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

Internet Marketing On A Low Budget: An Open Letter
Recently I was contacted by a client who was frustrated that her marketing efforts were not producing results like she expected. In an attempt to address her concerns, I realized how many other professionals are in the same boat. What follows is an open letter to professionals everywhere who are struggling to attract new clients and make money online.

Internet Marketing, Fact Or Fiction? Find Out!
To create a civilized Internet market free from ignorance and speculation. To put e-commerce to work for everybody. To offer exclusive and complete sets of tools, products and services. To train users of all levels, from beginners to professionals, to operate an Internet business.

Media Placement: The Untold Story Behind All Major Breakthrough Business Successes
Success in business is a rare thing. Most businesses fail today, not because they were built upon bad ideas, but because most business owners do not focus on what truly makes the difference between success and failure.

You Tube Your Mom: Triple Tissue Video Makes Meaningful, No-cost Mother's Day Gift
Beautiful to look at, accompanied by stirring music and inspirational text, a video tribute to mothers debuts just in time for Mother's Day. The brief piece, posted on You Tube, can be sent directly and at no cost to mothers everywhere.

Internet Spawns Virtual Assistants Industry; Latest Company to Enter the Field is Handy Business Solutions
Virtual Personal Assistants are now available through Handy Business Solutions, LLC (also know as “HBS”), a company that assists businesses in reducing overhead and payroll by providing outsourced office staff. A virtual personal assistant is an independent contractor capable of providing administrative tasks, office management, creative and/or technical services on a contractual basis while using e-technology capabilities.

Use The Neglected Weapons In Your Marketing Arsenal
Business marketers have a lot of weapons in their arsenals but they often overlook some very important ones. So, let's do a quick inventory.

Small Business Failure -- a Marketing Approach
As many inexperienced business owners might admit, starting a new business is no easy task, there are many things that could go wrong however, in order to make things work you need to think and act in a positive way. Choosing the right niche, product or service and marketing strategy are vital for your success but, these are not the only factors that you should pay attention when starting a new business, having the right tax strategy will help you stay afloat and avoid problems with your local government. In this article were going to focus on marketing.

How Your Blog Can Grow Your Business?
A quality blog will generate more qualified traffic for your site. Its greatest value is that it helps you build your customer list. The quality of your list is increased because you have established yourself as an authority in your field. The leads you generate through your blog should be considered low-hanging fruit. When you interact with your blog visitors you really get to know them. Remember, the goal is to get them to return frequently.

Internet Advertising Solutions: 10 Things To Barter For, Before Buying
Before you spend your hard earned money, why not first try to exchange the products and services you have for the products and services that you need?Here are a few internet advertising solutions and ideas:1. Information Products - it could be ebooks, "how to" videos, cassettes, magazines, newsletters, paid e-zines, courses, etc.

ZYTO Corp. Provides Biotechnology to Health and Nutrition Business in China
ZYTO Corp. has adapted existing biotechnology software to meet the needs of TUUN, a health nutrition, and wellness company in China. TUUN expects to use the software in a worldwide chain of juice bars.

Grow Your Business By Increasing the Value of Each Sale - 29 Ideas to Spur Your Brain
There are 3 ways to grow any business:- Get more customers- Get more from each sale- Sell to each customer more frequently.That's it - everything else boils down to some variation of these 3 activities.

Slogans: Creating and Using Them In Life, Career and Business
Information is coming at us from all directions nowadays. This pace requires us to demand that we receive it fast and predigested in order to inch ahead of the game.

Business Plans And Marketing Schemes
The corporate community makes use of different terms in talking about business planning - business strategy, sales planning, marketing strategy, business plans, and marketing schemes. But as different as these terms sound or spell, they cover same principles -- how to improve sales and getting the company "out there". Efficient business plans and marketing schemes need to be strong, cost-effective, and most of all, realistic. As such, an efficient business plan considers several important factors: products, services, market size, competitor activity, marketing, and production costs.

Projects Management Is Necessary To Succeed In Business
In todays business world, professionals and companies are greatly realizing the value of business stock- takings to reach their various goals on time, and with profit. In such a scenario, the role of projects analysis becomes very important.

8 Secrets to Marketing Success
The profits of a business are totally dependent on marketing. Otherwise few, if any, sales will be generated.

Fundamental Strategic Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

This is a pretty tough global economy and it is critical for a company to leverage every bit of their marketing resources. So, if this is the case, why are so many companies shooting themselves in the proverbial foot by breaking some of the most fundamental rules of marketing? It's a very simple question with complex answers - here are some of the pitfalls to avoid:

1) Believing a second rate web site communicates integrity: So many web sites are just plain funky looking (graphics, text, menus, etc.) - nice professional term, but it's descriptive of some of the dreck that passes for web site design. A company should not forget that perception is reality on the web and people aren't going to do business with a company that can't field a decent web site - end of story!

2) Deploying a marketing strategy that's all over the map: Is Yahoo a Search Engine, a Portal or a Hollywood Media company? They are the classic 3D hologram advertisement for a company that can't figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. A company must pick a marketing strategy and then stay the course - changing direction every time the wind shifts is not a good business strategy and creates more motion than action.

3) Forgetting real brand development: Branding became the ".com" rallying cry for every newby wet behind the ears with an Internet dream to become a billionaire by selling dog food on the web (I'll leave the sock puppet out of this) - we all know this didn't work. But that does not mean a company should ignore brand development - it's important to remember that a good brand is built one marketing process at a time; everything that a company publishes, develops or communicate is part of the brand building process, which in turn defines the company's market position.

4) Ignoring distribution channels by selling direct via an ecommerce web site: A company should not build and launch an ecommerce site and start selling direct to customers and forget about a distribution channel. It's imperative to give the customer the choice to buy direct from your company or locate a distribution channel partner via a look up capability on the site. And, if you really want to win the hearts and mind of a channel never sell below retail (SRP) - and afford the channel the opportunity to discount your product so they can compete effectively with you.

5) Making competitive analysis a low priority: Too many companies forget about their competitors after the business plan has been written. They don't take the time to review them on a periodic basis and try and figure out how to deliver goods and services differently, which in turn drives competitive advantage and a long-term sustainable business model.

6) Poorly thought out Investor Relations press release: Do companies actually think investors are just plain stupid and don't really read an IR (Investor Relations) directed Press Release carefully? Investors are typically very bottom line oriented - they want to know about revenue growth and real strategic partnership developments that help the company grow and not much else. Just throwing fluff out in the market and hoping this will drive investors to invest is just plain shortsighted stupidity.

7) Thinking any/all consultants know your business better than you: Reporters and consultants (including this one) have driven just as many companies into the ground with bad advice as much as they have helped them - companies must realize a consultant is typically not down in the trenches and they can make some bad calls - it's important to filter their advice.

8) Letting the inmates run the asylum - customers should help a company refine its product marketing strategy by working as partners. If engineering tells marketing "the customer doesn't really know what they want but we do" the red lights should start flashing danger - the company may be in serious peril and at the very least need new focus and direction for product marketing.

About The Author

Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of marketing experience - he is the founder of Intelective Communications, Inc. http://www.intelective.com a marketing services company which provides strategic and tactical marketing services exclusively to small to medium sized companies. Lee@intelective.com Reprinted with permission from Intelective Communications - this article may be reprinted freely, provided this attribution box remains intact. (c) 2001-2002 by Intelective Communications, Inc.

Lee@intelective.com