Marketing Experts News

Great Sales Leads: Are They An Endangered Species?

GREAT SALES LEADS:  ARE THEY AN ENDANGERED SPECIES?

Whenever the subject of leads is brought up these days most lead buyers will talk about how bad the leads are getting, how hard they are to find, and how expensive that they are to buy. In addition to these challenges, the companies that have traditionally supplied leads are dropping like flies. This is because the methods used to generate leads are disappearing fast such which includes email marketing, telemarketing, and fax broadcasts.

What is the ultimate lead and how can one possibly find them these days? The ultimate sales lead has the following characteristics:

The prospect is ready to buy right now

• The prospects IS the decision maker
• The prospect has the money to buy now
• The prospect has already seen your offer and
• Has made the decision to buy from you
• The prospect is not being talked to by a large number of your competitors

Does this sound like the perfect lead? Of course it does. Is there some magical potion to produce such a lead? Actually there is, but only if you set the program up correctly. What is this program? Search engine marketing, otherwise known as paid search advertising coupled with a carefully designed lead generation site.

Google is considered by many to be the major player involved in the search engine field. Their service is very effective if the campaign is set up correctly. That is a big if though. It has been found that over 50% of all companies that attempt to use Google fail in their efforts.

One can use a firm like InTouch Marketing (www.intouchmarketing.us), a company that was awarded the highest expert level bestowed by Google, to correctly set up one’s campaign. There are independent consultants who promote a certain level of expertise, but whose qualifications are unverifiable. If someone claims that they can set up a campaign overnight one should be very wary. It is simply not possible to establish a proper and successful search engine campaign without several weeks’ worth of detailed research and testing.

The other key to lead generation is the use of a proper web presence that is designed to create leads. Many web sites are simply designed to graphically impress a visitor, yet produces nothing in terms of leads. A good lead generation site or page educates the prospect and then gives them specific action to do..

By having the right web site presence and driving traffic to the site, through paid search ads, one can truly create the ultimate lead. Remember that people who are searching for something on the internet have already made a buying decision. The key is how economically one can push prospects to a web site and then whether the site is effective or not. The prospects are certainly out there on the internet looking.

On a typical day at the end of 2004, some 70 million American adults logged onto the Internet to use email, get news, access government information, check out health and medical information, participate in auctions, book travel reservations, research their genealogy, gamble, seek out romantic partners, and engage in countless other activities. That represents a 37 percent increase from the 51 million Americans who were online on an average day in 2000 when the Pew Internet & American Life Project began its study of online life. This trend is ONLY going up.

Another Pew study identified that fact that over 50% of all online purchases are now PRECEDED by an internet search. 36% of all internet users under the age of 30 say that they could not live without internet search engines. This illustrates what many in ad agency executives now take for granted—that people, in higher and higher numbers, are using internet information, not mainstream media related advertising, to make buying decisions. Every day, more and more people are turning on computers versus the TV set for information and entertainment.

The lesson to be learned here is that one has to control one’s own lead generation. Companies can no longer depend on third party lead providers as a sole source for their new prospects. The ultimate lead can be found. They are all over the internet searching right now.

Bruce Prokopets
Executive Editor
Press Direct International
In Touch Media Group

Website Effectiveness

It never ceases to amaze me how an otherwise intelligent person can so grossly underestimate how much work is involved in creating something.

As an example: a business owner wants a web site with the functionality (and performance) of an amazon.com operational in under a month for less than it would cost to hire a full time web developer for that same time period.

If you're considering having a web site built or building one yourself, here are some key areas you need to plan on and be aware of to ensure your site building process runs as smoothly as possible.

1. Site concept - YOU need to determine a basic concept for your web site including what you want it to do, what needs you want it to fulfill for visitors and what you want it to do for your company. Be as thorough as possible in this determination.

Do you want to generate customers; sell merchandise; establish goodwill with your customers and the public in general; provide sales tools for your sales personell? Decide what you want the site to do and write it down.

