Are You Using All 7 of These Highly Effective Marketing Tactic

Here are 7 well known, highly effective marketing tactics many small business owners overlook when developing their marketing program. How many have you overlooked?

1. Be Unique

The best way to beat your competition is to promote a distinct advantage your customers cannot get from a competitor. This is often called your USP (short for Unique Selling Proposition).

If you don't already have a distinct advantage, create one. Add something to your business you're not already doing. one network marketer I know doubled her sign up ratio by providing complimentary sales leads to her new distributors for their first 4 months.

2. Use Testimonials

Collect and use testimonials. Testimonials from satisfied customers are similar to referrals. Both provide your prospect with evidence that your product or service produced results for other customers just like them.

I've performed many tests using the same messages with and without testimonials. Those with testimonials always increased sales, often by as much as 65% or more.

Don't wait for satisfied customers to volunteer a testimonial. Instead, follow up with some customers soon after completing a transaction.

Ask what they liked best about your product, service or business opportunity. You'll get many flattering compliments. Ask for permission to use them in your promotions.

3. Make An Upselling Offer

Upselling is a proven technique you can use to get more money at the point of sale. Customers will never be more receptive to an attractive offer from you than when they're paying you money.

Offer your customers or clients the option to upgrade to a better product or service at a special price. Or, offer the option of adding a related item to the sale for a special combination price. Many will accept your offer.

An upselling offer can increase your average sale by 30 percent or more without creating any advertising expense.

4. Trivialize Your Price

Demonstrate a low cost for your product or service by breaking down the price to its lowest time increment. "$325 per year" frightens many customers away. "Enjoy all of this for less than 90 cents a day" attracts them to the low cost.

5. Stress Benefits Before Features

A feature is what something is. A benefit is what it does. For example, my favorite donuts are now delivered in a re-sealable box. That's a feature. The donuts stay fresh for a week after I first open the box. That's the benefit.

Promote the benefits of your product or service before you promote the features of it. People never buy something to get a feature. They always buy to get the benefit produced by the feature.

6. Focus on The Headline

Always include a headline with your ad, sales letter or webpage. Include your biggest benefit in the headline to grab your prospect's attention. Otherwise, many prospective customers won't read your promotional material.

When you develop a new promotion, test different headlines to find the most effective o¬ne BEFORE you test anything else. After you find the headline that attracts the most readers you can test to find the most motivating copy for them to read.

7. Include a Powerful Offer

Never advertise without including an offer. An offer provides the reason for prospective customers to respond. The best way to get a big response from your advertising is to make an offer your prospects cannot refuse.

Are you using all 7 of these tactics in your promotions? If not, revise your marketing program to include those you've overlooked. You'll immediately enjoy a big increase in your sales and profits without increasing your expenses.

Related Information of Interest:

7 Winning Tips For Article Marketers
1. Follow up with your readers.

For example, you could offer a subscription to your ezine or
you could offer a free email course in your resource box.

2. Use lots of white space.

Increase your article's white space by going over it for
sentences you can shorten and also paragraphs you could
break up into two or three shorter paragraphs.

3. Use numbered lists.

Use your numbered lists to convey points in your articles or
your steps in your "how to" article.

Numbered lists can also be used to create the content of
your article, like I did with this simple list article.

4. Use the word "you" a lot in your articles.

Make your writing feel more personal by using the word you a
lot within your article.

That way your readers will feel like you are talking
directly to them and you'll be able to better draw them into
your article's content.

5. Write to one person.

Choose a person such as a friend or spouse to write your
article to.

By doing this, you will naturally use the word you a lot
within your article, and your readers will feel like you are
talking to them one to one.

6. Offer an article announcement list.

Keep people up to date on your latest articles by publishing
an email list that announces your new articles.

You could also announce your new articles by RSS to
publishers and webmasters that like your writing.

7. Let your affiliates use your articles to earn
commissions.

Make your articles available to your affiliates to publish
on their sites or in their ezines with their affiliate links
in your resource box.

You'll be able to successfully raise your profits by turning
your articles into an effective promotional tool for your
affiliates.

Ken runs the Net Pro Marketer where you'll find informative articles on business, marketing, and ezine publishing. Browse through the articles or submit your own at: www.netpromarketer.com

No Fun Na.
Not so long ago I wrote about the Da Vinci Code causing a big stink here in India. That bubble has just about burst and lo behold we have another film causing a stir. The film Fanaa (Destruction) has got the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) in Gujarat in a twist. Well it’s not exactly a problem with the film but with its main actor Aamir Khan.

You see Aamir Khan has recently had a stint at being a social activist. He made the mistake of speaking his mind in the world’s largest democracy. It all began with people protesting against raising the height of the Narmada Dam which we in India supposedly need to meet our insatiable demand for energy particularly in this case – electricity. The protestors are demanding proper rehabilitation for the thousands of people that have been displaced because of this mammoth project. Aamir Khan joined in to give their demands a louder voice. That did it.

