Nowadays it seems one can’t turn on the news without hearing of yet another company having gone out of business or laying off employees—even American giants like Mervyns and Bed Bath and Beyond. The sad truth is, in these economically challenging times business owners across the nation find themselves hard-pressed to make ends meet and are looking for ways to cut expenses. Marketing and advertising expenses are often the first to be slashed. But is this really the place to cut costs? Would it not be more advantageous to re-examine:

How Much Business Is Our Current Marketing and Advertising Producing and How Can We Improve Results?

Skimping on marketing or stopping to advertise altogether is more often than not the wrong strategy for any business. A far better one would be to re-evaluate where and how to spend future marketing dollars. With marketing being classified in the P&L as an expense, we are conditioned to think of it as an expense, when in actual fact, marketing should be viewed as an investment in the business!

In a study conducted by Management Review, American Marketing Association (AMA) member firms were asked about their advertising and marketing spending habits during the 1990-1991 recession. The data collected clearly showed that firms that continued to spend money on marketing had a much higher chance of surviving slow economic times, and those that raised their marketing budgets were twice as likely to pick up market share.

But since the nineties we have seen many changes, haven’t we? The Internet and the entrepreneurial boom have created a huge paradigm shift between sellers and buyers. It used to be that buyers relied on the sellers for information. Not so anymore! Not only do consumers now have 24/7 access to product and service information, we also have many more choices available to us. This has clearly put the seller at a disadvantage. More often than not, before setting foot in a store, potential buyers come armed with product and pricing information, and they aren’t afraid to use it to their advantage.

To compete, now EVERY business must have an Internet presence. This is also true even if the business only competes at a local level and doesn’t have a website yet. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo realize the importance of local searches and have adjusted their business models accordingly. However, just as we saw it happen with Radio in the twenties and TV in the fifties, it did not take long for companies to recognize the importance of having a website and an Internet presence. Within just a few years, we went from hundreds to thousands to millions and millions of websites competing for high search engine ranking. This fierce competition spawned whole new industries, techniques and ways to get ranked highly in the search engines. As little as 10 years ago no one had even heard of the terms PPC, PPI, SEM, SEO, CPA, etc. Needless to say it quickly became cost prohibitive for the small business owner to compete online. After all, what’s the point if no one can find you? But things have changed…making it possible for the small business owner to have an Internet presence and not break the bank.

Back in August of 2004 we already saw 3.7 billion searches conducted on the Internet (Source: Comscore QSearch, 2004), and a whopping 35% were local searches – people looking for local merchants (Source: DM News). And with a projected growth rate of 16% per year I dare say, print directories such as the Yellow Pages have become redundant and local search directories like www.TheVCD.com are here to stay.

If you don’t believe me, let me ask you: When did you last pick up the Yellow Pages?

Are Local Search Directories a Cost Effective Means of Marketing on the Internet?

The answer is yes, if you pick the right one! But what you must know is that not all search directories are created equal. Some require pay per click advertising, some allow you to post your listing for free in their local directory, some cost some money, some a lot. As with most things in life

FREE

isn’t necessarily your best solution.

FREE

typically does not get your business in front of searchers online.

To harness the power of the Internet look for marketing venues that are Web 2.0 friendly (we’ll explain what that means in a future blog) like The Video City Directories are interactive, can host videos and will drive traffic to their site. And since I would imagine you are plenty busy running your business and haven’t got a clue how to script, produce or edit a video, you should choose a vendor that provides hands-off turnkey services. For instance, TheVCD takes care of the production of your video and/or product slideshow, hosts and maintains your video ad, and does behind the scenes keyword optimization, so you will indeed be found when someone puts in, for instance, “Florist in Fallon, NV” into the Google search box. Another important question to ask your provider is “how do you drive traffic to your site?”

Let’s take a look at a Florist client example:

Doreen’s Desert Rose

This little video ad has resulted in Doreen’s business being currently listed organically four times on Google page 1 – now that is powerful!

In our next blog we will discuss the benefits of video advertising in more detail.

