Obtaining Telemarketing Services: Having In-House or Outsourced Services?

Even with the cost-effective outsourced services available in the world today, such as telemarketing, many still choose to have in-house telemarketing services rather than to entrust it to a third party provider. However, for small and medium firms that have only recently just started and do not possess the needed resources to have in-house services, the only choice would be to go for outsourced telemarketing services. Both forms may have their pros and cons, however, in-house telemarketing services are just a bit more disadvantageous that going with outsourcing. If you are planning to have telemarketing done for you soon, then you would do well to know which type to get: outsourced or in-house services.

As said above, both sides have their positives and negatives but as also mentioned, in-house services may just be a little more of a hassle to handle unlike with outsourced services. Hopefully, this article won't discourage you from picking in-house but rather just give you a view of what you would be getting into. Although, the question still remains: should you go with in-house service? Or outsourced services?

OUTSOURCED TELEMARKETING SERVICES - This is perhaps the most widely taken choice by many firms, even those who have the needed resourced for getting their own in-house staff and call center. However, many choose this because it is a cost-effective sales and marketing solution. Also, the telemarketing companies that offer their services to clients that need them employ professional and skilled telemarketers. And although they do hire new staff every now and then, the experience that they soon earn is enough to fuel their purpose. Be it lead generation, appointment setting or plain old hard-selling, these telemarketers are experts at what they do, show professionalism no matter the circumstances they are pushed into and know just what to do and what to say to make sales happen. Also, if the services is not effective for you, it can easily be terminated after the open contract is over. This offers less risk because you won't have to spend for so much and only have it fail in the end.

IN-HOUSE TELEMARKETING SERVICES - This type of service proves to be also quite promising but it takes a bit of difficulty to manage. For one, you would need additional office space to house your own call center, something that small and medium firms, especially those who are leasing a building cannot do. This already is a huge problem to those who do not have the resourced needed to spend for the construction of an in-house call center and those without enough space within their office building. Second, aside from just the costs of construction, one would also have to deal with buying all the needed equipment for the tasks that need to be done. Third is hiring new staff, another thing that may possibly incur a heavy toll on the allotted budget. Last and not the least is time. Time is mentioned because you would need to take time to train these new employees in how to market your products and services via the phone. You can have complete control of how your telemarketing campaign functions when you have it done in-house but just remember to be prepared that if it does not go so well, you may have just spent a great portion of your hard-earned money on a major loss.

Don't fret too much, though. No matter what type of telemarketing service you get, it has proven to be quite successful; don't get discouraged about in-house services, as well. If you're a small/medium firm, then outsourcing may be your only choice. But if you're a large company and can afford it and believes that your campaign will succeed, then by all means, go for in-house telemarketing services.

Sarah Barnes is a telemarketing expert with 11 years experience as a sales leads analyst for small and medium companies. Sarah invites you to visit http://www.121directmarketing.com/ for more information on pre-qualified sales leads and appointments.

Creating a Customer-Driven Vision

Customers don't always stay loyal to a company, but what lies behind their decision to switch companies? Much research is done to answer this question, including companies surveying their customers directly, outsourcing the survey process to a third party, or participating in a general and anonymous industry-wide survey. What all the research boils down to is that customers leave companies because they received too little contact and individual attention, or the attention they did receive was poor in quality.

To combat customers leaving because of little or poor attention, organizations must create a customer-driven company. This is accomplished by creating a customer-keeping vision and then saturating the company with the "voice of the customer." Achieving customer-winning performance means walking the talk and leading by example at the highest management levels.

So what is a customer-keeping vision? It is a vivid picture of ambitions and a desirable future state that is connected to the customer and better than the current state in some important way. An ideal vision statement is clear, involving, memorable, aligned with company values, linked to customer needs, and seen as a stretch ?‚? or something difficult but not impossible. Your vision should serve two vital functions: as a source of inspiration and as a decision-making guide, aligning all of your organization's parts so they work together for a common goal.

A market-share-building company constantly challenges itself by understanding its customers' needs and expectations and calculating how well those needs and expectations are being met. But it goes even deeper. You have to determine how your competitors are meeting these needs and then create a plan that outlines how you can go beyond the minimum that will satisfy your customers to how to truly delight them. Study the winners in your industry and measure and benchmark their performance. Benchmarking the competition is a careful search for excellence, taking the absolute best as a standard and trying to surpass it.

Remember, quality of service is your ability to provide what was promised, dependably and accurately. It also is your ability to convey trust and confidence through the caring and attention you pay to customers and your willingness to help them and provide prompt service.

To deliver quality service, help your employees serve customers well and enjoy doing it. Engage every person's whole mind in improving your organization. It is important that you set an unwavering goal of putting customer satisfaction above all other objectives. You can reinforce this by telling everyone about this obsession, measuring customer satisfaction daily, posting the results, and rewarding employees when it is achieved.

Let employees know what to expect and what is expected. But keep in mind that your existing employees may not be the best fit for this role. With that in mind, be prepared to hire new people who will embrace your vision. In addition, you need to continuously train and educate employees. Then you can work on creating an environment that makes employees feel good, and one that supports the enthusiastic pursuit of customer satisfaction.

Finding and motivating excellent people is both possible and profitable. You can do this by developing a hiring profile and sticking to it when selecting employees. Show employees how you expect them to serve customers and that creating happy customers is at the heart of your organization. Employees knowing that they are expected to use their abilities to serve the customer makes them feel they are part of the action and encourages them to stay with your company.

Train and educate people well and continuously, because it creates an opportunity to communicate and reemphasize the vision, it provides the concrete skills employees need, and it opens the organization to continuous improvement. When you engage your employees' minds, you will discover hidden skills that make people promotable.

People want to serve customers well and have the ability to do so, but they need support from customer-driven leadership, an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, constant communication of that objective, careful measurement, intelligent hiring practices, continuous education, a well-managed environment, respect, and a chance to use their minds to improve the workplace.

Smash the barriers to customer-winning performance by eliminating the barriers that prevent your people from serving customers efficiently and predictably. When you are able to accomplish this, you get both customer satisfaction and lower costs.

To smash these barriers, ask employees to tell you about the barriers preventing your organization from serving your customers and ask for their ideas on how to remove these barriers. Also, analyze current processes. Then design an improved process and establish measurable and achievable objectives. Then manage performance.

The more complex an organization, the more the customer can become a vague, far-off entity, and the traditions of the people in the organization become the driving force in people's behavior. Create customer-friendly policies. The most fundamental element of your organization is its vision statement. It shows what your organization strives to be. For a customer-driven company, policies must be aligned with its vision.

Use measurement to deliver more of what the customer wants by knowing why you are measuring and letting customers tell you which end results to measure. But never rest. Always ask how well you are doing and track the internal procedures that are suppose to produce the results customers want. Then tell your people everything you learn.

All measurement is an opportunity to focus on and exceed customer needs. Customer-focused measurement inevitably sticks its nose into every part of the company. So let customers' desires establish standards. When you set standards, focus your organization's efforts on the most important issues your customers tell you. Make yourself a world leader on the five issues that matter most to your customer. Then choose the next five and the next five and so on.

Take customer-focused measurement of internal processes everywhere in your organization. Tell the whole company the news, whether wanted or not, to change behavior.

Seven leadership behaviors distinguish pivotal people in a successful customer-driven organization. In essence, they personally put the customer first; they promote their organization's vision; they become "students for life" by seeking new ways to learn; they believe in and invest in their people through training, preparing them to do more, helping them to use what they have learned to remake their jobs; they make teams work together to solve problems; they stay the course, realizing that customer-focused quality takes time and constant energy; and they live the organization's purpose by leading by example.

So how do you know if you are moving towards being a customer-driven organization? There are always telltale signs. You will see yourself moving from motivation through fear and loyalty to motivation through a shared vision. Your previous attitude that said "it's their problem" is now ownership of every problem that affects a customer. Instead of saying "we've always done it that way," you will always be looking for ways to continuously improve. Decisions that were once based on assumptions and judgment calls now become decisions based upon data and facts.

Everything that once began and ended with management will now begin and end with customers. Departmental decision-making using a department's own criteria now becomes cross-functional cooperation. Organizations that were good at crisis management and recovery will now find that they are doing it right the first time.

You will no longer be dependent on heroics. You will drive variability out of the process and what was once a choice between participative or scientific management now becomes participative and scientific management.

