Telemarketing has emerged as a popular and effective marketing tool. More and more companies are adopting this method owing to the quicker responses received. Companies often outsource their telemarketing services to third party telemarketing firms. The outsourcing enables the companies to concentrate on their core activities, while the telemarketing firms handle the telemarketing services. One of the advantages of utilizing the services of professional telemarketing firms is their expertise in handling a wide range of customers. Outsourcing telemarketing services generally proves to be a wise business decision.

Telemarketing can be broadly classified into inbound telemarketing and outbound telemarketing. A standard firm offering telemarketing services deals with both these kinds of marketing. Telemarketing firms also offer other services such as business-to-business telemarketing, business-to-consumer telemarketing, and automated telemarketing. Some specialized telemarketing services include voice broadcasting, sales lead generation, answering service, appointment fixing, order processing, and sales report generation. These services are provided at a cost effective and reliable manner. Telemarketing can be outsourced for better results and professional services. The outsourcing of telemarketing services has now emerged as a key component in a company’s sales initiatives.

Third-party telemarketing firms usually have tie-ups with numerous companies for selling their diverse range of products and services. The expertise gained in dealing with a diverse customer base can be utilized effectively for telemarketing at different regions with different ethnic populations. Some customers complain that marketing calls are a pestering problem. They enlist themselves into some state or federal do-not-call lists. It is a serious offence to call these customers for any commercial or marketing purposes. The telemarketing firms therefore maintain do-not-call lists in their databases.

What is telemarketing?
Telemarketing is the process of marketing goods, advertising services or customer service over the telephone. It is classified into two; inbound and outbound telemarketing. Inbound telemarketing is any incoming sales or service from viewers and listeners who want to order the advertised product or ask for more information. Some inbound applications are order taking, customer service, help desk and many more. An outbound telemarketing on the other hand, is the practice of making phone calls to prospects or existing customers done by a marketing person. Some outbound telemarketing applications include phone sales, appointment setting, lead generation and many more.

Knowing the Advantage
When you hear the word telemarketing, the first thing that gets into your mind would be a telephone or sometimes, a telephone ringing, right? But when you hear the phone rings, your usual reaction definitely is to answer it. You can’t deny the fact that the ringing of the phone alone would get your attention instantly and you would seldom ignore it.

Radio promotions and advertisement including billboards, newspaper and magazine ads or even direct mail demand slight or no interest at all. They can be forgotten once you have heard it, read it or seen it. They can all be disregarded and ignored but not telemarketing. Telemarketing acquires an immediate answer. This is the primary advantage of telemarketing. With this advantage, telemarketing establishes a conversation right away. Having a two-way communication is very productive. It is easier for the client to get the message or understand the product and the most important of it is that all questions can be answered promptly. It can even lead to a sale in an instant.

Another advantage of telemarketing is that telemarketing is available 24/7 at 365 days a year. With this kind of service, telemarketing allows you to answer your prospects’ questions, address their concerns, and overcome their objections. It is also the only marketing medium that allows you to adjust and make any changes with the strategy anytime necessary to increase results. An example of this is constantly changing or editing your sales script. You can even change your calling hours. This can be done as long as you gain results with it which results into another breakthrough, flexibility.

Understanding the Advantage
With its availability and commitment, telemarketing provides client with direct response and essential information that can be promptly scrutinized. Telemarketing is definitely flexible, definitely practical because it provides you with never-ending opportunities and possibilities to increase and enhance your business. Having these advantages proves that telemarketing is truly an ultimate marketing instrument.

Telemarketing is still, dollar for dollar, one of the most cost-efficient means of advertising. Why dread it?

I know, I know. There's so much rejection. But if you made all your decisions in life based on the number of rejections you received you'd probably never leave the house. You can thank me later for that slap in the face.

Think about it. We are all rejected daily in some form or another. Especially if you own or manage a business. Do all your customers buy the same menu item, or the same book? That new store sign you purchased last month, did everyone who does business with you compliment you on it? Probably not.

While not an outright rejection, subtle forms of rejection can still take their toll on our egos - if we let them. Don't! Don't even let the blatant ones get you down. The only sure way to success is to hit rejection dead on.

Cold calling is difficult, but necessary. This is especially true for new start ups. How are you going to let people know you are in business? Whether you visit your potential customers by going door to door or calling them on the phone, you are bound to hear the word "No" often. Some of them will sound harsh. But that's OK. Not everyone is going to be interested. Start the day ready to accept it and look for those yeses. They're out there too.

One sure way to defeat your sales efforts before you get started is to dwell on the negative. Resist that temptation. Be enthusiastic. It rubs off. If you are enthusiastic about your business then others will be and you will hear fewer nos.

When you make your call, start off letting your prospects know who you are. Introduce yourself and your company before you do anything else. Then tell them why you are calling. You have less than ten seconds to get their attention. Make it count.

Be polite. Even if the prospect is rude. They may not be interested today but if you are polite and treat them with respect they will remember that. Be rude, even slightly, and they will remember that even more!

So what do you do if you do get a "No." Try to find out why the prospect isn't interested. This is real easy. Just ask.