Till then,

Linda and the Team at The Video City Directories

Viral marketing in an Internet environment refers to marketing through the medium of email. The Internet offers great scope for viral marketing. As a small business owner viral marketing tools to expand my customer reach. I send emails only after building an email list. This ensures that only those who are interested in the services that I offer get my messages. Every email sent needs to make clear that the organization is not involved in spamming. It is important that these email addresses are used only for genuine business communications and that they are not let out to commercial customer databases. This is one strict rule that I follow in my marketing strategy. Using an online video directory for furthering your marketing efforts is a good viral marketing strategy.

Viral marketing strategies that use promotional or marketing videos become successful when a new product is genuinely different from others and when it gains wide publicity by word of mouth. I must tell you that the offshoot of this marketing strategy is when we speak about the products or services to our friends and if the service is relevant to them, it is very easy to communicate the benefits. The viral marketing programs that I send out usually use an incentive based approach. This serves as a trigger or incentive to my customers to try out the service that I am promoting. Viral marketing saves me quite some money as I can send emails to hundreds of people at a minimal cost to get more sales. The effectiveness of using video directories in viral marketing strategies is that the campaign gets going when we inform our friends or dedicated customers about the service or fill out a questionnaire or inform other people.

I have realized the utility of video marketing as the number of regular clients for my business quadrupled after I started using city video directories for promoting my business. We, as small business owners, aim at using the Internet as an information resource for the products and services that we intend to sell. I must tell you that viral marketing has a very powerful network effect as a group of consumers create a buzz about a product or service by using bookmarking sites to let their contacts know of their experiences with the product.

Linking is one of the most effective and simplest ways of initiating our viral marketing efforts. When someone sends an email highlighting a product or some information, the effect is much better and long lasting if that person publishes a positive review on social bookmarking websites and links back to you. Once you get a couple of web links to your business website you could get thousands of potential contacts. People are often attracted to great services that are free to use. For example, some free email services grew quickly with little or no marketing spends as they embedded viral marketing into the services that they offered.

Viral marketing, like all good marketing techniques, needs to be thought through properly and applied professionally. There is a need to understand how online city directories contribute to the purchase process. It is not the visitor volume numbers that matter, but the focus must be on the quality of the product along with the influence that the website and multimedia communications create in the minds of the consumer.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

There are several components to creating an effective video ad:

1. Prepare a script – know what you are going to say
2. Say it well – speak from the heart and with conviction
3. Give your potential buyers a reason to engage with you
4. On the day of shooting do whatever it takes to feel good about yourself (make-up, hair do, a new outfit, etc.)

Here are a few tips on crafting a really good script for your video ad:
1. Think about the problem(s) you are solving for your customers/clients. Most business owners get caught up in talking about features rather than benefits. Start by making a 2-column list:

The first column is titled: Customer Hot Buttons and the second column is titled: Benefits We Offer

The benefits you offer will be what you need to talk about in your video clip.

For example:

In the retail industry the hot buttons consumers have are generally related to PRICE, SELECTION, BEFORE AND AFTER SALE SERVICE, and CONVENIENCE.
Price – don’t just claim to be the cheapest supplier in town, rather say something like: “On average, we charge 20% less than our competitors” or perhaps “it is our policy to match all our competitors prices”

Selection -don’t say “We carry the largest inventory west of the Mississippi,” be more specific, like “We carry 2,354 parts in our warehouse and what we don’t have in stock, we can get for you in 24 hours”

Service – don’t say “We have superior service”, rather “It is our policy to respond to your service requests within one business day”, or “Our sales staff is there for one reason only, to help you find what you are looking for and make sure that you are happy with your purchase.”

Well, you get the idea…strive to be as specific as you can.

Remember: It’s not about YOU, it’s all about what’s in it for THEM (the prospect deciding who to buy from).

2. Give them a reason to step into your store or call you now! Create an “ACT-NOW” offer such as discounts, added value (i.e. – bundling products, adding a service contract, free trials, free consultations, free evaluations, buy one get another for less, etc. usually work well.

