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

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 ...

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.

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.

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...

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

How to Incorporate Viral Marketing Techniques to Your Internet Marketing Arsenal
Viral marketing is not the last disease found, nor a virus to your desktop

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Painless Marketing for People Who Hate to Market

Face it... you know you've got to do something to keep a steady stream of clients coming to your professional service firm. But when it comes to the m-word (marketing), you'd rather not. Do any of these statements sound familiar?

If we're good enough, clients will find us or we'll get plenty of referrals.

We don't have time – we're busy enough and have to maximize our billable hours.

We can't afford to market – we have no extra money.

We have brochures and a website – isn't that enough?

We don't know where to start, even if we do want to attract more clients.

We can't get key people inside our firm to agree on how – or if – to start.

Promoting our firm is unprofessional, unethical, and tacky. These are all legitimate perspectives and shouldn't be minimized. But what if there was a painless way to get the following results? High-quality prospects seeking you out and coming to you, instead of you having to seek them out.

Your firm reaching and helping more people with what you have to offer.

Increasing the volume of clients from which you can choose, allowing your firm to be selective and work with only those you truly want.

Differentiating your firm from your competition and articulating what makes you and your firm special.

Tapping new networks that don't know about your firm yet.

Wasting no more money on ineffective brochures, flyers, web sites and other marketing materials – better yet, knowing if the investment you make is worth it.

Raising your fees and being paid what you are worth.

Learning how to grow and sustain your practice in any market. My guess is that you'd be willing to take a closer look at some basic marketing principles and practices, if they could generate these results for your firm.

The Ugly Truth

Here's the ugly truth about attracting more clients: you have to make it a priority constantly, consistently, and carefully. So what can you do to make it less painful... or even painless?

The answer depends on your firm's view of marketing. Many of the professional service firms we work with tend to fall into one of two camps. Some firms are committed to using internal resources (i.e., partners, designated business development staff, or junior marketeers), and some won't or can't. Either way, marketing systems must become a core part of your day-to-day business practices.

Look Before You Leap

In both cases, you have to spend some time thinking about, developing, and testing what happens before you print brochures, develop a website, introduce yourself at a networking event, or write an article for a trade publication. Robert Middleton's Five Laws of Marketing captures this well:

Build your base (careful attention to your message):

Get Attention: what you say and write to grab your prospects' attention, introduce yourself, headline a talk or article, etc.

Uniqueness: what makes you stand out from your competitors, such as a specific promise, standard, or guarantee; you must be very clear on who you do and don't serve

Value: what you demonstrate through information that you share before you get hired – free articles, white papers, survey results, workshops, etc. – so that when the need arises, the client thinks of only you

Authority: the proof that you're qualified to deliver what you say you can do; demonstrated via case studies with measurable results, media appearances, testimonials, bios, company background, etc. Reach out to the market (being constant and consistent):

Relationship Building Systems: networking, direct outreach (personal or mass mail); keep in touch systems; centers of influence (banker, advisors), joint ventures, client relationship strategy, customer creation system, relationship selling strategy, value-based pricing strategy, next level strategies

The key to these five laws is that all aspects of marketing must pull in the same direction. So if you have one vendor doing direct mail, another your website, and another your ads – particularly before you've built your base (laws 1 through 4) – chances are they're all pulling in different directions. You must have a holistic plan that keeps your firm and your vendors pulling together.

Making it Happen

Knowing what to do is not the same as making it happen. That's where most busy professional service firms fall down when it comes to marketing.

Whether you do it yourself or hire an outside firm to help you, here's the basic process you should follow: Make a research-based plan of action that's strategic, contextual, and seamlessly aligned with your firm's business goals; set priorities.

Establish a process to stay on track and motivated.

Use an approach that gets your team aligned and all working toward the same goals.

Factor in support, guidance, and resources for the hard work of implementation.

This Won't Hurt a Bit!

You don't have to tackle all of this at once. Take it one step at a time. Effective marketing takes hold organically and grows over time. A steady pace lets you experience and evaluate any changes thoughtfully. You can reasonably expect to put all of these things in place in about six to nine months. You'll see results much sooner if your first steps are thoughtful, strategic, and carefully focused on building your base.

Want a prescription that will keep your business pipeline full of high-quality clients? Decide to add a little painless marketing to your weekly business routine and call me in the morning!

References

Levinson, J. Guerrilla Marketing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.

Middleton, R. Laws of Marketing TeleClass. Action Plan Marketing, Inc. 2003.

Putman, A. Marketing Your Services. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1990

(c) 2004 TurningPointe Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.
Marketing educator, Kelly O'Brien, is creator of the "Create a
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