Author : Daniel BernalMarketing, being the complex and expansive industry that it is, can confuse and drive many entrepreneurs and other organizers to settle with mediocrity or basic methods for driving sales or fund raising Many who are confused with marketing in general prefer to work solely on referrals or rely on older more simple methods such as placing an ad in the local newspaper While these methods are fine and sustain many businesses and organizations, there is more required to drive real growth in a business or an organization pursuing another purpose

Direct response marketing also known as direct marketing is a sub discipline of marketing with the goal of driving either a new customer inquiry or customer phone call, to ultimately make a sale or receive a donation Many forms of direct response marketing are available at all price points which make direct response a great option for businesses both small and large Some examples of direct marketing are television ads (infomercials), radio advertisements with a specific call to action, direct mail, voice broadcasting, telemarketing, and certain types of internet marketing

Any small business, nonprofit organization, political campaign, or corporation knows that getting quality traffic to view your advertisements is critical to the success of your sales or fund raising goals, but unless the goal of your advertising is to promote brand recognition, getting these people to interact with your company is crucial or else your campaign is a failure Using direct response marketing you can drive more traffic and develop brand recognition within your industry vertical at the same time We will explore those methods here today My 13 ways to make your phones ring will give you little idea snippets to explore further and get the phones ringing at your office

Here we go:

1 List your business on several of the internet business listing services such as Google Local Search You would be shocked at how many companies and organizations are not listed in online local directories People are searching for you, make it easy for them

2 How about making your website presentable What a thought, but most people under 40 use the internet to check things out before making a purchase Put on your best

3 If you are targeting businesses you can have a voice broadcasting system or telemarketing company call and leave hundreds or even thousands of scripted voice mails after business hours This can make for a great day after

4 If you are targeting consumers try a direct mail piece that looks scary Like an official notice of some kind Stay within legal limits but these mailers always get opened and that means more phone calls

5 Door to Door Flyer distribution of door hangers can be cheaper than the cost of a stamp and it will stand out since it’s not lumped in the mailbox with everything else Just make sure to order an exclusive carrier run and obey all city laws regarding flyers

6 Build a targeted landing page which piques interest in your product or service and market it using Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing A certain landing page will get 10% to 25% of your website visitors to call or fill out a form

7 Hire door to door sales people or flyer distributors They get paid a commission when someone calls into an 800 number and the call is longer than 30 seconds

8 Include a customer incentive like a free cruise or a free iPod in your next advertisement You can talk to a customer incentive company to get good discounts

9 Build a micro site for SEO purposes around your main product or service keywords

10 Setup an affiliate program or Cost per Action campaign with your website and then be generous

11 Get to the top of Google for your main keyword

12 Offer a SMS signup for customers responding to an advertisement

13 Offer a free prerecorded information hotline in which callers can press 1 at the end to speak to a live person Getting your phones to ring off the hook with live leads can be hard work but it will pay off. Getting your phones ringing with hot leads and live transfer leads will your business forever!

Daniel Bernal is the VP at Dynamic Interactive Corp.

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Author : Raymond AaronWhen you launch a blog, you may get only dozens of hits a month, then after a while there may be many many thousands of visit a month Google highly respects blogs because they offer fresh new contest regularly Start your blog and talk about whatever you sell People will actually begin reading it It’s free and it’s easy

9 DOUBLE YOUR INCOME by Opening a YouTube Account

Register with YouTube It’s really really easy and you can also include your photo and a bio about yourself Just your bio and photo will attract prospects and customers

Have you opened your YouTube account?

10 DOUBLE YOUR INCOME by Posting Your Videos

Now, take lots of videos and simply begin posting them If you have a video recorder, then use it If you don’t, simply go to a high tech store and buy a FLIP video They cost about $160 Just make a video and post it It does not have to be great; you just need to get started

And, here is a hot tip for you Take whatever is exciting in the news and think of some bridge that will allow you to begin with the hot news and then bridge to your topic For example, Obama’s Presidency is still hot news and maybe you are a Realtor Then make a video which begins with the question “How will Obama’s presidency impact real estate prices?” and then answer that question to the best of your ability In the tags, you can list “Obama” and “inauguration” besides the ones you would have used anyway like “real estate” In this way, all the people who use Google or YouTube to search for “Obama” - tens of millions of them - have some chance of getting to your video

Are you posting your own videos on your YouTube account?