"Mr. Johnson, why wouldn't you want to try our new cherry-flavored mouthwash guaranteed to cure gingivitis the first time you use it?" You'll be amazed how honestly people will answer your question. That's information you can use in future calls. It can also give you the information you need to close the sale on that call. Don't shy away from the question.

You also want to make as many calls as you can. Don't make a few calls and give up. If you aren't getting the decision maker on the phone, keep trying. There is a cycle to every process, even prospecting.

Also, you want to make yourself a script. Whether you are selling a product, setting appointments, or asking to send some literature to your prospect's in-box, figure out what you want to say and how you want to say it before you ever pick up the phone. It will be embarrassing to get tongue-tied and lose your train of thought right in the middle of the call because you forgot what you wanted to focus on. So make a script.

The script doesn't have to be complicated. Just a few lines about why you are calling, a few benefits to the customer then a closing statement. A good closing statement asks your prospect to take the action you want them to make. "Mr. Johnson, which seminar would you like to attend, A or B?"

And that's it. Have fun, relax and be yourself. Cold calling is not hard and it can produce great results.

Any business can be the victim of fraud. Large businesses have resources to prevent fraud and resources to recover from the financial loss. A small business, however, may not have the resources to install programs to prevent fraud, and it may not be able to recover from the financial loss. The three most common types of fraud can cause big problems for small business owners.

Check and credit card schemes

The illegal use of checks and credit cards is becoming more sophisticated because of technology, and businesses must always be on the lookout for this type of fraud. To avoid check fraud, be sure that any check you accept has at least one perforated edge, a background design, and a bank logo, name, and address. Checks that have been photocopied usually look faded or the print is not crisp.

MasterCard and Visa cards have three numbers on the signature blank on the back that are italicized (card verification value). Ask for the three digit number to deter thieves who have stolen credit card numbers, but do not have the actual card. Also, Visa account numbers begin with a 4 and contain 13-16 digits. MasterCard accounts begin with a 5 and contain 16 digits. American Express account numbers begin with either 34 or 37. Always ask for a picture ID from anyone writing a check or using a credit card.

Illegal Loan Offers

Individuals illegally posing as lenders may target small business owners, because they believe they are more vulnerable. If you are asked to pay an up-front processing fee, be sure that it is a legitimate lender. Also be cautious if you receive a letter or phone call telling you that you are pre-approved to purchase or lease equipment. Do not send any money unless you know that the offer was legitimately made by a reputable company.

Any legitimate lender will check your credit or review your business plan before they loan you money or lease equipment to you. You should be suspicious of phone calls, emails, or letters that unconditionally pre-approve you for anything. Never send money unless you know that you are dealing with a legitimate firm. Also, it is always a good idea to check with the Better Business Bureau or the state attorney general's office to see if any complaints have been filed against the company.

Web Site Credit Card Fraud

Your customers must feel secure when they conduct transactions on your website. There are certain steps you can take to protect your customers. As with other credit card transactions, ask for the three-digit number located on the back of the card. Ask customers for their billing address or ZIP code and be sure the information matches. If you have the customer’s phone number, you can call to confirm the order.

There are fraud-prevention services that you can hire and fraud detection services that you can buy. There is a service called Payer Authentication that matches and verifies the credit card information. There are solutions that are scalable and can be integrated with your current processing methods. Most importantly, trust your intuition. If something does not feel right, there is probably something wrong.

Business expenses need to be budgeted for when you are starting a business. These expenses are typically categorized according to type. One of the larger categories of business expense falls under the heading Administrative Expenses. These business expenses are those related to the day-to-day operations of the company.

It is important to understand these administrative expenses. When you are preparing your budget and pro forma statements you need to be aware of the options that impact each of these business expenses.

The first business expense to look at is payroll. Your business needs to be able to pay you. This business expense may be regular or infrequent but it needs to be budgeted for.

Next is business expenses related to telecommunications. These are items like cell phones, business phone lines, and Internet access.

Insurance is an important business expense in the administrative category. Here you need to consider business insurance, general liability insurance, casualty insurance and health insurance.

Health insurance is a huge business expense. Our recommendation when budgeting for this is: If you have a spouse that has health insurance try to stay on their policy. If COBRA is an option for you, try to arrange that. This is a very costly business expense so do your homework carefully.

Bank fees are a business expense that many people don't even think about. You should realize though that banks charge a fee to open a business account and the monthly fees are typically higher than for personal accounts.

A related expense is the fees charged by the credit card companies. These add up to huge business expenses as they typically charge at least two or three percent on each transaction. And many small-business owners absolutely love American Express, which usually charges even higher percentage fees.

Another large business expense item is professional fees. These are the fees you pay to your accountant and/or attorney to advise you on different stages of your business as well as other benefits.

Nothing is more powerful and as inexpensive as a good testimonial from one your satisfied customers. Word-of-mouth referrals are also a valued small business marketing technique. Here's a simple way to generate a testimonial and use it in your small home based business word-of-mouth marketing campaign.

