Over the last year, I have seen many of my family and friends go from the entrepreneurial perspective of wanting to build multiple funnels of income on the side, to losing their jobs and needing to make money NOW.  Businesses have closed, jobs have been eliminated, but there are still mortgages to pay and groceries to buy. 

I can’t fix the economy and I can’t bring back all of those jobs, but I have a few ideas that can help put folks back on the right track.  I have a few strategies and nuggets of advice to help get you out there where people can find you and bring opportunity to you, if that’s what you want.

Since I specialize in online marketing strategies, my ideas usually require access to a computer and a working internet connection.  If the internet service has had to be canceled so that money could go toward house payments, I surely understand.  Perhaps you have an inexpensive internet café in the area where you could go periodically, or a local hotel lobby computer you could use.  Of course, when asking to use free internet resources – and when looking for income opportunities – I highly recommend presenting yourself cleanly, professionally, and with the graceful ability to take “no” for an answer.  How you handle yourself when you hear the word “no” can make a big difference in whether people keep you in mind for other opportunities.

So, you have access to a computer with an internet connection.  You need to equip yourself with two things:

• A free internet e-mail account
• A www.Twitter.com account

These two things are the foundation of your internet networking infrastructure.  It’s where everything begins.

An internet e-mail account is crucial for many reasons.  Almost every internet site, every online form you fill out, every opportunity to get in on the free information requires that you give an e-mail address so you can:

1. Be sent the information
2. Help the website stay in legal compliance by proving that you really requested the information that they’re sending you (proving that they’re not sending you “spam”).
3. Send you any opportunities that may interest you – you don’t want to miss out on an idea or event that could get you that next job or make you more money.

You’ve heard of internet “spam”, of course.  If you’re really worried about it, open two free e-mail accounts – one for your personal and professional correspondence and one that you leave on websites that send you information.

There are many free internet e-mail services, so having two e-mail addresses won’t cost you a thing.  I have personally used www.mail.com for years, and have found their internet e-mail service to be reliable and very easy-to-use.

Also, using an internet e-mail service is portable – you can log in to your e-mail address from any computer that has internet access.

A Twitter account is the way to network with people who have ideas and information that you want.  You’ve heard about it on the news, and you might be wondering why people put so much stock into a website where everyone just writes a sentence or two about what they’re doing right now.  You might also be wondering how Twitter is different from other sites where people do the same thing:  type a few sentences about what they’re doing right now.

Here’s the big difference – the difference that can open doors for you: 

Other networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are mostly for people to talk, but not to advertise, unless they’re intentionally buying ad space.  Those sites have a complicated set of rules regarding what you can advertise and how you can advertise it – even when you have a legitimate, legal business or offer.�� Twitter THRIVES on the independent marketing community.  Twitter is an exchange of links, ideas, and opportunities where its members are encouraged to point their friends to new opportunities. 

On Twitter, you can put yourself out there, without talking, without interviewing, and without cutting into your time pursuing other money-making avenues.  Let’s say you were just laid off from your job at the plastics factory, and you’re looking for a new job.  You could post on Twitter, “Lost my injection molding job in Elgin, IL.  Looking for a new job.”

There are people on Twitter doing searches on keywords that will find you, and perhaps follow you on Twitter.  Maybe there is an HR person at another plastics factory nearby who is on Twitter, and every day he does a search on the keywords “injection molding”.  Your post about losing your job in injection molding would pop up in his search.  He might send you a message to let you know he’s interviewing. 

You can use Twitter keyword searching, too.  You can do that keyword search on “injection molding”, and start to follow other Twitter users that look like they have the same interests as you. 

The larger your Twitter network, the greater your chances of finding your next money-making opportunity.  I hope you’ll add me to your list – I like to post about new online marketing strategies and information about the online market makers that invent it all.  My Twitter ID is JJ_DigiMM.

You don’t want people to sell anything to you?  No problem.  You can pick and choose what you read.  Here’s what’s in it for you:  you can market on Twitter, too.

You don’t have a product?  You don’t like to sell things?  No problem.  I’ll have suggestions for that, too, in my next installment.  In the meantime, there are a lot more free articles on internet marketing on www.DigiMarketMakers.com and the Online Market Makers Blog: www.OnlineMarketMakersBlog.com.

