Good Plum » Marketing

How to Attract Younger Customers

Elliott Kosmicki — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:58:20 +0000

It’s no secret that getting younger customers is critical. It’s important, because you could potentially have a client for life if you handle the relationship correctly.

So how do you attract them? Here are five tips to make it happen:

#1) Know where young consumers hang out

One of the obvious places they go to is social media sites. The biggest age group using the popular social networking sites is the eighteen to twenty-four bracket. YouTube, Twitter, and MySpace are all examples of social sites that offer a huge amount of profit opportunity.

#2) Know who your customer is

Trying to target all young people is not going to work because it’s not specific enough. You will want to narrow it down to a certain age and gender to be more effective. This will enable you to speak exactly to your customer, instead of trying to design some generic advertising that appeals to everyone.

#3) Get in a conversation

More and more, young people are doing business with companies they trust. Trust is one of the most important words today for business.

How do you build trust?

You have to show you care about their needs, and can help them. If you ram one advertising message after another down their throats, they will know you just want the money.

So you first have to identify their needs, and show that you have a solution for them. You want to engage your target market in a conversation and answer their questions.

This will establish you as an expert. So you first have to give them a lot of great free information. If your free information isn’t that good, they will assume that what you are selling isn’t that valuable either.

Ask them questions. This will show them you care about what they want. After you’ve done this, you can explain how your product would meet their needs.

#4) Use video

As mentioned above, video social networking sites are really taking off. Video is one of the best ways to engage your customer. This is because people can comment on them, much like a blog.

From the comments, you will be able to see the needs that your customers have. Then you can design you product to better meet those needs.

#5) Emphasize benefits

More than ever, young people don’t care about how long you’ve been in business. They are interested in what you can do for them. Your credentials aren’t as critical as the benefits you provide to them.

So don’t talk about yourself; talk about what you can do for your customer. It might be useful to mention you are an expert, but the main focus should be on the benefits.

Remember, you are in the business of helping people. That’s the only way to make money. So engaging your customers, finding out their needs, and meeting those needs is how to attract younger customers.

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Get Your Business on Google Places

Scott Reynolds — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:50:27 +0000

Google says that one out of five searches on Google are related to location. For that reason they created Google Local which has since been transformed into Google Places.

If you’re familiar with Google’s Local Business Center, then you’re also familiar with Google Places. Google changed the name of their local business center to offer better services to businesses and their users.

Like its predecessor, Google Places is designed to help people find businesses and to help business owners reach out to their prospects. Like the old fashioned Yellow Pages, Google Places offers business information organized by category. If you sell dog treats in Austin, Texas all your prospect has to do is look for Dog Treats in Austin, Texas and they’ll find you.

However, unlike the old fashioned Yellow Pages, Google Places is available on any computer and mobile device. This is important because many people use their mobile device as a resource for finding stores, services and businesses.

What Does Google Places Offer?

Google places offers the same tools and features that Google Local Business Center offered and they’ve added several new features including:

* Service areas: Designed to help internet marketers make their address private and help brick and mortar establishments cater to people in a geographic region.
* $25 Enhanced listings and tags to help users search.
* Business photo shoots. Businesses can upload their own photos or request a free photo shoot of the interior of their business which can supplement existing photos.
* Customized QR codes which can be placed on smart phones and business cards and scanned to help people find your establishment
* Business owners can post real-time updates to their Place Page. This makes promoting special events, offering coupons or incentives easy.
* Google Places also offers a personalized dashboard for business owners so they can track the data including how many times prospects have found your business on Google, what keywords they used and where they came from.

Getting Started On Google Places

Getting Started on Google Places is easy. If you have an account simply log into your account and create a listing. You can add coupons, description, location and you can use the QR code to market your business.

If you don’t have a Google account, then it’s easy and free to get one. Visit Google Places and sign up. You can immediately begin creating your listing.

Why Use Google Places?

Google Places is good for business even if you do not have a brick and mortar establishment. Many people prefer to do business with local businesses and they conduct searches for these businesses online or on their mobile device. You can reach a whole new audience by listing your business with Google Places.

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Choosing an Affiliate Product to Promote

Scott Reynolds — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:09:30 +0000

How do you determine the best affiliate product to promote? First you want to choose your niche, which will help you decide which products to promote.

Consider going with a topic that has a variety of affiliate products being offered. That way, if one of them doesn’t sell well, you can choose another one and try that.

Once you’ve found the right niche, you then need to determine which product you should promote. A great method for doing this would be to do a search in Google and seeing which products are being promoted via pay per click.

