Archive for February, 2009

0800 Numbers or 0845 Numbers: Which is Best?

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

0845 numbers and 0800 numbers are useful for businesses from SMEs to Corporate Blue Chips. Both number ranges allow firms to keep one telephone number for life.   Both are also a great incentive for customers to call more often, building lasting relationships, increasing business and developing customer loyalty.There are key differences between the two number ranges that businesses should consider. First of all, what do you want to use the number for?  If you are looking for a telephone number to use in your marketing and advertising then 0800 numbers are the clear winner. 0800 numbers are totally free for your potential customers, meaning that you will receive more sales/enquiries to the number that you have promoted.
For companies looking for a main contact number, then an 0845 number could be the ideal solution. 0800 numbers actively encourage customers to call because they are free, but 0845 numbers are not free.   You might think this would minimise their popularity, but they are in fact the UK’s most popular number range. When they were first introduced, 0845 numbers were known as ‘local rate’ numbers, though this is not strictly the case any more with the popularity of inclusive call packages offered by mobile and landline providers.BT has made 0845 numbers free to call for its 16 million residential landline customers, so the cost barrier has been removed for many consumers.
0845 numbers and 0800 numbers are both great ways to improve business communications. Both number ranges give you more control and flexibility over your phone systems and each has its own advantages.0845 numbers and 0800 numbers are different tools and should be carefully selected to suit your business needs.  0800 numbers will definitelyencourage responses from ad campaigns for example, whether they are direct mail or above the line display ads.0800 numbers also give the impression that you really are committed to your customer far more effectively.

How to Form a Joint Venture Marketing Business Plan

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

The hard part about joint ventures is the actual work in convincing a potential JV partner about the merits of the venture. Once you have a JV partner in hand, the next step is communicating together and working toward forming a solid business plan that will guide you to success with the venture.

A joint venture marketing business plan does not need to be a fully composed booklet like the type mainly used for acquiring loans or other funding. Of course, the more detail you and your JV partner can put into your strategic plan, the better guide you will have.  However, your business plan could be as simple as a one-page point-by-point strategic outline.

Goal of Joint Venture Marketing Partnership

Your number one assignment in forming a JV business plan is to spell out the goal for each party. The goal doesn’t necessarily have to be the same. Your specific goal in the partnership may be to get access to wider marketing base, while your JV partner’s goal may be to increase revenue through the sharing of technology and expertise. 

Be sure to spell out the goal so that neither you nor your JV partner has any miscommunication about why you are in the partnership.

Assignment of Duties

What specific duties will you perform? What will your JV partner do? Again, to avoid any misunderstanding in the division of duties to reach your JV partnership goals, write out the duties that each will perform along the way. 

Funding Sources

How will you and your JV partner split expenses? Is your JV partnership large enough that it may need a bank loan? In your JV business plan, know how you and your partner will fund the venture. It may be as simple as contributing $1000 each into a JV “kitty” to get the venture rolling. Wherever the funding comes from, clarify who will pay for what expenses and how much each is willing to contribute.

Resource Allotment

Will you and your joint venture marketing partner need additional resources in addition to money? Perhaps you will contribute some of your employee expertise, or your JV partner will utilize his distributing network to make the JV a success. Be specific in how you will allot the resources needed.

Division of Profits or Benefits

If there is a profit to be made and split from the joint venture marketing endeavor, how will the funds be allocated? Perhaps it will be a 50/50 profit split, or depending on one partner’s additional resource allotment, the profits may be split 70/30. Be sure you each know what you will be receiving from the partnership.

Exit Strategy

Finally, make an exit strategy in your business plan, which will allow you and your JV partner to know when it is time to fold the cards. Perhaps your goal is a short-term partnership that will terminate after a specific event. Or, it could be an ongoing joint venture marketing project until one or both of the partners says they are ready to terminate the agreement. Spell it out clearly so that you both know how to wrap up the JV cleanly and without ill will towards the other.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.

A Rise In Imprinted Item Advertising Among Youngsters

Friday, February 27th, 2009

promotional marketing

The US Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) reported that, in 2006, their advertising specialty industry sales topped $18.6 billion, which is up 4.5 percent from the previous year. Spending on advertising specialties in 2006 was double the spending of online ads, five times the size of outdoor ads and more than cable TV advertising. “They have very reasonable costs-per-impression and provide a positive return on investment for marketeers,” explained ASI president Tim Andrews. While spending on specialty advertising is high, the returns from imprinted items are even higher, experts say.

