Why ads move on forum lists

Your brand-new ad will appear at the top of the list in its category when you first post it, but when you check the ad area the next day, you'll probably have to scroll down the list to find it. As other ads are posted after hours, your ad moves down the list until it's no longer visible in the window.

In a busy ad area, your ad can move from the top of the list to two or three screens down the list within one day. It's best to keep your ads as close to the top of the list as possible - if you can stay on the first screen of ad titles, you'll have automatic visibility.

To keep your ad near the top of the list all the time, repost it, or submit the same ad again. In most cases, you'll have to give a reposted ad a slightly different title - you may not be allowed to post ads with the same title in the same category.

If your ad is in a busy area, plan to repost it every day.

Pick the one attribute that most distinguishes your business from others you compete with online: that's your niche. Once you know your niche, make sure others know it, too. Add a slogan to your web site or e-mail signature, and make sure the message of that niche is carried in all your marketing messages.

Subheads convert skimmers into readers. Everyone is in a hurry these days. They don't have time to read long messages...unless they're convinced they will be well rewarded for their efforts. In most cases you message will receive only a quick once-over before it is set aside to be read until "later"--which often never comes.
Subheads to the rescue! Subheads break long text passages into bite-sized chunks. Each subhead provides a glimpse into the text that follows, "advertising" the upcoming topic. Each subhead provides an additional entry point into your message. Subheads belong in your e-mail and on your web site as well as in your ads, brochures, newsletters, and proposals.

The web isn't for everyone

Everyone thinks the web is the place to be, but being there requires time and energy you might better use elsewhere. For example, if you're a consultant doing business with a handful of companies, you're better off exchanging e-mail with people at those companies. If your business is limited to a small geographic area, a bulletin board system for your customers with a local phone number would better serve their needs and yours than a web site that can be seen by people you can't possible serve. Business-to-business services like IndustryNet serve manufacturers and industrial suppliers. And forums on online services can also be rich places to prospect for customers interested in specific hobbies or business issues. The web is often viewed as the main commercial portion of the Net, but it isn't the only one, and it isn't always the best one.

Way of Guerrilla # 5: Looks forward to work

Guerrillas consider themselves blessed to be paid to do the work they do. They are good at their work, which energizes their passion for it and their quest to learn more about it and improve their understanding of it by increasing their skills.

Guerrilla Marketers don't think about retirement, for they never want to stop
doing they work they love.

Adapted from: The Way of the Guerrilla, 1997.

Ninety-Minute Hour Countdown: List # 5

The final list on your journey to Ninety-Minute Hour productivity includes chores that you can drop. There's a good chance that you're doing a few things that really don't have to be done at all. Eliminating these unnecessary tasks will give you time to focus on the tasks that are really essential to your productivity and peace of mind.

Every business needs allies

No matter what business you're in, you should be able to find allies in related businesses online, and joining forces can increase marketing presence for all of you. For example, you and another web site operator can agree to exchange links, or to feature one another's information on your sites. Or you can plan joint promotions or contests where each of several businesses devotes time, money, or merchandise in exchange for a sponsorship notice. Think about other businesses that are seeking the same customers you are, and then contact those businesses about how you can work together to boost your online marketing punch.

The most common promotional items are wearables -- T-shirts, jackets, baseball caps, and headbands. recent statistics show sales accounting for 20% of the $7 billion promotional products industry.

Using a Bonus to Increase Sales, Part 3 of 6

To add impact to the "Cure Your Slice Now!" title of Sports Illustrated's subscription bonus offer, they added an exclamation point at the end of the title.

Although exclamation points are the most frequently overused punctuation marks, in this case the punctuation mark adds impact to the immediacy of the offer, summed up in the last word of the title, i.e., "Now."

Do you have a plan?

Going into battle in the online marketplace without a plan is like setting off on a canoe trip without a paddle. A good plan identifies your business purpose, your unique niche, your competition, and how you plan to defeat them.

Public service announcements serve you

Performing a public service shows you care about your community. It generates goodwill that translates into customers. If you have a web site, offer to provide links to your favorite non-profit organizations. If you run a local bulletin board, post announcements about people seeking donations for medical bills or looking for missing children. Run free ads for charity functions or community events. There are lots of public service causes you can support, and supporting them does your reputation good while doing good in your community at the same time.

