• Don’t Spam. It is a general mistake done by most of the newbies. They buy the e-mail lists and then sends promotional mail to those people to buy things daily or periodically, this in fact creates bad impression on you and you will not get any worthy business out of it. Even worse is some affiliates used to send mails to thousands or millions of people without even considering whether they are potential customers.

• Unexpected Redirection. Another bad promotional method used by some affiliates is to redirect the site visitor to the sales page unintentionally i.e., the visitor may try to reach some other place but these affiliates will create their site in such a manner wherever they click they will be redirected to the sales page, thinking that it will bring them business but it ends only in disaster. If the customer wishes to buy the product or service he will definitely search for the link to reach sales page and will go there but if you force him to go there then you are surely going to lose him even if he had the intention to buy the product.

• Choosing wrong Affiliate Program. Some people in curiosity will select any affiliate program in hurry and end up in failure. Before selecting a program you should think whether this program can bring you enough commission and the product is worthy for the customers.

• No Knowledge about the product or service. Usually people just have an outlook of a product and predict the target customers but this method will not work. You should have thorough knowledge about the product that you sell because if you don’t know what are its advantages and disadvantages in comparison to other products then how can you promote that product.

• Don’t expect quick money. Another big mistake done by many affiliates is to expect quick money from the affiliate business. First they should understand that affiliate program is not a quick money program it is a highly profitable business but only in long run. Some people will do lot of hard work initially for some days and after that they will mostly give up when they were almost near success. So, don’t look for money in early stages just do the good things to increase number of visitors to your site, then try to impress them and finally turn every visit into sale.

These are only some of the main methods that you should avoid to make profit by saving your affiliate commission but there are also many more things that you should avoid like don’t rest after your initial efforts after achieving success and continuously improve performance for better results.

Egidijus Andreika is a creator of Click2Sell.EU Affiliate Programs Network. Click2Sell allows you to sell digital products online and run your affiliate program. Accept payments via Paypal, Google Checkout or direct credit card payments. Get paid instantly, provide easy payment options for customers, recruit affiliates. Visit: http://www.click2sell.eu

Advertising or Information

TV, Radio and Printed advertising is intrusive; it attempts to interrupt the viewer, listener or reader long enough to take notice of a marketing message. This type of marketing is known as Push marketing. Here the marketing message along with where and when it’s delivered, are pretty much controlled by the advertiser.

The internet reverses this process, internet users turn search engines in order to receive the information they want at a time and place that suits them. Think about this, before there were search engines printed directories like Yellow Pages were the only way that you could locate a service. In the same way that someone using Yellow Pages to locate a wedding planner is likely to be looking for someone to help plan a wedding, someone using a search engine to research and locate your products or services is probably in the market for what you offer. This is called pull marketing.

I am not suggesting that traditional marketing no longer works, rather I am pointing out that someone who arrives at your site via a search engine is proactively seeking information. The chances are they have already decided to buy and are looking to locate a product. They are not looking for advertising or hype, they want information, they want it to be easily accessible, and they want the site to be user friendly.

What has Usability and Accessibility to do with SEO

Failing to consider accessibility or usability is failing to consider your visitors. At the end of the day SEO is rather more than simply obtaining search engine positions, it must in some way produce a return on investment. More sales, more leads or more opt-ins is what SEO is really about. Sure, search engine visibility plays a big part but remember this, no one ever buys from a search engine!

Accessibility

The fact is, many accessibility techniques could be considered SEO and vice versa. For example:

• Using CSS to separating style from content.

• Minimizing on-page JavaScript.

• Using valid, standards compliant code.

These simple steps will allow search engines to spider, index, categorise and rank web pages much easier. Furthermore, pages will download faster, be accessible to a wider range of browsers, older technologies and assistive devices such as screen readers. Note that each of Google’s guidelines actually correlates with a W3C Web Content Accessibility Guideline.

One should not forget the legal responsibility to provide accessible web pages. Over recent years there have been some high profile court cases where companies have been successfully sued for failing to provide websites that are accessible to all.

