Charlie Cook's MArketing for Success Insider's Club

 

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

Why Do My Emails End Up in People’s Junk Mail?

By Charlie Cook   |   April 25, 2006

“My outbound e-mails keep going to people’s junk mail folders. Any idea why?”
– Tina

Spam filters block emails for a lot of reasons. The result is, as you’ve found out, that many of your legitimate emails don’t get through but lots of spam still does. Here are three ways your email could be getting caught in spam filters.

1. Bad words, like here, now, etc.
Use to many of these and the spam filters block your email. Here’s a list of many words to avoid >>

One preventative measure to take is to check to see if any of the words in your email might trigger a spam filter and than edit accordingly, though it’s not clear that all spam filters will block your email if it uses an “offending word once or twice”.

Here’s the link to one free spam checker you can use as a guide >>

2. Use of characters or unusual spellings that the spam filters think you could be using to avoid them. For example trying to slip sales by as ‘s.ales’.

3. Your mail server. Unless you’re using a service that regularly makes sure they are on the white list of approved bulk email senders, you’re email can get blocked even though it’s legitimate. Here’s the link to the email broadcast service I use >>

– Charlie
Small Business Marketing That Works

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Why Most Web Marketing Doesn’t Work For Traditional Businesses

By Charlie Cook   |   April 22, 2006

What’s the problem with most business marketing web sites and why don’t they work to improve marketing and sales?

Most business web sites are designed and written using a business marketing model that simply doesn’t work online. They’re created using marketing strategies and marketing copy based on traditional models, traditional branding and sales strategies. No matter how hard you try to market your business using these approaches, you won’t succeed.

Why?

You’re trying to use a key to unlock the door to increased web profits that doesn’t fit and never will. To increase your online lead generation and sales you need to discover the key that works to open the door to new prospects and more sales.

When your prospects are searching online, they’re not looking for the traditional branding or sales information, they’re looking for ideas they can use. They want tips and knowledge they can apply. Tempt them with something that helps them right off the bat instead of trying to sell them and you’ll be on your way to having a loyal customer.

Discover exactly what to do to unlock the door to increased online profits with your marketing. Use this link to get the details > >

Charlie Cook
Business Marketing That Works
Visit The Small Business Marketing Store

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Getting Return Calls With Your Phone Messages – Small Business Marketing Tips

By Charlie Cook   |   April 13, 2006

As part of your small business marketing effort you make calls to prospects. Working from your list of leads you pick up the phone to call a prospect. What happens?

80% of the time, the person you’re trying to call isn’t there. Of course you leave a message. Then what happens?

Usually nothing. You don’t get any return calls even if you make a hundred. Well maybe one.

What’s the one mistake most small business owners make marketing their business over the phone? They leave a message that pitches their products and services.

Trying to sell cold over the phone is the best way to ensure you won’t get a call back. Instead your objective should be limited to one thing. Focus on trying to get your prospects to return your calls.

Don’t try to sell anything when you leave a phone message.

– Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Guru

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Who To Blame When Your Small Business Marketing Isn’t Working

By Charlie Cook   |   April 6, 2006

You could blame the poor performance of your small business marketing problems on the economy, the competition, lack of capital, or other variables. Or you could blame yourself and see your sales soar.

Yes accepting blame for poor marketing performance instead of making you look bad, is the first step to making your small business profits look good.

Fiona Lee and Larissa Tiedens of Stamford 2004 research shows that companies that blamed themselves and internal factors for poor performance stock prices were substantial higher one year later. Why is this?

Blaming others and providing excuses for small business marketing strategies that aren’t working is just a way to avoid fixing something that’s broken. The alternative is to demonstrate leadership by acknowledging when your marketing strategy isn’t working or when mistakes were made.

Think about it. Which is more likely to inspire your colleagues and employees? A. Pointing the finger at others or B. Accepting blame and asking for new ideas to improve your business.

While it takes confidence to acknowledge blame, amazing transformations can take place as a result. Publically owning up to marketing mistakes can lead to new ideas, new strategies, and new solutions all of which can propel your small business sales to new highs.

