Archive for July, 2009

In today’s economy and competitive environment successful businesses are reaping the benefits of one of the oldest strategies – partnering.  On line marketers have been using this strategy for years to catapult their sales to unbelievable heights and now, Joint Ventures are making a comeback in the bricks and mortar world of business.

A joint venture is when two or more businesses, individuals or projects come together to co-market an opportunity, project or product to each other’s client list and new prospects. It allows you to leverage the relationships and goodwill already established by your partner to the benefit of both parties. So in layman terms, a joint venture is when you join forces with another business to make some money!

With joint ventures, you want to identify people who are selling into your target market with a non competitive product or service but who are working deals with the same individuals who make the decisions on your products or services. Develop a proposal that is mutually beneficial for both parties and a marketing strategy and hit the road with your co-branded offer.

Did you ever hear the old saying “you are only as good as the people you know”. This holds true for forming successful joint venture partnerships. People want to surround themselves with successful, positive and magnetic people and businesses with a strong brand so it is critical to align with a business with comparable values and goals.

Although this is one of the quickest ways to enhance your market presence and boost your profits, there are many other benefits to forming a partnership with another business in your space.

Benefit # 1: New Client Acquisition
Joint ventures are a great way to acquire new leads and new clients at no additional cost. By having new subscribers, you are able to continuing building a relationship with these people and even if they don’t buy from you right away, chances are they will eventually. Not a bad way to build a prospecting list without incurring any fees. Some new online marketers may benefit greatly from giving away all profits from their first joint venture just to build their list for future opportunities.

Benefit # 2: Enhanced Credibility
You gain instant rockstar status and enhanced credibility. One of the keys to an effective partnership is selecting the right partner. If you joint venture partner is reputable, trustworthy and has already established a great following, their followers will trust you based upon that recommendation. This is why your “list” is sacred. Do not partner with just anyone, make sure you select someone who is worthy of your list and make sure that you are worthy of theirs.

Benefit #3: Increase Breadth of Services
Joint ventures are a great way to offer your clients and prospects additional products. By jointly co-branding a product, you and your partner are able to bring new solutions to your current client list increasing your breadth of services you offer. The more solutions you can bring to your customers, the more valuable you are to your customers.

Benefit #4: Improved Conversion Rate
You will enhance your conversion rate. One of the goals when you get your list is to convert those prospects into buying customers. With a joint venture partner, you will increase your conversion rate. Your joint venture partner will be endorsing you and your product and by that testimony alone, will convert more of their leads into sales in their own list. Since they already have an established relationship, their subscribers trust their endorsements and you can leverage that trust by offering a high quality product that will benefit the joint venture partner’s subscriber list.

If you are an avid Facebook fan, chances are you have seen the above phrase being passed around over the internet, in emails and on social networking sites over the past couple days.  Upon investigation, it appears as though this isn’t a new policy at all. The terms and conditions (please note the revision date of May 1, 2009) clearly state:

“For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (“IP content”), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings:   you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (“IP License”). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account (except to the extent your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it).”

So the question is “what does this mean to you”?  My response is simple, exactly what the title of the article implies: Facebook has rights to your content including all statements, videos and photos and you are NOT entitled to any money for use of your content.

Next time you answer the question “What’s on your mind” or post that embarrassing picture or comment on a video, remember that you truly have no privacy in a public forum such as Facebook.    If your personal image is important to you, I would suggest you review the Facebook privacy policy and reset your settings to protect you.

How do we protect ourselves and our content?

First, take a look at your privacy and applications settings.

• Go to “Settings”, “Privacy Settings”, “News Feed and Wall” ,open the tab “Facebook Ads”,
• Select “No One” in the drop down
• Save your changes

There is so much talk these days about list building it may be difficult to translate what exactly is list building and how it could benefit your business. In today’s marketing environment, having a list of clients and prospect is important to every business and should be an integral part of any marketing strategy, especially those who want to use online marketing efforts. But how many people really understand what is meant by a “list” in online marketing terms? And what is list building? A simple yet accurate definition would be that list building is a process of developing a database of like minded people online who would be interested in the kind of products or services that your business offers. In other words, your list is your first and main market where you can hope to achieve the most success in selling.

