Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

Writing To Overpower Your Competition

"We don't have any competition. We're a truly a one-of-a-kind company." I've heard that line from clients for years. I wish it were true, but it's simply not. In fact, it wouldn’t matter if you held a monopoly on your particular product or service; you'd still have competition. How? Because your competition doesn't come from a singular source. There may be no other businesses that sell th. . .

How to Create a Media Frenzy for Your Book

Learn to use the media to create free exposure for yourself and to sell your books. And most importantly, how to be a great guest once you get on the air.Prepare talking points before making media appearances.Many new authors spend so much time and energy trying to get in the newspaper or on radio that when they get there, they don't know what to say. But if you take an hour to prepare concise,. . .

Goldmine of Wealth with 8 Internet Secrets

Eight ideas that will change your life and a unique business idea you may never have thought of before:1. The most important skill in Internet marketing is knowing how to find 'hot' markets - 'research.'2. Research is like detective work. You look for evidence, follow the clues and draw conclusions.3. As an Internet marketer, your first job is to find a 'hot' online market to sell to. Product . . .

Your Book Not in Book Stores? Don't Worry

Trying to figure out how to get your self published books into book stores? Don't worry about it because you can get more book sales easier and with less effort elsewhere. Some useful tips for you and your book from Mark Victor Hansen, who has sold more than 100 million books so far.Sure, we all want to look on the shelves at Barnes and Noble and see our books there. It's thrilling. But it's re. . .

Winning at Business With Your Marketing Game Plan

Stuart from Colorado had talked to a number of marketing firms and gotten estimates for designing and printing his marketing materials and building a web site for his business producing promotional cds. One firm quoted $100,000 to build his web site alone. He sensed something was missing or wrong, but couldn't put his finger on it, so he called me.I asked Stuart how the various marketing piece. . .

6 Things I Know About Postcards That You Don’t

In my plethora of experience tucked away between these ears, I have managed to cull out for you what I consider the “best of the best” – in other words, I took the most proven details about postcards that were significant to you starting a postcard campaign and really winning at it. So here goes the most incisive higlights about postcards.1) I know that a postcard is better than something in an. . .

Business Marketing Strategy

The term business marketing strategy might sound like it is esoteric or stratospheric, so let’s take the mystery out of it so you can devise and implement your own business marketing strategy that fits in to your small business plan. Strategy comes from a Greek word “stratagein” meaning “to be a general”. Think of a strategy as an overall plan of action needed to win a war. The smaller, detaile. . .

Make More Money with Marketing Metrics

Do you measure the results of your marketing tactcis? You should. Knowing which marketing endeavors pay dividends will save you time, money and effort by allowing you to focus your marketing budget on tactics that work. Learn how to measure the effect of your marketing efforts to make more money.Do you know how effective each of your individual marketing tactics is? Many small business owners. . .

PR Tips - Should We Issue a Press Release?

Question: Why should your business issue a press release? Answer: because you have something to say, you want to say it in public and a press release encourages the press to say it for you. And because you want to show your business in a favourable light from the outset and begin the longer-term process of building awareness and understanding of your product or service. There’s plenty of resear. . .

20 Sure-Fire Ways To Get People to Link to Your Web Site

1. Offer other web sites free content to post on their web site. Include your link on all of your content. The content should related to your web site because it will be in front of your target audience. 2. When you visit a web site you've enjoyed a lot, write a review for the site. Write about the benefits you gain from the web site. Tell them they can publish it on their web site if they link. . .

Why We Hate to Promote Ourselves

In the last week or so, I've begun enrolling people in the next session of my Platform Push Coaching Program on my other site, www.getknownnow.com. And boy, has that been interesting. In a few brief encounters, I've learned a lot about the power of permission. The course is demanding; it requires these coaching students to really make a commitment to building their platform. Over six months the. . .

Using a Marketing Calendar Template

Owning a small business isn’t easy, especially if you are running it alone. Between moving products, taking orders, paying bills, and taking care of family, it is easy to lose track of everything you need to do. Using a calendar template to organize and manage your marketing strategy will ensure you don’t drop the ball with one of the most important parts of your business. Developing a Marketin. . .

Go Ahead, Judge That Book By Its Cover

In this age of myriad financial products, voluminous financial services marketing communications and fierce competition, naming a new venture, product or service can be one of the single most important financial marketing decisions that an organization makes. A name, the initial impression made on the prospect’s mind, is the first step in the brand marketing process. With marginal differences i. . .

