What About January?

MARKETING TIPS
It’s Time to Plan Your January Promotions!

Let’s face it, from a marketers point of view, Christmas is over and now we have to jump on the bandwagon for the next reason to promote. January, although long and boring in terms of Holidays, is chock full of opportunities for you to find an excuse to have a sale or start a new campaign!

Here are some “themed” ideas for you to develop into your own product and services advertising campaigns:

• The first and most obvious new promotion is an “After Christmas” or “End of Year” Sale which you can start right now! Get rid of last year’s stock and make space for the new and more innovative. Draw attention to items and services that didn’t move well with regular pricing. Announce new things to come for the new year.

• January is the month for personal evaluation and changes. So health and fitness, nutrition and diet, organization, cleaning, mental health and personal development products & services are wonderful to blast out to the world this month!

• January is also a time for business owners to set their goals and plan their business strategies and budgets for the year. Is your business a “B2B” business? Now is the time to get noticed and remembered, plaster ads everywhere, give out business cards, send direct mail postcards with beautiful artwork that recipients want to save and hang up, catalogs, samples.

Beat the rest to the marketing draw — but make sure you are noticed and remembered with unique and creative campaigns and lots of reusable, savable leave-behinds such as magnets, notepads, recipe cards or bookmarks with your business info., etc. Flyers get thrown out, utilitarian items get saved and used daily so you are seen over and over and eventually remembered!

These marketing strategies apply to any type of business whether you customer base is the general consumer or businesses!

• North Americans are ready for vacations to warm, exotic places. Push your vacation and travel products and services: cruises, spas, and tropical islands; airfare, car rental and accomodation specials. Be creative, there are a lot of products and services that can be tied into this theme: travel supplies for pets; self-pampering products and luggage; the list goes on!

• Don’t forget all the money everyone just blew! Do you offer banking or financial services? There are a lot of people in debt (unfortunately) in January. Help them refinance, pay bills, get low-cost loans.

Now’s a GREAT time to recruit affiliates and downline members for your business. People will be looking for ways to pay off all that Holiday debt!

Grab a notepad and calendar and plan your campains ahead of time for the next 3 or 4 months. That’s half the marketing work done for your business in advance. This will help you plan your time and budget as well. ∆

Step it up!

After reading many other blogs, I have to admit, mine seems a little ' dull', lacking interesting articles and ideas. It seems to jump from one topic to the next without the rhyme or reason. It is more of the stream of consciousness type of blog but it really needs some HELP!

Now this time of year, everyone reflects on the last year and the changes they would like to make for the new year. Yes, that is exactly what I did! So as a result of all the contemplation, I resolved to pay more attention to my blog. I know, not much of a resolution. There are plenty more, believe me. But it appears that some of the problem is my organization. Now that wasn't anything new because if you could see my office, you know that I am always trying to get organized but never quite achieving success. So, I do now resolve to organize my blog. I won't make any commitments to my office though!

Be on the lookout for a newly organized blog. That way I can neatly categorize all my topics and still talk about anything and everything under the sun! Now I just need to figure out how to go about organizing it!

Happy New Year!

Desire Is the Starting Point for Success

DESIRE IS THE STARTING POINT FOR SUCCESS

The first thing that will contribute to reaching your goal
is that you simply want to reach it badly enough.
You must learn how to desire with sufficient intensity to be successful.

If you have the desire you have the power to attain success.
You can really have anything you want in life if you go after it.
But you have to want it.

As a drowning soul desires air, as a shipwrecked person craves fresh water,
so must you feel that intense, eager, insistent, demanding, ravenous desire
for your success.

Your desire for success must be so strong within you that it becomes
the very breath of your life.
It must be your first thought when you wake up, and your last thought
when you go to bed at night.

You can have anything you want if you go after it with intensity.

Copyright 2007

Fun Ways to Motivate Your Team

Fun Ways to Motivate your Team

Having a well-motivated sales team can be the cornerstone of a successful direct sales career. Building a strong sales team has the potential for great financial benefits for you as an up line. So now that you are on your way to building a good sized sales team how do you keep them motivated so that they will have fun with what they are doing and be able to build a successful direct selling business for themselves?

