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Top 10 Reputation or Brand Mangement Tips

By Jaan Kanellis in Marketing

Recently I had a chance to post at WPW some reputation management help for Rebecca Kelly from SEOmoz.org. Here is the thread from WPW:

Reputation Management Advice

Basically the problem with SEO brand management arises when bad press gets into the news websites and then finds its way to ranking high on the SERPs for product and company names. If (and when) this does happen how do you combat such a thing? How can you essentially push down ranking of a pesky blogger or news web page? Here are my Top 10 Reputation Management tips:

1. Try “employing” or offering other bloggers to step up and post about the client. Not so much PayPerPost or Review Me style, but emailing or calling them one by one and doing it the right way.

2. Another idea is to join forums and other websites which require a user name and have a indexable profile page. For instance if you look up my name: “Jaan Kanellis” you will find MyBlogLog Community pages and many other websites that simply list a profile page. Of course your user name has to be the keyword/brand your going after, duh.

3. How about stock quote page? Is this client name/brand/keyword a public company? If so start linking to those stock quote pages from Yahoo and Google Finance.

4. How about getting Social Media websites to help like Yahoo Answers or Google Groups. Once the web page is created start by getting some links pointing to the answer/group page and watch it climb! This really applies to any sort of social media web page that allows you to author your own question/content.

5. How about getting news interviews, podcasts, etc on the subject of brand/keyword live online? Of course these will be primarily authored by the client and positive in nature. Getting the client to do them and making sure the interviewer posts them online is obviously important. Once live you can point to them from many different websites as a resource.

Basically the bottom line of my points above is to utilize already top ranking websites for your own brand benefit, while keeping the end user plenty happy with what they find in the SERPs.

More:

7. Buy, buy, buy domains around your target keyword/brand. Get them live with unique content and offer social interaction/Web 2.0 for visitors. They will rank faster than you can believe.

8. Create another controversy. Well this is very tricky, but rightly constructed it could over power whatever rankings are there now, that are in your way.

9. Try to avoiding the Quixtar route/press:

Quixtar Caught in Search Engine PR Battle

Quixtar Spamming the Search Engines?

10. Make sure your ruling the PPC spots. This can only help protect your brand and will help influence visitors to see who is the real website that they should be visited.

Another decent article:

SEO as your brand watchdog
Author:  Jaan Kanellis is the founder of KBKMarketing.com, which provides organic and PPC website marketing to clients, agency partners and SEM companies. Jaan has been involved in online marketing since 1999.

Convert Website Leads to Paying Customers

By Dmitri Eroshenko in Marketing

Your website exists either to sell products or generate leads that can be later converted into paying customers. In the former case, unless you sell inexpensive commoditized widgets, it takes several interactions with a prospective customer before you can close the sale. Therefore, a top priority of almost every online business is to gather, organize, and convert website leads to sales.
Gather leads
Most of website visitors who are interested in your products or services aren’t ready to buy just yet, but they sure have some questions and would like additional information (if it’s not too hard to obtain). Don’t make them search for it - put your contact information right in front of them.

Every page of your website must have call for action and contact options that are impossible to miss. Some examples include:
- Ask a question via email

- Call your sales phone number

- Request an instant call-back

- Sign up for special offers

- Contact for a price quote

- Download product brochure

- Submit an inquiry form

- Chat live with a sales representative

- Subscribe for a newsletter
When gathering leads, stick to the KISS principle: Don’t ask for more information than absolutely necessary. For example, if you only need to know your potential customer’s state of residence, don’t ask for a full mailing address. If you do all your sales via email, don’t require a phone number, or at least make it optional.
Be sure to provide a clear, concise statement about how the information you collect will be used. Assure your prospects that their contact data will not be shared with other parties and they can stop receiving communications from you at any time.
Organize leads
Leads are useless unless they are properly organized. First, you must establish the systems and processes for recording all pertinent information for leads collected via different channels, such as website, incoming phone calls, trade shows and so on. Aside from the contact information, each prospective customer record should date and source, products and services of interest, subscription and contact preferences, and any other relevant data.
Your lead management system must also be able to record the history of all communications with a lead, such as incoming and outgoing emails, phone calls, voice mails, faxes, and items sent via postal mail. Each lead must be assigned to a sales representative, and categorized by the level of interest, size of opportunity, and sales pipeline status (more on that later). Sales reps should also be able to enter internal notes and comments about the prospect, and set reminders for the future follow ups.
Last, but not least, your lead system must be centralized. Every person and team involved in a sales process should have the ability to instantly access and update the information, without the need to upload, download, and synchronize the data. This is especially critical if all or part of your team is geographically dispersed or telecommuting.
Convert leads into sales
This is where the rubber hits the road. There is a number of distinct steps in any sales process. Let’s consider a typical example of a sales process that you can easily adopt to your situation:

Lead - a contact that has expressed an interest in your product or fits the target profile of a potential customer.

Prospect - a lead that continues to express interest in your product or service after a two-way information exchange.

Qualified prospect - a prospect that has participated in a discussion with a sales representative, confirmed their need, and is committed to making a decision within a defined timeframe.

Committed prospect - a qualified prospect who has reviewed your price quote or proposal and has indicated that she is ready to move forward with you.

Customer - ka-ching!

You can use your sales pipeline status report to not only monitor the effectiveness of your overall sales process and individual sales representatives, but to forecast sales as well. To estimate the dollar value of your entire prospect base, multiple the average probablity of closing the sale at every stage of the pipeline by the number of prospects currently assigned to that stage.

Establishing and managing your lead conversion process is impossible without proper tools. You will need a system that captures lead information from your website and other channels, and integrates it with email, contact manager, calendar, and sales force automation software.

Author:  Dmitri Eroshenko is the CEO of Clicklab and is a leading expert in web analytics and click fraud. Clicklab’s email and CRM is powered by Relenta.

Marketing’s Magic Bullet

By Michael Linehan in Marketing

I recently read an article about the search for the marketing “Magic Bullet”. I, like the writer, have found that people often think that some one big, magic tactic will solve their marketing problems and propel them over the top into the easy ride of ongoing, no-further-effort profit.
Nowhere do we see this more clearly than on the Web. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that most companies, of EVERY level, spend close to 100% of their web budget merely on designing and building their site. They thought that just having a website was the “magic bullet”. Put it up and the profits roll in.

Then there are some people who begin to realize that more is necessary. But even then, many think that the “more” is a single magic bullet to be found somewhere in perhaps a one-time blast of optimization or the one super-web-techno-trick that will fix it all.

