After three months of trying to get my act together, i finally got the podcast for Double My Revenues up and running. The major problem was just finding the time to put the pieces together, schedule the interviews and still work on the Core Training program.
I started this project back in September when I wanted to move away from building websites for clients and do more coaching. There were a few hurdles to overcome when changing the business model in mid-stream. You have to tell the people who rely on you for work that there was good news and bad news. The good news was that I was going to ease up on my nit-picking and finicky habits when it came to their work; the bad news was that they were not going to get as much volume out of me as the once did.
The podcast is now available on I-Tunes and also available on the DoubleMyRevenues.com website. The first interview is with a noted business coach by the name of Robert Hartung; the author of "Beating The Time Bandits". Check it out when you have some time on your hands.
I love business, I had my first venture when I was 14. I printed and sold T-shirts. Sales and sales strategy made me happy. Now that I'm 51, I don't travel as much and my priorities have shifted. I still love the game but from a different perspective. The podcast and the membership site for small business success will take a lot of my time.
I'm sure that it's better to hang out at home and see my boys come home from school, knowing that I can take care of them, than it is to come home at bedtime to say good night,then leave at breakfast time again.
Here's a link to the podcast if you want to enjoy a few short missives from a reformed work-a-holic http://www.didpublishing.com/podcast/DMR-Podcast0.xml
You've got to see this in action yourself
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Are you generating leads from your web presence yet?
Are you generating leads from your web presence yet?
I've found that some business owners with the best of intentions place a website or online listing on the Internet and then only remember that it's there when the time comes to pay the bill.
This isn't a slam on business owners; I'm pointing to a situation you might or might not be in right now.
The Internet is still an evolving medium. Some read it like a magazine, others watch it like Television. Still others listen to it like radio. It's kind of hard to keep up with the trends when you've got a business to run.
Ever flirted with the idea of direct mail? Maybe you gave it a try but found it too expensive and didn't get the return that you expected?
You've worked hard to get where you are and probably have developed a great base of clients to keep you busy. That's great, let me ask you a simple question, when was the last time you doubled your annual revenues? For most businesses in your field that was around year two or year three.
It seems pretty crazy to think about doubling your revenues when you seem to be working more hours than you want to already, doesn't it? For most business owners, the thought of that kind of increase usually means adding another round of sleepless nights to make it happen.
What if we could use the power of targeted direct mail with the speed and efficiency of the Internet to help you double your business income? What if we could set it up to work in the background so that you only think about it when the time comes to make the deposits?
The secret to the strategy is in the list you develop. Who would you rather work with, someone who is convinced that you can help them overcome their problems, or someone that you have to convince after spending time and money, that you can help them?
The goal then is to find the people who are easy to work with and who really want to get help and can afford to be helped by you. That means offering something to the general target audience that will separate the ones who are already interested enough in your offer to take action. Those are usually the 30% of the market who are qualified to do something about their problem now.
Your next step is to collect the information of these prospective clients and begin to help them through the process of working with your product or service. Take them through the steps of becoming your valued clients.
You can create a simple turn-key system for lead generation by creating special pages on your website that prospective clients can sign on, to receive their free offer. The free offer then leads to a steady stream of the information to the prospects that contains sales offers with a regular call to action.
You can then develop your list to find out what they really want, get referrals from your list as well as test new products and services through your list.
The very best way to keep the list fresh and keep the list growing is to send out a weekly email newsletter. Perhaps a few tips on the subject of interest to your prospects. You can include an offer at the bottom as the sponsor of your email tips of the week.
Here's a trick that can double your list in 30 days. Send out an email to your list letting them know of a special offer for those who will refer three friends to a special sign-up form. Include a special form for those persons to send an email with the standard information about your subscription to their three friends email addresses. Once the special form is filled out and submitted, your subscriber will be sent to a special page to receive their online gift.
If only 25% of your list responds to your offer, you've significantly increased your list overnight. You may want to try this at selected intervals throughout the year.
Imagine that you've taken the time to invest in a list and after awhile, you've accumulated a following of say, 8,000 or 9,000 emails. Let's say that you wanted to test market a new product or service; how easy would it be to send out a survey to your list and get a response?
That's the power of a great list.
I've found that some business owners with the best of intentions place a website or online listing on the Internet and then only remember that it's there when the time comes to pay the bill.
This isn't a slam on business owners; I'm pointing to a situation you might or might not be in right now.