Operating as a customer-driven organization is generally more satisfying for everyone involved customers, employees and management. And the result is improved customer loyalty, an outcome that reaps rewards on many levels.

Professional Telemarketers Are Everywhere! Price Is Just One Factor!

In light of recent events, people are once again bringing up the issue of pitting offshore outsourcing and onshore for things like lead generation services (e.g. telemarketing). Two common advantages/disadvantages that are often cited in these debates is quality and costs. You usually hear how offshore has low costs but also low quality. Onshore is costlier but better. On the other hand, you'll also hear the complete reverse with just as much frequency. Some say there are offshore countries with better services at lower costs whilst onshore companies just have a veneer of being high-end to make up for the lack of competent personnel.

Now what decision are you supposed to come to from this scenario?

Well the truth is there may not be a really strong connection between the two at all. And no, this isn't a cop out. You see despite citing only two common factors being discussed, there is in fact a focus on only one of them: costs.

Believe it or not but there are still plenty of businesses out there who judge rashly based on costs in the same way a person may judge rashly based on a book's cover instead of the contents.

For instance, what if you were a developer or a supplier of computer applications meant to assist in business intelligence? Even the smallest BI software company will tell you that the population size of your leads is going to very small.

Very small indeed but also very important.

This population is made up of none other than the high-ranking business executives and CEOs representing your target companies. Who else would use a type of software powerful enough to take all the information of an entire enterprise and then just pack it in one, easily manageable desktop dashboard?

If you have every intention to contact these people, you might even need more than just simply telemarketing. These people are hard to get, given their position. You need people skilled in various forms of B2B communication from the phone and mail to internet and social media. That's the only way you're going to cover your bases.

Do you really think it's wise to let price along indicate such skills? Given the varying arguments mentioned above, don't you think their constant employment is more likely a sign of diversity than simply one side being better than the other? What if some cheap offshore company is cheap purely because their country's currency is stronger/weaker than yours? It sure doesn't seem to affect their service. Likewise, the same could be for an onshore company.

What about lead generation companies that are multinational, with contact centers based in different parts of the world? What good is this debate then?

The fact is professionals are everywhere and in a world where discrimination based on nation is highly discouraged, how much more when you either pair it with price or just simply price alone? Price isn't necessarily an indication of skill. Any person with even the mildest experience in B2B (or even just business in general) will tell you that there are more factors governing a price tag than the quality of their service. If you're serious about your B2B lead generation, then outsource to company for reasons beyond just mere price.

Daniel Anderson works as a marketing communications program manager. He is inviting you to visit http://www.erpsoftwareleads.com/ to learn more about lead generation and appointment setting for the software industry.

Premium Blend of Quality and Precision

Today, the market is flooded with varieties of products that help in the proper execution of industrial applications. The unmatched quality and high performance level have made these products widely demanded in the market. In addition to this, the availability of the products in varied sizes and dimensions have also attracted various industrial sectors to place bulk orders. The unmatched quality and excellent performance has made these products ideally used for various industrial applications. Thus, the products are manufactured with complete compliance to the international standards in order to ensure utmost satisfaction to the buyers.

The industrial sectors, apart from he and heavy industrial machines, are also dependent o small tools and equipments. These tools and equipments help in simplifying the industrial tasks. There are various types of industrial equipments that are ideally designed to meet the requirements of the simple as well as complex industrial applications. There is a product for every industrial application and excellent result is assured. Thus, excellent results in respective applications have also played a vital role in the enhancement of the demands of the industrial equipments and tools.

There is a huge array of products that are widely demanded to meet the requirements of various big industrial applications. The products like the shoe cover and hand gloves are widely used in laboratories and chemical industries. These products may not be directly used in applications to ascertain results, but play a very important role in helping in ascertaining accurate and fast results. Therefore, the demand for these hand gloves and shoe cover is very huge as these act as a catalyst in the accomplishing of any application. These are available in standard as well as customized specifications to meet the requirements of the applications.

There are vendors, in the market, who are acknowledged for dealing in varieties of industrial tools and equipments. The raw materials used in the manufacturing of the shoe cover and hand gloves are of premium quality that ensures features like high durability and resistivity to adverse conditions. In addition to this, the notable features like light weight and low maintenance cost have also played a crucial role in the enhancement of the demands of industrial products. Moreover, to ascertain high level of satisfaction to the buyers, the shoe cover and hand gloves are available in customized sizes and dimensions as per the specifications and drawings provided. Thus, the affordable price has also attracted buyers from all round the corner to place bulk orders.

Kuldeep is an online Business Man. He loves to write articles and Blogs. He has written thousands of articles over internet. He loves to write about hand gloves and shoe cover etc.

Why Look For a Different Partner

There will always be a need to look for a business partner for your firm. After all, there will always be a limit to what flesh and blood can bear. More so in the field of lead generation and appointment setting services where the need for B2B leads is always high. But what should you look for in a business partner? There are many qualities that you must look for, like decisiveness, passion, and motivation to succeed, especially if you are using telemarketing as the medium of communication. But that is not all. There are other things that you will need. The most important point is that your partner must complement your abilities. In other words, your partner must be good at something you are not.

1.Vision vs. mission - yes, you may have the vision that your company will be great in the future, and you know how to sell that idea. Of course, that does not mean that you know how to do it. For this reason, you have to find someone who knows the nitty-gritty of things. He has to be a business partner who knows how to make your dreams a reality.

2.Right-handed vs. left-handed - if you are pretty good in designs and aesthetics, then good for you. All that remains is to find a partner who knows how to make your products work. In order to succeed, you need to get both design and function to work together. Remember Steve Jobs? He's not exactly a computer whiz, but he has a genius eye for design. All he needs are people who can make what he cooks up to work. It is the same thing with you.

3.Selling vs. making - if you have the talent to make other people buy from you, you should keep doing it. Just make sure that you find someone who can make all the things you can sell. A talent for selling can be a good, but it is nothing if you have nothing to sell to begin with. You have to create a balance between these two qualities if you want to make any difference.

4.Identification vs. solution - one thing that is important in any business, especially if you are using telemarketing as a business medium, is that you have a sharp eye in identifying problems in your business. Of course, that does not mean that you can solve it, too. In this case, it becomes even more important to find a partner who can find the solution.

5.Dream vs. reality - it is nice to dream about where your company is going, but it is also important to have someone who will keep your feet firmly planted on the ground. There are a lot of dreamers out there who just keep going and going, without someone to tell them that their gauge is empty. You will need a partner who knows how to balance the books for you.

These are the reasons why having a complementary partner will be good for you.

Belinda Summers works as a professional consultant. She helps businesses increase their revenue by lead generation and appointment setting services through Telemarketing. To know more about this visit: http://www.callboxinc.com/

Dental and Medical Practice - 3 Things to Avoid and 3 Things to Do For More New Patients (Now)

Marketing your dental practice is often the furthest thing from the mind of a busy medical or dental professional. However, marketing your practice needs to be a regular activity so that you are always marketing your practice.

3 to Avoid

1) Neglect to invest in training for your office staff - Your front office staff is the first impression new patients have of your office, both on the phone and in person. How a prospective patient is handled on the phone makes the difference between a new patient for you or a new patient for your competition. How a new patient is handled by the front office in person can make the difference between a one time visit and a life long client who refers.

2) Fail to check up on what is happening up front- Too many professionals make the assumption that once trained, the front office staff will always do it right. Even worse, some will assume that they "just know" what to do.

3) Invest more in learning new techniques than in marketing your practice - The thinking goes something like this: "If can just learn the newest techniques, I'll have a more full practice." The reality is it does not matter how many new techniques you know when you have an empty office.

3 to Do

1) Invest in regular training for your staff - A regular investment in training of your front office staff gets you the best return on investment of any investment in your practice. With regular training you get a happier front office that buys in to your mission and brings in more new patients.

2) Verify that the front office is working the way you want it to - Train, trust and check up on your front office staff. Just because they have been trained well, does not mean they are performing well.

In just a moment, I'm going to tell you about a great way to check on the performance of your front office staff. But first I want to give you one more important tip.

3) Always market your practice - ABM stands for Always Be Marketing. This is a motto you need to adopt, even when your practice is full of new patients. A Chinese proverb often quoted by Harvey Mackay goes something like this:

Dig the well before you're thirsty

You will do well to always be marketing your practice, even when your schedule is full.