11 DOUBLE YOUR INCOME by Opening a Facebook Page and a Facebook Fan Page

It’s really easy You will be shocked - almost immediately, people will find you and ask if they can be your Facebook Friend I accept everyone, even if I do not recognize them

Once you have a page, open a group which is a group of people you want to sell to If you are a Realtor in Miami, then open a group called “Get Rich In Real Estate In Miami” or “Sell Your Home Fast in Miami” or “Buy Real Estate at HUGE discounts in Miami” People will join and then you can send messages to them They will be your clients And, it’s free This is, by the way, how Obama won the election - he was more savvy about Facebook and the other social networking sites than McCann Now, it’s your turn

Have you opened a Facebook page and have you opened a Facebook Fan Page?

12 DOUBLE YOUR INCOME by opening a Twitter account

I had never even heard of Twitter Then someone asked me to follow them I did because I knew that person well So, I opened an account - it took seconds - and then I sat and waited Wow Today, thousands of people follow me

Have you opened a Twitter page?

13 DOUBLE YOUR INCOME by “Salting” Your Clients and Prospects

You can lead a horse to water, and you CAN make him drink!! Just salt the oats Just add salt to the horse’s rations of oats and then when he gets to the water, he will drink like crazy!!

You can do the same process with your clients and prospects Get them all excited about something so that they are really eager when the time comes

Have you committed to at least experimenting with this idea of “salting” your clients and prospects?

14 DOUBLE YOUR INCOME by Inspiring Your Clients

“Snowmen fall to earth, unassembled” - It is your job to see snow, but envision snowmen Most people see snow, and envision traffic jams and snow-shoveling

“You never know how far you can go till you risk going too far” T S Eliot - I risked going to far when I joined Polar Race, a 350-mile foot-race to the North Pole braving -40 degree cold and hauling a sled with all my provisions weighing 100 pounds That foot-race took me one entire month, April 2007 I risked going too far and I made it You will have fun taking risks It’s way more fun than watching TV!! Take risks in your life and in your business

In which ways are you risking going too far to inspire your clients?

15 DOUBLE YOUR INCOME by Finding a Product or Service you can Sell

Start by creating an educational product on anything you know even a little about

How are you offering the same products and services you’ve offered for years? That is not a good recipe for success Be bold

16 DOUBLE YOUR INCOME by Getting Content for your Products

If you do not know much, then interview those who are really knowledgeable If you like chocolate cookies, then interview people who are expert at making them and selling them and then you have a product!! Also, video tape them and use those videos on YouTube to sell your website and product Or, sell the videos

There are THREE ways to get great content - for free - which you can then sell for money !! Here are the three ways:

1 Your own Wisdom - You already know a certain amount about the topic Type, audio or videotape what you know
2 Google - Simply type your questions or issues into Google and get lots of information
3 Experts - Interview experts in your field Interview anyone making a lot of money doing what you do Why will experts give you their wisdom for free? Because Experts LOVE to share what they know Audio or video their interviews and you suddenly have wisdom in your educational products

Select ONE that resonates with you and begin it Best of success www.giftfromraymond.com has been teaching his true wealth secrets for over a quarter-century so you can double your income doing what you love.

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Author : Scott LindsayFor varying reasons, there are many people who do not trust work at home schemes, or even the idea that you can you can make a living from home, or they may think that there is no way that you can make a sufficiently large amount of money to replace your current job This may be because of a past bad experience, or because of knowing a person who lost money to a work at home scam, or otherwise just a general cynicism

While this can be healthy in some circumstances and provide protection from monetary loses to scams, it can be hard to overcome when people around you are trying to stop you from making an effort at starting at home work It can be successfully done, but unfortunately it can take some time, and depending on your circumstances could hinder your ability to set up your at home work

If you have a family who rely on your income, you may find that they do not want to see you take risks with the money you provide They do not want you to give up a steady, paying job for something that may not work, but if this is the case you have a couple of options open to you