Then when you meet with your web design firm they will be able to estimate more accurately the time and cost for building your site as well as give you suggestions on how to achieve your goals. Having this information for them will also help them to see where you want to go with your business. They may then have other ideas that will help you accomplish your aims that they wouldn't have thought of had they not had your information.

2. Design style preferences - take a look at competitive sites and note your likes and dislikes about each.

3. Function preferences - will your site be e-commerce? Have a member area? Allow user sign-up or newsletter subscription? Consider these things BEFORE beginning construction of your site and hiring a design firm.

An important thing to remember is that good designers are RARELY good programmers. When hiring a professional design firm, they usually have both on staff so your sure to receive quality design as well as good programming.

4. Results - Building a website takes time. Building a website that gets the desired results takes even more time. This is an ongoing process that usually requires DAILY work and adjustment to your website as well as continual feedback from your site visitors.

I generally recommend that once the site is built, or during the site building process, that the company hire a full time webmaster who's job it is to administer the website and get visitors to take the desired actions.

Be prepared to make regular changes to your site to get it performing like you want; ALOT of changes.

I could write more about this but I have to run (3 year old approaching). The above should be enough to get you going in the right direction in getting your new website off the ground.

The 7 Deadly Sins Of Marketing - #2: Anger – by Toli Cefail

The 7 Deadly Sins Of Marketing - #2: Anger – by Toli Cefail

Here is the second in our series of articles on the well known seven deadly sins and how they apply to marketing. The second deadly sin we will cover here is Anger.

Now how could anger possibly have anything to do with marketing. Believe it or not, you see it often in advertising.

Recently there was a radio commercial in which a child breaks his tooth while eating a Hardee’s burger. The child says something like “I don’t like this bun. It’s too hard. I want to go to McDonalds.”

Who was the commercial for? McDonalds? NO. It was for Hardee’s.

Apparently some advertising whiz convinced Hardee’s to “go after the adult market” by positioning against McDonalds.

Here is anger at work in marketing.

Many companies want to attack their competition. So they create advertising that does this. The advertising says something very negative about their competition and mentions them by name. Generally this only results in making the company look mean and giving free promotion to the competition.

Yes, marketing is often a battle. But don’t assume that your prospective customers are as passionate as you are about why your product may be better than the competition. Angrily attacking your competition by name makes your company look bad and gives your competition free promotion. It may even result in potential customers going their way. I know I won’t be taking my kids, or myself, to Hardee’s anytime soon.

----- Toli Cefail 

Toli Cefail is a 20 year marketing professional. She is currently providing online & paid search marketing services to businesses as a principal in the In Touch Media Group – www.InTouchMediaGroup.com .

Read The Rest at Toli Cefail’s personal marketing blog at www.MarketingExpertsNews.com .

New In Game Advertising Patent Filing

Inventor of the Seamless "In Game" Ad Files for Patent Protection

CLEARWATER, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- July 31, 2006 -- Nightlife Interactive LLC, inventor of the Seamless Ad, a significant breakthrough in video game advertising, has filed for patent protection. The company (www.nightlifeinteractive.net) feels that its invention will provide video "in game" advertisers with the accountability that many feel is missing from the current impression-based pricing model. "After the Internet bubble burst in 2000, companies like Overture saved the day with pay-per-click advertising," stated Bob Cefail, CEO of Nightlife Interactive. "We are confident that the pay-per- transaction functionality of the Seamless Ad will accelerate the growth of in-game advertising."

The Seamless Ad was designed to allow for effective product promotion that does not disturb or interfere with "in progress" game play. Video games can now be constructed using realistic product integration that allows a player to click on any item within a game when they are interested in the product itself. After the player clicks on the product residing within the game, he or she can continue to seamlessly play the game. The Seamless Ad platform identifies the interested consumer and then delivers the appropriate promotion to the user's email box.

