Blitz Ezine #262 June 13, 2006

Agressive Marketing, Social Networking

The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 262, June 13th, 2006

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Blitz Comments
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We hope you are enjoying the Summer so far.

We offer daily promotion items in our blog, which you can find at the following link -

http://smallbizpromo.blogspot.com

Our next issue will be on July 10.

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In this Issue
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- Agressive Marketing
- Social Networking

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Food for thought
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In order for you to be the BEST for others, first you must be BEST for Yourself.
Jeffrey Gitomer (from the Little Red Book of Selling).

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Summary: Want marketing that gets results but that you can live
with? Discover how aggressive your marketing is. Don't forget
to take the quiz at the end.
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HOW AGGRESSIVE IS YOUR MARKETING?

Cathy, a business writer, emailed me and said, "Boy, do I need
to work on my Web site this year!" I gave her a couple of ways
to improve her site and had her look at several websites that
sell effectively on the Internet. Her response was a common one;
she thought those sites were marketing aggressively and she
worried about turning her prospects off with a "hard sell".

Are you concerned about being too aggressive in your marketing?

No one in business wants to be seen as the stereotypical used
car salesman, who tries to sell you a lemon by claiming the car
was owned by a little old lady who n.ever drove it. And are
prospects really convinced by promises that are too good to be
true? "Start your own business and make $200,000 in just two
weeks!" Then there are the salespeople who drive everyone crazy
with their annoying cold calls at dinner time...

You could try the "soft sell" approach; in your marketing
materials, simply state your company's name and include a list
of the products or services you sell. This is a very common
approach. But it doesn't work. It's true that if you're too loud
or annoying, you may scare your prospects away, but if you're
too subtle or you sound the same as the competition, no one will
ever read your materials.

Let me clear up one misperception right away. Aggressive
marketing does not mean deceiving your prospects or deliberately
pestering them. Don't make claims that you can't back up, and
donÕt annoy your prospects. You want them to become satisfied
clients, after all.

When you think of aggressive marketing you may think of being
aggressive as "showing a readiness or having a tendency to
attack or do harm to others". Instead, think of aggressive
marketing as "characterized by or exhibiting determination,
energy, and initiative". (Definitions from Encarta)

When people read your marketing materials, your s.ales letters
or your web site, you want to grab their attention, to impress
them and to prompt them to contact you and buy from you. To get
attention and do well, you need an aggressive marketing approach
that demonstrates your determination, energy, and initiative.

Remember your school days. If you sat in the back of the class
and n.ever raised your hand, never asked a question or
participated in discussions, it was tough to get top grades. No
matter how smart you are or how good you are at what you do, if
you don't let your prospects know how you can help them and
convince them of your credibility, you won't get their
business.

You want the people reading your s.ales letters or visiting your
web site to contact you, get to know you, see you as the expert
to rely on and buy from you. It's reasonable to expect at least
one out of ten web site visitors to contact you.

Some of my clients are getting one out of five site visitors to
contact them. If you're not getting that kind of response,
chances are that you're not being aggressive enough in your
marketing.

How aggressive are you in your marketing?

Take the 10 item quiz below to find out. Circle yes or no next
to each question.

1. Have you written down your business goals for the next 12
months? Yes - No

2. Is one of your goals to grow your list of qualified prospects
by 5% each month? Yes - No

3. Do you have a written marketing plan that guides your daily,
weekly and monthly marketing activities? Yes - No

4. Is the first and most prominent element in your marketing
materials a one-sentence explanation of how you help your
clients? Yes - No

5. Do you feature client testimonials or case studies that
provide proof of the results your products and services
generate? Yes - No

6. Is the first 50% or more of your marketing copy in your
marketing materials focused on your prospects problems and
concerns relative to your products and services? Yes - No

7. In your s.ales letters and on your web site, do you use a
free offer to prompt prospects to contact you? Yes - No

8. Does your free offer prompt hundreds of people to contact
you each week? Yes - No

9. Do you follow up each prospect inquiry with an immediate
response and at least 6 follow up contacts? Yes - No

10. Do you continue to stay in touch with qualified prospects at
least once a month, sharing an idea they can use and
demonstrating the solutions you provide? Yes - No

Your Marketing Aggressiveness Score and What It Means Count the
number of your "Yes" answers and see below.

1 to 3 You're a marketing wallflower. You may be brilliant, and
you may have great products and services, but your prospects
have probably n.ever heard of you and aren't buying from you.
Make a marketing plan and discover how to create a steady stream
of prospects.