Look for the ones being sold by affiliates. This is very important. If it’s the product creator themselves that is promoting it, they might be making money on the back end and losing money on the front end. As an affiliate, most of the time you only get the front-end money, so the back end is meaningless.

However, if it’s the affiliate that’s promoting it, you know they are only making money on the front end. This means it must be very profitable if they are willing to pay money to advertise it.

Look for the products that come up again and again. For instance, if there is one program that is being promoted for all of the main keywords in your niche, this is a better option than something that’s there for only one.

How should you test it?

Once you’ve chosen three to five products based on the above method, you will need to see how well they convert. This will give you a good idea of their moneymaking potential.

One option is to throw up a quick pay-per-click campaign. Set a limited budget and test those three to five products on the same keywords, getting the same number of clicks to each. Then see which performs the best. This will be the one you promote.

The reality is that there’s only so much you can tell from reading the sales page. A certain product might appear to have the most convincing sales copy, but the only way you can know for sure is by testing it yourself.

Choose something you believe in.

This is obvious but worth mentioning anyway. Remember – you are probably going to be writing a review for this product and putting a lot of time into promoting it. Do you really want to put in a lot of effort selling a product you can’t get behind?

The bottom line is that testing is extremely important. This is because the best converting affiliate products are often ones you would have never guessed on your own.

Seeing what’s being promoted on pay per click is one of the top methods for getting an idea of what’s converting before actually trying it out yourself. This will help you avoid wasting a lot of time when looking for your next product to promote.

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How To Get Customers to Take Action

Elliott Kosmicki — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:57:31 +0000

There’s a general cycle to internet business, a series of phases. The first phase is generally to drive traffic, increase awareness and build your subscriber or opt-in list. The second phase is to motivate subscribers to become customers. This is generally accomplished by offering entry level products like low cost reports and ebooks. However, once you have customers, how do you continue to increase sales and motivate purchases? What’s the next step?

Motivating customers into action involves a few different strategies working cohesively together. The first is to continue to offer quality information. You want to continue to give them a reason to come back to your website. And you want them to think of you often, particularly when they have a need for your information, products or services. This is accomplished by continuing to reach them through your autoresponder, social networking, blog posts and other marketing strategies.

Continue building your community. The more people feel like they belong and they can relate to your brand and personality, the more they are likely to become repeat customers. And they’re more likely to recommend you to others. Social networking, blogging and social networking badges and buttons on your website are excellent ways to accomplish this.

Reward your customers for their loyalty. Loyalty programs help accomplish a few things. They make customers feel appreciated. They motivate purchases because loyalty programs and rewards often come with privileged promotions, special pricing and exclusive information – and they help build your community.

Build a marketing funnel. It makes sense to have a tiered level of products or services in your catalog. If your first entry point cost $5 you don’t want your next product to cost $500. There has to be a mid range too. And like wise, some people may be ready, after buying your first entry level product, to buy the whole cow as they say. So make sure you have larger priced items available too. Provide choices and a tiered level of products or services.

Tap into those all important buying triggers. Your customers will respond to:
- Emotion
- Scarcity
- Urgency
- Authority
- Credibility
- Liking

Embrace these buying triggers and use them in your communications and promotions.

Finally, make sure it’s easy to buy. Sometimes we don’t realize that there are artificial blocks to making a purchase. Maybe we ask for too much information during the checkout process, maybe the call to action isn’t clear. Eliminate any obstacles to making a purchase and make it extremely easy to buy from you.

Turning customers into repeat customers and motivating sales is an ongoing process. However, once you create good systems and procedures here, it can essentially be an automatic and repeatable process.

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7 Steps to Becoming a Super Affiliate Marketer

Erin McKellar — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:43:40 +0000

If you’re an affiliate marketer, you may be wondering what it takes to make more money. What extra steps are required to go from being an affiliate to a super affiliate? Let’s take a look at how to become a super affiliate marketer in easy steps.

Step #1 Reframe your mindset. Super affiliates know that their business is creating a website and a community people rely on. They’ve found a niche they’re passionate about and plan their business around meeting the needs of their audience.

Many affiliate marketers go into the business looking for places they can place ads and links. It may work to motivate a sale from time to time. However, for real affiliate income, you want to build a business and a content foundation first. The affiliate links will naturally fit into your content and marketing efforts.

To become a super affiliate, know your audience. Plan your content to fit their needs, wants and desires. Answer their questions and solve their problems. Build a brand and a business people want to be part of.