So in that sense, I agree with the writer. There is no ‘magic bullet’ that you can do just once and your marketing is finished forever.

BUT, there is something that qualifies in my mind for that position as the ‘central answer’ — a sort of a magic bullet that can transform everything. That something is Strategy. Now, the bad new: Strategy is not a ‘thing’ that gets done once and that’s it. With a truly strategic approach, you’ll be working at your marketing more than ever, perhaps every day.

Tactical or opportunistic marketing probably won’t get you what you want. To make a physical comparison with mountain climbing — if you simply put one foot in front of the other (each step is a tac-tic), you may or may not get up to the top of Everest (your business goal). In fact, where you’ll end up is pretty much a matter of luck. Or if you just follow what seems like a good opportunity right now, you may or may not get to your goal. In fact, in our Everest metaphor, that opportunity might lead you back down the slope or into a crevasse!

You need to be looking further ahead than the next few feet to know whether the opportunity is a good idea or not. You need to be operating from the overall picture.

To get to the top of Everest, you clearly need an outstandingly clear, concrete, well thought out, thorough plan — steered by a single ultimate goal. This is very obvious, is it not? Nothing else is going to get you to that peak. In business, it’s THE SAME. (Well, the negative consequences may not be quite as immediately drastic!)

And such formation of a goal and a plan is strategic thinking. I hereby nominate “Strategy” as the magic bullet of business and web marketing!

Author:  Michael Linehan is the founder of Marketing-Alchemy in Victoria BC. Michael is an author, web marketer and motivational speaker.

How to Compete with the Big Boys

By Jerry Bader in Marketing

Every business needs to do everything it can to stand out from the crowd, to differentiate itself from the competition. This is a major challenge for companies that sell substantially the same thing as their competitors.

The average business does not have the resources of a multinational corporation that often uses its substantial marketing muscle to buy market share or to drive competition out of the marketplace. Big business also uses its deep pockets to flood various media with advertising, making them a pervasive presence.
The Web has always been an egalitarian environment where smaller companies could present themselves using the same techniques as the big boys, and if these companies did it well they could stand side-by-side with their competitive behemoths.
One thing that small and medium sized businesses should take some comfort in is that many large corporations are notoriously poorly run, relying on brawn rather than brain to get the job done. Many survive because over time they have acquired huge resources, become oligopolies, or they use predatory marketing practices to stifle competition.
As the Web becomes more and more a multimedia environment, corporations are starting to use their financial resources, and inventory of commercial assets and programming (not to be confused with computer programming), to deliver their marketing messages. The question is can smaller businesses compete, and if so, how?
Slipstream Marketing
Dr. Max Sutherland, a Marketing Psychologist and Professor at Bond University, has written about a concept he refers to as ’slipstreaming.’ Anyone who is familiar with motor racing or even bicycle racing understands that slipstreaming is a drafting method where a racer tucks behind a front-running rival reducing wind resistance and saving fuel and energy, and with a quick move, the challenger can slingshot past the race leader.
The clever implementation of slipstream style marketing campaigns can allow you to blow by your competition by using the momentum of well-known and instantly recognizable campaigns.

Slipstreaming references a collective audience memory, a kind of shared consciousness. Skillful execution draws ínstant recognition and an “Oh I Get It!” reaction without a lot of wasted setup or groundwork.
“Give Me The Same Thing, But Different!”
The key of course is how you make your version different. What’s the twist? Blake Snyder, a Hollywood screenwriter and author, writes about entertainment executives’ constant refrain, “Get me the same thing, but different.” What Snyder has learned and what he preaches is that movie moguls understand it’s easier to get people to go to a movie they understand and that was already a success, but the trick is making the new version different, that is different but the same.
If you think slipstreaming is an easy way to be creative you’re wrong. Being different but the same is not as simple as it sounds, but success can depend on it. Done poorly slipstreaming comes off as lame and imitative, but done correctly you appear clever and cutting-edge, and more importantly you deliver the marketing message in a way your audience will remember.
There are an endless variety of things you can slipstream: personalities, icons, slogans, music, advertisements, news events, pop culture phenomena, movies, television shows, commercials, and sporting events.
Personalities
One of our favorite personality slipstreaming techniques is the use of voice-over. It can be implemented as part of a video campaign or as a stand-alone feature. We have used sound-alike actors to portray Rod Serling, Sam Elliot, Steve Irwin, Paul Winfield, Tom Brokaw, and many others.
What makes this approach so valuable is that most people will relate to the voice as someone they know, or are familiar with, but not immediately recognize.
This method captures people’s attention with the familiar sound of a famous voice but without the cost of hiring the celebrity. Often the voice does not even have to be that close to the original, it’s the cadence, delivery, tone, and scrípt that makes people sit-up and take notice.
Cutting through the jungle of advertising noise is a challenge for everyone in business and this technique is a very effective method of getting heard and being remembered.
Television Shows
Another slipstream technique we’ve used is to play upon the audience’s knowledge and familiarity with certain television shows. We have created Web-videos, written scrípts, added dialogue and composed music that reminds people of the old ‘Twilight Zone’ series and the popular A&E show, ‘City Confidential.’
Commercials
One of our most successful Web-promotion campaigns was the ‘Multimedia Versus SEO Campaign’ where we took advantage of the well know Macintosh Versus PC television commercials. Nobödy needed an explanation or setup to understand what was going on in the commercials. We basically slipstreamed Apple’s television campaign.
Slogans
Slogans are another resource for slipstreaming and if you think only small companies slipstream, think again. The A&E Network used the slogan “Time Well Spent” for many years, while The Comedy Network slipstreamed it with their own twisted version “Time Well Wasted” - the same thing, but different.
Music
With the popularity of Hip Hop music, the milk marketing board developed a series of commercials with dairy farmers rapping to a catchy Hip Hop tune well prancing around their farm animals. Hip Hop was also slipstreamed by Smirnoff in their Raw Tea campaign and ‘Tea Partay’ viral video.
Pop Culture
With the popularity of poker and the World Poker Tour, we developed a Mike Sexton style character, host of the television show, for one of our projects. We’ve even created nostalgia radio-style audio pitches that hark back to the olden age of radio plays.
Movies
We created an entire campaign for a client based on the idea, “Life Deserves A Sound Track” where everyday situations were described in dramatic style with familiar voice-over announcers, which was our take on Will Ferrell’s hit movie ‘Stranger Than Fiction.’
Sports
We’ve created presentations using the personas of famous sports figures like Hall of Fame pitcher and broadcaster Dizzy Dean and Mel Allan. We created scenarios and scrípts using the voices and personas of World Champion racecar driver Jackie Stewart and one crazy scrípt fashioned in the style of college basketball analyst Dick Vitale.
Conclusion
As you can see from these examples, there are an endless number of ways to take advantage of the public’s shared experience. So the next time you need to come up with a new Web marketing campaign for your company, think like a Hollywood mogul: Come Up With Something That’s The Same, But Different.