At the conclusion of every client project include a mandatory rating form focused on performance areas your target customers use to make their buying decisions. Use those word-of-mouth testimonial stats in your small business marketing materials and promotional methods.

This simple idea provides you with the ability to tell other current clients and prospective customers how well you performed with people just like them. It may be second-hand word-of-mouth marketing but it can still be a powerful small home based business marketing tool.

Don't just ask your clients to rate categories of performance but ask them for comments. If it's appropriate use your phone and take some pictures. Visual word-of-mouth is an equally powerful small business marketing tool. It's possible they'll take the pictures for you and email them along with some comments.

This is also a great time to ask for some referrals. When a client is in a positive mood and feeling valued pop the "who do you know" question. They've just told how much they like the product or service you've provide to them. It's a perfect time to turn a series of "yeses" into a specific request for a specific number of referrals.

What if you don't get rave reviews? Correct the situation to the customers satisfaction and leverage the positive nature of your ability to correct a situation into a high rating and a new word-of-mouth testimonial.

There’s no doubt that direct mail is one of the most effective marketing tool available to small business. What are the advantages?

It’s cost-effective, costing between .75 cents and $1 per mailing, including paper, ink, envelopes and postage. It’s effective, averaging between 1 and 3% response rate. It allows controlled growth. You choose how many you send, and since you know the average response rate, you know how many will probably reply. And it gives you one-on-one attention.

But direct mail is only truly effective if you get at least that 1 to 3% response rate. I’ve heard about direct mail failures from many small business owners. In fact, I’d say most who’ve tried it don’t believe it works well at all based on their response. Sometimes those responses have been zero.

It’s frustrating to pour hours of your best copywriting into a direct mail letter that bombs. You may feel that not only have you wasted your time, but you’ve also wasted a bunch of cash that could have been put to better use somewhere else.

But, most of those business owners have committed cardinal sins in their direct mail copywriting. And their response rates could have been far higher had they known a few things about writing direct mail.

It all starts with the envelope. If it looks like “junk mail”, it’ll probably be tossed instead of opened. There’s no chance of getting your message if it hits the trash can, and that means you have wasted your time and resources.

So, make sure your direct mail letter is opened by making them want to see what’s inside. You could

* use real stamps instead of a postage meter
* take your logo off the return address so they think it’s from a real person rather than from a business
* address it in handwriting rather than print
* use a different font than what’s normally used
* make the envelope a different color than white
* print a teaser on the envelope

And those are just a few tips. Use your imagination. What gets you to open an envelope?

Once you get them to open it, attention shifts to the letter itself. You have literally seconds to convince them to read on, or once again it hits the trash can. What makes the biggest difference? Your opening headline.

Get their attention with a compelling heading, and try to aim for some kind of emotional response. The stronger that emotional response, the better. Your headline could ask a question. Or it could provide an answer. And it should highlight your biggest benefit in some way. “How to…” is a good bet. “Why” also works. Asking a question stimulates our curiosity, and that usually means we’ll read on.

Attract more interest with your first few paragraphs. They’re your introduction. If it bores them, they’ll stop reading.

Know your target market and write the body of your copy directly to them. If they’re women, use words that appeal to women. And if they’re men, use words men relate to. Copy written for younger consumers differs from copy for older ones.

Now, how does your product or service benefit your target? Will it make them richer? Will they look younger? Feel sexier? Attract more of the opposite sex? How will it make them feel? Benefits stimulate desire, and it’s their wants that you want to provide an answer for.

For the most part, they’re not interested in you, what your company does, or how long you’ve been in existence. What they do care about is WIIFM. “What’s in it for me?” It’s your benefits that will tell them what’s in it for them.

Don’t make the mistake of using technical jargon if your target market is consumer-based. And keep your writing simple, friendly and conversational no matter who your target market is.

Have a specific call to action. Tell them exactly what you want them to do. Do you want them to call you for more information? Sign up for your online newsletter? Order your product? And make sure you tell them when to contact you (today of course) and why (because of a discount or special offer), and create some sense of urgency (time- or quantity-limited).

Include a P.S. repeating your main benefits and your time- or quantity-limited special offer. It’s the second most-read line in your letter.

A few tips on style. Readers usually scan. They won’t often read the whole letter, so break up long copy with subheadings and include a photo or graph because their eye will stop there. They usually zig-zag while they’re reading, starting in the top left corner and moving down the page, often moving their eye back up to the top right.

A tip on length. There’s various opinions on length. My opinion is that you write until…. Keep writing until you’ve said everything you need to say regardless of length.

And a final tip on editing. Write the letter and put it aside for a day or two. Then read it aloud, noting where it’s awkward or where the flow isn’t right. Fix that and read it out loud again, or better yet, have someone else read it to you.

Creating and mailing business post cards is a logical choice when your small business has a small advertising budget.

Here are five factors to consider:

1. Your data base list of customers might well be under 500 names.

• You can manage this list yourself on your computer and print out mailing labels. And since there are so few names, you won't have to hire a mailing company to affix the labels, sort by zip code and take it to the post office for you.

