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marketing
The Maverick Marketeer asked:


How to increase your affiliate web site marketing income…

Whether you are interested in creating a stable primary source of income online or just looking to supplement your existing income through marketing affiliate programs…increasing your earning potential will be a constant concern. After all, the goal of any business venture is ultimately to maximize profits.

As an affiliate marketer there are two ways in which you can increase your affiliate web site marketing income. This is simply based upon the method in which affiliate programs work. Regardless of the type or program (i.e. pay per sale, pay per lead, etc.), all affiliate programs are all performance based commission opportunities. When you refer customers to your affiliate company’s website and the customer completes a certain action like filling out a form or making a sale, you receive a commission.

Therefore, to increase your commissions you really only have two options. Increase the number of customers you refer to your affiliate company’s sales site or increase the number of customers who complete the desired action once they arrive there. This second aspect of the affiliate commission equation is also known as your conversion rate or CR.

Increasing the number of customers you refer is of the two options available, the one which you undoubtedly have the most direct control over. The reason being is that the number of referrals you make is directly tied to the success of your own affiliate web site marketing efforts. Whether you market through banner ads, pay-per-click marketing, or what have you, once the customer arrives at the destination site the rest of the process is largely out of your hands.

Realistically, your CR will tend to vary anywhere from 1% to about 10% on the high end. But, how can you manage your all important CR? I say all important for a very important reason. Increasing referral traffic is of course one of you main objectives as an affiliate web site marketing professional, however which would you rather have? Would you rather have 500 referrals with a 1% conversion rate or 100 referrals with a 10% conversion rate? As you can see here, generating 5 times the referral traffic earns you…lets see; half the commission?

A fundamental difference between generating referral traffic and managing CR is this. Traffic generation and affiliate promotion will always cost you, either in time or money. Managing CR however, doesn’t cost any additional time or money. Your CR will directly reflect several important things.

How you reach your prospects…

What you say to your prospects once you reach them…

How you refer you prospects to your merchant site…

To effectively manage your conversion rates pay close attention each phase of your referral process to make sure you do the best possible job preparing customers to have an open-mind once they arrive at your merchant site. Pre-selling your prospects will make all the difference in increasing you CR.

In summary, you’ll want to focus on two goals to greatly increase you affiliate web site marketing income. Your first goal will be to maximize the amount of targeted traffic to your affiliate merchants by only spending time and money that produce maximum profit for you. Your second goal is to maximize your conversion rates by making the proper adjustments within your referral process to produce the best possible results.



Brenda
marketing
starbucksluvrxoxo asked:


I’m planning on getting my undergraduate degree in Psychology. Could I still become a marketing manager?

Rachel
marketing
Nontie asked:


How do Business work together with Marketing agencies to ensure the campaign they’re trying to market will be perfect?

Emily
marketing
MsAllieG37 asked:


I am a single mother of 1 and tired of working in corporate america. I want to learn how to market my Tahitian Noni network marketing business without targeting my friends and family. I want to come up with a great marketing idea that will not only help my business but others as well. Any suggestions?

Doug

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marketing
Wildfire Marketing Group asked:


Whether you’re starting a new business or attempting to grow an existing one, it’s easy to spin your wheels when it comes to effective marketing. Often times, business owners will try to make a big splash by running a large ad in a local newspaper or a television commercial during the most expensive time slot. While these will probably be seen, they probably won’t have much impact because there is often no repetition. The business owner runs them once (or a few times) and then simply stops with the conclusion that advertising doesn’t work. In order to achieve results from any form of advertising, you need repetition of your message. This has always been true, but it’s even more important with the number of marketing messages that today’s consumers are presented each day.

If you’re ready to start marketing your business, begin with the basic building blocks to form your foundation and grow from there.

Network — many networking events can be found in just about any city or town. If you, like most business owners, are short on time, focus on the ones that are during the evening hours. In many cases, these events are free, so the only cost is your time. Networking is a great way to make face to face contact with prospects without the distractions you would normally face during the work day. All you need is a handful of business cards, a winning smile and a great attitude.

Business cards — Obviously, you’ll need them for networking and sales calls. Don’t forget all the other ways you can distribute them. Business cards a an easy and inexpensive way to generate exposure for your business.

Direct mail — You don’t need to mail to a list of 50,000 for direct mail to be effective, you just need to be consistent. You can have 1,000 postcards printed, affix postage and labels yourself, and mail out 50 or 100 to the same targeted list each week. As you begin to generate revenue from this, you can increase the size of your mailing list.

Web site — If you don’t have a web site, you are wrong. Plain and simple. Web sites aren’t just for e commerce, nor are they just for large companies. These days, people use the internet for comparing companies and without a web site, you’re out of the running. You don’t need all of the bells and whistles, but you do need an effective and professional web site.

There you have it. The basic building blocks you’ll need to effectively market your business. With these blocks in place, you can begin to add additional things, such as search engine optimization, television and radio advertising, or billboards. The idea is to build a foundation, and as you achieve results, add more to your marketing campaign.



Brenda
marketing
Ree asked:


I am new to the marketing field and have landed a job about 7 months ago planning, creating and executing the marketing efforts for a small company. Now that I have a firm grasp of the industry and company as to where it has been and where it wants to go, I’d like to subscribe to some magazines/ newspapers, etc that will keep me up-to-date with buying trends, consumer behavior, economic forcasts and marketing ideas.

Any suggestions>

Steve

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marketing
Objective Marketing asked:


Are you going to let the “Credit Crunch” crunch you? Even though the present negative press and media coverage is enough to make you pack up and head for the hills - don’t! Or, burying your head in the sand isn’t going to help either - you need to take some positive action!

In ignorance, many companies pull the plug on their marketing budgets when times get tough - but that is very short sighted. Why is your business in decline? It’s because you have less clients, or your current clients are spending less.

So what is the solution?

Yes, you need more clients or encourage those you work with to spend more with you. As a marketing company, we often have people come to us when they are in trouble. Through months or possibly years of neglect of their sales pipeline, they have reached difficultly where their cash flow dries up, and their forward forecasts will no longer gain them credit with their bankers. That’s such an awful place to reach! So, please learn from other’s mistakes and concentrate your efforts on sales and marketing.

So - how’s your sales pipeline?

Have you dedicated sufficient man hours or staff to ensure that new business will continue to flow your way? It’s highly recommended to introduce new practices in the current climate and here are a few suggestions to get you going:



Re-educate your sales staff to the new demands of business under the Credit Crunch i.e. you are going to have to negotiate harder than before and deliver more

Re-evaluate your current spend on marketing and where possible increase it

Adapt new methods of lead generation and find new sources

Network with increased intensity amongst your clients, prospects, collaborators, partners, suppliers and competitors

Rekindle your relationship with current clients and ensure you are getting your share of business if other suppliers are involved

Tighten your credit control to ensure constant cash flow

Take fewer financial risks than before, and if possible, increase the level of deposits on orders to spread your risk or costs (if applicable)

Introduce something new (Product or service) to make sure your visibility levels remain high with current and potential clients

Automate your sales pipeline using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system like www.salesforce.com - so you never ever miss another lead or opportunity, and you can track your sales pipeline accurately

Ensure that you confirm at least 30% of this quarter’s pipeline - more if possible

Ensure you are using the internet to your advantage using Search Engine Optimisation, Web 2 practices such as blogging, and raise your presence in social networking and book-marking sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc



Stephanie