Author:  Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, www.136words.com and www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

ad|tech SF07 - Dreaming of Disruption

By Lisa Barone in Marketing

[ed note: Lisa Barone, Sr. Writer at Bruce Clay Inc. has been writing stream-of-consciousness coverage of ad|tech SF2007. Not only is it good information, the writing is hilarious. Notes from Susan are placed by Lisa's editor.]

Are you dreaming of disruption? Do you call people late at night just hoping to disrupt their peaceful slumber? Do you spend your work days thinking of contraptions you can put over your coworkers office door to disrupt them and scare them half to death when they stumble in? Are you a mean, disruptive person in general?

I appreciate your honesty but that’s not actually what this morning’s keynote is about. It’s about the disruptive forces of digital technology that are transforming the entire industry. That’s why this morning’s keynote speaker David Clark (Joost) is here. As far as I know, he has no interest in your other mean-spirited activities. I, however, am appalled.

[Speaking of disruptive, if you’re reading this, are in the Bay area, and have access to some form of make-the-killer-headache-go-away medicine, I’d love you forever if you came and found me. It feels like chubby oompa loompas are jumping on my head.]

It’s another day at Ad:Tech and like all new days at Ad:Tech we start off with a few words from Chairman Drew Ianni. Drew’s talking about Kazaa and I got excited for a second because I thought he said huzzah. But he didn’t. Oh, well.

Time for David Clark to appear from the shadows. Good morning, David.

Drew says he’s been disruptive since high school and then starts talking about Dick Fosbury. Dick was the inventor of the Fosbury flop and showed the high jumping industry a new way to do things. He disrupted the norm and found a better way. His approach is still being used today.

Here’s the thing about disruption, says David, it’s too often associated with the term destruction. It’s used to explain a “better” world where only the new stuff is the good stuff. David believes that sometimes you have to let things stay the same. TV is one of those things, at least the parts of TV that make it a unique video.

You’re going to hear a lot of talk about how the Internet is going to disrupt and TV and that VOD may kill it, says David, but Joost disagrees. It’s forcing the TV to create better cinematic projects. Storytelling matters. It has mattered since the dawn of men, yet somehow it gets left out of every formulation of media. Well-told stories matter. Brands matter. Talent matters.

This is not easy stuff. TV is the most successful entertainment media invented, according to David. Joost is not betting against TV, however, they like the Internet too. It has what TV lacks – community, intelligence, accountability, etc. Plug yourself in from the right stream and you’re drinking from a firehouse. It’s incredible and addictive.

David says today we’re seeing a marriage of both. It will be the birth of a new medium. Viewers are already there.

What’s in this new world?

It’s founded on video content. That’s a no-brainer. With Joost, anyone with copyright ownership can create a channel and broadcast to the world. Joost has already received hundreds of thousands of emails from content producers wanting to set up a channel on Joost and the company has been around for about 10 minutes. The gates are coming down.

David brings up Ze Frank. Yey, Ze Frank! (I miss you, Ze.)

David says we’re going to see new kinds of entertainment models emerge. Your sister will ping you and you’ll be watching a show as it airs and chatting about it with her. [I do that already. It's how my friends and I watch American Idol. --Susan] We’ll be using widgets and interactive overlays to create new features and functionalities. Your programming guide will become your community. Channels are playlists. The wisdom of a crowd will help you navigate a huge range of choices.

Or something like that. David says these are just educated guesses. We don’t have a time machine. David’s just providing the technology to see what’s going to happen.

The key to changing our sport the way Fosbury did is to know what’s sacred and what is not. You do this by looking at things through your consumer eyes, not through the eyes of your boss or your marketing department. When you do this you will find that storytelling, control, quality, copyright and the opportunity to share with your peers is sacred. Everything else is up for grabs. David likes those odds.

So how’s all this going so far?

Joost is still in the early days of beta. They’re going to open up the platform to everyone very soon. Joost feels a lot like TV. That’s deliberate. Just like the first car looked like a horse buggy.

To David, Joost is great if you just want to sit back and watch or if you want to dive in and get involved. There’s lots of powerful stuff under the hood.

TV 2.0 is not going to happen overnight. One of things holding it back is an ad model that makes sense for both consumers and advertisers.

The consumer is now firmly in control. This has become such a cliché that we risk not understanding what it really means. For the ad industry this spells disruption. We’re an industry that hasn’t really had to deal with consumer control. It’s ironic but it’s true. The ad industry has been organized as a command and control center for several years. The architecture of the entire industry now needs to be rethought. We need to have the consumer on speaker phone, if not in the media chair itself. Advertising is not a product and it’s not entertainment. It’s designed to snatch you away and give you a pitch.

Clutter and fragmentation drown out brand messages. The number of brands fighting for your attention has doubled. Compounding the challenge, media has fragmented and users are overwhelmed with choices. As a brand advertiser, where do you place your bets?

Never has a marketer’s job been so difficult, says David. The marketing tactics of today were designed for the consumer behavior of yesterday. This is not because marketers are fools. It’s because new models have not emerged fast enough. The tired old models are still the most powerful we have. But things are about to change.

This is where the fun begins. Everything looks doom and gloom but all it takes is a little willingness to experiment.

It goes back to defining what’s scared. Marketing and communications is sacred, advertising is not. Reach is sacred, frequency is not. Invitation is sacred, frequency is not. It’s invitation over interruption, relevancy and engagement over impression count, ROI over CPM. Selling products and building brands is sacred. Everything else is up for grabs.

Marketers will have to teach consumers and consumers are still interested. That’s not going to change. The platforms that can unite them will be fine.

David remarks that Joost is announcing a series of new launch partners today, including Proctor & Gamble, Coke, Nike, Kraft, General Motors, Warner Brothers, Purina, Visa, Motorola, Taco Bell, Sony, Intel, etc.

And that’s it from David.

