Marketing Ideas Online » Marketing Resources

Marketing in a Bad Economy

BS Free Marketing — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:07:31 +0000

Although there finally seems to be hope for our economy on the horizon, business owners are wise to keep in mind that we aren’t out of the woods just yet. Those businesses that have weathered the storm have not down so on luck alone. Marketing and advertising in times such as these requires a certain amount of judiciousness and careful planning. There are several things to keep in mind when planning any marketing strategy when times are tough.

Customer Retention – Remember that when the economy gets tight, people are going to start looking for places to cut back. This could include eliminating the need for a product or service altogether, or attempting to find a less expensive alternative. It is vital that a business owner highlights the reasons why their product is worth the hard earned money of the struggling consumer. On the upside, this also provides an opportunity to reach new customers who may be looking for alternatives to a competitor.

Avoid Excess – During difficult periods, people like to be reminded of better days, but advertisers must remember that moderation is key. When the consumer must carefully monitor his budget, a business that comes across as excessive and overly opulent may serve to alienate a customer rather than attract one. People are being more judicious with their money, and a business must be careful not to come across as intimidating or irresponsible during tough times.

Use Your Available Resources – While the opportunity for speedy growth wanes during times like these, businesses must reexamine all of the resources they have available. Options that may have been previously overlooked or disregarded may present a new chance to reach out to customers. This holds especially true for the less digital methods of marketing such as direct mail, newspaper ads and participation in local events. People like knowing that there are human beings behind a business, and the push to support small local businesses has jumped drastically since the onset of the current recession.

By being mindful of the circumstances of the average American, nearly any business can find the means to stay afloat in today’s market. Hopefully, by staying true to these simple ideas, we can push through the tough times and find a better age waiting for us at the end.

Doing SEO With oDesk

lior — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:28:09 +0000

: Image via CrunchBase

SEO or search engine optimization is a technique used to rank up high in Google. Deciding to hire a search engine optimizer is a big decision that can potentially improve your website, as well as, help you save valuable time, money and benefit your internet business further. If you’re thinking of hiring freelancers to do SEO tasks such as link building and article writing, then you may consider oDesk freelancers.

oDesk freelancers can provide clients with valuable service and it is advisable doing SEO earlier to get maximum benefits. The best time to hire is when you’re planning a site redesign, or considering to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can make certain that your site is designed to be optimally search-engine friendly from the bottom up. Also, a good SEO can help develop good websites content.

Competent employees are considered lifeblood of any business and finding those honest, hardworking and knowledgeable employees can sometimes be frustrating. This is mostly true when searching to employ outsourcers. Whether you are lucky enough to find a qualified candidate or not, you have no uncertainty wasted with your much precious time and money. If you are looking for a faster, easier and cost-effective solution to finding competent outsourcers, then there is no doubt that you can find them in oDesk.

First advantage of hiring an oDesk freelancer is you can definitely save time and money. The most costly part of running any internet business is its employees. This does not refer to their salary, but the cost of finding them, training and retaining them. There are also other costs involved like overtime, health care, office space and finding dedicated individuals for certain projects. Using oDesk freelancers to create a virtual workforce answers these problems and frees up your capital to help manage your internet business.

oDesk can help you post job position and search through thousands of competent applicants. It also gives tests to make certain each applicant has the required skills needed to do the work required. You can look further into an applicant’s work history by carefully reading comments from previous employers and viewing previous work samples. oDesk has streamlined the interviewing and hiring process, making it simple to employ short-term, long-term employees or build a team of freelancers.

When hiring odesk freelancers, you can manage your team as if they were working beside you. One of the main problems with hiring outsourcers or any worker for that matter is making certain that they are basically working and staying well-focused on task assigned. oDesk comes with advanced technology where you can monitor your team’s activity on your wide computer screen. Every minute that a certain task is being worked on is as well, logged into the system giving you total control over your staff, even more so than having all of them in the office beside you.

oDesk does charge a little percentage of the money you make to pay for their valuable services. The quantity is stated when you apply to a job and is included to your bid requested so you can glimpse what your employers would pay in full if they hired you.

