End Of Financial Year Review - How (marketing) Successful Was Your Marketing Expense

October 28th, 2008 admin Posted in marketing |

By Ben Needles

Throw your hats in the air and celebrate - it is end of financial year time again! I love end of financial year as it is a great time to reflect on what worked and what didnt for you and your business in the past year.

But … when you look at how successful was your marketing expense in the past financial year - you need to look your results against a number of definitions of success (and not just the dollars).

Financial review

Lets get the dollars out of the way first. Marketing is one area you should be able to get pretty solid data on your return on investment - the cost of marketing compared to how much business was brought in from the strategy.

Take a close look at all of your marketing and categorise them into things such as:
* Online costs (such as online ads, affiliate programs, SEO strategies, online web copy)
* Print costs (for costs such as direct mail, brochures, flyers, posters, copywriting for the words etc)
* Advertising (print, radio, TV, yellow pages, copywriting for the scripts or ads)
* PR

About the Author (text)

Ingrid Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter with her Brisbane Copywriting Business (Heart Harmony). Ingrid writes a free weekly small business newsletter packed full of articles and tips and Small Business Ideas blog for small businesses. http://www.heartharmony.com.au

sport crazy

The Proof Is In The Results, Not The Promises
By Scott Lindsay

One of the most difficult marketing tactics for consumers to accept are truths that are cleverly worded to infer promises that aren’t actually stated.

You know the kind of advertising that uses words like can, may or likely. These and many other words are used to infer actual results, but actually promise nothing.

It could happen - but it might not.

It may be possible - but don’t expect it.

It’s likely - but probably less than 50%.

Consumers don’t often catch on to these vague and inferred promises they simply see the idea as perhaps the next sure thing.

The marketer has technically participated in truth in advertising and can’t be held responsible if consumers came to wrong conclusions.

It’s a bit like those pharmaceutical commercials that tell you about the product in 15 seconds and then spend the remaining 15 seconds explaining all the circumstances in which the medicine should not be used or how it might negatively affect the user.

Advertising, by its very nature, is designed to appeal. That being said when consumers catch on to the fact that your service or product does not live up to the inferred expectations they will defect en mass. They won’t stop there either. These “Motivated Frustrated” will pass along their bitter taste to others.

While you can adopt this marketing tactic at any time it may ultimately not be in your best interest. This is especially true if you want repeat customers.

Some marketers are only after the initial sale. Sometimes this is true because the product doesn’t lend itself to more than one purchase (such as an ebook) or they plan to abandon the idea soon and move on to the next ‘big thing’.

If you want your business to be around long term you might want to do your best to creatively explain actual benefits, provide timely content that helps consumers visualize how the product or service would be of value to them, and explain in detail who you are and why you are behind the idea you present.

The development of trust will enhance the value of the product much more than an implied promise.

Implied promises often come across as close cousins to political rhetoric. Lots of promises can be made, but the proof is often lost on actual results. When consumers see this on all levels they become suspicious of those who use those marketing terms “may, could, likely, or results are not typical’.

A friend told me about an online shoe company he recently dealt with. The shoes were the wrong width and he had been wearing them for a couple of weeks. He purchased the shoes at the advice of a physical therapist for some problems he’d been having. When the physical therapist finally inspected the shoe it was discovered the incorrect size resulting in a lack of proper support.

The company listened to the man and voluntarily suggested he return the worn shoes (pre-paid shipping included) and they would send him the right size. The company can no longer resell those shoes as new, they had to pay shipping both ways, but they did earn a customer that believed in their service, believes in their product and believes their marketing.

No can, may of likely about it.

Make A Website or Make Your Own Website in minutes at HighPowerSites.com. Start a HOME BUSINESS and Sell Ebooks at BooksWealth.com.

Strategies For Utilizing Social Media Outlets
By Chris Simpson

Today there are more and more people who are beginning to use social media outlets to help promote and market products. There are many ways that you can learn how to use these social media outlets to increase sales if you know what you are doing. In fact, many people are beginning to realize that this is a top marketing strategy. Of course you may have no idea where to get started. So, here are a few top strategies to help you utilize social media outlets to increase your sales.

Get Involved in Multimedia

First of all, if you want to utilize social media outlets, it is important that you get involved in multimedia. People love pictures and videos and they like it more than just words on a page. It’s easy to use photos on photo social media sites such as Flickr or similar sites that will help you bring in more traffic to your own website. There are video social media outlets as well that you can use, such as Google Video and YouTube, that can bring in more traffic to your site and help you to use social media to your benefit.

Stand Out on Social Media Sites

When you decide to get involved in social media outlets, you’ll need to make sure that you stand out. There are many people on these sites, so if you want to use them to your advantage, you need to figure out how you can stand out. Decide how you can best get attention. Getting attention for your self on these sites will help you to draw in traffic and the sales that you want as well.

Become a Member of the Media

Becoming a member of the social media is important as well. Get in on conversations and get accounts at social bookmarking sites, such as Digg and Stumbleupon. You can use these sites to help you drive more traffic to your site, so make sure you learn how to appropriately use them. Also, you can use sites like Facebook and MySpace to help you make sales as well if you know how to get involved and what is happening on these sites.

Allow Criticism

When you are involved in social media outlets, it’s important that you allow criticism. If you do this, you’ll actually build credibility and show that you can stand up and your product can stand up even when criticized. Take the time to answer these criticisms, but don’t just delete them or you may actually hurt your efforts to sell products and use these social media outlets as a sales tool.

Chris Simpson is dedicated to helping people earn money at home by finding honest and legitimate work at home and home based business opportunities. Find legitimate online work from home today at: www.HomeNetPro.com

The Logical Way Of Marketing Through The Internet