Profit Zing » website http://profitzing.com Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:51:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Small Business Marketing and the US Census: Economic Trends, Market Research and More http://profitzing.com/small-business-marketing-and-the-us-census-economic-trends-market-research-and-more-2/ http://profitzing.com/small-business-marketing-and-the-us-census-economic-trends-market-research-and-more-2/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:51:42 +0000 admin http://profitzing.com/small-business-marketing-and-the-us-census-economic-trends-market-research-and-more-2/
Michele DeKinder-Smith asked:


 

What would you say if I told you there were an online tool that could provide detailed information about the size of your market including trends in your industry and other important information concerning the economy as a whole?

 

What if I told you that this tool could help take the hit-and-miss out of small business marketing?

 

And what if I told you it was free? 

 

The US Census site—www.census.gov—is all that and more. That’s why it’s such an essential data destination for market researchers, entrepreneurs, government agencies and anyone who needs accurate information about social and economic trends in the US.  The economic portion of the site offers a wide variety of reports—usually in the form of a downloadable .pdf document—covering topics ranging from basic economic indicators to employment statistics and more.

 

There is, of course, one major drawback to US census data, and that’s how often it’s collected. There are areas of the website’s economic data still based on the 2002 Economic Census, and even the economic indicators updated on a monthly basis do so based on information obtained two months previous.

 

Even so, there are numerous ways that US Census economic data can be essential to making informed small business marketing decisions, and having a sense of the scope of resources available will get you started in putting that data to work for you.

 

Does the number of households with children in your county, region or state make a difference in terms of the size of your potential market? How about the number of retirees, or individuals representing a certain minority group? If so, you’ll want to check out the People & Households section of the website which also contains important information concerning household incomes. 

 

These numbers could help to influence how much of your marketing budget you dedicate to reaching certain sectors of your target demographic, and where, geographically, you choose to concentrate your advertising dollars. It may also help you determine baselines for products and pricing.

 

If your target market is tied to a certain business or industry—the housing market, for example, or the entertainment industry—you’ll want to explore the Business & Industry section of the US Census website. This is where you’ll find general economic indicators for major areas of the economy, as well as more specific information through the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS.) This type of industry-specific info is also good for surveying exactly how your own business is doing relative to your industry as whole.

 

There are a number of different ways to use the information available through the Business & Industry section.  If you’re wondering, for example, what types of online businesses and e-commerce websites are making the most money—and what areas of online sales appear to be growing the quickest—you might go to the E-Stats section.  If your market includes small business owners, you might gain some useful information from the Survey of Business Owners. And, if the local economy is important to the growth and development of your business, the section marked County Business Patterns, under the heading of Economic Indicators, is a great place to start.

 

By taking US Census information into account, you’ll be able to “look before you leap” when it comes to major business decisions, and develop key strategies to keep pace in a changing world. 

 

For more information about how to put US Census data to work for your business, visit http://profitzing.com/small-business-marketing-what-puts-you-closest-to-the-money/
Kendall Summerhawk asked:


Do you know what most women entrepreneurs bring with them when they start their own business?

The notion that being busy means being productive.

Nothing could be farther from the truth!

As I warn my business coaching clients, this faulty (and even dangerous) notion is a hold-over from the days of working at a j-o-b.

You see, at a job, you’re paid to show up and stay busy. What people do at their jobs is rarely connected with actually bringing in new clients or making money.

But when you work for yourself, EVERYTHING you do MUST be tightly connected to getting and keeping new clients. Period.

Which means handling things like most emails, filing, problem solving (unless it’s solving your clients’ problems), administrative trivia, surfing the ‘net, sorting your Outlook files, paying bills, fiddling with your website, creating brochures… are a waste of time. These tasks don’t put women entrepreneurs closest to the money; they pull them away from it!

Here are my top favorite tasks that I do nearly every day to put me closest to the money:

Small Business Marketing Strategy #1: Write an article.

Not crazy about writing or not sure what to write about? One of the tips I shared in a recent Success Circle Marketing Makeover call is to write like you are having a conversation. Pretend you are chatting with a good friend about a very specific topic.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #2: Send a “thinking about you” card…or two!

Why not surprise a client, referral source, another woman entrepreneur or prospective client with a friendly “keep in touch” card? They will feel special…and think you are too!

Small Business Marketing Strategy #3: Send a press release written as a mini-article.

Think a press release is only to announce an important event? Nope! Take one of your articles, trim it down to 250 words and add your author’s bio. You can use this strategy to send one a week.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #4: Record a free audio tip for your website.

Even better, transcribe it and post it on your website as a viewable option. Google will love your site for adding fresh content.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #5: Make your first (or next) information product.