Remember how I said I was going to show you a great way to check on the performance of your front office staff? Well, here it is:

You can now claim your Free Instant Access to our exclusive 5 Star Challenge when you visit http://increasepatientsnow.com/

You'll receive a CD recording of an actual Mystery Call we make to your office. Finally, hear exactly what you're staff is saying to potential new patients when they call your office. Find out if they are getting them in or turning them away!

Brought to you by Jay Geier, Founder and President of The Scheduling Institute - Dentistry's Best Kept Secret

Three Key Partnerships That Can Make Your Business Trade Show Exhibits Even Better

Veteran businesses working the marketing convention circuit understand that while there are many factors that go into measuring overall return on investment, the total number of guests that visit their trade show displays is the most critical. Without a consistent, streaming line of visitors to company trade show booths, generated leads, networking opportunities and prospects for closing business all diminish significantly. Thus, strategically-minded business leaders constantly endeavor to ensure that their trade show exhibits are armed with all the necessary tools to garner and hold the crowd's attention.

Don't Be A One Man Show With Your Business Trade Show Displays

While the quest to help your businesses' trade show booths can feel overwhelming, particularly for organizations making their initial foray into this promotional arena, it doesn't have to be. In addition to having aesthetically compelling and informative displays, companies can also strategically align themselves with affiliated partners that offer services that enhance overall crowd participation. Understanding three key partnerships to strike when participating in trade show displays can help ensure that your team best leverages every opportunity and maximizes return on investment at each event.

Affiliations Can Draw In The Crowd And Help Keep Them Engaged

Interactive Attraction: One of the best ways to entice visitors to your marketing stands is to offer an event that helps your booth stand out from the competition also working the function. When strategizing an exhibit draw, consider teaming up with an organization that specializes specifically in traffic building at these events. These vendors offer fun items such as golf simulators, prize wheels and even money machines to pique the interest of the attending guests and have them clamoring to get a closer look at what your organization offers. Whenever possible, work with a provider that not only offers services where the event is being held, but also offers a comprehensive assortment of options so your trade show displays can always offer something new and different at each event.

Keynote Speakers: Aligning your company with a team that specializes in keynote speakers can also help boost booth business. Offering seminars and speeches from industry experts is a great way to generate a little convention buzz and get the crowd excited about what you have going on. Again, always try to align your team with an organization that offers various speaking formats and presenters with a wide range of expertise to always keep the vibe in your stand fresh and current.

Staff Trainers: Finally, getting guests to your exhibits is only the first half of the success equation - keeping them engaged is the only way to generate leads and network. Partnering with a firm that offers staff training for these marketing conventions can play a critical role in the overall result. Work with an organization that offers various training models and customization options to ensure that your team hits the event floor poised to turn every conversation into a lead for the ultimate event experience.

Looking for award-winning innovations in trade show displays to help your business make a big impact? Skyline Canada can help. Offering cutting-edge options for trade show booths throughout Canada, Skyline knows how to help your trade show exhibits get the attention they deserve! Contact them today to hear more!

What Is Near Field Communication?

Near Field Communication, typically abbreviated NFC, is a technology that establishes radio communication between devices in close proximity. While NFC technology is not yet ubiquitous, it is being incorporated into more and more smart phones as well as into advertising campaigns and store checkout points. NFC allows a smart phone user to touch his phone to any other device with an NFC chip in it to establish an instant connection. Using this technology, two smart phone users could exchange contact information or files, or even play a two-person game together simply by briefly touching phones.

Another use for NFC technology that both retailers and consumers are excited about is making purchases by simply touching your phone to an NFC-enabled device at a point of sale terminal. This eliminates the need to use credit or debit cards, which could easily be lost or stolen during the checkout process. The two NFC devices do not actually need to be touching for a connection to be established, but they do have to be within an inch and a half of each other, which makes it difficult for any other devices to pick up on the information being transmitted. Additionally, when used for transmitting payment information a secure channel and sends encrypted data to further reduce the possibility of a third party stealing the information.

NFC chips can also be utilized in a passive manner and may eventually take the place of QR codes in some advertising campaigns. Static NFC chips can be embedded in posters, displays or virtually anywhere. When a smart phone user touches his phone to the chip, the phone would collect information or files from the chip. This time of communication is one-sided, which means the phone can gather information from the chip, but the chip cannot collect any information from the phone.

Several cell phone service providers are exploring the possibilities of NFC technology, as are credit card companies, PayPal and even Amazon. There are even a few rumors going around about Apple incorporating NFC technology into the iPhone 5. As more and more smart phones become NFC enabled, you'll see an increase in the number of businesses utilizing NFC technology to collect payments and provide information. Once this technology becomes more prevalent, you'll be able to leave your house each day with just your smart phone in tow. No longer will you need to carry around a bulky wallet filled with credit cards, debit cards, discount cards and transit passes. All you'll need to do is touch your cell phone to an NFC device and you'll be set.

Chris Jenkin is a CEO for Gotcha! Mobile Solutions, Inc. He writes/blogs during his free or spare time. Writing about Mobile Marketing and QR Code Technology. You can visit Gotcha!'s blog for more informative articles relating to Mobile Marketing.

How Lawyers Can Use Marketing To Identify And Sift Out Hot Prospects

One reason why many lawyers don't like marketing or think it is not worth the effort is because they have not done it properly in the past.

This could be for a whole lot of reasons, but more often than not it is because of a lack of time and expertise.

There is also the confusion many lawyers have about marketing and sales - i.e. should marketing result in new clients signing up immediately or should it be separated totally from the sales function?

I want to answer these questions by focusing on what marketing should be...

Marketing should help lawyers identify prospects that are looking for specific legal services and have the money to pay to achieve their desired goals.

Given this, any marketing by law firms should focus on sifting out hot prospects as soon as possible so that the appropriate communications and resources are directed to them.

This does not mean prospects that are more likely to buy later should be ignored. Marketing for these means nurturing them until they are ready to buy, as they should be handled differently because they are at a different stage of their purchase cycle.

When people get confused about marketing and sales, a simple way of differentiating them is this...

Marketing identifies the hot prospects, and sales converts them into clients.

They are linked - to be honest, many successful lawyers don't even bother to separate them out as marketing and sales fall into one 'business development' function with defined steps to guide prospects through sales funnels.

One reason why lawyers need to identify who is most likely to buy their legal services soon is because it stops them blanketing everyone with the same message, something that is pretty useless and wastes money.

So how can lawyers identify the hot prospects in the first place?

There are some key steps they have to go through to get this right consistently:

First of all, think about your sales funnel - what are your goals and what would the ideal sales funnel look like?
Identify a niche to focus on - marketing to everyone is less effective and wastes resources;
Provide information that you know your market is looking for and make it easy for readers to find - blogs, articles, free guides, webinars or seminars are a fantastic way of getting yourself top of mind within the minds of prospects;
Capture your prospects' contact details and create calls to action so that those who need your legal services sooner are forced to act and follow steps you have outlined, or they simply self-select themselves to take the steps necessary to contact you first;
Have well-defined touchpoints and communications so that you guide prospects through your sales funnel according to their readiness to buy your legal services. This means having a mix of offline communication tactics that are integrated with your online / social media ones.

The key thing is to make prospects with an urgent need for your legal services to put their hands up and, based on the free information you have willingly and consistently provided, make an educated decision to select you above all other options available.

If you have developed effective authority marketing strategies, then you stand out from your competitors and the prospects that know they have a problem that needs to be solved will want to choose you.

Eria Odhuba helps lawyers implement social media and new online business models to attract more clients to their practices, giving them the chance to be successful and enjoy the things they would like to do but can't because they have no time or money.

He helps lawyers position themselves as leaders within their target niches and creating platforms to increase their visibility despite the competition they may face. He creates messages that answer the questions going on the in the minds of prospects and, when combined with an effective lead capture system, helps lawyers develop a winning platform from which they can develop trust with prospects and win new business without the need to do any hard selling.

If you want to know how to put a new online business model in place to prepare your law firm for more effective social media, online and offline web marketing strategies that help you attract an endless stream of clients or prospects to you, please sign up for the FREE 7 day video series.

Is Your Business Ready to Blog?

Not sure if your company should be blogging?

Take this quick, 5-Step Blog Readiness Test to find out.

I hear this question all the time from business owners, "Do I need a blog?"