Another successful category of imprinted items are the popular imprinted pens, which come in all shapes, sizes and varieties. Imprinted pens are tangible and semi-permanent, offering a long-lasting reminder that the company is generous and available to serve new customers. This imprinted merchandise can remain on the desks of potential clients for weeks, months or even years, offering long-term exposure. Promotional pens cost just pennies but offer a high return on one’s investment. Additionally, many employers hand out personally engraved pens to special employees as a gesture of appreciation. Some well-known websites offering imprinted pens are: Business.com (which offers a good selection of corporate gift pens), PromotionalLogoPens.com (offering pens for well under $1), Inkspress.com (with over 100 styles), SaveOnPromotionalProducts.com (which has a great selection of novelty pens shaped like syringes or bones, etc), Branders.com (which has robot pens and massage pens) or ThePenLine.com (which has an all-around great selection of inexpensive promo pens).

The good news regarding the influx of direct marketing promotions is that there are always exciting new imprinted promo items coming out! Many marketeers like to play it safe and stick with the imprinted pens, the t-shirts and the tote bags. However, for the internet savvy individual who’s willing to go the extra mile to impress the public, there is a whole world of unusual items that are sure to make an impact! HorizonSources.com offers “logo toasters,” which is every bit as intriguing as it sounds. A custom imprinted message can be cooked right onto a slice of toast in a custom logo toaster!

Another innovative idea is to take the successful corporate apparel formula but go beyond the traditional hats and t-shirts to offer imprinted promotional items like socks, tote bags or bottle cap opener/hats. At 4Imprint.com, custom socks go as low as $3.50/pair and there is a wide selection of trendy tote bags, coolers and duffel bags. Glow-in-the-dark tattoos go over well for a club promotion, whereas a poncho or umbrella might go over especially well during the rainy season in the Northwest. In the age of technology, imprinted promo items like USB devices and mousepads have become industry favorites. In New York City, Lifebrands condoms offered branding opportunity for 4 cents/package, which definitely caught a lot of attention among that 20-something demographic!

Eco-friendly imprinted items are one of the newest innovations to hit the market. With public attention focused on saving the planet, putting an end to global warming and purchasing progressive products that encourage environment-friendly practices, “green” promotional marketing products are a great way to make a positive impression. MyLogoImprinted.com’s green customized products are made with recycled, biodegradable plastics, all materials are recycled or natural, the manufacturing process consumes less energy and natural resources, the ink is natural or recycled and the imprinted items are packed with minimal, recycled shipping materials. Companies can order eco-friendly reusable grocery bags, duffel bags, backpacks, computer bags, green imprinted clothing, embroidered hats, desk accessories, stationary items, MP3 players, thermos flasks and more.

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Thursday, February 26th, 2009

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How To Be A Joint Venture Matchmaker

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

A good joint venture marketing partnership creates a type of synergy that benefits both parties in greater ways than going solo. One could say that the sum of a JV is greater than the individual parts. How is this so? Using the right marketing techniques together in a combined effort just makes sense if it saves money on the budget and generates more revenue.

JV Match Maker

Finding the right JV match can be time consuming. When you look for a potential JV partner, you should consider which type of people (direct, aggressive, or creative) you like working with. Sometimes a great JV partnership is gained from sharing different talents in a combined effort. For example, you may be a techno wiz and need a creative person who can help with marketing messages. Together your talents can benefit the other.

You also may want to look at the type of industry or business of your potential JV partner. Sometimes working with someone who does a similar business can create a synergetic partnership, and sometimes a company doing a completely different business can be beneficial. Look for what you want to gain.

Sending the Right Message

A synergetic JV partnership develops the right message to customers. Opening the right market channels through your message helps both parties gain more clients and customers, as well as other potential business partners.

More Money

Of course, one of the main goals of a joint partnership is earning more revenue. Through the synergetic efforts of both parties, a JV partnership can save money on marketing costs, possibly production costs, and generate more revenue with increased sales. 

