The Hand Made Product Shopping Directory: May 2008

Friday, May 30, 2008

Useful Blog Commenting Tip

A large number of us are bloggers. In fact, there are probably more that are than that are not. We also have a tendency to read a lot of other blogs also. If we are smart, we are leaving good comments on these blogs we read. Here is a useful tip when leaving comments on blogs.

Since most of us leave a link to the homepage of our blog when making a comment we should take the fullest advantage of this. Most of the time we leave a link to our home page but we have many other links that we could leave as well.You probably have many other resources to link to You probably have many other resources to link to. Think about these for example: your Squidoo lenses and Hubpages, your profile on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, your profile on social news sites like Digg and StumbleUpon, your articles on article directory sites, specific posts within your blog.

This way you can really spread your exposure.

Want To Increase The Traffic To Your Store? Get Listed In The Hand Made Product Directory Today!

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Something Worth Reading

Every now and then I run across an article that I think is really worth passing along to our readers. That’s not saying that there aren’t a lot of good material out there, it’s just that an article has to be really good before I will recommend it. This particular article is written by Kim Gordon and as the link below indicates it is from Entrepreneur.Com. Her article is right on the money for any merchant. Check it out at http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingcolumnistkimtgordon/article194170.html

Want To Increase The Traffic To Your Store? Get Listed In The Hand Made Product Directory Today!

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Two New Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Stores

I will be posting this entire message on the “indiepublic” page and in the “Craft Marketing Central” page tomorrow. There are a few of our readers who already have heard this news.

We are happy to announce that we have placed on line in The Hand Made Product Directory 2 new pages in the directory that we believe will be receiving a great deal of customer traffic over the next weeks and months ahead. These pages are called “Style & Fashion” and “Home & Hearth”. The purpose of these pages is to allow your customers to see a large selection of products all at one time. The concept is very much like Tie-In selling. Judy sees a necklace and a dress that she believes will look really good together. It doesn’t make any difference that they are from different merchants. She ends up buying both pieces. Each picture is linked to the appropriate sellers’ stores’ Sales Page just like they are in the Gift Guide.

We believe these two new pages will drive a lot of traffic to the stores that have listed products in them. Yes the pages are sparse now, but we just put them up yesterday and we expect them to fill up rapidly. The more items showing on these pages, the bigger the draw for potential customers. We also believe that once a customer comes to your store, they will want to look around and see what else that particular store might have that they might want to purchase.

These pages are not going to be listed under the normal “Browse by Category” directory listing. We are placing graphic links to these pages in strategic places which we believe will best catch the attention of you potential customers.

You can visit the pages by clicking on the graphic links on the left side of the Home Page and many other locations in the directory. To learn more about having your products listed on these pages just click the “Submit A Store” tab at the top of any page. You want to go to “Option 7”.

If you haven’t already placed your store in the directory, you should do so today.

Want To Increase The Traffic To Your Store? Get Listed In The Hand Made Product Directory Today!

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Facts About Most Online Consumers

It’s said that one of the differences between a Good business person and a Great business person is that a Great business person knows his or her customers. Obviously when you sell on line, there really isn’t any way to know most of your customers personally but you can know what their makeup is. In other words know what makes them tick and what makes them buy. Here are some important things you need to know about online consumers.

They make initial decisions in 8 seconds or less - They want things presented in a simple manner (following the KISS “Keep it Simple Stupid” principle will go a long way) - They will buy from you if you fill their need, provide credibility, and make it easy for them to checkout - They want things fast - They expect at least one of the shipping options to be “free shipping” - They can help grow your business virally because they tell friends - They equally can destroy your business overnight with a bad customer experience - They like clear instructions on how to checkout - They like to see phone numbers, it provides a measure of customer assurance and credibility - They don’t like forced pop-up “live / chat” options pushed to them but they expect to be able to easily find out how to ask for help if they need it. - They expect to see shipping rates clearly disclosed before they add items to their cart. - They expect secure checkout (duh). Make sure you clearly display the SSL Cert within user eye flow to satisfy their need. - Unless your product is totally unique, one of a kind, they can always buy it from someone else. Give them a reason to buy it from you. - They like to know how your product is going to benefit THEM, not how it is going to benefit you.

Want To Increase The Traffic To Your Store? Get Listed In The Hand Made Product Directory Today!

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

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Monday, May 26, 2008

Words That Make Money

We all know that there is Power in our words. That being the case, here is a list of 199 Words that make money. The more of them you can use in your advertising the better.