By putting your internet networking infrastructure in place, you’re setting the stage for finding ways to bring money back into your household. 

Stay positive and start building.

JJ (jennifer Johnson)
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/internet-marketing-strategy-no-job-need-to-make-money-part-1-1017881.html

The Development and Structure of a Marketing Plan: Towards the Development of Marketing Strategies

1. The Situation Analysis

In the planning process there are steps that must be taken prior to the development of the marketing strategies; the first one is conducting a situation analysis. A situation analysis is “the overall process of collecting and interpreting internal, competitive and environmental information.” It presents a summary of these environments and summarizes the company’s current marketing objectives and performance in the market. Through the situation analysis business is provided with a systematic way of viewing marketing activities by analysing the customer, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in relation to the competition. The situation analysis according to Gartrell includes internal, external and customer analyses, also known as the product, position, and prospect analyses.

The product analysis includes a review of the current objectives, strategies, and company performance. Product capabilities are examined as well as the limitations of the tourist product. The whole destination and its facilities are examined to determine what is there to be offered to the potential traveller. This analysis eliminates poor performance since through this the marketing goals and objectives are reassessed in order to determine their effectiveness.

Second is the position analysis, which addresses issues such as how the destination is “perceived” by the market, an analysis of the strength and weakness and how these can be compared to the threats and opportunities in the external environment, as well as the previous success of the destination shown in statistical reports. Also, the position of the destination in relation to the marketplace, the competitors’ products, services and their position in the market are examined. Position is important, since marketing strategies are developed based on the kind of image that the company expects to maintain in the eyes of the customer.

Next is the prospect analysis also known as the customer analysis, which involves the selection of the best target markets, likely to increase the usage of the destination’s products and services. In this analysis factors like potential demand in certain markets, the criteria for selecting the competition, emerging markets, and what political, social and economical factor may influence the markets are examined.

It must be noted that one of the major steps for conducting the situation analysis is the collection of research. Research is pertinent because it is the tool that allows the organisation to become aware of the customer needs, wants and preferences. Marketing research “monitors and evaluates marketing actions and performance, and communicates the findings and implications to management”. Its importance is even more highlighted since it allows for the collection of the necessary data and information to conduct a thorough prospect analysis. In an effort to thoroughly collect accurate and up-to-date data and information from the external environment, an organisation should also have strong marketing intelligence. Marketing intelligence includes “everyday information about developments in the marketing environment that helps managers prepare and adjust marketing plans and short-run tactics.”

Besides, the product, position and prospect analyses, Gartrell speaks of a fourth, known as the promotional analysis, which examines the image of the destination in comparison to the competition and the allocation of resources of the two destinations. The bureau’s marketing budget, sales material and marketing programs are also compared to that of the competition.

On completion of the situation analysis, this information is fed into the SWOT analysis, which provides a framework for viewing the company’s actual strategic position and developing appropriate marketing strategies. When performed correctly, “it can be especially useful in uncovering strategic advantages that can be leveraged in the firm’s marketing strategy”.

2. Program Planning: Development of Marketing Objectives and Strategies

After analysing the information presented in the situation analysis, the next step is to develop effective marketing strategies and in order to do so, marketing objectives must be developed first. This step is a very vital part of marketing planning because without set objectives the marketer is unable to “measure their success in fulfilling the marketing strategy”.

Marketing objectives according to Malcolm H.B McDonald are generally concerned with the 4P’s. Therefore, marketing objectives should be set for each one of these variables of the 4P’s and then the most effective strategies or means of achieving the marketing objectives should be developed for each variable of the marketing mix.

The first variable, “product”, focuses on developing the right product and satisfying the needs of the target market. A product is “anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, services, places, organisations, and ideas.” In the tourism industry, the product is “intangible, variable, inseparable and perishable”. The product is more of an experience put together in a package.

The “place” element on the other hand, refers to the channel distribution. It is imperative that a product be available to the customer and in order to do so there must be a channel of distribution that will bring the customer to the product as opposed to taking the product to the customer. This channel usually consists of “travel agents; tour wholesalers; specialists; hotel representatives; national, state and local tourist agencies; the global distribution systems; the internet; and concierges”. They must be very knowledgeable about the destination because they represent the main source of information for the tourists.