By serving ads in this manner, an advertiser will be able to pay for an ad on a per-transaction basis. "Most advertisers would prefer a pay-as-you-go plan rather than a pay-per-impression model," explained Cefail. "Our system offers true accountability in terms of ad placement and results."

Nightlife Interactive is currently building its first game that includes the Seamless Ad. The game revolves around the world of music, entertainment, and the nightclub scene. Set in five major cities and 25 nightclubs, the game features such real-world products as cars, consumer electronics, clothing, and music. "No present time game would be realistic without such product integration," said Cefail.

The game, titled "Nightscape," involves massive multi-player role-playing and social networking. "We consider the game to be a cross between MySpace, Second Life and Match.com," remarked Cefail. "This is a game where adults can enjoy great music, top DJs, all while meeting new people."

Nightlife Interactive is being assisted in the development of "Nightscape" by In Touch Media Group (OTCBB: ITOU), an online marketing, Web development, and Internet PR firm that specializes in generating website visitors through various search engine technologies and viral marketing techniques. In Touch Media Group conducted seven stages of market research involving over 7,000 participants in order to establish the ideal game for adults ranging from 18 to 45 years in age. In Touch CEO, Laura Betterly, states, "This truly is an example of market research being used at all stages to ensure that consumers and advertisers both get exactly what they want from this game."

"Video game players seek out game immersion," stated Cefail, "which is why we developed the Seamless Ad -- to provide advertising results yet not disrupt game play."

The game is scheduled to be released in the late summer of 2007, and advertising placement and registration will start on August 4, 2006. Advertisers who wish to have their products placed in the game must allow for the "build in" of their offerings within the game, which starts in November 2006.

About Nightlife Interactive LLC

Nightlife Interactive is a video game development, marketing and management company specializing in present day video games that serve subscribers who are over the age of 18. The company also provides advertisers with the opportunity to showcase their products within Nightlife interactive games using the company's patent-pending technology known as the Seamless Ad.

About In Touch Media Group

In Touch Media Group (OTCBB: ITOU) is an online marketing and PR firm that specializes in generating website visitors and customers for its business clients using a combination of effective systems, including search engine advertising, publicity and other marketing services. The company employs online market research to dramatically increase the effectiveness of search engine advertising, targeted publicity, and strategically placed website advertising.

This announcement contains "forward-looking statements." Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect" and other similar expressions as they relate to the Company and its management are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although the Company and its management believe that the statements contained in this announcement are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such statements will prove correct. Factors that could affect the occurrence of events or results discussed herein are included with those mentioned in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

---

For more information:

Nightlife Interactive LLC
Bob Cefail
CEO
(727) 465-0925
www.nightlifeinteractive.net

For Media Inquiries:

In Touch Media Group, Inc.
Laura Betterly
CEO
(727) 465-0925

SOURCE:  In Touch Media Group

Are You Marketing Like A Man or a Woman? by Toli Cefail

Are you marketing like a Man or a Woman? By Toli Cefail

So many clients come to me and they want to get “sales right now”. They often have no ramp up plan, no preliminary service and no free introductory service. In short, they are marketing like men. “Give it to me right now because I don’t want to wait.” No seduction, no courtship and as a result – little or no business.

What they need (and what we teach them) is how to market like a woman; how to “seduce” their prospective customers with free introductory offers and trials. Getting your prospects to fill out a lead form for something free with a high perceived value will go further than trying to sell them everything you’ve got out of the gate.

Build a mailing list with an effective lead generation site. Then take your time telling your customers why they should buy with newsletters, promotions, special offers and educational articles. Make yourself appealing to your prospects first, like a woman does, then tell them what you want them to do and you’ll get more interested prospects who actually want to hear what you have to say.