Advantages
Answers
Appealing
Appreciate
Assist
Assure
Authorized
Aware
Awesome
Back-up
Bargain
Beautiful
Beauty
Belief
Believe
Benefits
Best
Bonus
Breakthrough
Calming
Cash-back
Certain
Clean
Comfort
Comforting
Commitment
Confidence
Conquer
Consistent
Cozy
Delight
Deliver
Deluxe
Dependable
Deserver
Diamond
Different
Discovery
Double
Dynamic
Easy
Easy
Effective
Elevate
Enjoy
Ensure
Essential
Exclusive
Experience
Expert
Extra
Fantastic
Fashionable
Fast
Favorite
Find
First
Found
FREE
Fresh
Friendly
Fun
Functional
Future
Genuine
Get
Gift
Goals
Good
Good
Great
Greatest
Guarantee
Happy
Healing
Health
Heighten
Help
How-to
Hurry
Ideas
Immediately
Improved
Information
Inside-information
Insight
Insure
Integrity
Integrity
Intelligent
Invest
Investment
Involved
Latest
Leading
Leisure
Lifetime
Living
Love
Luxury
Maximize
Modern
National
Nationwide
Natural
Now
Nutritional
Official
Only
Organic
Original
Own
Peaceful
Performance
Platinum
Play
Pleasurable
Positive
Powerful
Predict
Prestigious
Prize
Produce
Professional
Profit
Promise
Promote
Prosper
Protection
Proven
Quality
Quick
Quickly
Rapid
Reap
Reasons
Recognized
Reduced
References
Relaxing
Reliable
Report
Resources
Response
Restore
Results
Results
Rewarding
Rich
Right
Rush
Sale
Save
Secret
Service
Service
Serving
Silver
Simple
Solve
Specialist
Step-by-Step
Superior
Sure
Tasty
Team
Tested
Therapeutic
Tips
Top
Tradition
Trained
Training
Travel
Treat
Trust
Truth
Understand
Understanding
Unique
Universal
Update
Up-To-Date
Valid
Validate
Value
Vital
Want
Warranty
Whopping
Win
Wisdom
Works
Worldwide
Worth
Yes
You
Young
Youthful

Want To Increase The Traffic To Your Store? Get Listed In The Hand Made Product Directory Today!

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

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Saturday, May 24, 2008

You can submit an article for our newsletter

The use of article writing has long been an excellent way to promote a store or web site. Offering them Free Of Charge on your web site or store site along with promoting the fact can and will pull in additional traffic and sales. The Hand Made Product Directory publishes a monthly newsletter and besides having our “Guest Contributor” insert in the newsletter, we are adding a section called “Learning From Others” which will be a How To article about some craft related subject from a guest contributor. If you would like to submit an article for either the “Guest Contributor” or the “Learning From Others” section of the newsletter, please send it to nlin@dmpmc.net

Shop Hand Made

Shopping is more fun when you find incredible quality at incredible prices! Over 5000 Stores To Shop From

Want To Increase The Traffic To Your Store? Get Listed In The Hand Made Product Directory Today!

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

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Friday, May 23, 2008

Are You Viral?

No I’m not asking if you are sick. Although, in a way there are some similarities to having a sickness and what I’m talking about. Viral Marketing. Kind of sounds like I’m marketing an illness but I’m not. Viral Marketing is a specific form of marketing and advertising that can be very effective in increasing sales.

Viral marketing refers to ebooks, special reports, funny emails, etc that can easily get passed around on the web. Probably the reason it was given the name “Viral” was because these things spread very much like a virus in that they are passed from one person to another. One person picks it up the item and passes it on to another and before you know it hundreds and even thousands of copies are floating around out in the vastness of the internet.

When you have added your promotional material to these items, you have all these extra pieces of advertising being seen by all these people and your only expense was the initial creation of the item itself.

Create some of your own and see how quickly traffic floods to your site. To get the most out of this, keep your information helpful. If it isn’t worth passing around, people are just going to delete it. For example, if you sell pre-made scrapbooks (where people can just stick their pictures on the layout and write a few sentences in the journal boxes), you can create a special report on organizing your photos or a Top 10 Tips list on taking better pictures. Include your URL on the cover page and the bottom of each page so people know where to find you.

Want To Increase The Traffic To Your Store? Get Listed In The Hand Made Product Directory Today!