The premise behind list building is that you have more than one opportunity to sell to a potential customer because they have given you permission to do so by opting in to receive your ongoing communications.

Once you have a person on your list, you can keep sending them information on your products and services and continue to educate them on your specials and discounts that you may be offering from time to time. The more frequently a person is exposed to information about your site and the products available there, the more familiar your business will appear to them, although perhaps only subconsciously, the more inclined they will be to buy from you when they need what you are offering.

Research has shown that less than 2% of people buy anything from an online business the first time they come across it. Do not let this figure depress you. In fact it is a positive. More people are buying more goods and services online everyday and online businesses are the least affected by the economic slow-down and recession. So, if more is being sold online each day, but less than 2% of the sales are made on the first contact, that means that subsequent contact and long terms relationships are where the money lies for the online business. So, the critical factor to getting your business profitable is to be able to gain the trust of complete strangers who will never meet you. It is not as tough as it sounds. If you have a list and keep sending information to the people on it– a new product development, a special price, a contest or some tidbits about you and your life – they will become familiar with you and will begin to trust you. Soon your name will be associated with the product they are interested in and they will eventually buy from you when the need arises.

The goal is to provide valuable content to your list. If you continue to market and sell them, chances are they will ask to be removed from your list. People seek out information, tips and strategies that will help them improve their lives and if you can be that conduit and continue to educate and be a valuable resource, your list will continue to grow.

Be prepared to start small, a list will not grow overnight. As in any relationship, it will need time to develop.  And remember the more valuable information you can provide to your targeted list the more effectively you will be able to continue to grow your list and eventually sell your products and services.

A fulfilling life is one of meaning, purpose and balance and the one thing that everybody strives for each and every day. It is living your life and enjoying every moment to the best of your ability and finding the happiness that is all around you. It is not only about materialistic things either. Those things can give the impression of a happy life but often you will find, that with no one to share it with and experiences to remember, all the money, cars and homes will not bring do we want it, it is how do we achieve it?

The secrets are as follows:

Secret #1 – An Optimistic Outlook

Optimism is a wonderful ingredient to a fulfilled life. Take a look at the good in each thing you see, hear and experience and you will immediately be given rewards in return. This isn’t always easy, but if you practice each and every day starting with the little things, it will eventually become a part of your life and remember to start with being grateful for what you already have.

Secret #2 – A Goal and Purpose in Life

Have a purpose in life and working towards that purpose is the secret to a happy life.  We as human beings are programmed to set goals and using that skill to define our life purpose will put you on the road to a fulfilled life.  If you examined some of the most successful people in the world, they would tell you that they know what they want, they know the price to pay for it and they make a habit at setting goals daily.  Without goals you float thru life but with goals, you soar  thru the air like an arrow with focus, power and heading  straight towards your target.

Secret #3 – Take Charge of Your Life

You cannot change the past so take charge of your life and change your future.  You have the power to master your own fate and orientate your life towards as positive and purposeful future.  You just have to decide to do so.  Stop blaming other for your problems and work towards freeing yourself of negative emotions:  fear, self pity, shame and anger.  The more responsibility you take for yourself and your actions, the more in charge of your life you will be.

Secret #4 – Live each day as it was your last

We operate 96% of our lives on autopilot.  Doing the same actions we have done each day before.  The secret to a fulfilled  life is breaking out of those habits and finding opportunities to experience life everyday.   When you expand your universe and  venture out to other places, you open up the possibility for new experiences and new adventures.  You cannot create new experiences sitting around waiting for something to happen.  You need to change your  environment in order to change your results.  If you continue to do the same thing, each day in the same manner, you will always get the same results.  Remove the routine of your life and try something new.

Secret #5 – Experiences in the 9 critical areas

The old Chinese masters identified 9 areas in your life that need to be tended to and nurtured in order to live a healthy, happy and prosperous life, they are as follows:

Those that are fulfilled have addressed their needs in all of these areas.  There is no defined formula or one size fits all approach to finding balance, those that are fulfilled have more positive experiences in many areas of their life rather than just focus on only one.