2. Our advantage as small businesses is in cultivating a personal relationship with our customers. This holds true whether your business is entirely local or operates in a special business niche market on the national or international level.

• A post card is intimate. Emotionally, who can resist reading a colorful post card? Especially those with a nice glossy front side with a compelling message. It's like a personal message from someone you know.

3. Postcards are a private communication between you and your client so your competition has no idea of what you are doing.

• There is no "waste" circulation since only those on your mailing list are included. This will produce better results for the post card, especially when compared to those you get from the "mass media" of newspapers, magazines, etc.

4. We are all receive flyers, circulars and advertising mail whose print runs are measured in the millions. By default, they set creative standards that we feel we should equal or exceed in our own efforts.

• Since you have so few names to spread across paying for high-level creative services and long-run printing, these services become prohibitive on a cost per address basis. But thanks to digital technology, the creative, printing and mailing costs have been reduced to where they are well within reach of almost anyone.

5. Postcards are a wonderfully fast and efficient way of getting specific messages delivered in a permanent format to your own mailing list and other specific mailing lists you have purchased.

• Your postcard can generate immediate response or can be easily set side as a reminder for future action.

These are just five of many factors you will want to consider as part of placing business post card mailings on your list of advertising tactics for your small business.

One of the challenges for any group or organization is finding new ways to raise funds. It seems that everyone sells candy bars or puts on a car wash. Below are some fundraising ideas that might be a nice change and help your group raise funds using something unique that isn't being done by every other group out there.

1. Silent Auction

Have various members of your group donate items and then hold a silent auction. It is easy to do this. Just set aside a table or shelf. Give each item a piece of paper that people can write their bids on. The highest bidder wins the auction.

2. Direct Sales Companies

Several of the direct sales and party plan companies also have fundraising programs. Some of these programs are quite good. What is nice about some of these plans is that your group does not have to buy any stock in advance. Everything is done using catalogs. People place their orders and the consultant orders all the items. The majority of the time the consultant will pack all the orders and separate them by seller. Usually the consultant will give some type of incentive for the highest seller to encourage more fundraiser sales. Examples of direct sales companies that have fundraiser programs are Tupperware and Avon. These companies have a good reputation and a well know brand name. This helps to encourage your sales. If you use a company that is not well know, your sales may not be as good.

3. Rummage Sale

Put on a rummage sale. Ask for donations from all groups members. Advertise your rummage sale in the yard sale section of your local newspaper. Have your group members help at the fundraiser. The easiest way to price everything is to have tables for each price group. Then make signs for each table. For example, everything on this table is $1. Making a sign for each table or even for a certain corner or box will help eliminate the extra work of pricing everything individually.

4. Host a vendor fair or Farmer's Market or Trade Show

This works well if you have a building or parking lot. Rent out booths. This can be as simple as each parking space is so much or so much per table. Those in direct sales are always looking for opportunities to set up displays so they are the first ones you should call. Contact law enforcement agencies and other informational type organizations who might be willing to set up a display. You can also rent spaces to group members who may want to sell some stuff lying around their house but don't want to put on a yard sale of their own. However, keep in mind that you don't want this to be a big rummage sale. It works best when the majority of your vendors are selling new items. If you set your rent low enough you can also request that a percentage of sales go to the group. For example, you can rent tables for $10 and then ask for 10 percent of their sales for your group.

One thing to keep in mind is that in order for people to rent a space or table they need to know that people will be attending this event. Hence, make sure all group members publicize it. Put fliers for the event everywhere you can and consider placing an ad in the newspaper. If your vendors find your event was successful for them, they will be calling you asking you to do it again. Hence, more funds for your organization.

5. A New Take on Car Washes

I mentioned car washes earlier. Several groups seem to do them. However, there is a different way to do car washes that can actually raise more money for your group. This is done by selling tickets to your car wash in advance. You will be surprised at how many people will buy a ticket. Some of them may not come to the car wash but will buy a ticket to help out your group. Some groups have actually doubled their fundraiser proceeds by selling these tickets in advance.

6. Host a luncheon or dinner

Hosting a luncheon or dinner is a nice way to raise funds. Of course, you have to host the dinner but this may not be as difficult as you might think. Many restaurants have specials rooms that they use to host conferences, etc. These rooms can be rented for a fundraiser dinner. Often, the restaurants will also provide the food. Hence, it is just a matter of determining the cost of the room and the meals and then adding so much per ticket. Sell the tickets in advance. Following are some ideas on luncheons and dinners.

a. Hold a Valentine's Day dinner. Order a nice cake, have candy hearts on the tables, balloons, flowers, etc. One time I went to such an event with my church. Our pastor actually did a vow renewal service for all of us and the night was very special.

b. Christmas lunch or dinner. Decorate the room in a Christmas theme and have some gifts set aside. Play games for the gifts. Provide a small gift for everyone who buys a dinner ticket.

c. Any type of theme will work. Make it fun and interesting so people will want to purchase tickets to your event.

Fundraising can definitely be a challenge. However, there are plenty of options out there. I only listed a few of them above, but the opportunities out there for raising funds are endless.

