Advertising and Marketing blog

It is just crazy. Every time I open my mouth to talk about Internet marketing, it is like I am speaking a foreign language to my audience. My local audience that is.

Here in my country of Jamaica, the average person does not even know how to send an email. Ezines, search engines, optimization and the like are non-existent to the ordinary man on the street.

Some people even look at me as a genius for knowing how to create, design and market a website. What they don’t realize is that the whole process is not as complex as they might think. Anyone of them can learn to do the same thing as long as they apply themselves to the situation.

At one time, I did not even know how to turn on a computer. The very first time I saw what HTML looked like I was stunned. How could I learn to do that was the question on my mind because it look like something only geeks could do.

But I was wrong. Most persons working online are plain ordinary people. They just saw an opportunity and decided to go after it. And that could be anyone even you.

Since being online, I have learnt and done things that even surprise me. Building a website, optimization, marketing, writing articles and ezine publishing were totally unknown to me. But I realized that in order to make it one day, I would have to learn as much as possible.

And what many people don’t realize is that it does not have to cost you a ton of money. Most of my knowledge has been garnered from doing lots of research and reading. There are countless free resources available online that you can use to build up your knowledge base. The best part about it is that it costs you nothing but some of your time.

Each day I tell people about the Internet and the wonderful opportunities it presents to the ordinary man. What I am not going to tell them is that it is an easy road. Building a business online or offline is similar and does require the necessary attributes to become successful.

Look at me. I have done Internet marketing for several years without a computer, credit card and the bare essentials. But that is not going to stop me from trying. And neither should you.

Copyright © Nicholas Dixon

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Nicholas Dixon is a Jamaican webmaster, writer and affiliate
marketer. Find out
how you too can create an online income with our
list of highly recommended
programs by visiting
http://WWW.Oceanroc.com/affiliate-directory
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It’s a real shame. If you open most any newspaper in the country you’ll find at least
one story you know really didn’t need to be there. It just isn’t that relevant or
interesting. But somehow it made it in.

You can’t help but wonder if it just happened to be one of those days when
absolutely nothing worth mentioning happened to any one of the 6 billion
inhabitants of this planet. And you know that isn’t true either.

Nothing made it to the news because tons of people around the world made the
first, worst mistake in announcing a news story.

They didn’t.

They had information that people around their community, across their country or
around the world would love to know. They came up with an idea that could
revolutionize an industry, but gave up because the mainstream assured them the
only way the press would listen would be through the very expensive advertising
department. But that’s far from true.

Where advertising might cost you money, news typically costs the newspaper, radio
or television station plenty of money to gather. They pay reporters, correspondents,
wire services and anybody else they can find for good news stories. If you have a
great story to tell, they’re more than willing to accept a freebee.

But it needs to be in the right format, while following certain industry standards.
You can find plenty of free advice on how to format a press release at my web site,
located at: www.PressReleasesMadeEasy.com.

If you’re looking for a complete, extensive course on the subject, you can find it at
my site on line at www.Hartunian.com/prkit. Among the advice you’ll find there,
here are some of the other reasons why great news stories never get noticed:

1. Many great press releases get tossed, unread, because they’re too long. A
program director or editor going through a stack of press releases won’t typically
stop to read that 5-page essay on why some business thinks they have a great
product.

Most press releases are double-spaced and fit on a single page. If you can’t get your
entire message in that space, then you might want to consider hiring a professional
writer.

Getting past the fluff and color and getting down to the story is an art. It’s worth
developing, or at worst, paying someone else who already has, for their help.

2. Another reason a lot of the press releases are never read is because they’re
obviously self-serving. You may feel your new product is the hottest thing going,
but will someone else buy a newspaper to listen to you brag? Remember, editors
and program managers are in the news business.

If you can’t spin what you have to say in such a way as to make it sound just as
fascinating or useful as that juicy stuff about the upcoming election or that tragedy
in the Middle East then chances are it won’t make the cut.