Keep it simple and get your information product done now! The credibility and leverage you gain will tremendously boost your business. Example: one of my Platinum Inner Circle clients created a $9.95 eBook on a popular topic. The result? This woman entrepreneur received dozens of sales and several new clients worth many thousands of dollars. Nice!

Small Business Marketing Strategy #6: Ask to be interviewed or to interview an expert.

Interviews are easy to set up. They increase your credibility, widen your exposure and raise your expert status, whether you’re the expert giving the interview or conducting the interview. Choose someone you respect. Call to ask for the interview (you’ll be surprised how often you’ll hear “yes”.) Then record the interview and offer it as a mp3 file on your website.

My business coaching challenge: make a stand for doing ONE small business marketing strategy each day, and then integrate your action into your daily routine.

This is how you’ll go from being busy to becoming successful… with a lot more time to enjoy!



]]> http://profitzing.com/small-business-marketing-what-puts-you-closest-to-the-money/feed/ 0 How You Can Boost Your Profits With Business-To-Business Marketing Online http://profitzing.com/how-you-can-boost-your-profits-with-business-to-business-marketing-online/ http://profitzing.com/how-you-can-boost-your-profits-with-business-to-business-marketing-online/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:50:57 +0000 admin http://profitzing.com/how-you-can-boost-your-profits-with-business-to-business-marketing-online/
Jeffrey Houdyschell asked:


Business to business marketing online Internet style. This is not a new marketing technique. In fact, the design of having two or even more businesses help to endorse one another products and services is a tried and true method that has provided profitable results for most entities involved. Knowledgeable business owners and webmasters recognize the enormous value brought to their company by business-to-business marketing. Marketing online offers another dimension with enormous reach that will allow businesses to continue their networking efforts in the virtual and viral world that the Internet provides.

Lets say for example that a brick and mortar company like a dog grooming business will benefit and gain customers from displaying advertisements at the local veterinarian offices. Dog owners, who trust these veterinarians are more likely to take their pets for a professional grooming to a business recommended by an already trusted establishment, like their local vet. On the other hand, the clients of the dog grooming business will be most likely those who need a veterinarian for their pets, and they will most likely trust the vet suggested by the professional grooming business who already has an reputable relationship with them. The same concept applies to business-to-business marketing; The Internet simply adds a new aspect to this method.

If the local pet grooming business and the veterinarian both have a website it will permit for further business-to-business marketing, Internet style. Since the services provided by the pet grooming business and veterinarian only tangentially overlap, they are not in direct competition with one another, but instead will be able to do business-to-business marketing online in the truest sense of the term.

These businesses could then continue with this business-to-business marketing method with other related businesses. For example the Pet grooming business could establish a relationship with pet magazines, animal shelters and other groups that are not in direct competition with each other.

This form of business-to-business marketing has become commonplace online and savvy webmasters and business owners have been taking advantage of this viral marketing method in many different forms. Website owners will cross promote each other’s products, services and business opportunities to each others subscribers lists in an email marketing campaign. Or just place ads on each other’s websites.

Finding these business-to-business marketing opportunities are not as hard as you would think. Perhaps you are starting a new website promoting your own type of network marketing opportunity and need a professionally designed website. The design company you hire to design your website could benefit from new people you recruit into your new business. Just as you could benefit from people looking for website design that need a business to promote on their new website.

So now you have your new network marketing website designed and need to add content to it. You then hire a ghost writer, establish a relationship and before you know it they are sending you prospects and you in turn send them back to first the website design company and then to the ghost writer. All of related but non-competing businesses start benefiting from the viral nature of business-to-business marketing online. Next you need your site optimized for the search engines, OK, OK, I’ll stop now, but you get the picture right?

These are highly viral and lucrative methods that all involved can benefit from. The next time that you do business with another business remember to look for the business-to-business marketing opportunity.



]]> http://profitzing.com/how-you-can-boost-your-profits-with-business-to-business-marketing-online/feed/ 0 Basic Small Business Marketing Principles http://profitzing.com/basic-small-business-marketing-principles/ http://profitzing.com/basic-small-business-marketing-principles/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:58:09 +0000 admin http://profitzing.com/basic-small-business-marketing-principles/
Nate Stockard asked:


What is marketing?

Marketing is defined in many different ways according to who you ask, but all responses usually are part of the same answer: marketing is a combination of all of the activities you implement or participate in which help promote, brand, and sell you product, service, or business.

Why is marketing important?

Many small business owners feel sales is the most vital part of their business. Sales are very important, but your brand, image, and, ultimately, marketing determines your customer loyalty and growth of your business. Marketing establishes the basis for your sales strategy and how you will close sales.

What does marketing cost?

Small business owners are confronted ever day with sales pitches for various costly marketing activities. Most small business owners see marketing as an expensive business component they just can’t afford. This is not true. In fact, small businesses can’t afford to overlook marketing, and it doesn’t have to drain the bank account either. One of the best forms of marketing that is very affordable is a consistent and professional image. Elegant business cards, matching letterhead, and an informative and effective website are just a few pieces of a small business’ tool box that can do much more than a high-dollar advertising campaign.