Author:  Lisa Barone is a Sr. Writer at Bruce Clay Inc

ad|tech SF07 - State of the Industry Session

By Lisa Barone in Marketing

[ed note: Lisa Barone has been writing stream-of-consciousness coverage of ad|tech SF2007. Not only is it good information, the writing is hilarious.]

Drew Ianni followed me from the keynote presentation into this morning’s State of the Industry discussion with panelists Ted McConnel (Proctor and Gamble), Sheryl Draizen (IAB), Barry James Folsom (Motorola) and Bob Moore (Publicis USA).

Okay, I’m a little flustered. I wandered into the wrong room (gaming? What do I care about gaming?) and by the time I found the right room it was filled and the nice security lady refused to let me in despite my pouty lip, blazing dimples and me stuffing my press pass in her face. So, instead of learning about behavioral targeting, we’re going to get updated on The State of the Industry. You still love me, right?

By the time I got here, Drew was questioning the panelists on what’s on their top of mind and what’s keeping them up at night. If I remember correctly, this is one of Drew’s most favorite question to ask Ad:Tech panelists.

Bob shows us what’s on his top of mind today by showing us a picture of an important consumer — his 9-year-old daughter Elliot (today’s her birthday. Happy Birthday, Elliot!) eating an ice cream cone. What’s keeping him up at night is that if marketers aren’t careful, the industry is going to become more about algorithms and less about creativity. Zing to the search marketers out there!

What’s top of mind for Ted is yesterday’s MySpace event where he learned that to users MySpace is like home. It’s lovely. He says you can take that to the bank about how to do good marketing on MySpace (take that to the bank? Who says that?). What’s keeping Ted up at night is the idea of the business model. Creative and media need to collaborate much more deeply than they are today.

The message and “the what” is also keeping him up at night. He says it’s typically crafted into taglines that are nicely condensed. It’s what you do, not what you say that’s meaningful on the Web. Ted wants to find better ways to do things for people rather than by carefully crafted words.

Barry’s top of mind is the psychological contract that the consumer has with the device or the box that they use. (Say what?) What keeps him up at night is how we can create serendipity where an ad reaches a consumer at the exact moment they’re thinking about that product. It’s the “Oh, I was interested in that and now there’s an ad for it” effect.

What’s on Sheryl’s top of mind is how do we build a medium that has world class measurement guidelines and help marketers leverage a medium in a way that makes the most sense for their brand. What keeps her up at night is how it’s easier to get guns than it is a driver’s license but she’s not going to go there. That’s good; it’s far too early to talk politics. The other, more relevant, thing that’s keeping her up at night is about rich media applications. How do we stay ahead of everything that’s going on in the industry and make sure we’re educating the marketers and the agencies about what’s happening? It’s not an easy job. Every day something else is coming up. Sometimes we forget that this is a new medium and that we need to catch up to where the other media are.

Drew restates from his keynote that 99 percent of ad revenue is going to the top ten sites. He says that unless this proliferates a little more the rich are going to get richer. What says the panel?

Ted suggests that if this is happening it’s because in electronic media the rule has always been “winner takes all”. It’s been standard in anything that’s electronic. If it’s the best everyone can have one they do. People will tune into the best content.

Regardless of all that, Ted doubts Drew’s stat is actually correct (fight!) and says he doesn’t know where it came from. He argues that it creates an unfair view of the Web economy to simply say the big players are winning. He also takes a shot at PPC guys due to a conversation he had at SES in 1999 but I won’t repeat it because it will only make you angry. [1999? Is he serious? Does he know it's been a million years in Internet time since then?--Susan (Lisa's editor)]

Sheryl says in terms of the top ten sites getting the majority of the revenue, it may be a truism, but what’s really happening is that marketers are becoming smarter in how they’re spreading and allocating their budgets. A few years ago we saw auto marketers just marketing on auto sites. Today they’re branching out and targeting lifestyle sites, teen sites, etc. As a result, it’s given smaller sites additional opportunities for inventory. I think we’ll start to see this spread more, says Sheryl.

Drew asks about the consumer generated media craze and how marketers should approach that. How do we add value to the content that’s out there?

Bob says it’s a tough question. He asks how many people are really creating things?

Um, I think a lot, Bob.

Ted heard a quote that said the single thing driving the Web is access to publishing. It’s powerful; especially if you think what consumers have going with the virality of this stuff and consumer generated syndication. It’s a new kind of editorial and has made way for the development of an organic video business where the best stuff will rise. He says that there are perfect metaphors available but that we haven’t reached that bridge yet (huh?). It meets the need somebody has. He’s looking forward to the new models that reward people from their CGM. Yes, aren’t we all, Ted, aren’t we all?

Sheryl says we need to be careful about defining digital video as just UGC. If we do that, we miss an opportunity at leveraging what digital video can do as an advertising medium. In terms of professional created video content, we’re going to start seeing more and more being created. Stuff like, “if you missed Lost tonight, watch it on ABC.com”. Marketers should think about the enormous opportunity they have to combine the sight, sound and motion of TV with the increased targeted measuring and accountability of the Internet. That combo creates a very valuable proposition for marketers. Digital video is NOT only user generated content.

Barry says that words create worlds. If you don’t have the right word to frame it you’re misusing it. It’s not UGC video, he says, it’s short form video. It’s about video snacking. (Speaking of snacking, there are doughnuts in the lobby. Doughnuts!)

Drew asks what’s the ad model that supports video snacking? Is it sponsorship oriented?

Ted doesn’t really answer the question but says television is so totally far ahead of the Web. Video snacking is about the story and how compelling it is. The production quality doesn’t matter if the story is compelling.

Bob says brands need to know what story they want to tell. If you’re connected to your consumer, they’ll jump into the story and help you create it. The story has to start from someplace though and it has to start from you.

Drew asks if the conversation is shifting from brand to consumer? Can you calibrate how much control you give to consumers? Or do you need to just let it go?

Bob correctly responds that consumers have a lot of say and a marketer’s ability to manipulate the conversation is gone. There’s no limit to it. You can’t put handcuffs on it and the minute you try, you’ll have open rebellion.

Ted says you have to either try to stop it, try to support it or leave it alone. (Ted confuses me each time he says something.) He argues that we’re missing a legal framework for how to deal with this as a society in terms of who benefits and who gets hurt and what kind of recourse to people who get hurt from.

Closing things up, Bob says it’s a golden era for marketers. There are more interesting ways to reach people than ever before. Given that there are so many ways for users to opt out, marketers really have to create brands as destinations. You have to offer people something and form an emotional connection with them. You have to create a brand that people want to hang with. Like the Mac guy. Who doesn’t want to hang out with the Mac guy? He’s totally adorable.

