| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Copy SoapNet and Make Money
Whether you want to admit it or not, soap operas may hold the key to your home business success. This article includes a few home and small business principles I learned while watching SoapNet. Be really, really good looking. I don't know if you've had this experience, but every time I turn on SoapNet I feel overweight, ugly, and hopelessly average. There is no way I could ever compete with the collection of beauties, male and female, that the soap operas have assembled. But before you go out and buy a Bow Flex and dye your hair blonde, remember that I'm talking about your home business in this article. Just because you are running your business out of your home on a low budget does not mean it has to look like you are running your business out of your home on a low budget. Invest a little bit of money into getting a professional logo and stationary. If you own a website and cannot afford a professional web designer, take courses at your local college. Presenting your business professionally can open up doors you may believe are closed to you. Give them something to talk about. If soap operas do nothing else well, they create scandals that have people talking for days. It is a TV show for crying out loud! Can you imagine what kind of publicity you could bring to your business if you gave people something to talk about the way the soaps do? I'm not suggesting doing anything illegal or scandalous. But make sure your business does something that people would be willing to talk about. What do you differently than your competitors? How can you turn that idiosyncrasy into positive publicity? What good causes are related to your area of business? Is there some kind of event you could sponsor that would make the evening news and benefit a worthy cause at the same time? People like SoapNet because it is a lot more exciting than there own lives. Give people something exciting to talk about, and I guarantee they will. Be the good guy. In the days of silent films, the audience used to cheer when the hero first appeared on screen, and they would boo and hiss each time the villain showed up. Earn your clients' and customers' applause by being the good guy. We have all had dealings with people we don't trust or who were extremely difficult to work with. Ask yourself, Are you the shifty-eyed gravedigger American housewives everywhere hate to see on television? Or are you the honest, wholesome doctor moms would love to have their daughters marry? Conducting your business in a way that earns peoples' trust will go a long way in creating word-of-mouth referrals and sincere praise for your company. Remember, like so many SoapNet actors and actresses, your business can get type-cast very easily. Make sure you are cast as a hero and you can't go wrong. Keep it simple. There is an entire channel, SoapNet, dedicated to explaining who is sleeping with whom, what happened when, and who is whose father. Plot twists and messed-up family trees may work well for soap operas, but people place a premium on simplicity when it comes to business. This does not mean that you have to dumb down everything you do, or stop offering complicated or intellectual services. It means the way you present your business is honest - what they see is what they get (see the first tip above). Do not sign a new client only to later surprise them with hidden fees or contract loopholes that will strain your relationship. This tip has everything to do with creating a relationship that is honest and transparent. Perhaps your business is built around something that you know that other people don't. Do not put yourself out of business by giving away all your secrets. But keep your client or customer relationships open and honest. You'll find that fewer people will try to take advantage of you when they trust you are not trying to take advantage of them. Nobody actually falls down elevator shafts. But you may want to consider pushing parts of your business over the edge. Soap operas are king when it comes to character turnover - if they are unpopular or the story line isn't going anywhere, there never seems to be a lack of creative ways to kill them off. Take a look at your business and see if there are any aspects of it that may need to be "taken care of," as it were. Cutting down costs by cutting out baggage could do wonders with regards to your bottom line. The SoapNet channel is now in more than 40 million homes. If you play your cards right, your business could be too. Nick Smith is a client account specialist with 10x Marketing - More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. To find out how to get SoapNet on your television, check out I-Satellite.