My answer is usually, "It depends." Every company is different, so answering the question about whether your business needs a blog requires a quick assessment. Answer these questions to see if your organization is ready to take on the blogging challenge:

Are you genuinely interested in writing a blog? Do you really want to blog, or would you just be doing it because you've heard that you should? If you don't want to write yourself, are you willing to allocate resources from you team (or hire someone) who can bring passion to your blog?
Are you committed to blogging consistently? Whether your posts come monthly, weekly or daily, you need a consistent blogging schedule. You can plan ahead and post later, as long as you establish a pattern your readers can depend on. Adding fresh posts on a regular basis will help build a loyal following of readers for your blog.
Do you have something to say? You don't need to have earth-shattering insights, but a unique point of view and interesting perspectives are important to the success of your blog. Repeating the same old information that can be found anywhere online only adds to the noise in the blogosphere. Add value instead.
Do you have the skills or resources required to optimize your blog? Maximizing the reach and impact of your blog takes some know-how. From keywords to design to SEO, getting the most from your blogging efforts may require you to gain some additional skills - either by learning them yourself or getting outside help.
Do you know who your audience is and what they want to read? Blogging isn't about you, it's about giving your readers what they want. What kind of information and ideas can you share with your readers to make them happy they took the time to read your blog? If you don't know who your readers are or what they are interested in, find out before you start blogging.

What's Your Score?

How many questions did you answer "Yes" to?

1-2: Baby steps. A blog might not be for you - at least not yet. Work on adding a few more "Yeses" to your list first.

3-4: Toddler time. You're walking now, but you may want a hand now and then.

5: Run and Play. Go for it! You're ready to blog, so why not start now?

Tell me what you think....Was this little quiz helpful? Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments below.

Joellyn "Joey" Sargent is principal of BrandSprout LLC, an Atlanta-based strategic marketing and management consulting firm. Joey brings fresh perspectives to challenging business issues, helping her clients succeed by building brand awareness, engaging customers and increasing market share.

A passionate advocate of entrepreneurship, Joey has founded 3 companies, was a key executive with two start-ups and has worked for Fortune 500 companies including UPS and BellSouth (now AT&T). With global leadership experience in branding, strategy, and communications, Joey advises business owners on strategies for dramatic growth, building high-performing marketing teams and leveraging technology for maximum impact.

Start To Make Money From Home Now

The increasing cost of living makes it hard for parents with children making ends meet. Both parents seem to need to work to pay bills and expenses. When parents leave their children with a babysitter or a day-care center, they worry about the type of attention their children get. Most parents go through anguish when they leave their children with strangers at daycare centers. They would rather personally want to keep an eye on their child.

To help keep their household expenses solvent, a stay at home parent would need to find a way to start a business from home. In the past, it was easy to cook or bake food and sell it to their neighbors, but now anyone can work on the Internet from home. the Internet offers great opportunities to anyone to work on the Internet from home. The internet offers great opportunities to earn money on the net in just about any business wit the possibility to reach an unlimited number of customers worldwide.

Internet marketing businesses offers a stay-at-home parent (as an affiliate) to join them by creating a website and market their products. Anyone can do this by advertising products on the Internet, and the companies will pay affiliates a commission for any product they sell.

For anyone to succeed on the Internet their website must have high traffic. The key is not just traffic, but targeted traffic. This type of traffic makes sure that the people visiting their website are interested in buying the specific products that are advertised.

The best way, still yet, to generate targeted traffic is to write an article about the product advertised. Once an article is written and submitted to an article directory, it must contain their website's URL at the end of the article. Many readers that are interested on the product will likely visit the website.

The key is to making the articles interesting and easy to read and attract traffic to their website. Posting an article in the article directories is usually free.

A website must have interesting details about the product to catch the visitor's attention the moment they visit the website. Do your best to include articles on the pros and cons about the product, reviews and testimonials.

Work on the Internet from home is a job that has many advantages such as:

*A great way to make money on the net.

*Get experience to market products.

*Work Internet from home can really be fun and allows you to be creative and most of all - independent.

*Do it from home.

*This totally benefits those parents that want to raise their children.

*This is an excellent idea for families that can't afford day care center or a babysitter.

*This is absolutely perfect for the parent who really wants spend quality time raising their children.

Good luck in your business!

Efren Maldonado invites you to come to his site to learn more about starting an online business the step by step way. His belief in delivering quality, free information is foremost to your success.

Please visit http://workontheinternetfromhome.com/ to get your free gifts and learn what to do next to make a successful online living!

My name is Efren and I am an active member of Chris Farrell's Membership. I learn here all about Internet marketing and everything that I need is still available or me. Join me and you can also do it. You won't need anything else outside of this membership. Chris Farrell and his staff are ready to help you with solutions and will even create a personal video for your solution. Join me on my journey to creating a passive income for the future. Go to http://www.workinternetfromhome.com/

Banner Stands: Using Vertical Elements For Maximum Impact

Most good trade show displays feature more than one or two elements for a reason. By combining various elements such as banner stands, pop-ups or table top displays, companies give their spot on the convention floor more depth and visual interest. By breaking up the horizontal and vertical lines of sight, they encourage visitors to step into trade show booths and explore the area. If you use only one type of booth d?cor, you're short-changing your company's presence and limiting your options.

Versatile Banner Stands

One of the most versatile and under-utilized features for successful trade show displays is the banner stand. The vast majority of these are taller than they are wide for a strong vertical presence. Rather than relegating these features to the peripheral of your overall design, turning them into "add-ons," experiment with using these unique advertising pieces as strong elements in their own right.

Create A Panorama

Because banners are so tall, they lend themselves to creating a panorama when you use three or more in a row. By having a large image printed across three side-by-side units, you create the illusion of a truly panoramic view. This is ideal for creating impressive vistas or reminding viewers that your products or services are monumental; the panoramic view can essentially infer that they are 'too big' for just one panel.

Include A Features List

If you want to highlight an important list of information, have it printed on banner stands that you can strategically position near your trade show booths. Because they are two to three times taller than they are wide, they are perfect for a bulleted list that's quick and easy to read. The size and shape naturally draws the eye downward. Short blocks of information such as your top five products or seven ways your company improves ROI for customers can be easily digested by potential clients.

Draw Visitors Into Your Trade Show Displays

Strategically staggering three or four customized banner stands at one end of trade show booths can create an inviting path to the center of your area. Bold graphics, slowly revealing more information on individual pieces or even numbering actions you want readers to take can all draw visitors' attention. Instead of "ready, set, go..." on a single, large display, print each word on an individual banner, taking advantage of the vertical to increase impact with unusual graphics or your business logo. If they are properly staggered, readers will naturally end up in the heart of the display rather than simply passing by.

Tell A Story

The illusion of movement, whether it's movement from one spot to another or from one moment in time to the next, is always advantageous at trade show displays. Let banners tell a story such as the history of your company or the development of a new product. The strong vertical is particularly good for this type of narrative; the story can be printed in text at the top while an illustration is used at the bottom, mixing print and graphics for a powerful punch.

Relatively small but extremely versatile, banner stands can transform trade show displays from ho-hum to exciting with just a small investment of time and materials.

Skyline Tradetec designs banner stands Chicago businesses use to improve their trade show displays in Chicago. Striking Chicago trade show booths are just a click away. Check out exciting monthly promotions on their website.

Referrals - 5 Steps on How to Turn Your Customers Into a Powerful Sales Team

Having a system to get referrals from our customers is one of the most powerful marketing strategies any business can ever employ.

Yet generating referral in this one is also one of the least used strategies.

At one stage over a 2 year period, I generated over 60% of my new business through referrals from customers. In terms of effectiveness, cost (zero), and the small time input, it's easily the most successful marketing strategy that I have ever used.

So here's the system that I use.

1. Drop hints with clients in advance that you will be asking them for referrals. I often say something like 'many of my new clients come through referrals from existing customers so, as we go along, I will be asking you if you know anybody who might be interested in using my services'. By doing this I'm planting a seed in their head and they make a mental note if they think of somebody suitable.
Also when I ask them at a later stage for referrals they will be expecting the question.

2. When I have a win with a client and I know they are happy with my service, I often ask them for a referral as they are on a high. I can ask them when we finish the job or contract but I find the 'win' stage is best. Some people will take prompting to think of names so my job is to help them. I make suggestions like customers, suppliers, business neighbours, friends, clubs they may be joined. Mobile phones are also a good source of names.

3. I take down the details of 5 people and then I say to my client 'if I phone these people they won't know who I am so would you mind phoning them, say who I am, describe briefly what I have done for you and ask them if it's alright if I call them'. If my client phones these people, they will be warming them up and the person will be expecting my call. Sometimes my client may not be comfortable doing this and in that case I phone the people direct myself.

