Serious Marketing Guide

Jenni Baty It doesn’t matter whether your business is off – line or on-line the basic needs of customers are the same. To part with their hard earned cash your customers must feel they are getting value for money and are not going to be ”ripped off”. In other words they need to trust YOU and YOUR PRODUCT With an off line business you can build credibility by having a professional looking business premises, product merchandising and good customer service.

Most times customers will make a purchase because things “look and feel right” even though it may be the first time they have been to that business. With on-line business however, it is much more difficult to establish credibility. Current techniques employed by many online businesses include, but are not limited to, the following: • Professional web design and hosting • Providing Contact Information • Privacy Policies • Customer Testimonials • Money Back Guarantee • Secure Services But despite all these measures, even the marketing guru’s will tell you, most people don’t buy from you the first visit it takes repeated exposure and you must first nurture a relationship with them. In fact it has become standard online business procedure to gather the email address of visitors, often through the inducement of free gifts, and than follow up with a series of auto-responder messages in order to build a trust relationship. Now this technique of building trust, although effective, takes time and as time is money, months can be a long time to wait, especially if this particular business is your main source of income. So how can you develop this relationship quicker? Answer – Add Video to your websites and emails. Businesses that have introduced video communications to their marketing program have reported a 300%-400% increase in sales conversions. Why? Because people feel comfortable buying a product or service when they know the people and business they’re dealing with. By introducing yourself, staff and marketing message through video you can break down barriers, create rapport and differentiate your business in the minds of the buyer. They can get to know you as if they have met you in person and because they have a visual and auditory memory of you, you will make a longer lasting impression than if they had just seen your picture or read about you in print. Using video e-mails and adding streaming video to your Web site is simple and easy. In fact, it’s as easy as sending text e-mails, and cutting and pasting text.

Most small businesses already have all the necessary skills to send video e-mails and post streaming video online, add to this the emergence of web based video portals offering video e-mail, video on demand, video instant messaging, and live Web casts, they now also have a mechanism for sending video communications to buyers quickly and easily without investing a lot in additional software or computer equipment. As personal rich media goes mainstream consumers will expect businesses to communicate through video. Businesses that don’t, risk losing credibility as professional players and losing market share to more dominate competitors with a stronger visual presence. Forrester Research predicts that “streaming video will grow from a $2 billion dollars industry to a $12 billion dollar industry in a few short years.” If you’re a small business owner, you can’t ignore this growing trend. Developing customer relationships through print alone can be a drawn out tasks that may take months. But by adding video, the relationship can start immediately, all you need to do is be yourself, present you business honestly and focus on your customers needs. It really is not as hard as you think, just think of the off-line business strategies that build customer confidence, put it on video and voila you’ve created a personalized online experience that will have your customers whipping out their credit cards

Cathy Linderman Digital Rights Management (DRM) can protect your streaming files across the internet by adding rules of usage to your files. With audio and video files being added to websites many owners are now concerned how those files are being used by others that access them. Website owners are looking at how to protect their audio and/or video files. DRM is the most logical way to do just that, an approach to protect your digital media with a usage rule(s). DRM prevents illegal distribution of your content over the internet. Many viewers are presently cutting and pasting, downloading files and using audio and video files found on websites for their own usage, without concern over the copyright notation on that website. First, Determine If You Need DRM If you are streaming numerous audio and/or video files over the net that you need protection for, or a few files being viewed by 1,000’s or l00’s of thousands of viewers then you need to consider DRM.

If you want to control how many hours or days someone can view an on-demand file, or how many times they can download a file, or if they can pass that file to friends, or copy it to a CD, or just copy and paste it to their site then you need DRM. DRM can control all of these uses from your viewers. Advantages of DRM There are many advantages to the usage of DRM. At this point it is usually a one-time start-up fee, and a monthly cost based on the number of licenses you need at the time, which amounts in essence to pennies on the dollar to use DRM on your files. DRM is usually easy to apply as most DRM providers give you a menu and step by step instructions of what you need to do to protect each file, or numerous files you are using. There is also no loss of your profits from piracy or resale of your audios or videos elsewhere. You usually do not have to purchase any hardware nor software to take advantage of DRM providers. How Does It Work After you have obtained a provider for your DRM service, you go to their user area to attach DRM to your audio or video file. You usually select the type of player you are using (e.g. Windows Media Player, Real Player et.

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) then depending on the type of file, you select rules for those files. In other words, if you are doing an on-demand file you can select the number of hours or days a viewer has access to that file after selecting or purchasing it. If it was a downloadable file you might select how many times it can be downloaded to their computer, or if they can pass it on to others, or burn it on a CD. All of these types of options are available using DRM. After selecting your options an encrypted code is then added to your file, which controls the ‘rules’ you have chosen for the file. This package (your audio or video file and the encrypted rule) are issued a license to unlock and use that file in the way that is specified in the rule(s). DRM can be integrated with your payment processor if you are charging for these audio or video streams, which means the viewer can’t even access the license without payment first. Decide On A Provider Microsoft is one of the top providers of DRM licensing. There is a list of Microsoft partners that provide DRM. You can find them by doing a search on Microsoft for ‘DRM Partners with Microsoft’. If you are doing massive amounts of audio and video over the internet, you may want to consider being a partner yourself and applying to Microsoft for it. Of course pricing is always a major thing to check on, but remember the cheapest is not always the best provider.