In terms of payroll, odesk has also done it very easy for you. The difficulty of paying outsourcers is taken care of in one easy line. You get well-detailed reports on each oDesk freelancer at the end of every week and have the chance to object to any hours billed. If you are in favor to all the hours billed, then payment is done through your credit card or bank account that you specify. oDesk gives you total control of your expenses at a touch of a button.

Using oDesk is simple and hiring qualified freelancers is easy and free without the frustration you have come to imagine from seeking to find qualified outsourcers. Setting up your own account will only take less than five to ten minutes and you will certainly be on your way to searching your next star employee.

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Lior works for a company that developed an innovative online task management app and also for a company that sells nursing tops

SEO Infographic – Link Data Visualization (infographicsshowcase.com)
5 Red Flags You Shouldn’t Ignore When Hiring Remote Employees (businessinsider.com)

A Little Bit About Seth Godin

BS Free Marketing — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:28:43 +0000

Anyone familiar with marketing is likely to stop and take note when the name Seth Godin is mentioned. His contributions to the industry have drastically changed the way businesses advertise, helped improve their methods of approach in dealing with customers, and provided new avenues of dealing with our ever-changing world. From starting his own ski club business in high school, Seth Godin has risen to become one of the most highly regarded minds in the marketing world.

Godin is widely credited with expanding and promoting the concept of permission marketing. In today’s world of email and internet shopping, permission marketing has made giant strides in drawing customers to businesses by putting the potential clients at ease by allowing them to feel more in control of a buying situation. The concept is relatively simple. The marketer must obtain either explicit or implicit permission to approach a potential client with the means to making a possible purchase. The upside for the customer being that will not be bombarded by unwanted solicitations, providing them with a sense of control and security when shopping and considering purchases.

Simple, subtle ideas such as this can be found in all of Seth Godin’s works. He is a highly regarded public speaker, and has written over a dozen best-selling books, including “All Marketers are Liars” and “Unleashing the Ideavirus.” He is also credited with expanding the marketing dictionary with the terms he has defined to clearly and effortlessly through his work. In addition to his published works, he also maintains the most successful marketing blog on the internet, sethgodin.typepad.com.

Marketing Project Creativity and Management – Part One (printdesigntips.com)
Book recommendations from Dan Pink, Seth Godin, and more (holykaw.alltop.com)
8 Transformational Leadership Lessons From Seth Godin (hubspot.com)

A Few Words on Universal Marketing

In Defense of Direct Mail

BS Free Marketing — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:27:43 +0000

Direct mail is one of the more under-appreciated forms of advertisement. Often dismissed as junk mail, these mailings can have a much greater impact on customers than some advertisers would assume. Small local businesses can benefit greatly by reaching customers in their surrounding areas without spending the money that is required to produce television and radio ads. In addition to the cost-effectiveness, this method of marketing allows a business the opportunity to make a personal statement about the value and necessity of the products or services being offered, while giving customers the means to easily find the information they need.

photo by Steve 2.0

In today’s world, adding a personal touch to advertising can speak volumes. Direct mail can be the medium for the expression of art or local color, attracting customers on a mental and emotional level. The right image or turn of phrase can touch people on a deeper level than a loud, overwhelming television ad, drawing customers back to a business where they feel more valued and more comfortable.

Direct mail can also serve to remind people of the value of their local businesses. The personal touch of receiving an advertisement that can be read at one’s leisure in the comfort of one’s own home can provide the kind of reminder to customers that their hometown businesses, which might otherwise be taken for granted, are open and available and actively seeking their patronage. So, while it may not be the flashiest and most widely utilized form of marketing, direct mail offers opportunities for a much more personal approach to reaching customers.

Budgeting and Trade Show Necessities (tradeshowproductpromotion.com)
Trade Show Event Marketing Advice (worldoftradeshowdisplays.com)
Marketing Powers Activate: Direct Mail Plays Important Role in Political Advertising (whattheythink.com)

What Can You Do With $50 and One Hour on the Internet to Market Your Business?

BS Free Marketing — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:25:42 +0000

The answer is you can do quite a lot to market your business on the internet.

The reality is you will need to spend more time on the net but not necessarily more money. The reason for this is that so much is available on the internet in terms of resources and huge numbers of potential customers already on there. The issue for you is how to tap into that pool of prospects and gaining understand and skills to use the resources already there.

