ADUTAINMENT: Advertising as Entertainment
JellyBasket.com - JELLY by the CASE or as a GIFT BASKET.

Viral Marketing - The Future Of Advertising?
To understand viral marketing you need to be familiar with social memetics ? the idea of viral marketing is to create a product or advert that encourages the end user and potential customer to also become your promoter.

Video Email And Its Impact On Internet Marketing
Email is a revolutionary means of communication facilitated by the advances in information technology. With the acceleration of e-commerce as a consequence of these same technological innovations, email is now a significant means of marketing products and services through the internet. Through email, myriad companies and businesses have a convenient means of reaching potential consumers. Through email, marketing copies get delivered directly to a person?s inbox; companies no longer had to wait for consumers to come across their ads in the internet.

Social Advertising Changing Internet Marketing: Moving From Forced Advertising To Opt-In Ads
SplashCast CEO Helps Define The Emerging New Marketing Field At L.I.S.A Conference - First Forum Dedicated To Social Advertising

SIPA's 32nd Annual Conference Showcases Latest Internet Advertising Trends And Email Marketing Through Client Newsletters
The Specialized Information Publishers Association Will Feature Leadership Keynote Speakers (http://www.newsletters.org/Events/Annual/2008/index.htm), Jay Berkowitz, Josh Macht, Bob Bly, Chris Schroeder And Fredrick Marckini On June 1, 2008 In Washington, DC

Viral Marketing: Internet Marketing Strategies
First of all, I realize that anything with "viral" in the name doesn't conjure up images of something you want close by, but there is a new type of Internet marketing known as "viral marketing" is worth investigating. Despite its unflattering appellation, it is an effective Internet collaboration marketing tool, and one that is important to understand if you want to expand your business.

Dealerskins' Digital Video Viral Marketing Project for Auto Dealers Takes Internet by Storm
Dealerskins, (www.dealerskins.com) a division of Dominion Enterprises and a leading provider of automotive dealer web solutions, has launched a video and viral marketing project to promote its highly successful nationwide user groups. The video can be viewed at; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn09XoUySFg It tells the initially sad tale of a dealership Internet sales team, and ends with a strong redemptive finale at a Dealerskins User Group. There is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Glengarry Glenn Ross with a cameo from company founder; well know ...

Best Email Advertising of 2008 to Be Named by Web Marketing Association
The Best email advertising in 86 industries will be judged as part of the 2008 Internet Advertising Competition awards. Companies or agencies wishing to nominate their work for consideration may do so at IACAward.org (http://www.iacaward.org?gad=CNvQkJkDEgjMICey2iA0NRi6nML_AyCb88Qv) before the deadline of January 31, 2008.

Free Web Advertising: Chat Room Marketing Secrets Of Internet Marketing Gurus Exposed
Have you ever been to a chat room?Have you ever posted a message?If yes, now you may learn some free web advertising secrets on how to market your products and services in chat rooms.Chat Room Marketing is the use of online chat rooms to promote your product or service.

Viral Marketing:10 High-Impact, Viral Marketing Strategies,To Explode Your Sales
Hello, do you have any website that is not bringing in a lot of sales?Would you like to know a few smart and sharp viral marketing secrets to turn it around and explode your sales?If yes, may I offer you 10 high impact viral marketing strategies to increase your sales!Viral Marketing is allowing people to giveaway and use your free product or service in order to multiply your marketing quickly over the internet. The idea behind viral marketing is that you include your ad with the freebie people giveaway or use.

Viral Video Evolved - Startup LonelyBloggers.com Launches With Viral Marketing Case Study
LonelyBloggers.com is proud to announce a 7 episode, 40 minute viral video series called LBTV that can be watched in it's entirety on YouTube right now. Despite recent reports that a viral video now cost up to $250,000 to produce, LonelyBloggers was able to produce our viral video series with only a $5000 budget. Internet marketers need to understand the growing importance of adding video to your marketing mix as people flock to video sharing sites like YouTube. This means potentially free website traffic as a result, all the time presenting your brand in an exciting manner. Viral Marketing has to be considered as a key part of your future marketi...

Internet Advertising: Viral Ads
Viral ads are called so because they are sent through emails, from account to account, spreading like viruses. The negative connotation of the name is merely due to its dispensational nature and not necessarily to any potential ill-effect brought on by its presence or any possible disruptive intent of the Viral Ad?s designer.

Using Viral Advergames For Worldwide Advertising and Marketing
Branded online games are being used more and more as an advertising medium by everyone from small businesses to big worldwide brands, but can branded games really help as part of your marketing efforts Branded online games (or Advergames as they are commonly known) can be one of the most effective viral marketing agents, if used correctly

Consorte Media Announces New Email Marketing and Video Advertising Solutions
New product offerings from leading Hispanic digital marketing company give publishers additional ways to monetize traffic and help advertisers connect with Hispanics online

Internet Marketing And Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is a unique tool designed to create so much buzz about the article itself that even the largest sites will want to publish it.

Viral Videos: Lethally Effective Advertising Carriers
Are you one of those millions out there hooked on the viral video craze? This article describes the opportunities that viral videos offer to internet marketers.

Dirty Hooligan! What a Crude Street Corner Come-On Taught Me About Direct Response Marketing

Can't get a date?

No, I mean to your website.

Day in and day out, I see marketers address "filet mignon" prospects like $10 streetwalkers.

How do they expect to get the sale (or the signup, or the download, or the ___) like THAT?