3. Create an “ASK FOR MORE INFORMATION” type offer to help educate those that are not quite ready to buy now.

This strategy works well for buyers and sellers, and here’s why:

The buyer gets the information he/she needs to make a buying decision, and the seller can build a mailing list for follow-up marketing to warm prospects.

4. Using your benefit statements and the offers, you now have created write your script.

5. Check for meaningless platitudes. Webster defines platitudes as trite and banal statements like:

Greatest, largest, biggest, in business since, honest, lowest prices, best service, biggest in the State, family owned, highest quality. These claims have been overused and roll off your prospect’s back like water off a duck.

6. Read scripts aloud and hone until it rolls off your tongue easily, then go practice in front of mirror. The goal is for the infomercial to sound natural, not stilted and rehearsed.

7. Tidy up your surroundings before shooting the ad. Remember, you are being judged not only by how well put together (professional) you look but also how put together the world around you looks.

8. On the day of shooting the video ad look your best. Nothing is more confidence boosting than knowing that you look your best. Imagine the camera is your best friend or your favorite relative. SMILE and talk from your heart. Talk as if you were telling your Aunt Millie what your business is all about. If that doesn’t seem to help, pretend to be an actor on stage playing your favorite role.

8. Call The Video City Directories (888) 484-3823 to get on their video production schedule. The VCD will get your video produced, edited and hosted on TheVCD. The Video City Directories are designed to drive more business to your door by giving you increased visibility on the search engines so potential customers can find you. For more information on The Video City Directories, visit TheVCD.com.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

I think we can all agree that one of the major aims of any business is to get the maximum number of customers or clients at a minimum cost, and the Internet offers this opportunity to the business owner. Having an Internet presence can be achieved in several ways:

a) A website: Once set up, your site can be viewed by many visitors 24/7 – at their convenience – and the business does not have to pay for each unique visitor to their site, whereas you would have to spend a great deal for advertising in the local newspaper or radio station to get this kind of exposure. In addition to the high cost of the traditional forms of advertising, there are other disadvantages: Newspaper ads, for instance, appear for a finite time and circulation numbers are shrinking at a rapid rate. So if your prospective customer has missed the ad, and let’s face it, nobody ever sits down to read ads–therefore ignores them, unless of course they are already in the market of buying what you are selling–there is no way he/she can get to know about your business or promotional offer.

Even if your business enjoys a good reputation in your local community, prospective customers may want to check you out on the Internet and perhaps interact with your marketing or sales department before making up their mind about a purchase.

It does not have to cost much to build a website for your business, as there are many free web tools that can be used–even if you are not an expert programmer, or low-cost options available. The rising popularity of social networking websites are an added bonus to local business owners that have a website, as they can get a good dedicated client list by building links between their business sites and these networking websites. Linking is like embedded word of mouth. If another website links to you, it is essentially linking you to its own visitors. These bookmarking websites have active forums where residents of a community get together for a virtual meeting. Your business can derive great marketing mileage by promoting your business site in such forums. Some of the content that you as business owners catering to a local community can have on your website are special promotional offers that are valid only for the day (this will ensure that your business website gets multiple visits).

B) Get your business listed in a local search directory site, preferably one that can host a video of your business. Why is that important? Search engines love videos and so do consumers. These types of community directories in fact build a keyword optimized page for your business, so you can be found online when someone types in Hair Stylist in Fallon, NV for instance.

Whether you already have a website, plan on having a website or still don’t see a need for a website, a good way to start your advertisement campaign for 2009 is to get your business listed in online business search portals like the Video City Directories. Such a listing is a good example of a customer-centered marketing approach that will put your business in front of prospects when they are searching online for the products or services you sell—-for a lot less money you are currently spending on advertising.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

Think about it this way:

If, for example, you run a radio ad that is being heard by 60,000 people–that is in fact equal to 60,000 chances to give a sales presentation! Imagine, 60,000 separate individuals hearing your ad.

Or, to give another example, if you have a video ad on the web, an unlimited amount of potential customers will have 24/7 access to your sales presentation. They can view it as long and as often as they like to gather the information about your company, products and/or services they need to make an informed buying decision, or take the next step in the sales cycle.

