Today's Feature Article

13 Best Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
Jeffrey Dobkin

I've been involved in marketing and direct marketing since my God! Am I that old already? Anyhow, over the years I've been asked to give tips on marketing along with my specific advice. Here's a short list of some of my best tips.

1. The most valuable tool in marketing at the lowest cost is a letter. In fact, the most valuable tool in marketing at any cost is a letter. Write one business-getting letter every day.

2. The best formula for creating headlines in marketing is: New product offers benefit, benefit, benefit.

Use this to create the headline of your press releases and advertisements, for envelope teaser copy, and for the beginning lead of your brochure. Example: "New keyboard offers faster typing, greater accuracy, and is less tiring." Use Jeff Dobkin's 100 to 1 Rule: Write 100 lines, go back and pick your best 1.

3. The most valuable single sheet of paper you can create in marketing is a press release. You should be sending press releases every month.

4. The most effective trick I've learned in 25 years of copywriting is this: when you are having a tough time writing, just start writing anything, then go back and cross out your first sentence.

5. Follow up serious inquiries and sales leads with more than one piece of mail.

6. The 11 most valuable words to get any press release published are "Are you the person I should send this press release to?" Before sending any important press release, call the magazine or newspaper editor and say these 11 words.

7. Create a letter series - in advance - to get new business. Mail one letter a month. This is the best campaign I can think of, and the basis for one of my books, How To Market A Product For Under $500! Shhh, don't tell anyone this, they won't buy it.

8. Always acknowledge when something nice is done for you with a thank you letter. No, a call is not the same.

9. When you start to write any business communication, always write your objective first. Figure out and state in writing what you are trying to accomplish. For example, an ad objective may be to generate maximum direct orders, or get as many leads as possible, or generate retail store traffic. This gives your writing more focus.

10. If you'd really like a response from a personal letter, include a return envelope in it with a live stamp on it. It' ll increase your response or it'll drive them nuts.

11. Anytime you run a successful long-term direct mail campaign, test the variables in subsequent mailings.

12. Take your time writing. No one will ever know the one- page letter they received took you three weeks to write. Just make sure when you send it, it's perfect.

13. In a direct mail solicitation, don't be afraid to ask for the order - several times. If the recipient doesn't call or send an order, the piece fails. For best results, be very explicit and tell the reader exactly what you want him to do - twice in the body copy, and again in the PS.

********************************
Jeffrey Dobkin, author of the 400-page marketing manual, How To Market A Product for Under $500 ($29.95), now has a second book, Uncommon Marketing Techniques ($17.95) - 33 of his latest columns on small business marketing, exactly like the one you just read. Both books are available directly from the publisher - 800-234-IDEA. Or visit him at http://www.dobkin.com

Today's Motivational Reading

>> The 8 Myths About Creating Wealth
by Nikola Grubisa

You have probably read or heard about various myths (these are the truths that are valid only for certain cases, but not in general) surrounding wealth and wealthy people, all of which hinder your quest for financial independence. Here are the most common and most destructive:

Myth No. 1: How much you earn depends on how hard you work

If this were true, then the physical, blue-collar workers, who have been working hard for years, would have been the wealthiest people on earth. Of course, this isn't true. They form most of the workforce and the vast majority of the middle-class.

If you witnessed your parents coming home tired from a long day's work in your youth, you probably learned that money wasn't a sufficient reward for all that effort. People who work "just" for the money often have debts because they comfort themselves with whatever they can buy, beautiful things they lack when working.

Myth No. 2: Being paid for something you enjoy isn't work and you shouldn't ask for money for doing something that is enjoyable.

Check this with millionaires. They all have so much money that they don't need to work anymore. Nevertheless, they work for other reasons, challenge, satisfaction, fullness of life, activity, fun ... and all are connected to a love for their work. If there was no joy in doing a certain task, they would do something else that would make them much happier and that enables them to realize their dreams.

In fact, if you don't enjoy your work, you will never become wealthy doing it! However, just because you enjoy your work doesn't mean you shouldn't get paid for it - in fact, that is the ultimate goal, to get paid for what you already enjoy so it never feels like you are at work!