Nevertheless, you’re rich enough to have $50 to hand so let’s see what you can get done.

Build and Promote a Web Site

For $50 and around an hour, you can build yourself a landing page to promote your business, provide an overview of products and services and make sure your contact information is available for those prospects who want to speak to you.

You do not need to invest thousands in web designers or marketing specialists nor do you need specialist skills yourself. If you are new to e-commerce, search for free web design services and hosting and test the water first. If your project returns results, you can consider increasing your allocation of time and money resources and then call in the professionals. At most, you will need to spend $50 to pay for hosting or a website template to use.

Social Media and Networking Sites

Signing up and producing a profile with FaceBook, MySpace, Ning, Bebo, Orkut and the many other online networking sites is easy and best of all, free!

In return for signing up and generating a profile for your business or particular product or service line, you will be able to generate traffic to your own website off the networking site. In addition, you get a lot of users referring items of interest around the online networks which is what many marketing professionals look to achieve – getting their social media promotional activity to go “viral”.

We still haven’t spent the $50 yet, but if you feel like doing so, head over to LinkedIn, the business networking community and subscribe. You don’t have to pay to register and develop a profile but the paying subscribers get better exposure and access to more promotional tools.

Buy a Great Sounding Domain Name

Head over to GoDaddy or any of the domain name companies and you will see offers such as, “Get Your Domain Name for Free” or in any event, less than a few dollars. The reality is that most of the great sounding domain names have already been bought and if they are not actively being used by someone else, they will be gathering virtual dust as someone is holding the domain name for resale or because they no longer need it but haven’t thought of selling it.

For a great sounding domain name or to buy one from someone else who is no longer using it, be prepared to spend a little more time and a little more money to get a name which will really attract visitors to the site.

Establish a Blog

Setting up a blog is relatively simple and straight forward and you can do it for free as well – just head over to WordPress or Blogger and follow the step by step instructions.

Blogging is very popular and while it does not eclipse search engines for popularity amongst users, blogs have become the focus of a great deal of activity and discussion over the net.

If you want to spend some money, look at buying a domain name for use with your free blog with WordPress who for $10 will let you use your own domain name without the wordpress.com extension and make yourself look more professional.

Dell Atlas – Article made possible by Exhibit Wholesale, online suppliers of trade show displays.

Top Ten Office Space Websites in the US

BS Free Marketing — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:34:17 +0000

Cityfeet.com – Cityfeet is a leading website in the office space world with listings of available commercial real estate, including executive offices all over the USA.

Costar.com – Cityfeet cannot be mentioned without mentioning Costar in the same breath. These two providers are neck and neck in office space listing across the USA.

Regus.com – Regus is the worldwide leader (by far) in executive office space with more than 950 locations across the globe including about 450 in the US.

aBetterOffice.com – aBetterOffice is a bit different than the other sites listed here, but it covers office space topics in order to help industry insiders keep up with office space news or seekers of office space to get advice on how to find the best office.

Officebroker.com – Officebroker.com is a company that lists all executive suites around the world. They are highly focused in the UK, but also have a significant presence in the US. I’ve chosen them just behind Regus and the others because of their easy to use website in addition to their comprehensive listings.

Officefinder.com – Officefinder.com is a great website to find real estate in the US. It is a little confusing with some of it’s content, but whether you’re looking for an executive office or other type of commercial real estate, Officefinder.com will help you find what you need.

Coworking Wiki– If you’re interested in a truly alternative form of office space, check out this coworking website that lists many coworking facilities globally. Coworking is an office space established for people who no longer want to want an alternative to home office, coffee shops and the like. It’s low cost, and sort of communal in nature.

Instantoffices.com – Instant Offices is a very nice website that does a great job of listing executive suites all across the US as well as the rest of the world.

Searchofficespace.com – One of the oldest executive suite brokers around, Search Office Space is a well-respected company with a great website to help people find executive office space.

Abcn.com – ABCN is a global network of more than 600 executive suite companies. While it’s not their focus, they are a good resource to help people find office space worldwide.

Provided by Big Oak SEO, an ethical SEO Company.