The Internet is still an evolving medium. Some read it like a magazine, others watch it like Television. Still others listen to it like radio. It's kind of hard to keep up with the trends when you've got a business to run.
Ever flirted with the idea of direct mail? Maybe you gave it a try but found it too expensive and didn't get the return that you expected?
You've worked hard to get where you are and probably have developed a great base of clients to keep you busy. That's great, let me ask you a simple question, when was the last time you doubled your annual revenues? For most businesses in your field that was around year two or year three.
It seems pretty crazy to think about doubling your revenues when you seem to be working more hours than you want to already, doesn't it? For most business owners, the thought of that kind of increase usually means adding another round of sleepless nights to make it happen.
What if we could use the power of targeted direct mail with the speed and efficiency of the Internet to help you double your business income? What if we could set it up to work in the background so that you only think about it when the time comes to make the deposits?
The secret to the strategy is in the list you develop. Who would you rather work with, someone who is convinced that you can help them overcome their problems, or someone that you have to convince after spending time and money, that you can help them?
The goal then is to find the people who are easy to work with and who really want to get help and can afford to be helped by you. That means offering something to the general target audience that will separate the ones who are already interested enough in your offer to take action. Those are usually the 30% of the market who are qualified to do something about their problem now.
Your next step is to collect the information of these prospective clients and begin to help them through the process of working with your product or service. Take them through the steps of becoming your valued clients.
You can create a simple turn-key system for lead generation by creating special pages on your website that prospective clients can sign on, to receive their free offer. The free offer then leads to a steady stream of the information to the prospects that contains sales offers with a regular call to action.
You can then develop your list to find out what they really want, get referrals from your list as well as test new products and services through your list.
The very best way to keep the list fresh and keep the list growing is to send out a weekly email newsletter. Perhaps a few tips on the subject of interest to your prospects. You can include an offer at the bottom as the sponsor of your email tips of the week.
Here's a trick that can double your list in 30 days. Send out an email to your list letting them know of a special offer for those who will refer three friends to a special sign-up form. Include a special form for those persons to send an email with the standard information about your subscription to their three friends email addresses. Once the special form is filled out and submitted, your subscriber will be sent to a special page to receive their online gift.
If only 25% of your list responds to your offer, you've significantly increased your list overnight. You may want to try this at selected intervals throughout the year.
Imagine that you've taken the time to invest in a list and after awhile, you've accumulated a following of say, 8,000 or 9,000 emails. Let's say that you wanted to test market a new product or service; how easy would it be to send out a survey to your list and get a response?
That's the power of a great list.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
A Plan To Create An Online Empire
A Plan To Create An Online Empire
We had to create a program to promote a client over a three month period to get the buzz around their product and create a solid email list. The client created a health care product and wanted to offer other products to her list in the future. The main idea was to put a simple but effective online marketing plan together for list building success. Once the list grew to critical mass, she would roll out more expensive products and even a membership website.
Here's how you can do the same:
1.Before you create your product, go to Google or Yahoo and check the popularity of your idea. Go to several online book sources, including Amazon, Borders and eBay to research the availability of your product. Once you've decided that the product you've chosen has a market that satisfies your needs, create or purchase the rights to your product.
2.Now, you'll need to gather enough of your market to make the project worthwhile. That means gathering a list. There are many ways to compile your list of prospects but you'll need to calculate the number of prospects you need to create the income you want. You'll be determining your conversion rate and tweaking your offer to reach optimal response.
3.You'll begin to craft your offer based on the needs of the prospects and the problems your product will solve. Make your offer based on the price and value of the product. If you have a low price product, you could attract your market with a one-close sales letter. If your product is expensive, you might need to set up a series of closes to bring your prospects around. That means capturing your prospect's interest with a series of email tutorials on tackling their issues. Set up a series of closes to gain their trust and acceptance.
4.Your website should have a special form to capture the name and email address of the prospects who come to your website. Once they sign up to receive more free information, you can continue to educate them on the benefits of your product. You can even continue to communicate with them regarding other associated products as long as you offer useful information on a regular basis.
5.Use weekly email alerts, electronic press releases, joint venture email lists, e-zines, your personal blog and articles to develop organic search engine traffic. If you want to get from zero to sixty fast, use pay per click advertising to boost your traffic. Be sure to offer free information in your pay per click ad. This has been the fastest way to attract attention and generate your list..
6.Get connected to other buyers and sellers in your product range. Offer incentives for them to carry your product or recommend your product to the people on their lists. Make it a point to test your ads regularly and track your progress.
