"Rapid Response Advertising" by Geoff Ayling has been called "the first genuine advance in the advertising industry since positioning." The book's main focus is a concept called a 'meme' (rhymes with team).

A meme is defined as an idea that has been so simplified that it penetrates your brain with lightning speed. You instantly comprehend the deeper meaning behind the concept.

Confused? Don't feel bad.

The irony is that a meme, which is all about simplicity, is not a simple concept to grasp right away. In fact, Ayling spends a good portion of his book explaining, in different ways, what a meme is and is not.

But once you get it, it's likely to revolutionize your thinking about advertising and marketing.

Here is Ayling's four-step plan for developing a powerful meme for your company that will separate you from your competition - even if you think you're not unique.

STEP 1: Identify The Characteristics Your Target Market Values Most In A

Product Like Yours

Take the example of cosmetics used by Ayling. Suppose you

discover, through market research, that the four most important

attributes of a cosmetics brand to your target market are:

a) Price point

b) Covering skin blemishes

c) Natural skin tonings

d) Promoting healthy skin

STEP 2: Study Your Competitors

Do any of them already own any or all of these niches in the

minds of consumers? Choose a niche that you can make your

brand synonymous with. In this example, Ayling chooses 'healthy

skin.'

STEP 3: Express Your Niche As A Meme

Create a short statement that instantly and memorably conveys

'healthy skin.' In this case, Ayling uses the words "Skin Fitness."

STEP 4: Expose Your Meme To The Marketplace

Use the meme you've created in all your advertising, on your

packaging - everywhere. And ultimately, that's exactly what Ella

Baché Cosmetics did. Now, Ayling says, you'll see: Ella Baché -

Skin Fitness along with their logo everywhere the brand is sold.

Says Ayling, "Anybody seeing that four-word identity meme, even

just glancing at it casually, would be in no doubt as to what the

brand is all about."

And that's what creating memes is all about - conveying instantly your competitive edge.

If you'd like to find out more about memes, get Geoff Ayling's book called "Rapid Response Advertising" by going here:

http://www.amazon.com

Tags: internet marketing tips, Jonathan Hook, internet marketing, article marketing, affiliate marketing

Working with a partner can have its advantages and disadvantages.  Sometimes it's easier just to do things on your own and keep your own schedule.  That is one thing that appeals to a lot of entrepreneurs.

One of the upsides of working with a partner is the built-in accountability that this type of relationship provides.  For example I've started a new project with a new partner and am finding that goes along very well.  We have a phone call, review our progress and assign tasks to be done before our next call.  All of a sudden there is a task to be done and a deadline to be met.

When working by yourself it is much easier to get distracted and sidetracked with things that are just wasting your time.  If you really prefer working by yourself then you should take time to stop and map out a plan.  Assign your tasks and set your deadlines just as little you are working with a partner.  If you have a clear picture of what needs to be done and when it needs to be done then it is much easier and more efficient to move forward.  You will find your productivity increase and your results will increase as well.

Tags: article marketing, website optimization, internet marketing tips, internet marketing, Jonathan Hook

I was reading a post on a forum the other day where a fellow marketer referred to a well-known marketer Ken Mcarthy as an "old school direct response" marketer.  That caught me in my tracks for a minute.  It was almost as thought his person had implied that Ken was somehow out of date, maybe not quite up to speed on some of the latest trends and fads in the online marketing world.

In fact, as I have mentioned before, the fundamentals of marketing are the same today as they were a hundred years ago.  And in fact, there is valuable information in books that were written 100 years ago that could still turn any internet business around.

See, what some people fail to understand is that marketing online today is just different tools to do the same job.  You still need a good headline, you still need a good call to action, a follow up system, upsell, etc, etc.  The guys that were doing this through small ads and postal mail 100 years ago had the same issues and hurdles to overcome as we do.  We just have different tools, a different medium.  Same marketing.

In fact, it should be easier for us today.  100 years ago, they had to run an ad in a magazine or newspaper and then wait for the people to get that, and mail in their orders.  It could take a couple of weeks before you even knew if your firs ad was responsive or if you had to tweak it.  Now we can do that with Google Adwords in a matter of minutes to get results.  Maybe it has gotten too easy for us and we have become lazy.  We are so used to getting immediate results that we don't even bother to try harder.