In order for a traveller to know of product offerings of a destination and make the decision to travel to that destination, continuous communication with present and potential travellers is necessary. On developing effective communication strategies, the target audience must be understood and the most important communication channels for this audience must be known. Secondly, communication objectives must be developed. The response sought from the target market must be identified through objectives.

It is believed that since the tourist product is intangible and cannot be tested beforehand, promotion “acts as the product as far as the potential tourist or leisure consumer is concerned” since through this, the customer receives a mental image of the destination, as its experiences are promoted. Images are portrayed through advertising and promotion as the only means of pushing the potential tourist to make a purchase decision. Therefore in tourism marketing heavy interest is placed on the promotional efforts of the bureau.

Ferrell & Hartline make reference to the classic AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) model, which sets the basis for the development of the communication or promotional objectives. The model holds that the first goal of the communication campaign is to attract the attention of the target audience. Interest in the product must then be built through telling the customer about the components of the product. If the product matches the needs of the customer, desire for the product is stimulated, which pushes the customer toward actually purchasing the package.

After setting the communication goals, the product must be shown to the target audience and the ways to do so are as follows:

1) Advertising – This refers to the use of information to “persuade consumers to take a desired action toward a particular product”. The main purpose of the advertising plan is to ultimately increase profits and sales for the company and also “to provide information that will change consumers’ mental and behavioral responses in a manner favored by the advertiser”. When setting advertising objectives, the overall marketing objectives must be used as a base.

2) Public Relations – This refers to “the process by which we create a positive image and customer preference through third party endorsements.” The major activities of public relations include, press relations, product publicity, corporate communications and counselling.

3) Sales Promotion – This concerns “short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sales”

Other communication strategy options include travel, trade shows, presentations, non-print media advertising, familiarisation tours, event hosting, site inspections, cooperative advertising and direct sales. In sum, for each communication medium selected, measurable objectives and detailed strategies must be developed.

The final variable of the marketing mix is price. Price refers to that of the overall package that has been put together for the market and includes issues like car rentals, hotel rates, transportation rates and possibly air fare.

3. Implementation

After the marketing strategies have been developed the programmes must be coordinated in an effort to achieve the plan’s goals and meet its objectives. Timing is a vital factor of consideration during the implementation stage. It “affects the placement of advertising and the degree of impact the marketing effort will have on the targeted market”.

Evaluating Marketing Strategy Effectiveness

4. Evaluation

After careful planning and implementation of the marketing strategies, they must be evaluated in order to determine how successful they have been in achieving the expected or projected. The strategies must be thoroughly examined so that appropriate adjustments may be made. Should marketing strategies prove to be ineffective, the redevelopment of objectives and or new positioning strategies may be necessary.

During the evaluation process the firm “tracks results and monitors new developments in the environment”. Constant changes in the environment might also force the marketer to adjust the marketing strategies in order to better attract the traveller.

Gartrell states that in evaluating marketing strategies employed in a marketing plan, first results must be quantifiable. In addition, weekly, quarterly, or monthly results should be used as benchmarks for evaluating the plan’s effectiveness. Besides meeting the objectives of the plan, there are a set of measurement criteria that must be used in order to determine the effectiveness of the programs implemented. These include: “total number of visitors to area, average length of stay, room nights booked / used, total economic impact and the total room-nights”.

In addition, other measurements known as process variables like: “number of trade/travel shows attended, number of prospects/leads, quantity of brochures distributed, consumer reaction to brochures, number of familiarisation tours, number of participants at familiarisation tourism, number of ads placed, number of travel agents contacted, total number of visitor inquiries, number of direct mail programs, distribution of visitor inquiries, number of media kits mailed, number of editorial inches in publications and total number of direct mail pieces distributed.

Undoubtedly, in order to make marketing programs a success, large funds must be invested into the communication strategies plan. This is why Gartrell highlights that for bureaus, “return on the investment” is yet another variable for measuring the success of marketing programs. The best way then to measure effectiveness is to examine the end result of the marketing campaign by using indicators of success generated by a plan, like “visitor expenditures, economic impact assessment and tourism employment”.

