some marketing tips!

[caribbean tan man]

i got this in a email and thought it was a good read. it actually got me to make some changes in my current website and referal system.

its long might be best to print it or copy to word.

How to Create the Ultimate Referral Marketing System in 7 Simple Steps

By John Jantsch

It’s funny how often small business owners tell me that the number one way they acquire new business is by way of referral. Yet, when I ask what they do to intentionally stimulate this powerful marketing strategy, I get blank stares.

If you’re doing something right in your business, you will get the accidental referral but, by creating a systematic approach to consistently generating referrals, you will find that your job of marketing and selling can become a pretty simple affair.

The following seven steps constitute the core components used to build an effective referral marketing system for your business.

Step #1 - Create a referral target market(s) – you must create a target list of companies and individuals who can be motivated to refer. This can be clients or a network of related businesses. In many cases you will find a certain percentage of your clients already refer some business. Tap these sources first, create tools to make it easy for them to refer you, ask them what would motivate them to refer more business. Don’t spend your time and energy trying to create a referral program that everyone will buy into. Some people are just wired to give referrals – focus on that group

Step #2 – Identify your ideal referral client – In order to receive high quality referrals you must be able to quickly communicate the exact type of person or business that makes a great referral. Skip this step and you will likely find yourself on too many wild goose chases with referrals that don’t fit your ideal target client.

Step #3 – Create and communicate your core referral message – you must be able to easily explain the value you can bring to anyone who is referred. For example, a marketing and branding expert for professional services might tell an attorney, “We show estate attorneys how to become famous,” as a way to simply communicate how they are unique. It’s important that your referral sources know what makes you unique, what your brand has to offer that a referral might value most.

Step #4 – Design a referral education system – When you meet with a potential referral source you can substantially increase the number and quality of referrals if you systematically educate them on: Who makes a great referral, what’s in it for them to provide a referral, how to refer you, and the exact steps you plan to take with that referral. Taking the time to educate your referral sources is a great way to differentiate your business from the hoards of other businesses that are probably courting them are referral sources as well.

Step #5 – Outline your referral lead offer and system – this is the heart and soul of the system. This is where you devise the creative offer that makes people want to refer you. Spend some time to craft a creative approach to motivate your referral sources. Money for referrals is rarely the best approach. Motivate your sources with recognition, thanks and contests. Example: Earn a 100 percent refund on your tax return preparation when you refer 4 people who become clients.”

Step #6 – Create a referral conversion strategy – what good are referral leads if they don’t become referral clients? You must map out a specific set of steps that will allow you to convert your referral leads. A referred lead is a warm lead, but in some cases, they may actually have higher expectation, due to the referral. Make sure that your initial marketing materials, meetings and sales process meet those expectations or you may find that the referral tap gets turned off. Remember, you are borrowing the trust a referral has with the referral source, don’t abuse it.

Step #7 – Identify a referral follow-up strategy – to bring your referral system full circle you need to devise two follow-up steps. 1) a way to continue to market to your referral leads that don’t immediately turn into clients and 2) a way to systematically communicate the progress of a referral back to your referral sources to keep them motivated. I find that often it makes sense to create several ways to reward your referral sources. Acknowledge them in some way as they refer leads and then again, in a more significant way, as a lead becomes a client. This way you consistently communicate how much you appreciate their support on your behalf.

Take the time to complete the steps outlined above and then operate your referral marketing system week in and week out and you will soon discover a steady flow of highly qualified leads, already aware of the value you can provide, seeking to do business with your firm.

---Source: John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson. He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com



The 5 Most Important Words on Your Web Site
By Nick Usborne

I hesitate to single out a handful of "must-have" words for your Web site. It brings to mind the overblown promises of "power words" and the like. "Power words" strike me as being about as useful as "power naps" and "power lunches." Heavy on hype and light on content.

However, some words really can make a difference on your site. They are not "powerful" in isolation but, in the right context, can make an important difference.

No. 1—Free
For those of us, myself included, who go on about how writing online is different, it is humbling to see how some things are exactly the same. "Free" is an extremely important word in the world of offline marketing, and it's just as important online.

In fact, in some ways, "Free" is even more important online. Much of the Web has grown up on the promise of Free:

• Free browsers
• Free music
• Free software trials
• Free subscriptions

And so on. If you have any doubts about whether users of the Web are that interested in "free"—do a quick search on Google. I just did, and got 172 million results. The number one listing? "Adobe Acrobat Reader—Download."

So don't be shy about using the word. Offer free downloads, free subscriptions, free reports and papers, free trials, free shipping, free consultations.

The Web likes free (even if online publishers don't).

One caveat: many people filter out emails that use the word Free in email subject lines.

No. 2—Sign Up
So it's two words. The point being that every site should be inviting its visitors to sign up or subscribe to an email program or newsletter.

Why? Because you need to reach your prospects by email.