Consider if you had a budget of $10,000 per year on marketing costs. Through a combined joint venture effort, including sharing marketing costs, you’ll find that you can save $2,000 a year on that portion of your budget. That’s $2,000 that could be spent on other efforts such as R & D, or perhaps hiring additional employees for all the extra products you need to produce.

Another way of forming cost savings with a JV partnership is by creating an economy scale. Perhaps by using your special container equipment combined with your JV partner’s ability to efficiently manufacture and package goods, your economies of scale synergy can result in saving of costs of goods sold and increased revenue.

Ultimately a successful JV will produce satisfying profits for both parties. Increased revenue with only half or a portion of the effort is successful synergetic business. With increased revenue, you can help take your company to another level of business. 

Your potential joint venture partner can help your business succeed. Consider the possibilities of working with another business owner to develop ways of making new business. It starts with choosing the right partner, and working your synergy to develop the right marketing message that results in extra money in your business account.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.

Key Points and Benefits to a Collaboration Marketing Strategy

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Relationships have always been a cornerstone of effective marketing, and collaboration marketing is a way to foster trust and build strong alliances. The following are a few ways in which a collaboration marketing strategy will benefit your business.

Take Advantage of Size Economics

Often, though not always, you can enjoy significant cost savings by collaborating with other businesses, which require the same supplies that you do. In this way, you may be able to command a higher market price for your product.

Maintain a Steady Flow of Product

Having your product readily available at the time your customer wants to buy it is essential for a successful business. Even the most popular products will quickly lose their market share if they’re not available when the customer wants them. By collaborating with others in your industry, you can be certain to always service your customers in a timely manner. The collaboration ultimately benefits all parties involved.

Preserve an Existing Market

As the structure of business changes, there is much concern about the disappearance of local markets in favor of global markets and outsourcing to other countries. A collaboration of small businesses in local markets can protect these smaller markets and help sustain the existence of small independent businesses.

Create a New Market

There are two sides to every market: suppliers who offer a product to sell and customers who are looking for the product to buy. Sometimes, potentially viable markets fail to develop if a minimum volume cannot be reached. If several small businesses are struggling to sustain enough customers, collaborating with other business owners may create a way to develop a niche market for your products, allowing you and your contemporaries to stay afloat in a situation where that may otherwise have been difficult.

Gain Access to Knowledge and Professional Expertise

Access to business owners who have knowledge in areas in which you may not be an expert is one of the most important and beneficial aspects to collaboration marketing. Everyone has different skill sets and areas of expertise. By collaborating with businesses and professionals who have strengths and capabilities in areas where you are weaker, and vice versa, will ultimately benefit and create stronger and more thriving individual businesses.

The collaboration marketing strategy is a potentially vast tool to help you expand and sustain a strong business. There are many applications of collaboration marketing to consider, and if initially you don’t feel it will be a good fit for your business, a closer look at the benefits of such a model may quickly convince you otherwise.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.

Using Psychology to Stimulate Action in your Joint Venture Marketing Messages

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Consumers love to spend money. They want to purchase goods and services. But how do you get them to purchase from you? A joint venture may be a good way to develop the right marketing message to consumers. Through your combined efforts, you can convince them that the products or services you sell will fulfill their needs.

Marketers have used consumer psychology for years to help sell their goods and services.  Studies of consumer patterns and behaviors have helped them formulate a message that creates the desire to purchase. Understanding a bit of the consumer decision making process can help you find the right JV partner with whom you can develop a product or service that consumers can’t resist.

The Stimulus

You need to get the attention of a consumer in order to eventually make a sale. That means working with your JV partner to create a “package deal” or new product that you feel consumer’s need, and getting the message to them through advertisements, word of mouth, etc. Your marketing message must arouse a consumer’s interest and motivate them to act further. Make your ads attractive with photos, graphics, and colors. Use easy-to-read fonts that are large enough to read. 

Do You Have A Problem?

Getting the attention of consumers is the hard part. Once you’ve grabbed hold of their focus, the rest is simply convincing them they need your product or service through problem awareness. At this stage of consumer decision, they must recognize that your product or service fulfills a desire or solves a problem for them in your marketing message. Does your JV effort potentially increase the consumer’s status? Can it help make life easier? Demonstrate the problem in your message.

More Info, Please

If your marketing message has grabbed their attention and highlighted a potential problem solver, consumers will want to know more through an information search.  Their search could be external, or your marketing message could contain additional benefits of your JV product. Always emphasize the benefits to your potential consumer.