4. If my client is happy to phone the 5 people, I arrange to check back with them if a few days. Normally he/she will have reached these people and in most cases they are happy to accept my call.

5. As soon as I finish talking to my client, I'm straight on the phone calling these 5 people. From my experience I always get through or they return my call, I more often tan not, get a face to face meeting and my conversion rate is very high. At one stage my conversion rate from this approach was 80% in a sector where the norm can be just 20%.

Neil O'Brien is a specialist in helping business find 'zero cost marketing ideas' to help grow their sales. If you would like to see more of Neil's great sales and marketing ideas, please click on http://www.quantum.ie/

How Movies Establish Fans and What Marketers Can Learn From It

The term "fan" is a term that, although not difficult to define, does hold a degree of ambiguity. According to the OED, a fan is a "keen and regular spectator", which in the film industry could perhaps be measured by total box office, DVD release profits, or even figures such as views of interviews on YouTube, or number of tweets about the premier. For a brand, this type of loyalty is now being called a Lovemark. It often transcends reason and rationality, one has only to think about avid Starbucks's fans who are outraged when taken away from their daily latte despite quality coffee from other venues. So, I've decided to pinpoint the stages of development from someone who merely lives in the same world as a movie to a fan, and how we can analyze these stages to make better marketing decisions.

STAGE 1: THE STAGE OF THE BLANK MIND

One of the key factors of becoming a fan in the entertainment industry is to have no prior knowledge of the movie. (Obviously, you must have heard of it in order to go see it in the first place, but no real prior knowledge of the movie's content.) This does not include hearing about the movie, or even watching the trailer. Far from drawing viewers away, these elements will encourage the initial exposure to the movie, which leads us to stage two. (This point may be one of the reasons as to why many of the Harry Potters fans on the books could never really become true fans of the movies, and emphasizes the importance of powerful initial exposure)

STAGE 2: THE POWER OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Unless you receive continuous impressions for years (is that how long it took Elizabeth with Mr. Darcy?), the first impression of a movie and brand is one of the most important parts of converting people to fans. The premiers are always surrounded by hype, but perhaps the most important things that movies must do is be FANTASTIC, despite lack of any kind of expectation (or, often very high expectations) as described above. More specifically, the beginning of a movie must be fantastic, not only to keep viewers in their seats but also because of the primacy effect, as viewers are much more likely to recall movie beginnings than endings when thinking back to the experience.

A substage component is the amount of content the user is exposed to upon first viewing. It is much easier to become obsessed with a movie than a song, due to media completeness and abundance (think of it as more to love from first try).

For brands this means that the first interaction anyone has with your brand has to be a powerful one, especially if this is a user's first interaction with it. It also means that you must have enough content readily available from first interaction to keep the potential customer on your website/Facebook page/ YouTube channel/Pinterest long enough to form a complete first impression with abundance of cross-platform information.

STAGE 3: STEPPING OUT OF THE MOVIE

Once a fascinated viewer steps out of a movie and goes home, one of the first things people will do is (obviously a huge surprise) search for extra content about the movie. Here is where people download apps, where they watch interviews, download the script, or even search for community discussions about the movie. This is the critical stage where many lose interest. If there's barely any extra information, it's difficult to keep the novelty of the experience strong. At this point, bonus marks for abundant video content.

Although this is nothing new, it is important to have your brand in many places on the internet, evidently not just for SEO purposes. Having blogs about your brand or a Facebook page or video content helps, but so does having links which are not directly promoted and owned by the brand itself. Cultural conversations and authentic discussions are priceless when someone wants to find out more about what your company really stands for - and to maintain the excitement about the brand itself, and ideally build up a level of fascination/interest similar to that of a film.

STAGE 4: IDENTIFICATION AND IDENTITY INTEGRATION

Although it sounds dramatic, almost everyone remembers that a key time frame where you were just so obsessed with a book or movie that it began to take over your life (and not in a bad way). Although I have a series of obsessions, one with The Unbearable Lightness of Being stands strong. It is now impossible to think back to points in time without the book's quotes, the movie's scenes or even the post-its with inspiration from the book all over my walls. This book has so thoroughly integrated itself into my identity that I almost wouldn't be me without it.

For marketers, this "loyalty beyond reason" stage is the mark of ultimate success, it is when the customer has identified themselves with your brand, developed an affinity for it, integrated the brand itself into their personality and is now a determined long-term customer.

Nelly Matorina is a marketing coordinator at Automated-Stores OY http://www.automated-stores.com/, a producer of advanced vending machines called Automated Stores, specialized in creating alternative and innovative retail methods. Automated Stores has previously specialized in technology retail, but is expanding into creating hot vending and other forms of retail. The Automated-Stores blog, focusing on new technology and innovative retail and internet marketing can be found at http://automatedstores.blog.com/

B2B Leads Signify Not Only Opportunities But Also Needs

You have to face it. People these days don't like salespeople. Even business owners themselves are starting to absorb the mentality from outspoken consumers on the pushiness and eagerness of companies these days. Who can blame them? For decades, many professionals and analysts have admitted that companies have cared more about selling than they are about giving the people what they needed. And in times of economic uncertainty, both businesses and consumers alike have become more focused and aware of prioritizing their needs first.

However, does this mean the end of sales and marketing? Hardly. It only means that a lesson should be learned here. It means that you need to prioritize those needs first. Fortunately for you, businesses are likely to have more needs as entire organizations than simply categorized groups of private consumers. On the other hand, how do you prioritize these needs if you don't even know what they are?

This is another thing that lead generation is supposed to do. And in light of recent developments, it seems to have been forgotten. When you're setting out the criteria for a qualified lead, you shouldn't limit yourself to just the budget or if whether or not a potential client may not be so potential after all in terms of sales. It's shouldn't be just about the money you'll be getting. It should be about whether or not you can give these people what they need. Frankly, the following piece of wisdom may seem tried but it's still well tested. If you're eager more about making a buck than making yourself useful, then you will indeed turn off a lot of decision makers and just all people in general.

Look at B2B telemarketing as one example of this. These days professional telemarketers often avoid giving everything away about their business (or the one they're representing). Why? Because they know the person on the other end likely doesn't care. What they do instead is ask questions. These questions in turn extract more information and help with the qualification process. Some of them even offer appointment setting between you two so that you'll automatically have a set opportunity to make use of that information.

Still, where's the point in them getting all that information for you if you don't use it to identify needs? It may even hurt you more if you spent resources on your own in-house call center instead of outsourcing because you spend so much effort but undermine the value of the results.

Now whether you're outsourcing a lead generation company or carrying on with your own, doing either means nothing if the only thing your sales team will focus on is the part about the money and not about what you can do for the business you're engaging with. In fact, it can even come to the defense of making money. You'll still need it to stay afloat after all, everyone does. It'd be pretty stupid to refuse an offer that can serve on the grounds that you're trying to make a fast buck. That will only work however if you've decided to concentrate on an business organization's needs and not just out to make an opportunity out of them.

Maxwell Stinson is a B2B Telemarketing Specialist and Marketing Expert that works for Kick-Start Sales Force. Max invites you to visit http://kickstartsalesforce.com/ for more details on B2B telemarketing.

The 5 Reasons Why Web Video Is the Most Economical Tool Your Company Can Use to Increase Profits

This is the Age of Video. Not only is it everywhere, but technological advancements make it look amazing. Using only a cell phone, video can be captured and uploaded onto YouTube instantly...and people are watching it by the millions. Video and the internet make perfect partners, allowing anybody in the world with something to say, to broadcast the message widely.

Astute corporations are also utilizing the power of online video to stand-out in the marketplace, with videos produced exclusively for their websites. Although video can be shot with an ordinary cell phone, an organization would be wise to leave that job to a professional video production company with years of experience. Companies will find that polished and targeted web videos deliver incredible return-on-investment and are the cheapest and most effective marketing tool they can employ.

Here's why:

1. 24/7 INTERNET: In the past, a television commercial was the only platform a company could use to speak to potential customers using the power of moving imagery, music and voice. The process of creating the ad and buying air time was astronomically expensive and thus, only the biggest companies could afford to do it. Despite the massive expense, TV commercials are highly limited for many reasons, the biggest being that they are only 30 seconds long. Now with PVRs, many television viewers simply fast-forward through the commercials entirely.

The great news is that online video offers all companies more bang for the buck than a TV commercial ever could. Web videos can be any length (although shorter is always better), cover a series of topics, and are free to be played over and over on a company website.