Author:  Lisa Barone is a Sr. Writer at Bruce Clay Inc.

The Three Worst Marketing Mistakes You Can Make

By Wayne Messick in Marketing

Marketing is what we do that puts us in a position to make a sale. Good marketing makes selling easier. Bad marketing may make selling impossible.

We market to strangers so some of them will raise their hand with at least potential interest in what we have on offer.
We market to our clients and customers in order to move them up to the next level of products or services.

(continued from front…)

Most of us put a lot of time, money, and effort into marketing. For must of us it is the key activity we use to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.
But when we don’t deliver on the promises we make in our marketing we unleash the deadly 3/33 viruses on ourselves.
The 3/33 virus will destroy the marketing we have done in the past and it will make it very difficult to successfully market - at least to some prospects - in the future. And for the most part the 3/33 virus is a do-it-to-yourself process.
The 3/33 virus is word of mouth marketing on steroids - in reverse. Here’s how it works.
When you fulfill a promise, deliver excellent service, come in under budget, and save your customer more money than you said you would - they might tell 3 people. And that usually is because you asked them for referrals.
But if you screw up, don’t do what you said you would do, or fail to deliver in any way - in your customer’s mind - they will tell at least 33 people. This can be disaster.
You know I am speaking the truth. Remember the last time you got poor service in a restaurant and how many people you went out of your way to tell about it?
Here are three ways to guarantee that all the marketing you’ve done will backfire on you.
Don’t Do What You Said You’d Do In 2006 I met the author of a marketing book at the Search Engine Strategies event in New York City. I had been receiving his email newsletter and had heard a few things about the book. A table where he could autograph books had been set up for him at the Search Engine Strategies meeting. When there was no one around I approached him and found him to be a very insightful person, someone whose book would probably be of value to our readers.
He offered to send me a review copy and I thanked him. After the event I emailed him a note with my mailing address. I never received the book. I received several emails to the address I had given him, but they were solicitations sent to everyone he’d come across at the search engine event.
I don’t know if he never intended to follow up with his promise, or if he turner it over to someone else, or what. The bottom line is that I will never have anything positive to say about him, his organization, or his book. That can’t be what this marketer had in mind when he went to the time, trouble, and energy to come to New York.
Disappear With Your Customer’s Money The Internet makes it possible to hire people you will never see to do something you can not do and really have no way of knowing it will work until it’s too late, and pay them via your PayPal account before they’ve even begun to do the work.
I have done this several times without incident. Recently however I hired someone, on the strength of another person’s recommendation, who kept my money and disappeared. He had promised to do the work within 48 hours of receiving my payment. But instead I heard nothing from him for six weeks, at which point he contacted me to see if there was some way to make up for his failure to follow through.
I was astounded, but since I’d already paid him I asked him to do something that was worth less than half of what he’d already been paid. Hey, we all deserve a second chance. What happened? Nothing, I never heard from him again.
It’s hard to say if I would have ever needed his services in the future anyway - so it was just a tedious time consuming event for me, getting someone else to do the job and so forth. But what did it do to the relationship I had had with the person who recommended him?
This was someone I trusted. Now I have to think twice about anything he has to sell me. And I am not going to tell my friends to do business with him in the future. Why would I take the chance he will recommend something or someone whose lack of performance comes back to bite me?
Embarrass Your Boss Everybody’s got to serve somebody was a line in one of Bob Dylan’s songs. So no matter who you are or the position you have in your outfit - you do have a boss, maybe many of them.
Prior to events where I am registered as part of the media horde, I receive a stream of emails from companies that are making presentations or have exhibits there. A week before the 2007 Search Engine Strategies meeting in New York I received an interview request from the PR firm representing an organization I wanted to learn more about.
Actually I received three emails from them, each with open time slots, so I could chose one of the remaining times for the interview.
This is the way it’s always done. By the time I get to the site I have several one on one interviews set up with people whose message, I think, will be of value to our readers. So I emailed my choice of day and time, from one of the remaining time slots.
In this case however, the PR person never go back to me. How was that possible, that was his job?
I was curious about the lack of follow up, from a PR person no less, so I printed out the email I’d sent and took it along with me to the meeting.
On the second day of the search engine conference I scoured the exhibit halls and eventually found the person I had wanted to interview. I still wanted to talk with him if we could work out the time.
You can imagine his response to my story and the copy of my email when I presented it to him.
You can also guess the fate of the PR firm who had mishandled their account. It seems I was not the only person affected by this - one of whom was an industry leader the boss really wanted to meet.
So, who’s your boss? Whose opinions are important to you? Who do you serve? Are you doing everything you can and more to make sure you aren’t disappointing or embarrassing them?
How can you be sure to avoid the three worst marketing mistakes? Only make promises you can keep, and keep the ones you make. It’s as simple as that.

Author:  If you want to leverage what you are already doing right visit the 21st Century Peer Groups for Wayne Messick’s report based on his experience as a business consultant who offers a wealth of free information at http://www.iBizResources.com

How to Squeeze Maximum Potential out of your Pre-Launch Campaigns (Part 1)

By Craig Cannings in Marketing

I recall a couple years ago, my wife who was pregnant at the time, was in “mass project” mode and decided to convert our conventional white front door of our house to a trendy red color. While I initially had some concerns, she was 9 months pregnant at the time and I was not about to stand in her way!

She had originally envisioned that this door would be a quick and easy project. Well much to her dismay, it turned out to be mega project in which she proceeded to slap 8-10 coats of paint on this poor door until it finally transcended beyond a ghastly pink to the preferred red. So what was the missing element in this project? The Primer! She quickly learned that a primer coat would have eliminated much of the blood, sweat and tears she had invested into this endeavor!
So, what does this have to do with pre-launch campaigns for your web business? Well, it is important to view a pre-launch campaign as the primer that sets the tone, builds momentum, and creates a buzz for the upcoming launch of your new product or service. An effective pre-launch campaign will eliminate some of the legwork and expedite the “ramp up” period for your new web business endeavor.
It is evident that many web companies today do not capitalize on running effective pre-launch campaigns prior to the introduction of a new product or service. From my own experiences and research, a well executed pre-launch campaign can be a secret weapon for:

i) Building Momentum and Buzz (Good Viral Effect)

ii) Igniting Web Exposure

iii) Kick-starting the indexing process for the Search Engines

iv) Capturing targeted leads for your product or service

Based on my own previous pre-launch campaigns, I have found that the “make-it or break-it” factor comes down to the effectiveness and draw of your Squeeze Page.

