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

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

MJM Internet Adds Internet Video Production to Enhance Dealership Websites With Tactical, Online Video Marketing
Automobile dealership website production firm, MJM Internet, has added Internet video products to enhance their clients' online marketing. Produced quickly, and at low cost MJMI internet video's feature online actors, and dealership personnel. They help bring car dealerships' online marketing to life using the site, sound and motion of video seemlessly added to their websites. Flexible and effective, integrated video should prove to give dealerships a competative advantage.

Mortgage Marketing - Viral-Email, Referral Marketing Strategy
This is a devastatingly powerful way to extend your marketing reach. For this to work right you need a website that promotes your business.

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.

Internet Marketing - How to Make your Online Advertising Business Produce Money on Internet Marketing
The success or failure of your Internet marketing business depends largely on the Internet users. If they are interested on the products and services that you are offering for sale, definitely you can expect hundreds to thousands of dollars in revenues from your online business. On the other hand, if they are just too lazy to hear what you want to say and what you are offering, better shut down your personal computer unit and find some other ways of earning money.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Internet Marketing and Viral Marketing Techniques
It seems as if viral marketing is one of the most successful strategies that one can employ with Internet marketing. Viral marketing is an Internet marketing practice that employs referrals, recommendations, and reviews in order to quickly spread word about a product or service. Gmail, Utube, and various viral videos on the Internet have all been transmitted by the viral marketing technique. These online entrepreneurs have enjoyed immense success by employing the viral marketing technique. For more details visit to www.paylock-generator.com .Think about it as an exponential effort once launched its benefits and effects only get stronger.

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.

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 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...

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 ...

Starting Your Business: 3 Tips for Bootstrapping Your Way to the Top

Bootstrapping a business startup does not necessarily mean that you are unable to find traditional sources of capital. It may mean that you are clever, or that you know a bargain when you see it, or that you are the type of person who derives a certain satisfaction from crafting something using your own hands and vision, from scratch. If this is the way you feel, a franchise is probably not for you. A venture capitalist, if you could even find a member of that rare species when you are just starting out, is also likely to want some or too much control, and your vision might be thrown out of the window in that scenario as well.

It's kind of the same thing when you make your first homemade cheesecake using a recipe from a gourmet magazine, and then you realize how horrible those store bought cheesecakes in a box (that you used to eat) would taste in a side-by-side comparison. Just think, if you embrace the "entrepreneur as gourmet chef" metaphor that I have suggested above, you can tell people that you are an "Entrepreneurship Connoisseur" at social gatherings and when you are seated next to other first class passengers on your next flight to someplace exciting. Not going anyplace exciting, you say? Funny you should exhibit such a lack of enthusiasm, because that leads us to tip number one:

1) You may have thought that we'd start out with some high-powered "secret" bargaining strategy for bartering or negotiating with suppliers or landlords. Well, in a way you are right. The all time top tip, numero uno, has to do with your attitude. Do you think you are "having a bad day," routinely? Maybe it's not the kind of day or days that you are having; maybe it's your contagious nasty attitude that infects everyone around you and holds you back.

Here's a technique that you can use to thwart "nasty attitude syndrome"—a vicious, virulent disease: Use a mirror. If you don't like the way that you look, imagine how other people feel. Put the biggest, nastiest snarl on your face that you can muster. Stare hard into that mirror and say, "I want the best price—now." Does the person in the mirror look like he or she would be inclined to melt before your eyes and say, "For you, my friend, I'd give you the world on a silver patter, because you are my favorite kind of person"?

Perhaps I should explain the almost magical curative powers of the mirror that you should now be holding in your hand (yes, use a pocket-sized model that you can carry along, wherever you go—on all of those exciting trips). If you will stand on your head while you are frowning, you can "turn that frown upside down." Other people will smile at you, and perhaps even chuckle, or roar out loud, rolling in laughter. Now you're getting the hang of it. A positive attitude and a smile on your face will help you start your business, get out of trouble with your spouse, or get you a date if you are single. Practice being excited, (just about) everywhere you go.

2) For anyone who has forgotten kindergarten, let me remind you that you used to be creative—maybe you still are—and creativity is the heart and soul of bootstrapping. If you have lost touch with your creative side, or it has been pounded out of you as a result of other people's efforts to turn you into a compliant drone, one who fits perfectly in a cubicle, then it's high time you start acting like a kid again.

Yes, we're talking crayons, paint, glue, cardboard, scissors, wood, and trips to a junk yard. We're talking Animal House (the movie), and good old-fashioned food fights. We're talking about imaginary worlds depicted in amusement park rides. We're talking about science fairs, contraptions in your garage, and blue-green gooey stuff oozing out of boiling pots. We may even be talking about an illustration of the product idea that you have, or a three-dimensional model of a store layout—like the one that you will implement in real life when you start your business.

