Serious Marketing Guide

So you’ve tried direct mail, advertising, you’ve got a web site, maybe you’ve even tried networking as a marketing strategy. These and many other marketing strategies are all good and if performed properly will most likely bring you favorable results. A word to the wise here though, some of them can run you a fortune in marketing costs. And in my experience, cost has a lot less bearing on effectiveness than one would like to believe. Now being a fan of Jay Conrad Levinson and his concept of “Guerrilla Marketing”, I am always on the lookout for innovative and inexpensive ways to market. And what I have for you here certainly fits that bill. I believe Napoleon Hill in his 1930’s classic book “Think and Grow Rich” was the first person to coin the phrase “Master Mind” and he defined it as: “Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.

” Hmmm… So basically it’s building a team that leverages their collective brains and brawn to help one another get what they want. So let’s not beat around the bush here. Are you ready for the secret marketing strategy? Well here goes… It’s quite simple really… there is strength in numbers. Two minds are exponentially more capable than one mind alone. In this equation, one plus one does not equal two, it more closely resembles eleven. We’re talking about leverage here. The secret is simply to gain leverage by creating your own mastermind. Not just any mastermind though; One that specifically focuses on marketing – a “Marketing Mastermind” so to speak. So my proposal to you is to take that exact concept of a mastermind as Napoleon Hill defined it, and niche it to focus primarily on marketing. So real quick what should this mastermind look like? My suggestion would be 4 to 8 members from different, non-competing industries, meeting weekly to discuss how they can help each other market their respective businesses – Plain and simple. Now it’s not my intention here to educate you in any detail on how to set up and effectively participate in a mastermind group, as there are plenty of resources out there already that can do that for you, it is simply to share with you what’s possible by leveraging this concept to support your marketing efforts.

Personally, I see this strategy as a phenomenal way for organizations, especially smaller ones with little spending money for marketing, to use the power of leverage to broaden their capability and effectiveness.

While the benefits of doing this could be endless, let me just share with you five of my favorites:

1. Plain and simple, it keeps you in the conversation of marketing.

2. It can provide you with unbiased feedback, brainstorming, and marketing advice based on experiences of what has worked, or hasn’t worked for your mastermind teammates.

3. You will significantly expand your reach and go beyond who you know and tap into who your teammates know. Now depending on what the group agrees to, you may gain access to the client list and/or mailing list of the other members. Additionally, you can explore the possibilities of joint marketing initiatives and joint venture arrangements where multiple parties share in the results.

4. You’ll be held accountable to get done what you say you will get done. This alone inspires people into action and action ultimately leads to results.

5. The list can go on and on and on however, best of all, masterminding is free!

So need I say more? I sincerely hope you’ll take this strategy on and try it on for a while.

What do you got to lose? – It’s free. Remember, there’s power in numbers so build your “Marketing Mastermind” and reap the rewards today! © 2006 Online Marketing Muscle — All Rights Reserved.

When you are looking for different places where you can use your Internet marketing skills, then you may want to check out some social networking sites.

However, before you start using these kinds of sites, you may first want to know, what is a social networking site and how can it helps you? Well, a social networking site is a place where tons of people go to hang out online.

This is a place where people will spend tons of time with friends just chatting the day away. Now that you know what social networking is, you should be able to see how this could help an online business. Think of it like this. If your business was not online, you would want to place your ads in areas that had a lot of people. Think of a social networking site as being like a mall. If you just place your ad in a gas station, then only a few people would see it. However, if you have an ad in the mall, then the people that are working there, the people that are shopping there, and the people that are hanging out there are all going to see your ad. This means that social networking sites are kind of like the «mall» on the Internet. If people are going to be online at these sites all the time, then you might as well make the most out of it. The best way to do that is to advertise on these sites. However, there is a right way and a wrong way. Just like a lot of other online sites, people do not like you to go around advertising your business online at their sites. Take MySpace for example. They do not want you to start a profile that is called «Jack’s Online Meat Shop» and try to get people to go to your site by spending a lot of time on MySpace and advertising your business. This would be the wrong way to go about advertising.

However, if you have an ad that you want to place on MySpace, then all you need to do is talk to the people that run the site. Tell them that you would like to place some ads on their site, and you would like to know how much that would cost you. Then you can find out how many ads you can place on their site and how much it’s going to cost you. There are tons of place where you can advertise online, but if you are going to spend money to advertise, then you might as well do it in a place that is going to make you a lot of money. There is no reason to spend money putting ads all over the Internet if it’s not going to help you. If your site does not get a lot of traffic, then people are not going to want to place ads on your site. So the next time you are thinking about different places you would like to advertise, remember that the more people that are hanging out at that site, the better. This means that you are going to have to spend your money on the sites you know are going to make you a ton of money.

Christopher Robinson Starting a business is an exciting venture but it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the myriad tasks needed for your initial launch. When you start your online business it is very important to have a plan. This will help you organize and focus on all the different things you will need to do. Your business concept: This should be something you really enjoy doing. When you enjoy your business you will succeed and be able to put the work into it to make your business successful. Make a list of several topics that you are interested in and then check supply and demand. You should have a business concept that is high in demand and low in supply. You will check for demand on http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion just put in your keyword for your concept and it will tell you how many searches have been done for it in the previous month. Check for supply on http://google.

com this will tell you how many websites are already into this particular business concept. When you have selected one with more searches (demand) and less supply (websites) you will have a niche or specialized market and can make this your business idea or concept Define your market:  Decide who needs and wants your type of products and services  Where do they go-publications, websites, discussion boards etc. for planning your marketing  What are they interested in-products and services Choose your products: these will be in demand products and services for your chosen market. They can be affiliate programs or your own products and services Set your goals. Write down your business goals: · Where will your business be in 3 months? What will you need to do to achieve this? · Your goals for your business in 6 months-what you need to do to get to this level · Finally your projections for 1 year – how will you achieve this Prioritize: Decide what you will need to do first and set your goals accordingly. Organize your time, make a daily schedule and weekly schedule. How much time you can spare for your business: Decide on the amount of time you will be able to spend on your business. Realistically this should be about at least 3 hours per day. Be prepared to discipline yourself: A business is hard work there is no such thing as getting rich quick with no work. It usually takes about 3 months to make any profit at all. You will need to be prepared to work hard and face ups and downs. However with persistence you will succeed. Learning is power: educate yourself and become an expert in your field. Your 1st few months in business should be spent on learning as much as you can about your industry. After this you will find that even if you have surmounted the learning curve business is a continuous learning experience. Conclusion: Your mindset: when you decide to start a business you need to think ahead and have an attitude for success. Business is a serious thing and to be successful you will need to prepare yourself to succeed.

Think success and be persistent. There will be some tough times ahead but if you are really determined you will succeed. Many businesses fail because people give up before they have given themselves a chance to make it.