Simon Kirby and Mark Richardson from the University of Central England mention that measuring effectiveness in marketing, calls for an analysis of the effectiveness “of each element of the marketing communication mix…”

The communication mix as mentioned, involves communication vehicles such as advertising, public relations and sales promotion activities. In order to evaluate advertising effectiveness, since Nylen believes that advertising leads to sales, tourist arrivals in this case, then the more advertising done the more “sales” there should be. Therefore, increased tourist arrivals can be used as a measurement of advertising effectiveness. Since print or broadcast media can also be part of the advertising plan, Nylen adds that although the impact of this kind of advertising might be difficult, it is still pertinent to set “expected performance levels that can serve as evaluation standards”.

It is also believed that the effectiveness of the promotional tools in the communication mix also varies with the stages of the “Tourism Area Life Cycle” (TALC). In other words, at certain stages of the TALC certain communication strategies will naturally be ineffective. With the TALC, it is believed that the tourist destination, “moves from evolution through involvement, development, consolidation before reaching stagnation”. In other words, during the introduction stage, advertising and sales promotion are extremely pertinent in creating an extremely high level of awareness. In the growth stage on the other hand, advertising and public relations are to remain considerably high, while slightly decreasing personal selling. Next is the mature stage, during which sales promotion is again of great importance as compared with advertising. In the last stage, known as the decline stage, sales promotions must be kept strong and “advertising is kept at a remind level”. Managers and marketers must therefore be aware of which stage they are at in the tourism product life cycle when developing communication strategies, in order to be more competitive and improve the sustainability of the industry.

Clearly, companies have control over the development of effective marketing strategies, but as mentioned, in other instances, the external environment literally weakens this control. The external environment of marketing consists of the microenvironment and the macro-environment. The microenvironment is that part of the external environment which directly influences the organisation. The macro environment on the other hand, “refers to the broad environment outside an organization’s industry and market. It is generally beyond the influence of the individual organization” as it contains technological, economical, environmental and political influences that “affect the level and patterns of demand” for prodcuts.

Vicki L. Olton
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/how-to-develop-an-effective-destination-marketing-plan-85464.html

Your link building strategy is an essential part of your SEO campaign as it helps to drive traffic to your website. If done properly and consistently, link building can reap ongoing results for your website in the form of increasing potential traffic. Link building strategy also help to get your website rank high in search engines.

There are several traditional and modern methods of link building. Though all those traditional methods are not obsolete these days, the changing algorithms of search engines have changed their priorities. Hence, you need to shape up your link building strategy according to the recent search engine norms to bit your competition online and enhance your online presence.

Understand Your Marketplace

Your link building strategy should not be a process limited to creating links from different sites; rather, there are several other critical efforts that you need to take care of prior to link building. When you are in a particular business, you need to investigate your market and know your audience. Develop your link building strategy by creating links from the sites where your potential customers are more frequent. An effective link building strategy is not about securing links form sites with high PageRank, but it is about getting links from the sites that your potential customer use regularly to get their required information. Build a list of such sites by analyzing your competitors and try to build links on a regular basis by providing new content and updated information.

Link Out

Link to the relevant and information rich content from your site or your blog post; you can also post comments on their blogs. It is a smart way of driving attention of other sites to your site. If you are doing research to develop your blog or articles, you can refer to other trusted and well known blogger and link to them from your blogs. If they like your blog and write about it you can get a recommendation and approval from a high profile site.

Create a WordPress Blog

Creating blogs in WordPress and linking back to your website is another smart way of getting links as well as visitors. This link building strategy can bring you numerous quality links if done properly. Apart from links the WordPress blogs are a great way to increase your search engine rankings.

Creating Mini-Blogs and Linking It to Main Blog of Your Website

Writing short blogs in the social media sites and linking them to you main blogs for reference create another way of getting backlinks. Of late, the search engines are giving importance to links from the social media sites and the links from your mini blogs form a smart link building strategy.

The conventional link building strategies such as directory submission, article submission are still in use. But they are no more considered as effective. On the other hand new link building strategies of social media networking and blogging are the prevailing trend of link building. But, if you include the above discussed techniques into your link building strategy you can secure quality links for your site.

sarda Sheldon
http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/adding-some-new-techniques-to-your-link-building-strategy-711657.html

Try $350 and sell for $450. Make sure it has an O/S. Don’t oversell the product, just list the main specs and that it can handle all office progrmas / e-mail / internet / High definition video.

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Cheers
Pam Brossman
CEO
Social Media Woman

http://www.socialmediawoman.com

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