Every heard that you shouldn’t put all of your eggs in one basket? It’s true in business just like other areas of life. Businesses grow and change and it may be time for yours to do the same. Here are a few signs that it is time for a marketing makeover.

Marketing is important to a business. It is not only how you get the word out about who you are and what you do, but also about how you strengthen your position in the market. Since you have a twofold reason for using it, you need a strategy that can hit the mark on more than one front.

Signs That It Is Time for a Makeover

When you perform a makeover, you are using the same basic structure, but you are putting a new face on it so others will stand up and take notice – again. Here are some signs that it is time for a marketing makeover.

* You have lost your focus – When asked where you see your business in five years, can you answer? It is a sign that somewhere along the way, your business has gotten off track. Without a clear path, the business will suffer from stagnation. Re-evaluate your goals so you can see clearly how to proceed once again.

* You have lost your target market – Look at your analytics. If you have had no unique visitors in a while or no one is buying, there is something wrong. Could it be your products? Perhaps, but it is more likely that the needs of your target market are no longer being met with the marketing strategy you currently employ.

* You are a one-trick pony – Email marketing is a great way to build your list, but other tools need to be used to keep your customers happy and new traffic visiting your website. Marketing is not an exact science. It takes trial and error to find a combination that works for your business needs. And, that combination may not work forever. You will have to adjust to the market and what the customers demand.

* Profits are stagnant – You are making money but no more than you were last month or last year. Pretty soon, you could be overshadowed by the competition without some changes.

* Your business circle has not widened – Growing a business is about networking. You find others with common business interests and form mutual partnerships. This can lead to greater opportunities that increase business revenue. If the focus is always on you and your needs, then you are not learning or interacting with others. Join forums and social business networks, but participate fully and not just to meet your needs.

* You are bored – If you are bored, then so is your customer base. Inject new life into your business with a new marketing campaign.

Does your business need a marketing makeover? See if you fit the profile above in any way. If you do, then the answer to this question may be yes.

One time offers are a great way to increase the money you make from each offer.  You can get people to agree to purchase a product from you at a lower price that’s only available right that second, making the sale a bit easier.

This is a good way to increase the amount of your sale since they’re already in buying mode. A One Time Offer is shown right after the customer clicks the Buy button. But before they checkout, the OTO is presented for them to consider.

One time offers are a very good way to give customers more value.  It’s less expensive than the product would normally be, giving your customers the opportunity to grab another great deal from you while they already have their credit card out.

Another great way to offer additional value is to trade OTOs with other marketers.  For example, if you have a product that complements another marketer’s product (and vice versa), then each of you would present the other’s products to your customers as the OTOs, either sharing the revenue or giving the owner 100% in exchange for a reciprocal arrangement.

If you can’t find someone who will JV with you on an OTO offer, you can try to find someone with an affiliate program who will allow you to offer their product as an OTO at a discount.  Simply tell them you expect a good volume of sales and you’d like to offer their product at a slight discount.

You probably won’t be able to land a deal like this unless you can prove you can do a large volume of business, because it would mean setting up a special sales page (or at least setting up a coupon code that could be easily tracked with your affiliate ID).

The best OTOs are usually very difficult to say no to.  They offer exceptional value at a very special price.  There are three separate types of one time offers.  One is usually an upgrade to the first product, such as a more comprehensive version of it.

The second could be a coaching program that takes the ideas of the product and offers them in a one-on-one coaching system.  And the third could be a turnkey solution that goes along with the product you sold.  For example, if you’ve sold an eBook about making money with AdSense, you could offer a package of AdSense templates as the OTO.

Membership sites can also have OTOs.  When someone joins your membership site, you could offer them an upgrade to a higher access level.  Let’s say you have two access levels – silver and gold.