Usability

Good usability enhances the visitor experience and encourages visitors to stay on your site longer. A great visitor experience rarely happens by chance, rather, it stems from an intimate understanding of your visitors and their immediate and long term goals.

• Identifying the different personas or groups of people who visit your website

• Evaluating the range of goals they have

• Structuring information into logical paths

• Help them achieve their goals in the minimum number of clicks.

The paths should initially address your visitors immediate needs by answering their questions and concerns then steer them towards completing the goal or call to action you have set out for them.

In Summary

SEO in the purest sense is about gaining search engine positions. If you know enough about SEO you will realise that just about any page will rank if you point enough links at it. But what will happen when a visitor lands on one of your pages, is the navigation intuitive, does the website think like them, do your pages render quickly in their browser of choice, does it project trust, will it make a sale?

This article was written by SEO Scotland a company that specializes in marketing Scottish business online.

Imagine an island off the coast of Britain with a population of 11 million - growing at the rate of at least 1 million citizens per year - where the first language is English and the vast majority of the population are within the age range 17-30? Would you be interested in marketing to this group and could you afford not to?

Incredibly, just such an island, or perhaps I should say, group of islands exists. Not off the coast of Britain, of course, but in Cyberspace. Its name is ‘Second Life’ and it is just one of a myriad of virtual worlds springing into existence. Developed by their own citizens and a hosting Lab, these are essentially democratic environments which continue to adapt and change as citizens build and develop their own landscapes and create their own communities of interest.

This is the place for companies wanting to catch the next wave of Customer Experience – namely the virtual experience. Why? Because the Internet is rapidly becoming a place for active communication and virtual interaction amongst customers. Think of such familiar sites as Friendsreunited, YouTube and MySpace all part of a networking Mega-trend with the capacity to rapidly spread both positive and negative word of mouth.

And although extremely successful, what has really captured the imagination is the arrival of these 3D worlds where you can take up a character of your choice (an avatar) and stroll around a virtual world at the click of a button, communicating with other virtual characters – all real people, logging on and interacting; and for the most part it’s free!

Imagine for instance sitting at home and meeting a new community of friends from the comfort of your armchair: Talking to someone who has similar interests to yourself, but happens to live in China, Brazil, the USA or Leicester! Attending an online business conference where you can actually interact with and see the other participants, even go to and dress up for a post conference party at one of the virtual discos; of course buying your avatar’s clothes with virtual currency such as Linden Dollars from a virtual store.

Just like many new ventures, however, the current wave is only just starting to be absorbed into the broader marketing mainstream. The common excuses that it’s just about cybersex or that it’s full of geeks. This excuse simply misses the point, because today’s geek or student is tomorrow’s consumer or business leader – remember those 11 million accounts! Furthermore, the use of such 3D technology and virtual communication is highly likely to Mash-Up with the current Internet version 2.0. So, rather then think of this as some strange phenomena, separate from the commercial activities on the Internet, it is very much the next extension of it.

To give you just a few examples:

- Imagine a customer pressing a button on your website that takes them on a virtual tour of your store or other business (maybe even something like a manufacturing plant that is still at the design stage) and allows them to speak to a virtual assistant about financial products or something else entirely?

- Alternatively, if they have an avatar (their virtual selves) already, you could teleport (redirect) them to your site or location on Second Life.

- How about meeting others at a virtual conference? Or holding face-to-virtual-face discussion groups?

- Or, offering an exciting new site targeted at a specific community of interest or even your own mini Metaverse.

Think about those 100 million or so members of flat web pages like MySpace. Soon these will be pushing members towards 3D worlds like Second Life.

There is no doubt that this will be a difficult play for some people to conceptualise, but for that generation, brought up with video gaming, this is all second nature.

And already, several companies have investigated the potential and started to develop virtual landscapes that promote their company. For instance, Amazon.com, where you can search and shop in a virtual bookstore linked and integrated into the website. Other examples sourced from Second Life, The Official Guide, include:

- Starwood Hotels, which used Second Life to show off its new hotel chains.

- Toyota Motor Corporation, which released a driveable model for its Scion xB.

- Adidas, which sells virtual versions of its a3 Microride shoes.