Check on longevity of that provider, their setup fees, integration fees if you need integration with a payment processor, and whether they are asking for a month-to-month contract or yearly contract might be of concern to you. Other options might be that you need geo-blocking for blocking out various areas of a country, or countries. Weigh all your options and go from there. Conclusion Anyone needing to protect their audio or video files should use Digital Rights Management. Find a good provider, and ask for a demonstration of their setup to make sure you are pleased with what you are going to work with. DRM will help to protect your digital streams from improper usage and distribution around the world!

The internet is a great place for people to start the business of their dreams.

Online businesses are cheaper to run than standard retail businesses because operating methods are generally low-cost, and internet businesses have very little overhead expenses. Internet business can contain a great deal of products and information without the expense necessary for standard businesses. An internet business can be operated at home, and marketing an internet business has many low-cost options and methods not afforded to regular business owners. Marketing methods are numerous, but not all methods of internet marketing are known to internet business owners. Low-cost internet marketing methods are available to internet business owners, and these methods are easy to implement. These low-cost marketing methods make it simple for anyone with an internet business to make that business a financial success. An internet business owner doesn’t have to be a corporate giant in order to receive the internet marketing it deserves. For internet businesses and websites to obtain the highest search engine rankings, they must receive an adequate amount of internet traffic. The more the traffic, the higher the ranking. When marketing a website and looking for low-cost methods, this seems like an unfair disadvantage. Internet business owners seeking more traffic submit their websites to search engines in order to increase traffic. If search engines won’t list websites high upon their lists when traffic is low, how can internet business owners receive the traffic they need in order to gain higher search engine rankings and a chance at success? This is a marketing nightmare for those looking for low-cost marketing methods. Link exchanges are the answers to those wanting low-cost internet marketing and high search engine rankings.

Internet business owners looking for low-cost internet marketing should seriously consider becoming involved in link exchange opportunities.Exchanging links with other business websites is not just a low-cost marketing method, exchanging business links is often free. There are websites where those wishing to exchange links can find compatible link partners also interested in low-cost and free marketing through increased website traffic. Once internet business owners are receiving the necessary website traffic in order to achieve high ranking search engine status, they should submit their internet business website to all of the major search engines. Search engine submission and marketing is low-cost and often free through search engine submission services. Website owners using these services are generally asked to place a link to the website submission service on their website. With proper keyword density and meta tags, business websites will achieve higher rankings on major search engine lists. Marketing a business website through low-cost and free online services is an effective and intelligent method of internet business promotion.

Sandra P. Martini One of the worst moments in a business owner’s life is that silent moment between when you quote your rate to a potential client and his response. True, that hardly a second goes by, but it can feel like an eternity. “Will he hire me?” “Did I go too high?” And when he says “YOU’RE HIRED!”, a new set of doubts creep over you: “Should I have gone higher?” “Did I lowball the price just to get a client?” You know the feeling. You’ve got the job, the project, the new client and it almost always turns out to be more work than you thought when you signed up for the task.

Be sure that you know your worth and communicate it to the client up front.

1. Know your worth. If you charge your clients hourly, how do you know what to charge them? Did you pick a number out of the air? What was your rationale? For those who choose to bill hourly, I recommend the following approach to determining what you charge: a) Determine what you want your salary to be. How much will you take out of the company? b) Add to that any subcontractor expense that you may have. This is your “labor total”. c) List out and then add all your expenses: advertising, promotion, rent, self-employment tax, supplies, etc. This is your “non-labor expense total”. d) Add your labor total to your non-labor expense total. e) Add in any profit goal you may have for your business. f) Bullets (d) plus (e) equal your Total Required Revenue. g) Divide your “Total Required Revenue” by the number of BILLABLE hours for the year. Remember that you will not be billing 40 hours/week. The result will be the amount you need to charge per hour to make your salary goal. If you bill hourly, take the time to complete the above exercise and, if necessary, increase your rates accordingly. 2. No haggling. It can be hard when you have few clients or need more money, but whatever you do, do not haggle with your clients/prospective clients over your pricing. You can haggle at a flea market. You can haggle for the price of a house. You can negotiate (a.k.a. “haggle”) for a corporate job salary. As a self-employed individual, you must not haggle over your pricing. To do so immediately lowers your perceived worth with that person and will set you up for a relationship of nitpicking over every nickel and dime. 3. Provide a “solution» and not a “service.” Insure your clients understand the benefits they will receive from hiring you. You are not providing them a service; you are providing them a solution. The difference being that people value solutions more than they do services.

Whenever discussing price with a potential client, focus on the benefits, the “solutions” that she will receive as a result of hiring you. Will she have more free time? Will her business see an increase in profits or clients? Know the benefits and speak to them! 4. Be prepared to say “Goodbye”. Not everyone is going to accept your terms. Deal with it. They weren’t meant to be your clients anyway and would have just taken up the time that you could use for a better qualified client. Save your time and energy for those who recognize your worth – you’ll both be happier and more productive. Pricing your services is one of the most emotional things you’ll do as a business owner. Be sure to take the time to review the project at hand before just blurting out a price – doing so will save you a lot of time and frustration down the road.