Is there any more effective advertising and marketing methods than to get your competition to refer business to you? Of course not. It's innovative. It's free advertising. It's Guerrilla Marketing. Jay Conrad Levinson would be impressed.

But is this possible? Will a competitor, in any case, refer business to you? A competitor would, in certain situations.

The best way to show this is with an example.

A few years back I was an insurance broker working for a brokerage that specialized in providing auto insurance for "high risk" drivers; that is, a driver that has had trouble with traffic violations, convictions, accidents, or insurance cancellations. This is a market segment that the majority of insurance brokers, at least 90 percent of them, don’t want to insure. There is a stigma about bad drivers. They are considered bad clients. Most insurance brokers were dying to come up with an excuse to get rid of these types of clients.

Another firm's "bad client" was our firm's "great client." It is what we specialized in. So, the owner of our insurance brokerage sent out a letter introducing ourselves and what we do to 500 other brokerages in the Toronto area (we were a Toronto-based brokerage). The letter stated that we would take on any of the "bad drivers" or "bad risks" that any particular insurance brokerage did not want to take on. The letter gave contact names and phone numbers of the insurance brokers in our firm.

The letter was a huge success. It was a bigger success than you can imagine. Other insurance brokers were relieved to have a place to refer "bad business" to (it was not bad business to us). It was so much easier for them to give these types of clients a referral than to try to avoid them. And, you know why else it was a huge success? It was virtually free advertising. The cost was a few dollars for 500 sheets of paper, envelopes, and stamps. A series of radio, television, internet, and yellow pages ads would not have come close to the effectiveness that this small mailing campaign generated. It was like we instantly had a sales force of 500 brokerages generating new business for us.

The marketing field is flooded with sources and experts. How does a business owner weed through these sources - and all their advice - to find someone who can help grow businesses effectively and affordably? Smart business owners always advertise with two things in mind: 1. The Ten Commandments of Marketing; 2. The Ten Commandments of the Bible.

The Ten Commandments of Marketing

1. Get a marketing plan. Even the simplest of plans can help business owners avoid wasting literally thousands of dollars and sometimes years of lost business growth.
2. A business owner’s main focus should be on growing business. Hire consultants to handle accounting, taxes, marketing or any other tasks that may distract from growing business.
3. Business owners should know their customers. Their customer is not they or their spouse or their best friend. They should constantly talk to real customers and test their message on them.
4. Pick a niche. No one is going to believe that one business or product is the best, the fastest and the cheapest. Pick one. And stick with it.
5. Advertise products’ benefits - not their features. Customers don’t care about the 786-megawatt superconductor. They just want to know how it’s going to save them time, make them money or improve their image.
6. Specialized products should be advertised through direct media channels. Products offering something for everyone should be advertised through mass media channels.
7, Keep words to a minimum. Enough said.
8. Generally, prospects need to hear or see a message at least nine times. Generally, prospects need to hear or see a message at least nine times. Generally...
9. Stay ahead of customers. Stick with what works, but watch sales trends.
If trends start changing, products and/or marketing mix may need a change.
10. Free advertising is the best kind. If something is really newsworthy, let the media know.

The Ten Commandments of the Bible

Being aware of the Ten Commandments of the Bible will help business owners select a good marketing specialist. Most marketing specialists probably can’t recite the Commandments. But they should know they frown on stealing, lying, cheating, and a few other things.

A good marketing specialist will ask a lot of questions; they’ll give some free advice; they’ll provide a very close estimate and guarantee to work within the estimated boundaries. In short, they don’t lie, cheat or steal.

Smart business owners listen to their gut instincts to find a good marketing consultant. A good one will ask a lot of questions about the specific business, its history, its successes and failures. They’ll ask where the owner thinks the business should go; they’ll give some free advice; they'll provide a very close estimate for the work they recommend; they’ll guarantee to work within the estimated boundaries. In short, they’ll care about the Client. If they don’t, move on. This sounds like simple advice, but it’s surprising how many business owners throw out these rules and don’t listen to their gut instincts.

The first step in preparing your marketing plan is look at where you are today. You must know who is your target customer. You must know the workings of direct and indirect competitors. You must understand your industry and where you stand in it.

In order to market to your target customer, you must know who they are, what they want, and what motivates them to buy. In order to understand your competitors, you must know who they are, how they do what they do, and how you are better than they are. In order to understand your industry, you must know its current status, its history, its anticipated future, and any possible trends.

Good marketing enhances your brand when you can say what is important about your product in three or four words. For example, “Best tasting chicken,” “A world apart,” and “It’s the real thing.” Your brand must be simple and easy to articulate. You can still have a longer tag line, but your brand should be recognizable by a three-four word statement. Think about major brands, and you will see they all use these short, simple statements that relate to their product.

The foundation for your marketing should be to deliver a message that helps brand your product and conveys your unique selling proposition. You must know your unique selling proposition, and you must be able to articulate it clearly and succinctly. You can use it to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Your unique selling proposition should be responsive to your customer’s wants and needs.