Secret # 6 – Good Health

Your body is your temple and to live a fulfilled, you must experience good health so be sure to take care of yourself with proper diet, exercise and personal development.   Taken care of yourself will energize you to take the necessary actions to reach all of your goals.  You want to make sure you are feeding your body and feeding your mind each and every day to remain sharp, focused and motivated.

Business that are successful usually have a marketing plan and most would tell you that while executing the plan has its challenges, developing the plan and deciding what to do and how to do it was the longest part of the process. Your marketing plan should be clear, concise, and a well though out document that guides you through your marketing activities starting with your overall objective and how you intend to accomplish that objective. Whether your company provides products or services, is off line or on line, your marketing plan is essential to your success but must focus on five critical components to be a success.

I. Position Your Product

In the BLASTTM marketing system, positioning is the most critical element to consider when putting together your marketing plan. It involves creating the image and identity in the minds of your customers each time they experience your product and building the infrastructure around it to support it. In product positioning, there are two basic focuses: Offering what the customer wants with the most profitable market opportunity and taken actions to differentiate product from that of their competition in such a way that customers will develop a preference for your product over the competition. When you put the right product at the right price and in front of the right customer, you have mastered positioning. The goal of any marketing plan is to create a strategy that will boost your profits including a persuasive message targeted towards your customer and a promise that your product actually delivers – this statement will become your brand promise.

• For example: Fed Ex, “When it simply has to get there overnight” Domino’s Pizza “Pizza in 30 minutes or less”

II. Tap into your Mastermind Group

Information is one of the most powerful assets a person can posses and having the ability to leverage other people’s information is exponentially better. To help define your marketing plan, tap into your brain trust for ideas, market and competitive perspectives. In a mastermind group, each group member will come with different experiences, perspectives and ideas that will most likely be your next big money making idea. Having the ability to brainstorm and be creative with a group of people all focused on helping you solve a problem is one of the biggest benefits you will experience from a mastermind group. The powerful result of a mastermind group is that there is a synergy of energy, excitement and idea sharing that participants bring to the group therefore raising the bar by challenging and encouraging other members to create and implement their goals.

III. Listen to your Customers

The best way to find out what is in your customer’s head is to simply ask them. Whether you new business or an established one, understanding your target market is an important element to your marketing plan. It is important to get your customer’s perspective to your product, its price, quality and anything else that influences their purchasing decision. Try handing out samples, conducting surveys or test marketing your product. The information that you get back will be invaluable and well worth the investment of offering a few free samples. The feedback that you will get from your customers or potential customers will help you evaluate the integrity of your product, its ability to support your brand promise, the pricing model and its quality. Even if you are new, test your product in your target market by conducting what is called market test to see how your product will be received. This is a great way to introduce you, get valuable feedback and testimonials for your product launch.

IV. Create a Simple Plan

Now that you have given some thought to what you want your product to represent, identify your target market and tested your product to see what works and what doesn’t, it is now to sit down and draft your marketing plan.   So many business owners get stuck at this point either thinking they don’t need a plan or are intimidated about creating one. Every business, both small and large, will benefit greatly from a well thought out planning process and a key component to every success business is a good marketing plan that answers the basic questions:  who, what, why, where, when an how much.  Creating a marketing plan is critical component to on-going success and is not something that should be ignored.  This plan does not have to be comprehensive.  It can be a simple plan that addresses the following:

• Your overall market
• Your specific niche
• Your target audience within your niche
• Your brand promise
• Your competition
• Your benefits and competitive differences
• Your pricing model
• Your marketing budget
• Your marketing activities
• Your marketing calendar of events
• Your success measures

V. Track Results

A successful marketing plan is tracked and measured. In order to measure your performance and determine if your plan is successful, you must identify how you will be measuring the success of your plan. Some examples: Return on investment (how much did I spend vs. how much I got back; Returned coupons, web hits, open clicks, Increased calls? How will you define a successful marketing activity? What is the result you are looking for?

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©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site? You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D’Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes “The Marketing Edge” a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at www.KellieDandrea.com.