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

Easy Steps To Start Your Online Business
Start with a planAnyone who has ever started and managed a successful business, internet or otherwise, knows that it requires research and planning. Your business should not be a get rich quick scheme that is thrown together haphazardly.

AOL Introduces Video Ticker Ads: Offers Advertisers an Emerging Interactive Solution for Online Video Advertising; Developed in Conjunction w
AOL today announced the availability of video ticker ads, a new interactive video advertising solution that serves as a creative alternative to pre-roll ads that was developed in conjunction with PointRoll, the leading provider of rich media technology solutions.

Dailymotion's Fast US Growth Strengthens Position as the Largest Independent Web Video Site in the World
comScore statistics reinforce Dailymotion's position as the most popular independent web video site.

Registration Now Open for SemTech 2008, the World's Pre-eminent Conference on the Business of Semantic Technologies
More than 150 sessions showcase enterprise-grade solutions at semantic industry's most anticipated event.

Market Your Dream Online: Internet Advertising Advice From My Home-Based Business Advisor
You need to be advertising and marketing your home-based business, but what does it all mean? You need customers. You need sales! But where do you start? Banners Traffic Exchange Programs Reciprocal Linking These are just some of the ways for your home-based business to be advertising and marketing online (meaning on the Internet).

The Seven Keys to Marketing Genius: The Complete Guide to Increasing Your Marketing IQ
How smart is your marketing? Do you follow the crowd or set your own standards? People are attracted to innovative leaders, not copycats. Besides, most companies throw thousands of dollars down the drain on ineffective advertising- can your budget afford such waste? Start your education today- follow these seven keys to increase your marketing IQ and outwit your competition.

Are YOU Right For A Home-Based Business?
The internet is loaded with all sorts of ways for you to work from home. You will consider many options, finding the right fit for your personality and goals.

Big Ticket Marketing in 28 Minutes
I read an article recently about how many mainstream retail companies are using the standard 28 minute infomercial to more effectively target customers and sell their products.Now, I have to confess, I have never used an infomercial to market a Big Ticket product.

Business Exit Strategy
Exit strategy overview

Learn to Improve Sales - 10 Ways to Get More Business Starting Today
You need sales and you wanted them yesterday. Here are ten ideas to start those sales pouring in.

Grow Your Small Business With An 800 Number
Most small business owners would agree that they want their businesses to grow. In order to achieve this desired growth, the small business must become recognizable; it must brand itself. There are literally millions of other organizations trying to steal your customers away from you on any given day. One simplistic method for enhancing your recognition is to obtain a toll free 800 number.

Running Your Online Business Can Be Easy
You can run your own business in many ways. The easiest way by far to make money from home, is to start an online business. The reason that running your business online can be so easy is that you are basically running a business that the whole world has access to.You will soon see that you have an worldwide audience.

Medical Spa Power Marketing Tips
Marketing is one of those often neglected items. Many times spa owners view this as an expense rather than a revenue generating tool. You need to regularly review your current marketing efforts, and evaluate new options. However, to stay a step ahead of your competition you need to have the right marketing strategy.

Marketing Expert Launches Unique Resource For Multi-Billion Dollar Direct Selling Industry
Just Released! The Direct Sales Pages directory contains profiles and information on many top companies and recruiters in the direct selling industry. This indispensable free resource can be downloaded directly from the website http://www.directsalespages.com.

Marketing-Minded Financial Planners Piggyback on Topic A to Get Free Publicity
That big story the media pursue each day is what I call Topic A. And even if it doesn't seem to have anything to do with financial planning, it often lead to huge media visibility for you.

When Times Get Tough... or When to Really Advertise

The Pundits say the economy is slowly, but surely, recovering. Maybe not at the rate of the mid-90s stock boom, but recovering nonetheless.

It must be true, because ad agencies are running Help Wanted ads. So, ad budgets are getting bigger. Tsk tsk. They have been missing out. Actually, for maverick thinkers like you, that should be good news.

When the Pundits say, "Times are getting tougher," usually the first thing to get axed in business are ad and marketing budgets. This makes nearly no sense. But, to your competition, you should say, "Tighten that belt another couple of notches!"

Because that's when you go for the kill.

So-called "tough economic times" should be a boon to your marketing. It's then that your competition will pull back their advertising efforts. And you should increase yours. Your competition is purposely weakening its position. It is the perfect time to fortify yours.

Since most others are cutting back on their ad spending, media becomes more negotiable, if not altogether cheaper. Your messaging can become more visible with less clutter.

Your message also needn't be more hard-sell in this type of environment. Traditional notion dictates hard sell is the way to go. But proper strategy, creatively executed, will nearly always win over a hard sell approach. Creative ads always get noticed, and often garner free publicity.

Of course, you don't want to confuse "Bad Taste" with "Creative." If you have the proper strategy, that shouldn't be much of a concern. If you are presented ad concepts that bother you on a deeper level (more than the placement and size of your logo or other such trifles), maybe it's time to address the strategy as much as the concepts.

The big payoff really comes when bad economic times rebound into good. When people have more money to spend, your business will have a higher, better mind share than the folks who chose not to advertise. Higher mind share leads to higher market share when the public starts buying again.

There's the story of a brand of peanut butter that, due to government-mandated conversion of its factory for the effort during World War II, was not even commercially available. Yet, the brand was consistently advertised. When the war was over, guess which brand had higher market share?

And it's in this atmosphere of free spending that market share is hardest to hold onto. More dollars to throw around, more choices, the market gets diluted. Why not go into that phase the leader, or the biggest gainer?

So, when your competition rolls back their ad spending, pump yours up. You stand only to benefit from the less-competitive atmosphere. Still a little unsure? Then set up a dollar cost averaging system for marketing. Spend the same amount every week, every month, every quarter. You might be surprised you get more results in "down turned" markets.

Marketing is everything. If it weren't, your company would only subsist on word of mouth and chance.~

Republishing part of or entire article, in all forms, is welcomed, as long as author bio info is printed and proper authorship credit is given. As a courtesy, please send author a complimentary copy.

John is a freelance commercial writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He publishes a free monthly e-zine focusing on branding, advertising, and marketing from his web site http://www.brandedbetter.com. Speaking with both agency and in- house experience, he knows the most valuable asset of a business is its brand.