Team Newsletter or Ezine
One thing that you can do to keep up the motivation of your team is start a team newsletter. This can be done through the mail or by email whichever you think would work better for your group. You can include words of encouragement to get your team members excited about their business, offer tips like theme party ideas and maybe even let your team send in ideas that have worked for them. Yahoo groups is another great way to have your down line get to know each other and support each other.

Sending Cards
Another thing you can do to let your team members know that they are special to you is start sending cards on special occasions. Remembering things like wedding anniversaries, birthdays or even a consultant that has had an exceptional sales month will let your team members know that they are special to you and not simply a number that you recruited for your own personal gain. Acknowledging these also helps motivate your team which helps all parties involved.

Training and Incentives
Offer team training and incentives to your down line for motivation. Whether your new recruits are direct sales pros or delving into their first experience, training is always a good thing. You could hold conference calls; monthly or even weekly team meetings. Offer incentives for your team to help them reach their sales goals. Offer things like sales aides (order forms, catalogs, etc…) or products from your company if they meet goals like booking so many parties in a month, making so many sales phone calls, or meeting a certain amount of sales.

Support
The best thing that you can do is make yourself available to your team and let them know that they matter to you. Nothing is more motivating than knowing you have someone who is behind you and supports you all the way with your business.

Keep these tips in mind and you will have a sales team that really loves what they do, which means success for everyone.

Online Networking Without Being Overwhelmed

Online Networking Without Overwhelm by Jenn Givler

One of my favorite marketing activities is networking online. Many of my clients engage in this activity as well. But, soon after starting online networking, many people find themselves in a state of overwhelm – so many groups – so little time! First, how do you know which groups are ideal for your business, and second, how do I effectively manage my online networking and avoid becoming overwhelmed with it all?

First, let’s talk about some of the ways that you can networking online. You can participate in online networking groups such as the type you might find at Yahoo, Ryze, or Zaadz. You can also participate in special online events through organizations like WECAI.

It’s important to find networking groups where your niche is hanging out. These are the people that you will be able to help build your business. When you visit sites like Yahoo, do a search on keywords for your niche and see what kinds of groups are out there. For example, if I’m looking for networking groups, I might search on “women entrepreneurs.” Hanging out with your niche will help you gain clients, and it will help you discover what your niche’s needs are as they relate to your business.

You can also join networking groups where your peers congregate. These are great to discuss industry trends, get business questions answered and share ideas. For example, I’m a member of a few groups that are geared toward coaching.

You want to be sure the groups you’re interested in are fairly active. An active group usually has a couple hundred members, and will have at least 15 to 20 messages in a week – some have a lot more than that, but that’s a good number to look for.

When you join a group, spend a few days getting to know what the rules and expectations are. For example, some groups do not allow e-mail signatures, some groups have special days for ads. Also, spend some time reading the discussions and learning about the members.

When you’re ready, post your introduction, and jump into any conversations you feel you’d like to join.

If a group is busy and it seems like the conversations move fast and there are new threads constantly being added, you don’t have to respond to everything. When you visit the online groups, usually there is a message archive that you can browse. All of the threads are usually grouped by topic, so you can choose which discussions you’re interested in following and responding to. It is completely fine to only respond to the threads that you are most interested in. Don’t forget to offer your expertise in discussions where it is warranted. This will help members get to know what you can offer them, and it is a great way to establish yourself as an expert.

Another rule of thumb is to not work a sales pitch into every post you make. That can seem insincere. Save your sales pitch for ad days and for your e-mail signature. The goal of networking in any situation is to build relationships. You may not make sales or get e-zine subscribers the first time you post – and that’s ok. You want the members of the group to get to know you, and you want to get to know them.

Consistency is the key to make online networking work for you. Decide how much time you’re going to devote to this marketing activity and then be consistent. For example, you may decide to visit your online groups three times per week and spend 2 hours responding to posts. Or, you may decide to only visit once per week and spend 3 hours networking. Be organized with your efforts and stick to a schedule. This will make it easier to manage, and it will ensure that you don’t get stuck socializing when you really should be working

In addition to making really great business connections, online networking is a way to make amazing friends and meet fantastic people. Remember, not every single person you meet through networking will become a customer, but they will be a great connection – and you never know where that might lead!



