I opened the registered letter and was shocked. My best clients were joining together in a class-action suit against me. The letter stated that I had promulgated a false illusion of success by having them follow the 80-20 rule. It alleged that I brainwashed them into thinking that the 80-20 rule was a basic law of business and nature. They followed my advice and many of them had gone bankrupt. I confess, I do quote the 80-20 rule like it is divinely ordained. Called by whatever name, the 80-20 rule reminds us that the relationship between input and output is not balanced....

To read farther

I think selling and marketing today often feels a bit like talking to a brick wall and that in interesting metaphor to help grasp the importance of niche marketing especially when it comes to small business marketing. Imagine for a moment that you are attacking that brick wall with a hammer, randomly hitting it everywhere. What would be the effect? Practically no effect at all. You might knock off a few chips but come back a day or so later, there will be no evidence you were even there. And that's the effect of any broad marketing and advertising campaign....

To read farther

Too many business owners believe that marketing their business means just paying for a few ads. What few understand is that Advertising is not the same as Marketing. Too many clients have come to us only after they have wasted large sums of money by copying their competitors with "me too" advertising. And the media and advertising agencies love it. When you approach an advertising agency, their mission will be to convince you to spend your entire marketing budget with them, not to help you devise a marketing strategy for your business which will look at all available marketing options, not just advertising....

To read farther

Some of the most successful package introductions have come from people who knew nothing about package design. How can that make sense? Designers are creative. They get paid to design packaging, which may or may not necessarily be what the customer wants or needs. Good designers keep up with the latest design trends and technologies. What's hot and what is not in might be the perfect answer to a package design. But what if it is not? We all get caught up in established rules and parameters. You can't do this because of the way it needs to be manufactured or if it's this product it has to be packaged this way or in this particular material....

To read farther

Why give freebies? We have all seen freebies at trade shows and we have all probably seen the person that goes from booth to booth collecting as much of it as possible. There is always someone that only goes to get the free stuff, but then again there are also people that go there to learn about new products or services. These people may be genuinely interested in what you have to say. Even if they are, there must be an element of what is in it for them (we call them WIFM - pronounced Whiffem - What Is In It For Me)....

To read farther

A colleague who does work for a nonprofit organization contacted me asking if I could do research on the success rate of personalized direct mail letters (Dear Joe) versus generically addressed letters (Dear Friend). Surprisingly, I didn't find as many statistics as expected, but I found information stating that personalized letters outperform generic letters. The Digital Printing Council conducted a survey and the results showed "tailored direct mail pieces increase response rates by more than 500 percent over a basic, non-personalized piece....

To read farther

Entering into Global markets is a great way to organically grow your business. However, many small to mid sized businesses have a hard time, if they even venture to go global at all, entering global markets. Here are 5 tips for businesses looking to expand their business by entering global markets: Revise your pricing strategy to suit local purchasing power. I like using this example: Microsoft is having a difficult time getting Mainland Chinese computer users to use their operating system and Office products....

To read farther

1. Personal Unlike an advertisement in a trade publication, which can be read by anyone, your sales letter arrives at your prospect's place of business as a piece of personal communication from your mind to his. Also, unlike any other medium, direct mail can be personalized (Dear Mr. Smith) and customized to each reader ("As an IT manager, you know that . . ."), showing your prospect that you know about him by name and understand his business in particular. 2. Cost effective Advertising by its very nature is expensive....

To read farther

Direct marketing is advertising from a manufacturer or front-end supplier directed to the ultimate consumer of a product or service. Another way of looking at direct marketing is selling to a consumer directly, whether is from a printed magazine campaign, TV or radio spot, or from a direct mail package. It means that salespeople are not physically moving your product; promotions are. Direct marketing is a simple approach but also can be useless if not done right. In today's worldwide marketplace, direct marketing takes on many different shapes and sizes....

To read farther

Email Campaigns Email marketing can be a tremendously valuable tool for web businesses. Because it is so fast, cheap and easy, and because it is everywhere, email lends itself ideally to direct marketing. In this day and age, to say that the whole world is on the Web is not a stretch. Hundreds of millions of people plug into the Web on a regular basis. Most regular internet users have an email address. Now that access to the Internet is available on PDAs and mobile phones, people can literally be reached anytime and anywhere....

To read farther

Whether you're a former retail store owner known for yourcreativity, a championship bridge player, or apsychotherapist with a long current waiting list foropenings, if you possess expertise that makes colleaguesand aficionados want your pearls of wisdom, you can createa new income stream with an online mentorship program. Such a program charges a fee for people to sit at your feetand learn from you. The program would have a special focus(not for everyone) and offer information, resources, advice, insider tips and problem solving....

To read farther

Let's talk about how to keep your postage costs down. So far you have been following my advice and mailing to the same list more than once. At some point you find lists that will produce returns continually, but you notice that you are receiving more returns than when you started mailing to those lists. You may see things like "Undeliverable as Addressed" or "Forwarding Order Expired." Every time you mail to an address and that prospect has moved or cannot be found for any reason, you have just paid for the postage with no possibility of getting a response....

To read farther

Do you have all the business you could possibly want or need? If you're like me, you're still growing your business. Marketing is an ongoing item on my agenda, and I'm always looking for new ways to market my services. Where do you begin the process of attracting more business? How do you get the ball rolling in the direction you want your business to be heading? Well, it's really simple. Start planting seeds! If you can start your garden growing this spring, why not start your business growing too?...

To read farther