Don't discount the ideals of the old school direct marketers, these people know where it is at.  Sure , they may not be up to date with Twitter or the latest trend in online video but I am going to suggest that a direct response marketer from 100 years ago could do better online today than most internet marketers.

Tags: internet marketing, internet marketing tips, affiliate marketing, website optimization, niche marketing

I've said before that the best word in advertising is "FREE." If that's true, then the easiest word in customer service should be "sorry."

In business, as in life, perception is everything. If your customer perceives you made a mistake, whether or not you actually did is not the point. The issue is that your customer thinks you wronged him.

I want you to begin a new habit. Starting today. No, starting right now.

When one of your customers has a complaint, make sure the first words out of your mouth to her are "I'm sorry."

I know you'll be tempted to get defensive. I know you'll feel the need to explain.

Don't.

Just say, "I'm sorry." Then, ask what you can do to rectify the situation.

I've witnessed many examples of bad customer service. And I'm constantly amazed by how many of these cases could have been resolved with those two magic words.

Often a problem occurs when a customer complains about an employee. The owner or manager feels he must defend his employee against the big, bad customer.

Now, I'm not saying you should berate your employee in front of the customer and fire him on the spot. But it must APPEAR, whatever the outcome, that you are on the customer's side. Remember: perception is everything.

From now on, look upon every complaint as an opportunity. First, to improve. But more importantly, to turn an unsatisfied customer into a satisfied customer into an ecstatic customer.

A properly handled complaint can really turn things around. Don't be too surprised when yesterday's complainer becomes tomorrow's biggest client.

Tags: affiliate marketing, article marketing, internet marketing tips, internet marketing, niche marketing

Here's a shocking fact:

A recent study conducted by Sales and Marketing Executives International concluded that 81% of major sales are closed after the fifth contact.

That means if you aren't following up with your customers at least five times, you're losing over 80% of your business.

Put another way, four out of every five customers will not buy from you until you've contacted them five times.

There's no doubt that consistent follow-up is the key to increasing sales.

Here's a quick example to illustrate the importance of sending repeat offers to your customers:

Marketing Consultant Michel Fortin did a mailing for one of his clients that generated a response of less than 1%.

Typical, you say. But wait.

A second mailing to the same people increased the response rate to 7%. A third got another 3%. And finally, a fourth mailing to those prospects who hadn't yet responded generated another 5%.

Do the math.

That's a whopping 16% response rate with a four-mailing campaign where only 1% would have been achieved with one mailing.

Are you beginning to get the picture?

The Easy Way to Follow Up

So, 'Great,' you say. 'I need to follow up with my customers. But how?'

Well, I've got great news for you. Technology has now made it possible for you to follow up with your customers with zero cost to you and zero effort on your part.

How is that possible?

With an email autoresponder.

What is that, you ask?

It works something like a fax-on-demand system. If you're not familiar with this, it is a system whereby you call a number from your fax machine, enter a code, and you immediately receive a document in your fax machine. Presto! Instant gratification!

An autoresponder works the same way, but using an email address instead of a fax number. If you send a blank email to an autoresponder address, you immediately receive a prewritten message in your email inbox.

Think for a moment about how you could use this technology to benefit your business. If your mind isn't racing by now and your heart isn't pounding a mile a minute, you might want to either check your pulse or read on.

Suppose a customer named Helen buys a widget from you. When taking her order, you ask for her email address. You enter her name and email address into your autoresponder system and BAM! She is instantly sent a message that says something like:

"Thank you very much for your order today, Helen. If I can serve you further in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me."

Personalization is the key here. Every message you send will automatically be personalized with the customer's name. And who doesn't love to see their own name in print.

Next, you would go on to suggest other products or services you sell that Helen might need, perhaps including a coupon for a future purchase. After all - the best time to ask for another order is when you've already got a satisfied customer. A hot prospect.

This is the twenty-first century version of, "Would you like fries with that?"

This message would be pre-programmed to be sent out automatically once you enter an email address. So the initial work you do to set it up will pay off for years to come.

Don't Just Follow Up Once - Do It Over and Over Again

Until recently, it was only possible to send out one pre-programmed message. But thanks to new technology, you now can set up a whole series of autoresponder messages to go out whenever you want.