Squeeze Play - What is it?

While many of you may know or regularly throw around the term Squeeze Page, for others, it is a lesser known term that may require some clarification. A Squeeze Page is a landing page (one page website) designed to peak user interest and draw them to potentially opting into a subscriber list.
For pre-launch campaigns, the Squeeze Page functions as a primer or “sneak preview” for your upcoming ebusiness endeavor. If your content, marketing message and layout are compelling then users will potentially sign-up to learn more about your products and services. The squeeze page is a non-threatening way of engaging your visitors and educating them on your new product or service without expecting a buying decision right away.

Short vs. Long Squeeze Pages

So, should your squeeze page be short or long? This is an interesting, ongoing discussion in our industry, so let me briefly weigh in on this debate. From my own experiences, I believe that shorter copy featuring a compelling headline, key features and benefits, a testimonial (where possible), an easy to access sign-up button or form and an incentive or free bonus should yield the best conversion results.
Now, there is a good argument for including enough relevant content to satisfy the palate of the Search Engine Spiders since some squeeze pages with very little copy have actually been penalized in Google and other major SEs. The other consideration involves the two types of individuals that may be visiting your site:

• The “Show Me the Goods” visitors as I like to call them do not want to be inundated with copious amounts of copy, but simply want to know: “What value does your product or service have for me?”
• The “Processor” visitors require more detailed information and prefer to be educated on the function and value of your products and services before taking the next step in the conversion process.

To accommodate both types of users, you might consider including a “More Details” link on your squeeze page to provide additional information for the processors as well as potentially satisfying Google’s requirements for relevant content. If you look at my recent squeeze page at www.esalesguru.com, you will see that I have chosen to go with just one page, but have included some additional content below the fold for the processors that would like to hear more about the benefits of our service.

One last thought… you might consider developing both a shorter and longer squeeze page and incorporate some script so you can split-test the two to compare results. This is the best and most analytical way of settling this age old debate!

10 Elements of an Effective Squeeze Page for Your Pre-Launch Campaign

Studies have shown that as many as 50% of users (originating from the search engines) will bail within 0-8 seconds after briefly glancing at a website or landing page. The site has apparently not met their initial expectations or approval and they make a quick exit! Now, given the fickleness of the Internet user at times, it is essential to incorporate some compelling components to your squeeze page in order to further entice the user to stick around and potentially convert to a lead.
Here are 10 key elements that may have a profound impact on the success or failure of your squeeze page and subsequent pre-launch campaign.

1) Compelling Headline
The headline of your squeeze page is the first and potentially only impression that will set the tone for the rest of the content. It needs to be clear, concise and possess “The Hook”. “The Hook”, that is, that draws the users into your body text and closer to a conversion. A compelling headline will sell the benefit, solve the problem and ultimately influence the split second decision the user makes to stay or bail.

2) Bulleted features and benefits
It is imperative to identify those distinguishing features and benefits that will clearly define the true value of your product or service and will answer the WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) question.

I would highly recommend listing your key features and benefits in bulleted action points that are quick and easy to read. As you will see on our ESalesGuru.com squeeze page, I incorporated a couple short paragraphs (no more than 2 or 3 sentences) to go along with my bulleted points, but I made sure to bold or highlight the parts of the copy that were critical to the conversion process. It is fine to use paragraphs in conjunction with bulleted points, but make sure to incorporate the necessary highlights and bolding for those users that are quickly scanning or skimming your copy.

3) Effective Use of Testimonies
Since we are talking about the use of Squeeze Pages in “Pre-launch” campaigns, it is quite possible that you may not have any specific testimonies at this point. However, if you already have a beta version and have tested your product or service with a focus group, then I would highly recommend using a testimony from that group. A testimony can really validate the value of your product and aid the conversion process.

I would recommend strategically placing the testimony above the fold in the visible screen (based on 1024 x 768 resolution) and potentially near the sign-up form. Our company recently designed a squeeze page for Affiliate-Software-Review.com and you will notice that we specifically placed testimonies to the left of the sign-up form as well as just above the opt in fields for maximum effect.

4) Good Incentives
It is essential to incentivize your squeeze page with a relevant giveaway or bonus such as a free ebook, report, podcast or even a demo or tour of your upcoming product or service. I am firm believer in providing an incentive that is clearly spelled out and directly relevant to your respective product or service. I get frustrated with squeeze pages that say something to this effect: “Sign-up Today and receive a bonus wealth-building tool absolutely FREE!” This incentive is not specific and comes across as yet another gimmick. Do not pull the wool over your prospective consumers eyes, but treat them with the respect they deserve.

5) Easy to Access Sign-Up Forum
Whether you choose to build a squeeze page with shorter or longer copy, I would advise you to include a sign-up button or form above the fold in the first visible screen. You do not want to miss a prime opportunity to convert those “Show me the goods” users that will quickly review the headlines and bulleted statements and want to make their decision right then and there. At ESalesGuru.com, you will see that we strategically placed the sign-up form just below the image since Marketing Sherpa’s Eye Tracking studies have revealed that “People look at People” and it is essential to include good copy and important components of your site near the image.

In the sign-up form, I would recommend including a privacy policy link just below the sign-up button with a statement that emphasizes you will never sell or rent their personal information. This will further your squeeze page’s credibility and increase user confidence.

6) Minimal Navigation and Hyperlinks
Since the primary function of the squeeze page is to build buzz and drive signups, it is important to limit any navigation or additional links that might distract the user during the conversion process. Again, as mentioned above, you may choose to include a “more details” link for those that require further information, but be sure to make your best effort to keep the user focused on the intended goal – the conversion!

7) Keyword Rich Content
This of course is a no-brainer, but it is imperative to choose 2-3 targeted keywords that you will strategically place in the Page Title, H1 Header Tag, Headline and throughout the copy. Be sure to make your Squeeze Page as search-friendly as possible.

Audio/Vido Intro
An Audio or Video Introduction on your squeeze page can be a nice way to personalize your site and build a rapport with your visitors. I think there is much power in the spoken word to further entice the user towards a conversion. I have personally used simple tools such as instantaudio.com or instantvideogenerator.com to generate audio and video content on my sites. At ESalesGuru.com, you will see that I have an audio introduction that requires you to press play in order to listen. I would recommend allowing the user to choose to listen to your audio or view your video as opposed to automatically starting it once your site loads. Again, this is personal preference – I might suggest testing this one out to see if you notice a significant difference in exit rates or time duration of page visits.