Jenn Givler is the Catalyst for Thriving Businesses. She teaches entrepreneurs how to break through fear, frustration and overwhelm in their business. Visit her web site and receive your free report: The 5 Reasons Your Business Is Still Stuck – Even though you’re doing everything right. http://www.jgivlercoaching.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Targeting your market to increase the quality of your prospect

Targeting your market to increase the
quality of your prospects.

By Scott Hache
Platinum Designs

Identifying your target audience is the first and most crucial step in starting or improving your business. You must develop a plan which will effectively capture the attention of your potential customers.

Without a proper plan in place, your business would be like a game of darts, without the dart board. You must find your target or else your time, effort, and hard earned dollars could be lost in cyberspace.

First you must know who your customers are. You may define your customers by creating a customer profile. Your customer profile will consist of three major components. Demographic, Psychographic, and behavioralistic.

The Demographic Component

Identifying the Demographic Factors:

1. Age

What age group are you trying to target? ( ie. Children, Young Parents, Baby Boomers?)

2. Gender

Certain products or services could be better tailored towards a certain gender. Women typically are more nurturing where men typically are more into the bottom line.

3. Profession

Does your ideal customer work for a large corporation, or do they stay at home watching the children?

4. Education level

Would your ideal prospect be someone who has a college or university education?

5. Household income level

The income level of your prospects may play a role in the targeting of your market. Is the product or service affordable enough for the average person? Or does your marketing efforts have to be tailored towards

6. Family Size

Determining the size of the consumers family can be beneficial for consumer products.

By determining who your ideal customer would be you can effectively target your marketing efforts toward your prospect.

The Psychographic Component

The Psychographic component is the factor that influences your customers purchasing decisions. What are the Attitudes beliefs and Emotions of your prospects?

Identify which characteristics best represent your targeted audience:

• What is their current lifestyle?
• Are they are single or more family oriented?
• Are they conservative, trendy, and/or socially responsible?
• Does your audience share a common past-time or hobby?

The Behavioralistic Component

The Behavioristic component is the factor which determines the Motivations or reasons for the customer to buy your product or service.

Identify what is most important to your prospects.

1. Price
2. Location
3. Quality
4. Product Warranties or Guarantees
5. Customer Service and/or Support
6. Brand name

You may also want to determine how often your targeted customer will purchase your product. Will they re-purchase or re-order your products or services on a regular basis?

Once you have built a profile for your ideal customer, the next step is to research the market to determine where you could best advertise to capitalize on the market in which you are targeting.

Visit search engines, websites, read magazines, etc. which reflect the demographics, and interests of your ideal prospect. If you are looking to target young business men, maybe a high-tech site would work. If you are looking to target parents of young children, why not try some parenting websites. You need to get a feel for what type of advertising will work with your audience.

Targeting your market is a crucial step in marketing your business online and offline, once you have developed your customer profile and researched the market carefully to determine where to spend your marketing dollars. You are ready to begin to market your business!

Going Back!

Did you ever sit in one of those message chairs in mall at the Brookstone store? Didn't you want to just sit there forever but you knew there were others chomping at the bit to have a turn? (Or how about wanting a turn but some kid is sitting there playing with it - like they need it for their back! )

The whole point of those chairs is for back relief. Once you sit in one of magical chairs, your body melts and you can feel the tension being drawn out by every messaging finger running up and down your back, neck, legs, arms, well you get the picture. Today's article will give you some other tips for helping with that back pain. It is a growing issue for many since we are delegated to our chairs for most of the work day.

After reading the article, think of another way you help your back. You could do I what I do and work from home where you can get up and go or take a break whenever you want. Check out my website after reading about back care. See which helps more!

Category: Healthy Body - Back Pain
Written by Kristen Holt - Editor for SmartLivingNews.com

BACK PAIN
With our busy lives and/or sedentary desk-jobs many of us can feel the effects of what we do in our backs. Accidents, work-related injuries, poor posture and stress are all factors that contribute to a very common ailment most have encountered at various times. In fact, the American Physical Therapy Association writes, “In our modern, industrial society, back pain is the most common cause of loss of activity among adults under 45. It’s estimated that over 80% of all American workers suffer back pain at some time during their careers.” Indeed, some occupations place greater demands on a person’s back than others but even the normal, every-day kind of activities we engage in can contribute to the irritation of back pain.