Myth No. 3: You need to be in the right line of business to amass wealth

Do you think so? This must mean that all the people who are involved in the same business are millionaires. Of course, this isn't true. In each business there are winners and losers; winners abound, even in businesses that consist of distasteful (to most) or "impossible" work like sweeping the streets, collecting the trash, working in a factory, pumping gas, selling newspapers, etc. On the other hand, there are just as many "losers" in businesses like selling real estate, management or being a stockbroker.

Myth No. 4: You need the right education to make a fortune

Are the most educated people really the wealthiest? Not at all! In this case, university professors would be the wealthiest people on earth. Ask them about their salaries, if you get the opportunity. The truth is vastly different - the wealthiest people are those who can convert their knowledge (or education) into money, in the best possible way. They can be highly educated people (like inventors, scientists, etc.) or almost ignorant.

Being formally uneducated does not equate to poor performance on the job or the inability to form a strong enough vision to carry a person to success - they can easily be experts without having a formal education.

Myth No. 5: It used to be easier

Statistics show an increase in the number of millionaires in the world every year. Talking about the "good old times" only offers comfort and a convenient excuse. If you look around, you'll see there are people who behaved the same way in the "good old times" as they do now, yet their success has been recent. With technology and progress come new ideas, desires and needs and there are more business opportunities appearing daily to serve them.

Myth No. 6: I'm too old (young)

If you research the life stories of some of the most successful people, you'll see that this isn't true at all. Some became wealthy early in their lives (perhaps from the stock market), while others found their fortune in their old age. Ray Kroc, was more than fifty years old when he bought and made the first McDonald's.

Myth No. 7: I don't have enough money to start. You have to spend money to make money.

This is no different from any other excuse or "myth." Like the others, it's obvious this one isn't true either. Many have made their fortunes starting from scratch, living in an apartment or working out of their garage and yet, they developed business empires that are worth billions of dollars today. The other elements of success are far more important than having seed money to start a business.

But yes, often money helps and it certainly doesn't hurt. Like everything else discussed in other myths: it probably helps, but it is not always necessary.

Myth No. 8: I'll begin when I know everything

Do you believe that you will know everything someday? Or even that you'll know enough to ever be "really prepared now?" The more you learn, the more you see what you still need to learn. Success and obtaining wealth is a dynamic process. Even if you "could" come out of the gate knowing everything there is to know, some of those elements will change immediately and many will change rapidly. If you don' t decide now, nothing will happen. Live and learn.

Some millionaires have even allowed themselves to go bankrupt and then (even faster) recreated their wealth, sometimes even greater than before. Money itself isn't the obstacle that is keeping you from being wealthy. If you're really good in your business, don't worry, because someone that will offer you money (a bank or business partner) will appear, someone that will appreciate your talent knowing you are a very good investment opportunity. But you can't sit around waiting for this - make it happen.

Exercise "taking action" as much as you can. Make your workplace better or more efficient. After all, even if someone else signs your paycheck, you really work for you. Even if you are an employee in a large corporation - it isn' t your corporation - but it is the only corporation through which you can prove what you are capable of right now.

All of us have what it takes to become a millionaire! Born winners, yet few of us know how to take advantage of and cultivate the possibilities hidden inside our own mind!

No one can ever grant you greater potential than your heart already holds…you need only discover its contents to find the one true path to your success in life. Born with the seeds to our success, the greatest decisions must always come from the inside! You will discover a new, deep well of fortune – yourself!

********************************
Nikola Grubisa is a European Marketing and HRM Consultant and the co-author of a European bestseller "The Millionaire Mindset: How to Tap Real Wealth from Within". If you are wondering how top marketers are marketing in Europe and at the same time want to discover the path to true wealth, download the below special report and study it thoroughly: http://www.thecassiopeia.com/WebLions/BornToWin.zip

Subscribers' Corner

Prepare... And Then Expect The Unexpected!
by Charles Lalonde

I realize this title may fly in the face of the philosophies of some Internet business consultants and coaches. However, after years of developing many in-depth personal and business plans for others, this truth has been clearly established.