Now I want you to think about this. If you had a chance to make a 60-second sales presentation to all the individuals that heard your radio ad or clicked on your video ad, what would you say to convince your prospects that buying from you is the best decision they can make? Chances are, your in-person presentation would be filled with compelling reasons why prospects should buy from you. Sadly, most advertising we see and hear does not.

The most common examples of non-compelling HERE-WE-ARE-COME-BUY-FROM-US advertising are found in newspaper ads and the yellow pages or similar directories. Let me prove my point: Go ahead, pull out the yellow pages and let’s take moving companies for instance. Here is what they all say in my book:

“free estimates,
packaging available,
guaranteed pick up and delivery dates,
local & long distance.”

Every single ad is almost identical. You could literally cross out the advertiser’s name and substitute with a competitor’s and the ad would still be valid. It is next to impossible for a prospect to make an intelligent decision about who to call based on any criteria other than who’s got the prettiest or biggest or most colorful ad.

So what happens with this type of “buy from me for no compelling reason” type of advertising? A typical prospect gets up to 3 bids and decides from there – usually the middle bid – as studies done on that subject indicate.

If you understand nothing else I hope you get this: Advertising like this forces everyone to compete on price.

The true purpose of advertising is to give potential buyers reasons why they should buy from you. You need to think of your advertisements as an army of tiny salespeople giving presentations on the spot. Although this CAN be accomplished in most advertising mediums, in our view video advertising is by far the best and most effective way to compel prospects to buy from you. We are so convinced of this we made a business out of making it available to everyone. Video ads allow you to make a “face-to-face” connection (and create the all important familiarity factor with your prospects) and give your finest, most compelling sales presentation. Plus, there are no space limitations, print deadlines, AND it is easily affordable.

Video ads truly are like an army of sales people available 24/7 with no territories, sales commissions or car allowances. You or your sales force couldn’t personally give a sales presentation to thousands and thousands of people but your video ad can.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

Do you notice that you don’t have much trouble closing the deal once you meet with the prospect but tend to fall short when trying to find people to sell to? If so, you’re not alone! This is a common situation in business–and I can explain to you exactly why it happens.

See, there are really two different sides to your business. First, there’s what is known as the “inside reality” and second, there’s the “outside perception.” The inside reality has to do with all the things your business does that makes you valuable to the marketplace, i.e. your commitment to excellence, superior products or services, better customer service, your operations and management. It’s what gives you a competitive advantage in the marketplace. But no matter how great your business is there’s a good chance that the reality of what you do, and the customers’ perceptions of what you do, aren’t necessarily the same.

If the “inside reality” is about what you do and what you are that allows your business to perform better, then the outside perception has to do with how customers and potential customers PERCEIVE your company. Customers will “judge” you by their past buying experiences and prospects will form their “judgments” based on your marketing, or lack thereof. It is important to realize, even if your customer service is great and your customers love you, none of that means squat to a prospective customer if

1) they don’t know you even exist as an option
2) they see your marketing and advertising, and because of your lack of ability to market properly, they perceive that you are no different or no better or no worse than anybody else and default on getting the cheapest price. After all, human nature demands that we get the “best deal” (whatever that means to your prospect). And if your marketing doesn’t give your prospect a compelling reason why he should buy from you, chances are you will always be forced to compete on price.

Furthermore, if you don’t continue to remind previous customers of their great experience with you, chances are they’ll forget and go with whoever offers the deal of the week.

Marketing your business to drive traffic to your door must be viewed as an investment, not an expense. However, doing it well and effectively does not have to drive you out of business, financially speaking. One very effective and very reasonable form of advertising is by listing a video ad in an online business directory such as The Video City Directories.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

In a recessionary environment there is a cascading effect of negative events. The recession in the United States was triggered because of the sudden shrinkage in the real estate market. People were rendered homeless and this has a negative effect on small business owners like you and me. If you are wondering how, then the simple answer is that we cater to a limited geographical area and therefore are the most affected when people of a certain community are facing economic difficulties.