- Hipster clothing, the American clothing retailer, which opened an outlet to sell virtual versions of its clothing.

- Harvard Law School, which offers a course partially on Second Life.

- The CIA.

- Duran Duran have developed a site for playing concerts and showcasing new bands.

- And potentially why not work the other way, offering an excellent virtual store (perhaps for a clothing range) prior to branching out in Real Life whether through bricks or clicks and mortar.

This is not an environment just for tangibles such as clothing and books, but very much for all businesses; as we have seen with the development of banks in Second Life and professional services advisors. The likes of Amazon.com, of course, will always be leaders in this area but this is just as good an environment for a utility or financial services provider whether for PR or advice as it is for anyone else.

The truth is companies on Second Life are not using it for some wild fantasy trip, but in much the same way as the Internet - for word of mouth. Furthermore, as the primary purpose is interaction, you are already seeing many specific interest communities develop. These could work as an excellent basis for feedback and targeting your messages and online developments, as well as obtaining research feedback.

And if you thought it was difficult and expensive, think again. Land prices are quoted as $195 per month for occupying a whole region equivalent to 65,536 square meters (source: Second Life, The Official Guide).

So if you have an interest in getting in early what can you expect? How can you approach this market in the correct way and use the power of Internet networking?

This is an ideal area to adapt the concepts of Customer Experience and an area that we at Beyond Philosophy are happy to provide advice on; answering questions as basic as what is Second Life to what commercial models will be most successful; how do I develop land space; how will the concept of Customer Experience Management work; what are the cultural considerations when interacting with this still developing environment and the best use of Mash-Ups with your Internet presence.

Of course there will always be some consumers who are only interested in playing Online-Poker, but as the Metaverse matures and 3D technology merges with the current Web environment the winners as always will be those companies with first mover advantage; if that is, you have been quick enough to catch the wave.

For more information please contact:

Steven Walden

Principal Consultant and Head of Research at Beyond Philosophy

Steven.walden@beyondphilosophy.com

Beyond Philosophy? are the leading experts in the Customer Experience, helping organisations think through the ramifications of commoditising market places and the effect this has on their business. They show how Building Great Customer Experiences can provide companies with competitive advantage as well as the ability to save costs by developing and implementing utilising an expert customer experience strategy as well as providing bespoke customer experience training They demonstrate the importance that emotions play in a Customer Experience and suggest strategies and practical steps to unleash the formidable power of evoking positive emotions in customers and how they can be used as a key differentiator ? ensuring a fantastic customer relationship.

It doesn’t matter if you are an MLM rookie or if your ACN venture is your 20th attempt at establishing a home-based business… This information is for you.

If, however, you are among the top earners in ACN and are making 350K per month then you need not read any further. You are among the elite 2% of network marketers that make it in this business. We won’t get into why or how you did it because it is definitely NOT the norm. Most of you were already part of an extensive culture of wealthy people or were fortunate enough to get involved with a group of people that were already established in network marketing businesses.

But I am going to share some great information with you because I know you are just dying to get your ACN business going. I know you are sick and tired of

• Attending meetings

• Hosting presentations and classes

• Learning the latest presentation

• Attending one-on-one meetings in coffee shops

• Setting up 3-way calls with your upline

• Listening to the latest and greatest angle to present the business

Ask yourself these questions and give an honest answer:

• Is your spouse sick and tired of hearing about your no-income business?

• Hiding your measly checks from your significant other because it doesn’t even come close to paying for your monthly expenses?

• Handing out expensive literature, DVD’s and CD’s and being embarrassed to ask for them back if they are not interested (pretty tacky, huh)?

• Spending a small fortune on all those beautiful business aids. How much business have they really generated for your business?

• Promoting the company by paying for your very own company-sponsored website! Yeah! Let’s spend some more money and promote our company instead of ourselves. No wonder the company just loves us. They should. In what other industry to reps pay the company to promote the company? Wow. What a concept!

So what’s up…?

… With all this stuff your upline and company management is telling you to do? Why would they tell you to do all this stuff if it doesn’t work? Surely they want you to succeed, right?