What are the Alternatives?

Before making a final decision, a consumer may want to know what else is available. Is there a cheaper product? Can someone else offer better services for less? You could even point out in your marketing message the differences of other similar products or services and why yours is the best choice.  

I’ll Take It!

The final process of consumer psychology is the decision to make a purchase. If your marketing message has fulfilled all five previous processes for the consumer, give them a call to action. Let them know what they need to do to buy your product or service. Do they need to come to your store? Can they buy online? Is there a limited time only? Always give consumers the final information on how to purchase through your marketing message.

If your JV partnership is to be successful, you need to send a convincing message to consumers about the benefits of the JV effort. Solve the problem for them. Convince them that yours is the best choice.  And always make it easy to know how to buy.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.

Achieve Exponential Profits with the Right Joint Venture Deal

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Is your small business making just enough to stay afloat and provide you with a livable salary? Perhaps you haven’t analyzed your product potential well enough. There may be a joint venture that can take your small company from a neighborhood business to national exposure with exponential profits.

Joint Ventures Turned Stickers into a Multi-Million Enterprise

How can you take a small business and turn it into a multi-million dollar enterprise? Consider a strategic joint venture with a big name company. Take a look at Mello Smello. Jon and Leah Miner, husband and wife, had a small sticker store they operated in Minnesota. They approached another Minnesota firm, 3M about combining their technologies to create a new line of stickers. The result was a process called micro-encapsulation, where odors and smells could be captured and coated onto paper stickers. 

Scratch n’ Sniff stickers were born, and Mello Smello suddenly went from a small, unknown business to a multi-million dollar a year company. Since then, Jon and Leah have partnered up with the likes of Disney, Nascar, and DC Comics to create Mello Smello stickers of popular characters. They have also developed other products such as glow-in-the-dark stickers, temporary tattoos, and children’s greeting cards.

The Benefits of Thinking Big

Jon and Leah have enjoyed over 20 years of tremendous success due to their original idea of forming a joint venture with a big partner. What can you do with your business by thinking big?

Reduce the Learning Curve – Strategic joint ventures with big partners reduce your learning curve for technology significantly. By agreeing to share revenues with 3M, Mello Smello gained access to new technology bases that otherwise may have taken years, even decades, to develop and market on their own. 3M’s revolutionary technology for sticky paper helped Mello Smello to manufacture their creative product. 

Build Credibility – By linking your business with nationally branded companies, you can increase your credibility as one who produces quality merchandise, products, or services. Would Mello Smello have been able to partner with Disney without the technological help and exposure from 3M? Probably not. But by teaming with a national player, the little business from Minnesota was able to start growing in exponential waves with new partnerships with other big businesses.

Create New and Bigger Revenue Streams – With a joint venture, new markets open up for your business that may not have been available before. With the licensing partnership with Disney, Mello Smello gained international markets for their products. 

Additionally, Mello Smello began additional product development that helped create new revenue streams. This can be another exponential revenue generator. With a successful product already in hand, new products can double, or even triple, revenue cycles.

Joint ventures can be the key for a small business to make a quantum leap from local business to national producer.  Take the time to take a look at possible strategic alliances that could position your business for the future.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.

Do Joint Ventures Work? Case Studies Prove Their Effectiveness

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Entrepreneurs sometimes endure the feeling of having the weight of the world on their shoulders.  A business can encompass an abundance of time with all the details of administration, getting new business, marketing, development, and of course, taxes.  Entrepreneurs are idea people.  They like to create business ideas and watch it become successful.  But sometimes there just isn’t enough time for business development.

That is why a joint venture can be a great option for an entrepreneur to explore new business ideas and expand revenues at the same time.  A joint venture allows an entrepreneur to remain autonomous with his or her business and still enjoy the benefits of a partner sharing expertise and part of the workload.

Roxanne Batson, an entrepreneur and managing partner of two separate small businesses, found out just how forming joint partnerships helped in both the quality of the end-product and increased revenue.

One of her businesses, WomenCorp.org, is an online multi-media women’s magazine.  Roxanne started the magazine as a business newsletter to deliver learning opportunities for women in business.  However, she had to perform all the work herself – researching topics, writing articles, marketing the site, and designing and maintaining the website itself.  The workload was too much for Roxanne, who had other obligations to attend in addition to the newsletter.