So which is it? Bury you head in the sand and point to others or openly acknowledge what’s not working and start looking for small business marketing ideas that actually work?

Everyone makes mistakes. Research is clear that doing so is the first step to improving your company’s revenue.

A first step is to discover Marketing Ideas that Work >> >>
– Charlie Cook

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How Much To Spend On Small Business Marketing

By Charlie Cook   |   March 31, 2006

Yesterday I was talking with a client, from California, who wanted to know how she could reduce her small business marketing costs. She was sending out 100 free pamphlets each week at $8 a piece or $800 per week. Sounds expensive right?

I told her, before she looked at how to cut this marketing cost, she should take a look at her ROI, return on investment. When I asked her how much business this weekly marketing mailing was bringing in she calculated over $4,000 of weekly revenue that came in as a result of her mailings.

That’s a 500% rate of return on her small business marketing, which is, of course, outstanding.

Once she was able to evaluate the right numbers she came to the obvious conclusion, instead of trying to cut the marketing costs for her small business, the fastest way to increase revenue was to spend more on marketing that was working.
– Charlie Cook,

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Where This Small Business Marketing Guru Goes On Vacation

By Charlie Cook   |   March 29, 2006

I love taking vacations from my small business marketing practice for two reasons. Using the web marketing system I’ve developed over the years, my small business continues to make money when I’m away, often just as much as when I’m in the office. Secondly, while helping small business owners with their marketing is one of my passions, skiing is another.

In mid-March I took a week off with my son, during his college break, to ski in the southern Kootenays, a first for us to these particular mountains and it won’t be the last. We had the most incredible tree and off-piste skiing of our lives. Expect for the first day, it snowed practically all the time providing us with fresh powder like nobodys business. We skied Red Mountain in Rossland (play the video), Whitewater near Nelson B.C. and did two days of cat skiing . Use this link to see more snap shots of our past ski trip to Kicking Horse in Golden B.C. and this year’s trip to the southern Kootenays.

When I returned all I had to do was review the sales figures for my small business marketing manuals . Thanks to readers like you, I had a great week of sales while I was away skiing.
– Charlie Cook, Small Business Marketing Guru – Helping you attract more clients

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Avoid Making This Small Business Marketing Mistake With Your Google Ads

By Charlie Cook   |   March 22, 2006

How can you improve your small business marketing with your Google Ad campaign?

Before you rush into spending money on your Google ads, it pays to understand how they work and their purpose in your small business marketing. With the right verbiage you could create an ad that generated hundreds and thousands of click-throughs to your small business. Would that help your small business marketing?

Maybe – maybe not.

It depends on how many of the people who clicked on your Google ad actually turned into small business clients as a result of your marketing.

You could have the world’s greatest Google ad with a click-through rate of 3-5%, but if the people who click on your ad aren’t buyers then you are just wasting your money and lots of it.

To make sure your ads are not only working to attract prospects, but are also working to generate sales do the following once a month.

On a piece of paper list each of your Google ad campaigns. In the next column to the right, list the amount $ you spent on that campaign. Then in the third column over, list the dollar volume of sales directly attributed to that Google ad campaign.

Here’s what you may find out about marketing your small business. Ads that get the most clicks and bring the most people to your web site aren’t necessarily those that generate the most sales. Other ads that have a lower click-through rate may bring in more bonafide clients. Based on your monthly data analysis you’ll discover which ad campaigns to cut and which to spend more on, resulting in more sales.

Create a monthly advertising ROI spread sheet and you can use the data to improve your small business marketing and see your sales soar. Find out how with this link >>

– Charlie Cook

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Should You Use a Long Or Short Sales Letter?

By Charlie Cook   |   March 6, 2006

“I hate long sales letters. Why don’t you just tell me the price so I can decide whether I can afford it.”
– Sheryl, Long Beach CA

How do you know which to use, a short succinct sales letter or a long one? The answer is without testing you don’t. The only way to really know which type of sales letter works best is to test multiple versions. But keep in mind the following…

Price by itself can be a scary thing. $100 may sound like a lot to your prospect when they don’t know what they are going to get for their money. On the other hand if they fully understand the value of your product or service and all the extras you provide at no cost, $100 may be an incredible bargain.