Large companies who use ad agencies do this all the time with public relations through contests, product testing events and more. When your budget is smaller you have to be more creative. Here are some ideas on how to “market like a woman” on a smaller budget:

1. Produce a lead generation page that contains a free offer your prospects will treasure. Get them to give you their names, email addresses and phone numbers (if useful to you) in exchange for receiving the free offer;
2. Create a series of brief but informational articles that educate your prospects about your products, the needs it fulfills and the problems it solves. These articles should not be sales pitches but are more educational and informative. Think “if they knew what I know about the product, they’d buy it”, then write what you know;
3. Mail the articles to the prospects who respond to your lead generation page in a series on a regular basis such as once per week. Invite recipients to ask questions. Respond with brief but useful answers;
4. Find local events in your community that you can sponsor. Look for those that give you an opportunity to showcase your product or promote your web site;
5. Contests make great low cost promotions. Create a contest that gives away some of your product. Press release it and promote it through complimentary channels such as stores and web sites.

Those are just a few ideas on how to implement “Marketing Like A Woman” on a limited budget. For more information on this, please see my prior post “Is Your Marketing A One Night Stand or is it the Real Thing” and as always, feel free to contact me at the email link on the right side of this page. J

Ad Agencies: Seek Professional Help

Web design: never let an ad agency near your website

By Gerry McGovern

The average advertising agency fundamentally doesn’t get the Web. Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO Worldwide, J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy are great advertising agencies. When it comes to managing their own websites, however, they are rank amateurs. They bring their print and TV thinking to the Web with embarrassing results.

I give workshops on content management and web design all over the world. Whenever I talk about the need for simple, clean web design, there is nearly always someone in the audience who raises an objection. I am informed that I don’t understand branding.

Branding. I don’t know how many times branding has been used as an excuse for awful web design. What’s the biggest global brand that has emerged in the last five years? Google. And it’s because of its multicolored logo? Or perhaps because it’s a great search engine?

Branding on the Web is about successful task completion, not fancy images, or heaven forbid, Flash. I ask my audiences: “What do you do when you see a Flash intro?” Almost in unison, they chant: “Skip Intro!” (Why, there’s even a website called skipintro.com.) What is a Flash intro except a fourth rate TV ad by someone who knows that they will never get the chance to do a real TV ad?

Back to these wonderful advertising agencies. What’s the most difficult thing to find out when you arrive at their websites? What exactly it is they do. If you visit Saatchi & Saatchi, for example, you will be told that:

Ideas are the currency of the future
They solve problems
They create opportunities
They entertain
They break down barriers
They enrich lives

Is this a division of the United Nations? Aren’t we all in the business of ideas? If ideas get turned into ads, aren’t those ads supposed to sell products, as well as enriching lives and solving world hunger?

Ogilvy.com is not the worst site. It delivers reasonably clear information (even if it has a brochure design for its homepage). It talks about the need to guide “actions, both big and small, that deliver on that brand promise.” However, it makes an elementary mistake by not creating links that are calls to action at the end of each piece of its content.

BBDO Worldwide has a corny Flash intro and corny navigation made up of pencils. (Creative people use pencils.) But what is hilarious is that if you click on the ‘Our Work’ link you get a disclaimer, where “BBDO categorically forbids …” A disclaimer! That’s so 1997.

Which is better than J. Walter Thompson, which is so 1995. Consider this beauty from the homepage: “Welcome to the JWT site, your introduction to who we are and what we believe. Use the green navigation bar to find your way around, or read the latest JWT news below.” Someone tell them that the welcome message died out with the dinosaurs.

Also, hypertext was invented to make text active. Making a statement such as: “Use the green navigation bar to find your way around” is both redundant and illustrative of print thinking.

This is just a small sample of the truly amateur things that these ad agencies are doing. But what is truly scary is that they get paid to advise other companies on developing web strategies.

Gerry McGovern

Check out www.GerryMcGovern.com - someone who's opinion I respect. -- Toli Cefail

Is Your Marketing Just A One Night Stand? Or is it the REAL THING?

If you’re looking for instant gratification, online marketing, and in fact marketing of ANY kind, is NOT for you.