Sell Advertising on Your Web Site

The number of sites on the Web today is almost infinite, with new ones popping up every day. There are multiple types of sites: portals, "brochureware," content sites, directories, search engines, and ecommerce sites, to name a few. Those that do not sell product or services directly or indirectly on their site often rely on advertising revenue to support operations. So how does one get started. . .

How to Market Your Web Site Without Marketing Costs

The Internet currently reaches more than 800 million users around the world. This makes your potential for exposure much higher than with traditional forms of media. The worldwide online commerce has reached $6.8 trillion by 2004. Companies and individuals today can leverage the massive reach of the Internet and promote their organizations, products or services to the global market without su. . .

Interactive Marketing--Your Key to Success in 2005

Joe,You asked me the secret to marketing success in 2005. Here’s my reply.If you are relying on traditional market thinking and advertising for your business, you are going to be in trouble in 2005. The markets have moved beyond traditional thinking. I am not sure when this occurred or why. Perhaps it’s the speed of today’s market place, the variety of customer options and business compet. . .

Branding your products is important

I was chatting with a couple of friends, all of us are either copy writers or graphic designers…or both….in the advertising industry, so, naturally, our conversations leaned towards the topic. This one particular friend who works in an American advertising firm is now an Art Director, so, needless to say, he considers himself a notch higher than us mere freelancers and employees. After all, he . . .

Internal Linking – An Introduction

The web as they call it is a mesh of links. The wired world is now being counted for what it is. A Network. The more your pages are wired or integrated into the overall web linking architecture, the better it is from search engine ranking point of view. Google specially thrives on crawling on links. Its pagerank is a measure of this.We will, in this article, measure the importance of good inter. . .

Guide to Software Marketing

IntroThis concise article will tell you in plain English how you can promote your software easily and effectively.Submit your softwareI recommend submitting your software to upload.com. It costs $79 dollars a year, but is well worth it. It will display your product on download.com and its partner network made up of 20 other major download sites. Download.com is so popular that if your product w. . .

One Way Linking Campaigns

The importance & the context of building links coming into your web site was detailed in the article "The importance of building backlinks"Now we approach the next step on the links ladder. This is to understand the various issues related to the linking campaign that you will need to mount, to establish your worth in the algorithms of search engines . Some of the issues that we will be tackling. . .

Are You Using a Chess or Checkers Small Business Marketin...

Until the day I learned to play chess I loved playing checkers. Both games require a strategy that maximizes a player’s ability to capture her opponents pieces without first losing her own. Checkers was fun. But the complexities of chess lead to more satisfying victories and defeats. Chess is a more complicated game than checkers as there are more variables. Therefore, much more thought and . . .

Satellite TV, Google, and a Stamp

Unless you’re building a baseball diamond in the middle of nowhere, the “If you build it they will come” principle simply will not work for your home business or online store. Driving customers to your store and visitors to your Website are essential keys to your success. This article explores some new and old ways of marketing your company. Let’s begin with Satellite TV.Satellite TV: Halfway o. . .

The 5 Musts of Marketing

For most of the small business owners I work with, marketing has become the equivalent of a four-letter word. Inevitably, when I ask the question, "Do you have a marketing plan?" or "What marketing activities do you engage in?" I get the full gamut of responses from the proverbial deer in the headlights stare, to a vociferous, "I hate marketing, it's the least favorite part of my business!"Afte. . .

Top Ten Reason to Publish an Ezine AND a Blog

Blogs are the hottest thing going these days when it comes to marketing on the Internet. A blog is a way of delivering your messages and article to clients. They are a like personal web sites, easy to create and far less expensive than traditional web sites. Just when you thought you were mastering the tasks of ezines and newsletters, along comes blogging, and you have to ask yourself: Do I re. . .

How To Get More Visitors To Your Web Site

When you were five or ten years old you may have played the game of hide and seek where the object was to avoid being found. The longer you could stay hidden and the harder it was to be discovered the better. As a business owner or someone responsible for marketing a business you want to do the opposite. Instead of remaining hidden from view, you want to make it as easy as possible for members . . .