2. POWERFUL MEDIUM: Web Video is an "engagement object", meaning that it can reach and captivate countless new customers, prompting them to make buying decisions just by watching! Having web video on your company website increases the conversion rate (the rate at which a potential customer decides to become an actual customer). This important consumer decision is made off-site in the prospect's home or office, not in your place of business. A good video captures the hearts and minds of potential customers and converts them into real customers.

3. CUTS OUT OTHER EXPENSES: Web Video can save your company money in other departments! One how-to video or a series of instructional videos can save your company a fortune in payroll expenses by reducing the need for live customer service support. Printed manuals and instruction sheets can be reduced eliminated entirely with online video which can be watched indefinitely by countless customers on the company website.

4. COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY WITH CUSTOMERS: In the past, products that needed to be demonstrated also needed a costly sales force to travel into the marketplace do the demonstrating. A single web video that demonstrates the product puts an end to that on-going expense. A demo video also allows potential customers to familiarize themselves with the product from their own personal computer at home.

5. BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS: A good video is excellent at building brand and awareness for a company. Superior to a print campaign, video has a "human touch" and allows viewers to see, hear and perceive a company's message on many different levels. A professional video production company can work with your organization to build web videos that not only effectively promote and market but also position the company as a friendly expert in the marketplace. For example, an Indian restaurant may consider doing a series of cooking web videos in the kitchen with their head chef. Not only does it showcase the wonderful food and show the fresh ingredients prepared with care, but it also provides free, useful information that the customer can take away.

The possibilities of web video are endless and people are watching videos online in greater numbers every day. Web video has the power to transform your business and attract new customers from far and wide. Be sure to consult with a professional web video production company to ensure your video brings out the right message and is perceived in the right way.

Gord McFarlane is a Video Production Specialist and Owner of Postman Web Video, Toronto's leading video production company since 1994. He is highly skilled and has extensive experience in all aspects of video production. He is an expert in internet-based video projects for business websites and internal communications as well as social media trends. Gord brings years of broadcast experience in TV field production, direction, shooting/camera, senior editor to his work at Postman.

http://www.postmanwebvideo.com/

Think Event Organizers Don't Need Trade Show Training? Guess Again - Key Benefits This Tool Delivers

As a marketing convention organizer, you understand that not only do you have to successfully manage the many event logistics to ensure flawless execution, but you also have to consistently draw in the exhibitor crowd. Like any business, convention competition is fierce. With so many competing expos, it's imperative to secure participating businesses at your venues to keep them from working with the opposition next year. In an effort to effectively beat out other organizers vying for the biggest slice of the exhibitor pie, savvy event coordinators often opt to partner up with professional trade show training organizations.

Trade Show Training: Not Just For Your Exhibitors

When discussing the many positive results that trade show staff training delivers, it's often (wrongfully) assumed that this powerful tool only benefits a function's participating exhibitors. This is simply not the case. Teaming up with a trade show training professional delivers an outstanding assortment of critical benefits to venue coordinators as well. Wondering if utilizing a trade show training firm makes sense for your plans? Check out some of the key features and benefits you'll receive to make an informed decision.

What To Expect From Your Training Experience

First and foremost, working with a trade show staff training expert can prove a key differentiator between your events and other companies trying to make a name for themselves in the convention circuit. In today's tumultuous economic times, hard pressed businesses may decide that the fees and expenses associated with these promotional events don't deliver enough ROI to make them worth the capitol venture. However, not only will your expos deliver ample opportunity for face to face crowd engagement, offering staff preparation exercises will help ensure that they effectively maximize each and every encounter in a myriad of ways. In short, these services can truly be the determining factor for your clients in deciding whether to participate or to pack up booths and exhibits until a later date.

Additionally, a reputable provider will also deliver customized services to ensure your company can optimize results with exhibitors. They will work closely with your team to best understand the goals and objectives of each event based on industry, size, venue setup, etc. From there they will create a made-to-order strategy to ensure your participating companies receive the personalized attention they require. From web seminars and live sessions to actual event-day prepping, these qualified specialists will offer all the necessary instruction to not only please your participants this year, but also make your function the talk of the convention circuit to entice future exhibitors to check out your venue.

Finally, a professional firm will also offer your event attendees various options for trade show metrics. Compiled after the function itself, these exhibitor audits consider a comprehensive assortment of critical event components to determine overall return on investment. Your engaged customers will love receiving a third-party, unbiased evaluation that not only tells them what worked for them at the function, but also outlines specific areas that may require tweaking to further enhance results yielded at next year's convention.

Marketech 360 delivers customized trade show staff training for both exhibitors and event organizers. If you want a results-driven program with measurable trade show metrics, Marketech 360 can help. Contact the company today and create your perfect trade show training fit today!

Deciding What Your Business Is Worth

Lately, we've noticed some small business owners who were are designing websites for are confused about who their company is regarding their pricing. We find a lot of people saying that they can't compete on price anymore because there are too many other companies that are underbidding everything and their prices are below margin or some ridiculously low number that doesn't even make sense on how they can make a living charging.

Say our client, let's call them Reputable Services, has been in business for 15 years and stands by their product/services, treats their customers well, and was lucky enough to be around when the economy was looking nice. Business used to be great and then the economy went bad. Now let's say that Reputable Services now is in the position where they must go out and find new business.

Well because of the bad economy, many other businesses are in this position as well. Let's say there is another company called "Stinky Pete's". So Stinky Pete's likes to low ball every price for his product/service. Their strategy is to beat all prices in town and therefore get the job/order every time because "hey why pay more, right?" So now Reputable Services thinks that Stinky Pete's is going to bankrupt his business because he keeps getting undercut on price.
Well, no. That's not going to happen. You see if you are ever wondering "how can they afford to price their product/service that low??", guess what. They can't. Every business is in just one business, the business of making money. These companies forget one thing, customers aren't stupid. We know as consumers that the lowball guy isn't going to produce a good quality product because why should he? What's in it for them? It's not profit, obviously.

So what IS your company worth? I recently found this really good article:
Deciding What You're Worth - A very important key in starting a business is deciding what to charge for your services and/or product. There are many things to consider when setting you.

The most important thing in understanding what your worth is understanding what your customers are worth. Remember business is an exchange. You are trading a service/product for a monetary figure of money. The two items being traded must equal the same amount in value, otherwise the deal is a bad one. So if Reputable Company prices his services for what they are worth in value they provide their customers, then they'll be just fine.

For this and more visit: Simple CMS Design

Justin Throngard
Simple CMS Design
(208)740-1534
http://www.simplecmsdesign.com/

Amazing ROI in Brochure Printing for Roofing Companies

Competition is steeper these days with the advancement in technology, especially for building contractors and for this reason it is necessary to hire the services of brochure printing for roofing companies.

Why Companies Should Take Advantage of Brochure Printing for Roofing Companies

Big companies have a sure way of penetrating the market through big budgets appropriated for promotions and advertisement in media and print ads. However, small and medium-scale building contractors who specialize in trusses, canopy and building coverings should find a competitive edge to get a sufficient share of the market. There is no better way but to look for alternative and affordable sources of marketing tools and strategies that give the market all the information they need to make a favorable decision to purchase your products and services. One of these alternatives is brochure printing for roofing companies.

What Clients Require these Days from Building Contractors

When you start considering brochure printing for roofing companies, you have to take into account all the necessary information that these printed materials should carry. You have to consider your market. If you are catering to different companies and you belong to the SMEs or small and medium enterprises, it is important that you focus on the excellence of your service that is satisfaction guaranteed. It is also necessary to highlight that you are using the same premium quality products for a lower cost. The biggest advantage that you can provide is a more personalized service commitment. Taglines are also important as this captures your company's motto and the principles you live by. These taglines help establish trust and confidence for your clients. However, you should be sure that you can deliver whatever your brochure printing for roofing companies promises in the taglines and maybe even more.

What One Gets from Taking Advantage of Brochure Printing for Roofing Companies

Faster ROI or return on investment from brochure printing for roofing companies can be expected. If you are checking the efficiency and effectiveness of different marketing tools and strategies, you would be glad to note that while media is a powerful tool in exposing your company, services and products to the public, everyone still needs printed materials to base their decision on. Clients need to see if what you are offering matches their requirements and pamphlets, leaflets and handouts need to bear all the necessary information so they can contact you. Unlike the high cost of advertising online or via TV and radio stations, printed advertising is very affordable and yet it influences potential clients the most. You print once and the pamphlet can be handed from one hand to another and seen and read as many times as possible. If lucky, you can derive big projects right away as a small- or medium-size building contractor when information provided by a brochure printing for roofing companies lands in the hands of decision makers.