When you prepare your marketing program, look at how big companies market and learn from them. You must be unique and focused, and you must know how much marketing is required to reach your purpose. You also must know when your marketing has become tiresome to your customers, and they tune you out. While you are conducting a marketing program, watch its results closely. Make adjustments in your program and do more of what works best and stop doing what does not work.

Part of determining what works best is determining which marketing efforts get results. You should track the results and determine how much profit is generated from the cost of the marketing program. There are many ways to track results, and online tracking is the easiest. One accurate tracking method is asking customers how they heard about your product. You can also send out coupons for bonus gifts, and you can track the results when customers bring in the coupons.

When your marketing program has been successful, you should ask yourself if you can repeat the program. You should also ask yourself whether there were any other factors the contributed to your success. For example, did a major competitor go out of business? You should also ask yourself whether the results will change if you do the marketing at a different time of the year. You should ask yourself how much profit was generated by the marketing cost and look at the ratio. In your industry, should the profit ratio to the marketing cost be 4/1, 6/1, 10/1, or what?

The results of good marketing should enhance your brand and create value for your brand. The results should also help you gain new customers and retain existing customers. The results of good marketing should fall within the industry ratio. Really good marketing may result in creating new opportunities and ideas for your company.

Creating and mailing business post cards is a logical choice when your small business has a small advertising budget.

Here are five factors to consider:

1. Your data base list of customers might well be under 500 names.

• You can manage this list yourself on your computer and print out mailing labels. And since there are so few names, you won't have to hire a mailing company to affix the labels, sort by zip code and take it to the post office for you.

2. Our advantage as small businesses is in cultivating a personal relationship with our customers. This holds true whether your business is entirely local or operates in a special business niche market on the national or international level.

• A post card is intimate. Emotionally, who can resist reading a colorful post card? Especially those with a nice glossy front side with a compelling message. It's like a personal message from someone you know.

3. Postcards are a private communication between you and your client so your competition has no idea of what you are doing.

• There is no "waste" circulation since only those on your mailing list are included. This will produce better results for the post card, especially when compared to those you get from the "mass media" of newspapers, magazines, etc.

4. We are all receive flyers, circulars and advertising mail whose print runs are measured in the millions. By default, they set creative standards that we feel we should equal or exceed in our own efforts.

• Since you have so few names to spread across paying for high-level creative services and long-run printing, these services become prohibitive on a cost per address basis. But thanks to digital technology, the creative, printing and mailing costs have been reduced to where they are well within reach of almost anyone.

5. Postcards are a wonderfully fast and efficient way of getting specific messages delivered in a permanent format to your own mailing list and other specific mailing lists you have purchased.

• Your postcard can generate immediate response or can be easily set side as a reminder for future action.

This new tool works as a direct marketing channel to end users mobile phones. The first generation of these tools established a connection with the Bluetooth enabled phones (activated and set to visible) which are within 20 meters from a dedicated hotspot. A question appears on the screen of the phone in the form 'Do you accept content from Alterwave ? Yes / No', where Alterwave is the name of the company willing to advertise. If the user presses Yes, the download proceeds at a speed of typ. 50kB/sec over Bluetooth. The data transfer is 100% free. A video of 500 kB would be sent in about 10 seconds.

If the user presses No, the popup disappears from the screen, and if the users does not press either key the popup will disappear when the phone leaves the Bluetooth covered zone.

This new media raises a lot of interest in the advertising and marketing industry. The kind of files that they push is images (still or animated), sounds (mp3) and video.

The risk to see the Bluetooth marketing seen as Spam does exist, but an opt-in is also possible by requiring the user to approach his phone close to a given point (typ. 1-2 meters) for triggering the download.

The challenge is now for media and marketing agencies to use this innovative tool wisely, and certainly to send value added content to the users. The Bluetooth marketing has a lot of impact on end users, so it should be used with wisdom.

Yesterday I met an old friend from school -- I had not seen her for several years. We talked about the old times, our kids and families, and what we do now. To my surprise, I learned she has an online business with 35 employees and over $1,000,000 in annual sales. Not bad, eh?..."What's your secret?" I asked her. "Keep them coming back for more!" she replied.

That's easier said than done...Well, let's pretend you have a great product and a web site -- sales are through the roof and you drive a Porsche!...LOL! You wish! Most of us work hard to provide a great service and make some sales. Having satisfied customers is the key to success. A happy customer is a customer "coming back for more"! A happy customer will also promote your products or services to other people. And this, in the end, could be the secret to good life and fortune!

Relying just on drop in sales is never a good idea. As more and more people visit your business/website, you should not miss the opportunity to get them subscribe to your mailing (this is called an "opt-in list" -- the subscribers agree to receive mailings like newsletters or catalogs updates.) This is of great importance as it gives you the opportunity to send promotional materials to them and boost your sales or traffic. Remember, "keep them coming back for more!"

Now you have to build a loyal customer base from your opt-in list. But how can you achieve that? The main thing about a newsletter is it has to have value for the client. Otherwise, it will be deleted and the client will be gone.