4 Dynamic Marketing Tactics

Some of the simplest marketing tactics often produce the most profitable results. Here are 4 examples that have proven highly effective for any business. 1. Focus on Your Best Prospects Imagine how profitable your business would be if more of your new customers were like the best customers you have now. Here's how you can make that happen... Take some time to analyze your current customers to d. . .

High-Tech Real Estate Marketing

A quick glance through the Sunday real estate ads reveals that most homes are sold the old fashioned way. By print ads and word of mouth. Truth be told, placing your home in the Sunday paper does little more than quench the ego of the agent listing your home. Demand more!Traditional real estate marketing reaches about 70% of the people who want to buy your home. The other 30% are buyers who are. . .

No Logo? Launching a Business Without a Logo Can Sabotage...

No Logo? Launching a Business Without a Logo Can Sabotage YouInitial lack of customers and cash flow often causes a small business to put off designing a logo and marketing materials professionally “until [they] got a few clients” or “until [they] get started.” Designing their own marketing materials when they launch their business, instead of having them professionally created, will make getti. . .

Why Small Businesses Need Both A Logo And An Identity System

Why small businesses need both a logo and an identity systemExperts urge small business owners to “brand” their business – to use a logo and a set of consistent marketing materials. But, they rarely go into the reasons behind this advice. Here’s a list of some of the benefits to having a professionally designed logo and marketing package:Not to look so small - Home-printed business cards with p. . .

Three Brand Identity Myths That Will Bring Your Business ...

Three Brand Identity Myths That Will Bring Your Business DownTo begin, let’s define “Brand Identity,” which is the combination of consistent visual elements that are used in your marketing materials. A basic Brand Identity Kit consists of a logo, business card, letterhead, and envelope. It can be extended to include a website, brochure, folder, flyer, or any other professionally designed pieces. . .

10 Classic E-zine Advertising Tips

1. Target your advertising. The more targeted the e-zine is for your offer, the greater your response will be for your proven ad. 2. Track your ads. Don't leave your ad campaigns to guesswork. Use ad tracking to show you exactly which e-zines and ads are most profitable. 3. Run your ad for multiple issues. You'll get a better response, and possibly save money as many publishers offer special de. . .

E-Newsletter Readers Not Converting? 5 Simple Steps to In...

Email newsletters excel at gaining repeat and new business at a lower cost than other forms of marketing and advertising. So how does a company use its e-newsletter to increase quality leads for sales teams and give a boost to viral, word of mouth, and referral marketing programs? Here are five simple steps for creating an ezine that your sales team will love. #1 Keep it helpfulIt's often repea. . .

The 3 Cs of Effective Marketing

Complicated definitions of marketing abound. However, when you think about what you are trying to achieve through your marketing activities, it is simply changing and then maintaining the behavior of your target market. You want to change their behavior from not buying your product or service to buying it and then you want to maintain that behavior.From this perspective, marketing your produc. . .

Five Characteristics of Highly Successful Advertising

Have you ever spent a small fortune on advertising that generated disappointment rather than sales? Many small business owners have been down the road of flat advertising results and are at a loss when it comes to developing new ideas to improve the response to their ads. Whether you run ads in your local newspaper, your industry’s top periodical or on-line, you need your investment in advertis. . .

Direct Mail Postcard Rules

It’s a fact that your customers are your best leads. This means that the most likely people to purchase your products and/or services are the ones who have paid for them before. It’s also a fact that it costs far less money to keep a customer than it does to go out and get a new one. These are the two reasons that using direct mail postcards to keep in touch with your customer database is a mus. . .

Marry Your Marketing Plan

Make a vow to keep up your marketing schedule in good times and not so good times.I have said it time and time again that marketing, no matter what type you choose, is a building process. Here is the whole thing summed up in one situation:Assume for a moment that you had never heard of this thing called "Cola". You go to your mailbox and get your mail only to find a postcard that says "New Fizz. . .

Raise Your Income!

How often do you sit around and wonder how to make more money and get more people to buy more from your company? It’s one of the most basic problems every company faces.The answer is astonishingly simple. Too simple maybe. But I’ve seen it work over and over again with our customers in every line of business you can imagine.You have to promote. Your income is governed by the size of your custom. . .

Marketing – Like a Game of Chess

Have you started thinking about your Valentines Day Promotion yet? It may sound like a strange question on the day before Thanksgiving but it really isn’t. When scheduling your promotions it is like a game of chess. You should always be thinking at least 3 moves ahead. In this case each "move" should be one month. Therefore you should have been thinking about your Valentines, or February promot. . .