So it is understandable if you are angry with the bigger businesses, especially the investment banks and other financial institutions, for bringing about this grim economic environment upon our country and us. It is hard to deny our families the pleasure of a vacation or postpone buying the new car or truck that you have been hoping to get this year. But as business owners we have to put all the negative emotions behind us and concentrate on surviving through these bad times by keeping our businesses viable and ready to grow once the general economic environment perks up (yes, good times will be upon us sooner rather than later).

Increasing your ad spend is probably a good thing to do in a recessionary environment. I do not mean that you should go on a no-holds barred media blitz; this would be foolish to do and more importantly you would find it difficult to get the money for such an ostentatious campaign. I can also understand your concerns of a decrease in the number of outstanding orders, concerns of business liquidity, the need to keep spending in check so that you can ramp up quickly when the economy improves and so on. What I am instead suggesting is that you make each dollar that you spend on advertising work very hard for you.

Now that I have got your interest, let me explain my idea in detail. The basic idea in a tough business environment is to prune down expenses to the maximum extent possible. This is why some business concerns are laying off people, some others are asked to take a pay cut and so on. Similarly, when you think of ad spends, cut down unproductive media exposure after a thorough analysis of your media campaigns for the past one or two years. Marketing experts recommend that you look towards online advertising to get maximum value for your money. Online media is highly accountable and do not require you to give a fixed commitment to run your ads. You need pay only for the clicks (views in case of video ads) that your ad draws from all the unique visitors to the websites. Other than ads in websites, you can also consider placing your business listing in online city directories.

Increasing ad spend is not a definite cure for surviving in these tough times. If you operate your ad campaigns in a rational manner, your business stands a better chance not only sailing through the recession but also will be in a good position to consolidate and grow once the economy recovers.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

In my experience, most view advertising as an art or an expression of creativity. Those who think in these terms are missing one crucial key point: The purpose of advertising is to facilitate a prospect’s decision-making process, not to entertain! Furthermore, knowing where to advertise for maximum return on investment is crucial. Running ads indiscriminately and hoping for the best is a costly mistake most business owners can no longer afford.

Having a handle on which ads produce the most returns is like having a magic formula at your disposal. An ad that draws potential customers/clients placed in the right media is your magic formula for success. It’s as simple as
1 + 1 = 2.

Many business owners I talk to are of the opinion that calculating the return on investment of traditional media advertising (for example print ads) is very difficult. After all, how do you determine how many readers have actually seen your ad? Print publishers are only too happy to give you total readership numbers and other demographic data to make their case. And, although this may be good info to have, what it ultimately boils down to is how many calls or visitors your ad produces and how many convert to sales. Period! This is all the information you need to know. Which ad and which media works for you.

Monitoring an online marketing initiative such as a video ad is easy because most websites have means of tracking the exact number of Internet users who have clicked on your ad.

The added benefit of Internet marketing in general and video ads in particular is that it can be changed much quicker if it doesn’t yield the desired results. There is no one-year commitment as you would have in the Yellow Pages. What’s more, in my opinion the easy trackability and ease of making changes are the reasons why video ads are as popular as they have become and because they put the control into the hands of the user (=buyer), not the seller. They can choose to watch the video when they want.

My gut feeling is that more and more businesses will forego traditional print advertising in favor of Internet based advertising because of its flexibility and trackability to gauge effectiveness and make smart decisions.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

But I truly believe my ‘First Ever Dumping of The Local Directory’ is quite justified. As I explained to my father-in-law (aged 60 +) as he followed me to the bin stating reasons why I should reconsider (‘but you might need to look something up!’) anything I need to find out now days I can find out online. I mean literally, if I need a doctor, a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, they’re all bound to be online. And to be really blunt (and perhaps even risking offending some who haven’t wrapped their heads around the power of the internet yet) if they’re not online, with a website that gives me the information I need about them (and hopefully the ability to interact with them i.e. make an appointment, place an order, make an inquiry), I don’t really want to deal with them. Harsh but true.