You may elect to start working from home only part time, putting in just an hour or two a night after you finish your regular job This may be enough in a short period of time once the money starts coming in to prove that you can earn a good amount and so give them confidence that you can safely quit the normal job

An alternative course of action would be to take a job with a well known at home customer service agency, working perhaps as an at home call center operator These firms are verifiable with the Better Businesses Bureau and may carry similar benefits to a job outside of the house These factors may help to alleviate the worries of your family, if they are given the time to investigate your potential employment, or if you present them with the information yourself

The previous things may not work if your family is particularly set in their lack of belief If this is your situation you are faced with just two choices-make other plans, or take work from home anyway and wait till your first pay check comes in There would be few people who would continue to refuse to support you, once you show them that the money is coming in-but this can be very hard to do when you meet a great deal of resistance

Ultimately the most important thing that you can do is talk with your family and take their concerns seriously, because they may also suffer if you were to be taken by a scam Addressing their fears and working to calm them will reduce the stress that you all feel, and so prevent there being another stumbling block in the way of you successfully working from home Do you want to Work From Home? Access hundreds of Work At Home Jobs in one convenient location. Don’t Work At Home until you do a WAHCheck!

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Author : John RoneyBusiness owners have felt the recession, but they have realized the best way to soften the blow of the economic downturn is to leverage the internet The internet offers affordable marketing, and it also has a platform for business owners to reach an entirely new demographic of customers In order to get the most out of the internet, business owners need to use Twitter

Twitter is the freshest social networking tool available, and by getting a Twitter following, businesses can expand a great deal If you are new to the online community, utilize the four tips for building a large Twitter following so you can become a household name

1 Encourage Interaction
Social networking is only as powerful as the visitors you pull in You want people to see your tweets and to respond to them As much as you might want to talk about everything that is going on in your head, think of Twitter more as a postcard and less as a Virginia Wolf novel Keep it short and to the point, and leave stream of consciousness behind If you put down everything that comes into your head, you’re going to annoy people and they will not interact Encourage interaction so people enjoy stopping by and talking about your tweets

2 Meet Mr Tweet
At every social gathering there is the life of the party In the Twitter world, that person is Mr Tweet Mr Tweet knows everyone on Twitter and he’s more than happy to introduce you If you want to find out who would be a good match for you, follow Mr Tweet He will then find people for you to follow In addition, Mr Tweet will recommend you to others It is a great way to add followers to your Twitter account

3 Ask Questions
People like to talk about themselves As a business owner, you probably realize the importance of making everyone feel as if they are the most important person in the room You need to take that mentality to Twitter Ask people questions about themselves As you ask questions, your tweet will bounce around the entire Twitter universe Before you know it, you will have more followers

4 Know the Art of the Reply
You want to be a nice person Your Twitter followers want you to be a nice person, too Part of being nice on Twitter is replying At the same time, though, you need to know your limits Don’t get to the point that you have to reply every time someone says anything That will cause your followers to feel overloaded

5 Tweet During Business Hours
Business owners may not like to admit it, but it is during work that most people tweet Once they get home, they don’t want to tweet anymore If you want to get the most followers, you need to be online when the rest of the world is Fire up the computer and start tweeting during the nine to five workday
Twitter is a great way to bring your business to the next level The more connections you make online, the more sales you can make By gaining Twitter followers, you will put yourself in a position to become well known in the internet community John Roney is a young internet marketer who’s worked for Alex Mandossian, Jeff Mills, David Hancock, Stephen Pierce, Brett Fogle & Charrissa Cawley. After five years of working for others, John’s now back to the basics of building businesses online, the latest project at www.HomeBusinessWealthCode.com

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Author : Raymond AaronHeidi is the proprietor of a bar in Norfolk, her story will explain the messy economic calamity that has engulfed the entire developed world But, I have gotten ahead of myself Let’s get back to the story

In order to increase sales, Heidi decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink as much as they please and pay later She keeps track of the drinks consumed in a big ledger (thereby granting the customers loans)

