resources. Did you send your work to the right publisher? Jenna Glatzer, in her www.Writers.Break.com article, “Why You Get Form Rejection Letters,” says writers often send their work to the wrong publishers. A writer and editor herself, Glatzer says her rejection letters basically say, “Thanks, but this isn’t for us.”
Check competing works on store shelves. This takes courage because you’ll come across stuff you wish you had written or similar to what you have written. Your work should be of similar quality. Can you improve the quality? Does your work fill a hole in the market?
Get more information. The publishing industry is extremely competitive and a publisher may shift its focus to fit market trends. Fairview Press in Minneapolis, for example, used to bill itself as a family publisher. Now it is publishing special resources for in-house use within the Fairview medical system.
Revise your query letter. Writing a query letter can be harder than writing the manuscript because you have to sell the work and yourself on one page. (Editors don’t like long query letters.) It takes more time to “write short” than to
“write long.” See if your query letter can be improved in any way.
Make your proposal appealing. Writing a proposal is similar to writing a thesis. Your proposal should be concise, easy to follow (bold or colored headings), and grab the reader. Write too much and the editor is turned off. Write too little and the editor is turned off. Your goal is somewhere in the middle.
Does your proposal have a platform? Katharine Sands, agent, writer, and speaker with The Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency in New York City, thinks “every proposal needs a platform section.” The platform includes your credentials, professional organizations, credibility, authority, reviews, media experience, and marketing connections. According to Sands, publishers are more apt to accept work from authors who have strong platforms.
See what’s selling. Your top-notch writing and a sharp book proposal may not be strong enough to buck market trends. Talk with book store managers, read book catalogs, and check Amazon to see what’s selling. Health and fitness are exploding markets right now and you may be able to tap these markets.
Revise your work. (I heard the groan.) Yes, this is discouraging, but once you get into it the process isn’t bad. Find ways to make your work more appealing. You may index the book, for example, or write the back cover copy. Anything you can do to save the publisher money is a plus for you.
Finally, keep writing and submitting your work. You never know, the market may shift and the manuscript that wasn’t saleable last year may be snatched up this year. Practice your craft, believe in yourself, and dream of seeing your name in print. It will happen.
Copyright 2006 by Harriet Hodgson
http://www.harriethodgson.com
Harriet Hodgson has been a nonfiction writer for 27 years and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Her 24th book, “Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief, written with Lois Krahn, MD is available from http://www.amazon.com A five-star review of the book is posted on Amazon. You’ll also find a review on the American Hospice Foundation website under the “School Corner” heading.
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