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Double Punching with Blogs and Email

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Shopping is more fun when you find incredible quality at incredible prices! Over 5000 Stores To Shop From

For a long time I’ve promoted the use of blogs and email as a two-fold online marketing strategies. Blogs are perfect for acquiring new customers and email is great for customer retention.

It's generally accepted that the two most widely engaged in online activities are search and email. Since 80 percent of all web-related activities begin with search, blogs are great as search engine magnets. It's not that Google knows a blog when it sees one, it's that blogs contain the very elements that make a search engine drool. For example, they contain things like Titles, Keywords, Recent Content, usually Lots of Content, Links and they contain Relevancy.

Being the biggest search engine, I want to use Google here for this concept. Something magical happens when a blogger completes the blog post title field. Most blog platforms turn it into a title tag unique to the post. That's pure gold where Google is concerned. Bloggers who understand the power of the medium will enrich their posts with niche-specific keywords, which helps Google better comprehend the topic being discussed. Search engines love sites that are routinely updated and will return to index them again and again. Blogs are particularly suited to frequent updates due to their ease of use. Google can't make sense of Flash animation or graphics, at least not yet. What it does see and understand are words, and blogs contain lots of them. Now Links serve two purposes in search engine optimization. One of the ways the Google algorithm understands the purpose of a site is by looking at both inbound and outbound links. Therefore, links to topically-relevant sites provides immense SEO value.

I’m not really sure that Google understands exactly what they are doing at times with their data bases because they are always trying new things. Have you ever heard the term "Latent Semantic Indexing?" That's what Google is up to these days. It's more than indexing keywords. LSI, as it is known, takes a more holistic approach. In addition to recording which keywords a document contains, the method examines the document collection as a whole, to see which other documents contain some of those same words. LSI considers documents that have many words in common to be semantically close, and ones with few words in common to be semantically distant. Many believe that a frequently-updated, keyword-optimized, thematically-relevant blog will rank well in search engines.

If you are a regular reader, you will remember a few posts back I talked about a rather unusual seminar I attended. Among other subjects and information I walked away from the seminar with were these suggestions for ways blogs and email work well together. Build lists - Incorporating the newsletter subscription form as previously mentioned is a way for the relationship first established with the blogger to transcend to a relationship with the sponsoring company. Use email to solicit blog content - By mentioning the company blog in the email newsletter, a bridge is created between the two. In addition, asking readers to submit suggestions for blog content or even going so far as to invite readers to submit content (guest posts) will further reinforce the relationship. Use old email content for blog content - Repurposing content that, while valuable, may be languishing in the email newsletter archive is one way to give it new life. Use blog content for email newsletters - Years ago I made the statement that blogs are good "seedbeds" for the formation of ideas that can be expanded on later or fleshed out for use in other forms, including email.

Something else to think about in terms of blogs and email. In many companies, email newsletters are relegated to a monthly distribution. This means the prospect or customer is only contacted 12 times per year. This isn’t nearly enough to establish a "top-of-mind" relationship. This leaves at least 29 days to be filled. Blogs are a way to fill the gap, especially for those customers who subscribe to the blog's RSS feed.

By placing an option on your blog to allow a reader to sign up for your opt-in email list, you have a winning combination. The bottom line is, when used in concert, blogs and email can serve up a marketing haymaker. I heartily encourage using both.

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

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Monday, May 19, 2008

Success Tips For Good Socialized Marketing

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Shopping is more fun when you find incredible quality at incredible prices! Over 5000 Stores To Shop From

Using Forums are a great way to promote your business. To find them start by looking for forums that your customers use. Using keyword phrases in search engines is a good way to start looking. Be aware however that there’s a RIGHT way to promote your business in public forums… and a WRONG way. Since forums are places where people gather to chat and exchange FREE information — they’re not interested in being sold to. Here are some tips that will help you.

Don’t just jump in. Hang around a forum reading the various comments before you start commenting. This will help you find out what is acceptable and what isn’t acceptable in your posts.

Your focus should be on "relationship selling". Sell yourself, NOT your product. Unless you want to enrage the other participants, don’t post blatant "buy my product" advertisements. There are exceptions to this rule and you will be able to tell once you have been on a forum for a while. Instead, look for opportunities to respond to questions with the exact information the people asking the questions are looking for. The trick is to sit back, listen, and wait for legitimate opportunities to share your expertise. This will help you gain the community’s respect and develop a solid relationship with your target market.

In most forums, your "sig file" is your best form of advertising so give your “sig file” some thought. Most “sig files” are three- to six-line footer that you can attach to the bottom of your forum postings. Always make sure your sig file contains your name and site URL as well as a link to an informative article or newsletter subscription article!

