Marketing Articles

What is money? A child might say that it’s something rich people have and poor people don’t. An engineer might go into a detailed and lengthy explanation, but we all know that money is what really “makes the world go around.”

Birkenstocks are a German brand of quality footwear, which is best known for it’s contoured footbed. When most people purchase a new pair of shoes, they expect to have a ‘break-in’ time. This usually lasts for a few days and, at that time, the shoe is pretty comfortable and broken in for everyday wear. The main difference with Birkenstocks is that they approach the ‘break-in’ time much differently. When a pair of Birkenstocks are first purchased, they are more stiff than comm...

Recently I participated in a forum discussion about offline marketing – that is using more traditional marketing offline to drive traffic to your website or blog. I can still remember the first time I saw a URL in a TV commercial and how cool I thought that was. The offline world has the constraint of geography, so the least expensive forms of viral marketing are going to be geographically bound, which can be challenging for some sites. Someone on the forum said that offli...

Customer relationship marketing is powerful in theory, but troubled in practice. We need to take time to figure out how and why we are undermining our own best efforts. Perhaps we're overlooking the fundamental elements of a good customer relationship program. With the means to connect with customers easily, maybe we're rushing to cash in on the potential rewards, while forgetting the essentials of all relationships: intimacy and trust. Close examination reveals that re...

Are you too shy to strike up conversations with other people? Hmm… What about email, surely sending someone an email isn’t terribly daunting, right? It is? Well, then you’re in the wrong business. Network marketing means just what it says. You are a network marketer. That means you need to network, and if you don’t do that most important thing, you’ll never succeed. Traffic exchanges are a good place to start honing the art of becoming a good mentor. In most exchanges, whe...

Top-notch sales professionals and business owners consistently seek new and economical ways to increase sales. They might try a discount sale, or a buy one get one free sale or something else. But this can be a costly give away of valuable merchandise or time. A different and more affordable method is the vacation incentive. Vacation incentives have matured since the day of hidden sales meetings. Your customer no longer is forced to attend timeshare meetings, ruin their va...

If you've been around the Internet for more than a week or so you know that everything is hopping and moving fast and that using audio, webcasting and podcasting are where it's at. Most direct sales representatives are content building their business using the traditional means and supporting their downline with phone calls and emails. But, let me tell you, if you're not exploring the use of audio with your direct sales business you're missing out not only on profits, but ...

Who is best qualified to prove your product works? Who has the credibility and the believability to talk about the benefits of using your product? Who will tell your customers and clients it's a good decision to buy? It's you, right? Perhaps you'd better keep reading... The answer is - your own customers. Your customers have the experience of using your product. They've used the features, and experienced the benefits. Speaking from this familiarity your customers wil...

Market research is a crucial starting point for any business, but it’s especially important for online businesses that seek to target a particular niche market. The equation is pretty simple: if the interest in your product is low, you won’t make enough sales to keep afloat. The key to online success is to plan ahead – seek out a ready and willing market that will buy your product, before launching a marketing campaign. The Internet offers the start-up business a lot of to...

Stop the sales pitch and start talking and listening to your customer. “It’s an amazing feeling, says Helen Robinson, when you feel the rapport, that mutual trust you’re building with the customer.” My first experience in sales was in telemarketing. I was so scared that to this day I can’t remember what I was selling. The sales trainer told me to read the script and all would be fine. I found a nice secluded corner desk where no one would hear me and dialed my first lead. ...