So, when you create your newsletter, keep those tips in mind:

1. Provide information! Have good product knowledge and be passionate about your business.

2. Keep it simple! If you can't write it yourself, hire a professional! There are writers that will do a great job for a minimal fee. The investment may lead to more sign-ups and potential sales.

3. Use creativity in your promotional materials. Build around your product or service. For example, if you are selling home furnishings, insert some pictures of what is new in the house furnishing industry in your promotional mailings.

4. Research current treads in your field and keep one step ahead of the competition. Your clients will look forward to receiving your newsletter. Keep them happy with fresh, new things and ideas to share with them.

5. Keep an eye on the competition. Sign up to their newsletter and see what they are up to. Look out for cheaper prices, better customer service, newer products etc.

6. Offer special discounts for your products. Add eCoupons in your newsletters that will give your subscribers a special discount.

7. Hold special contest. Reward winners with bonus gifts. That way you will give your subscribers one more reason to stay on your mailing list.

8. Give away freebies! People love them and will spread the word! However, don't overdo it:-)

9. Add some entertainment value: a daily cartoon like business cartoons (http://www.etoon.com/ ) or newsletter cartoons (http://www.bettercartoon.com/) will do the job. People love humor and will spread the word!

10. Keep your subscribers happy and eager!

When we exchange resources, goods, time, inventory, skills, equipment, goods and services, we’re bartering. Instead of using cash, we can barter underutilized time, space or other assets and even future services and production, especially if the products and services have big margins. And they may be depreciating, hard to sell or easy and cheap to produce. Extra capacity is as good as hard cash when bartered.

I know a dentist who bartered his services for advertising time on a radio station and a restaurant that bartered meals for cleaning services. Hotel rooms and staff training, consulting and legal services, high margin electronics and a host of other products and services lend themselves to barter. Barter conserves cash, and the goods are always bartered at their retail price! That means that if your food cost percentage is 34%, you’re buying at a discount of 66%!

You can even pay people to work for you with barter. And with redeemable coupons and gift certificates, you are essentially being loaned money at no interest until those coupons are redeemed. “Breakage” makes barter even more attractive – a certain percentage will not be redeemed.

Barter is like printing money! Deals can be triangulated and cash flow can be relieved and ramped up. Plus, one barter transaction can lead to repeat business and thus an exponential return on investment (without a cash investment!) Bartering services and slow moving inventory for advertising is extreme leverage. Barter can produce cash customers. Think about the resources you have and who would want them. Work ON your business instead of IN it.

Is it possible for a business to spend too much of its advertising dollar on direct-mail or direct marketing? Some experts believe it is and they have some pretty good rationale for why they believe this. For instance consider if you send out coupons all the time and you end up training your customers to wait for the coupon so that they can use it and then they come to expect the coupon and therefore if you ever stop sending out the coupons your customers will stop coming to the store.

That is unfortunate because the reason you send out coupons in a Money Mailer type direct-mail or direct marketing package is to get new clientele. The goal is to get in new customers and give them great service and then they want to come back and pay full price for additional services at a later date as well as spread the word-of-mouth advertising and give your company good referrals.

But what many small businesses find is that their previous customers and long-term customers start using the coupons as well and essentially you are taking regular customers who are use to paying full price and have no problem doing so and then training them to wait for the coupons and get the discount price, which you really intended for only your new customers, as a way to get them in on a loss leader.

TARGETING & SEGMENTATION Introductory marketing teaches us to make several assumptions and generalisations on the market. Top on that list, it is vital for a brand to narrow its target audience down to a set of demographic qualities based on age, sex, income etc. Even a brand like Coca-Cola, which has near universal appeal, targets their product toward youth. Beyond the target market there will be a number of market segments, again defined by geo-demographic characteristics. In traditional marketing, defining a market and its segments will build a picture of an audience which impacts on both the creative employed and the media buying strategy.

Do these methods of targeting and segmentation translate into Direct Marketing? In fact, they’re surprisingly unimportant. What’s important is that communications are relevant and are therefore based on real customer knowledge rather than generalisations. A unique creative approach for each customer tends to be cost-prohibitive and unrealistic (yes, in some niche business-to-business exercises it may be feasible). Some broad segmentation should be applied to drive the bulk of the creative outcome. These segments must work alongside copy change-outs to complete the communication. But this is a secondary concern.

Even the act of segmentation is different in Direct Marketing because it is developed from hard customer information rather than market research. To segment a database, data-mining techniques that account for combinations of every possible information variable are used (including transactional data), rather than a broad geo-demographic profile. But the segmentation is just the beginning, the driver for the message platform and tone & manner.

PERSONALISATION & RELEVANCE Direct Marketing talks to individuals, not markets. This is where traditional targeting methods fail when they’re bolted on to Direct Marketing. Instead of broad segmentation it is critical we appreciate that each customer is unique. So we must utilise every piece of information to make the message more relevant and effective.

For a start, it is proven that simple personalisation (such as prominent placement of name and address), will significantly increase response rates. Using transactional data and linking your message with a customer’s known behaviour is more powerful again – it shows you understand the customer and that you’re adapting your product or service offering for their needs.