How do small business owners create a consistent and professional image?

The first thing a company will create is a name. There are many steps before this point, but this is the first product. Next, comes a unique logo that conveys the right image. Once the marketing package has these two pieces, consistency becomes the primary focus. Small business owners usually put off the rest of the basic building blocks until they can put it off no more. At that point, professionalism and consistency goes out the window in favor of a quick answer.

The right way to approach this issue is to prepare on the front end. Following the name and logo stage, the small business owner must push on. Create the right business card, elegant letterhead, useful brochure, and quality website. By creating all of these things at the point in the start-up process, all of the basic components of your marketing become consistent, professional, and effective from the start.



]]> http://profitzing.com/basic-small-business-marketing-principles/feed/ 0 Creating Online Business Marketing http://profitzing.com/creating-online-business-marketing/ http://profitzing.com/creating-online-business-marketing/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:34:30 +0000 admin http://profitzing.com/creating-online-business-marketing/
Jason Swanson asked:


Throughout these sets of articles we have looked at many different ways that one can create online business ideas. This is very important but it is equally important that you know how to market your business ideas so that people know what you have to offer.  Within this article today we are going to look at what you can do in creating online business marketing that will sell your product.  We will look at two different methods that you can use but, to truly become successful at online marketing, you are going to have to make sure to learn about the subject as much as possible.  Without a certain number of hits to your website every day, you can be guaranteed that you will not have great sales figures.  The only way to get the hits that you want is through marketing and this is where this article comes in.

The first thing they can do in creating online business marketing is to make sure that your website is properly created.  This article isn’t long enough to go into everything that you need for your website but you should make sure that your site is properly indexed by all of the major search engines so that you’re getting the maximum amount of natural search engine traffic you can.  If you need more information about this, look in your library for books on search engine optimization.  This can help you redesign some pages on your website to make sure that you are getting maximum exposure.  If you want to get more people to your website, you may also want to look into Adwords. Where this can benefit you is that you can bid on certain keywords so when people search on these keywords, your ads will come up.  You will paya certain amount per click that you receive from your ads being displayed. This is very good for you because you can target the audience that you want to bring to your website.  By bidding on this, you are able to control your marketing costs and still receive leads.

Another way to get traffic coming to your site and help in creating online business marketing is to offer some free giveaways.  There are a great deal of free forums out there where you can post about free giveaways at your website and this is an additional way to bring traffic to your website.  The word free is one of the major hot buttons for most people so by offering something for free if they visit your website, you will be guaranteed to get a great deal of traffic.  The way to run giveaways would be to have someone sign up for your newsletter in exchange for the free gift. This will help build your newsletter and create more online business marketing because you have a larger responsive list who is potentially interested in the products that you sell.  The way to do this in a newsletter is to make sure you do not push products but rather soft sell them while pushing information your target audience can use. 

Hopefully these two different methods of creating online business marketing can help you out.  What we have told you about today only scratches the surface of the possible things you can do but these are two of the more popular methods and they are very low-cost methods so that you do not have to use a great deal of money that you may need to run the business.



]]> http://profitzing.com/creating-online-business-marketing/feed/ 0 An Easy Small Business Marketing Tip to Get More Profits http://profitzing.com/an-easy-small-business-marketing-tip-to-get-more-profits/ http://profitzing.com/an-easy-small-business-marketing-tip-to-get-more-profits/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:26:59 +0000 admin http://profitzing.com/an-easy-small-business-marketing-tip-to-get-more-profits/ Massimo Damico asked: problemsolve-300x300

Which small business marketing tip do you use to expand your business?

You may want to outsource part of your work because you don’t have the space, you have periodic busy periods, or you need more production to get orders out on time. Get these suggestions:

You could expand your market share by becoming a

middleman and offering your subcontractors products or

services. This will increase your business profits and

give you multiple income streams.

You won’t have to do time consuming tasks like

adding on new equipment or learning new software to

complete certain tasks. This will allow you to spend

more time testing your advertisements.

You won’t have to take the time to train employees.

This will allow you to spend more time working on your

marketing and advertising campaign.

You won’t have to interview employee candidates.

This will allow you to spend more time improving your

customer service, in return you will get more repeat

purchases.

You won’t have to buy extra office or work space to

complete certain tasks. You can use all the money you

save on other business expenses.

You won’t have spend money on employee costs like

taxes, medical, vacation time, holidays, workers comp.,

unemployment costs, etc. (These may vary depending on

which country you do business in.)

Give other businesses the option of selling your

product. It could be a simple joint venture deal or

an affiliate/associate program.