Once you’re a regular forum participant, invite other participants to visit your site whenever you add something interesting or new to it (such as a new article or a holiday edition of your service). Just post a short note about the changes you’ve made then invite them to check out your website themselves.

Article posting is one of our favorite forum promotion strategies — and it’s one for the fastest ways to get instant sales from forums. The trick is to write an article that’s full of valuable information your target market is going to be excited to get their hands on. Then, at the end of your article, include a short biography that plugs your product!

There are two types of forums: ones that accept advertising and ones that don’t. You will find you will do better if you stick to posting in forums that don’t accept advertising.

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Partnering Up With Other Businesses

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Shopping is more fun when you find incredible quality at incredible prices! Over 5000 Stores To Shop From

When you partner up with another business by bundling your products or services together – or forming a whole new project, you are able to reach a whole new set of customers. Ideally you are going to want to choose a business that compliments yours without competing with yours in any way. For example, say you sell jewelry, a good partnering choice might be clothing of one kind or another. By combining both your efforts you are not only each reaching new customers but you increase the possibility of compounding or upgrading your sales. Let’s carry this example a little further. How about putting together a sales package that both of you sell, say a specific dress combined with a specific necklace or other pieces of jewelry. You market the set at an agreed upon price and sell the set on each others web site. Obviously this is going to take cooperation and coordination in regards to shipping and payment distribution. It can however significantly increase your sales.

Another way of partnering goes like this and it’s done in B&M stores all the time. Have your oil changed here and get a coupon for 50% OFF your next car wash at Joe Smiths Car Wash. Joe Smith’s Car Wash offers a coupon for the oil change. You see how it works. The possibilities are endless. Using these cross coupons is also very effective and a form of Partnering.

Some times it takes a little searching to find the right match when it comes to partnering but it can be well worth the effort.

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

Monday, May 12, 2008

What To Take To Craft Shows

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We have had several requests for information on what a seller should take to a craft show. We are always being sent information of interest and being the pack rat that I am, I have this tendency to save virtually everything. After looking for several days, I found what I was looking for in my files. Unfortunately I don’t know who put this list together so I could give them the well deserved credit due them. This list is pretty comprehensive. I hope it will be of help for those doing craft shows.

For Professional Appearance:

Product/Packing Related:

All merchandise clearly priced (best done, before the show)

Any product information signs necessary

Boxes for purchases

Customer bags

Extra price tags

Hang tags & care instructions (as required)/ Price Tags

Inventory list/prices

String

Tissue or newspaper for fragile items

Literature:

Booth signs

Brochures

Business cards and holder

Catalogs

Company name sign

Flyers

Invitations to other shows/exhibits of your works

Media folder (in case of interview at show)

Portfolio

Referral sign - where else can they find your work

Retail order forms/price list

Show schedule to use as a bag stuffer & handouts

Special order forms - 2 part

Wholesale and/or retail special order forms

Wholesale order forms/price list

Office Supply Kit:

Clipboard and writing pad or notebook

Paper clips

Paper or index cards

Paper weight

Pens and pencils - red one for mark downs

Push pins & extra tacks

Rubber bands

Safety and/or straight pins

Scissors

Stapler and staples

Tape - scotch, masking, duct, packing

Sales Related:

800 authorization number for credit card authorization

Calculator

Cash box with change, ones, fives & tens or

Cash register & battery pack

Cell phone

Charge/credit slips

Credit card equipment (if you offer it)

Laptop

Receipt book/sales book

Sales tax chart

Miscellaneous:

Clear Paper Protector to hold the following:

Copy of your sales tax certificate of authority to hang in your booth

Correspondence with the promoter - directions, rules, regulations, phone notes, copy of canceled check, etc.

Copy of application with date sent and check number

Any notes about the show - pros or cons

Guest book- to develop a mailing list

3 Ring binder with all your show information in chronological order - this is great for sharing with other crafters

Rolling drawer unit to keep all office/sales/literature materials in; it's easily accessible and you never have to unpack

Tablet to record sales and mileage

Copy of this checklist

For Displays:

Tool Kit:

Glue for repairs - Elmer's, super glue, tacky

Hammer (to pound in spikes)

Hot glue gun

Knife

Nails

Needle nose pliers

Pliers

Screwdriver

Tacks

Tape measure

Touch up paintbrush

Wire cutters

Wrench

Display Props:

