Charlie Cook's MArketing for Success Insider's Club

 

The Top Experts Reveal Small Business Marketing Strategies
That Get Results In This Economy

Lost and Confused About Your Web Site Marketing…

By Charlie Cook   |   October 24, 2006

“Charlie: I am so lost I could damn well cry. This is the deal. I hired a person to put my web site up. We did that. Now what? She says add articles, which is more money.

I am really confused about what I need to do to market my web site. I asked about pay per click but she says no. I am just trying to drive traffic. She says organic traffic is better.

I say what?!

I need someone I can trust, this is very important for my family owned business. We are not rich. we are just a small company trying to get leads by internet marketing. Can you help me?”
Lucinda

Answer –
There are two primary ways to generate leads online with your web site marketing.

1. Build a content rich site the search engines will love and list at the top for your keywords. This is the ultimate way to generate lots of traffic, but takes lots of time and money.

2. Use pay-per-click advertising. This is the quickest way to get traffic to your site though you have to keep paying for it.

Of course neither are worth anything if the people who visit your site don’t contact you and buy from you. A well written and designed site should convert at least one out of ten visitors into a prospect. If it doesn’t it’s the site design and verbiage that’s the problem.

At this point I would say your web designer has done a nice job creating a professional looking site, but it’s not going to do what you want it to do and generate a flood of leads and business.

If you want to find out what to do take a look at ‘15 Second Marketing‘ at http://www.15secondmarketing.com

and ‘Creating Web Sites That Sell‘ at http://www.mfsstore.com/websales.html

– Charlie
For Web Site Marketing Answers That Make Sense and Make Profits

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Don’t Do It! Small Business Marketing Scams

By Charlie Cook   |   October 16, 2006

The small business marketing question I got today shocked me! The woman on the line confessed she’d made every wrong mistake in the book and now with a maxed out credit card was trying to figure out what to do next. While her goals were high, she wanted to become a millionaire, she had no idea where to start.

She’d just gotten off the phone with a representative of a firm that promises to help anyone become an instant success in real estate. When she told the representative her financial situation he told her to talk to her credit card company and see how much cash she could come up with towards the $10,000 cost of the sure fire get rich program.

Her question was should she take on additional debt to sign up and “Find fast wealth in any city, town, or neighborhood” ?

My immediate response was NO! And then I did what she should have done first. I went to:

Report A Ripoff.

It’s not a pretty or fast site but when I searched the name of the program in question, I found countless stories of people paying their $10,000 for real estate coaching and getting next to nothing in return.

Want to make a million with your small business? You can, with a good idea, a high level of expertise, hard work and effective marketing. If you’re looking for an opportunity and it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. Before you invest in it, do your own due diligence and look through the industry relevant message boards and sites like Report A Ripoff.
– Charlie Cook

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How Much To Give Away with Your Small Business Marketing…

By Charlie Cook   |   September 22, 2006

“What advice you can offer for my 31 yr old musician/artist son who is designing a very artsy website that hopefully will flourish into a great enterprise for film/video/music/store. He thinks he should give his first album away for free!! He is trying to generate a following but . . is this the way to do his small business marketing.” – Bettye

Giving content and items away for free is a great way to generate interest and demonstrate your expertise whether you’re a musician or a consultant. The more you giveaway for free, the more people will buy. Of course you don’t want to give away your primary source of income, the product or services that bring in the revenue. If you give everything away for free, no one will buy anything.

So how much should you, or in this case your son, give away for free to promote his new business?

I like Amazon.com’s marketing strategy. Let people listen to 30 seconds or so of a song, for free from their site, just enough to make you want to hear the whole song. In your son’s case giving away 1-2 songs for someone who is unknown and getting them circulating is a good idea, giving away his whole album is probably a mistake.

Want some more ideas on how to build trust and build your business? Read this article on to improve your small business marketing
– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing That Works

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How Can I Compete With the “Big Guys”? And marketing ideas I can use?

By Charlie Cook   |   September 11, 2006

“We’re a local car rental service and compete with the “big guys”, the nationally know car rental companies. Any marketing ideas or strategies we can use?” – Carla

1. List your prospects’ most common concerns, their problems and frustrations, the little things that drive them crazy.

2. Circle the ones that the “big guys” don’t address and that you do.

3. Use this list of prospects’ problems as the focus of your small business marketing.

Want more marketing ideas to help grow your business? Use this link to find hundreds of tips and marketing ideas you can use >>
– Charlie Cook, Small Business Marketing That Works

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When Hokey Marketing Works to Grow Your Business…

By Charlie Cook   |   July 25, 2006

“Isn’t the marketing copy too hokey? I can see that it might work for small businesses but will it work to attract and convince more sophisticated marketing managers?” – Mark

It’s true you don’t want your business marketing to be contrived or clearly not genuine. That will kill your chances of getting attention from any of your prospects.

What you do want to do is make a connection with your business prospects, get them thinking about the problems you solve and how much better off they’d be with the product or service your marketing.

One of the best ways to get your prospects’ attention and their interest is to tell a story about your clients, what they wanted to achieve, what you did for them and the results. Make it personal and interesting. Hokey? Maybe but it beats the typical boring business marketing that doesn’t get results.
– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Guru Providing Results For Small and Large Companies

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How to Market to Women – Suprise, It Turns Out Seduction Isn’t…

By Charlie Cook   |   July 17, 2006

I had to chuckle this weekend when I read the story in the New York Times titled, “What Women Want”. After years of trying to sell women’s underwear using seduction as the primary marketing tool, big businesses like Sare Lee Branded apparel which owns Playtex, Bali and Hanes has decided to change its marketing strategy.