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Money Making Secret of The Toll Booth Position I'm a marketing consultant and at one of my client-companies, acompany that, in less than 10 years, has gone from a $10 millionto a $100 million dollar business one of the people I work withfrequently has jokingly given herself the title, 'Vice President,Back-End.' Although that clearly opens her up to be the butt of many jokes,it does very accurately describe her very, very important area ofresponsibility, in direct marketing parlance. Your Marketing Message - Could You Wring More CASH Out Of It With This Ancient Japanese Discipline? When it comes to your marketing message, the little things count. Trouble is, you'll never come to respect how much, until you make a commitment to science. Spring Cleaning: How To Do It In Your Business To Make More Room For Success With the arrival of Spring, I decided to get outside and into my garden. I had neglected to do some basic maintenance during the previous months and wondered if my plants suffered any permanent damage as a result. Direct Mail Response Rate Boosters (12 tips and ideas) 1. Mail to a different list Your list is the most important part of your direct mail campaign. Calling All Carbon-Based Lifeforms Many businesses want to market to all carbon-based life forms. They won't take the time to really understand their audiences from geographic, demographic and psychographic perspectives. 10 Steps To Getting Paid For Your Marketing Materials How many times have you heard the same sound bites come out of your mouth to your clients, prospects, and audiences, almost boring yourself to tears in the process? Imagine generating money directly from those sound bites, from those pearls of wisdom that effortlessly trip off your tongue. Yes, it is completely possible, and here's how to do it. Give It Away Now - The More You Share, the More You Sell! Give away your knowledge, and you'll make money. How does this work? Isn't this counter-intuitive? Let's think about this. The Top 10 Ways to Market your Business or Professional Practice Without Advertising Every business and professional practice MUST be in the public eye. You need customers! Folks need your goods and services -- it's a mutual alliance for mutual benefit! But if potential clients and customers don't know you exist, or can't find you, you will go bankrupt! They won't benefit from your services, and you won't make any money. Budget Marketing: Managing Your Marketing Money Wisely! There's a saying that half of all marketing efforts are wasted, but it's impossible to tell which half!I know from hard won experience how easy it is to waste money on marketing.When I first set up my own business in 1998, I spent tens of thousands of dollars employing the best graphic designer and printing a great glossy brochure. Whats Your Marketing Attitude? Entrepreneurs pay a lot of attention to the mechanics of marketing. They take workshops, read books, and hire consultants to find out how to do the best job they possibly can. Marketing - The One Marketeer I'm regularly asked to speak to people, that have either just started a business or have been going for some time. So many of these people are absolutely brilliant at working "in their business" but not so good at working "on their business" In other words; they're good at making the product or providing the service but they're not so good at finding new customers and generating more sales. Always On Stage - 3 Quick Tips for Trade Show Exhibitors Do you feel uncomfortable when you're in the trade show booth? Like folks are looking at you? Like you're on stage? Got as little stage fright?Well, folks are looking at you. Yes, it's like you are on stage. Marketing Hesitation Costs Dearly Timing is everything. Hate to be late? The early bird gets the worm. Networking Magic YES-- it is true that Networking is an art that must be mastered. However, for those of you that are new to the networking game and the art of mastering it, please READ ON. People Do Business with People They Like People do business with people they know and like!In my networking classes I have been saying this for six years. Can't say I was the originator of it, yet it appears people are catching on. Standing Above The Crowd In today's highly competitive business environment it is critical to find ways to separate yourself from the other companies who sell the same - or similar - product and/or service. Here are several strategies that can help you accomplish this:Help your clients achieve their goals. Everybody Loves Raymond....You Should Too! Popular TV Series Provides a Powerful Marketing LessonSmall Business owners spend a great deal of mental effort and time trying to dream up the next big marketing idea for their business. I'm all for that. What Are Focus Groups & How Do They Work? Businesses and other organizations use focus groups to research consumer and public opinion concerning a variety of issues. Corporations look to focus groups for general help in selling their products to the world at large instead of any type of direct marketing efforts. E-commerce : The Bottom of Pyramid Approach For centuries and most of the decades in the 20th century (i.e when computer was invented) access and communication was the tool of rich and ultra rich people, prohibitively expansive to 'not so rich' and 'not at all rich' people. Qualify Prospects Using Direct Mail Marketing When a prospect responds to your lead generation sales letter, how do you know if the prospect is a qualified lead or not? By qualifying them before they respond.At my direct mail lead generation firm, our definition of a qualified lead is someone who meets four criteria:Authority: They have the authority to buy Readiness: They are ready to buy now Budget: They have the budget to buy Need: They need your product or serviceAnyone who meets some of these criteria but not all is simply a lead that needs to be cultivated.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