Now if you've made some money through this system but haven't made your first million yet, don't worry. What you need to do is evaluate how much money you are making each month and the method you've used to successfully acquire your profits. If you duplicate that system with a new product launch every few months, you'll have yourself an online empire in a few short years.
We had to create a program to promote a client over a three month period to get the buzz around their product and create a solid email list. The client created a health care product and wanted to offer other products to her list in the future. The main idea was to put a simple but effective online marketing plan together for list building success. Once the list grew to critical mass, she would roll out more expensive products and even a membership website.
Here's how you can do the same:
1.Before you create your product, go to Google or Yahoo and check the popularity of your idea. Go to several online book sources, including Amazon, Borders and eBay to research the availability of your product. Once you've decided that the product you've chosen has a market that satisfies your needs, create or purchase the rights to your product.
2.Now, you'll need to gather enough of your market to make the project worthwhile. That means gathering a list. There are many ways to compile your list of prospects but you'll need to calculate the number of prospects you need to create the income you want. You'll be determining your conversion rate and tweaking your offer to reach optimal response.
3.You'll begin to craft your offer based on the needs of the prospects and the problems your product will solve. Make your offer based on the price and value of the product. If you have a low price product, you could attract your market with a one-close sales letter. If your product is expensive, you might need to set up a series of closes to bring your prospects around. That means capturing your prospect's interest with a series of email tutorials on tackling their issues. Set up a series of closes to gain their trust and acceptance.
4.Your website should have a special form to capture the name and email address of the prospects who come to your website. Once they sign up to receive more free information, you can continue to educate them on the benefits of your product. You can even continue to communicate with them regarding other associated products as long as you offer useful information on a regular basis.
5.Use weekly email alerts, electronic press releases, joint venture email lists, e-zines, your personal blog and articles to develop organic search engine traffic. If you want to get from zero to sixty fast, use pay per click advertising to boost your traffic. Be sure to offer free information in your pay per click ad. This has been the fastest way to attract attention and generate your list..
6.Get connected to other buyers and sellers in your product range. Offer incentives for them to carry your product or recommend your product to the people on their lists. Make it a point to test your ads regularly and track your progress.
Now if you've made some money through this system but haven't made your first million yet, don't worry. What you need to do is evaluate how much money you are making each month and the method you've used to successfully acquire your profits. If you duplicate that system with a new product launch every few months, you'll have yourself an online empire in a few short years.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The Danger of Getting Caught in the Message Clutter
The Danger of Getting Caught in the Message Clutter
I found out years ago when my first child was born that we had to ramp up our income. I was working for several clients and making enough money for a guy and his new bride to live a comfortable lifestyle. Then came the first child. We had to scramble to increase our income dramatically. I now had to market my services at a level that I've never had to before. I needed more clients!
The reality of advertising and marketing hit me very hard. I now had to face the same issues my clients face on a day to day basis. The biggest issue to marketing my business was getting through to more prospects. My message kept getting caught up in the mess of advertising, marketing, and daily life.
So here's my answer to overcoming the issues of getting my message to my prospects. First, let me give you a little background information.
April 2004: A Yankelovich Partners poll for the American Association of Advertising concluded that consumers believed they are constantly bombarded with advertising.
61% said that advertising was out of control.
60% said that they had a negative opinion of advertising.
54% said that they avoided buying products that overwhelm them with ads.
How do you overcome the Message Clutter?
Carefully select your buyers.
Educate your prospective clients.
Entertain them.
Focus on referrals
Make them an offer they can't refuse.
If you could build the ideal profile of your best client, what would they be like?
List 10 traits of your ideal client, then determine how many of them you can realistically service each month. How much is my ideal client really worth to me and how many of them can I work with?
Do the math to calculate your conversion rate.
If you actively presented your business to 100 prospective clients, how many could you convert to paying clients for your product or service in a month?
Is there an opportunity to generate repeat business from these clients?
What is the buying cycle for your average client?
Let's take your answers to the next step.
For example:
Our Dentist has an average per patient rate of $3200.00 a year. He wants to double his ideal patient roster and introduce several new products this year.
Our Dentist currently sees 100 patients a month. The number of patients that currently fit his ideal profile is about 40 a month. He determines that an additional 40 ideal clients a month would make his goal a reality. Now he must find them.
Educate your clients.
Now that we have a idea of who we need to reach, let's get to reaching them.
Let's be clear about this fact. People might hate being sold to but they all want more information on what to buy. They want to be educated.