Well, not so fast. These techniques and methods really do work. And they work well – just not for you.

WHAT?

I can hear you right now. You just finished telling me that all this stuff is not going to help me grow my business.

But it does work very well… FOR THE COMPANY!

Find out in part two why all the “techniques” your upline and company are pushing you to do only work for the company. And not only do they NOT work for you, they actually hurt your business in so many ways.

Stay tuned for part 2 of “How you are annihilating your ACN business”.

I, Jane Ellen, accept full responsibility for the content of this article. If you have any questions regarding anything in this article, please check out more great information at http://www.FreeMLMSuccessReport.com or contact me at my home office 440.942.8166 EST.

Go To http://www.FreeMLMsuccessReport.com for New Updated Marketing Materials Questions? Office 440.942.8166, EST. Jane has an extensive background in the home business industry as well as the retail marketing industry. The only thing she cannot create more of is time. She will never waste yours.

The Sellers that have been actively marketing their yachts over this winter with their brokers have generally found a buyer. The 50m + market has been very active and most of the brokerage stock has been sold to date. The 35 – 50m sales have been slower but when yachts have been priced to sell, generally they have found a willing buyer. The under 35m market has been slow and stock is starting to build up.

My reported general state of uncertainty aligned with the volatility of the world currency markets is causing a few nervous stirrings in the market. In the last few months, the dollar has moved to record lows against the euro, and this is definitely dissuading the dollar-based client from buying in euro land, and as I write, the same is happening to the Pound, and will certainly deter the pound-strong Brit from buying euro yachts. This, however, may just be a minor blip; currencies may realign and the good times may well roll again sooner rather than later; but as I write this article, I am left with a feeling of a cold wind just starting to blow through the business.

Enough `doom, gloom and general anxiety’: The shipyards are currently full with orders, and it is very difficult to find builders with any spare slots before 2011.Full shipyards mean full employment for yacht designers, project managers, yacht managers, crew, interior specialists and all the ancillary businesses that are associated with building super yachts.2011 is a long way off and the orders will, I believe, continue to be placed by discerning buyers who know what they are looking to own.

Owning a new yacht has a caveat that will not be quashed, whatever may be happening in the financial markets. Blue Water Yachting, which specializes in Sales and luxury yacht charter, has a traditional business base in crew recruitment and yacht crew training. The demand for qualified crew from the Super Yacht charter market remains unabated from Captains and Owners alike and the lack of qualified crew is driving the salaries of the specialized crew ( i.e. engineers, chefs etc)upwards at an incredible rate. Yachts just cannot afford to lose their best people with so few qualified replacements available. The Training division of Blue Water Yachting has increased its capacity in its attempt to qualify crew at the necessary rate in order to satisfy market demand.

Finally, to return to my opening gambit regarding the` state of limbo` in the second hand sales market! I honestly believe that sellers will have to cut prices in order to sell their yachts. This will then have a stimulating effect through the sizes, with owners of smaller yachts cutting their prices with the knowledge that prices are being reduced further up the ladder. With deals in the shipyards being few and far between for bargain hunting buyers, the brokerage market will be studied for opportunities, and as these possibilities arise more doors will open for buyers and sellers alike.

My final thought concerns the `China factor’. When will the expected surge of Chinese buyers arrive in the traditional heartlands of the Super yacht Market –Monaco, Antibes, and Ft Lauderdale? Will they just buy new? Will they start small and work upwards? Will they charter before they buy? Watch this space and read Market Intelligence over the months and years to come!

Blue Water Yachting is an exclusive yacht charter company specialising in luxury yacht charter in the South of France. Whether you are interested in a Mediterranean yacht charter, Caribbean crewed yacht charter or a South of France luxury yacht charter, we always provide a first class service.

Over one year there is a saving of $840 on your website hosting costs.

Richard Martin is an experienced businessman and is attempting to focus on bringing some of his ‘offline businesses’ onto the internet. The cost in doing so has restricted his progress, but in conversation, he told me of new technology that many are missing out on…

… He said, “First and foremost I am guilty… I know doubt have followed the same path as many are doing now. I have gradually grown from one website to over 10. Without knowing too much about the internet I foolishly hosted every new website either on a different hosting provider or with another account on the current provider and paid separately for each account.