You see, given my age I fall right on the Generation X/Y cusp. Some of my traits tend to be more Gen X in nature – others more Y. I think my ceremonious dumping of the Local Directory is definitely displaying qualities of a true Gen Y. Quite simply I can’t be bothered with a big heavy thick and ugly designed book (yes, aesthetics are all important when it comes to Y’s view of the world) taking up valuable space in my home. I mean, where would I put the thing? There’s the few kitchen drawers, but they’re overflowing already with utensils, cutlery, plastic bags and tea towels. There’s the pantry, but that’s full of food, large size trays, cook books and more, and we have cordless phones and there is no real ‘possie’ where I have the luxury of gas-bagging for hours on the phone to family or mates who live interstate or internationally.

If I want to speak to them, I dial them up on Skype or web cam them through Facebook. I can’t be bothered with the ‘letting my fingers do the walking’, I might get the person if I call them or I might not. Phone tag is not a game I enjoy (and I know I can be extremely difficult at times to ‘tag’ back). And, quite simply, I know I can get the same information (and oh so much more!) from specific internet searches. Even better, I control the search, so I can get nice and relevant results coming up in priority order, not just some local cowboy company who happened to take out a full page in this year’s Yellow Pages or Local Directory.

I’m all into supporting local by the way, I just don’t think the Local Directory or Yellow Pages is the only way to connect with the locals to do business with. I know for sure that I’m not alone when it comes to the pendulum swing that is finally happening in regards to both Yellow Page and Local Directory advertising spend. On average I do 3-5 paid consults a week with people who are seeking sometimes general and sometimes specific marketing advice. Usually the question of the allocation of marketing budgets comes up. The topic of whether Yellow Pages is worth spending the money has been coming up more and more frequently, I’d say just about every consult. As the saying goes ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can’t teach it how to drink’ and that’s definitely a principle I try and live by when I meet with prospective or existing marketing consult clients.

Rather than outright say ‘it’s a waste of money’ (because for a rare few it does work satisfactorily) I let them come to their own conclusions by asking them a few key questions about where their leads and sales are currently coming from, where they have come from previously, what spend they have made to acquire those leads and sales and whether there has been any movement there. What I’m hearing is that all of them are experiencing a significant decline in the number of leads (if any) they are getting via the Local Directory or Yellow Pages and all are more than ready to re-allocate that spend elsewhere (which is great news for my company and any one else in the game looking to assist them spend their money wisely.  Many of them are particularly interested in re-allocating it to the online medium. And this isn’t just with a specific industry or size company I’m talking about. This goes for companies of all shapes and sizes (in recent times a beauty salon, a tile cleaning company and a gym). The clever ones who are actually tracking their leads on a weekly or monthly basis (I strongly encourage you to do this if you are not already) can see that the figures don’t lie – if they compare their spend with their return, it becomes very simple to work out which promotional/advertising/marketing activities are working and which are not.

Despite these figures, I’ve seen clients see the figures, understand the figures but still not be prepared to give up the Yellow Pages or Local Directory spending just yet. Because WHAT IF THEY MISS OUT ON SOME CUSTOMERS? I’ll answer that question with a question: ‘How many more customers could you have if you tried some new marketing mediums?’ I personally as a company do not feature in the Local Directory or Yellow Pages at all (and if I do, it’s a free listing that somebody else has organized for me). I don’t mind divulging, however, that I have been tempted. They’re slick sales people after all, and they play on all the usual feelings associated with fear to get you to feel like you would be mad not to throw some money at them. They make you believe that you could not possibly survive as a business without featuring in their ‘book’. I do totally understand how convincing they can be.

But as a marketing professional I would like to challenge you today by getting you to ask yourself two REALLY important questions when it comes to your Local Directory or Yellow Pages marketing whether you’re doing it now or are considering doing it in the future: 1) Do you track the leads/sales you are getting from their marketing mediums (both the online and the offline version if you feature in both) right down to the dollar and the cent? 2) Have you sat down and worked out your cost per lead and your cost per sale generated from these mediums, and others to see which ones are providing the most leads and/or sales for the lowest cost? Could you make it a priority to do so?