People are interested in knowing more about the things that interest them. If they can get the right information at the right time, they will be in a great position to take action in their interest.
Entertain them.
When you want to stand out, you can make an impression with your audience by inserting humor into your presentations. Humor leaves a lasting impression.
Focus on Referrals
Another way to circumvent the message clutter is to petition your current clients for referrals. There are ways to do this without begging. One way is to combine education and referral strategies – Invite your clients to a seminar and offer an incentive to bring a few friends.
Make them a offer they can't refuse.
This is not just a tactic of gangster movies. If you search thoroughly through your feature, advantages and benefits of your offer, you can find one unique area that will undeniably appeal to your market. If you show them how they cannot lose by using you or your product then they will move to act in their own self interest.
Create offers that not only give top notch value, but also appropriate information. Give them an iron clad guarantee. There must be something in your offer that shows how confident you are in what you have or do.
Get your message to the right target audience. Then make sure that they get it over and over again.
The most important practice in marketing is getting the message to the people who welcome it as an opportunity, not an interruption. Use this frequency to develop a relationship. Education seems to build that relationship while offering something to the prospect that they find useful.
Education cuts through the message clutter because those who are looking for your solutions will better understand the nature of their problem and look more closely at your solution.
I found out years ago when my first child was born that we had to ramp up our income. I was working for several clients and making enough money for a guy and his new bride to live a comfortable lifestyle. Then came the first child. We had to scramble to increase our income dramatically. I now had to market my services at a level that I've never had to before. I needed more clients!
The reality of advertising and marketing hit me very hard. I now had to face the same issues my clients face on a day to day basis. The biggest issue to marketing my business was getting through to more prospects. My message kept getting caught up in the mess of advertising, marketing, and daily life.
So here's my answer to overcoming the issues of getting my message to my prospects. First, let me give you a little background information.
April 2004: A Yankelovich Partners poll for the American Association of Advertising concluded that consumers believed they are constantly bombarded with advertising.
61% said that advertising was out of control.
60% said that they had a negative opinion of advertising.
54% said that they avoided buying products that overwhelm them with ads.
How do you overcome the Message Clutter?
Carefully select your buyers.
Educate your prospective clients.
Entertain them.
Focus on referrals
Make them an offer they can't refuse.
If you could build the ideal profile of your best client, what would they be like?
List 10 traits of your ideal client, then determine how many of them you can realistically service each month. How much is my ideal client really worth to me and how many of them can I work with?
Do the math to calculate your conversion rate.
If you actively presented your business to 100 prospective clients, how many could you convert to paying clients for your product or service in a month?
Is there an opportunity to generate repeat business from these clients?
What is the buying cycle for your average client?
Let's take your answers to the next step.
For example:
Our Dentist has an average per patient rate of $3200.00 a year. He wants to double his ideal patient roster and introduce several new products this year.
Our Dentist currently sees 100 patients a month. The number of patients that currently fit his ideal profile is about 40 a month. He determines that an additional 40 ideal clients a month would make his goal a reality. Now he must find them.
Educate your clients.
Now that we have a idea of who we need to reach, let's get to reaching them.
Let's be clear about this fact. People might hate being sold to but they all want more information on what to buy. They want to be educated.
People are interested in knowing more about the things that interest them. If they can get the right information at the right time, they will be in a great position to take action in their interest.
Entertain them.
When you want to stand out, you can make an impression with your audience by inserting humor into your presentations. Humor leaves a lasting impression.
Focus on Referrals
Another way to circumvent the message clutter is to petition your current clients for referrals. There are ways to do this without begging. One way is to combine education and referral strategies – Invite your clients to a seminar and offer an incentive to bring a few friends.
Make them a offer they can't refuse.
This is not just a tactic of gangster movies. If you search thoroughly through your feature, advantages and benefits of your offer, you can find one unique area that will undeniably appeal to your market. If you show them how they cannot lose by using you or your product then they will move to act in their own self interest.
Create offers that not only give top notch value, but also appropriate information. Give them an iron clad guarantee. There must be something in your offer that shows how confident you are in what you have or do.
Get your message to the right target audience. Then make sure that they get it over and over again.
The most important practice in marketing is getting the message to the people who welcome it as an opportunity, not an interruption. Use this frequency to develop a relationship. Education seems to build that relationship while offering something to the prospect that they find useful.
Education cuts through the message clutter because those who are looking for your solutions will better understand the nature of their problem and look more closely at your solution.
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