The silver level typically costs $50 per month, and the gold level costs $100 per month.  You could offer anyone who joins at the silver level an upgrade to gold for only $25 more, at $75 per month – a $25 savings off of the normal gold level price. You can also offer one-on-one coaching as an OTO for membership sites.  Since memberships are already a monthly fee, coaching is a perfect complement to many membership sites.

Make sure you test your one time offers just like you test any part of your sales copy or site performance.  Replace the offers and see which ones convert better and then tweak that offer until it performs as well as it can.

Like this tip? Sign up for my Internet Marketing Bootcamp – 52 weekly emails for free! http://emarketingtipsonline.com

I read this article from Beth’s newsletter yesterday and had to share. If you are struggling with a client because they don’t know what they can have you do, read the suggestions below. Or, if you are a VA and want to build your own team, the same applies. Happy delegating!

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By Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy

Excuses, excuses, I have heard them all.

“It is faster if I just do it myself.”

“No one does it better than me.”

“I don’t know what to delegate.”

“I can’t afford to hire anyone.”

Sound familiar? The key to controlling delegation is to establish what tasks are, how they should be completed and what the final outcome looks like BEFORE you assign them to someone.

No more excuses. Here are 6 steps you can take to develop your what, how and final outcome.

#1 What to Give Away and what to Keep
Think about what you directly contribute to the business. Keep those tasks. Anything outside your expertise or easily performed by others . . . give away.

Your Actions:
Make a list of everything you do on a weekly or monthly basis. Determine what is essential to keep and what can be given away.

#2 Create a Plan
To be effective, you have to share exactly what you want done. Maybe, “no one does it better than you” because no one truly understands what you want.

Your Actions:
Create the specific, detailed steps needed to create your desired result. Give those steps along with any files, forms and checklists to the person helping you.

#3 Results and Accountability
Start at the end. Picture what you should be holding when you get those final deliverables. Communicate those expectations. All expectations HAVE to be reasonable, clear and measurable. For example, “complete a minimum of 30 sales calls per week” as opposed to “complete sales calls”.

Accountability is not a bad word. If you are not getting results, you and your business suffer.

Your Actions:
Create specific goals, quotas or outcomes. Communicate those expectations. Have consequences for results not being accomplished.

#4 The Right Person
Determine what skill sets your position requires. Ask yourself, what do I really want someone to do? Search for a person that has those skills.

If you need someone to spend tons of time logging information, don’t hire someone who can’t sit still and chats on the phone all day.

Your Actions:
Look at the tasks being performed. Decide what skill sets are needed. When interviewing, ask open-ended questions.

#5 Checking In
While watching late night TV, I landed on an infomercial. The product tag line was, “set it and forget it”. The same rule does NOT apply to delegation. People are human. They make mistakes and they may even (gasp) drop the ball.

Set specific times to check in. Set a regular appointment time, such as Tuesday at 2pm, or at a specific spot in the process. For example, “after you have called all 50 prospects, come see me.”

Checking in allows you to stay in the loop, fix problems, educated the people working with you and be informed.

Your Actions:
Set specific times to check in. Actually check in when you say you will.

#6 Delegate to Technology
Money is tight and you desperately need help, but there is no budget. What do you do?
I am constantly amazed at what technology can do. I’m not talking about, no one can figure out how this works stuff. I’m talking about everyday, just push a button, anyone can do this stuff. Finding what works for you could save you hours of time and money.

Your Actions:
Learn some of the more intermediate or advanced features of software you already own. Incorporate it into your day-to-day workflow.

Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com, along with her team of highly sought after operations consultants, reveal the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, Process Prodigy tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600%, and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit http://www.processprodigy.com/ezine and grab your FREE systems starter kit valued at $297.00.

One of the more frustrating issues Internet marketers have is after building up a huge email list of targeted subscribers, they still aren’t even opening their emails, much less reading what you are sending them. As an Internet marketer you work hard on creating useful information for your subscribers so naturally you get frustrated if no one is even reading them. How can you make this situation better?