There is no better solution but to contact Conquest Graphics so that brochure printing for roofing companies will benefit you in every way.

Best Occasions for Giving Corporate Gifts

Presenting corporate gifts to clients and business associates is a good way to strengthen relationships and improve brand recognition. Gifts are also a good way to reward employees for achievements and recognize career milestones.

When selecting corporate gifts it's important to choose items that are practical and thoughtful. If a client is an avid golfer provide them with imprinted golf balls or club covers. If employees love to BBQ provide them with logo grilling tools or a personalized apron.

Everyone enjoys receiving a considerate gift that shows the gift-giver is aware of their hobbies or lifestyle. While presents don't have to be expensive they should be of good quality so recipients can enjoy them for a long time.

There are many occasions that are perfect for corporate gift giving. Some of the top reasons include: welcoming new employees, clients, or business associates, employment anniversaries, career promotions and achievements, thank you gifts, birthdays, and holidays.

Welcome gifts: Providing presents to newly hired employees, business associates, and clients is a good way to strengthen relationships. Popular items include custom USB drives, screenprinted T-shirts, imprinted pens and notepads, eco-friendly tote bags and drinkware.

Gift baskets make ideal welcome gifts. They can be stuffed with gourmet food items; coffees, teas, and mugs; branded clothing; writing pens, notepads and desk accessories; or computer accessories such as a personalized mouse pad and thumb drive.

Recognition gifts: Rewarding employees with gifts that recognize their efforts and achievements is a great way to create strong bonds. Not only do employees appreciate having their efforts acknowledged, gifts can also motivate other staff members to be their best.

Recognition presents can be provided for all kinds of employee achievements. A few of the more common reasons include setting sales records; exemplary customer service; and solving troublesome problems. Providing corporate swag is an affordable way to show appreciation.

Thank you gifts: Expressing thanks with business gifts can go a long way toward building lifelong relationships. In today's competitive market it's more important than ever to express appreciation for a job well done and customer loyalty.

It's a good idea to add company logos, slogans, or contact information, but don't go overboard. Keep branding to a minimum and make an impact by providing something unique and practical. Recipients will be proud to show off their gift and use it on a regular basis.

Holiday gifts: Handing out presents during holidays is a long-standing tradition. Companies often give the traditional holiday gifts of fruit baskets, sweet treats, gourmet foods and desserts. The problem is a lot of businesses give fancy food baskets, so stand apart from the crowd and present unique items.

Corporate gifts are generally reserved for special occasions and shouldn't be used as a promotional item. While it's best to keep branding to a minimum, it's a good idea to imprint your company name and logo in a visible area. That way when recipients show off their present they perform marketing for you.

Providing unique corporate gifts to customers and business associates is an affordable and effective way to enhance relationships. Gorilla Marketing offers a unique line of business gifts, promotional items, and trade show giveaways that can make your company stand apart from competitors. Find out how affordable it is to get started by visiting us at http://www.gorillamarketing.net/.

Big Value In Real World Reviews For Affiliates

Don't let the idea of a review site scare you. If you put together a quality web site, that is a true valuable resource, you can rank well in search engines and provide a great buying experience to your readers. Showing your readers that you are the authority on products and how they work will give them a reason to keep coming back and to buy from you!

We have all been to those so called "review sites" that are nothing more than some reviews pulled from RSS or other online sites and slapped together as nothing more than a quick affiliate site. These can make a dollar or two, but when it comes down to it, with recent search algorithm changes, these sites are low quality and can be very hard to rank. If you are an affiliate marketer and you want to stand out from the crowd and grow your website traffic organically, you may have to put a little more time into your effort, but you can build a high quality review site.

How To Build A High Quality Review Affiliate Blog or Web Site

Use the following tips to really add value to your content and give your readers a reason to keep coming to you for more information on the products that they are interested in. If you can produce high quality content, even on a review site, you can build huge email lists and grow your readership very easily. Just remember that making good content is neither fast or easy, but it can prove to be profitable if done correctly.

Offer Truly Valuable Information - Give your readers a little more insight than just this product is awesome. If you can give a real world example of the good and bad this can help people make their own educated purchasing decision and this means a lot to your readers.
Show Product Pictures - Yes, you may add images from the product manufacturer, but box opening shots and images of the product in action really can be worth a thousand words as they say.
Go Beyond The Features - Laying out the standard features and options of a product is useful, but remember people can get this anywhere. You want to discuss alternate uses, undocumented features and what they can do with a product that goes beyond how many buttons it has. This is where you really do need to do some investigation and some real product testing to give that extra value.
Videos Are Big - We all know that video has become a preferred medium on the internet. This is just one reason that providing product videos is a great idea for review sites. Videos can help you draw in traffic from many different sites as well as help you get your information viewed in areas that would otherwise be hard to penetrate. People love videos, so give them what they want.

These are just a few quick ideas to help you really gear up your product review affiliate site. The real secret is adding big value, being honest and giving a lot of images and examples will help you prove to your readers that your site is where they need to be to get buying information and this is exactly what you want!

Get more helpful affiliate marketing tips on the Webmaster Business Plan website. This is one of my biggest online resources to help webmasters and online marketers succeed, so make sure to check it out and everything is free, no sales pitches here!

There are many different ways to boost your sales and conversions, but choosing a high quality Amazon WP theme that is setup specifically for marketers can instantly boost your returns on your efforts. Tweaking and testing sites can also help, but this can save you hours of setup and get you going fast. Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave comments or questions below.

Nick Simpson

Telehealth: The 7 Deadly Sins of Telehealth Marketing - Are You Guilty?

Do you experience any of these challenges with your telehealth program, product, or service?

* Painstaking process of getting people to buy-in to your telehealth or telemedicine program?

* Slow uptake for your telehealth technology or service?

* Difficulty getting hospitals or other customers to join your telehealth network?

While you could cite a variety of reasons for these struggles, it's highly likely that you have a marketing problem.

This article covers some fundamental marketing mistakes ("sins") that are common to many industries in addition to telehealth and telemedicine. If you find that you are guilty of any of these sins, you have a golden opportunity to eliminate them from your marketing strategy, so that you can edge out your competitors and get the PR, patients, and profits you deserve.

Marketing Sin #1: Field of Dreams

The movie Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner is built around a central premise that if the character played by Mr. Costner builds a baseball field on his farm, then legendary baseball players who have long since died will emerge from the cornfield in their youthful form to play on his field. "Build it and they will come" says his advisor played by James Earl Jones.

Let's face it. "Build it and they will come" only works in the movies.

Yet too many people are guilty of thinking that if they start or build the next great thing, everyone will be lining up to use it. Marketing is a fundamental requirement for the success of any "business" or "venture".

Even Apple doesn't subscribe to the Field of Dreams. They put a lot of time and money into market research, strategy, developing market buzz, etc. before the launch of the iPad 3 and its predecessors.

So if you are a telehealth company, telehealth consultant, or telehealth program, you absolutely need to market and promote your offering in order to attract and win customers, patients, participants, etc.

How do you know if you are suffering from the "Field of Dreams syndrome"? Just answer these questions...

1. Do you find yourself wondering why everyone just doesn't get what a great solution you have to offer?

2. Did you put out a single press release about your new product or program and get surprised by the lack of response?

3. Do you find yourself procrastinating about putting together a newsletter, sales letter, promotion, etc. for your telehealth solution?

4. Are you "uncomfortable" selling yourself or your services

Marketing Sin #2: Random Whim Marketing

Statistics have shown that a potential customer has to see your ad an average of 7 times before they even notice it. Assuming they are even interested in what you're selling, they have to see the ad another 7 times before taking action.

That means you have to get your message in front of the potential customer an average of 14 times before they might even think about getting in touch. This is why ad agencies typically suggest that you run ads for 13 issues.

So your #1 goal is to make sure people recognize and remember your solution. This is why consistency is key.

While you may not have the budget to run an ad 14 times, the real lesson here is that your marketing materials need to create consistency in several forms:

* A consistent look and feel, so people learn to recognize you and your brand

* A consistent message, so people remember what you do, who you do it for, and why you are better than your competition

* A consistent delivery schedule, so people see your name and message often enough to recognize you, remember what you do, and have you at the top of their mind the next time the problem you can solve hits a critical point for them

Are you guilty of Random Whim Marketing?