Carpeting or floor covering for size of booth

Chairs or stool with a back on it

Display aids

Backdrop

Folding screens

Grid displays

Pegboard and hooks

Plate display stands

Racks

Risers

Shelves

Wall units

Fabric draping for riser or shelf coverings

Folding tables

Music and tape player

Table clothes (clean & pressed) - to ground level

Tables

Display Hardware:

"C" Clamps (to secure a screen to a tabletop or sheeting to tent in case of rain

Bungee cords if you're outdoors

Canopy or tent & supplies

Extra weights or spikes

Fishing line (invisible hangers)

Opaque sheeting or drop clothes to cover display at overnight shows

Plastic tarps or sheeting in case of rain or overnight

Shims for table legs

Side-walls or tarps for overnight

Tape gun

Tie down ropes

Twist ties

Weights for holding display and tent down in the wind

Wire

Lighting:

3 or 4 extension cords- different lengths

3-to-2 adapters

Clip-on lights

Duct tape to tape the cord to the floor

Extension cord at least 50'

Extra 40-60 watt light bulbs

Flashlight

Lamps

Multi-plug outlets

Power strip

Cleaning Supplies:

Clean cloth rags

Garbage bags

Glass cleaner

Other cleaners

Paper towels

Small hand vacuum

Small trash can

Demonstrating:

All materials/supplies for making your craft

All tools needed

Apron

Candy or cookies for shoppers and children

Free samples

Miscellaneous:

Baggies

Clothespins

Dolly or cart to transport stock to your booth

For Personal Comfort:

Clothing:

Change of clothes- anything can happen

Change of shoes

Extra socks

Inner soles for shoes

Food:

Cooler with drinks & food

Frozen bottle of water or juice

Gallon jugs of water can double as weights

High energy foods and juices

Napkins

Paper plates

Plastic utensils

Simple food - like crackers or cut-up vegetables that won't be a mess

Thermal mug

Thermos

Water bottle

Weather related

Battery operated fan

Bug spray

Jacket or sweater

Neck coolers

Pair of rainproof boots

Sun hat and/or sunglasses

Sun screen

Health related:

Aspirin and/or any medicines you may require for the day

Box of tissues

First aid kit (prescription drugs, bandages, first aid cream, anything needed for allergies)

Hand lotion

In case of emergency - phone numbers of family members

Appearance/Hygiene:

Deodorant

Lipstick

Make up kit

Toilet tissue (you never know)

Wet wipes

Miscellaneous:

Camera

Cushion for chair

Fix-it kit with needles

Paper towels

Steamer/Iron

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Something For Everyone

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Shopping is more fun when you find incredible quality at incredible prices! Over 5000 Stores To Shop From

There may be some readers who do not know about the many resources both for shoppers and for store owners that can be found on The Hand Made Product Directory. Since we need to start somewhere, let me start with the resources for shoppers.

You will find on The Hand Made Product Directory over 5000 different stores from around the world that create and sell unique handmade and handcrafted products. All the online stores found here have been handpicked for their quality and uniqueness of product. Every store listed in the directory creates and sells unique handmade and handcrafted products. It is our aim to provide you with some of the best stores online and an incredibly rewarding shopping experience. On the directory there is what we call the “Now On Sale” page. This page is where stores that are holding sales in their stores tell the world about it. Are you looking for a craft oriented event? Check out our “Events” page. Need an idea for a gift? Check out our “Gift Guide”. Like reading the blogs by store owners? Check out the “Store Owners Blogs” page. While you are there, check out the “Store Coupon” page and see what stores have coupons listed for their store.

Store owners will also find a wealth of services and resources for their use on The Hand Made Product Directory. Besides the ability to list their store in the directory for free, there are several other Listing Upgrades available at very economical prices. Probably some of the lest expensive on line. All of the pages I mentioned above are available for the use of store owners. There is a “Resource” page that has many other resources that store owners are welcome make use of. Store owners have the ability to join free of charge our Craft Marketing Central group on indiepublic which is a group of other store owners that share marketing and advertising ideas. Those that have chosen Listing Upgrades have additional advantages such as their ads traffic reports and several other perks. If you are a store owner and create and sell handmade or handcrafted products and you are not yet listed in the directory, you should be. Check us out and see if you don't think The Hand Made Product Directory is a unique and useful asset to add to your marketing and advertising arsenal.