The right wing ruling Hindu party in Gujarat the BJP has banned all products endorsed by the actor including Coca Cola and Toyota cars and also his latest film release Fanaa. This does not in anyway represent the will of the general public in the state nor does it make much sense. The movie was released a few days ago in the rest of the country and has got a good response.

When will our political parties realize that the people no longer get excited about these frenzied agitations, which lack any real depth and are done just for show. The losers in this case are only the people of Gujarat. They need to realize that speaking one’s mind on any issue facing the people of India is the fundamental right of every citizen of the country. We cannot censure people in society just because we don’t like what they say.

Fanaa is about the relationship between a blind girl and an undercover terrorist. It has nothing against the state or people of Gujarat. Why then should it be banned? It is mainstream cinema that will do well or not on its own strengths as a film. This entire furor is hype generated by two bit politicians mainly for their fifteen minutes of fame.

For all thosehot heads seeking a ban on an actor or any person for that matter, who uses his or her freedom of speech in our country today, may we remind them that maybe they are living in the wrong part of the world here. I would suggest mass migration to a much cooler locale say for instance North Korea.

Sasha Masand the founder of Indian Voice Overs is an award winning Television Producer who has been part of the Indian media industry for over twelve years.

Is Photography School Your Dream?
Many dream of photography school. It is an art and a passion that few people can take and make use of. But, those that do, really can amaze the world with what they can capture on a single roll of film. But, how can you find the right school to get into? Having the right photography school on your resume really can make a bit of difference. So, take your time in choosing the right school for your choice. Chances are, you’ll have many options to consider when you choose correctly.

Here are some things to consider about the photography school that you will choose:

• Does the school provide you the best possible plan of study? It needs to offer you what you want to learn now and in the future. This will help determine how well you do in the end.

• You will need to consider the format of the school as well. If you are to take photography school lessons through the college, will you be required to get a degree or will you simply take classes to gain knowledge without a degree? This is up to you, but it is also up to the school to let you in as well.

• You also need to feel comfortable with the school. This is important because in art, you need the freedom to make choices. While hard and difficult, you will want to have the freedom to do as you need to.

• You’ll want to find the photography school that offers the right scholarships and financial aid as well. Not all of us can afford the highest levels of education, but when you choose wisely and with good financial intentions, you can choose the right photography school.

Photography school is waiting for you. Are you ready to get started?

For more information please see www.photography-school-info.co.uk

Easy Egg Salad
Thereï¿½s nothing more enjoyable for lunch on a warm summer day than a cold egg salad sandwich. As long as you keep your egg salad mixture refrigerated prior to use, you can safely make and eat egg salad sandwiches regardless of the weather. Egg salad can also be enjoyed as a topper on green leafy salads, or is especially nice as a side to a tomato salad, complete with buttered whole-wheat toast.

There are many excellent egg salad recipes to be found in cookbooks and on the Internet. However, the key to a tasty egg salad starts well before starting the recipe. To produce an excellent result you need to pay attention to how you boil your eggs. An egg that has been cooked correctly has a soft, tender texture. An over-boiled egg is rubbery and has a harder texture, and is more difficult to mash. If you boil your eggs with the following technique, you will enjoy an egg salad that has a smooth, even texture and taste.

First: you shouldnï¿½t use the very best-dated eggs you can find at the grocery store for any recipe calling for boiled eggs you must peel. If you use new eggs, you may have already noticed that they are much harder to peel than those that are about a week or two old. Researchers are not exactly sure why older eggs are easier to peel, but most believe it is due to a gas building up between the shell and the thin white membrane of the egg. This build-up pushes the shell of the egg away from the inner membrane and makes the shell peel off easier after the egg has cooled.

Second: have you ever boiled your eggs and found after you peeled them that there was a green-brownish layer around the egg yolk? This occurs because of a natural chemical reaction between iron in the egg yolk with sulphur in the egg white. You can minimize this green layer by rapidly cooling your eggs after initial boiling. Here is a brief outline of the cooking technique: place your eggs in a pot large enough to comfortably make one layer of eggs and fill with water to one inch over the top of the eggs. Bring the pot to a boil then take the pot off of the hot burner and let the pot sit with the eggs for 20 minutes to finish cooking the eggs. Then, immediately take the eggs out of the hot water and place in a bowl of ice water to cool off. This rapid cooling will prevent little (if any) greenish icky stuff to form, resulting in a nicer colour and flavour for your egg salad filling!

If you are interested in a step-by-step guide for making some delicious and unique egg salad recipes, visit Irene's Egg Salad website. At this site, you can see the whole process a step at a time and download our free recipe booklet. You will become an egg salad expert in no time at all!