Let me explain with an incredible real-life example that I was able to watch unfold. In the early 1970s, I was introduced to Henry Smolanski through the Mechanics Illustrated magazine. Henry was the inventor and designer of the flying car (he attached a push-pull propeller wing assembly to a Ford Pinto and successfully flew it). His experience made me fully appreciate this principle and how to deal with it.

When I visited Henry at his office in Los Angeles, California, I immediately became focused on a chart that extended around the entire room, from one side of the door to the other side. Henry called this a P.A.D. - Progress Analysis Diagram. It was a computer printout that charted all the activities required to build and fly the car. Not only did the P.A.D. confirm that the car would actually fly, it dealt with every possible eventuality along the way.

Because Henry was an aeronautical engineer and had worked on the NASA space program, his P.A.D. was extremely advanced. However, as it turned out, Henry was not prepared for two unexpected scenarios, one of which may have cost him his life.

The first thing Henry didn't anticipate was the difficulty in getting a car for the project (he thought an auto manufacturer would jump at the chance to provide a free car in exchange for the publicity they would receive). Finally, a large dealership in L.A. heard about Henry's project and donated a new car. After assembling the car and a number of test runs, Henry successfully flew his "aerocar". The implications for revolutionizing transportation were immense. If Henry was successful, he could pose a threat to some well-established organizations; this led to the second unexpected scenario.

The day that the Federal Aviation Department was present to certify his new aerocar, something suspiciously broke in the connection frame and it crashed, killing Henry. Now most of us will never be involved with projects that have "007" Bond-like implications, but it does serve as a lesson: no matter how careful and precise our plan, we always need to be prepared for the unexpected.

Let me share with you five steps for preparing your P.A.D. and/or business plan so that you're ready for these unexpected eventualities:

A word of caution ~ don't get trapped into "planning paralysis" so that you never get started on your project. These steps should be done with an overall time-frame for planning completion. Also, as most of us are not visionaries like Jean Dixon or Nastrodaumus, don't become upset when these annoying unexpected events raise their unwelcome heads. Most of the time they turn out to be great learning opportunities, ones that sharpen our skills and further develop our decision-making capabilities.

So go to work and "Prepare, And Then Expect The Unexpected". By doing so, you will enjoy success beyond your wildest dreams!

***************************
Charles Lalonde is a Certified trainer, writer and speaker who believes in always being a student. He is the author of Revealing The Secret Formula In Think and Grow Rich. For a FREE Copy of the "Success and Wealth Secret Revealed Insider Report", go below and end your search for the key to outstanding success and prosperity. http://www.thoughtstoriches.com/free.html

To listen to a new Top Show, click the picture.

To Get FREE Tips, Books, Software,
Subscribe below!

Read Our Weekly Column
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/Guide/DrEBiz.html

Subscribe to 'Pathway To Success' Published every other Sunday, our FREE Ezine helps Subscribers to succeed in their online home business providing them with hot marketing tips, top webmaster resources, articles, motivational reading, FREE Ads, Subscriber Corner, Web Lions Library, special FREE services, Bonuses and more. Check current visitor Issue. Click here! Name: Email:  Don't forget to collect YOUR FREE Bonuses! Get Your Special Motivational 2003 Calendar Note: Please don't use any hotmail, yahoo, zwallet addresses nor autoresponders. These will not subscribe you. Privacy Guarantee: Your privacy is 100% guaranteed. We never share any personal data incl email addresses with any third party, we do not even store email addresses on third party servers.

Our problem is not the lack of knowing; it is the lack of doing. Most people know far more than they think they do.
Mark Hatfield

Get one of the Feature Ads in our Ezine:
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/WebmasterMall/EzineAdPrices.html

If you like our Ezine, click the button to recommend us, your ad will get a higher exposure and you can also win $10,000:

Administration

***************************************************** The articles published here may be reprinted or used freely as long as it is in its entirety incl the resource box of the author *****************************************************

OnlineBannerNet.com - 10,000 FREE credits!

If you want quality sticky content for your site, put the below piece of code to your page where you want the current Pathway To Success Issue to appear - copy and paste:

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://www.thecassiopeia.com/content1.js"></script>

Note: check what it looks like Click here