Word Spreads

Word gets around and, as a result, increasing numbers of drunks flood into Heidi’s Bar Taking advantage of her customers’ freedom from the need to make immediate payment, Heidi dramatically increases her prices for wine and beer Of course, no one complains As expected, her sales volume increases massively

The Bank Loves Heidi

A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral The customer service consultant is promoted for his insights

At the bank’s corporate headquarters, Securities Analysts transform these loans into pukebonds and barfbonds These securities are then traded on stock markets worldwide No one really understands what these kinds of bonds actually are and how they are secured Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, these securities become top-selling items

The Bank Gets Nervous

One day, although the prices are still climbing, a risk manager of the bank decides that the time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar The risk manager is, of course, fired for his negativity In the meantime, though, the drunks cannot pay back their debts and Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations to the bank Heidi claims bankruptcy Word gets out

Markets Crash Small Businesses Fail

PukeBonds drop in price by 95 % barfbonds, though, perform better, stabilizing in price after dropping by only 80% The suppliers of Heidi’s bar, having granted her generous repayment terms and having invested in pukebonds and barfbonds are suddenly in desperate financial situation themselves Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy; and her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor

The Government To The Rescue

The Government sees the failure of these small businesses as part of the economic fabric, until the Bank that extended the loans - and caused the entire problem - suddenly faces its own desperate financial situation You see, the senior officers of the bank and the elected officials in the Government all went to the same school and golf at the same club So, it is obvious that something needs to be done

The Bank is saved by the Government, following dramatic round-the-clock consultations in a concerted effort by leaders of all political parties And, the debts of the unemployed drunks are paid in full by the Government in order to prevent widespread personal bankruptcies

And, Now For the Punch Line

Where does the money come from for this bailout of the Banks and the drunks? This is the best part The bailout is funded by a new tax levied on fully-employed, fiscally-prudent non-drinkers And, that’s the whole story explained All the rest is cover-up www.giftfromraymond.com has been teaching his true wealth secrets for over a quarter-century so you can double your income doing what you love.

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Author : William HohmanIt is easy to be intimidated by all of the requirements expected of you when applying for business school The standards are even higher if you want to get into a prestigious program such as Harvard or Stanford Not only are the academic standards high, but also taken into consideration is how you look in the eyes of your current employers That is why putting together a plan to have an MBA recommendation written for you is such a big deal

Why get your MBA? You may be fairly successful already Perhaps you hold a decent job with a reputable company, but want to grow your knowledge and salary potential An MBA rounds out your education and says that you are interested in the inner workings of business and finance, and that you are gearing toward making your company even more successful It may be that you are fresh out of college and want to jump on getting your MBA while you are in the studying mood! Either way, getting an MBA is the best way to round out your education whether you are in Information Technology, the medical field or even the restaurant business

The truth is, the requirements involved are hard enough You need to have already attained a four year degree as well as have attained a certain GPA while in college If that is not adequate, you may be required to take a GMAT (General Management Admissions Test) in order to make the minimum requirements for admission But there is another requirement that most applicants take for granted You must also come up with 2 or 3 letters of MBA recommendation from folks you have worked with in order to be considered for the business school

Who do you ask for a recommendation? The first step is finding the right people to write your recommendation You need to focus on upper level management folks who you’ve reported to or have worked on special projects with They should not be peers of people who are on the same level as you, as they may not be able to give an accurate insight on your full potential This is something a manager would be better suited to

Whoever you work with, you will want to create a set of highlights to talk about in the MBA recommendation These will be the same highlights you will use in the essays you will need to submit along with your application and recommendation letters Both you and the writers of your recommendations will want to focus on your energy, your attention to detail and your leadership skills Focus on the concrete results you have achieved rather than comments that are only “fluff”

If you focus on the highlights of your work experience, your leadership ability and the results you have accomplished, you are sure to come of sounding great to the admissions board when they review your application to their MBA program Attaining a good collection of recommendations are keys to understanding what skills you need to work on for a brighter future and to also take some pride in what you’ve already accomplished William ‘Josh’ Hohman offers a free copy of his successful MBA recommendation letter to Stanford. Get your free copy & learn more about MBA Recommendation today.

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