Step #2 Participate in social networking. Social networking sites are packed with people who are interested in your affiliate niche. Social networking provides a unique platform to interact, share your knowledge and personality and to connect with your prospects. It also offers an opportunity to increase awareness of your business.

Step #3 Blog and comment on blogs. Blogging is another form of content to provide to your prospects. It drives traffic, improves SEO and offers value with each post. And commenting on other relevant industry blogs accomplishes several things too. It broadens awareness of who you are and what you’re about. It drives traffic to your business website. And like social networking, it enables you to connect with other people interested in your niche topic.

Step #4 Information marketing. You already know that content is the way to presell and promote your affiliate products. Articles, reports, video content, podcasts, tutorials, webinars, the list can go on and on about the various types of content an affiliate marketer can use to sell their affiliate products.

However, to really boost affiliate income, consider embracing an information marketing business model. Create information products to provide valuable information to your audience – like an ebook. And use this form to also promote a few key affiliate products.

Step #5 Build an opt-in list with a tool like Aweber. This step is an ongoing step. It starts the day you open your doors for business, hopefully, and it continues as long as you keep them open. Your opt in list is your email list of people who have expressed an interest in your products and information. These are qualified prospects and they’re valuable. Let them know they’re valuable and continue to provide them with information and benefit.

Step #6 Continue to build a community. Blog, network and integrate these tactics into your marketing strategies across the board. Put links to your social networking profiles on your email signature, newsletter, and on your website so people can “Tweet this” or “Follow me on Facebook,” with the click of a button.

Step #7 Pay attention. Always pay attention to your prospects and your audience. They can provide valuable information about where to take your business. Use analytics and test and track various tactics to ensure they’re working optimally.

Being a super affiliate means taking your business to the next level. Plan for success. Plan to build a business and a brand people recognize and turn to when they need your information. And plan to build a community of loyal followers around your business.

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How to Keep Clients Happy

Elliott Kosmicki — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:55:04 +0000

How do you keep your current clients happy? This is a huge problem with most businesses. They go to all the trouble of finding a new customer, only to lose them after the first sale.

Don’t let this happen. When you carefully cultivate a relationship with your clients, you can potentially have a customer for life. And most importantly, they will refer their friends to you, which will get you free business.

Referral advertising is one of the most effective there is, because people are always more likely to believe what their friends say about a business than the company themselves. Here are five tips to help you keep your customers happy.

#1) Never lose touch!

Most business people get a sale and never talk to that client again. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

Referral business is shown to be the top effective method for recruiting new clients. How do you expect to get referrals if your customers don’t ever think of you?

I seriously recommend you think about a service to send follow-up cards to your clients automatically. Holidays, their birthday, or just for fun. You can even setup cards to go out automatically on a schedule!

If physical cards isn’t your style, at least consider setting up an autoresponder newsletter to keep them updated and say hi via email.

#2) Great customer service

This is easily one of the most important aspects of retaining clients. If they call you, don’t wait days to get back to them. Contact them immediately. And make sure the people you hire to handle the phone calls are extremely knowledgeable about your business.

#3) Take customer surveys

For instance, if you sell a product on how to lose weight, you might want to ask clients what their biggest weight loss challenges are. Also, ask them for feedback on what you can do to improve your service. These gestures just show them you care about their opinion.

#4) Apologize profusely for errors

If you are ever in the wrong, don’t simply apologize and forget about it. And definitely do not blame it on the customer! Instead, at the minimum give them a gift certificate for your products or services. Simply go out of your way to make it up to them.

#5) Over-deliver

Many businesses build unrealistic expectations with lofty claims, and then the customer is disappointed in the final product. Instead, make sure you always deliver more than they expect. You do this by under-promising and then delivering more than they anticipate. It’s no more complex than that.

For instance, if you have a web design business, be realistic about when you can get the finished site to them. Then attempt to get it quicker than you said. Saying you will get it to them by a certain date and then failing to do this always leaves a bad taste.

Another great method to over-deliver is to provide unannounced bonuses with your product. This is done all the time in the information product world, but it can easily be incorporated to physical goods as well.

For instance, if you sell laptops, you might include the mouse for free. Just think of related times your customers will want down the road, and include them as a surprise bonus.

If you implement just a few of these strategies, you will be amazed at how many of your current clients keep buying from you. And don’t forget that they will also refer you new business as well. Take time to carefully manage your customer relationships, and you could be profitable beyond your wildest dreams.

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The Advantages of Google Buzz for Business

Erin McKellar — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:47:04 +0000

What is Buzz? It’s essentially Google’s answer to Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites. It started just a short time ago, and it’s quickly becoming a thriving social platform.