1. Do you tend to market primarily when business is slow or an opportunity happens to present itself?

2. Have you avoided putting together any formal marketing plans, strategies, or goals?

3. Are you putting together advertising and marketing materials at the last minute?

Marketing Sin #3: Me Too Marketing

If you are guilty of Me Too Marketing, potential customers don't have a compelling reason to do business with you instead of your competitors.

You need to define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) by answering the customer's question (which may be spoken or unspoken): "Why should I do business with you among all the choices I have in your category, which include doing nothing?"

What is it that makes your products, services, or business different from everyone else's? Search online or in your region (if it applies) to see what your competitors are saying in their marketing.

If your marketing materials and sales promises sound just like your competitors, then you are guilty of me-too marketing. That's OK. Now spend your energy figuring out what's different or how you can be different.

Marketing Sin #4: Being Ego-centric

Humans are egocentric by nature.

We approach everything from our own perspective. And we spend most of the time thinking and talking about what's important to us.

It's only natural since we all spend our time dealing with our own life, family, health, and body.

But guess what? Your customers are no different.

While you, by your nature, want to talk about yourself and what you do in your marketing materials, your clients really want to talk about their issues so they can get some resolution and move on. What your clients really want to know from your marketing materials is "What's in it for me?"

If you came across a website whose message was something like this:

"Acme Telehealth is the premier developer of robust tele-presence applications for small to mid-sized hospitals to practice telehealth. Our company is made up of fifty of the nation's top engineers who specialize in creating powerful tele-presence technology and decision-support software for telehealth in multiple disciplines..."

- you'd likely click away.

But what if you end up on a page that says:

"Hospitals... Get started with your telehealth solution in 30 days and become the clinical center of excellence in your region. Designed for small to mid-sized hospitals, this full function solution takes all the mystery out of telehealth and enables you to get started with a complete playbook, equipment, and tools."

If you didn't have a telehealth solution already and were thinking about it, you'd at least want to take a look.

Marketing Sin #5: Focusing on features

This is absolutely the worst way to talk about your offering and ties into the ego-centric nature of most of the unremarkable marketing that is out there.

Unless you're talking to IT staff who assume the benefits of specific telehealth features, the worst things you can do are talking about the technical features of the solution: technical protocols, bandwidth, security, software and hardware specs, etc.

The basic formula is this:

1. Choose a product or service (or your business as a whole) and list all of its feature

2. For each and every feature, ask yourself, "So what? Why would someone want this?" The answer to this question is the benefit.

To put it another way, don't just tell what it is; tell what it will do for your client.

Marketing Sin #6: Missing the target

The basic question is this: "Who is your target market?"

If your answer is like any of the following...

* "I don't know"

* "Anyone with money"

* "Anyone who will listen to my pitch"

* Something really broad like "hospitals" or "physicians"

... stop all your marketing and advertising right now! And don't spend any more time, energy, or money marketing your business until you've found the real answer.

Why? Because you are definitely guilty of "Missing the Target".

People buy products or services that solve a problem, fill a need, or help fulfill a dream. And everyone's problems, needs, and dreams are different.

If you try to speak to too broad a market, chances are that you won't be speaking to anyone with any specificity that makes sense.

Marketing Sin #7: Marketing Insanity

What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results.

If you answer "Yes" to any of the following questions, you are probably guilty of Marketing Insanity:

1. Do you do marketing or advertising without tracking results?

2. Do you have several months' data showing you that you are not on track to reach your goals, but you haven't done anything about it?

3. Do you find yourself complaining about the same problem three or more times without making a change

4. When you are presented with a new idea or system for your business, do you hear yourself saying "I don't want to change anything", or "it will never work for my business"?

The Last Word

It's clear that these 7 deadly sins of telehealth marketing can apply more broadly to many industries and areas. That is because the tough job of marketing has many common pitfalls, regardless of industry.

And because marketing is a tough job, you have a potential edge over your competitors who are likely guilty of one or more of these sins as well - and unaware of it. You could be one eliminated sin away from edging out your competitors and getting all the telehealth-related PR, patients, and profits you want.

It is a fact that in virtually every industry, better marketers win!

Great telehealth marketing strategies can have a powerful impact on the growth of your telehealth program, product, or service.

In addition to superior marketing, there are a number of other strategies that are absolutely critical to being successful in telehealth and telemedicine. That's why it's important to make sure you address them all.

To learn more about these winning telehealth strategies, download the free eBook "The 10 Secrets of Telehealth Success" at http://www.handsontelehealth.com/freebook

A few testimonials -
"A must read for both the novice and the experienced involved in telemedicine."

"Clearly and succinctly articulates the key points that every telehealth program should follow point by point. His experience, knowledge and analysis display an outstanding insight into how a successful telemedicine program or network should work."

"Very Good resource, practical, easy read and has captured most of the issues that one needs to consider for Telehealth. I will be referencing it for some documents I am creating internally"

http://www.handsontelehealth.com/

Repeat and Referral Business - 3 Mistakes That Companies Make With Their Existing Clients

Repeat and referral business is often referred to as the 'easier' business to bag. So, why is it that many companies struggle to gain such business?

What are the mistakes these companies are making with regard to their existing clients?

1 - They don't contact them at all.......

Lots of business people spend their time, money & effort really concentrating on bringing in new business. They succeed in their quest and that's where it stops........

No further contact is made once that first sale is made and then these people wonder why their levels of repeat business isn't up to much!

Remember the saying 'out of sight, out of mind'? Same sentiments here - no contact means no reminder of your company. The client is seemingly less likely to think of your company first when they require the product or service you provide, regardless of whether they've done business with you in the past.

2 - They only contact their existing clients when they want to sell.......

So, again, time, money and effort has been spent concentrating on bringing in these new clients, converting them to existing clients. These existing clients are like a pot of gold waiting to be mined. Their trust has been gained, they have bought from the company, yet the contact made with these clients is once in a blue moon! Then, to add insult to injury, the company is only making contact because there is something in it for them! ie. They want to sell their product or service........

What happened to regular contact, providing useful information, really adding value to your clients daily existence? If you follow this path, when you come to the juncture of making contact with the view to selling, the client is likely to be far more receptive.

Existing clients should be made to feel valued without the 'what's in it for me' syndrome on the part of a company.

3 - They don't keep in touch regularly enough to create 'Top of the Mind Thinking'.......

I already mentioned that saying 'out of sight, out of mind'. Never a truer word was spoken with regard to existing clients and the negative impact on levels of repeat and referral business.

Many companies do have the greatest of intentions to keep in touch with their clients. But, the contact is not nearly enough to have any sort of positive effect in terms of creating top of the mind thinking. They don't have a specific plan in place to ensure regular, consistent, targeted and effective communication.

What are the chances of ensuring their business is always at the forefront of their client's mind without regular contact? What chance do they have of ensuring their company is the one that is thought of first when there is a need for the product or service they provide?

Solution....... Keep in touch regularly and concentrate on adding value.

Treat your existing clients like they really matter - the truth is they do matter!

Research has shown that a huge 68% of clients leave their product or service supplier because of indifference shown by the supplier..........

Think about how you can stay in touch by using multiple forms of valuable marketing. Focus on incorporating added value through useful information. For example informative press items, web links, referrals, information on competitors in their industry and such like. Send this useful information to your clients. Or, you could think about rewarding frequent clients with an extra, unexpected service to let them know that you appreciate their business.

Focus on how you can differentiate your company from your competitors. Most won't be taking the time to keep in touch let alone making an effort to enhance the daily existence of their clients through informative articles or additional extras.

(Source: marketingweekly.co.uk) An article that looked at 'Top Trends in 2012' talked about how we are seeing a huge surge in digitalisation. As a result of this the desire for something tangible, maybe reverting to an analogue past will grow. People in general will want something that can be touched, held or displayed. Use this to your advantage with your marketing and focus on creating a good balance between digital and analogue. A corporate greeting card is a super marketing option to fulfil the touched, held or displayed need.

Personally Corporate offers all greeting card types, tailored to your requirements, along with the option of an automated mail out service. Aside from your company details and logo you can also choose to include a handwritten message to really make the card personal. You might choose to add a monetary voucher too - that would certainly resinate with any client!

So, how will you make regular contact and add value?

Visit http://www.personallycorporate.com/ and pick up your free 37 Top Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business