Present price without the context of value and it will be deterrent. Present it in the context of the value provided and it can be a compelling reason to buy.

Your sales letter needs to:
– Help your prospects understand how your product or service will help them,
– Why they should trust you,
– What the value of your offer is in terms they understand,
and
– Why they need to act now.

It needs to convince them they can’t live without your product or service.

If you can do all of the above in a few words, great. Generally you’ll need 4-10 pages which is why on average long sales letters work better than short.
– Charlie Cook

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How Do You Know When Your Marketing Isn’t Working?

By Charlie Cook   |   March 4, 2006

As the story goes, a Mississippi tug boat company had one key question they asked prospective captains. The owner of the company would ask, “How many times have you gone aground?”

If the person said, “Never”. he knew he was a liar and would dismiss the prospective captain on the spot. Given the twisty nature of the Mississippi and its constantly shifting sand bars, every barge captain has “touched” bottom more than once.

The same is true in marketing your small business. Everyone has made a mistake or two or three. Recently I made yet another one myself. I don’t look forward to making mistakes but each time I discover one, it gives me a chance to make my marketing even better.

The culprit in my case was my new subscriber autoresponder series. It had been working well to convert recent subscribers to clients but I was intent on increasing my conversion rates, so one day I fiddled with the copy of each of the messages in the series.

It would have been a good idea, but some days not every neuron is firing and by mistake I pasted two messages in the series together into one. The top of the message started with Dear so and so, then at the end it started again with Dear so and so, etc.

Of course I didn’t notice this mistake for a couple of weeks because it just goes out automatically each time someone signs up for my marketing newsletter, something that happens almost 500 times per week.

What I did notice was that more people than usual were unsubscribing from the marketing ezine. Hmm! This prompted me to review the individual messages and correct the error. In the process I found a couple more ways to increase my conversion rates and sales.

If you haven’t done so already, sign up and take a look at the autoresponder series. I can’t share the exact numbers with you but let’s say I’ve doubled sales in the last couple of weeks.

Here’s the link to the site’s free marketing stuff page
Free Marketing Resources
and the direct link to sign up for free marketing guide and the autoresponder series
Get the Free Marketing Guide
– Charlie Cook

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What Web Site Marketing Strategies Work? Are PopUps a Good Idea?

By Charlie Cook   |   February 1, 2006

The conventional wisdom in marketing, online or off, is that if you see lots of other people doing something it must have merit. For example you see lots of supposed web marketing gurus using popups on their web sites to prompt you to sign up for an ezine, to give them your email address.

You know the popups I’m talking about. They show up when you visit a site or within a few seconds and then hover over the page blocking the content you where trying to read. They even follow you as you scroll down the page until you click them away or sign up. Yes, they can be annoying but do they work.

Take a look at this popup example I tried on my site to see what I’m talking about.

I’ve heard claims that they can increase your ezine signups by factors of 2 to 10, helping you build your list of qualifed prospects and improve your web site marketing. If they did this shouldn’t you use them?

Wait!

What’s the one thing you should do before you incorporate any change into your web site marketing?

You should test each idea to see if it works!

When I tested this popup I found no significant difference in signups and I was told by a few people how ugly it was. Over the period I tested it only 5 people a day signed up via the popup with a net gain of close to zero. E.g. while a few people signed up via the popup a few less signed up using the other signup forms on the page.

Of course my marketing site has been optimized for sign ups and already brings in 75 or more new subscribers a day.

So what should you do, should you use popups?

Popups are like bandaids. They are a quick fix and while they may work better than nothing to build your list of opt-in prospects, the best solution to your web site marketing is to fix the structure and marketing copy you use in your site. What and how to do it is explained in detail in Creating Web Sites that Sell. Use this link >>
-Charlie Cook

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