9) Tagging Strategies
It is definitely worthwhile to include social bookmark and media tags on your site for those that may not choose to opt in for your offer at this time, but might like to sign-up later or check back after your site has officially launched. Providing such tags as Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon are excellent for bolstering traffic and generating one-way back links to your site. Good way to make your squeeze page SEO friendly or should I say SMO friendly (Social Media Optimization). I would recommend accessing a simple tool like addthis.com to incorporate tagging into your page.

10) Effective use of Auto-Responders
This final component is more related to the follow-up of your subscribers or leads, but nonetheless an integral part of the squeeze page. I would recommend purchasing a simple auto-responder service like aweber or constantcontact where you can provide relevant and worthwhile follow-ups to those users that have opted into your list.
If you are running a 30-60 day pre-launch campaign, I might suggest that you include approximately 7-8 auto-responder messages spread out over that period in order to keep your subscribers captivated and excited about your upcoming product launch. It is imperative that your follow-up messages provide useful content and information for your users that build a rapport with these prospective consumers. I would advise against including multiple 3rd party offers in your auto-responder messages during your pre-launch campaign unless there is a clear tie-in with your own products and services.

While the first 9 elements above play a role in drawing the user towards an initial sign-up, it is the auto-responder process that will be instrumental in further engaging the user and potentially leading them towards a conversion.

Finally, I would recommend including some sort of contact information on the squeeze page for those visitors that might have more questions or require further information. Great customer support is always a key ally in the conversion process.

Now, the process of building a winning squeeze page for your pre-launch campaign is only half the battle. The next part is to develop innovative strategies for driving a steady stream of traffic to your squeeze page during the pre-launch campaign. We will discuss that in Part Two.

Author:  Craig Cannings is the owner and managing director of ESalesGuru.com, an innovative outsourcing portal connecting ebusinesses with niche Internet Marketing Specialists and Firms worldwide. Visit www.esalesguru.com or contact Craig for more information at craig@esalesguru.com

How to Make Boring Businesses Exciting

By Jerry Bader in Marketing

Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone got as excited about your company as you are?

Unfortunately some businesses just aren’t very sexy; in fact, some businesses are downright boring. As a consequence, companies that sell commodity products and routine services tend to rely on presentations that load-up on features, specifications, and statistics that may be relevant to anal-retentive types, but hardly compelling to the vast majority of your audience.
There is no reason why every company can’t deliver an exciting image to its audience; one that generates the kind of buzz and excitement usually associated with companies like Apple, Victoria’s Secret, Benetton, Absolut Vodka, and Sony.
It may seem impossible to produce a whole lot of steam for things like sand paper, accounting services, and facial tissue, but thanks to the Web and it’s extraordinary ability to deliver multimedia content, even the most mundane offerings can get hearts racing and the blogosphere blogging.
Emotional Experiences Connect
Let’s take facial tissue as an example; it is one of the most common, boring everyday products you can imagine. There is just not much you can do to sell this stuff other than telling people yours is softer and cheaper than the other guys, but then the other guy is saying the same thing; the result, consumers buy whatever is on sale. But wait, the clever fellows at Kimberly-Clark instituted a brilliant website campaign for their facial tissue, called “Kleenex - let it out.”
The campaign zeros in on the emotional experience associated with why people use facial tissue: to wipe away tears of joy or sadness or maybe to clean-up cute little runny noses - in each case the result of some moving event.
Tapping into this emotional association is key to the Kleenex campaign and key to your new thinking on how to make your boring stuff, exciting.
Video - The Best Way To Tell A Story
The Kleenex campaign features prominent videos of articulate people telling their personal stories, all resulting in the need to use a facial tissue.
A pregnant woman discusses the emotional impact of having a child and as her eyes begin to tear, the interviewer hands her a Kleenex. A second video features another well-spoken woman talking about her return to New Orleans after the devastation of hurricane Katrina. Again as the woman becomes emotional and begins to cry, the interviewer hands her a tissue. Nothing more needs to be said, this is very powerful story telling that connects to the audience and delivers an image of the brand as caring and sensitive; the exact kind of impression the company wants to portray.

Even companies that aren’t exactly dead-from-the-neck-up boring can benefit from this approach. The Home Depot ran a series of advertisements with a husband showing his wife a series of power tools that he wanted. Rather than try to convince his wife, and by association all the wives in the audience, that he needs another expensive toy, the husband points to each tool and states, “this is your new shelving unit” and “this one is your new kitchen” - a far more dramatic and effective way to make the case for a new purchase.
You can deliver the same kind of powerful marketing messages for your own company by presenting Web-based videos that follow a few very simple guidelines.
Six Steps To Turn Boring Into Exciting
1. Use People to Sell People
There is no substitute for people. Human beings are capable of communicating with an enormous degree of nuance and subtlety, using voice, expression, body language, and gesture; no animation, avatar, or artificial substitute can take the place of a real person for communicating meaningful, memorable marketing messages.
With relatively easy-to-use production tools anyone can create a video, but not necessarily one that delivers the message or image that your company wants to present. We have seen far too many poor quality efforts both on the Web and even on local television, where company presidents with bad haircuts and ill-fitting suits, uttering nonsense-riddled scripts in zombie-like performances expose themselves to audiences expecting more, much more.
Skilled performers communicate in very subtle ways to an audience, and only the well-practiced professional has the experience and capability to deliver the intended experience. The cost of saving monëy by doing-it-yourself or with amateurs can result in delivering an unintended message that may undermine the impression and image you are trying to create.
2. Perception Is Reality - Use Scripted Professionals
You will notice that I described the women in the facial tissue videos as articulate. Now I cannot tell you if these women were actors or not, or that their powerful presentations were scripted, but if I had to guess, I would say these very effective videos were about as carefully produced and constructed as the latest episode of ‘Survivor’ that by no means makes them any less effective.
The point here is that perception is reality, and the professional filmmaker knows how to tell a story and communicate a message; and that is not the same thing as being able to turn on a video camera.
3. Tell A Memorable Story
When we talk about companies telling their story, it is important to distinguish between the company’s history and the emotional experiences generated by the product or service.
Company histories can make for interesting videos and can produce a sense of trust associated with being in business for a considerable length of time, but that sort of presentation does not speak to the underlying emotional and psychological factors that actually trigger a sale.
It is difficult but imperative that businesses understand that marketing is not about you, or even the product or service, it’s about the audience.
Like the Kleenex videos and the Home Depot commercials, every product and service that is purchased from your company represents an experience, a story that relates to your audience’s aspirations and needs. It is the audience’s story that demonstrates credibility, clarifies purpose, penetrates memory, and makes the message compelling.
4. Create An Emotional Experience
The vast majority of decisions we make are colored by the emotional relevance associated with those decisions. No doubt rational factors figure into our decision-making process, but the pivotal factors that attract the use of one product over another are emotional.
If you’re not connecting to your audience on an emotional level, then you are left with a commodity that can only be sold on price and features, and unless you’re a monopoly, there will always be some competitor willing to offër your customers more for less.
When presenting your product or service it is important to tap into an emotional element that your audience can relate to as its key purchasing decision factor. When people purchase boring accounting services and software, what they’re really buying is an improved life style for their families. It really doesn’t matter what you sell, if you look hard enough, you can find the emotional benefit that should be the central element of your marketing message.
5. Create a Believable Relevant Personality
Part of the process of connecting with your audience is creating an appropriate personality for your company. Many corporations today believe in the cult of management personality but this is a dangerous game. Your company needs a personality of it’s own, one that is distinctive and that will stand alone and not be dependent on senior management’s ego and self-promotion.
Web-video marketing campaigns provide a vehicle that allows companies to create appropriate personalities that engage, inform and entertain your audience in ways that establish your identity and create the basis for a prosperous business relationship.
Clever marketing can create a corporate personality but it is imperative that you follow through and deliver that personality in all aspects of your relationship with your audience. Producing a campaign that promises one thing and a website, staff, and product that delivers another is one of the easiest ways to alienate customers.
6. Deliver A Critical Hot Button Moment
Web-video presentations need to focus on single issues that are driven home by the addition of a hot button moment or punch line. Remember you are telling your audience a story that needs a beginning, middle and end. That story should build to climax and deliver the point in a single memorable moment.
The era of point förm slide presentations is dead, along with the laundry líst of benefits approach.
Creativity, personality, and the ability to communication and develop an emotional connection to your audience through the use of Web-video campaigns has the potential to turn even the most lackluster company into a vibrant and exciting marketing business.
Author:  Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, www.136words.com and www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