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

Friday, May 9, 2008

Using Coupons In Advertising - Part 2

Using Coupons

Many on line sellers are fearful of using coupons basically because of the difficulty of handling them. One of the biggest problems many on line sellers have with using coupons is tracking and issuing them. I want to give you an idea on how to address these two issues. Web sites that have this capability built in make using coupons easy but many that we all use don’t have these features so let’s look at an alternative.

Let’s look at tracking. Now if you have an accounting program you use to handle your business finances, you may very well have the ability to use it to handle the tracking part of the issue. You will need to look at your software to determine this. If you don’t have this capability, there is still a relatively easy way to keep track of coupons. Almost any spreadsheet program will work for our purposes here.

You will need to give these names to your columns

Coupon #, Coupon Value, Issuing Date, Expiration Date, Customers Name, Address, City, St, Zip, Email, Use Date, Use Amt, Balance, Use Date, Use Amt, Balance, Use Date, Use Amt, Balance, Use Date, Use Amt, Balance, Current Value (usually a coupon is used up long before you reach a 4^th use date). If you need assistance with the formulas, I have a spreadsheet you can obtain simply by emailing us through The Hand Made Directory.

Now for the more complicated part of the issue. How to issue and use them. First, you will need to design a coupon that you are capable of giving individual different numbers to each one issued. This graphic can be either printed and used in a delivery or can be sent via email. You must make it clear to the customer that in order to be able to use the coupon, they must contact you prior to its use so you know they have a coupon. By doing this, you are capable of invoicing the customer with the appropriate price adjustment already being made prior to the purchase. This saves the problem of having to go into PayPal for example and issuing a refund. You can always do this, but it is more work and simply doesn’t present as good an image as the other method.

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Using Coupons To Draw In Customers

I was going to talk about using coupons to pull in new customers but I was going over some of the daily material I read every day and happened upon an article which I think does a better job than I could on the subject. Here is the link (http://www.tamingthebeast.net/blog/web-marketing/coupons-online-business-0508.htm )to the article and I encourage everyone to read it. The article refers to using shopping cart software that allows for the use of coupons and since many of our readers don’t have that ability or availability to them, tomorrow I am going to talk about methods we can use for using coupons.

info@dmpmc.net www.dmpmc.net/THMD

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Concistency Is The Key

If your day is anything like mine, it is a long one, full of all the many mundane as well as the interesting jobs that any business owner is called upon to deal with. Some days are better than other. We have a tendency to become so wrapped up in the daily activities that we often don’t see the proverbial forest for the trees. It’s often that way with out marketing and advertising efforts. When things aren’t going well we search for ways to change the status quoi but if things appear to be rolling along fine, we often become apathetic. It’s at these times when we often miss great opportunities.

There comes a time in every business persons’ business life when they need to step back and take a good look, preferably from the perspective of their customers. It’s really necessary to do this if we expect to really evaluate our marketing and advertising efforts properly. The fact that sales are coming in isn’t the only factor that answers the question “is what I’m doing working?”. It’s not the answer here that is in question. It’s the question itself. The question shouldn’t be “is what I’m doing working?” but “is what I’m doing accomplishing as much as can be accomplished?” or as my dad used to say “are you getting all the milk out of the cow that you can?”.

Unfortunately when it comes to marketing and advertising, nothing we do will every work consistently and forever. There is one basic concept that you can depend on however. That is the quest of obtaining the most positive advertising possible at the lowest price. Spending more doesn’t necessarily guarantee better results. In fact, using inexpensive and even free advertising (when available) is really the base on which a company builds its overall marketing and advertising structure. If you can obtain inexpensive advertising in sufficient quantity that is reaching your audience, you can use those saved dollars for those special advertising campaigns and pushes that are needed.

I have a good friend that is a contractor. He started his business almost 30 years ago by having his children going out on weekends placing door hangers in various neighborhoods. It worked for him and now 30 years later he is one of the biggest contractors in the state. Guess what? To this day, he still uses the same advertising technique as part of his overall advertising approach. He hires teens to go out on weekends and hang fliers on door handles. When I talked to him last about the cost, he said it is still the most cost effective advertising he can do. He gets more business from this method of advertising than from any of the other forms he uses. It’s also still the least expensive for him. The moral here is just that cost doesn’t equal guaranteed success.

It wasn’t the cost factor that encouraged my friend to continue with his original advertising method. It was the outcome of that method. He also realized early on that consistency was the real key. Today we call this Branding but it basically means the same thing. Spending $10, $20, $50 a month consistently hitting a specifically targeted audience will bring greater returns than spending greater amounts hitting different people every time.

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