Building a tailored approach makes for multiple copy versions within a single segment execution. But the additional effort and expense is worthwhile for its immediate impact and response, as well as the long-term benefit to the brand.

Using the available data to better personalise and add relevance to the communication should be a key distinction in personalised marketing efforts versus mass market communications. It will also make for better targeting as there will be situations where a relevant link cannot be made and some customer groups may be eliminated from the distribution. It makes the customer feel like you’re delivering them a service. While all direct communications make a noise, those that communicate service are the messages people absorb. They make the recipient feel like more than just another customer. The communication has considered the individual and they feel privileged to receive your message. Just as important, the restricted and more responsive audience will result in decreased costs, improved ROI and protection of the brand.

ADVERTISING VERSUS CUSTOMER SERVICE Customer service is what finally differentiates direct communications from Traditional Advertising. In direct, the media is the property of the recipient so it’s important there’s something in it for them. An ‘ad in an envelope’ (or worse still, an ad in an email or text message) becomes an annoyance. If you address something specifically to an individual, they expect that communication is about them rather than some irrelevant chest-thumping about your product or brand. Far too often the traditional marketer’s view of integration is to put a stamp on their ad. Or thoughtlessly email or SMS the body copy to all their customers.

This hurts the entire Direct Marketing medium because consumers become tired of irrelevant messages intruding into their private space.

The best customer service messages hit customers at the right time in their relationship. By contrast, traditional advertisers bring a ‘campaign mentality’ to Direct Marketing. Following this thinking, all customers receive communications at the same time. The truth is relevance is more easily created with triggered messages driven by customer behaviour. Reputable direct marketers are acutely aware of this and explore database activities that promote a new product or service while also delivering a service message to customers.

Electronic communications that are activity driven are particularly useful for time-sensitive service messages. It can actually add to customer convenience to receive email or text messages. And for the marketer the business opportunities are endless. Imagine if your insurance company could text message you in advance of a localised flood warning, or if your bank could email you to advise your credit card was approaching its credit limit. Customers are thankful for these communications; they provide a tangible benefit for engaging and opting to receive electronic communications.

Nothing compares to direct for delivering this information. Particularly in an electronic format because they are both directed to an individual and are time-critical. These newly formed channels supplement the existing communications mix and exist for the customer’s benefit. They are not simply substitutes for traditional messages in an effort to save marketing costs with no thought for what the customer would prefer.

CREATIVE EXECUTIONS The creative boundaries within Direct Marketing are yet to be reached and the majority of executions fail to explore the possibilities of the medium. This is a hangover from the frequency principle employed in traditional advertising and the false notion that direct executions are about the brand first and the message second.

With Direct Marketing the customer owns the message and will actively choose whether they take it in. The execution needs to immediately show the recipient that it’s a completely new message and to this end, the communication should be clearly distinct from previous contact. The message should retain consistency to the degree that it is obvious who it’s from, but the message must scream above the corporate branding. A template approach is often employed, meaning that visually the messages blur together with a degree of sameness rather than being received with impact. But designers are not Direct Marketers.

No other medium offers the creative freedom of direct mail. Yet most direct mail fails to engage the senses and is lost in a sea of white window DL envelopes. Customers receive mail from a number of places and to engage an audience the execution needs to stand apart. Mail offers unparalleled flexibility in terms of format - there are practically no size or shape constraints. Perhaps it’s because Traditional Advertisers and designers are used to fitting into standards dictated by a medium (press, billboard, TV) that they treat direct mail the same way. They see an A4 letter and a DLE insert as a starting canvas whereas the reality is an open book.

Creative freedom also suffers where marketers are guilty of trying to get their message to as many people as possible rather than improve the targeting. We all know Pareto’s Law or the 80/20 rule, yet too often the entire database is treated as equal. By focusing on just the top customers or prospects and delivering a stronger, non-standard creative execution the message can be made more compelling and results magnified. A smaller, targeted audience will result in more to spend on those that count. An improved per-unit budget allows things to be done differently, ensuring the communication is not just read but also remembered and acted on.

CONCLUSION Direct Marketing is not simply about creating awareness, it’s about delivering results, creating new customers and selling more to them. As shareholders and CEO’s demand a return on investment, it’s understandable that marketers are turning to Direct Marketing for answers. It’s here that they need to pause and note that Direct Marketing is a unique craft and counter-intuitive to Traditional Advertising thought processes. Until they rethink, the credibility of Direct Marketing will suffer through poor executions.

The potential of Direct Marketing is clear. Despite traditional thinking leading to sub-optimal planning and executions, many businesses have still generated positive returns from their Direct Marketing. But they have merely scratched the surface of what can be achieved. With the right assistance there remains potential to unlock increased returns and improve long-term customer satisfaction.

To make Direct Marketing work, marketers need to grasp the unique complexities of the media. The explosive growth and competition for the customer’s time will challenge marketers, demanding stronger executions to break through the clutter. All businesses looking to maximise a return from marketing should elicit the help of a true Direct Marketing specialist. Do this and these businesses will not only improve their success, they may profit where they had previously failed. Direct marketing does work… in the right hands.