So perhaps if I was paying $8 per month x 10 = $80, I paid this for some 18 months as I thought it was a necessary procedure. Until I understood how hosting providers work.

I worked with one hosting provider from my early days in 2001 and would have suggested them to everyone as I thought they were excellent. Good customer service, pretty much reliable and my websites were seen on the internet. No qualms, no problems and no hesitations.

Everything was hunky dory and I accepted the $80 per month for all my sites. Then when I read more I found that you can now find hosting providers that allow multiple websites in one account. Today most multiple providers suggest 10 websites for one monthly fee. Yet even better news is that because of competition some hosting providers allow unlimited websites. Initially their costing was that little bit higher, but even that has come down to compete with the mainstream providers.

So… Now I’m smiling all the way to the bank as my $80 per month has been reduced to just $7.95, for ALL of my websites. Isn’t competition a beautiful thing… All my websites are hosted with a reliable hosting provider.

If you are using links between your sites then using one hosting provider may affect their linking strength, but when you’re saving money that out weighs this benefit.

Beyond all the money saving possibilities this particular hosting provider claims to be totally ‘green’ and works of the power of the sun and wind. Not only am I getting a good deal, am I also being green…”

Apart from saving you loads of money these providers also offer Free Domains, Free Software, Massive Web space, Emails, Blogs & More.

May I say Richard was rather enthusiastic about this conversation as his budget would remain at $80 for servicing his websites, but the remaining $72 would be spent on traffic improvements. I could see he was pleased.

So Richard which is the Hosting Provider you are referring to? Richard said, “Go to this link:

http://www.globaltop5.com/web-hosting.html

I hope this information is helpful.

Mr. P. Booker Senior Internet Advisor and Journalist This week?s topic relates to this website: Web Hosting

• Reward your affiliates in a way so they would feel that your product is worth being promoted! The very difficult decision to take in affiliate program is rewarding correct amount of commission for the affiliates. If you pay very little then your affiliates will lose interest in promoting your business. On the other hand if you pay more you might end up in loss. So, the ideal condition is to pay varying commission rates depending on the affiliate’s performance. In most cases you always have to test and see for yourself. Offer your affiliates for example 50% of affiliate commission if you sell digital products online. Run such affiliate program for a few months and see the response. Then increase your affiliate commission more – to 75% and see if that attracts more affiliates or makes them more ‘loyal’. Always test and see for yourself. The thing is that you have to offer your affiliates as much affiliate commissions as possible, this way they will reward you with more sales.

• As a general rule set a default commission rate which you can afford to pay on your profits for your affiliates. From time to time give some offers, promotions and bonus and distribute around 25% more of the allotted sum. You can bump another 25% during holidays or when your sales go down. It is really very effective. This technique will encourage the affiliates to great extent, it is better than giving the entire money as general affiliate commission.

• You should have an affiliate approval and banning mechanisms. It should be one of the basic features of your used affiliate marketing system because if an affiliate has been using unethical means to drive traffic to your site it will not help you to enhance your sales and moreover it can damage your reputation. You should be able to ban such affiliates.

• Always be in contact with your affiliate, it will make them feel that you are very friendly and will work for you happily. Being in contact with your affiliate would help you to receive feedback from them both good and bad, which can help you to improve your affiliate program and the product or service that you offer because affiliates usually provide good tips that help you make your affiliate program more attractive and successful. Why not to ask them?

These are just four tips on how to manage affiliates successfully. In order to find out more about selling your digital products online and running affiliate marketing business successfully, read the additional four most important tips here at Click2Sell.EU (http://www.click2sell.eu) affiliate marketing system’s blog : http://www.click2sell.eu/blog/merchant/7-tips-to-manage-affiliates-successfully

Egidijus Andreika is a creator of Click2Sell.EU Affiliate Programs Network. Sell digital products online and run your affiliate program. Accept payments via Paypal, Google Checkout or direct credit card payments. Get paid instantly, provide easy payment options for customers, recruit and manage affiliates successfully. Visit: http://www.click2sell.eu

#1 THE SIX FIGURE SYSTEM

So what’s the Six Figure Yearly program exactly? Basically it’s not a single method of making money but several. In effect you could think of it as somewhat of an online money making bible. To be honest many of the methods you may have heard of, though I guarantee there will be several you haven’t. In fact, many of them which will be new to most people.