Let's say you sell filters for some type of equipment. Suppose these filters need to be changed every four to six weeks. Your autoresponder series might look like this:

Day 0: Thanks for your order. You should receive your filter within

two days.

Day 3: You should have received your filter. Installation

instructions are enclosed.

Day 7: If you have difficulty installing your filter, please call us.

Day 31: Your filter should be changed every four to six weeks.

Yours was installed about four weeks ago. Why don't you

reorder today?

Day 38: It's been five weeks since you installed your filter. Why

not reorder now?

Day 45: It's been six weeks since you installed your filter. Unless it

is replaced immediately, your equipment may be subject to

damage. Please reorder today so we can get it to you

before any serious damage occurs.

When another filter is ordered, you would reset the customer to

Day 0, maybe on a different but similar series of messages.

Are you seeing the potential yet?

Another way to use an autoresponder is to put the email address in every print ad you run. Offer a free report that relates to your product or service. Not a sales pitch. Just solid information that will be helpful to your prospects.

For example, if you are a Real Estate Agent, your ad might read:

"To receive a FREE report called 'Seven Things You Must Do To Get The Best Price When Selling Your Home,' send a blank email to: report@blahblahblah.com."

Don't be surprised if your autoresponder gets deluged with requests for your report. Everybody is seeking information - especially if it's FREE. You would, of course then send prospects timely and compelling messages about why they should list with you.

"Wait a Minute. Isn't This 'Spam' We're Talking About?"

Absolutely not - for two reasons. First, your customers opt-in to receive your messages when they give you their email address. And second, every good autoresponder places an 'unsubscribe' link somewhere in the email. It's usually located at the bottom of the message. If your customer clicks on this link, she will be instantly removed from your list and will not receive any further messages in the series.

And remember. This is all automatic. Your autoresponder works tirelessly day and night whether you are at work or on vacation. Even while you sleep.

If, by this point, you haven't begun to see the tremendous potential for using an autoresponder to increase your business, I give up.

Wondering what to say in your autoresponder? In the next issue, we'll look at how to structure your messages so your prospects will be compelled to respond. Until next time.

Tags: internet marketing tips, niche marketing, website optimization, internet marketing, Jonathan Hook

When you own a blog and are pinging you are using a method of alerting the search engines that you have created brand new content for your blog or that you have updated a blog post that you had previously written. When you send a ping you are basically sending a message to a ping server, which then alerts the search engines that your blog now contains new information.
Now what is a ping server?

Ping servers are web-based applications that accept messages (or “pings”) in an XML-RPC format. The ping server will then take the information it receives from these messages to create a list of all the blogs the have recently been updated with freash information. There are many blog servers that operate their own search engines for blogs while there are others that take the information that they receive through the XML-RPC messages that they receive to update other ping servers and search engines.

Ok now that you know what pinging is and how a ping server operates how does pinging work?

A great many bloging platforms operate with a built in pinging tool. Wordpress for example is one of these blogging platforms and has the option to ping turned on by default. When a Wordpress blogger creates new content for their blog their ping will go out instantly to one ping server, which then in turn updates several different search engines.

If you are unsure if your blogging platform allows you to utilize pinging you can manually send messages to ping servers buy visiting their main websites and adding your blog’s name and url.

PingOMatic.com is an incredibly helpful blog ping server. By notifying the PingOMatic server that you have added new content to your blog. Once PingOMatic gets this information it will be able to notify several different websites that your blog has fresh content. The bonus here is that many of these search engines have their own independent ping server, which will bring even more attention to your blog.
There are many search engines that have the ability to almost instantly update their listings as soon as they are made aware of new content. This is exactly what you want to happen as you will then be given one way backlinks from your blog to the search engines. Many of the search engine pages that you could find yourself listed on could have a very high PageRank with Google.

Four important rules of pinging.

You should only ping you blog if you have just added fresh content to it. If you choose to not follow this rule you will quickly find that your blog will quickly gain the reputation of a spam blog, which is commonly referred to as a splog.
You follow the practice of creating new content for your blog and then rewriting that new post often it would be a good practice to only ping when you add fresh content to your blog.

It is a great idea to ping several different ping servers when you add new content to your blog. Just make sure that you do not go overboard and that you make sure if you are going to ping a niche search engine that your blog is relevant to the search engine.

Tags: article marketing, affiliate marketing, internet marketing, niche marketing, website optimization