Increase New Customer Traffic to Your Business

One person tells another, who tells another, who tells another and so on. You get the idea. Let’s see how to make that an actuality.You have a great company and you provide the highest level of customer service. But as the old cliché says: "A happy customer tells a friend, an unhappy customer tells 10 friends." You don’t have to worry about the unhappy customer telling 10 friends because you. . .

Make Your Mailing a Home Run, Not a Strike Out!

You can use great design and copy to get a better response.When you send a mailing to your customers or prospective customers you are counting on making considerably more money in new business than you spend on the mailing, right? It is obvious that if you were not going to profit from the mailing, you wouldn’t send it out.A little less obvious is that it costs almost the same amount of money t. . .

Take Your Radio Ads to the Next Level

Most small businesses do not have a high powered advertising agency to produce award-winning radio commercials for them. Most award-winning radio commercials win for the wrong reasons anyway. Radio commercials should sell the benefits (not features)of your business/product and should be on the same page with print, TV and billboard. A major problem in business advertising today is the lack of c. . .

Smart Marketing Secrets Revealed

Don’t you just hate junk mail that screams at you about supposed secrets to success that can be yours for a mere $9.95, $19.95, $99.95 or whatever? Well, here are some real “secrets” for you – and there’s no price tag attached.Ever wonder how other companies keep their sales momentum going? Smart marketing and communications programs are critical. Here are three key marketing strategies you can. . .

3 BIGGEST Adwords Newbie Mistakes

Google Adwords TipsThe 3 BIGGEST mistake Adwords newbies makeA Whirlwind Guide Without doubt the biggest mistake a newbie to Adwords makes is compiling a long list of less than targeted keywords and whacking (technical term) them into a single ad-group. Using broad match only The unholiest of the trinity – not tracking results.#1 The Single AdgroupAlthough at first it may seem tempting – collec. . .

The Goose That Lays Golden Eggs

Ever wondered what it would be like to have a goose that lays golden eggs? Well, if you thought such stuff happens only in fairy tales, think again! Now before you get carried away in your own curious thoughts, let me tell you that the magical goose I'm talking about is your list of subscribers or your contact list... That's right, a list of targeted subscribers can be that precious and be equa. . .

Small Business and Branding – Why and How?

When we speak of branding most of the time people try to relate it to big business house, however, the fact is that every business needs to establish their brand in order to survive the competition. This is nothing new; experts and management gurus had been preaching the same sermon for years now but what they have not told is why you need to brand your small business? How is branding going to . . .

Business Goal Setting and Then Following Through

Your business can't go according to plan if you have no plan.What do you want to achieve this year? More new customers per week? Higher average order amounts? Better customer service ratings? No matter what it is you are shooting for, goal setting is one of the most important things that you will do in the New Year. I’ve got a few tips to help you get there.1. Keep it Challenging but Realist. . .

Rising Postal Rates? Don’t Cut Down the Direct Mail

The United States Post Office in the past had some trouble with its finances and their solution was to raise the postal rates. Whether or not you agree with this approach to trying to stay in business, like the weather and government in general, it’s something you have to live with.Many companies have used this as a reason to send out fewer or smaller mailings in an attempt to keep their costs. . .

Blogs: You'll Love The Marketing Potential

The Internet revolution is responsible for two of the dumbest names in business. The first is the "Web." Try telling your grandmother what you do for a living with that name. The next is the "blog." Most people have heard about blogs (short for Web logs). There are millions of them - most with little commercial value, but many with significant social, political or cultural merit.However, that i. . .

Why Google Needs You Right Now

Let me ask you a simple question… what do you think is the number one driving force behind the enormous success of Google? While you're pondering this for awhile… and may even think of a variety of answers to this question- the bottom line to it is this… Google continually strives to serve up the best relevant content to its customers then its nearest competitors and it usually does.Content tha. . .

Sending Samples With Your Press Release-- Should You Or S...

When you begin to send out your press releases, you will start to get calls and emails from the editors requesting samples of your product. What do you do? Well that all depends. Below are some tricks and tips for gauging when you should or shouldn't send samples. When you should send samples with your press release: 1) When the item is very low cost: If the press release you're sending is abou. . .