People check their email more frequently than they surf the Web. Much more frequently. As you already know, to your cost, conversion rates of first-time visitors to immediate purchasers is horribly low. And that person who bailed after spending a few seconds on your homepage is unlikely to be coming back again any time soon.

So instead of hoping that your visitors will make a purchase on their first visit, concentrate instead on collecting their email addresses.

Caveat: your emails or newsletters had better be good. Good content in their inbox will bring visitors back to your site again and again. Poor content will damage your chances of ever hearing from them again.

No. 3—Buy
You need to ask for the sale. It's amazing how many sites invest in presenting products and services, but fail to close the sale. Again, conversion rates online are nothing to write home about. So make sure that you actually ask for the sale at the right moment.

Make that BUY link prominent, both by positioning it close to the product or service in question, and by boosting it with a strong graphic treatment.

The word BUY is an instruction. It tells people to do something. So make that instruction jump out and grab their attention.

No. 4—Now
Now is good. "Later" is death. If someone digs deep enough into your site to find the product or service they want, and then just makes a mental note to come back again some time, you've lost her.

The Web is an easy-come and easy-go environment. If you can't get people to act immediately, forget it.

So ask people to do things NOW:
• Sign up NOW
• Buy NOW
• Tell a friend NOW

Go further still with some incentives:
• Sign up NOW and receive a FREE report on [whatever].
• Buy NOW and get FREE shipping

No. 5—Thank You
OK, so it's two words again. But it's the thought that counts. When you sign up a subscriber or make a sale, the job is just beginning.

Just because someone signs up for your newsletter doesn't mean that they will read it.

And just because someone buys your product doesn't mean that they won't send it back.

When visitors become customers, your work is just starting. You have a relationship to build. And the first step in building that relationship is to say thank you. It's courteous. It's the right thing to say.

Maybe this will inspire you to go back to those automated "acknowledgement" emails you wrote a few years back.

Rewrite them, be personal, say thank you.

Finally
There are other important words to consider, but I can't think of any that top these five.

Look through your site, your emails and your newsletters—and consider the places where these words could make a difference.

Then make some changes and test the results. As always, the proof is in the testing.

---Source: Nick Usborne (nick@nickusborne.com) is an online copywriter, Web optimization expert, and editor of the Excess Voice Newsletter (excessvoice.com). This MarketingProfs Classic article was originally published on January 8, 2002. (www.marketingprofs.com).


7 Ways to Make Marketing Emails More Readable

The effectiveness of email marketing campaigns depends more and more on the inventiveness of marketing and creative teams, according to a white paper by Performance Communications Group (PCG), which suggests seven ways to help emails keep their impact.

PCG, a US-based interactive marketing agency, has developed a set of guidelines that aim to help email marketers retail the impact of their e-communications without running into display problems when they're received and opened.

The company suggests seven best practices for composing high impact e-mails without being restricted by blocking features. To briefly summarize them:

1. Don't rely on images or multimedia for primary messaging
Many emails include images to ensure fonts are rendered as the sender intended. Instead of text, the reader may only see the dreaded "Red X."

2. Manage your visual assets
When building an HTML e-mail with images or multimedia, combine as many objects as possible into one to reduce the total number of Red Xs seen by a viewer with images turned off. That way it looks less "broken."

3. Trim down your tables
Don't use HTML tables for large header images or media, as pre-allocated table space will be maintained causing the text to fall below the visible screen area. Even though multimedia should not be in a table, you should always force the table cell height and width settings for each object, as scaling to 100 percent may reduce the actual size, making it too small to view in a preview window.

4. Keep the code simple!
Complex JavaScript and CSS (styles) for formatting are often not supported by HTML e-mail viewers. Instead, use inline style code, multimedia, or standard HTML code to achieve the desired effect.

5. Don't hide the URL
Always present the URL to which a link will go, rather than hiding the URL behind a "click here" statement. The more open and clear you are about what a link is, and where it will take the recipient, the better. Many e-mail service providers change links for tracking purposes, so the replacement links will expire over time.

6. Remember the fundamentals
Make sure you include a link to allow recipients to "View this message as a web page" and preferably also add an "Add to address book" link within the copy (which will get your sender address effectively white listed within their e-mail software).

7. Reduce the animation
When using multimedia, file size is of the essence. Reduce your HTML source code, optimize any embedded objects, and avoid attachments. Embedded sound also takes up unnecessary space, and can be highly annoying if it plays automatically whenever the message is opened.

Remember, if an e-mail is in any way annoying, the 'Report Spam' button is only a click away.

---Source: Performance Communications Group (PCG) at (www.epcg.net).

[mr belvedere]

Great tips! Thanks for posting this, CTM!

[Brandy1]

Great post.

[caribbean tan man]

thanks! i thought it was good info

[mr belvedere]

No doubt - you're a pretty good thinker.

[tnannie]

Thanks for sharing CTM....very good post.

[BP]

Great post!

[Marca]

Nice!

[Gidget]

Wow great info, thanks for sharing!

[RedLime]

Very nice!