Some of the ones in Six Figure Yearly you may have heard of are things like completing surveys and such, though they’re not the reason you should think about buying it. There are a few little known gems inside which I recommend you use. The method of money I used when I tested this system is one where you complete online money making transactions for other people and I’ll talk about this in more detail later.

The great thing about the variety of methods you can use in Six Figure Yearly is that you can choose the one that suits you the best. While some will pay better than others, most will give you the chance to make more than enough to leave your 9-5. If you invest some dedication to them.

#2 EASY TO USE

How easy is it to use Six Figure Yearly? There are a couple of money making methods in this system that may require you to have a little experience, however most will be extremely easy for a total money making beginner to pick up. As it’s one of the easiest systems I’ve come across to get started making money.

Every single method to making money described in this system, is set up for you to understand. As long as you have the ability to follow instructions, which I’m sure you can as you’re reading this. So you should have no problem making money with Six Figure Yearly.

#3 EARNING MONEY

Now we come to the most important part: the money. Keep in mind that while you read this, that I have been in internet marketing for years. However if you achieve only half of what I did, which I know you can. Then you’ll be on your way to leaving your 9-5 for financial freedom!

The method I tried, was a way of earning money through completing online transactions for other people. It’s basically managing other people’s money for them. You don’t need any previous experience and as long as you can follow instructions, you can do this.

The amount of money you earn is a tiny commission based on a percentage of each transaction. While the amount may be small, the work is easy and stacks up the more you do it.

I tested this for one week and invested 1-3 hours per day doing it. By the end of my first day I had made $100! While at the end of the week, I had made over $1000 for the week! I noticed that every day I made a little more than the day before as I got more used to how it works.

#4 VALUE

So, is it really worth your money? Considering I’ve made my investment back several times over, I’de have to say my answer would be a yes.

I know it’s not the cheapest work at home system you can buy. However, you do get a few little known gems and the old saying “You get what you pay for” is true here. Plus, it’s got a 56 day money back guarantee.

In closing, Six Figure Yearly is one of the best systems I’ve found for making money online. Simply because you’ll get results from the time you begin using them. http://www.sixfigureyearly.com/?hop=purified25

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The first step in sharing your photos is to find an online gallery. Make sure they offer online photo printing, as printing will be a vital part of your plan. Look for an online photo gallery that offers unlimited free storage. Free unlimited storage is very important because photo files tend to be fairly large. If you shoot a lot of pictures, that limit that seemed astronomical will encroach on you rather quickly.

Once you have found an online gallery that offers both printing and unlimited free storage, upload your photos. If they are digital photos, this will be simple—just go to their website and follow the instructions. If you are still shooting film, or if they are old photos, then you will need to scan the photos. Good quality flatbed scanners are very affordable these days if you are inclined to scan your photos yourself. If you’d prefer not to, you have the option of sending them out to a service bureau to have them scanned. This often results in a higher quality scan, as the service bureaus generally have better equipment than the $20 scanner that is available in the office supply store—a lot better equipment. Not only hat but service bureaus tend to be skilled at scanning, so your photos won’t turn blurry or develop a color cast from being scanned.

Once the photos are uploaded online, the next step is to print the ones you want to share. You could buy an inkjet printer and print them at home, but generally inkjet printers cannot equal the quality of the photo printers that most of the better online photo galleries have for online photo printing. Not only are the printers typically better, but they also tend to use high-quality, Kodak photo paper, just like the kind of paper used for printing enlargements from film negatives optically. Their professional grade photo printers will give you excellent quality and vibrant, clear, accurate color. Most services offer a variety of sizes to suit your printing needs as well.