Don’t over sell — If every last email you send to your subscribers is selling something they will be trained to know that and if they’re not in a buying mood they’ll just click “delete” or worse “spam” after weeks of over selling.  I’m not saying don’t sell, I’m saying, pull them into your funnel don’t flood them out.

Pique curiosity — Creative and personalized subject lines can go a long way to getting people to at least take a look at your email. But be careful, do not lie in your subject line, nothing can make a subscriber madder than opening what promises to be an interesting email only to find yet another sales pitch. However, be creative and pique the subscribers’ curiosity but do it in an honest way so that you build trust.

It’s all in the timing — If you are not sending your emails at the right time of day then they can become hidden with all the other email that your subscribers receive each day. People get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of email, they will quickly scan subject lines, if nothing is interesting, they click away. Avoid this problem by sending your emails at the right time.

If you know your niche and you should, you should also find a way to find out the best time for them to read your emails. You can try different times of the day and check your metrics to find out the best times for your subscribers but depending upon your niche you can also make some educated guesses on when they might be at their computer reading email — THAT is the time you want to send it.

Like this tip? Sign up for my Internet Marketing Bootcamp – 52 weekly emails  for free! http://emarketingtipsonline.com/

Being able to use your words effectively is one of the most powerful skills you could learn. Through harnessing the power of words, you can build a solid following of users, create content that moves people and sell products that people will want to buy.

=> The Power of Words through Content

Your content isn’t just what you say; it’s how you say it. It’s how well you can build a connection with your readers, how well you can relate with them emotionally, and how well you can create passion.

If you have a message but don’t know how to convey it with conviction, personality, emotion and credibility, chances are it won’t be heard.

Did you know that the keyboard, mouse and graphic user interface were first invented by Xerox researchers? They thought they had the best invention in the world, but just couldn’t convince anyone that what they invented mattered.

Then Apple came along and shared the discovery with the world. A master of marketing, Steve Jobs used these three new inventions to take Apple to the next level.

People read your content for an experience as well for information. Learn to use your words to take your user on a fun journey as you educate them.

=> The Power of Words for Building Trust

Trust is a rare commodity online. There are so many people pitching for attention and trying to generate sales that most people tune most messages and sites out.

That said, if you learn the art of building trust, your site will become one of the few sites that your user actually pays attention to, and perhaps eventually buys from.

This also comes from using the power of words. Your words are what you use to convey credibility. It’s how you address the unspoken question of “Why should I trust you?”

It can be as simple as stating your qualifications. Or, more often, it’s a matter of using your words to demonstrate mastery of a topic and really resonate with the reader. Do it well and people will trust you with their valuable time and attention.

=> The Power of Words in Selling

The power of words really comes through when it comes to selling. The words written by a poor copywriter will often generate no sales at all, while the words of a world-class copywriter will often generate millions of dollars in sales.

The difference is all in the words. Can you reach into your readers’ hearts, paint a picture of a better world and convince them to make an investment in that vision?

In a nutshell, words are everything online. From creating content people love to convincing people that you have a product worth paying for, there really is nothing more important than learning to use the power of words well.

In order for any of your other e-Marketing strategies to work, you need a mechanism for capturing the email addresses of your website visitors. An autoresponder service will do that for you - that and much, much more! Autoresponders (an automatic response sent by email) have come a long way. While they used to be limited to messages such as “out of office,” “on vacation,” or “your mail could not be delivered because…”, today’s robust and varied autoresponder services provide a host of useful and varied applications.

Here is my “top 10″ list on ways to integrate autoresponders into your e-marketing:

1. Publish a newsletter. Your newsletter can keep your website visitors informed about your services or products, while building your reputation as a credible expert in your particular business.

2. Stay in touch with customers. Notify your customers of special offers or discounts in the future. It is much easier to sell something new to an existing customer, then to get a brand new customer.