3. Many great stories are missed because they come too well packaged. A dozen
roses or even fancy letterhead are surefire ways to slap a big sign across the front of
a press release that reads “AMATEUR”. Forget about the bribes. Editors know to
watch out for fancy packaging. It typically reflects a story that needs a lot of fact
verification and may or may not accurately reflect something it promises.

Simple white paper with the correct traditional headline and format is usually a
simple way to make it to the “A” list on the editors desk.

4. Timing can make or break a good story. Obviously, announcing your new “Santa’s
Village” that includes $2 million dollars worth of animation and the ultimate Disney-
style drive through cars would be a waste of time if it arrived on an editors desk in
the middle of January.

If at all possible, timing your releases correctly can ad up to a good solid foot inside
the proverbial newsroom door. Many people are in a rush to get their press release
out. I understand. It’s exciting. You just wrote your masterpiece. Now you want
the media people to acknowledge it by calling you for interviews.

But hold on as best you can and consider whether or not you are sending it out at
the best possible time. That could be the difference between getting the interview or
not.

Obviously this list isn’t extensive. There’s probably as many “insider tips” as there
are insiders, but following these 4 suggestions will definitely put your press release
up there in the top 10% or so of “good guys” that get a decent chance turning into
an interview.

# # #

Paul Hartunian is widely considered the world’s leading authority on writing press
releases and getting publicity for any product, service, cause or issue.
Subscribe to Paul’s free publicity ezine “Million Dollar Publicity Tactics”. By going to
http://www.Hartunian.com/ezine. Also be sure to check out all the great free
publicity resources at his website http://www.Hartunian.com.
Also be sure to read the story of how Paul used press releases and publicity to
become the first person in history to really sell the world famous Brooklyn Bridge.
You can read the story at http://www.Hartunian.com/bridge.html.
You can reach Paul at (973) 857-4142 or by email at Paul@Hartunian.com.

Let me get right to the point. The single most powerful small business marketing tool on the planet is a marketing system.

But when I talk about a marketing system I am not referring to those academic exercises found in college marketing books.

A marketing system by my way of thinking is a simple (in many cases one page) document that specifically answers who you are, what you do, who needs it, how you plan to grab them by the throat, when you plan to do it and how you plan to pay for itin a way that everyone in your organization, network, and client base can clearly understand.

So, let’s break it down into some simple steps.

1) Narrow Your Focus – create a description of your ideal client. Describe them as though they are sitting across the desk from your at this moment. Define only the market that you know needs what you offer and values what you have to offer. It is just as important to understand who you don’t want as a client.

2) Find and Communicate Your Core Difference – Even if your make it up, you’ve got to find something that makes your business stand out from the pack. Once you do, you’ve got to build your entire marketing program around this difference. Is it red trucks, is it an unheard of guarantee, is it a very specific market niche. You can’t stand out trying to be all things to all people.

3) Package Your Business – Look for ways to build your unique difference into the experience your client or prospect has with your firm. Everything about your firm should communicate and deliver your unique promise. Package your services as products, communicate your unique process, name your service offerings.

4) Educate – Throw away the sales brochures and create marketing materials and web site content that clearly speaks to your ideal client and gives proof that your indeed uniquely qualified to solve their problems. Create case studies, testimonial sheets, client lists, process description, service descriptions, the story of why you started your business.

5) Install the Lead Generation Trio – Advertising that generates permission, public relations that provide proof and referral systems that guarantee trust. Each of these three lead generating tactics works hand in hand to create a non stop flow of highly qualified leads.

6) Automate and Dominate – Once you start to create a flow of leads let technology do the heavy qualifying and selling for you. Ezines, email, blogs, web sites, white paper delivery, subscription lists – all must be automated in order to most effectively communicate as consistently as is necessary in today’s advertising message onslaught.

7) Live by a Calendar – Create the system and then work the system. Do whatever you must to make sure that you do at least one marketing activity every single day. Create a monthly calendar and give each month a marketing system theme. Get everyone in your organization involved – put the calendar in a very public place.

Copyright 2005 John Jantsch

John Jantsch is a marketing coach and creator of Duct Tape Marketing. You can find out more about the Ultimate Marketing System at: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/Ultimate-Marketing-System.htm