These corporate giants are testing a new marketing technique. Instead of focusing on super models they’re taking a lesson from the small business marketing approach that smaller companies like Title Nine have been using for years.

Instead of trying to get women to buy underwear based on its seductive appeal, these companies are shfiting their focus to the tangible benefits of their products, comfort, breathablity, flattering fabrics, etc. Instead of selling based on getting women to buy into an unattainable super model image, these companies are starting to sell the products based on their actual benefits.

For years I’ve been helping businesses grow by getting them to stop copying the failed marketing strategies of big business and get them to focus instead on how they help their clients, an approach that has been proven to work over and over. Now even big business is catching on.

To get the details of this proven marketing strategy use this link >>

Best,

Charlie Cook
Helping you grow with marketing strategies that work

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How To Market A Different Kind Of Business?

By Charlie Cook   |   July 17, 2006

“Mine’s a very different business, I’m the executive director of the National Dance Institute. Will your ideas work for my non-profit organization?” Leslee

It’s true your business is different, but here’s what every business needs to improve their marketing.

1. To get your prospect’s attention.

2. To get them to read your marketing materials including your web site.

3. To get them to respond by contacting you to learn more.

4. To send you money so you can continue to grow the business.

The better you can do steps 1-3, the more you’ll be able to do #4.

Discover how to do this with your web site with this link >>

Best,

Charlie Cook
The Small and Not So Small Business Marketing Guru

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How To Become Highly Sought After With Your Small Business Marketing

By Charlie Cook   |   June 20, 2006

“I am a photographer in a highly competitive area, DFW. What can I do to be different, unique and highly sought after? And, unfortunately, I have limited budget” John W., Dallas, TX

Many, if not most, small business owners are in the same boat. They have lots of competition, are without wads of cash to spend to market their small business and want to become highly sought after with lots of clients.

How can you differentiate yourself from all the others who are competing for the same business in your field? The answer is surprisingly simple.

You don’t need lots of money to attract new clients, you need a marketing plan and small business marketing tools that help you get attention, generate a steady stream of leads and new clients.

It’s how you market yourself and your services that makes you different, unique and highly sought after. It’s what you say, how you say it, what you tell people you do, how you get their attention and how you follow up. When you know how to get results with your marketing you can use these low cost and no cost small business marketing ideas to easily double or triple your business within months.

Start with The 5 Principles of Highly Effective Small Business Marketing to put your marketing strategy together and start getting all the clients you can handle. Use this link to get the details >>
– Charile Cook
Small Business Marketing That Gets Results

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Should I Use Software To Write My Small Business Marketing Plan?

By Charlie Cook   |   June 9, 2006

Charlie,

Thanks for all of the great information you provide. I am writing my 1st marketing plan (new product introduction) and I would like to incorporate marketing ideas from the downloads purchased from your site.

Do you offer or recommend boiler plate marketing software, If not, what software would you recommend? I am looking at Software offered by —– Pro 9.0.” – Richard A.

Richard,

Here’s the description of the marketing plan software you mentioned from their site –

“Whether you are presenting a marketing plan to your department, working for a Fortune 500 company or simply looking for a marketing direction for your business,”

Now, I’m sure its a great product but is it the right product for you?

I doubt it and here’s why.

Marketing strategies that work for Fortune 500 companies with marketing budgets in the tens if not hundreds of millions have no bearing on what works for small business owners. They don’t work. When small businesses apply big business marketing strategies they go broke and quickly put themselves out out of business.

I’d be very skeptical of any marketing plan that says it works for both small and large businesses.

Are you a small business owner or marketer?
Want a marketing plan written to help you with your small business marketing?

You’d be best served by finding a guide to writing your marketing plan written for small business owners and marketers. Discover how to get results with your small business marketing with this link >>

Or take a look at the other marketing resources for small businesses >>

– Charlie
Helping you get results with marketing

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What’s the Single Most Powerful Small Business Marketing Idea?

By Charlie Cook   |   June 7, 2006

Want to know one of the most effective ways to generate sales? Use this small business marketing strategy!

Last week I needed to get a signature notarized so I walked over from my office to my bank. Most banks will notarize customers signatures at no cost. I walked in to find only one of the three bank representatives at their desks and she wasn’t a notary public. Her suggestion was to drive to another branch in the next town.

Is this a good way to market a business? Of course not.

What was my local small town bank has been bought and sold many times in the last few years and is now owned by a large corporation that is focused on increasing profits by cutting staff. They market to small businesses but they don’t back it up with service.

My response was to walk across the street to Wachovia, the competing bank in town. I asked about getting my document notarized and even though I’m not a customer, they instantly agreed and pointed out they had four employees currently in the bank who were notary publics.

When I left I started to wonder where I should be doing my banking – with a bank that is cutting back on service or with one that welcomes people and provides simple services like notarizing documents for free.

Giving away a service or information for free is one of the most powerful small business marketing strategies on the planet. Each time you use this marketing strategy you attract business and build loyalty moving prospects that much closer to becoming customers.

Want more clients and people buying your products? Use this simple – give to get – small business marketing strategy to get more prospects and more business.

Discover which small business marketing strategies work to attract clients with this link >>

– Charlie Cook
Helping you with small business marketing ideas that get results

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