The Christmas break is a great time to do this sort of analysis on your company’s marketing spend so you can look to make any changes you think are required in the New Year. Crunch your numbers and if you’re feeling really brave, choose to dispose of your copy (perhaps you could even use them for a bonfire, Christmas paper or otherwise – let me know your innovative disposal methods). Trust me, it feels great!

By Evette Adams

From Big Ben to the Big Pineapple, Yvette has led an exciting career as a freelance writer, speaker, author, PR/marketing consultant, online and offline editor.

1. Focusing on Features Instead of Benefits
When describing a product or service, most marketers leap into a laundry list of features. The fact is, most buyers are looking for a solution to their problem, not features. Focusing on features can distract from your message and make it sound canned, especially in a video ad. Make it your business to find out what your prospect’s hot buttons are and craft your marketing messages accordingly. When potential customers take the time to click on your video link, they are more interested in finding out if you have a solution for their problem and will like doing business with you.

2. Winging It
When have you last updated or even looked at your marketing plan? All too often business owners go through the trouble of creating a business and marketing plan when they first start the business, put it on the shelf, and never look at it again. For a business owner to stay focused and become successful, it is crucial to update the marketing plan at least twice a year. Not only will you get valuable feed-back on what worked and what didn’t, it also helps to reconnect with the goals that were set when the business was first started. There is much truth to the saying: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. Think about that for a moment.

3. Not Painting a Clear Picture of What Your Business Is All About
You have less than 5 seconds to create a lasting impression. If you can’t clearly communicate what your business is all about in that time, you lose their attention and in many cases your credibility. Use power verbs to describe how people benefit buying from you. Here is what we use as an example: “We combine the usefulness of a print directory with the convenience of the Internet and give our clients an Internet presence at a price they can afford.”

4. Suffering From Entitlement
Convinced you offer superior products or services, therefore people should find and buy from you? Unless you are the only one providing your particular product or service, think again. Competition lurks everywhere. Feeling entitled will trap you and put you out of business. Instead, put attitude aside and share your expertise freely. Remember the givers gain principal.

5. Failing to See the World Through Your Prospect’s Eyes
Assuming to know what your prospects want will result in you having to compete on price, always. Instead, make it your mission to find out what your customers and potential customers really want and what’s important to them. Then use this valuable information to build a better mousetrap and get all the customers/clients you can handle.

6. Taking Loyal Customers For Granted
It is said the biggest reason why customers/clients fail to buy from the same supplier again is that they don’t feel appreciated. With new customer acquisition cost being roughly 5 times making repeat sales…what are you doing to keep yours? Don’t fool yourself into thinking that loyalty can’t be bought.

7. Thinking Marketing Is a One-Shot Deal
Recent statistics tells us, due to the noise in the marketplace and heavy competition, it now takes 5-12 touches (depending on the cost of the purchase) before a prospect becomes aware of your existence. Don’t get trapped into thinking that just one marketing initiative will fix your low sales dilemma.

8. Not Marketing to the Right Audience
Do you know your target market? Do you know the profile of your ideal customer/client? Where do they hang out? What do they read? How do they shop? Do they pick up the Yellow Pages, read the paper or go on the Internet to look for providers? Unless you know the answer to those questions, don’t place ads in publications just because they have a high circulation rate. Unless the demographic and psychographic profile is a match, you will not see a return on your marketing investment.

9. Not Having the Right Message At the Right Time
A prospect at the beginning of the sales cycle (an investigator) is interested in learning about his/her options, whereas someone that is ready to buy wants to know where to get the best deal, which may or may not be related to price. Assuming that the same marketing message is right for all your potential prospects is a mistake.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

Web 2.0 Demystified

Before we begin to explain Web 2.0 , let us ask a question: What is the common thread that is present in websites such as Wikipedia, del.icio.us and Ning?

The simple answer is–these websites seek to utilize the reach of the Internet to connect people together. They depend on individual users to generate high quality content by contributing their unique skills and feedback while interacting with other members.

The basic principle behind these social websites is to encourage public feedback and contribution for the greater good of all. Socially interactive websites that focus on a specific theme have been flourishing in recent times and have captured the attention of Google and other search engines. The purpose of a search engine is to deliver quality relevant content based on keywords entered into the search box.