The Newbie Guide to Online Marketing Terms

By Chad Hershey in Marketing

In all forms of business, and even hobbies, the people who have been involved in a particular activity for awhile will start to use different slang terms. When someone new comes along these slang terms can be very confusing. As all businesses depend on customers, you need to be careful and educate yourself on these terms so you don’t lose any sales.

It recently came to my attention that online marketing has more than its share of slang for the newbie to learn. Since marketing is all about getting and keeping customers, I could see that seasoned online marketers may start have an image problem. Online marketing slang was pointed out to me by an associate who was interested in an Internet business I was marketing. While I was talking to him he asked for an explanation of what the heck I was talking about and said “Speak English Boy!”

That conversation allowed the light to click on for me and I decided to write this short guide to online marketing slang. This should help anyone who is new to the online marketing arena understand some basic terms.

1. Online Marketing - Is the selling of any product or service on the Internet. Marketing is just the act of promoting and selling something. Selling on the Internet costs much less than having a real world, bricks and mortar business. It’s this low cost of entry which is attractive in starting your own online business.

2. Joint Ventures - A joint venture is a partnership. Simply put 2 or more people work together to increase their sales, or to complete a product or service. Sometimes shortened to JV, joint ventures are often very profitable.

3. Subscriber List - This is sometimes known as an email list, or an ezine list (ezine is short for electronic magazine). It’s also a list of people who have given permission for the marketer to send them emails, which may contain advertising. This is also known as an opt-in list, because subscribers opt-in to receive the emails. This prevents people from complaining that an email is Spam as there will be a record of them agreeing to receive the emails. Another snippet of slang is double opt-in, which just means after filling out a form, the potential subscriber will receive an email asking them to verify that they agree to accept future emails before they are actually added to the email list to receive them.

4. Viral Marketing - This little phrase is used to describe a way of increasing your business, or website reach, by using a “viral technique.” In real life a virus spreads out by people contacting one another, and computer viruses are spread by computers contacting other computers. Some clever Internet gurus realized they could use the power of people to send each other information, and then watched that information spread in the same way as a virus. Giving away a free gift, which contains a link to your business, and allowing others to give it away too will work like a virus spreading the word to others as people send it on to their friends. This works long as your freebie was something people would give away anyway in the first place.

5. Niche Marketing - This is the act of selling to a particular group of people. There are lots of untapped niches (small groups interested in a specific subject) who are willing to pay for information. Online, it’s easy to target these small markets by monitoring search engine results and then finding a specific word or phrase which is being searched for but not near the top of the list of popular searches. An example of a niche market is poodle owners, they are dog owners, but will specifically search for information about poodles. These markets can be profitable because they are not targeted directly by many people, so if you have a product tailored to a niche market you may have little or no competition.

6. EBook - Although getting more popular this term still causes some confusion. An ebook is an electronic book, it can be a .pdf file, plain text file or an executable file (one which is actually a self contained program to run on your computer). Ebooks sell well online, as there is no shipping, and delivery is instant.

7. MLM - These are the initials of one of the least understood, and most maligned of business models, Multi Level Marketing. Sometimes known as network marketing or referral marketing, MLM is an ideal business model for online marketers because of the ease of getting out the message about a new business and the low cost of advertising online. The problem with MLM is that it is also easy to mistake MLM for a pyramid scheme (also called a Ponzi). Many unscrupulous people will sell pyramid schemes as an MLM opportunity. What they are selling is basically just a money game. The big difference is that a genuine Multi-Level Marketing program has a worthwhile product that you are selling and money is made by referring other members to sell the same product. Pyramid schemes will usually have a worthless product or no product at all, and pays current members from new members joining. There are many legit MLM companies out there where millions have been made.

If you are new to the world of online marketing, I hope these short explanations will help you understand some of the terms the seasoned online marketer says or writes. If you’re a seasoned marketer, maybe you will try to introduce your business to the newbie with less of the jargon we seasoned marketers take for granted.

Author:  Chad William Hershey of ManifestYourFortune is founder of his own home based business, The Pinnacle Group. He is a student and mentor of the Universal Law of Attraction, as seen in The Secret, and believes fully in The Master Key System. Chad shares his passion and knowledge of being in the home based business arena for the last 15 years and enjoys helping others succeed with Internet marketing. Chad’s Blog