The good news is that we can make a conscientious effort to take care of our backs in the midst of our schedules and work obligations. As with most things, prevention is the best remedy so it is important to pay attention to our activities, stresses and lifestyle. By making adjustments where possible, we can take the preventative steps necessary to keep our backs free from pain and/or injury.

• Ways to Prevent Back Pain and Injuries including:

  • Adequate rest
  • Make your work environment as safe as possible
  • Take care to watch your posture especially when lifting heavy objects and/or working in environments requiring repetitious physical labor
  • Lowering your stress level as much as possible (see also SmartLivingNews Archive: Handling Stress and General Anxiety, Oct. 01, 2005)
  • Regular exercise

• For Avoiding Pain and Injuries:

  • Set realistic weight-loss goals. Being within the ideal weight range for your height and frame will minimize stress on your back.
  • Regular exercise (especially aerobic training and/or specific stretching exercises) can help strengthen your back muscles and increase your flexibility.
  • Pay attention to your posture and avoid slouching or straining when standing for long periods of time. Also, change your position frequently.
  • Find chairs and positions that support your back when sitting down.
  • When lifting heavy objects keep the object close to you and lift with your legs.
  • Ask for help when lifting heavy loads.
  • Try adjusting your work environment if you can reduce the need for repetitious bending and/or physical labor.
  • Use a headset when spending time on the phone to avoid cradling the phone between your shoulder and ear which adds stress to your back.
  • Invest in shoes with little/no heels and non-slip or rubber soles to relieve back stress as well as to avoid trips and falls.
  • Try and eliminate as many potential stressors in your life as possible – This may include taking a lighter work load, performing deep-breathing exercises, taking a walk, or taking time to talk to a friend, etc.
  • Get adequate rest.

  For Relief of (lower) back pain:

  • Contact your doctor/chiropractor immediately for back pain caused by physical injuries and/or you experience extreme pain affecting your ability to move around, etc.
  • Lie down with your back on the floor, place pillows underneath your knees and either bend your knees or lay your feet on a chair. This is the best (temporary) position to relieve back pain.
  • Take a walk frequently – even every few minutes or hours for a couple of days.
  • Carve out time to rest your back (1 – 2 days).
  • Place a heating pad on the area of your back where you feel painful muscle spasms for 20 – 30 minutes at a time. This will help release tension and relax the muscle spasms.
  • Try using ice packs for severe pain.
  • Massages can also provide relief.
  • Begin a moderate exercise routine. An inactive lifestyle contributes to stress build-up and back pain.
  • Incorporate vitamins and minerals into your diet including glucosamine, calcium and magnesium to promote muscle health.

• http://familydoctor.org/117.xml
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/back-pain/HQ00955
• http://www.apta.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=20406

www.abiz4health.ownanewbusiness.com

18 Ways to "BE"

1. Be strong enough to face the world each day. 2. Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything. 3. Be generous to those who need your help. 4. Be frugal with what you need yourself. 5. Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything. 6. Be foolish enough to believe in miracles. 7. Be willing to share your joys. 8. Be willing to share the sorrows of others. 9. Be a leader when you see a path others have missed. 10. Be a follower in the midst of uncertainty. 11. Be the first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds. 12. Be the last to criticize a colleague who fails. 13. Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not stumble. 14. Be sure of your final destination, in case you are going the wrong way. 16. Be loving to those who love you. 17. Be loving to those who do not love you; they may learn to love because of you. 18. Be yourself.

URGENT ALERT: A Favor to Ask

Hey Sisters, Every one of us has been affected by breast cancer. We've watched our mothers, sisters and girlfriends fight it. Many of us had endured our own battle. Today, we can all do something to help in the fight. The Breast Cancer Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram" for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To make your free contribution, click here. Pass this information along to people you know. PLEASE TELL 10 FRIENDS TO TELL 10 FRIENDS TODAY. Links: The Breast Cancer Site info page Breast Cancer Survivors 4 Things To Know About Mammograms/Discussion Share Your Story