New magic words for your marketing vocabulary: advantage, helpful, satisfy, success, understand, valuable. To that list, authors Jack Trout and Al Ries add the upcoming word for marketing types -- refocussing. (Don't say that in copy.)

Do you offer shipping options?

The more control you give your customers over a transaction, the more comfortable they'll feel about doing business with you. One easy way to offer more control is to give customers a choice of shipping options on their orders. Rather than using only parcel post or UPS ground, for example, offer 2-day or overnight delivery for an additional charge. Some people are happy to pay a little extra to get their shipment more quickly, and even those who aren't will appreciate having the option.

Resolve customer complaints! Customers whose complaint was resolved had a repurchase intention rate of 54 percent. Of those who had their complaints resolved quickly, 82 percent expressed the intention to buy again.

Discounting can have a negative psychological impact on both seller and buyer. Consider raising your price instead.

Top 5 magazines ranked by ad revenue: Parade, People, TV Guide, Sports Illustrated, Time.
Top 5 magazines ranked by paid circulation: Parade, Modern Maturity, USA Weekend, Reader's Digest, TV Guide.

Boost goodwill through sponsorship

Sponsorship notices are advertising ploys; sponsorship of an online or off-line event is a commitment of time that can enhance your credibility. You can moderate a newsgroup, forum, or mailing list discussion. You get an opportunity to create a discussion that is focused on your area of expertise, and the participants know that your company is backing the discussion. In addition to your business storefront, you might create another site devoted to a cause you support.

You can also sponsor an event off-line, ensuring that your company name and URL are conspicuously posted. By donating labor, materials or money to a charitable event or fund-raiser, you'll gain publicity and goodwill.

Start countdown timers before call begins

It's 15 minutes before you begin a one-hour teleconference. You stare at your timer, and remind yourself to start it when you began the call.

But, unfortunately, you often forget to start your time in the stress of beginning a call.

The solution is to start the countdown time before the call begins. Say you're going to begin recording a 60 minute call in 15 minutes. Simple: start a 75 minute countdown (60 plus 15) right now. This ensures that your timer will warn you when you near the end of your time.

(Thanks to Betsy Parker for this tip.)

Trouble making money online? Maybe you need a new strategy!

Guerrilla David worked for two years to develop a successful online sales effort before changing objectives and finding success. David realized that it wasn't logical to sell their training and technology products online so he decided to use their website to develop and qualify leads instead.

They now provide useful information to prospects and collect information in online questionnaires. They use the information they collect to follow up more effectively.

Do you have a telemarketing script? Your script should be kept to a maximum of one page, single-spaced. Paragraph one introduces the caller and the company. Second, the reason for the call and the offer. Third, the benefits. Then the close.

Sales Incentives # 21: Upgrades

When selling information products, you can promise to provide the next product version, or upgrade, for free to buyers. This can include the next version of your software program or the next templates or "how to" instructions.

When selling information products with a low cost-per-unit, such as teleconference attendance or downloadable audio recordings, you can invite buyers of your current product to attend your next teleconference on the same subject for free. Authors can promise to send a free copy of new versions of an e-book to buyers.

Are you dieting or reading?

Vanderbilt University's Professor Terrance Deal says, "Just as reading diet books is a substitute for losing weight, reading management books is a substitute for good management."

Use strategy with directory listings

It's pretty easy to traipse around cyberspace adding your company name or web site link to various online directories, but you'll get better results if you plan your directory attack a little more carefully.

* First, come up with a pithy, 25-word description of your business and have it ready to go. Many directories ask for such descriptions, and it's easier to have one ready to use than to try coming up with it on the fly.

* Next, browse each directory before you submit a listing so you'll get a sense of how it's organized and which of your competitors are also listed.

* Finally, consider all the relevant classifications or keywords under which your business might be listed, in order of importance, based on where your competitors are located. (You may find a directory niche where the competition isn't so fierce.) Specify all the categories where you want your business listed in order of importance, since many directories won't list you under all the ones you ask for.