Many times, I’ve seen business executives begin an online marketing project with unbridled enthusiasm and stars in their eyes.

They salivate over the “millions of people” they will reach for “minimal cost” and fantasize about the thousands of customers they will get “instantly”.

They’re delusional.

Marketing, whether online or off, is a PROCESS. Instant gratification is RARE. It takes TIME to develop a successful marketing procedure and even longer to perfect it.

The so called “internet gurus” that you see who have these online marketing “systems” took YEARS to develop and perfect them. They may have spent only months developing their software for the system, but they also spent 20 years learning to write ad copy, 15 years learning marketing, and an equal amount of time learning about their market.

They are also continually modifying, testing and updating these systems to keep them working if at all. This is because the internet is constantly changing. There are more savvy internet users than ever and they don’t go for the “guru hype” that was so successful just 6 or 7 years ago.

In short – to repeat – marketing is a PROCESS.

Think of it like dating. If you want someone to fall in love with you, you can’t expect that to happen on the first date. Sometimes you may get lucky and it happens. But this is rare.

The reality more often than not is that you have to woo the person. You have to get to know each other. You have to learn each other’s likes & dislikes, how each other responds to different types of communication and environments. You learn how to make each other happy. You learn what NOT to say and who not to invite to their birthday party. You try different approaches. You make mistakes. You make some hits too.

All of this takes TIME. But eventually, through knowledge, trial, experience and persistence you get it right and perhaps fall madly in love with each other.

And then, AFTER you fall in love, you have to work to MAINTAIN and IMPROVE the relationship. You can't take anything for granted or you'll end up DIVORCED.

And so it is with your prospective customers. It is a PROCESS, not for the impatient or the lazy and definitely not for the faint of heart.

When you have a product or service that you want to market online (or offline) there are several things you will need to find out in order to market it successfully:

1. What is your product REALLY? – You need to clearly, cleanly and simply know exactly what your product is, what it does and what need(s) it fulfills. These answers should be easy to communicate to anyone in plain English.


2. What type of person wants your product and what type of person needs your product? These are not always the same. You also may have many different types of people who want or need your product. Each type of person may need to be marketed to differently as each responds differently to certain types of communication. For example what appeals to a 19 year old young man doesn’t necessarily appeal to a 45 year old woman yet they both need & use toothpaste. You would nevertheless, market to each differently.


3. What do the people who would buy your product or service want from it? What would they expect or require from your product? The answer to this should be known and if it is not known, market research should be done to get the answer. It can be as simple as asking a few people up to conducting comprehensive market research.  Once you know the answer, be sure that any marketing done CLEARLY demonstrates that your product or service delivers “it”.


4. What type of promotion will your products public respond to? E-mail, banners, pop-ups, TV, radio, contests, word-of-mouth? What image appeals to your public? Conservative, hip & trendy, traditional, wholesome? Different people respond to different types of promotion, styles and images. Find out the answer and design your marketing campaigns accordingly.


5. And last but definitely not least – TEST, TEST, TEST and RE-TEST. Testing is the key to developing any successful marketing campaign. From the above answers, you will get bright ideas on how to market your product. Try them. Test different wording, different marketing vehicles, different publications, web sites, etc. Eventually, something will work. Tweak what works until it works well. Repeat these steps with each tested idea. Eventually you’ll have a number of things that work and there you have your system!

Sounds simple right? Well for some people it is and for some it isn’t. If you have a knack for marketing and plenty of time, you can do this and succeed relatively easily. If not, you may want to study marketing books and materials or hire professionals to help you.

Whatever you decide, be prepared to invest time and other resources in developing this “relationship” so that it is rewarding, long lasting and meaningful and not just a one night stand.

_________________________

Toli Cefail is a founding partner at In Touch Media Group and has been a marketing professional for over 20 years. Her experience, both online and off, spans all manner of products, industries and venues including, communications, fashion, corporate services, marketing services, food & beverage, music and more.