It’s only for Gmail users, so you need a Google email account if you want to use it. You can access it right from your account page.

What does Google Buzz do?

It’s designed to allow you to write new posts, follow other people, comment on other posts and check updates on other social networking sites – all in the same platform. For instance, if you are following someone on Buzz, and they have a Twitter account, you can be alerted every time they tweet without having to visit Twitter.

This way, you can also let your Buzz followers view your tweets without even having to visit your Twitter account. However, you might want to think twice about enabling this option. Why? Because if you are writing new Buzz posts and tweeting a lot, the followers might become aggravated with all the updates and opt out.

One of the best features of Buzz is that it helps you establish yourself as an expert. As other people post about things related to the topic of your business, you can provide meaningful comments for them.

How do you find the best posts to comment on? This platform highlights the most popular posts for a particular category, which are the ones you want to focus on. With other social sites you have look through every post to find the most popular ones, because they only highlight the new ones. This is a huge advantage Buzz has over the rest.

Assuming you are making interesting comments, others will become interested in what you have to say, and will likely start following you. This way, you can build up a huge number of targeted followers. Then when you post, all your followers will be automatically alerted. And you can link to your affiliate offers right from your Buzz blog. Therefore, if you have a large number of followers reading your post, this can really make you some serious money.

Another great feature is that you can use YouTube videos in your posts. Every great marketer knows the importance of video and audio.

You don’t necessarily need to create new content either, because if you have a regular blog you can just post the same writing to your Buzz platform. You can’t do this with Twitter and their 140 character limit. So essentially you can create great posts without any extra effort.

And it could become viral. Assuming you have an interesting post, you can get a lot of conversation going. This could help your Buzz post rise to the top of the list in their category, where it can be viewed by all the users of the network. This is a very distinct advantage over Twitter, because the old conversations get pushed to the background whenever someone posts a new tweet.

You can also segment your postings and make them only visible to certain people. For instance, if you have certain followers who’ve already bought products from you, you can design a post that only they can see.

This is similar to segmenting your email list and it’s just as effective. The bottom line is, Google Buzz offers a lot of opportunity for businesses, and you would be smart to make it part of your marketing efforts.

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Increase Your Visibility by Writing Free Web Content

Erin McKellar — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:26:35 +0000

You’re an expert at what you do and you are ready to help as many people as you can solve their problems. The trouble is, not enough of them know about you and how you can help them.

You need to increase your visibility. In other words, you need more people to know about you and the service you provide. Then, when they’re ready to make a purchase, you’ll be the one they want to buy from.

One way you can increase your visibility is by writing free content for newsletters or other websites. You may wonder why you should write for free. After all, you’re in business to make money and you should be paid for your expertise. But writing articles for newsletters with links to your website can be very effective, free advertising for your business.

Newsletter publishers are always looking for quality content to publish. There are newsletters on almost every topic imaginable. It is very likely that someone is publishing a newsletter on your area of expertise and has subscribers who are interested in what you know. By getting your articles published in these newsletters, you will become more visible to that market. In exchange for your article, the newsletter publisher includes your resource box and a link to your website – free advertising for you.

To get the best results from writing articles, write articles that answer your market’s burning questions. You can explain how to do something, or give a list of your top ten tips. In your articles, it’s important to not advertise your business or make the article sound promotional. You want to focus on delivering quality information that will genuinely help your readers.

At the end of each article to write, you’ll place your author’s resource box or author’s bio. This is where you promote yourself and tell what your business can do. Describe your expertise and include a link to your website where the reader can go to learn more about you. This is where the free advertising comes in.

In your resource box, be sure to give your reader a good reason to visit your website. You may want to tell them what they’ll find there. Alternatively, you can offer them a free report or e-book for visiting your website. That gives them more incentive to click through. If you’ve impressed them with the quality of information in your article, there is a good chance they will click through to get more information from you.

Now that you have your article and your resource box, you need to distribute it. You can contact newsletter publishers directly, but it’s even simpler to submit your article to article directories. These are places that publish free reprint articles. Publishers come to these directories looking for new content for their newsletters. If you’ve written an interesting, informative article, there’s a good chance they’ll reprint yours.

When readers see that you consistently provide good information, they’ll come to see you as an expert. As they see articles written by you published in various newsletters and websites, you will become more familiar to them. Then, when they’re ready to purchase a product or service like the one you provide, they’ll be more likely to think of you first.

