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'Pathway To Success' is published every other Sunday.
Next Issue is supposed on 21st May 2006.

Today's Feature Article

Guide to a Profitable Marketing Mix
Bobette Kyle

You may have heard the term "marketing mix" used in connection with marketing planning.

Your marketing mix means the combination of promotions, products, places (distribution channels), and prices you chose for your business. Including both short term and long term strategies in the marketing mix can make for a more profitable business.

Long term strategies build brand/company awareness and give sales revenue a permanent, gradual boost. Short term strategies create a temporary, immediate revenue boost by giving buyers an incentive to purchase.

By implementing both long and short term strategies, you can attend to immediate sales goals while building your business reputation and goodwill. Some examples of both types of strategies are below.

Build Long Term Marketing Strategies Into the Mix

Branding. General advertisements and other high profile activities contribute to your company's image. These points of contact with your target customer help mold your image, which in turn can create loyalty from your customers.

Philanthropy. Donating money, services, and/or time can build trust and a positive image for your business. Philanthropy contributes both toward your branding efforts and your company's internal well being.

New Product Pipeline. New products in development represent your future sales. If you get feedback from your customers or potential target market, then design new products (or change existing ones) to meet their needs, you are ensuring a demand for your products in the future.

Short Term Marketing Mix Strategies

Reduced Price Sales. Limited time sales encourage customers to act. You likely have customers intending to buy but have not " gotten around to it". Holding a sale will give them incentive to purchase.

Group Discounts and Offers. Discounts or other offers to a specific group can help exposure your business to new customers, resulting in a sales surge.

Pay-Per-Click Search Engines. Pay per click search engines are another way to become visible to new customers. Use them carefully, however. Do not bid more per click than the profit you expect to make from that click.

Search Engines' Roles in the Marketing Mix

High search engine placement can produce both short term and long term results. Short term, you can gain immediate sales. Long term, results come as potential business partners find your site.

Do not, however, become obsessed with search engine optimization to the detriment of your other marketing strategies. Search engine marketing should be one part of a more comprehensive plan. Include other marketing strategies in your plan to reach additional customers.

As an example of how this can work, I generally put two or three hours a month into direct search engine optimization. My primary focus is on quality content, which simultaneously creates stronger search engine rankings for my site and makes the site more attractive to visitors. This approach has gotten me results with Google and other search engines (over 40,000 google.com visitors a month through the free search engine as of March 2006, not counting several thousand more from regional search results).

Another approach to search engine optimization is to hire an outside expert to work on search engine marketing while you focus internally on other parts of the marketing mix. If you take this route, however, be alert for agencies that use tricks that go against search engine guidelines to increase your rankings. They may get you results in the short term, but could get your site reduced in rankings or banned in the long term. Thoroughly research any SEO firm before hiring them to do work on your Website.

These are not the only short and long term strategies you could incorporate into your marketing mix. Look for different ways you can build long term recognition and health for your business. Effectively incorporate those into the marketing mix with a variety of shorter term, sales boosting techniques and your business will thrive.

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Bobette Kyle draws upon 15+ years of Marketing/Executive experience, online marketing experience, and a marketing MBA as inspiration for her writing. Bobette is proprietor of the Web Site Marketing Plan Network. She is also author of the marketing plan and Web promotion book "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing For Small Budget Business." You can search all articles on the network through the marketing directory by going here: http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/directory

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Today's Motivational Reading

The Five Factors of Success
Alan Fairweather

1. Mind Control

Successful people have the ability to run their own mind. They don’t let other people or circumstances run it for them. They re- programme their negative conditioning. They raise their level of self-esteem and they develop a positive attitude through continual positive self-talk. They don’t react – they think!

2. Belief

Successful people have a passion for what they believe in. They know what they want out of life and they achieve it by motivating themselves. They have vision.

3. Energy

They have lots of vroom! They manage stress and they know how to relax.

4. Rapport

They have the ability to communicate and get on with people, and to persuade people to accept their point of view.

5. Courage to act

People who make a success of what they do are willing to try. They’re prepared to make mistakes, to assert themselves and not get too concerned about what others might think.

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Today's Subscriber Article

Simple Copywriting For Beginners
Ken Leonard Jr.

So you want to sell online... You have a product ready to go, but how are you supposed to write a sales letter like the ones used by the biggest names in internet marketing? A sales letter that attracts prospects and makes sales?

It's no secret that the biggest names in online marketing have been studying the art of writing sales copy for the web for many years. If they haven't, they hire someone who has.

Just having a product to sell online is not going to make you sales. Unless you have the budget to hire a pro copywriter for the web (which will cost you as much as $15,000 for one sales letter, possibly plus 10% of the gross sales), you had better start learning how to write a sales letter that will bring you sales.

The key to a winning sales page for your web site is crafting a great offer. Your offer must be so irresistible, that it almost looks like you are getting the short end of the deal. Like the customer is taking advantage of YOU!

Your irresistible offer must also stand out from the crowd. Develop your own USP (unique selling proposition) and wave it around like a flag. This is why they should buy from YOU, instead of somebody else.

One more thing your offer must do is solve a pressing concern or problem that your prospect is AGONIZING over. Your sales letter must clearly state their biggest problem. Prove how bad this problem really is to your reader. Then give them the clear solution to their problem available only from YOU!

Lead off your sales letter with the offer's biggest benefit to your potential customer. Then lead them into an interesting story dealing with their situation. Capture their attention and hold it, by inserting subtle "teases" that tell them what's to come further on in your letter. This creates curiosity, and if done well, will keep them GLUED to your web page.

To build value for your product from their perspective, educate your reader and inform them of what your product will do for them (always keeping "What's In It For Me" in mind). Make sure any strong statements are backed up with a "reason why" so they are more believable. This does wonders for your credibility in their eyes. If price is a major objection use a strong reason why to make the prospect understand your product's real value to them.

As your offer develops use a limited time or limited quantity deal to create a sense of scarcity and fear of loss. Spell out your bonuses clearly and recap the benefits they will get (and WHY they are important). Then go over everything they will get WHEN (not IF) they buy from you.

Some sales people would call your next step closing the deal, but you should really look at it as a "call to action". Tell your reader EXACTLY what you want them to do NOW, then tell them WHY.

Sign your sales letter as you would normally, with a pleasant goodbye and your signature or initials (a scanned or hand drawn signature works well). Include a P.S. where the first paragraph is another recap of what they will get, and in the second paragraph nicely question their commitment and attitude concerning the biggest benefit, ending with another strong call to action. (The second paragraph can be a P.P.S.)

The more your practice, the better you will become at writing sales letters for the web that sell.

Studying "The Masters" helps a lot, too. It is common practice in the world of copywriting for the web to collect a "swipe file" of sales letter examples from various copywriters and marketers. Use the examples in your swipe file to build (also known as modeling) your own successful sales letter, written mostly in your own words. Be sure you customize the examples for your market and offer, and don't copy anything word for word or you may be facing copyright infringement troubles later on.

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Ken Leonard Jr. can help you start a home based business in just weeks, using free and low cost Internet Home Business Tools and Resources...
http://internethomebusinessblog.com/

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