February 21, 2010
5 Questions Before You Hire A Marketing Consultant
If you are a looking for a marketing consultant in Seattle, or any other location for matter you will want to ask them a few very specific questions during your discovery process.
Here are some questions you should ask them:
1) Are they focused more on selling advertising than helping you create and execute a real marketing strategy?
2) Are they skilled at both offline marketing and online marketing? Specifically merging the two into one strategy for the maximum effectiveness of your marketing dollars.
3) Are they leveraging Social Media? Are they current will Social Media marketing.
4) Are they savvy with email marketing techniques? Are they using these practices in their business?
5) Are they a marketing consultant or a marketing coach for small businesses? Is their focus small businesses or any business?
The primary consideration is whether you really need a consultant or a coach. Let’s face it, we are all in the marketing business.
You may find you need a seattle marketing coach more than a consultant. This approach let’s you do the marketing yourself with expertise and accountability to actually get it done.
If you are the type of business owner that is always procrastinating and putting off marketing for “another day” this is usually a good fit. Just like an athelete needs a coach to hold them accountable, many small business owners need one as well to get the results they need and desire in their business.
Most times the expense is negligible compared to the money being left on the table by not executing a marketing strategy at all.
To success in 2010!
February 13, 2010
3 Secrets For Launching Your Product Online
If you have a product or service and have considered launching your product or service online, please read on…
Even if you don’t have a product, you can still do a product launch online with a new or existing service. Online marketing technologies are very efficient at building buzz around your product.
You have two options for your product launch:
1) Internal Launch – You can use your existing customer list and build a product launch into your existing product launch to drive sales and more leads from existing customers. If you aren’t doing this, you are leaving money on the table. Guaranteed!
2) Online or External Launch – If you have a product or service that you can deliver outside of your local area this is a great way to build a pipeline of leads and sales for your business. By leveraging online video, social media, blogging, and other people’s lists you can create a real nice bump to your revenue in a very short time span…
If you haven’t considered a product launch, you should. Business all over are leverage the new tools online to drive more revenue faster with less effort.
You can do a product launch on your own, or hire a product launch manager and marketing consultant to help you use a proven method to drive revenue into your business.
Most times, the launch manager requires and up front retainer with a percentage of your revenue from the launch. Just keep in mind this is money or revenue you may not be realizing now, so paying a fee to drive more leads is negligible in the big picture. Especially if you have a new product your are bringing to market.
Best of luck with your product launch!
November 22, 2009
What Constitutes A Worthwhile Online Marketing Program?
There are countless things to consider in a great online marketing program and it can largely depend on your own priorities, but I consider there to be 5 main concepts to follow. Understand the importance of the first step when starting out as an online marketer: The commission.
The affiliate commission is important for the internet marketer. Obviously, no affiliate commission|commission} means no profit and that is no good. If the commission is too low, or the merchant doesn’t pay you on time, then that is no good either.
The second point to consider is quality. If you want to be successful and become a great and ethical affiliate marketer, then the product you sell must be of great quality. This also ties in with the merchants reputation as well, which is mentioned later in this article.
Consider selling a product or service that gets you fired up and that you know is good. Nothing sells like passion and believing in a service is a good thing too.
The reputation of the services owner is of utmost importance. Do they provide a good after sales service? Do they care about the customer once the money has been collected? Those are very valid points and must be seriously thought about before you accept a product or service to promote.
The money back guarantee is also critical. If the service isn’t backed up with a 100% money back guarantee, then what sort of confidence does the product owner really have in this product?
The criteria to follow is simply: commission, quality, passion, reputation & money back guarantee. If all 5 criteria are checked off and valid in your eyes, then the product is good to promote. Follow this 5 step criteria when selecting a service to sell and you are sure to have your affiliate marketing program on track and will be set to take off for success.