If all of the above seems too silly, you are just flat-out in desperate need of the intervention described under tip number 1. You must get out of the rut that you are in. Working in a cubicle for the rest of your life is the notion that's really silly. When you leave your present workplace to go home, take a different route. You may find that by getting lost while you are on your journey, you rediscover your creative inner child, inside.

Creativity is an act, something one does, not a trait. You have to give your creative side the time and tools to act. Get yourself unstuck through lots of stimulation. Take the time to actually study innovation, invention, the future, the past, and specific creative techniques. On that last point, here's an example of one technique: think about opposites. What's the opposite of a high priced anything? An economy priced version. What's the opposite of a big package? A small one. It's chunky versus creamy. Light versus full-bodied.

There are books, Web sites, training programs, articles, and devotees of the study of creativity. It's time for you to "start your creative engine," buckle-up, and blast off to other worlds that can be reached only in your imagination.

3) Research, research, research. Study, study, study. Read, read, read. Do your homework. Remember that old adage about "location, location, location"? Well, now you can forget that one, at least for the moment. Your location, your customer base, your supply channels, your price, all of these things will become clear if you become a researcher. We are not talking about the stereotypical, wimpy, "beat me up in the schoolyard and take my lunch money" type of researcher. We're talking about a new breed of formidable, respectable, "super researcher": A guerilla fighter who takes names, observes weaknesses, and kicks booty.

Quickly, the next time you visit your neighborhood video store, count the tapes (DVD's, games, etc.) on one shelf. Then multiply the number of videos on that one shelf by the number of shelves in a display case. Next, how many cases are on one wall? Assuming four walls, how many new releases does the store have in inventory? Count the middle section, too. How many customers are in line? Do they look happy? How many employees are working? How many are loafing? What have you observed about the business? Does it look like the store's making money? (No, we are NOT "casing out the joint" for a robbery.) How long has it been in business? How busy is the store, morning, noon, or night?

Collect competitors' advertisements. Collect advertisements that you simply like (on the basis that they apparently gain attention, sell benefits, and stimulate action). Collect crummy ads, so that you won't repeat the mistakes made by others.

Bootstrappers pay close attention to what other people and businesses do, so that they might emulate good business ideas, or deviate from the norm with better ideas. It's amazing how many businesses are founded on the basis of so little research or planning. If you intend to start a restaurant, and you are willing to spend $10,000 or more on a stove or a commercial refrigerator, wouldn't it make sense to test your idea first? Prepare a meal as though you were already in business. Invite some guests to try your cooking. Ask them questions. How much would someone pay? How often would they eat the type of food that you have prepared? Conduct a survey yourself, or work with marketing students or interns through a local college or university. Ask, ask, ask, lots of questions.

Buy every entrepreneurial startup guide book pertaining to the type of business (if it is a typical one) that you are planning to develop. Go to trade shows. Read trade periodicals. Talk to people. You are a "private eye," and your client is your would-be business.

Create a "war room." What's a war room? It's a place where you put a map on the wall, and use push-pins to depict an "enemy's" location; also affix notes to catalog strengths and weaknesses that you have noticed as a visitor. It's a place where you house all of the competitive intelligence that we've been discussing. It's a place where you plot the rise of your business, from small, well conceived beginnings.

4) I know, the article title said "3 Tips." This is a bonus tip. It's a FREE BONUS tip, for those persons who are still with me in this discussion. If you can't handle the first three tips, don't try bootstrapping. You won't make it. You need an inheritance, or you should resign yourself to staying in that cubicle. Try adding some color—a candy jar, or fresh flowers—so that you'll be happier in your confinement. Hey, that would be a small step toward changing your life, after all!

Here's the actual tip: Start small, and think differently (you may have supposed that I was going to say "think big," instead—that wouldn't be a bad idea, either). Give yourself time. Not days, weeks, or months, necessarily—we're talking years, if that is what you require to develop a contagious, positive attitude; create a winning idea; and become fully prepared for your exciting journey, bootstrapping your way to the top.

Dr. Robert Lahm is the founder of several businesses and Web sites, an entrepreneurship professor, a public speaker, and a writer. His typical topics include creativity and innovation, careers, start-ups, and small business marketing. Webmasters and other article publishers are hereby granted article reproduction permission as long as this article in its entirety, author's information, and any links remain intact. Copyright 2005 by Dr. Robert J. Lahm, DoctorLahm.com.