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How To Set Up an Autoresponder Series in Aweber

Erin McKellar — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:02:30 +0000

Aweber is an autoresponder and list management service. It makes communicating with your opt-in list quick, easy and profitable. Here’s how to set up an autoresponder series in Aweber.

1. Log into your Aweber account.

2. You’ll need a list. If you’ve been growing one outside of Aweber, you’ll need to import your list into the system. You can do this manually or you can click “Import” under the subscriber’s tab. Once you’ve added your list you can move onto the next step. If you already have a list growing in Aweber, then move onto the next step.

3. Once you’ve logged into Aweber, choose the list you wish to create your autoresponder series for from the drop down list.

4. Next choose the “Messages” tab at the top of the page and click “Follow Up”. You’ll then be taken to the page where you can start your autoresponder series.

5. Aweber considers the first message in a series your autoresponder and each message after is considered a “follow up.” At the top of the page it says, “Follow Up Messages: Your list has 1 autoresponder and unlimited follow up messages available. You are currently sending 0 messages. To move or reorder follow up messages simply click and drag it to the new location.”

6. Click the green “Add Message” button to create your first message.

7. You can simply type your message in plain text or you can type it using HTML. You can also create both types of messages.

With the Plain Text Message option you may want to click the “Wrap Long Lines” button to ensure your links stay intact.

Note: You can also cut and paste into these boxes if you’ve written the copy elsewhere.

8. Don’t forget to fill in your subject line.

9. Enter the number of days you would like the message sent after the previous message. For example, if you want your subscribers to receive one email a week then you’d space them seven days apart.

10. Check the “click tracking” box if you would like to track the number of times your links are clicked on in your emails.

11. Choose the template you would like to use for your messages. You can load the template so you can see what it looks like.

12. Choose the Personalization Fields you’re going to use and the necessary information. This button is directly above your “subject line” field.

13. Attach any files you’re going to send with your message.

14. Click “Preview” to see your message. Proof read it and make sure it looks like you want it to. If it does, go onto the next and last step. If not, make your fixes and then go onto the next step.

15. Click “Save” to add to your follow-up series.

Repeat this process with each message you’re going to send. It gets easier and you’ll move through the process faster as you become more familiar with the process.

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Why Autoresponders are Key to Email Marketing

Erin McKellar — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:56:45 +0000

You have probably heard about the importance of setting up an email marketing campaign. Most of your potential customers will need to hear about your product several times before they will consider making a purchase. Email marketing allows you to stay in contact with potential customers by emailing them helpful information on a regular basis. When they hear from you regularly, over time they will be more likely to buy from you.

Email marketing can also help you turn your current customers into repeat customers. It is always easier to sell to someone who has already purchased from you. Email marketing can help you stay in touch with your current customers and let them know about new products and new information.

Autoresponders play a vital role in an effective email marketing campaign. An autoresponder such as Aweber or GetResponse is a program that allows you to send out emails automatically. It can store several prewritten emails and deliver them to people who sign up for your list in a sequential fashion. An autoresponder is a tool you can use to tell them about your product over and over again.

An autoresponder makes email marketing very simple because new subscribers are added to your list automatically. If they ever wish to unsubscribe, they can do that by themselves. The only work you have to do is fill your autoresponder with great content and schedule it for delivery. The autoresponder takes care of everything else.

One way autoresponders are used in email marketing is by following up with website visitors who may not be ready to buy from you right now. An autoresponder gives you a way to automatically follow up with them. You can offer a free report on a topic that’s of interest to your visitors, and ask for their email address in exchange.

Once they’ve signed up for your report, they are automatically added to your autoresponder, which can give them a series of emails giving them even more information, and telling them about how your product or service can help them. An autoresponder makes it easy for you to tell them about your product over and over again.

Autoresponders are commonly used to deliver e-courses. An e-course is a very effective way to draw people to your website and give them an opportunity to learn more about what you sell. Break your course down into short lessons that can be emailed and then set them up in your autoresponder. You may choose to send out a new lesson each day or every few days. During the course, you can tell your students about your product and how it can help them reach their goals.

Autoresponders are also very helpful in providing customer support. After someone makes a purchase from your website, you can send them follow-up messages with answers to frequently asked questions, or more information about how to use your product or service. You can also use autoresponders to tell your current customers about new products they may be interested in.

As you can see, autoresponders make email marketing simple and more effective. You can use them to build your opt-in list, send out an e-course, follow up with customers, and in many other ways. Once you begin using autoresponders in your email marketing, you’ll see how easy it is to stay in touch with your visitors and tell them about your products.