1. What is your product REALLY? – You need to clearly, cleanly and simply know exactly what your product is, what it does and what need(s) it fulfills. These answers should be easy to communicate to anyone in plain English.


2. What type of person wants your product and what type of person needs your product? These are not always the same. You also may have many different types of people who want or need your product. Each type of person may need to be marketed to differently as each responds differently to certain types of communication. For example what appeals to a 19 year old young man doesn’t necessarily appeal to a 45 year old woman yet they both need & use toothpaste. You would nevertheless, market to each differently.


3. What do the people who would buy your product or service want from it? What would they expect or require from your product? The answer to this should be known and if it is not known, market research should be done to get the answer. It can be as simple as asking a few people up to conducting comprehensive market research.  Once you know the answer, be sure that any marketing done CLEARLY demonstrates that your product or service delivers “it”.


4. What type of promotion will your products public respond to? E-mail, banners, pop-ups, TV, radio, contests, word-of-mouth? What image appeals to your public? Conservative, hip & trendy, traditional, wholesome? Different people respond to different types of promotion, styles and images. Find out the answer and design your marketing campaigns accordingly.


5. And last but definitely not least – TEST, TEST, TEST and RE-TEST. Testing is the key to developing any successful marketing campaign. From the above answers, you will get bright ideas on how to market your product. Try them. Test different wording, different marketing vehicles, different publications, web sites, etc. Eventually, something will work. Tweak what works until it works well. Repeat these steps with each tested idea. Eventually you’ll have a number of things that work and there you have your system!

Are You SURE Your Target Audience Likes Your Marketing?

Sure you KNOW why your customers buy?

Be sure you know why your customers buy. ASK them!

The best way to do this is with a survey.

We advise all of our clients to do one or more surveys prior to begining any marketing campaign to greatly reduce the risk of that campaign not appealing to the target audience (or worse - reaching the wrong audience.

It's always best for these surveys to be conducted by a professional market research firm because asking the right survey questions is just as important as asking questions at all.

If you're considering marketing or selling any product, or are in the process of doing so and haven't done a survey, you might see an improvement in your sales if you invest in properly done market research.

This research should determine what the public is who would like your product, what they would expect from your product, pricing, design and other features they would like as well as information on their opinions of your or a similar product. These are just a few of the things your market research should uncover besides demographic information.

Survey your products before you invest too much and save yourself alot of wasted time and money.

--- Toli Cefail

All Content Copyright Toli Cefail 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Great Marketing Mistakes - Time & Money - Don't Sell Yourself Short

Marketing Mistakes – Time And Money – Don’t Sell Yourself Short

Time and money are the age old problems that we’ve all had since the dawn of civilization.

In the business of marketing, I have often had prospective clients come to me with little time and little money frantically wanting to accomplish an heroic marketing or sales feat.

If you’ve ever been short on time, or money, or both and needed to sell a lot of merchandise quickly, this marketing advice is for you.

First and foremost, you need to live in the real world. In the words of the great Zig Ziglar, “Prior Proper Planning Prevents P*&^% Poor Performance” and another popular quote: “time is money”; both of these sayings should be memorized by anyone who has anything to do with selling or marketing anything.

If you want to market something successfully and are on a limited budget, you need to start EARLY. Don’t wait until the last minute.

If you have a large budget you can get more done faster and with better quality.

Essentially, the more time you have the less money you need; and, the more money you have, the less time you need. So if your budget is tiny START EARLY and be prepared to invest a great deal of time. Investing the time may seem

Conversely: if you’re short on time EXPECT TO PAY. The more quickly and professionally you want your project to come off, the larger your budget will need to be.

If you have both time and a decent budget you can expect to do well with professional help if you’re not a marketing pro yourself.

So save yourself a lot of stress. Plan your marketing early and make sure your budget allows for what you want.

---- Toli Cefail