It's all about converting "ho-hum" browsers to excited, active BUYERS ... right?

Hmph. Not that way.

Come with me as I tear through one crude, street corner come-on, showing you how it relates to YOUR direct response website ... and how marketing like this can grind sales to a screeching halt.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
THE COME-ON
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I was walking downtown on business the other day, and out of nowhere I hear:

"HEY!!!

"Ay, can I talk to you?

"Come HERE.

"WHERE YOU GOIN'???!!"

Umm ... excuse him? I was "GOIN'" faster.

To get away from the fool.

You probably don't realize it, but the mechanics of this barbaric come-on are components YOU experience on direct response sites every day.

The sites that cause their visitors' only "direct response" to be to leave ... WITHOUT buying, or opting in.

Can't see it yet?

Let's break it down:

"HEY!!!"

This is equivalent to an on-entry alert box pop-up telling me to input my name to "personalize my experience."

Or one demanding that I subscribe to some ezine I've never heard of, authored by a marketer I don't know from Adam, and harping on about some free bonuses that I either don't want, or already have.

"Ay, can I talk to you?"

This is an amateurish, garish sales letter with fonts sized way too big, too much going on in the opening, a massive header that never loads, a headline that doesn't tell me what the @%$^& I'm doing there, and too much use of colors that are WAY too bright!

The letter continues with a desperate spiel about how this is quite likely "the most important letter I'll ever read".

(Uhh ... right.)

"Come HERE."

This one's easy.

"Order TODAY!" "Get it by midnight tonight or you WON'T get it at ALL!" (At least until tomorrow rolls around -- right?)

In other words, "buy my useless crap NOW so I can get right to ignoring your refund request as you discover that my CRAP doesn't work!"

(Can we say "leave the money on the nightstand?" :-/)

"Where you GOIN'???!"

This is yet *another* pop-up window -- on exit, now -- designed to get me to come up off of my money or e-mail address.

Only this one is so the site owner can hound me relentlessly week after week, with thinly-veiled attempts to make me feel foolish or inferior for not buying on the first visit.

It's the last desperate reach for ANY form of "action" or desired result from the site.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
You've Seen the "Crude" Way. Now ... What's the BEST Way?
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It's simple: COURT ME.

Most people don't go to a website LOOKING to buy something. In contrast, that becomes the result *if* you rub 'em the right way.

"If."

Most sites shouldn't use hard sales language, (like banter about "hot prices" or "amazing specials"), in their opener.

They're likely scaring prospects away with the very thought.

Unless your prospect is *specifically* coming to buy and you BOTH *know* that (i.e., you run an online catalog), they'll be like:

"Hot prices?!

"I didn't come here to buy, I came here to LEARN. What's up with that?!"

...And will leave you AND your "scaldingly temperatured prices" at the altar.

And for goodness sake, tell how the visitor will benefit BEFORE asking anything of them.

You'll get more results that way.

If you were walking down the street and someone shoved a drinking glass in your face, shouting:

"Buy this NOW! Hot sale! Here, here, HERE!! TODAY *ONLY*!!!"

...would you buy it?

Or would you eye them like they'd just sprouted a third ear in the middle of their forehead, and sprint away from "the lunatic" as fast as humanly possible?

Hmmm.

I call calamities like this "The Push 'n' Shove Principle".

Make the buying decision *theirs* -- not *yours*.

Don't beat them over the head with "order TODAYs", or "only an idiot would pass up this offer!!!" insults. (Why would we buy from merchants who imply that we're idiots if we choose NOT to? Way to build a relationship with the reader, Moron!)

Oy.

Instead, let prospects *convince themselves* by presenting such a flawless list of product benefits that they couldn't imagine NOT ordering.

And if your target market responds to it, you may want to tell a short story introducing a "painful" situation -- before introducing YOUR product as the "soothing" solution later in your copy.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Okay. So What's This Whole "Courting" Thing?
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

*I* even thought that an odd word to use as I was writing this. But I put it on down because, if you think about it, the similarities between:

COURTING vs. one-night stands, and

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS vs. direct selling

...are overwhelmingly obvious. Most sites spring directly into a sales pitch WITHOUT courting visitors a little.

There's the site that realizes it has to "stroke you" some before expecting to get anything out of you (a sale, an e-mail address, etc.).

Then there's the site that goes for the jugular immediately upon visiting, with those stupid alert pop-up boxes and discussions of price lists before you understand what they have to OFFER -- much less to order.

Take an honest look at YOUR sites now, and ask yourself:

Will my prospects view me as a high class mover and shaker who's truly interested in serving their needs ... FOR THE LONG HAUL?

Or will they view me as a dirty hooligan desperate to be thrown a bone, who'd pimp 'em like it was the 70's and my name was "The Mack"?

Yes, I'm sure "Art of War" tactics are effective for some. *I* just don't want to present myself that way ... because it's not the ONLY way.

If I have to strong-arm a prospect to get 'em to order a product they don't WANT or need, it's tantamount to robbery ... and I'm trying to keep my criminal record clean, thanks.

So, remember:

Don't push 'em.

Don't shove 'em.

RUB 'em.

THEN they'll do what you want ... and come back for more.

Article by Harmony Major, revealing THE TRUTH of how to achieve success in e-marketing: no punches pulled, no secrets kept. For one-on-one help "cutting through the crap" online to improve the profitability of your website(s) and launch your e-business into a high-response *full-time* enterprise, come to: http://BlownCoverMarketing.com/1/1.html