3 to 6 You are on your way to becoming a successful marketer and
to growing your business. You just need to discover how to
generate more leads and more sales.

7 to 10 You're an aggressive marketer. You've been in business
for at least a couple of years and understand the core marketing
techniques that provide results. Next discover how to further
increase your conversion rates and sell more to new and
existing clients.

Whether you scored 1 or 10 on the quiz, there are steps you can
take to improve your marketing and grow your business. You
understand what your prospects want; use your marketing to
motivate them to buy from you. Remember that aggressive
marketing is about demonstrating your determination, energy, and
initiative.

2006 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. - The
author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals, small
business owners and marketing professionals attract more
clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the Free
Marketing Strategy eBook, '7 Steps to get more clients and grow
your business' at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com


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We're starting to get more 'local' business lately so I thought this might help some folks with their networking. Remember that you can network close to home as well.

Social Networking for Business
S. Housley

Associations and trade organizations are great places to
meet individuals. Usually organizations have a common theme,
and it is an understood implication that all members
participate to improve themselves and their businesses.

Whether it is a chamber of commerce or a trade association,
members have common problems, issues and concerns. By
sharing issues and resolutions, members can benefit by the
experience of others. Many business owners participate in
organizations, not only to network, but also to hopefully
circumvent some of the pitfalls encountered by other small
businesses--learning from others.

Networking Tips.
Many trade organizations provide forums for networking. In
some cases, these might be private online newsgroups, casual
meetings, or even professional events with speakers. In
order to take full advantage of these networking
opportunities consider these tips.

Who You Know.
It is often not who you know, but who they know. I can't
tell you the number of times I've seen someone put-off
someone who is clearly a beginner only to learn that the
"beginner" is the brother or friend of a contact they've
been trying to meet for weeks.

Honesty.
Be honest. Pretending to be something that you are not, or
implying you can deliver a product or service that is
outside of your abilities, will foster an environment of
distrust and potentially harm your reputation. Keep in mind
that networking is viral?vital? and if promises are not
kept, word will spread. Establishing yourself and firm as an
honest, reputable company.

Professional.
Keep conversations to strictly business subjects. In a
business environment, it is important to focus on safe
non-emotional topics. The last thing you want to do is
alienate or offend a potential client because of an
outspoken view on a controversial topic. There is a time and
a place for everything and discussing political views or
cultural issues is not a generally accepted business topic.
Bearing that in mind, it is also important to be aware and
sensitive to cultural differences. The Internet has opened
doors to a global market and respecting cultural differences
is critical to establishing strong business relationships in
the global marketplace.

Socialize.
Now is not the time to be a wall flower. Whether you
participate in social business events, or monitor trade
forums, it is critical that you participate. Participation
will help you distinguish yourself in your industry. Attempt
to remember individual personal details and foster
introductions among others in the industry.

Positive.
Stay positive. It sounds simple, but it will really impact
how others view you. If you are constantly negative and
pointing out the flaws in others, it will reflect on how
others view you. Presenting the best and positive business
experiences will enhance your image.

Help.
Provide genuine assistance to others. Whether or not they
are able to reciprocate, networking is viral?vital?. Helping
others will establish you as a useful member of your
business community and will endear you to others. If you are
unable to help an individual, attempt to refer them to
someone who can.

Research
A little research goes a long way. Be sure to research
people and companies in your business community. Knowing
their common goals and interests will build topics for
discussions.

Acknowledging the need to connect with others to grow and
expand a business may seem like common sense. Cultivating
business relationships and interact with other small
businesses is often mutually beneficial and should not be
underestimated.

Networking is about building relationships and mutual
interaction benefiting both parties. Being proactive and
following up, you can have a network of contacts that you
will be able to access quickly when you need them. Whether
by more traditional means, such as in person or over the
Internet, personal networks are essential for furthering
your business. Relationship networking is give and take, be
sure to help others in your quest for help.

About the Author -
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing,
publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon
manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a
wireless text messaging software company.

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Links you can use -
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Some good info on protecting your lap top.
http://www.earthlink.net/elink/issue96/security.html

A place to find 800 numbers that may be hard to find.
http://www.hardtofind800numbers.com/

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Fun and Games
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If you like tests you'll love this site.

http://www.allthetests.com/

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Useful links to our site
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Ezine Archives links to all our past issues (well most of them) in one place.

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Next Issues
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Our next issue will be June 13th 2006

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Final Thoughts
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Tim and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
http://www.crochetnmore.com
http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com