You may want to edit the photos to enhance them. Most of the better online gallery services offer online editing tools so that you can enhance your photos. Most of these offer typical editing tools that are essential for photography such as cropping, color correction, sharpening and more. Next stop: sharing your photos with your friends. From there, you can order prints in a variety of sizes, in either glossy or matte, with an easy online form. If you’re in a hurry, many online galleries offer express shipping and have them sent to everyone on your photo distribution list.

MJ Johnston writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a digital photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

Though the beautiful island nation of “TT” is a few thousand miles — and a sizeable culture gap — removed from the Southwestern U.S. desert setting of some of these more recent talks, those Caribbean attendees had stunningly similar stories, questions and concerns to those of the Arizonans I often encounter. In fact, they and their problems are not only similar to us in America; they are, effectively, identical.

Though the various locales represented by those present in that ocean-side setting eight miles northeast of Venezuela are appreciably smaller in population and area than our base, Phoenix, the fifth-largest U.S. market, the fundamental concern was the same — how to gain and sustain awareness within one’s market area and business category.

Doing the difficult

Though the present, acute economy-driven circumstances may be the exception, the thing about which I am most impressed when I speak to business people anywhere is just how much time, effort and money they appear to have committed to ensuring that their companies measure up to — or exceed — the competition. In some cases, they have seemed to have left no stone unturned in the development of product, services, a delivery system and follow-up attention after the sale. Present day challenges excepted, this has always been the norm.

Oft-times, upon being granted a behind the scenes glimpse of companies with which I am, as a workshop leader, only superficially acquainted, I am shocked to learn about the advanced degree to which they have “their act” together. This usually encompasses things like enlightened purchasing practices, excellent quality control and meticulous record keeping.

Why am I so surprised when I see such positive things beneath the surface? Why did I not realize how well such firms have it “together,” how very special they really are? Is it because I — the consumer — haven’t been paying good attention? Frankly, the answer is a resounding “no,” because paying attention is not the consumer’s job. But calling such “inner good” to the consumers’ attention most certainly IS the marketer’s job.

Dodging the easy

Here, then, to this observer, is the marketing mystery of the ages: Why do so many companies work so darned hard to be good, yet do not , in any meaningful way, lift a finger to tell people just how good they are? Please don’t reply, it’s best left to “word of mouth.” Yes, WOM is the greatest form of advertising there is, but it is turtle-slow . . . and in these difficult times, unaffordable.

And the only reason the turtle won that one legendary race is because the rabbit thought he (the bunny) had it made. This begs the question: Can the same be said for those who don’t “toot their own horn” with regularity and sufficiency? Do they think their prospects will get the message by osmosis? Are they so certain their biggest fans will be sure to pass the word promptly, if at all?

Experience has taught us, if you do the job right, only a few will tell of it. Do it wrong, and a torrent of bad-mouthing will surely be unleashed upon you. The point is, you’ve got to pass the good word yourself if you want it to get out there!

The communication challenge

Meeting the challenge this suggests is less a matter of great effort than it is a matter of consistent effort. In other words, you’ve got to “brag on yourself” with regularity, which in my book means monthly. Why so often? Have you nothing new to report since last month? Do you really think people will remember what you told them previously?

With state-of-the-art, one-way direct communication, you can spread the word in numbers, at a speed, and for a low cost-per-impression heretofore unimaginable. Database marketing is the only practical way to gain new customers/clients while helping to retain the current ones by keeping them “in the loop.”

How much does this cost? On average, a couple hundred dollars a month for hundreds to thousands of fresh impressions, delivered in nanoseconds by e-mail. How is it that can such a vital marketing component has for so long be ignored by so many? To ignore the power of regular e-mail communication of benefits is to the risk of loosing the advantages of the quality and competency that took such effort to attain.

Allan Starr founded Marketing Partners in 1976. The firm provides local, regional, national and international strategic marketing, advertising, public relations and sales promotion services for a diverse client list. He also has been a nationally known award winning copywriter and editor publisher of national trade magazines. Allan Starr Marketing Partners Astarr@markpart.com http://www.markpart.com