Confirmations drive web site traffic

When is the last time you asked newsletter recipients on your opt-in e-mail list to confirm their continued interest in receiving your publication?

How do you know your e-mails are not being routinely deleted because the recipients are no longer interested?

You may want to send a yearly "confirmation" message, asking members to "click here to confirm your continued interest" or including a link to your web site page.

This has the secondary benefit of driving traffic to your web site, especially important if you have made redesigned your site or added new features during the previous year.

Writing to length "boils off the excess"

One of the best reasons writing to fit a specific layout, like a two-sided One-Page Newsletter improves the quality of your writing is that this "boils off the excess," according to Guerrilla Marketer Will Reed, www.gmarketing-genius.com.

All of us have a tendency to write too much. When you're writing an open-ended document, discipline often flies out the window. There's no need to do the rigorous self-editing necessary for good writing. But, when you have only space for 625 (or so) words, you're motivated to search for long words that can be replaced by short words and eliminate unnecessary ideas and duplicate words.

The result: strong, vigorous writing, instead of a never-ending monolog.

Sales Incentive #16: Installation and hookup

Installation and hookup differs from delivery in that you or your representative do not leave the buyer's home or place of business until the new product has been installed and hookup and is performing properly.

In the case of information products, you could make sure that your product or service is performing properly by offering to review the buyer's first business plan, spreadsheet, or action plan created with your product or service.

Learn when and how to use humor (if ever) in your marketing

What Makes Mini Marketing Great? Pt. 5

Like Guerrillas everywhere, Mini Marketing is all about combining economy and effectiveness.

Whenever possible, store sales personnel encourage prospects to visit the www.miniusa.com web site and download a brochure and "accessorize" their car. This eliminates the need for dealers to order expensive brochures to hand out.

Are You Working Harder than You Should, Part 1?

Thirty-two years ago, Jay Conrad Levinson worked his last five day week. He decided that life was too grand to spent more time working than enjoying. As the author of the world's Number One best-selling marketing book series, and an in-demand consultant and speaker, he obviously succeeded.

In order to help others work better instead of longer, I asked Jay for some of his secrets.

Reason Number One: Time Management.
Jay wrote all of his tasks into his calendar to be completed on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. He worked longer hours on those days in order to accomplish his goals.

Work he would normally write in on Thursdays or Fridays he pushed forward to the next Mondays and Tuesdays.

How can you adapt this idea in order to achieve more balance in your life?

Organize your e-mail

If you're active online you get a fair amount of e-mail, and you probably respond as necessary. But when was the last time you thought about your mail beyond simply responding? Ordinary marketers let this mail pile up on their hard disks in one disorganized heap. It sits there until they can't remember what each message was about, and then at some point they toss the whole pile out. But guerrillas know better. They know that each piece of e-mail is a potential business opportunity, and they take steps to organize all incoming mail so it becomes a weapon.

To get organized, create separate directories or mail folders for mail on your hard disk, and (after you respond to incoming mail), and sort mail by its marketing purpose as you receive and respond to it. To track responses from your marketing efforts on various online services, for example, you might have separate directories for each one. Or if you're marketing in several discussion groups and you want to tailor your attack to each group, you might sort mail into directories by discussion groups. Or you might organize mail by the type of opportunity it represents: consulting opportunities, product sales opportunities, fusion marketing potential, and so on.

The organizational scheme is up to you, but having a scheme lets you build a series of powerful marketing weapons a day at a time. And when you're ready to send that new brochure to your contacts in a particular online service, or those people who asked about a particular product line, the addresses you need will be ready to go.

Study your competition's information

Before preparing articles or deciding what types of information to offer on your Web site, study what your competition is doing. Prowl web sites and forum libraries to see what articles your competition has already done. By doing this, you'll avoid duplicating what your competitors have done, and you'll get ideas about how you offer better or different information.

Gift certificates bring new customers

If your product or service is appropriate, gift certificates are a good way to let your existing customers refer new customers. You can issue online gift certificates via e-mail by assigning a unique code number to each one. You can also print paper certificates and send them via snail mail, or include them with an order. If you use gift certificates, promote them all year long, not just at traditional gift-giving times: you never know when it's someone's anniversary or birthday.