Her solution was to be open to the possibility of a tech savvy joint venture partner who could help with the maintenance and upkeep of the website.  With a great web media specialist as a joint venture partner in hand, Roxanne then found 20 content providers who could do the research and write the continually updated content for the website.

The result was a richer, more dynamic online magazine that attracted more visitors and is more profitable.  Profit is generated by ad sales and shared among the joint venture partners.

Roxanne is also the managing partner for an offline business called Clicker Girls, a business that developed the Classroom Performance System (CPS).  CPS involves the use of a remote response pad technology.  The clicker technology allows students to engage with teachers and receive instant feedback and automated grading during classroom lectures.

Sales of the system were stagnant and Roxanne wanted to find a way to grow the business and increase revenue.  She found the help of DCI, a whiteboard technology dealer.  Their product allows teachers to more easily interact with the student’s responses through the CPS remote technology.  Through this joint venture, they were able to approach school districts together with their interactive products.  The result?  Sales skyrocketed from $130,000 to $1.3 million!

Making Life Easier and Business More Profitable

Roxanne Batson is a believer in joint ventures.  She says they make life easier, can build a better business model, and she can make far more money than she could alone.  If you are an entrepreneur, consider that your business can have more growth and more revenue if you share ideas and marketing strategies with a joint venture partner.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.

Relationship Marketing: Using Demographics As a Lead Source Tool

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

A good lead-scoring model is an important part of a successful relationship marketing plan. The impetus for implementing a relationship-marketing scheme is to build, develop and maintain strong customer relationships. Implementing and reacting appropriately to a lead-scoring model developed for your company is one of the first steps towards turning a lead into a client. By knowing how to contact and develop potential leads, you will better know how to nurture these relationships once they move from the lead phase into the client stage.

Types of data for relationship marketing

The most successful and accurate lead-scoring models use both explicit and implicit client information. Explicit data are hard facts about your leads that are often provided by your prospects themselves, such as gender, geographic location, company, company size, and title. Implicit data is collected from monitoring the behavior of your leads: web site visits, emails they open, and sometimes previous purchases.

Used together, explicit and implicit factors create a comprehensive picture of your prospective clients that help you make an accurate determination of their likelihood to purchase your products and services. Demographics and psychographic information are two important types of explicit data that are integral to the execution of a successful lead-scoring model.

The value of demographics data

The demographics section of a lead-scoring model categorizes individuals based on characteristics of both the individual, as well as the company for which they work. Some lead scoring models will rely heavily on individual information, some will rely more heavily on a lead’s company information, and some lead-scoring models will use a combination of the two. This will largely depend on the type of business you have, and the types of products and services you provide.

Demographic information collected for your lead scoring can be extremely useful and help to shape the relationship marketing campaign for your company. If you sell beauty products online, you may discover that a certain brand sells better on the East coast than on the West coast. This will help you further tailor your lead scoring model, as well as your relationship-marketing plan.

Demographic information can be extremely useful, but it does have a few pitfalls, of which you’ll want to remain aware:

Self-reported information is not always accurate

People often give answers that they believe are more desirable, such as overstating the size of their company or their salary. Beware of potential aspiration data.

Company information tends to roll towards the mean

Leads at large companies may downplay the size of their company, or their role to avoid potentially hassling sales calls, while leads at small companies may pad their numbers to appear to be a bigger player on the scene than they are in order to be given more attention or to be taken more seriously.

Sometimes people lie

Unfortunately, not everyone will tell the truth on your data collection forms. For a variety of reasons ranging from embarrassment to annoyance or secrecy, some people are reluctant to reveal personal information. If this is a prerequisite for downloading something from your website, they may enter incorrect information.

Lead scoring is a very successful tool, and demographic information is one of the most essential aspects of a lead-scoring model. Keep in mind that the data may not always be 100% accurate and figure this into your scoring system. It is also useful to remember that scoring doesn’t have to take place all at once – you can do it over time, and this may be a more effective way to run your lead scoring model, as part of an effective relationship-marketing platform.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Join his JV Wealth e-zine at Tags: Deal Making, Entrepreneurship, Income, Joint Ventures, Making Money, Strategic Alliances, Wealth
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