3. Invite affiliates. Provide exclusive information about your affiliate program via an autoresponder. You can include links to “hidden” pages that aren’t linked from anywhere on your website. So the only way “in” is to request the autoresponder. These pages may contain graphics, promotional articles, and text links that affiliates can use to earn commissions by referring you.

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Personalizing your emarketing items, such as newsletters, broadcasts, etc. is not new; most people who use email regularly are used to seeing their first names in email subject lines or within an email newsletter. And, if you regularly send out emails to your subscribers, you probably have remembered the “first name” merge code by heart.

But many of you may be wondering, “What is the effectiveness of personalizing my emails?” “Does it really work?” “What else can I do besides add a name to the subject line?”

According to emailstatcenter.com, “Inserting a person’s name into an email increases open rates by as much as 10%. – Jupiter Research (2006).” So it does seem that personalizing emails does have an impact, even just a little bit. But the trick is to personalize correctly.

I would bet that you have received at least one or two emails that read like the following: “For {FIRST_NAME} , free ebook covers this weekend only.”

Um, that there should be something else before that comma. Yuck.

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“The path to perfection leads to procrastination. Don’t let perfect ruin good.”
–  Harry Beckwith

We have all heard that practice makes perfect, but I am here to tell you that the pursuit of perfection in the world of online marketing can lead to Stuck City, or worse, Nothing Gets Done Town. One of the reasons why many business owners whose revenue depends on online marketing can’t get going or aren’t doing any better than running an expensive hobby is because they are suffering from perfection paralysis.

Perfection paralysis takes many forms; a writer having writer’s block, an artist sitting in front of a blank canvas, or the internet marketer who promises a newsletter but never delivers. I know many (including me) who suffer from perfection paralysis in some form, but I think I have a cure. I’ve come to believe that 80% good is better than 100% perfect.

Stop Perfecting and Start Doing

It was midnight and Patty Perfect was on her fourth draft of her article. She had chosen her words carefully, crafting a masterpiece of words and thoughts about her feelings of the state of junk e-mail in today’s society. She spots a typo here and a missing comma there. She types and retypes, reviews, and asks for feedback from her husband. Patty is worried – worried about what her audience will think of her and how the public will judge her. She is paralyzed at the thought of her tour de force not being perfect. Days later, she finally relents and posts to her blog.

Meanwhile, Grant Goodenough was multitasking as usual. He was taking notes while attending a one-hour teleclass and hears some great advice about what to include and exclude in e-mail “subject lines” – a hot topic with his clients. He quickly types up a couple of paragraphs thinking how he and his client, Coach Sally, were just talking about this very topic earlier today! Ok, so it wasn’t the work of art that he would have liked, but he posts to his blog anyway.

Which post do YOU think is most helpful, useful, and relevant? Whose clients do YOU think are going to benefit the most?

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If you aren’t keeping in touch with your current clients, prospects, leads, customers, etc., you could be a big loser. You may be losing an opportunity to provide someone the benefit of your expertise, losing a chance to build a long-term relationship, and, ultimately, losing money.

Why is keeping in touch important? If you’re in the business of providing a service, especially an online service, you need to interact with people in order to start a relationship. Sharing information, providing tips, asking what types of information or products may be of benefit – are all ways to cultivate that valuable relationship. It follows that people want to do business with people they know and trust, someone whom they have a relationship with.

Keep in touch by keeping it simple

Keeping in touch with your current list is simple enough. Using a list manager program, like Aweber or Constant Contact, can be used to automatically send announcements and publications, such as enewsletters or ezines.

Writing a newsletter is a source of joy for some and a source of pain for others. If writing a newsletter isn’t your ‘thing,’ get creative! For example, Ginny Edwards of Refreshing Times Wellness Center sends out a “Weekly Refreshment” every Monday morning to start her readers off on the right track. Life coach Carey Powell of Fearless Soul Life Coaching sends a “Weekly Fearless Message” each Tuesday. Not only are these approaches creative, these are great examples of how these two coaches are using coaching in their marketing. Continue Reading