Learn sales ideas from reading and studying other

business’ advertising and marketing material. It

could be ads, brochures, tv ads, sales letters, etc.

You can speed up you order and delivery system with

the extra help. Your customers will appreciate the fast

service and you’ll have a higher chance that they will

buy from you again.

You can take on extra or large orders your business

couldn’t handle before. This will expand your market

share and you could also offer to take the work your

competition can’t handle.

You could get end up receiving orders from your

subcontractors. Your subcontractors may also tell other

people about your business.

Give your customers a surprise bonus for buying.

When you give customers more than they expect,

there is a good chance they will buy from you again.

Follow-up regularly with all your prospects and

current customers. When people see your ad more

than once they are more likely to buy.

The best small business marketing tip to make more orders is staying in touch with your current customers. Make more profits within your customers, do not invest your total resources and time to get new clients.

———————-

Massimo D’Amico is an Italian computer teacher. He has invented a way for any website owner to get Google AdWords pay-per-clicks for free. Google AdWords | For Free

NOTE: You have permission to reprint this article within your website or newsletter as long as you leave the article fully intact and include the “About The Author” resource box.

]]> http://profitzing.com/an-easy-small-business-marketing-tip-to-get-more-profits/feed/ 0 Top 10 Online Business Marketing Mistakes http://profitzing.com/top-10-online-business-marketing-mistakes/ http://profitzing.com/top-10-online-business-marketing-mistakes/#comments Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:53:33 +0000 admin http://profitzing.com/top-10-online-business-marketing-mistakes/ Assassin Marketing asked:online-business-choices

Before starting up any kind of business, one must set up a plan to earn more than we spend and avoid mistakes along the way. Here are a few internet marketing mistakes that you should watch out for and avoid:

1. Making viewers wait.

Don’t regret paying more for a hostile package that could bring you to people fast. If your website is constantly down, your server is slow, your graphics take two minutes load, you can say goodbye to your potential customers.

2. Technical arrogance.

Never assume that everyone has the latest version of a program to view your site. Always have plain HTML and text versions ready for these users who do not have Macromedia’s flash installed. Also, take notes from successful sites. Outsource to a pro for SEO writing, web design, and programming to invest in a good template for your site if you’re not that confident on your technical prowess.

3. Not marketing offline.

Complement online traffic to your site by marketing offline as well, because no one is online all the time.

4. Not remaining timely.

If you want to attract customers, you need to be updated on recent and upcoming events that are relevant to your site. If you’ve got marketing materials on your site about Memorial Day special and it’s June 15th, you’re losing customers.

5. Poor linkages.

Focus on building long-term passive traffic rather than bulk traffic packages or trying traffic gimmicks. However, be very careful with whom you align yourself. Some companies operate co-registration and affiliate programs that violate the CAN-SPAM act and other rules and regulations. Check out any company that offers you anything , especially those who offer you anything that’s quick and easy.

6. Giving users the third degree.

Signing up for newsletters or making purchases should be easy for your customers. Avoid making them go through a number of links or asking too many questions before complete tasks. You loose 10-15 percent of your potential customers for each question you ask them.

7. Not using viral marketing.

Let your customers create ‘buzzwords’ for you through simple ‘forward to a friend’ links or ‘two for one offers’ or offline marketing on t-shirts and other accessories that your customers can wear. Viral marketing or ‘word of mouth’ (in offline marketing lingo) could create an exponential growth of your site’s visibility by spreading from customer to customer and then business to business.

8. Resorting to cheap gimmicks.

Some marketers resort to goofy and even phony campaigns just to gain brand exposure. These could be entertaining and even viral but sometimes those could backfire because they are irrelevant to the customers and sometimes even to your product or service. Provide something that convert to sales and not just to generate shock or surprise. Connect with your buyers in a positive way by providing products and services that are worth talking about. Associate your site with quality rather than gimmicks and you’ll have customers coming back.

9. Not collecting email addresses.

This is not the same as spamming email addresses because unlike spamming, you ask for your customer’s permission to send them your newsletters and other updates to your site. Remember that spamming could cost you because fines could be very heavy when you are found to be in violation of CAN-SPAM laws. By collection email addresses, you maintain your target audience and your potential market.

10. Mistaking Traffic for Results.

Only because a lot of people seem to be clicking on your ad doesn’t mean that they are buying. Remember that some sites actually buy traffic just to maintain top-line business. But if these people aren’t buying, how do you expect to even earn off it? Continuously paying for this traffic can be expensive. On the other hand, just because you have enough traffic, it does not also mean that your income is guaranteed for the next months to come. What you should really focus on is, how much of this traffic actually converts to sales? Everyday is a challenge to offer something that your client really needs, to persuade them that they need what you’re offering and that you are offering the best of what they need. Online customers actually know what they want, so it is up to your to tell them that what they want is what you are offering.

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