Web 2.0 marketing techniques are based on the premise that when you request your users to generate and add to your content bank, you will inevitably attract the attention of Google and other search engines, get ranked higher organically and thereby improve traffic to your website and subsequently sales.

Most common Web 2.0 marketing techniques

Some of the frequently used Web 2.0 techniques are blogging, video marketing, social bookmarking, back linking, podcasts and RSS.

Blogging is probably the most hyped characteristics of Web 2.0. By definition, a blog is a frequent, chronological publication of articles, or personal thoughts and Web links. Blogging can be time consuming because you have to produce articles/reviews about what you are selling. You can either spend the time to write and post yourself, hire staff, or outsource the process. Although now there are more blogs than sand on the beach, it is still a very effective way to develop a list of warm prospects, if done consistently.

Video marketing can be the most important arsenal in a small business marketing plan. It allows the seller to describe his business in a way that connects with prospects. It can be produced easily—even inexpensively–and uploaded quickly to various Internet video sites. Fact is, people like to do business with people they are familiar with. A video ad will facilitate this in addition to being awarded with high search engine ranking. Your own infomercial can give you visibility you would not otherwise enjoy.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) permits users to subscribe to a web page so that they can get new content as soon as the original page is modified.

These are just some of the ways by which you can attract traffic to your website and business. Once you have established your credibility, your audience will start believing that they can depend on you as their supplier for their needs.

How to Utilize Web 2.0 Marketing as a Small Business Owner

It used to be that prospective buyers relied on sellers for product or service information. Back then, the seller had the power because he was in control of the sales situation. Not so anymore. Now, when faced with making a purchase, we go on the Internet to research the product or service, find out the availability and miscellaneous options and of course where we can get the best price before ever stepping foot into a store or order online. Guess who has the power now?

The shroud of mystery surrounding the principles of Web 2.0 has prohibited many small business owners from harnessing the power of the Internet. Start with a video ad that will be hosted on a social networking or directory site that already enjoys many hits to their pages and offers all of the networking features discussed above.

The Video City Directories is one such site. At Video City Directories we offer turn-key services to our clientele. Not only will we deploy professional videographers to produce the video at your place of business, we will edit, host and maintain the video for you. For more information, visit www.TheVCD.com

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.

1. Coupons are not just for the retail or service industries. Sadly, there are many industries that do not use coupons to lure more customer/clients to their business. Coupons offering free initial consultations, reviews, hotlines with free information, free reports, etc. can make a huge difference to new client acquisition.

2. Focus on highest return. Marketing data suggests that the most effective coupons offer a fixed discount, such as $10 off a purchase of $50 or more. These coupons tend to have a better conversion rate for sellers whose average order totals less than $100. Alternatively, merchants with an average transaction size of more than $100 find that coupons offering a percentage discount, such as 10% off a purchase of $100 or more, often perform better. The important part is, test to see what works best for you.

3. Attract but don’t alienate. Many sellers offer coupons to the first-time buyer only, taking the chance of alienating their loyal customer base. Consider an offer for your loyal customers as well, i.e. first time buyers – take 15% off, repeat customers – take 10% off.

4. Keep it simple. Apply the offer to all orders or all product categories. If your coupon is limited to one product category only, you run the risk of not attracting a broad enough audience to visit your store. Don’t put exclusions, caveats or special circumstances on the coupon. If customers can’t figure out what the offer is, they are not going to use the coupon. However, do put some boundaries on the offer like “10% off purchases over $50.

5. Make it urgent. Set an expiration date to create a sense of urgency. This allows you to control the outstanding impact of the coupons you send out. Using an expiration date will create a deadline so you can remind your customers to hurry up and take advantage before time runs out.

At Video City Directories, you have the ability to feature a coupon with your video or slideshow listing. What’s more, the coupon can be changed frequently with just a phone call and for minimal cost. Improve your chances of getting more business by proactively announcing to the world what you have to offer. For more information, visit www.thevcd.com.

This article was written by Birgit Rickert of Results Marketing and The Video City Directories, and may not be copied, reproduced or altered without prior consent.